Introduction to

Information System 1

©2008 Pearson Prentice Hall

 Introduction

• Information system (IS)

• A set of interrelated components that collect,
manipulate, and disseminate data and
information, and provide feedback to meet
an objective
• Examples: ATMs, airline reservation systems,
course reservation systems

Principles of Information
Systems, Eighth Edition 2
 Information Concepts

• Information is one of an organization’s

most valuable resources
• Information is different from data

Principles of Information
Systems, Eighth Edition 3
 Data, Information, and
Knowledge

Principles of Information
Systems, Eighth Edition 4
 Data, Information, and
Knowledge (continued)

Table 1.1: Types of Data

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Systems, Eighth Edition 5
 Data, Information, and Knowledge
(continued)

Figure 1.1: Defining and Organizing Relationships Among Data Creates

Information
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Systems, Eighth Edition 6
 Data, Information, and Knowledge
(continued)

Figure 1.2: The Process of Transforming Data into Information

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Systems, Eighth Edition 7
The Characteristics of Valuable
Information

Table 1.2: Characteristics of Valuable Information

Principles of Information
Systems, Eighth Edition 8
The Characteristics of Valuable
Information (continued)

Table 1.2: Characteristics of Valuable Information (continued)

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Systems, Eighth Edition 9
 The Value of Information

• Value of information is directly linked to

how it helps decision makers achieve
their organization’s goals
• For example, value of information might
be measured in:
• Time required to make a decision
• Increased profits to company

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Systems, Eighth Edition 10
 System Concepts

• System
• A set of elements or components that
interact to accomplish goals
• Components of a system
• Input
• Processing
• Output
• Feedback
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Systems, Eighth Edition 11
 System Concepts (continued)

Figure 1.3: Components of a System

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Systems, Eighth Edition 12
 System Performance and
Standards
• Efficiency: measure of what is
produced divided by what is consumed
• Effectiveness: extent to which system
attains its goals
• System performance standard: a
specific objective of the system

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Systems, Eighth Edition 13
 What Is An Information System?

Figure 1.5: The Components of an Information System

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Systems, Eighth Edition 14
 Input, Processing, Output,
Feedback
• Input: activity of gathering and
capturing raw data
• Processing: converting or
transforming data into useful outputs
• Output: production of useful
information, usually in the form of
documents and reports
• Feedback: output that is used to make
changes to input or processing activities
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Systems, Eighth Edition 15
 Manual and Computerized
Information Systems
• An information system can be:
• Manual
• Computerized

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Systems, Eighth Edition 16
 Computer-Based Information
Systems
• Computer-based information
system (CBIS)
• A single set of hardware, software,
databases, telecommunications, people,
and procedures that are configured to
collect, manipulate, store, and process data
into information

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Systems, Eighth Edition 17
Computer-Based Information
Systems (continued)

Figure 1.6: The Components of a Computer-Based Information System

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 Business Information Systems

• Most common types of information

systems used in business organizations
• Electronic and mobile commerce systems
• Transaction processing systems
• Management information systems
• Decision support systems

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Systems, Eighth Edition 19
 Electronic and Mobile Commerce

• E-commerce: any business transaction

executed electronically between parties such as:
• Companies (business-to-business, B2B)
• Companies and consumers (business-to-consumer,
B2C)
• Consumers and other consumers (consumer-to-
consumer, C2C)
• Business and the public sector
• Consumers and the public sector

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Systems, Eighth Edition 20
 Enterprise Systems: Transaction
Processing Systems and Enterprise
Resource Planning
• Transaction: any business-related exchange,
such as payments to employees, sales to
customers, and payments to suppliers
• Transaction processing system (TPS): an
organized collection of people, procedures,
software, databases, and devices used to
record completed business transactions

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Systems, Eighth Edition 21
Transaction Processing Systems

Figure 1.11: A Payroll Transaction Processing System

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 Information and Decision Support
Systems
• An effective TPS provides a number of
benefits to a company
• A TPS can speed business activities and
reduce clerical costs
• Data stored in TPSs is used to help
managers make better decisions

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Systems, Eighth Edition 23
Management Information
Systems
• Management information system
(MIS): an organized collection of people,
procedures, software, databases, and
devices that provides routine information
to managers and decision makers
• Primary focus of an MIS is operational
efficiency

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Systems, Eighth Edition 24
Management Information Systems
(continued)

Figure 1.12: Management Information System

Principles of Information Systems, Eighth Edition 25

 Decision Support Systems

Principles of Information
Systems, Eighth Edition 26
Decision Support Systems
(continued)

Figure 1.13: Essential DSS Elements

Principles of Information Systems, Eighth Edition 27

 Enterprise Resource Planning

• A set of integrated programs that

manages the vital business operations for
an entire multisite, global organization
• Can replace many applications with one
unified set of programs, making the
system easier to use and more effective

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Systems, Eighth Edition 28
Specialized Business Information Systems:
Knowledge Management, Artificial Intelligence,
Expert Systems, and Virtual Reality

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Systems, Eighth Edition 29
Artificial Intelligence

Figure 1.14: The Major Elements of Artificial Intelligence

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 Expert Systems

• Give the computer the ability to make

suggestions and act like an expert in a
particular field
• Allow organizations to capture and use the
wisdom of experts and specialists
• The knowledge base contains the
collection of data, rules, procedures, and
relationships that must be followed to
achieve value or the proper outcome
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Systems, Eighth Edition 31
 Virtual Reality

• Simulation of a real or imagined

environment that can be experienced
visually in three dimensions
• Immersive virtual reality
• Applications that are not fully immersive
• Can be a powerful medium for
communication, entertainment, and
learning
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Systems, Eighth Edition 32
 Information Systems in Society,
Business, and Industry
• Information systems must be
implemented thoughtfully and carefully
• Information systems face a variety of
threats from unethical people

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Systems, Eighth Edition 33
Security, Privacy, and Ethical Issues
in Information Systems and the
Internet

Figure 1.17: The Cost and Cause of Computer Attacks

Principles of Information Systems, Eighth Edition 34

 Computer and Information
Systems Literacy
• Computer literacy: knowledge of
computer systems and equipment and
the ways they function
• Information systems literacy:
knowledge of how data and information
are used by individuals, groups, and
organizations

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Systems, Eighth Edition 35
 Information Systems in the
Functional Areas of Business
• Finance and accounting
• Sales and marketing
• Manufacturing
• Human resource management
• Legal information systems

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Systems, Eighth Edition 36
 Information Systems in Industry

• Airline industry
• Investment firms
• Banks
• Transportation industry
• Publishing companies

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Systems, Eighth Edition 37
 Information Systems in Industry
(continued)
• Healthcare organizations
• Retail companies
• Power management and utility companies
• Professional services

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Systems, Eighth Edition 38
 Global Challenges in Information
Systems
• Cultural challenges
• Language challenges
• Time and distance challenges
• Infrastructure challenges
• Currency challenges

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Systems, Eighth Edition 39
 Global Challenges in Information
Systems (continued)
• Product and service challenges
• Technology transfer issues
• State, regional, and national laws
• Trade agreements

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Systems, Eighth Edition 40
 Information System Types

• Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

• Office Automation Systems (OAS)
• Knowledge Work Systems (KWS)
• Management Information Systems (MIS)
• Decision Support Systems (DSS)
• Expert Systems (ES)
• Executive Support Systems (ESS)
• Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)
• Computer-Supported Collaborative Work Systems
(CSCWS)

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 A systems analyst
may be involved with
Strategic
Level
any or all of these
systems at each
organization level
Higher Level

Knowledge
Level

Operational
Level

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 Operational Level

• Transaction Processing System (TPS)

• Process large amounts of data for routine business
transactions
• Boundary-spanning
• Support the day-to-day operations of the company
• Examples: Payroll Processing, Inventory
Management

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 Knowledge Level

• Office Automation System (OAS)

• Supports data workers who share information, but do not
usually create new knowledge
• Examples: Word processing, Spreadsheets, Desktop
publishing, Electronic scheduling, Communication through
voice mail, Email, Video conferencing
• Knowledge Work System (KWS)
• Supports professional workers such as scientists, engineers,
and doctors
• Examples: computer-aided design systems, virtual reality
systems, investment workstations

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 Higher Level

• Management Information System (MIS)

• Support a broad spectrum of organizational tasks including
decision analysis and decision making
• Examples: profit margin by sales region, expenses vs.
budgets
• Decision Support System (DSS)
• Aids decision makers in the making of decisions
• Examples: financial planning with what-if analysis, budgeting
with modeling
• Expert System (ES)
• Captures and uses the knowledge of an expert for solving a
particular problem which leads to a conclusion or
recommendation
• Examples: MYCIN, XCON

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 Strategic Level

• Executive Support System (ESS)

• Helps executives to make unstructured strategic decisions in
an informed way
• Examples: drill-down analysis, status access
• Group Decision Support System (GDSS)
• Permit group members to interact with electronic support
• Examples: email, Lotus Notes
• Computer-Supported Collaborative Work System
(CSCWS)
• CDCWS is a more general term of GDSS
• May include software support called “groupware” for team
collaboration via network computers
• Example: video conferencing, Web survey system

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 Integrating New Technologies
into Traditional Systems
• Ecommerce and Web Systems
• Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
• Wireless Systems
• Open Source Software
• Need for Systems Analysis and Design

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 Figure 1.2 Systems analysts need to be aware
that integrating technologies affects all types of
systems

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 Ecommerce and Web Systems

• Benefits
• Increasing user awareness of the availability of a
service, product, industry, person, or group
• The possibility of 24-hour access for users
• Improving the usefulness and usability of interface
design
• Creating a system that can extend globally rather
than remain local, thus reaching people in remote
locations without worry of the time zone in which
they are located

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 Enterprise Resource Planning
Systems (ERP)
• Performs integration of many
information systems existing on
different management levels and within
different functions
• Example: SAP, Oracle

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 Wireless Systems

• System analyst may be asked to design

standard or wireless communication networks
that integrate voice, video and email into
organizational intranets or industry extranets
• System analyst may also be asked to develop
intelligent agents
• Example: Microsoft's new software based on
Bayesian statistics
• Wireless communication is referred as m-
commerce (mobile commerce)

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 Open Source Software

• An alternative of traditional software

development where proprietary code is
hidden from the users
• Open source software is free to distribute,
share and modify
• Characterized as a philosophy rather than
simply the process of creating new software
• Example: Linux Operating System, Apache
Web Server, Mozilla Firefox Web browser

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 Need for Systems Analysis and
Design
• Installing a system without proper planning
leads to great user dissatisfaction and
frequently causes the system to fall into
disuse
• Lends structure to the analysis and design of
information systems
• A series of processes systematically
undertaken to improve a business through
the use of computerized information systems
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 Roles of the Systems Analyst

• The analyst must be able to work with

people of all descriptions and be
experienced in working with computers
• Three primary roles:
• Consultant
• Supporting Expert
• Agent of change

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 Qualities of the Systems Analyst

• Problem solver
• Communicator
• Strong personal and professional ethics
• Self-disciplined and self-motivated

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 Systems Development Life Cycle
(SDLC)
• The systems development life cycle is a
phased approach to solving business
problems
• Developed through the use of a specific
cycle of analyst and user activities
• Each phase has unique user activities

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 Figure 1.3 The seven phases of the
systems development life cycle

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 Incorporating Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI) Considerations
• The demand for analysts who are
capable of incorporating HCI into the
systems development process keeps
increasing, as companies begin to
realize that the quality of systems and
the quality of work life can be improved
by taking a human-centered approach
at the outset of a project

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 Identifying Problems,
Opportunities, and Objectives
• Activity:
• Interviewing user management
• Summarizing the knowledge obtained
• Estimating the scope of the project
• Documenting the results
• Output:
• Feasibility report containing problem definition
and objective summaries from which management
can make a decision on whether to proceed with
the proposed project

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 Determining Human Information
Requirements
• Activity:
• Interviewing
• Sampling and investing hard data
• Questionnaires
• Observe the decision maker’s behavior and environment
• Prototyping
• Learn the who, what, where, when, how, and why of the
current system
• Output:
• Analyst understands how users accomplish their work when
interacting with a computer; and begin to know how to make
the new system more useful and usable. The analyst should
also know the business functions and have complete
information on the people, goals, data and procedure involved

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 Analyzing System Needs

• Activity:
• Create data flow diagrams
• Complete the data dictionary
• Analyze the structured decisions made
• Prepare and present the system proposal
• Output:
• Recommendation on what, if anything,
should be done

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 Designing the Recommended
System
• Activity:
• Design procedures for data entry
• Design the human-computer interface
• Design system controls
• Design files and/or database
• Design backup procedures
• Output
• Model of the actual system

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 Developing and Documenting
Software
• Activity:
• System analyst works with programmers to develop any
original software
• Works with users to develop effective documentation
• Programmers design, code, and remove syntactical errors
from computer programs
• Document software with help files, procedure manuals,
and Web sites with Frequently Asked Questions
• Output:
• Computer programs
• System documentation

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 Testing and Maintaining the
System
• Activity:
• Test the information system
• System maintenance
• Maintenance documentation
• Output:
• Problems, if any
• Updated programs
• Documentation

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 Implementing and Evaluating the
System
• Activity:
• Train users
• Analyst plans smooth conversion from old
system to new system
• Review and evaluate system
• Output:
• Trained personnel
• Installed system

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 Figure 1.4 Some researchers estimate that the amount of
time spent on systems maintenance may be as much as 60
percent of the total time spent on systems projects

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 The Impact of Maintenance

• Maintenance is performed for two

reasons
• Removing software errors, and
• Enhancing existing software
• Over time the cost of continued
maintenance will be greater than that of
creating an entirely new system. At that
point it becomes more feasible to
perform a new systems study

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 Figure 1.5 Resource consumption
over the system life

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 Approaches to Structured Analysis and Design
and to the Systems Development Life Cycle

• Traditional systems development

life cycle
• CASE systems development life
cycle
• Object-Oriented Systems Analysis
and Design

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 Case Tools

• CASE tools are productivity tools for

systems analysts that have been created
explicitly to improve their routine work
through the use of automated support
• Reasons for using CASE tools
• Increasing Analyst Productivity
• Improving Analyst-User Communication
• Integrating Life Cycle Activities
• Accurately Assessing Maintenance Changes

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 Case Tool Classifications

• Upper CASE tools perform analysis

and design
• Lower CASE tools generate
programs from CASE design
• Integrated CASE tools perform both
upper and lower CASE functions

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 Upper CASE Tools

• Create and modify the system

design
• Help in modeling organizational
requirements and defining system
boundaries
• Can also support prototyping of
screen and report designs
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 Lower CASE Tools

• Lower CASE tools generate

computer source code from the
CASE design
• Source code is usually generated in
several languages

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 CASE Repository

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 Figure 1.7 Traditional versus CASE
systems development life cycle

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 Agile Modelling Development
Process

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 OOSAD Diagram

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 Which Development Method to
Use?

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 Summary

• Data: raw facts

• Information: collection of facts organized
in such a way that they have value
beyond the facts themselves
• System: a set of elements that interact to
accomplish a goal
• Components of an information system:
input, processing, output, and feedback
Principles of Information
Systems, Eighth Edition 79
 Summary (continued)

• Computer-based information system

(CBIS): a single set of hardware, software,
databases, telecommunications, people,
and procedures that are configured to
collect, manipulate, store, and process
data into information
• Transaction processing system (TPS): an
organized collection of people, procedures,
software, databases, and devices used to
record completed business transactions

Principles of Information
Systems, Eighth Edition 80
 Summary (continued)

• Management information system (MIS): an

organized collection of people, procedures,
software, databases, and devices that
provides routine information to managers
and decision makers
• Decision support system (DSS): an
organized collection of people, procedures,
software, databases, and devices used to
support problem-specific decision making
• Systems development: creating or
modifying existing business systems

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Systems, Eighth Edition 81
 Summary

• Information is a key resource

• Systems analysts deal with many types of
information systems
• Integration of traditional systems with new
technologies
• Roles and qualities of the systems analyst
• The systems Development Life Cycle
• CASE tools
• Alternatives to structured analysis and design
and to the SDLC

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