Session 8: Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management (SCM) for a Better World

This video shows the consequences/results of poor supply chain management and coordination. It also summarizes how SCM systems can help minimize these negative results.



This video shows how SCM systems can enable real-time coordination and communications between the members of a supply chain. This can take place through intranets, extranets and portals.

Merchandise buyer > vendor > distribution center > factory > lizard skin supplier > lizard (蜥蜴)



Here are more videos of supply chain processes which can be enhanced through the use of information technology. (log-in required)

Assignment 2 Marks and Final Exam Revision Materials

Hope your exam revision is going well.

The Assignment 2 marks are now posted on SOUL for those who have submitted online. The marks have also been e-mailed to those groups who only submitted via the enrollment centre counters. The average mark for the class is 62.5.

Please note that model answers for all the tutorials have been updated under the "General Documents" folder.

Seventeen (17) multiple-choice (M.C.) review questions have also been uploaded to help you revise the important keywords you need to know. To take the M.C. test, click on "Question Bank" button on the left-hand menu after you visit our course web site ("My Courses").

Assignment Two Submission

Just a short reminder that the due date for Assignment Two is 21-July.

You can submit the group project in two ways:

1. Upload the report to SOUL. Only one group member needs to upload the report. Make sure there's a title page that clearly indicates the names and IDs of all group members, plus the e-mail addresses of the group leader.
2. Submit the printed report to any of the Enrollment Centres listed in http://hkuspace.hku.hk/programmes/prog.php?action=learning_centres&content=eng.
3. I will return your graded marksheet to your group leader via e-mail and/or through SOUL on or around 28-July.

The marking criteria will be: Content (60%), Organization and formatting (10%), Analysis of issues and originality (10%), Site map and sample web pages (20%).

Assignment One Statistics

The highest mark is 77.85 and the average mark is 64.0. The marking criteria used is as follows: Completeness (20%), Design (5%) and Content (75%).

I truly enjoyed interacting with you thru this online medium. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, opinions and examples ! I learned a lot from you all.

In the left-hand menu, I have placed two asterisks (**) next to some of the most well-written blogs by your classmates. For Question 5, here are my model answers:

How does our sample MS ACCESS database observe the following design principles ?

* Divides your information into subject-based tables to reduce redundant data.

Our information is divided into two tables - Product and Supplier. Each table is strictly about one subject only. For example, information about the supplier is not mixed or combined with a product record. The product record only contains the "Company ID" which can be used to look up further information about the supplier in the Supplier table. In this way, redundant (or repeated) data is reduced because the supplier's name, address, phone no. and so on are stored only in one location. This data is also easy to maintain as it only needs to be updated in one place.

* Provides the database management system (e.g. ACCESS) with the information it requires to join the information in the tables together as needed.

The product record contains the "Company ID" field which can be used to look up further information about the supplier in the Supplier table. This field allows related information from both tables to be easily joined and combined.

* Helps support and ensure the accuracy and integrity of your information.

The primary key field ensures that no two customers have the same ID; no two suppliers have the same ID. Each field is also restricted to a single data type, so it's impossible to enter a non-numeric value in a numeric field, and it's impossible to enter a non-date value in a date field, etc. This helps maintain the accuracy and integrity of information.

* Accommodates your data processing and reporting needs.

The Report Wizard offers a user-friendly interface for designing customized reports. Users can select the source of data, the fields to include, the grouping levels, the sort sequence, layout and so on.

Session Nine

Some articles regarding information security:

Wife Blows MI6's Chief Cover on Facebook
Cybercrime Spreads on Facebook
Kaspersky Lab Detects New Worms Attacking MySpace and Facebook

Some articles regarding ethical issues:

Village mob thwarts Google Street View car
Naughty Foxy reveals lax Hong Kong Police procedures on confidential documents

Some links shown in class:
Google Street View
Case Notes from the Privacy Commissioner's Office

Session Eight: Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management (SCM) for a Better World

This video shows the consequences/results of poor supply chain management and coordination. It also summarizes how SCM systems can help minimize these negative results.



This video shows how SCM systems can enable real-time coordination and communications between the members of a supply chain. This can take place through intranets, extranets and portals.

Merchandise buyer > vendor > distribution center > factory > lizard skin supplier > lizard (蜥蜴)



Here are more videos of supply chain processes which can be enhanced through the use of information technology. (log-in required)

Session Seven Examples

1. Try any one of these decision support systems and describe two examples of decisions which they may help to support. For each decision, describe whether the decision would be made by operational, middle or senior management levels :


• Break-even Calculator


• Online Customer Lifetime Value Calculator (right-click to download the spreadsheet)


• Hong Kong Yellow Pages Online Map


• HSBC Mortgage Planner
2. For the last part of our web page development lab exercise, you will try to create an online form where customers can submit online inquiries. The model can be found here.