Introduction to Information Systems

1. Introduction to Information Systems

2. What is an information system? • An information system is an organized combination of people, hardware, software, and data resources that collects, transforms, and disseminates information in an organization. • Information system is an organizational and management solution, based on information technology, to a challenge posed by the environment.

3. Why study information systems? • An end-user perspective • Enhance personal productivity, and the productivity of their work groups and department. • Increase your opportunities for success: • be aware of the management problems and opportunities presented by the information technology.

4. Why study information systems? • An enterprise perspective: Information systems play a vital role in the business success of an enterprise. • Efficient operations • Effective management • Competitive advantage

5. Information System is a major functional area of business • A major part of the resources of an enterprise and its cost of doing business. • An important factor affecting operational efficiency, employee productivity, customer service, etc. • A major source of information needed to promote effective decision making. • An important ingredient in developing competitive products and services that give an organization a strategic advantage in the marketplace. • A challenge career opportunity.

6. Business Are Becoming Internetworked Enterprises • The internet and Internet-like networks (intranets and extranets) have become the primary information technology infrastructure that supports the business operations of many organizations. • Electronic commerce: • The buying and selling, and marketing and servicing of products, services, and information over a variety of computer networks. • Globalization: • Global markets, global production facilities, global partners, global competitors, global customers.

7. Techies might finally be able to move into top management • More Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are reporting directly to CEOs. • More CIOs are being included on management committees. • In a recent survey of executives at capital market firms, 89% believed that technology managers would assume greater responsibilities.

8. What Is Information System? • Fundamental roles of information systems • Types of Information Systems • Information System Activities • Components of an Information System

9. Fundamental roles of information systems • Support of business operations. • Support of managerial decision making. • Support of strategic competitive advantage: • Business process reengineering. • Competitive strategies: • cost strategies • differentiation strategies • etc

10. Marketing Production Operations Human Resource Management Functional Business Systems Accounting Finance Functional Business Information Systems

11. Targeted Marketing on the Web p 233 • Community: virtual communities • Content: advertising banner placed on various website pages • Context: advertising appears only in web pages that are relevant to the product • Demographic/Psychogrphic: income, age, education • Online behaviors: tracking techniques such as cookies

12. Push/Pull • Internet push marketing: • Email marketing • Web page personalization • Internet pull marketing • Product web page

13. Customer Relationship Management • It costs six times more to sell to a new customer than to sell to an existing one. • A typical dissatisfied customer will tell eight to ten people about his or her experience. • A company can boost its profit 85% by increasing its annual customer retention by only 5%. • The odds of selling a product to a new customer are 15%, whereas the odds of selling to an existing customer are 50%. • 70% of complaining customers will do business with the company again if it quickly takes care of a service snafu.

14. Retention and Loyalty Programs Marketing and Fulfillment Sales Cross-Sell Up-Sell TeleSales Store Front and Field Service Customer Customer Service and Support Contact Management Customer Relationship Management

15. Cross-Functional Enterprise Systems • Systems that cross the boundaries of traditional business functions in order to reengineer and improve vital business processes all cross the enterprise. • Share information resources • Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes.

16. Enterprise Resource Planning • ERP is a cross-functional enterprise system that integrates many of the business processes that must be accomplished within the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, accounting, finance, and human resources functions of a business.

17. Enterprise Resource Planning Integrated Logistics Production Planning Sales Distribution, Order Management Customer/ Employee Accounting and Finance Human Resources

18. Support of Managerial Decision Making • Structured decision • The information requirements are known precisely • The criteria for making decision are known • The quality of a decision can be measured precisely • Unstructured decision

19. The DSS Focuses on Semistructured Problems Manager + Computer (DSS) Solution Computer Solution Manager Solution Structured Semistructured Unstructured DEGREE OF PROBLEM STRUCTURE

20. Information Systems for Strategic Advantage Competitive forces model by Michael Porter Threat of New Entrants Bargaining Power of Suppliers Rivalry among Existing Competitors Bargaining Power of Customers Threat of Substitute Products

21. Competitive Strategies • Cost leadership strategy. • Product differentiation strategy. • Innovation strategy: Finding new way of doing business. • Alliance strategy: Establish alliances with customer, suppliers, competitors, other company. • Growth strategy: expanding, diversifying, integrating.

22. Strategic Roles for Information Systems • Improving business operations • Promoting business innovation • Locking in customers and suppliers • Interorganizational IS, EDI, automatic inventory replenishment system • Creating switching costs • make customers dependent on the continued use of innovative IS. • Raising barriers to entry • discourage competitors from entering a market

23. Locking in Customers and Suppliers Promote Business Innovation Improving Business Process Strategy IT Role • Use IT to improve quality • Use IT to link business to customers and suppliers Use IT to reduce costs of doing business Use IT to create new products or services Create New Business Opportunities Maintain Valuable Customers and Relationships Enhance Efficiency Outcome Strategic Uses of Information Technology

24. Types of Information Systems • Operations support systems • Transaction processing systems • Office automation systems • Management support systems • Management information systems • Decision support systems • Executive support systems • Strategic information systems • Can be TPS, MIS, DSS, etc. • Systems that help an organization to meet strategic objectives

25. Transaction Processing Systems • Support day-to-day business operations • batch processing, online processing • large amount of data, high processing speed, high reliability, accuracy, and security (fault tolerant) • Data: internal, historical, detailed

26. Examples of TPS • Order entry system • Billing system • Accounts receivable system • Accounts payable system • Payroll system • General ledger system

27. Management Information Systems(Information Reporting Systems) • Facilitate management control by producing summarized reports that compare actual performance against planned performance on a regular and recurring basis. • Management control: Ensuring that performance meets established standards.

28. Information System Activities • Input of data resources • Processing of data into information • calculating, comparing, sorting, classifying, and summarizing • Output of information products • Storage of data resources

29. Components of an Information System • Hardware • Software • People • Database

30. Hardware • Input devices • CPU and primary storage • RAM - temporary storage • Processor • Control Unit - decoder • Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU) • Machine cycle: • fetch instruction • decode instruction • execute instruction • place results in memory

31. Hardware • Output devices • Secondary storage • Communication devices

32. Hardware • Microcomputers • personal computing, workstation,network server. • Minicomputers • Departmental and workgroup systems, network server, workstation. • Mainframes • Enterprisewide systems, transaction processors • Networked computer systems

33. Local area network • Peer-to-peer network: • no dedicated server • allow file sharing with password protection • Client/Server network • at least one computer as dedicated server • improved security, performance • Network Operating System (NOS), Windows NT Server • Downsizing: replacing mainframes by networked micro/minicomputers. • Upsizing: replacing PC based systems by networked micro/minicomputers. • Distributed processing. • Client/Server computing.

34. Hardware Trends • CPU: Parallel processor systems. • Storage: • RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks): Arrays of disk drives that provides a fault tolerant capability by storing multiple copies of data on several disks. • RAID hardware/RAID software, Mirroring. • Erasable optical disk. • Input/output: video and multimedia input/output, voice recognition and response, optical and magnetic recognition. • Hand-held devices

35. Software • System software • Operating system • Application software • University’s registration system • Application development software

36. Operating system functions • User interface • Resource management (managing hardware) • Task management (managing the accomplishment of tasks) • File management (managing data and program files) • Utilities (providing a variety of supporting services)

37. Application development software • Low level language • High level language • Third generation • Fourth generation • Fifth generation

38. Compiler • Translator: Translate the source program to machine executable code. • Interpreter: Translate one command at a time. • VBScript, JavaScript

39. Object-oriented development tools • graphics-oriented user interface • component programming • event-driven programming • codes are reusable, • Examples, C++, JAVA, VisualBasic.

40. Portability Java: Write Once Run Anywhere Java Byte Code Java Source Code Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Java Byte Code (Intermediate Code) Executable Code

41. Microsoft’s .Net • Language must compliance with Common Language Specification, CLS. • Compile the language into Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) code. • The MSIL code is then executed in the Common Language Runtime (CLR), which conceptually is same as the JVM, where it is translated into machine code by a compiler.

42. Microsoft .Net: a new monopoly? • Web services: • A web service is a collection of functions packaged as a single entity, published to the network for other application to use. • Microsoft passport: • An internet authentication service that provides single sing-on to passport-enabled web sites and services. • Microsoft hailstorm: • A consumer-oriented, subscription-based internet services.

43. Groupware • Electronic messaging. • Information sharing • Users can access the information, change it, comment on it, and add new information (at different times) • Example: Lotus Note. • Document conferencing (WhiteBoard or Application conferencing) • Allow group members to confer on a document at the same time.

44. Groupware • Audio/video conferencing • Electronic conferencing • Combining document conferencing with videoconferencing. • Group scheduling .

45. People • Information specialists • programmer, system analyst, database administrator, etc. • End-user: • Menu-level end users • Command-level end users • End-user programmer • End-user computing

46. What Stimulated End-User Computing? • An increase in computing literacy • The information services backlog • Low-cost hardware • User-friendly software • General-purpose productivity software • Office automation applications • Group wares • Application development software

47. Traditional Communications Chain Database Administrator Systems Analyst Operator User Computer Programmer Network Specialist

48. IS and EUCThe End-User Computing Communication Chain Information Specialists Support User Communication Computer

49. EUC Risks • Poorly aimed systems • Poorly designed/ documented systems • Inefficient use of information resources • Loss of data integrity • Loss of security

50. Controls for end-user applications • Thorough documentation of user-developed systems. • A formal process for evaluating and acquiring new hardware and software. • Formal testing, security control for access, backup and recovery procedures for all user systems.