Title: Student Guide In Introduction to Information Systems Prepared By Prof Dr Abdul Hamid M Ragab Dept of Information Systems College of Computing and Information Technology King AbdulAziz University, Jeddah Ref. Book : Introduction to Information
1Student Guide In Introduction to
Information Systems Prepared By Prof
DrAbdul Hamid M RagabDept of Information
SystemsCollege of Computing and Information
TechnologyKing AbdulAziz University,
JeddahRef. Book Introduction to Information
Systems, 14e ,James A. O'Brien ,2008
2Learning Objectives
- Understand the concept of a system and how it
relates to information systems. - Explain why knowledge of information systems is
important for business professionals and identify
five areas of information systems knowledge they
need. - Give examples to illustrate how the business
applications of information systems can support a
firms business processes, managerial decision
making, and strategies for competitive advantage.
3Learning Objectives
- Provide examples of several major types of
information systems from your experiences with
business organizations in the real world. - Identify several challenges that a business
manager might face in managing the successful and
ethical development and use of information
technology in a business.
4Learning Objectives
- Provide examples of the components of real world
information systems. Illustrate that in an
information system, people use hardware,
software, data and networks as resources to
perform input, processing, output, storage, and
control activities that transform data resources
into information products. - Demonstrate familiarity with the myriad of career
opportunities in information systems.
5Case 1 Sew What? Inc. The Role of IT in Small
Business Success
- Sew What? provides custom theatrical draperies
and fabrics for stages, concerts, fashion shows,
and special events worldwide. - After launching the company web site, they
acquired clients from all over the world and
their revenue has been growing more than 45 per
year. - Sew What? runs most of its business with Intuits
Quick-Books Enterprise Solutions Dell PowerEdge
servers. - Recently, the National Federation of Independent
Businesses (NFIB) and Dell Inc. presented Sew
What? Small Business Excellence Award in
recognition of its innovative use of technology
to improve its customers experience.
6Case Study Questions
- How do information technologies contribute to the
business success of Sew What? Give several
examples from the case regarding the business
value of information technology that demonstrate
this conclusion. - If you were a management consultant to Sew What?
Inc., what would you advise Megan Duckett to do
at this point to be even more successful in her
business? What role would information technology
play in your proposals? Provide several specific
recommendations. - How could the use of information technology help
a small business you know be more successful?
Provide several examples to support your answer.
7Real World Internet Activity
- Search the Internet to help you evaluate the
business performance of Sew What? Inc. and its
competitors at the present time. - What conclusions can you draw from your research
about Sew What?s prospects for the future? - Report your findings and recommendations for Sew
What?s continued business success to the class. - Small businesses have been slower to integrate
information technology into their operations than
larger companies. - Discuss the reasons for this state of affairs,
identifying several possible IT solutions and
their business benefits that could help small
businesses be more successful.
8Why study Information Systems and Information
Technology?
- Vital component of successful businesses
- Helps businesses expand and compete
- Businesses use IS and IT
- To improve efficiency and effectiveness of
business processes - For managerial decision making
- For workgroup collaboration
9What is a system?
- A system
- Is a set of interrelated components
- With a clearly defined boundary
- Working together to achieve a common set of
objectives
10What is an Information System?
- An organized combination of
- People
- Hardware
- Software
- Communications networks
- Data resources
- Policies and procedures
- That stores, retrieves, transforms, and
disseminates information in an organization
11Information System (IS) versus Information
Technology (IT)
- IS is all the components and resources necessary
to deliver information and functions to the
organization - IT is hardware, software, networking and data
management - In theory, IS could be paper based
- But we will focus on Computer-Based Information
Systems (CBIS)
12IS Knowledge Framework for Business Professionals
13What should a Business Professional know about IS?
- Foundation Concepts fundamental behavioral,
technical, business and managerial concepts - Information Technology Hardware, software,
networks, data management and Internet-based
technology - Business Applications Major uses of the IS in
the organization - Development Processes How to plan, develop and
implement IS to meet business opportunities - Management Challenges The challenges of
effectively and ethically managing IT
14Fundamental Roles of IS in Business
- Support of business processes and operations.
- Support of decision making by employees and
managers. - Support of strategies for competitive advantage.
15What does IS do for a business?
16Trends in Information Systems
17What is E-business?
- The use of Internet technologies
- to work and empower business processes,
electronic commerce, and enterprise collaboration
- within a company and with its customers,
suppliers, and other business stakeholders. - An online exchange of value.
18How e-business is being used
19E-business use
- Reengineer internal business processes
- Enterprise collaboration systems support
communications, coordination and collaboration
among teams and work groups, e.g., virtual teams - Electronic commerce buying, selling, marketing
and servicing of products and services over
computer networks
20Types of IS
21Operations support systems
- What are they?
- Efficiently process business transactions
- Control industrial processes
- Support communications and collaboration
- Update corporate databases
22Types of Operations Support Systems
- Transaction Processing Systems
- Record and process data from business
transactions - Examples sales processing, inventory systems,
accounting systems - Process Control Systems
- Monitor and control physical processes
- Example in a petroleum refinery use sensors to
monitor chemical processes - Enterprise Collaboration Systems
- Enhance team and work group communications
- Examples e-mail, videoconferencing
23Two ways to process transactions
- Batch Processing
- Accumulate transactions over time and process
periodically - Example a bank processes all checks received in
a batch at night - Online Processing
- Process transactions immediately
- Example a bank processes an ATM withdrawal
immediately
24Management Support Systems
- What are they?
- Provide information and support for effective
decision making by managers
25Types of Management Support Systems
- Management Information Systems (MIS)
- Provide reports and displays to managers
- Example daily sales analysis reports
- Decision Support Systems (DSS)
- Provide interactive ad hoc support for decision
making - Example A what-if-analysis to determine where
to spend advertising dollars - Executive Information Systems (EIS)
- Provide critical information for executives and
managers - Example easy access to actions of competitors
26Operational or Management Systems
- Expert Systems
- Provide expert advice
- Example credit application advisor
- Knowledge Management Systems
- Support creation, organization and dissemination
of business knowledge throughout company - Example Intranet access to best business
practices
27Classifications of IS by scope
- Functional business systems
- Focus on operational and managerial applications
of basic business functions - Examples support accounting, finance or
marketing - Strategic information systems
- Help get a strategic advantage over its customers
- Examples shipment tracking, e-commerce web
systems - Cross-functional information systems
- Systems that are combinations of several types of
information systems - Provide support for many functions
28Challenges and Opportunities of IT
29Measuring success of an IS
- Efficiency
- Minimize cost, time and use of information
resources - Effectiveness
- Support business strategies
- Enable business processes
- Enhance organizational structure and culture
- Increase the customer and business value
- Whats the difference between Efficiency and
Effectiveness?
30Developing IS Solutions
31Ethical challenges of IT applications
32Ethical responsibilities
- What uses of IT might be considered improper or
harmful to other individuals or society? - What is the proper business use of the Internet
or a companys IT resources? - How can you protect yourself from computer crime?
33Challenges of IT Careers
- Outsourcing of basic programming to India, the
Middle-East and Asia-Pacific countries - Strong employment opportunities in other areas in
IS - Shortage of qualified IS personnel
- Long-term job outlook positive and exciting
34Career Opportunities in IS
35Job growth
- Among the fastest growing occupations through
2012 - Systems Analyst,
- Database administrators,
- Other managerial-level positions
- Network specialists
- Information security
36IS Function represents
- Major functional area of business
- Important contributor to operational efficiency,
employee productivity, morale, customer service
and satisfaction - Major source of information and support for
effective decision making - Vital ingredient in developing competitive
products and services in the global marketplace - Dynamic and challenging career opportunity
- Key component of todays networked business
37Case 2 Autosystems The Business Value of a
Successful IT System for a small Manufacturer
- Autosystems is an automotive lighting designer
and manufacturer located in Belleville, Ontario. - A few years ago it installed the ActivEntry shop
floor reporting system to move shop floor
information into the manufacturing planning and
control system. - They now have the ability to capture labor,
efficiency, production, scrap, etc., on time and
by work center, for every cell, and are able to
talk about that every day in their team meetings. - Production managers can review information from
all three plants.
38Case Study Questions
- Why did Autosystems decide to install the
ActivEntry system? Why did the company feel it
was necessary to integrate it with its TRANS4M
system? - Which three business benefits, of the many that
resulted from the use of ActivEntry, gave the
company the most business value? Defend your
choices. - What changes are already being planned to improve
the use of ActivEntry? What other improvements
should the company consider? Why?
39Real world activities
- Go to the Infor Global Solutions Web site,
www.infor.com, to find other stories that
describe the business value of manufacturing
planning and control systems. - Discover any common reasons for the success of
these companies with their systems? - Present your findings to the class.
- Search the Internet for examples of problems that
companies have had with manufacturing systems. - Discuss your findings and what solutions you can
propose to help companies avoid the problems you
discovered.
40Real World Group Activity
- Search the Internet for examples of problems that
companies have had with manufacturing systems. - Discuss your findings and what solutions you can
propose to help companies avoid the problems you
discovered.
41What is a system?
- A system
- Is a set of interrelated components
- With a clearly defined boundary
- Working together to achieve a common set of
objectives - By accepting inputs and producing outputs in an
organized transformation process
42Systems have three basic functions
- Input involves capturing and assembling elements
that enter the system to be processed - Processing involves transformation process that
convert input into output - Output involves transferring elements that have
been produced by the transformation process to
their ultimate destination
43Cybernetic system
- All systems have input, processing and output
- A cybernetic system, a self-monitoring,
self-regulating system, adds feedback and
control - Feedback is data about the performance of a
system - Control involves monitoring and evaluating
feedback to determine whether a system is moving
towards the achievement of its goal
44A Cybernetic system
45A business as a system
46Information systems model
47Components of an IS
- People Resources
- End users the people who use the IS or the
information from the IS - IS specialists the people who develop and
operate IS - Hardware Resources
- All physical devices used in information
processing - Machines, data media, peripherals
- Software Resources
- All information processing instructions including
programs and procedures - System software, application software and
procedures
48Components of an IS (cont.)
- Data Resources
- Facts about the business transactions
- Processed and organized information
- Databases of organized data
- Network Resources
- Communications media
- Network infrastructure hardware and software
- The Internet, intranets and extranets
49Data versus Information
- Data are raw facts about physical phenomena or
business transactions - Information is data that has been converted into
meaningful and useful context for end users - Example
- Sales data is names, quantities and dollar
amounts - Sales information is amount of sales by product
type, sales territory or salesperson
50IS Activities
- Input of data resources
- Data entry activities
- Processing of data into information
- E.g., calculate, compare, sort, classify,
summarize - Output of information products
- Messages, reports, forms and graphic images
- Storage of data resources
- Data elements and databases
- Control of system performance
- Monitoring and evaluating feedback
51Recognizing IS
- As a business professional, you should be able to
look at an IS and identify - The people, hardware, software, data and network
resources they use - The type of information products they produce
- The way they perform input, processing, output,
storage and control activities
52Case 3 Heidelberg, Honeywell and Eaton Using
IT to Build Smart Products and Services
- Today it will not be enough for a companies to
offer valuable services for their products but
they will have to provide smart services. - To provide smart services, companies must use
information technology to build smart products,
products with awareness and connectivity into the
products themselves. - Typically, smart products can detect that a part
is approaching failure and alert users, thus
giving the company opportunity to provide
maintenance services and enjoy the resulting
benefits.
53Case Study Questions
- Why should manufacturing companies build smart
products and provide smart services? What
business benefits can they gain? Provide several
examples beyond those discussed in this case. - What information technologies are used by the
companies in this case to build smart products
and provide smart services? What other IT
components might be used? Give examples of the
capabilities they would provide. - What are some limitations of a smart products and
smart services strategy? Give several examples of
challenges that a business might encounter, and
explain how it might overcome them.
54Real World Internet Activity
- Use the Internet to investigate how Heidelberg,
Honeywell, and Eaton are proceeding in their use
of smart products and services. - Discover if they are expanding this approach and
what benefits they are claiming for this
strategy. - Now expand your Internet investigation to other
manufacturing companies to find several that are
building smart products and offering smart
services. - What business value are they claiming for
themselves and their customers? - If this search is fruitless, select several
companies from your Internet research and explain
how and why they might employ a smart products
and services strategy.
55Real World Group Activity
- What security and privacy concerns might
consumers have about Eatons Home Heartbeat
service? - Discuss the rationale for these concerns, and
consider what could be done to reduce any threats
to security and privacy posed by such services
while also improving the value of this new use of
information technology.