Information Technology Managment
Information Technology Management
CASE I
How General Motors Is Collaborating Online
In preparation for answering the questions, review the General Motors web site.
Why did it take GM over four years to design a new car? Hide Answer
Coordinating 20,000 designers in 14 GM labs internationally, as well as the multitude of tests and over 1000 suppliers was too huge a task. Communications for collaboration was slow and severely stretched out the time-to-market. The design process was further complicated by over 7000 legacy systems.
Who collaborated with whom to reduce the time-to-market? Hide Answer
EDS created a software system that allowed the designers and engineers to collaborate online, which was aided by NetMeeting from Microsoft. Additional collaboration software was employed for product testing. eMatrix was employed to coordinate activities along the supply chain, and was integrated with the EDS software systems. Search for "eMatrix General Motors" on Google to learn more about the software and how General Motors used it.
How has IT helped to cut the time-to-market? Hide Answer
Improved use of IT has reduced the time to market from 4 years to 18 months. It has also allowed for virtual car crashes, instead of real crashes, producing faster cycle times and dramtically reduced development and testing costs.
Case II
1)• Where and under what circumstances is the “invest first, analyze later” approach appropriate? Where and when is it inappropriate? Give specific examples of technologies and other circumstances. Hide Answer
Invest first is appropriate or unavoidable if a new technology is required for the project. There may not even be data to base an analysis on.
Invest first is inappropriate if the investment is big, and could financially ruin the firm. If data is available for analysis it should be used.
Pre-1999, t he Internet pre-1999 was such a newtechnology. Wireless Internet is a
CASE I
How General Motors Is Collaborating Online
In preparation for answering the questions, review the General Motors web site.
Why did it take GM over four years to design a new car? Hide Answer
Coordinating 20,000 designers in 14 GM labs internationally, as well as the multitude of tests and over 1000 suppliers was too huge a task. Communications for collaboration was slow and severely stretched out the time-to-market. The design process was further complicated by over 7000 legacy systems.
Who collaborated with whom to reduce the time-to-market? Hide Answer
EDS created a software system that allowed the designers and engineers to collaborate online, which was aided by NetMeeting from Microsoft. Additional collaboration software was employed for product testing. eMatrix was employed to coordinate activities along the supply chain, and was integrated with the EDS software systems. Search for "eMatrix General Motors" on Google to learn more about the software and how General Motors used it.
How has IT helped to cut the time-to-market? Hide Answer
Improved use of IT has reduced the time to market from 4 years to 18 months. It has also allowed for virtual car crashes, instead of real crashes, producing faster cycle times and dramtically reduced development and testing costs.
Case II
1)• Where and under what circumstances is the “invest first, analyze later” approach appropriate? Where and when is it inappropriate? Give specific examples of technologies and other circumstances. Hide Answer
Invest first is appropriate or unavoidable if a new technology is required for the project. There may not even be data to base an analysis on.
Invest first is inappropriate if the investment is big, and could financially ruin the firm. If data is available for analysis it should be used.
Pre-1999, t he Internet pre-1999 was such a newtechnology. Wireless Internet is a