MIS

1. MIS By: Dr. Shawn Lim

2. Information Systems • Why Do People Need Information? • Individuals - Entertainment and enlightenment • Businesses - Decision making, problem solving and control MIS 715 Eaton Fall 2001

3. Data, Information, and Systems • Data vs. Information • Data • A “given,” or fact; a number, a statement, or a picture • Represents something in the real world • The raw materials in the production of information • Information • Data that have meaning within a context • Data in relationships • Data after manipulation

4. Data, Information,and Systems • Data Manipulation • Example: customer survey • Reading through data collected from a customer survey with questions in various categories would be time-consuming and not very helpful. • When manipulated, the surveys may provide useful information.

5. Data, Information,and Systems • Generating Information • Computer-based ISs take data as raw material, process it, and produce information as output.

6. Data, Information, and Systems • What Is a System? • System: A set of components that work together to achieve a common goal • Subsystem: One part of a system where the products of more than one system are combined to reach an ultimate goal • Closed system: Stand-alone system that has no contact with other systems • Open system: System that interfaces with other systems MIS 715 Eaton Fall 2001

7. Data, Information, and Systems • The Four Stages of Data Processing • Input: Data is collected and entered into computer. • Data processing: Data is manipulated into information using mathematical, statistical, and other tools. • Output: Information is displayed or presented. • Storage: Data and information are maintained for later use. MIS 715 Eaton Fall 2001

8. Why Study IS? • Information Systems Careers • Systems analyst, specialist in enterprise resource planning (ERP), database administrator, telecommunications specialist, consulting, etc. • Knowledge Workers • Managers and non-managers • Employers seek computer-literate professionals who know how to use information technology. MIS 715 Eaton Fall 2001

9. The Role of Information Systems in Business Today • Business firms invest heavily in information systems to achieve six strategic business objectives: • Operational excellence • New products, services, and business models • Customer and supplier intimacy • Improved decision making • Competitive advantage • Survival

10. The Role of Information Systems in Business Today • Operational excellence: • Improvement of efficiency of operation to attain higher profitability • Information technology tool to achieving greater efficiency and productivity

11. The Role of Information Systems in Business Today • New products, services, and business models: • Business model: describes how company produces, delivers, and sells product or service to create wealth • Information systems and technology a major enabling tool for new products, services, business models

12. The Role of Information Systems in Business Today • Customer and supplier intimacy: • Serving customers well leads to customers returning, which raises revenues and profits • E.g. High-end hotels that use computers to track customer preferences and use to monitor and customize environment • Intimacy with suppliers allows them to provide vital inputs, which lowers costs • E.g. J.C.Penney’s information system which links sales records to contract manufacturer

13. The Role of Information Systems in Business Today • Improved decision-making • Without accurate information: • Managers must use forecasts, best guesses, luck • Leads to: • Overproduction, underproduction of goods and services • Misallocation of resources • Poor response times • Poor outcomes raise costs, lose customers • IS provide real-time data for making decisions • E.g. Verizon’s Web-based digital dashboard to provide managers with real-time data on customer complaints, network performance, line outages, etc.

14. The Role of Information Systems in Business Today • Competitive advantage • Achieve higher sales and profit through using IS by: • Doing things better • Charging less for superior products • real time Responding • Using the internet is competitive advantage • E.g. Dell: Consistent profitability over 25 years; Dell remains one of the most efficient producer of PCs in world. • But Dell has lost some of its advantages to fast followers-- HP

15. The Role of Information Systems in Business Today • Survival • Information technologies are necessity of doing business

16. What are e-Commerce and e-Business? • Business-to-Consumer (B2C) • Selling retail products to consumers • Business-to-Business (B2B) • Selling at the wholesale level to other businesses • E-Business • Using Internet technologies to conduct any level of business • E-Commerce • Intranets • Most areas of MIS

17. The Central Tool of Modern Information Systems • Four Basic Functions of Computers • Accept data • Process data • Store data and instructions • Output data

18. The Central Tool of Modern Information Systems

19. Classification of Computers • Supercomputers • The largest, most powerful, and most expensive • Used by universities, research institutions, large corporations, and the military • Mainframe Computers • Less powerful and less expensive than supercomputers • Used by businesses with large amounts of data that need to be stored in a central computer

20. Classification of Computers • Minicomputer • Often used as the host computer in a network of smaller computers • Priced in the tens of thousands to a few hundred thousand dollars • Manufacturers: Compaq (VAX), IBM (AS/400), and Hewlett-Packard

21. Classification of Computers • Servers • Minicomputers used for specialized purposes on a network • Example: file server, printer server, database server, web server • Optimized for processing tasks and I/O with other computers

22. Application Software vs. System Software • Application: a program developed to address a specific business need; software for development of such programs. • System: programs designed to carry out general routine operations, such as loading, copying, or deleting a file.

23. Application Software • Custom-Designed Applications • Advantages: • Meeting the organization’s needs exactly • In-house developers are sensitive to the organizational culture • Disadvantages: • High cost • Production schedule subject to long delays • Incompatible with other organizations’ systems

24. Application Software • Packaged Software • Advantages: • Low cost • High quality • Vendor support • Immediate availability • Often tested at user sites (alpha sites and beta sites) before the final version is released.

25. Applications Software • Packaged General Purpose Software • Word processors • Electronic spreadsheets • Database management systems

26. Packaged Software • Multimedia • Can handle many different types of data such as text, voice, and image. • Powerful means of communicating. • Uses include education, training, research, and business.

27. System Software • Manages computer resources and performs routine tasks not specific to any application • Copying and pasting sections and files • Printing documents • Controlling hardware functions • Allocating memory • Developed to partner with application software

28. System Software • Operating Systems (O/S) • Most important system software • Developed for a certain microprocessor or microprocessors • Addresses technical details such as registers and RAM addresses. • Plays the role of “traffic cop” or the “boss” of computer resources.

29. The operating system mediates between applications and the computer, and controls peripheral devices. System Software

30. Computers operate on a number of layers, starting from the user interface and moving inward to the hardware. System Software

31. Popular operating systems System Software

32. Web Server Basics • The main job of a Web server computer is to respond to requests from Web client computers. • The three main elements of a Web server are the: • Hardware • Operating system software • Web server software

33. Types of Web Sites • Important - Determine what the company wants to accomplish with the server. • Estimate number of visitors connecting concurrently • Types of files to be delivered through the site • Types of service by the site: • simple development sites • Intranets • information-only sites • business-to-business portals • Storefronts • or content-delivery sites.

34. Development Sites (stand alone) • The simplest Web site • The least costly to implement • Can be developed with low-cost Web site building tools, • e.g. Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. • Testers can access the site through their PCs on the existing LAN.

35. Intranets • Corporate intranets • house internal memos, • corporate policy handbooks, • expense account worksheets, • budgets, • newsletters, • and a variety of other corporate documents. • Intranets are shielded from the Internet; • they do not require additional security software

36. Extranets • It’s intranets that allow certain authorized parties outside the company to access certain parts of the information stored in the system. • e.g. VPN, Secured Site (HTTPS)

37. Transaction-Processing Sites • Either business-to-business or • business-to-consumer electronic commerce sites • available 24/7; • High-reliability servers • Require spare server computers to handle high traffic volumes • Transaction-processing sites must also run security software.

38. Content-Delivery Sites • Content-delivery sites deliver contents • e.g. news, histories, summaries, and other digital information. • Able to be presented rapidly on the visitor’s screen • Must be updated frequently • Able to locate articles quickly with a fast and precise search engine.