is important and what needs to be considered to evaluate a particular business opportunity. These insights will require you to refine the model as your understanding increases. Modeling is a complex craft that goes far beyond mastering spreadsheet functionality. Figure 1-11: Business Analysis Reflection 7. Create a model for a personal budget. Do it on a spreadsheet. Fill in rough numbers for different spending categories. You never want to run out of cash, of course. Suppose that you start with $1,500. For two semester, figure out, based on these really tentative numbers, how much cash you will have to get through loans, work, or parents. Functional Departments You will always be working on larger units, beginning with your functional department, such as marketing, accounting, shipping, or IT. Each functional department, of course, needs information systems specific to its specific needs. Figure 1-12 shows that corporations have many functional departments with very different needs for information systems. For example, in a sales department, there will be a customer relationship management (CRM) system to help salespeople collect all data for individual customers into readily-accessible information that can be used piece-by-piece or analyzed statistically. Human resources will have software to track new employees through the multi-step hiring process. Other functional departments will do very different work and therefore will have very different technology support. Figure 1-12: Functional Departments In addition to these “big” information systems in functional departments, department employees will often work with many other systems. They will build spreadsheet models that often draw little information from bigger functional or enterprise information systems. In addition, of course, they will all use e-mail and telephones. Functional department information systems are not the only information systems used in functional departments. Reflection 8. Why do different functional departments need different information systems? (This is not a trick question.) Functional departments use big information systems and smaller information systems. Which of these do you think the corporate IT department knows about and understands? Enterprise Systems The biggest system in an organization is the organization itself. Organizations are unbelievably complex when considered in detail. However, it is useful to think about the key business
is important and what needs to be considered to evaluate a particular business opportunity. These insights will require you to refine the model as your understanding increases. Modeling is a complex craft that goes far beyond mastering spreadsheet functionality. Figure 1-11: Business Analysis Reflection 7. Create a model for a personal budget. Do it on a spreadsheet. Fill in rough numbers for different spending categories. You never want to run out of cash, of course. Suppose that you start with $1,500. For two semester, figure out, based on these really tentative numbers, how much cash you will have to get through loans, work, or parents. Functional Departments You will always be working on larger units, beginning with your functional department, such as marketing, accounting, shipping, or IT. Each functional department, of course, needs information systems specific to its specific needs. Figure 1-12 shows that corporations have many functional departments with very different needs for information systems. For example, in a sales department, there will be a customer relationship management (CRM) system to help salespeople collect all data for individual customers into readily-accessible information that can be used piece-by-piece or analyzed statistically. Human resources will have software to track new employees through the multi-step hiring process. Other functional departments will do very different work and therefore will have very different technology support. Figure 1-12: Functional Departments In addition to these “big” information systems in functional departments, department employees will often work with many other systems. They will build spreadsheet models that often draw little information from bigger functional or enterprise information systems. In addition, of course, they will all use e-mail and telephones. Functional department information systems are not the only information systems used in functional departments. Reflection 8. Why do different functional departments need different information systems? (This is not a trick question.) Functional departments use big information systems and smaller information systems. Which of these do you think the corporate IT department knows about and understands? Enterprise Systems The biggest system in an organization is the organization itself. Organizations are unbelievably complex when considered in detail. However, it is useful to think about the key business
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