ExxonMobil Information Systems

Introduction and a Background to the Case There were reports in early 2011 that Chinese hackers managed to breach the systems of several leading energy companies in the world and in the process, managed to steal sensitive information of these corporations (Riley, 2011). ExxonMobil was one of the companies that was a victim in these hackings.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on ExxonMobil Information Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Despite the fact that the company asserted that the breach was not serious and hence it was not necessary for them to report to their shareholders, such a breach acts as a risk to the overall knowledge management of an entity since sensitive and confidential information might be exposed and end up in the wrong hands. ExxonMobil had put in place a knowledge management system that aimed at enhancing its operational efficiency within the energy industry through the identification and transfer of best practices to its personnel (Cohen and Levinthal 2010). In the course of its operations, ExxonMobil uses several systems to ensure that information is stored, retried, and can be used in an effective and efficient manner. These systems act as a strong database for the firm’s knowledge and hence its breach by hackers in one way or the other is very detrimental to the operation and sustainability of the firm. Information System Risks at ExxonMobil In the course of operations in the information technology portal, a business entity constantly faces a number of risks. For instance, the breach of ExxonMobil systems by Chinese hackers posed a security risks on the firm’s knowledge management systems. Such a breach however, possess several risks to a given entity. In this case, the breach by Chinese hackers posed an operational risk to the firm. Fischhoff et al (2014) defined operational risk as an expected loss that might come about as a result of failed proc edures, systems, or policies.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Hackers usually tamper with the systems that they gain access to affecting their normal operations. If the activities of the hackers are not identified in good time, outcomes that are fatal to the entity in hand might arise (Mischen and Jackson 2008). Given the fact that the hackers had gained access of ExxonMobil since 2008, there is a high likelihood that their activities resulted in operational failures within the entity. The period which ExxonMobil systems were exposed as a result of a security breach by Chinese hackers also exposed the firm to financial risks. According to Liesch (2006), financial risk occurs in an event whereby shareholders stand a chance of losing their investment due to the inadequacy of a given entity’s cash flow to meet its financial obligations. The exposure that the Chinese hac kers had on ExxonMobil financial systems increase the likelihood of inefficiencies within the normal operations of the firm. In most cases, this proves difficult for the firm to achieve the set goals and objectives given its recurrent financial status (Seidl 2007). This in turn increases its chances of falling into debt hence resulting in a financial crisis. Such a crisis will not only result in the inability of ExxonMobil to meet its recurrent financial obligations but will also expose its shareholders to debt. Consequently, ExxonMobil stood a high chance of being exposed to compliance risk as result of the hacking activity it had been experiencing.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on ExxonMobil Information Systems specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Compliance risk comes about as a result of its failure to act within the agreed regulations and laws, internal policies, or the agreed practices within its industry resu lting in exposure to penalties as set by the law or material loss (Neef 2005). One of the main ways through which the firm would have been exposed to compliance risks is through the exposure of confidential information by the hackers. This includes the details of its shareholders, information with regards to the agreements that the firm has with third party companies such as suppliers and partners (this might include patents and copyrights), and so on. Exposure of such sensitive information might be unlawful or unethical and as such the firm will be faced with a number of legal suits which might require it to pay fines, damages, or nullify contracts (Marshall et al 2011). Such outcomes are usually detrimental to the overall operation of a given entity and might affect its profitability and sustainability in the short run and in the long run. Audit Plans and Objectives Given the probable outcomes of the security breach to IS information systems, it is critical to conduct an informati on systems audit with the aim of reviewing ExxonMobil information system architecture, to determine the overall implementation and effectiveness of the set control systems and to report on the possible risks that the firm’s information systems might be facing. To realise this aim, this audit report will take a two way approach. The first step will involve a vigorous planning and analysis of necessary documents and interviewing specific personnel to gather relevant information for the entire process.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The second step will involve a critical analysis of the internal control systems and structures. For these steps to be effective and efficient, it is necessary for an auditor to identify the control environment, procedure, understand the detection risk and control risk assessments and to equate the total risk (Fischhoff et al 2014). As asserted by Hall (2010), the main role of an IS auditor is to substantiate that the set internal controls are existing and function effectively to minimize the associated business risks. As such, the current audit objectives include: Ensuring that the firms operations are effective and efficient Ensuring that the operations of the firm are compliant to the set statutory requirements and regulations Ensuring that the firm maintains confidentiality and integrity of its stakeholders Specifically, this audit will focus on three main areas; the operational controls, financial controls, and the overall corporate compliance of the firm. The main objectives of auditing the operational control systems is to: Daily operations are consistent with the set goals and objectives Determine whether the company’s performance meets the set standards Determine the overall efficiency of the operational system of the firm The main objectives of auditing the financial control systems is to: Have a clear understanding of the major financial processes is arrived at Determine the key financial policies and goals of the organization Determine which financial processes have high levels of risks to the company’s operations Finally, interviews on specific personnel within ExxonMobil to determine the overall level of risk and the firm’s compliance to the set operational procedures, regulations, and laws. To enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of this process, specific documents within the firm will also be critically scrutinized. Interview Questions and Documents The study conducted by Douglas (2011) on information systems audi t focused its interviews on personnel who are responsible for the running and maintenance of the various control systems within the entity. As such, this audit will take a similar approach and will interview key personnel who are in charge of running and managing the financial and operational systems. As such, three open ended questions will be posed to these personnel to gather a wide range of information and data with respect to their operation and effectiveness. In this respect, the following questions will be asked: What is the process for? Which other parties are involved in the process? How can the process be improved? Since this process is objective in nature, open ended questions are effective in increasing the scope of information that will be received from the clients (Eisenhardt 2009). For instance, while auditing the financial control systems, this audit might focus on the payroll system and in the process it will be necessary to interview the payroll processing clerk. By asking this personnel what the system if for, the clerk will be in a position of explaining the entire payroll process, an act that will provide the audit with a clear understanding of incoming and outgoing dependencies of this specific system (Sherif 2006). By repeating the same question to the personnel in charge of other systems, a clear picture of the overall operation of this system will come out and hence it will be easy to identify possible risks within the system and hence propose mechanisms that will enhance its overall operational efficiency. Inquiring about the other parties that are involved in a given process provides an auditor with a clear picture of the operating environment (Grant 2009). In this audit process, this question will be useful in providing a clear understanding of the interdependencies between sub-systems and entire systems. As such, it will be easy to determine the start point, intermediaries, and the end point of a given process. In the process, it will be easy to determine any irregularities that might be present and hence propose corrective measures to ensure effective and efficient operation. The main aim of an audit process is to detect any flaws and irregularities in the operations of a given entity and hence suggest means through which operations can be improved. It is evident, however, that the best individuals to come up with corrective mechanisms to specific systems are those who operate them on a regular basis (Liesch et al 2006). It is due to this fact this audit process will specifically ask the personnel it will interview the possible means through which specific systems can be improved. This will increase the chances of coming up with long term solution to systems problems that the firm might be facing especially after the hacking incident. In the course of this process, documents of interest include financial statements, account entries, and system maintenance records. These documents will be vital in providing the necessary information that will be used in this audit. Conclusion and Recommendations Based on the business and computerised environment of ExxonMobil as well as the risks that have been identified, this audit report recommends the following: The firm needs to develop and coordinate effective and efficient mechanisms to share vital information that might be a threat to the overall financial and operational control systems. Research and collaborate with communities of best practice to come up with technological advancements (hardware and software) to combat individual and organized cybercrimes that might affect the overall financial position and operational efficiency of the firm. The firm needs to develop a strong internal information system audit system that will frequently monitor the performance of all information systems to detect any form of fraud or irregularities to prevent fatal operational and financial outcomes. Partner up with external firms to develop strong contro l mechanisms as well as improve the existing ones. Critically monitor the operational and financial systems and operations to ensure that the firm is compliant to the set policies, procedures, regulations and laws. These considerations are effective to ExxonMobil since they will ensure that the firm’s operation is effective and efficient by reducing the risk of attack from hackers. At the same time, the high level of information system awareness that the firm will have will also be influential in preventing other forms of risks that the firm might be exposed to in its normal operations. These recommendations thus will ensure that the firm realises it’s set operational goals and objectives and hence will be profitable and sustainable in the short run and in the long run. References Cohen, W and Levinthal, D, 2010, ‘Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation’ , Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 128-52. Douglas, D, 2 006, ‘Intransitivities of managerial decisions: a grounded theory case’’, Management Decision’, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 259-75. Eisenhardt, K, 2009, ‘Building theories from case study research’’, Academy of Management Review’, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 532-50. Fischhoff, B., Watson, S. and Hope, C, 2014, ‘Defining risk’, Policy Sciences, Vol. 17, pp. 123-39. Grant, R, 2009, ‘Toward a knowledge-based theory of the firm’, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, pp. 109-22. Hall, J, 2010, Information technology audit and Assurance, Cengage Learning, New York. Liesch, P., Steen, J., Knight, G. and Czinkota, M, 2006, ‘Problematizing the internationalization decision: terrorism-induced risk’, Management Decision, Vol. 44 No. 6, pp. 809-26. Marshall, C., Prusak, L. and Shpilberg, D, 2011, ‘Financial risk and the need for superior knowledge management’, California Management Review, Vol. 38 No. 3, p p. 77-102. Mischen, P and Jackson, S, 2008, ‘Connecting the dots: applying complexity theory, knowledge management and social network analysis to policy implementation’, Public Administration Quarterly, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 314-39. Neef, D, 2005, ‘Managing corporate risk through better knowledge management’, The Learning Organization, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 112-24. Riley, M, 2011, ‘Exxon, Shell Said to Have Been Hacked Via Chinese Servers’, BloombergBusiness. Web. Seidl, D, 2007, ‘The dark side of knowledge’, Emergence: Complexity and Organization, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 16-29. Sherif, K, 2006, ‘An adaptive strategy for managing knowledge in organizations’, Journal of  Knowledge Management, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 72-80. This report on ExxonMobil Information Systems was written and submitted by user Vivienne Hull to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Private School Application Essay Tips

Private School Application Essay Tips Applying to private school means completing an application, a process with many components. There are short answer questions, forms to fill out, teacher recommendations to collect, standardized tests to take, interviews that need to be scheduled, and an application essay that needs to be written. The essay, for some applicants, can be one of the most stressful parts of the application process. These eight private school application essay tips just might help you produce the best essay youve ever written, which could increase your chances of getting accepted at your dream school.   1. Read the directions. This seems obvious, but hear me out. Reading the directions carefully can help ensure that you accomplish the task at hand. While most directions will be straightforward, you never know if the school is going to ask you to address specific questions on the given topic. Some schools also require that you write more than one essay, and if you just assume you get to pick from the three options when you were actually supposed to write three short essays, well  that is certainly a problem. Pay attention to word counts that might be given, too. 2. Be thoughtful in your writing sample. Leading off from that last sentence of bullet one, pay attention to the requested word count, you need to be thoughtful in how you approach the assignment. Word counts are there for a reason. One, to make sure that you give enough detail to actually say something meaningful. Dont cram in a bunch of unnecessary words just to make it longer.   Consider this essay prompt: Who is someone you admire and why?  If you simply say, I admire my mom because she is great, what does that tell your reader? Nothing useful! Sure, you answered the question, but what thought went into the response? A minimum word count is going to make you actually put some more effort into the details. Make sure that as you write to reach the word count that you arent just putting random words down that dont add to your essay. You need to actually put some effort into writing a good story - yes, youre telling a story in your essay. It should be interesting to read.   Also, remember that writing to a specific word count doesnt mean that you should just stop when you hit the required 250 words either. Few schools will penalize you for going over or under a word count slightly  but dont obliterate the word count. Schools provide these as guidelines to get you to put in some effort to your work, but also prevent you from going overboard. No admission officer wants to read your 30-page memoir as part of your application, no matter how interesting it may be; honestly, they dont have the time. But, they do want a brief story that helps them get to know you as an applicant.   3.   Write about something that matters to you. Most private schools give you an option of essay writing prompts. Dont choose the one that you think you should choose; instead, opt for the writing prompt that most interests you. If youre invested in the topic, passionate about it even, then that will show through in your writing sample. This is your chance to show who you are as a person, share a meaningful experience, memory, dream or hobby, which can set you apart from the other applicants, and thats important.   Admission committee members are going to read hundreds, if not thousands, of essays from prospective students. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you want to read the same type of essay over and over? Or would you hope to find an essay from a student thats a little different and tells a great story? The more interested you are in the topic, the more interesting your final product will be for the admission committee to read.    4. Write Well. This should be obvious, but it must be stated that this essay should be written well, using proper grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. Know the difference between your and youre; its and its; and there, their, and theyre. Dont use slang, acronyms, or text-speak.   5. Write. Edit/Revise. Read it Out Loud. Repeat.   Dont settle on  the first words you put down on paper (or type on your screen). Read your admission essay carefully, review it, think about it.  Is it interesting? Does it flow well? Does it address the writing prompt and answer any questions that were asked? If you need to, make a checklist of things you need to accomplish with your essay and make sure when you review it that youre actually meeting each requirement. To ensure that your essay flows well, a great trick is to read it out loud, even to yourself. If you stumble while reading it out loud or struggle with what youre trying to get across, thats a sign that you need to revise. When you recite the essay, you should easily move from word to word, sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph.   6. Get a Second Opinion. Ask a friend, parent or teacher to read your essay and give an opinion. Ask them if it reflects you as a person accurately and if you truly completed the requirements on your checklist. Did you address the writing prompt and answer any questions that were asked?   Also get a second opinion on the writing style and tone. Does it sound like you? The essay is your chance to showcase your own unique writing style, tone of voice, personality, and interests. If you write a stock essay that feels cookie cutter and overly formal in nature, the admission committee isnt going to get a clear idea of who you are as an applicant. Make sure the essay you write is genuine.   7. Make sure the work is truly yours.   Taking the lead from the last bullet, make sure your  essay is genuine. This is extremely important. Teachers, parents, admission consultants, secondary school counselors, and friends can all weigh in on it, but the writing needs to be 100% yours. Advice, editing, and proofreading are all fine, but if someone else is crafting your sentences and thoughts for you, youre misleading the admission committee. Believe it or not, if your application doesnt accurately reflect you as an individual, you can jeopardize your future at the school. If you apply using an essay you didnt write (and makes your writing skills look better than they actually are), the school will eventually find out. How? Because its school, and youre eventually going to have to write an essay for your classes. Your teachers will quickly assess your writing abilities and if they dont line up with what you presented in your application, there will be an issue. The private school youve been accepted to may even dismiss you as a student if youre deemed to be dishonest and not capable of managing the academic expectations.   Basically, applying under false pretenses and passing off someone elses work as yours is a major problem. Using someone elses writing  is not only  misleading but can also be considered plagiarism. Dont google sample admission essays  and copy what someone else has done. Schools take plagiarism seriously, and starting off your application like this  isnt going to help.   8. Proofread. Last but not least, proofread, proofread, proofread. Then have someone else proofread. The last thing you want to do is spend all this time and effort to create an awesome private school application essay and then discover that you misspelled a bunch of words or left out a word somewhere and ruin what could have been an awesome essay with some accidental mistakes. Dont just rely on spellcheck either. The computer recognizes both that and than as properly spelled words, but they certainly arent interchangeable.   Good luck!

Appropriateness of Assessment Tools for the Achievement Of Literacy Essay

Appropriateness of Assessment Tools for the Achievement Of Literacy Goals - Essay Example The level of literacy that an individual should acquire is a matter of personal choice depending on his or her inclination and the role that he or she will be required to play in society. This offers scope for learning choices with regards to the tools of learning. This compels the teacher to personalize his or her pedagogy to meet the needs of the individual learner in the group. Training in literacy should be connected to actual use of it in real-time situations. The social context in which we live is democratic and multicultural and literacy training should take into consideration these aspects of our society. A comprehensive literacy assessment should test whether these tasks are fulfilled in actual end product of instruction. Based on the realization students develop on a dynamic continuum and they have different rates of progress, teaching should be tailor made to suit the needs of individual learner. Dr.Bonnie Campbell Hill has analyzed the levels of achievable benchmarks for different age groups and the level of competencies that students should have in that age. By bringing also the parents as active partners he has reiterated the concept that learning is a social activity that extends beyond the four walls of the classroom. The benchmark books are chosen by Dr.Hill to give the student a chance to relish reading and experience success (Hill, 2001). Page 3 Assuming that we have a curriculum that is apt for the American student, the effectiveness of the learning process will depend on the tools of assessment that are employed by the teacher. Standardized tests are inadequate as diagnostic tools. This is because they provide only final answers, record scores in numbers, and are administered to a group. They do not give any clue to the skill of the learner in problem solving. Standardized tests do not accommodate the individual differences of the learners. American society is multi-ethnic and standardized tests do not take into account this aspect of our culture. According to Wagner, Assessment methods do not need to be major entrepreneurial enterprises, but rather just robust enough to answer key policy questions at the national and local levels (Wagner, 2003). In order to make learning effective the approach should be primarily learner centered. The child, its parents, the community and the need of the American Society for resources should be the main factors of consideration. The education research around the globe has developed what is called the authentic literacy testing movement and Page 4 American educators have whole-heartedly embraced this methodology because of its interface with the American reality. One important tool that can deliver results is the student portfolio. In this method learner's activities are documented throughout. These include short paragraphs, essays, longer writing samples as well as collections of student-authored books, videotapes of plays written and produced by the class. This portfolio does not capture a moment of student's performance; it gives a wider view of the stage-by-stage