Take Home Exam CIS 8260/DSC 8030Exam ScenarioTake Home Exam CIS 8260/DSC 8030Due: at beginning of class, Monday November 11Maximum points: 250The purpose of this exam is the integration of the materials that we have discussed in the class so far, and anything that you have found outside of the class. There are no “right” answers to the exam questions, the exam will be a measure of your understanding of the issues and solutions. Make sure that you use what you have learned in the class, and reference the material in your write-up. This is an individual exam. Do not discuss the questions with others!!The exam is written as a scenario. You are presented with a description of a company, andyou have to write a document for its CEO. Immerse yourself in the scenario, write the document for the CEO and the other executives in the company, and make it look as professional as you can. Spelling and grammatical errors are unacceptable in corporate America, and badly written documents (and their authors) get ignored. Pay attention to details. Don’t confuse problems, opportunities, and solutions. There is no minimum or maximum page number requirement for the document, what counts is the quality. The document that you create should be long enough to sell your ideas, but short enough to not discourage the CEO and other company executives from reading it. The exam should take you 6 to 10 hours, provided that you have kept up with the reading and discussions in the class.Email me if you have questions about the exam. As serious as exams are, I would like you to also have fun with the thinking and writing. Try to place yourself in the situation, and use it as an opportunity to show what you know. 1Exam ScenarioDebbie Martinez is the President and CEO of Graphic Details, an Atlanta based software development company that successfully created a suite of tools for the production of web-based graphics. Her company has 150 employees, roughly 100 in the Atlanta headquarters, 30 in the Boston office, and 20 in the recently opened Silicon Valley office. Even though the company initially saw reduced sales after the technology spending slump, sales have recovered, and the company is again growing. You ran into Debbie at the career fair, where she was scouting for new employees. The two of you started talking, and the discussion turned to some of the issues that Debbie is facing in her company. The software that Debbie is selling is quite complex, and requires both training and customization at the client sites. About sixty percent of the Graphic Details workforce is either a consultant or trainer, and this means that sixty percent of the workforce is on the road most of the time. Because they are on the road so much, it is hard for Debbie to provide them with information about the latest tools and techniques, and it is very difficult to get the consultants to communicate what they learn on the road (with the customers) back to the development people. She also noticed that the consultants don’t do a lot of sharing of their experiences, and she thinks that this is why some problems keep re-occurring. She complains that the wheel gets reinvented over and over again, but understands that her consultants and trainers are far too busy to spend a lot of time sharing their ideas with each other. Debbie made it clear that even though the company is doing pretty well, she and her management team can’t afford to invest in major initiatives unless there is a clear payoff, so they need to get a clear picture of expected benefits of any knowledge management initiatives. You tell Debbie that you have heard about similar problems in the class on knowledge management that you are taking, and Debbie, happy to find somebody who understands her problems, tells you about other issues. Another concern that Debbie has is the office in Silicon Valley that was opened last January. The office was opened because an increasing number of customers are on the West Coast, and because Graphic Detail is participating in several partnerships with other software companies. Out of the 20 people in the office in Silicon Valley, only 4 (all management) came from headquarters. The other 16 were hired locally. Debbie was quite shocked to find how little the 16 people know about Graphic Details’ suite of software tools, and how different the way of working in the office in Silicon Valley is from headquarters and the office in Boston.Because Graphic Details grew quite rapidly Debbie is not able to pay as much attention to her employees as she would like, and she is running into a problem that is very common in the software industry: there is quite a bit of turn-over in her company. Some people leave after 6 months, some after 2 years, and some have been with her since she founded Graphic Details five years ago. She feels that with every person that leaves the company important customer and product knowledge walks out of the door. If she can’t keep the people then she would at least like to keep their knowledge. 2Debbie is impressed with your understanding of her problems, and is very excited about it that you may know paths towards solutions. She asks you if you create a document on what Graphic Details might do from a perspective of knowledge management. Debbie hints that if she likes your ideas you might land a job implementing them at Graphic Details. You tell Debbie that you would gladly create a document, and ask her if you can call her for more information. After a few days of thinking you create a short list of key questions about Graphic Details that you need to ask Debbie. First Exam Question (15% of grade):Which questions do you ask Debbie? Place the list of questions in an appendix in the document, and for every question assume an answer that you could reasonably expect for a company like Graphic Details. In other words, make up the answers to your own questions.Now that you have the answers to your questions you can start to write your document. Second Exam Question (30% of grade):What are the knowledge-related problems and opportunities at Graphic Details?In your document briefly summarize the problems that Debbie discussed. Next, discuss other knowledge-related problems that she may have, but is not aware of. Finally, discussopportunities that she may be missing by not using a knowledge management perspectivein her company. Don’t forget that Graphic Details may already be doing knowledge management related work