Introduction to Information Systems

System interrelated set of components that function together to achieve an outcome Three major components:

Input

Process

Output

It consists of the following components:

Purpose Subsystems Environment Boundary Connections Control Mechanism

Business System

Collection of policies, procedures, methods, people, machines, and other elements that interact and enable the organization to achieve its goals.
Collection of interrelated components that collect, process, store and provide as output the information needed to complete a business task.

Information System

Components of an Information System:

Work practice: methods and procedures used by people and technology to perform work. Information People Information Technology: hardware and software

Growing size of the organization and the number of competitors. Growing ability of computers to process large amount of data with great speed. Dramatic increase in volumes of data generated. Advances in communication technologies to permit faster data transmission. Increase in pace of business transactions. Much more sophisticated technology today.

Transaction Processing System (TPS)

Process large amount of data for routine business activities or transactions. Transaction: an event that generates or modifies data that is eventually stored in IS. Very important since they gather all the input necessary for other types of IS.

Management Information System (MIS)

Provide a standard reports for managers about transaction data. Work on the purposeful interaction between people and computers. Supports broader range of an organizational tasks: including decision analysis and decision making.

Decision Support System (DSS)

Are designed to help organizational decision makers indentify and choose between options or decisions. Provides an interactive environment in which decision makers can quickly manipulate data and models of business operations. Depend on a database as a source of data.

Office Automation System (OAS)

Support general office work for handling and managing documents and facilitating communication. Includes word processing, spreadsheets, desktop publishing, electronic scheduling, and communication through voice mail, email and video conferencing.

Expert System (ES)

Also called knowledge-based system Perform a task that would otherwise be performed by a human expert. Designed to take the place of human expert, while others are designed to aid them. Part of general category of computer applications known as Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Executive Information Systems (EIS)

Provide a generalizerd computing and communication environment to senior managers to support strategic decisions. Rely on the information generated by MIS and allow communication with external sources of information. Designed to facilitate senior managers access to information quickly and effectively.

1.

2.

The more specialized a system is, the less able it is to adapt to different circumstances. The more general-purpose a system is, the less optimized it is for any particular situation. But the more the system is optimized for a particular situation, the less adaptable it will be to new circumstances.

3.

4.

5.

The larger the system is, the more of its resources that must be devoted to its everyday maintenance. Systems are always part of larger systems, and they can always be partitioned into smaller systems. Systems grow. This principle could not be true for all systems, but many of the systems with which we are familiar do grow, because we often fail to take into account when we begin developing the system.

System sponsors/owners

Pay for the system to be built and operated and set the vision and priorities for the system. Who actually use the system on a regular basis to support the operation and management of the organization.

System users

System designers

Technical specialists that translate the business requirements into a feasible technical solution. Technical specialists who build, test, and deliver the information system.
People who determine the requirements that must be met by the information system.

System builders

System analysts

As a consultant

Address specific information systems issues within a business. Draws on professional expertise concerning computer hardware and software and their uses in the business

As supporting expert

As agent of change

Perform any of the activities in the SDLC and are present in the business for an extended period Advocates a particular avenue of change involving the use of information system.

Computers and how they work Devices that interact with computers, including input, storage, and output devices Communication networks that connect computers Databases and database management systems Programming languages Operating systems and utilities Software packages such as MS Access that can be used to develop systems

Integrated development environments (IDEs) for specific programming languages Computer-aided system engineering (CASE) tools that store information about system specifications created by analysts and sometimes generate program code. Program code generators, testing tools, configuration management tools, software library management tools, documentation support tools, project management tools, and others.

Have an understanding of the business organizations in general. Understand the type of organization for which they work. Some specifics the analyst needs to know about the company:

What the specific organization does What makes it successful What its strategies and plans are What its traditions and values are

Understand a lot about people since they usually work on development teams with other employees. Possess many interpersonal skills Understand how people:

Think Learn React to change Communicate Work (in a variety of jobs and levels)

Research on the following topics:

Traditional vs. Object-Oriented Approach Waterfall Model Prototyping Model Spiral Model Unified Process Extreme Programming Agile Modeling Rapid Application Development Joint Application Development