chapter1:Information Systems: Concepts and Management

1.1   Business Processes

Business Process: a collection of related activities that produce a product or a service of value to the organization, its business partners, and/or its customers.

One functional area

Cross-functional

                                                                                

Business Process Management:

A management technique that includes methods and tools to support the design, analysis, implementation, management, and optimization of business processes.

1.2  Information Systems (IS): Concepts and Definitions           

IS process data into information

Get the right information to the right people at the right time in the right amount and in the right format.

IS: Collects, processes, stores, analyzes and disseminates information for a specific purpose.

Data: elementary description of things, events, activities and transactions that are recorded, classified and stored but are not organized to convey any specific meaning.

Information: data that is organized and structured within a context, and provides meaning.

Knowledge: information organized and processed to convey understanding, experience, accumulated learning and expertise as they apply to a current problem or activity.

Information Technology Infrastructure: The physical facilities, IT components, IT services and IT personnel that support an entire organization.

IT components consist of hardware, software, telecommunications and networks, and wireless communications.

IT services consist of data management, managing security and risk, and systems development.

IT personnel use IT components to produce IT services.

IT components are basically synonymous with the IT platform.

IT infrastructure consists of IT components, IT personnel, and IT services.

1.3 The Global Web-Based Platform

Best represented by the Internet and the World Wide Web

Internet (Net) :

Large network that connects smaller networks globally

Being connected to the Internet is often described as being online

World Wide Web – the Web , WWW:

A multimedia Interface to resources available on the Internet.

1.4 Business Pressures, Organizational Responses, and IT Support

Business Pressure : The business environment is the combination of social, legal, economic, physical, and political factors that affect business activities.

Significant changes in any of these factor are likely to create business pressure on the organization.

The three types of business pressures faced are: market, technology, and societal pressures.

Organizational Responses:

Strategic Systems

increase market share and/or profits

better negotiate with suppliers

prevent competitors from entering their markets.

Customer Focus

Retaining current customers and attracting new ones

Make-to-Order and mass customization

producing customized products and services

E-business and E-commerce

Buying and selling products and services electronically.

 E-business is a broader concept than e-commerce.

B2C , C2C, B2B

1.5  Why Are Information Systems Important to You?

Information systems are used by all functional areas in an organization

Finance and Accounting:

Forecast revenue and business activity

Determine the best sources and use of funds

Perform audits

Sales and Marketing:

Product analysis: developing new goods and services

Site analysis: determine the best location for production and distribution facilities

Promotion analysis: identify the best advertising channels

Price analysis: setting product prices to get the highest revenues

chapter2:Information Systems and the Modern Organization

Types of Information Systems

Computer-based information systems (CBIS) use computer technology to perform some or all of their tasks and are composed of:

Hardware is a device such as a processor, monitor, keyboard or printer.

Software is a program or collection of programs that enable hardware to process data.

Database is a collection of related files or tables containing data.

Network is a connecting system (wireline or wireless) that permits different computers to share resources.

Procedures are the set of instructions about how to combine the above components in order to process information and generate the desired output.

People are those individuals who use the hardware and software, interface with it, or uses its output.

Information Systems Inside Your Organization

Capabilities of Information Systems

n  Perform high-speed, high-volume numerical computations

n  Provide fast, accurate communication and collaboration within and among organizations

n  Store huge amounts of information in small space

n  Allow quick, inexpensive access to  vast amounts of information worldwide

n  Interpret vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently

n  Increase effectiveness and efficiency of people working in groups in one place or around the world

n  Automate semiautomatic business process and manual tasks

  An application program is a computer program designed to support a specific task, a business process or another application program.

Breadth of Support of Information Systems

Functional area information systems support particular functional areas in an organization.

Enterprise resource planning systems tightly integrate the functional area information systems via a common database.

Transaction processing systems support the monitoring, collection, storage, and processing of data from the organization’s basic business transactions.

Interorganizational information systems connect two or more organizations.  Examples are supply chain management systems and electronic commerce systems.

Information Systems Support for Organization Employees

Office automation systems typically support the clerical staff, lower and middle managers,

     and knowledge workers.  These people use OASs to development documents, schedule

     resources, and communicate.

Functional area information systems summarize data and prepare reports, primarily for

     middle managers.

Business intelligence systems provide computer-based support for complex, non-routine

     systems, primarily for middle managers and knowledge workers.

Expert systems attempt to duplicate the work of human experts by applying reasoning

     capabilities, knowledge, and expertise within a specific domain.

Dashboards support all managers by providing rapid access to timely information and

     direct access to structured information in the form of reports.

Porter’s Competitive Forces Model

n  Threat of entry of new competitors is high when it is easy to enter a market and low when significant barriers to entry exist. 

n  A barrier to entry is a product or service feature that customers expect from organizations in a certain industry. 

n  For most organizations, the Internet increases the threat that new competitors will enter a market.

n  The bargaining power of suppliers is high when buyers have few choices and low when buyers have many choices.

n  Internet impact is mixed.  Buyers can find alternative suppliers and compare prices more easily, reducing power of suppliers.

n  On the other hand, as companies use the Internet to integrate their supply chains, suppliers can lock in customers.

n  The bargaining power of buyers is high when buyers have many choices and low when buyers have few choices.

n  Internet increases buyers’ access to information, increasing buyer power.

Internet reduces switching costs, which are the costs, in money and time, to buy elsewhere.  This also increases buyer power

   Porter’s Value Chain Model

This model identifies specific activities where organizations can use competitive strategies for greatest impact.

Primary activities are those business activities that relate to the production and distribution of the firm’s products and services, thus creating value for which customers are willing to pay.  Primary activities include inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and customer service.

Support activities do not add value directly to a firm’s products and services, but support the primary activities.  Support activities include accounting, finance, management, human resources management, product and technology development (R&D), and procurement.

2.3 Why are Information Systems Important to Organizations & Society

n  IT will reduce the number of middle managers.

n  IT will change the manager’s job.

n  IT impacts employees at work.

n  IT provides quality-of-life improvements.

Traditional Major IS Functions

n  Managing systemr devdlopment and sistems projectManaging com0uter opdrations

n  Staffing, training, devAl/pinc IS skiLls

n  Providi.g technical services

n  Infrastructure planning, development, control

chapter4:

4.1 Managing Data

Difficulties in Managing Data:

1.Amount of data increases exponentially

2.Data are scattered and collected  by many individuals using various methods and devices

3.Data come from many sources (e.g. Clickstream data )

4.Data security, quality and integrity are critical.

4.2 The Database Approach

Database management system (DBMS) provides all users with access to all the data.

DBMSs minimize the following problems:

Data redundancy: The same data are stored in many places

Data isolation: Applications cannot access data associated with other applications

Data inconsistency: Various copies of the data do not agree.

DBMSs maximize the following issues:

Data Security: keeping the organization’s data safe from theft, modification, and/or destruction.

Data integrity: Data must meet constraints (e.g., student grade point averages cannot be negative).

Data independence: Applications and data are independent of one another. Applications and data are not linked to each other, meaning that applications are able to access the same data.

Data Hierarchy:

Bit: a binary digit, or a “0” or a “1” - The smallest unit of data a computer can handle.

Byte: eight bits and represents a single character (e.g., a letter, number or symbol)

Field: is a group of related characters (e.g., student’s name, age,  mobile number)

Record: a group of logically related fields (e.g., student in a university database)

4.3 Database Management Systems

Database management system (DBMS): a software that provides users with tools to add, delete, access, and analyze data stored in one location.

Relational database model: based on the concept of two-dimensional tables

4.4 Data Warehousing

Data warehouse: a repository of current and historical data to support decision makers in the organization.

Data mart: a small data warehouse, designed for the end-user needs in a strategic business unit (SBU) or a department.

4.5 Data Visualization Technologies

Data governance:  an approach to managing data across an entire organization.

Master data management: a process/method that provides an organizations with the ability to store, maintain, exchange and synchronize a consistent, accurate and timely ‘single version of the truth’ for the organization's core master data.

Master data: a set of core data [customer, employee, vendor, geographic location] that span all enterprise information systems.

Transaction data: data that are generated and captured by operational systems.

4.6 Knowledge Management

Knowledge: information that is contextual, relevant, and actionable

Explicit knowledge: codified (documented) in a form that can be distributed to others (CCE student’s handbook)

Tacit knowledge: a set of  insights, expertise and skills Knowledge that people carry in their heads, but difficult to write down in a document.