Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction to
Information
Systems
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. List two impacts of information technology on business operations;
2. List the definition of information system and its five components in
writing;
3. List six categories of information systems; and
4. Identify the individuals involved in information systems.
INTRODUCTION
TOPIC 1
In this age, the success of a business depends on the information system. Many
organisations today use information systems to offer services with greater
satisfaction to customers, to access a wider range of information, to handle
business changes at a greater speed, and to increase the productivity of workers.
Based on a number of researches, an effective information system should be able
to exceed customer expectations and fulfil business needs.
1.1
TOPIC 1
ACTIVITY 1.1
In your opinion, what are the impacts of Information Technology on
the operation of an educational institution like OUM?
1.1.1
TOPIC 1
The above business process has a beginning and an end, three sub-processes and
a result. When a company tries to simplify operations, or tries to decrease
operational cost, or increase value to customers, the company is said to be
involved in business process re-engineering (BPR). In testing your understanding
of the BPR topic, please answer the following exercise questions:
ACTIVITY 1.2
1. Explain the meaning of:
(i)
Business profile:
(ii)
Business model:
TOPIC 1
TOPIC 1
Hardware
Functions
input
Examples
Input
Giving data
system.
Processing
Operating
system.
Output
Storage
the
to
the
computer
unit
and
TOPIC 1
Computers can be turned into useful tools if you know how to exploit them. To
enable computers to function more effectively and to diversify their functions,
you need the communication network to connect several computers together.
The network provides the hardware support to enable communication to be
established among each other. The communication network includes modems,
hubs, cables and other devices.
Software
Software consists of two categories the system software and the application
software.
-
Data
Data refers to the raw facts on any thing or entities like student names,
courses and marks. The raw data that has not yet been provided can be
processed to become more useful information.
Information is an organised, meaningful and useful interpretation of data
such as a companys performances or a student's academic performance.
Information systems change data into information, which is useful and
capable of giving a certain meaning to its users.
Figure 1.7 below shows an example to represent data and information:
Data
Name
Information
Salary (RM)
No. of employees = 5
Kassim
4,300.00
Jamilah
2,000.00
Muthu
2,500.00
Mary
4,000.00
Lai Mooi
1,900.00
Process
TOPIC 1
Based on the example in the above figure, we can understand that records
inside every attribute under the DATA item do not give any specific
meaning. Every data or record here is a raw fact. After going through
processes such as addition, ordering, combining, manipulating and so on,
many kinds of information can be produced. The information generated is
not limited to a certain form. It can be interpreted in many ways according to
the needs and wills of customers.
Process
Process or procedure explains the activities carried out by users,
managers and staff. Process is important for supporting a certain business
model available as written documents or as reference materials on-line.
Human
The main objective of an information system is to provide invaluable
information to managers and users, whether inside or outside the company.
Users can be broken up into three categories, which are:
-
technicians,
sales
TOPIC 1
So, what have you been doing so far? Do you understand what is contained
inside the information system's components? Now, try to answer the
following question.
ACTIVITY 1.3
1. Circle the words, which are the main components of an
information system.
Hardware
Users
Process
Software
Purchaser
Data
Network
Company
Information
System
Humanware
1.3
Now there are several approaches to solving a certain problem. There are also
several types of information systems, which are developed to overcome specific
problems, besides trying to fulfil the user's requests in general. In a large
organisation, solving business problems such as the management of staff salaries,
processing of business data and others is normally done by the use of large
computers with internal and external networks.
Every type of information system has a role to play. If you look at the functions
and the scope of usage, information systems can be divided into six main
categories such as those provided in Figure 1.8 below.
To understand the six main categories of information systems, Table 1.2 gives the
explanation for each category.
10 X
TOPIC 1
Management
Information
System
Explanation
TPS now uses the latest technology which uses the E-commerce
concept. This is a new challenge in the field of transaction
processing which begins to shift to the on-line transaction
processing system.
This system will take the information that has been extracted from
TPS and generate reports which are required by the management
for planning and controlling a company's business.
Useful format, and can be browsed easily; will mean that the
system has been specially built for the use of individuals who have
little time to spare, are less skilful in using the keyboard and less
experienced with computers.
TOPIC 1
Decision
Support
System
Office
Information
System
Expert System
11
This information system can imitate the way humans think and
consider in making a decision.
How are you now? Are you clear with the above explanation? To test your
understanding, try to answer the questions below without referring to any of the
given notes.
12 X
TOPIC 1
ACTIVITY 1.4
1. List the six main categories of an information system.
2. For each of the following problems, suggest an appropriate
information system category:
Problem
(i)
Information System
Category
Customers do registration,
rental and return of videos at a
shop which provides video
rental services.
1.4
TOPIC 1
13
Systems Owner
The systems owner bears the cost of system development and maintenance. He has
the right over the system, determines the interest over the system and determines
the policies over its use. The system owner is also responsible for system
justification and system acceptance. In certain situations, the system owner is also a
system user.
System owners always think of the return value, which can be obtained by
developing the information system. This return is valued from various aspects such
as:
What are the benefits that can be measured from the system?
14 X
(b)
TOPIC 1
Systems User
The system user is an individual who
uses the system for producing
something, or uses the system to help
him in his daily jobs. Directly, users
are the ones who get the benefits from
the system that has been developed.
Besides being the initiators for the new
information system request, users also
determine:
Opportunities to be exploited;
Business constraints to be
overcome by the system; and
(i)
Internal User
Employees who work in the
company to develop the
information system. Internal users
constitute the highest percentage
among those who use the said
system. They include the support
and administrative staff, the
technical and professional staff,
supervisors, the management and
the executives.
(ii)
Mobile User
Mobile users are the users who
often do jobs outside the company.
Examples of these users are
salesmen and sales representatives.
They often do jobs that require
travelling from place to place,
meeting customers, buyers and so
on. Organisations which have users
of this kind often have complex
information system designs
because the system that is
developed needs to accommodate
the information needed by users of
this kind. In fulfilling the
information needs of mobile users,
the information should be
accessible wherever they are.
External User
The information system can now
connect the system to other
individuals as users of the system.
Due to global competition,
businesses are redesigned to enable
connectivity with other
organisations, partners, suppliers,
TOPIC 1
15
Systems Designer
Systems designers are experts in the technical field who would design a system for
fulfilling the needs of users. They are responsible for manipulating the needs of
business users and the constraints in technical solutions. They design computer
files, databases, input, output, screen, networks, and programs that can fulfil the
needs of system users. They are also responsible for integrating the technical
solutions into the daily business environment.
As shown in Figure 1.10, every individual named above is responsible for one
element inside the information system work plan. Every element has a
perspective of its own, or a view that is different towards information
technology.
Systems designers understand the technological environment better when compared to
systems owners and systems users. They always provide alternatives and design systems
based on technological constraints at that time. Now, systems designers give more
attention to technical experts such as:
(d)
Systems Developer
Systems developers are the experts in the technical field who would develop, test
and produce a system, which can operate successfully. They build the system
components based on the design specifications of the system designers. In many
situations, system designers are the system developers. They use technology to
develop information systems.
Among the individuals who get involved directly in information system
development, you maybe ask what is the role of the systems analyst? In actual fact,
the systems analysts are really acting as facilitators for information systems
development. The system analyst has the expertise that is owned by all the above
16 X
TOPIC 1
individuals. They should feel comfortable with the views of all the individuals
mentioned above. For the systems owners and users, the systems analyst should
develop and update their views. The duty of the systems analyst is to ensure that
the technical knowledge of systems designers and developers are consistent with
the current business needs.
Will you become one of the individuals in the information system development
process, one day? Before this becomes a reality, try to understand the information
systems perspective, which has been explained above, and then try to answer
the questions below.
TOPIC 1
17
ACTIVITY 1.5
You are working in an information system-based company. You
have been asked to develop an information system for use in a
hospital
with
functions
involving
patient
registration,
appointments, patient information, pharmacy and the payment
division. Determine who are the system owner, system user, system
designer and system developer?
(i)
System Owner:
(ii)
System User:
18 X
TOPIC 1
Systems Owner
Systems Designer
Systems User
Systems Developer