Information System:

An information system is an organized combination of people, hardware, software,

communications Networks and data resources that collects, transforms, and disseminates
information in an organization.

Concept of Information System: Meaning and Function

A computer-based information system (CBIS) is an information system that uses computer
technology to perform some or all of its intended tasks. Although not all information systems
are computerized, today most are. For this reason, the term “information system” is typically
used synonymously with “computer-based information system.”

Information system, an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing
data and for providing information, knowledge, and digital products.

The basic components of computer-based information systems are listed below.

The first four are called information technology components. The figure illustrates how these
four components interact to form a CBIS.

• The hardware consists of devices such as the processor, monitor, keyboard, and printer.
Together, these devices accept, process, and display data and information.

• Software is a program or collection of programs that enable the hardware to process

data.

• A database is a collection of related files or tables containing data.

• A network is a connecting system (wireline or wireless) that permits different

computers to share resources.

• Procedures are the instructions for combining the above components to process
information and generate the desired output.

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

Office Management System: Office organization and Characteristics

Information System of any office is designed based on the work flow in the organization, levels
of management activities and organizational functions.
There are four types of Information System based on the hierarchy of Management levels in any
organization.

Types of Information System:

• OAS is mainly used by clerical workers or front desk executives. They use Multimedia
software , Fax, Word Processing etc for basic operations.

• TPS is mainly used by first floor Managers. They prepare invoices, monthly bill, monthly
reports.

• MIS is used by middle level Managers like Branch Manager of any Bank. They use the output
of lower level systems and prepare monthly planning reports, target plans, yearly reports
etc.

• DSS is used by top management of the organization. This part is also called Expert System
since it may require the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence). They use the output from MIS as
Input and also input from the other sources and prepare strategic planning for the
competitive and fast business world. They prepare Investment plans, Budget plans for the
upcoming year.

Functional Information System is based on the various business functions such as

Production, Marketing, Finance and Personnel etc. These departments or functions are known
as functional areas of business. Each functional area requires applications to perform
all information processing related to the function.
The popular functional areas of the business organization are:

• Financial Information System

• Marketing Information System
• Production/Marketing Information System
• Human Resource Information System

Financial Information System

Financial information system is a sub-system of organizational management information

system. This sub-system supports the decision-making process of financial functions at the level
of an organization.

Marketing Information System

This sub-system of management information system provides information about various

functions of the marketing system of an organization. Marketing is another functional area of
the business organization, which is engaged in marketing (selling) of its products to its
customers.

Important functions of the marketing process include the following.

• The marketing identification function

• The purchase motivation function.
• The product adjustment function
• The physical distribution function
• The communication function
• The transaction function
• The post-transaction function

Production /manufacturing Information System

Manufacturing or production information system provides information on production

/operation activities of an organization and thus facilitates the decision-making process of
production managers of an organization. The main decision to be taken in manufacturing
system is Product Design

Human Resources Information System

This functional information system supports the functions of human resource management of
an organization. The human resource management function, in its narrow sense, it also known
as personnel management .The function involves:

• Manpower planning.
• Staffing
• Training and development
• Performance evaluation, and
• Separation activities

Characteristics of Information System are:

• Timeliness
• Accuracy
• Consistency
• Completeness
• Relevance

Benefits of Information System:

• It improves personal efficiency.

• It expedites problem solving(speed up the progress of problems solving in an organization).
• It facilitates interpersonal communication
• It promotes learning or training.
• It increases organizational control.
• It generates new evidence in support of a decision.
• It creates a competitive advantage over competition.
• It encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the decision maker.
• It reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space.
• It helps automate the Managerial processes.

Database Management System

A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of programs that manages the database
structure and controls access to the data stored in the database. In a sense, a database
resembles a very well-organized electronic filing cabinet in which powerful software, known as
a database management system, helps manage the cabinet’s contents.

Meaning of Data and Information:

Data Data Data

Processing

Information
Data is an unsystematic fact or detail about something, information is a systematic and filtered form of
data, which is useful. When the data is processed and transformed in such a way that it becomes useful to
the users, it is known as information. In general, data indicates the facts or statistics gathered by the
researcher for analysis in their original form. We quite commonly use the term ‘data’ in the different
context. Research process starts with the collection of data, which plays a significant role in the statistical
analysis.

Database and DBMS

• Database

A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed,

managed, and updated. It is the collection of schemas, tables, queries, reports, views and other
objects.

• DBMS

A database management system (DBMS) is a computer software application that interacts with
the user, other applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze data. A general-
purpose DBMS is designed to allow the definition, creation, querying, update, and
administration of database.

• RDBMS

An RDBMS is a type of database management system (DBMS) that stores data in a row-based
table structure which connects related data elements. An RDBMS includes functions that
maintain the security, accuracy, integrity and consistency of the data. This is different than the
file storage used in a DBMS. An RDBMS is a type of database management system (DBMS) that
stores data in a row-based table structure which connects related data elements.
An RDBMS includes functions that maintain the security, accuracy, integrity and consistency of
the data. This is different than the file storage used in a DBMS. A relational database is a digital
database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A software
system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system
(RDBMS). All modern database management systems like SQL, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2,
ORACLE and My-SQL are based on RDBMS. RDBMS defines the integrity constraint for the
purpose of ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability) property.

• Difference between DBMS and RDBMS

BASIS FOR COMPARISON DBMS RDBMS

Stands for Database Management Relational Database

System Management System

Data redundancy Exhibit Does not present

Keys and indexes Does not used. To establish relationship keys

and indexes are used in RDBMS.

Transaction management Inefficient, error prone and Efficient and secure.

insecure.

Distributed Databases Not supported Supported by RDBMS.

Example Dbase, Microsoft Access, SQL server, Oracle, mysql,

LibreOffice Base, FoxPro. MariaDB, SQLite.

4.2.3 Advantages of DBMS:

The DBMS serves as the intermediary between the user and the database. The database
structure itself is stored as a collection of files, and the only way to access the data in those files
is through the DBMS. The DBMS receives all application requests and translates them into the
complex operations required to fulfill those requests. The DBMS hides much of the database’s
internal complexity from the application programs and users.

The different advantages of DBMS are as follows.

1. Improved data sharing.

The DBMS helps create an environment in which end users have better access to more and
better-managed data. Such access makes it possible for end users to respond quickly to changes
in their environment.

2. Improved data security.

The more users access the data, the greater the risks of data security breaches. Corporations
invest considerable amounts of time, effort, and money to ensure that corporate data are used
properly. A DBMS provides a framework for better enforcement of data privacy and security
policies.

3. Better data integration.

Wider access to well-managed data promotes an integrated view of the organization’s

operations and a clearer view of the big picture. It becomes much easier to see how actions in
one segment of the company affect other segments.
4. Minimized data inconsistency.

Data inconsistency exists when different versions of the same data appear in different places.
For example, data inconsistency exists when a company’s sales department stores a sales
representative’s name as “Bill Brown” and the company’s personnel department stores that
same person’s name as “William G. Brown,” or when the company’s regional sales office shows
the price of a product as $45.95 and its national sales office shows the same product’s price as
$43.95. The probability of data inconsistency is greatly reduced in a properly designed
database.

5. Improved data access.

The DBMS makes it possible to produce quick answers to ad hoc queries. From a database
perspective, a query is a specific request issued to the DBMS for data manipulation—for
example, to read or update the data. Simply put, a query is a question, and an ad hoc query is a
spur-of-the-moment question. The DBMS sends back an answer (called the query result set) to
the application. For example, end users, when dealing with large amounts of sales data, might
want quick answers to questions (ad hoc queries) such as:

– What was the dollar volume of sales by product during the past six months?

– What is the sales bonus figure for each of our salespeople during the past three months?

– How many of our customers have credit balances of $3,000 or more?

6. Improved decision making.

Better-managed data and improved data access make it possible to generate better-quality
information, on which better decisions are based. The quality of the information generated
depends on the quality of the underlying data. Data quality is a comprehensive approach to
promoting the accuracy, validity, and timeliness of the data. While the DBMS does not guarantee
data quality, it provides a framework to facilitate data quality initiatives.

7. Increased end-user productivity.

The availability of data, combined with the tools that transform data into usable information,
empowers end users to make quick, informed decisions that can make the difference between
success and failure in the global economy.

4.2.4 Disadvantages of DBMS:

Although the database system yields considerable advantages over previous data management
approaches, database systems do carry significant disadvantages. For example:

1. Increased costs.
Database systems require sophisticated hardware and software and highly skilled personnel.
The cost of maintaining the hardware, software, and personnel required to operate and manage
a database system can be substantial. Training, licensing, and regulation compliance costs are
often overlooked when database systems are implemented.

2. Management complexity.

Database systems interface with many different technologies and have a significant impact on a
company’s resources and culture. The changes introduced by the adoption of a database system
must be properly managed to ensure that they help advance the company’s objectives. Given the
fact that database systems hold crucial company data that are accessed from multiple sources,
security issues must be assessed constantly.

3. Maintaining currency.

To maximize the efficiency of the database system, you must keep your system current.
Therefore, you must perform frequent updates and apply the latest patches and security
measures to all components. Because database technology advances rapidly, personnel training
costs tend to be significant. Vendor dependence. Given the heavy investment in technology and
personnel training, companies might be reluctant to change database vendors. As a
consequence, vendors are less likely to offer pricing point advantages to existing customers, and
those customers might be limited in their choice of database system components.

4. Frequent upgrade/replacement cycles.

DBMS vendors frequently upgrade their products by adding new functionality. Such new
features often come bundled in new upgrade versions of the software. Some of these versions
require hardware upgrades. Not only do the upgrades themselves cost money, but it also costs
money to train database users and administrators to properly use and manage the new features

Difference between Database and Traditional File Management

System
Flat file databases were a natural development early in computing history. The relational
database model was developed and implemented in the early 1970's, primarily by IBM. A flat
file database stores data in a single table structure. A relational database uses multiple table
structures, cross-referencing records between tables. Tables in both organize records in rows,
with each column containing a single piece of data in the record. In addition to the data tables,
relational databases use "indexes" to quickly find records based on search criteria. Relational
databases generally require a relational database management system (RDBMS) to manage and
access the data. Database provides more flexibility whereas flat file provide less
flexibility. Database system provides data consistency whereas flat file can not provide data
consistency. Database is more secure over flat files.

Data warehouse and its Architecture:

In computing, a data warehouse (DW or DWH), also known as an enterprise data
warehouse (EDW), is a system used for reporting and data analysis. DWs are central
repositories of integrated data from one or more disparate sources. They store current and
historical data and are used for creating analytical reports for knowledge workers throughout
the enterprise. Examples of reports could range from annual and quarterly comparisons and
trends to detailed daily sales analyses.

A data mart is a simple form of a data warehouse that is focused on a single subject (or
functional area), such as sales, finance or marketing.

Data Mining:
Data mining is sorting through data to identify patterns and establish relationships. Data Mining
requires big data for generating experience in some cases and application of AI to analyze and
present the data as required.

Data mining parameters include:

• Association - looking for patterns where one event is connected to another event

• Sequence or path analysis - looking for patterns where one event leads to another later event

• Classification - looking for new patterns

• Clustering - finding and visually documenting groups of facts not previously known

• Forecasting - discovering patterns in data that can lead to reasonable predictions about the
future (This area of data mining is known as predictive analytics.)

Data mining techniques are used in a many research areas, including mathematics, cybernetics,
genetics and marketing.

Web mining, a type of data mining used in customer relationship management (CRM), takes
advantage of the huge amount of information gathered by a Web site to look for patterns in user
behavior.

Cloud Computers (computing)

Cloud computers are the servers in Internet to provide different kinds of services like storage,
software, infrastructure to the users connected in network on the Internet channel. Cloud
Computing provides us means of accessing the applications as utilities over the Internet. It
allows us to create, configure, and customize the applications online. The term Cloud refers to
an application on Network or Internet. In other words, we can say that Cloud is something,
which is present at remote location. Cloud can provide services over public and private
networks, i.e., WAN, LAN or VPN. Applications such as e-mail, web conferencing, customer
relationship management CRM execute on cloud.

Cloud Computing refers to manipulating, configuring, and accessing the hardware and
software resources remotely. It offers online data storage, infrastructure, and application. Cloud
computing offers platform independency, as the software is not required to be installed locally
on the PC. Hence, the Cloud Computing is making our business applications mobile and
collaborative. There are certain services and models working behind the scene making the
cloud computing feasible and accessible to end users. Following are the working models for
cloud computing:

• Deployment Models
• Service Models

Deployment Models

Cloud can have any of the four types of access: Public, Private, Hybrid, and Community.

Public Cloud

The public cloud allows systems and services to be easily accessible to the general public.
Public cloud may be less secure because of its openness.

Private Cloud

The private cloud allows systems and services to be accessible within an organization. It is
more secured because of its private nature.

Community Cloud

The community cloud allows systems and services to be accessible by a group of organizations.

Hybrid Cloud

The hybrid cloud is a mixture of public and private cloud, in which the critical activities are
performed using private cloud while the non-critical activities are performed using public cloud.

Service Models

Cloud computing is based on service models. These are categorized into three basic service
models which are -
Infrastructure-as–a-Service IaaS

Platform-as-a-Service PaaS

Software-as-a-Service SaaS

Infrastructure-as-a-Service IaaS provides access to fundamental resources such as physical

machines, virtual machines, virtual storage, etc.

Platform-as-a-Service PaaS provides the runtime environment for applications, development

and deployment tools, etc.

Software-as-a-Service SaaS model allows to use software applications as a service to end-

users.