INFORMATIO

N SYSTEMS
INFORMATION SYSTEM
 Information system is an organized combination of
people, hardware, software, communication network,
and data resources that perform collection of data,
process it and transform it to provide information, in an
organization.
 The information required from the information systems
at different levels of the organization hierarchy is
different in nature, like operational information,
management information, or information that supports
the decision making process.
 Information systems are vital for the functioning of
businesses and organizations.
DATA, INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE
 Data are raw facts. Data is isolated values which by
themselves do not have much significance.
 Data may be numbers, letters or characters, image
represented as graphic images and pictures, audio or
video.
 Information is processed, manipulated, and interpreted
data.
 It is the collection of data organized in such a way that
they have value beyond the data itself.
 Knowledge is an inference or conclusion drawn from the
information.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION
 Accurate: Information must not contain any errors. It
must be accurate.
 Accessible: Authorized users should be able to access
the information whenever required.
 Complete: Information must contain all important and
related data.
 Economical: Information should be economical to
produce both in terms of time and cost.
 Format: Information should be available in the desired
format.
 Flexible: Information should be flexible enough to be
used for different purposes.
 Reliable: Information is dependable and is generated using
correct data.
 Relevant: Information must be relevant so that it can be used
by the organization.
 Secure: Unauthorized users should not be able to access the
information. Access is allowed only to authorized individuals.
 Simple: Information must be easily understandable and
usable. Complex information is difficult to use and may not
serve its purpose.
 Timely: Information must be available when it is needed. Late
or outdated information is of no use.
 Verifiable: There should be a means to cross check the
available information
NEED FOR INFORMATION

o Information and decision making

o Information and Communication

o Information and knowledge

o Information and productivity

INFORMATION SYSTEM (IS)
 A system is a set of components that work together to achieve
a common goal. A system accepts input, processes it, and
produces an output.
 A system is composed of one or more subsystems.
 A system may be a closed system or an open system. A closed
system is a stand-alone system that does not interact with
other systems. An open system interacts with other systems.
 Information System (IS) is a set of inter-related components
that
 (1) collect data,
 (2) manipulate data,
 (3) disseminate data and information, and
 (4) provide feedback to meet an objective
COMPONENTS OF INFORMATION
SYSTEM
 An IS consists of four main components—Input,
Process, Output, and Feedback.
 Input is the activity of gathering and capturing raw data.
A process converts or transforms data into useful output.
 During processing, the input data is manipulated into
information using mathematical, statistical, and other
tools.
 Output is the generation and presentation of useful
information, usually in the form of documents and
reports.
 Feedback is an output that is used to make changes to
the input, or the processing activities.
CHARACTERISTICS OF IS
 Environment is anything outside the system.
 Boundary separates the system from environment. Any part
within boundary is the system and outside boundary is the
environment.
 Input is the data from environment to the system. The
system uses the input.
 Output is the information from the system to the
environment. The system uses input to generate output.
 Components are the subparts of the system.
 Interrelationships are the associations between components
of a system.
 Interface is a mechanism for interaction between different
components of the system.
INFORMATION SYSTEM
 The performance of Information System is measured by its
efficiency and effectiveness.
 Efficiency is a measure of what is produced divided by what is
consumed.
 Effectiveness is the extent to which a system attains its goals.
 The role of the Information System is expanding and evolving
continuously. In 1950s–1960s, the focus was on data processing.
Management reporting and decision support was provided during
1960s– 1970s and 1970s–1980s, respectively. 1980–1990s saw it
being also used for strategic and end user support. Lately in
1990s–2000s, there is a shift towards global internetworking.
 An information system can be manual and computerized. Here,
we shall focus on the computerized information system or the
Computer-based Information System.
COMPUTER-BASED INFORMATION
SYSTEM
(CBIS)
 Computer-Based Information System (CBIS) use
computer and telecommunication technology for the
generation of information.
 CBIS uses hardware, software, databases,
telecommunications, people, and procedures for the
collection, manipulation, storage, and processing of data
into information.
 They take raw data as input, process it, and produce
information as output.
CBIS
NEED FOR EFFICIENT INFORMATION
SYSTEM

 IS, for many businesses, provide an opportunity to do business

in a new way and thus gain huge profits and market shares.
 ISs facilitate the acquisition, transformation, and distribution of
information. ISs can improve decision making, enhance
organizational performance, and help increase profitability.
 The use of information systems to add value to the organization
can also give an organization a competitive advantage. It
provides significant, long-term benefit to a company over its
competition. ISs are used for strategic planning in a competitive
world. It allows changing the structure, creating of new
services, and improving upon the existing services.
 Damaged or lost data can cause disruptions in normal business
activities leading to financial losses, law suits, etc. ISs help an
organization to better manage and secure its critical data.
CATEGORIES OF INFORMATION SYSTEM
CBIS

 An organization structure can be shown as a pyramid

which is divided both horizontally and vertically.
 Vertically, the divisions represent the different functional
areas of the organization, like sales, marketing,
accounting, human resource, and manufacturing.
 Horizontally, the divisions are made according to the
operational level of the organization, hierarchically from
the base of the pyramid to the top.
OPERATIONS SUPPORT SYSTEM
 Operations Support System processes data generated by
business operations, and is required for the low-level
operations. The categories of operations support system
are:
 Transaction Processing System (TPS), and
 Office Automation System (OAS).
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEM
 Management Support System provides information and
support needed for decision making by the managers at
middle level and top level of the organization.
 Major categories of management support systems are:
 Management Information System (MIS),
 Decision Support System (DSS), and
 Executive Information System (EIS).

 In addition to the above information systems, there is

specialized information systems like—
 Expert Systems,
 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and
 Electronic commerce (E-commerce) system.
OPERATIONS SUPPORT
SYSTEM
OPERATIONS SUPPORT SYSTEM
 The operations support system provides information
about the day-to-day activities of the organization. They
support the operations of the organization, by keeping
track of the resources and the transactions.
 For example, in a banking operation, the operations
support system are used to keep track of current balance
of the customer; in a manufacturing unit, it helps to keep
track of the inventory of the items; and, in a sales unit, it
keeps track of the number of units of each item sold.
 Thus, transaction processing is the main function of the
operations support system.
TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM
 Transaction is a basic level of activity that is performed
during the business operations. It is the business-related
exchange of payments to employees, sales to customers,
and payments to suppliers.
 Examples of transactions are—withdrawal of money
from bank, booking ticket for an airline, selling of goods
to the customer etc.
 TPSs are used for routine, repetitive, and ordinary
business transactions, and transactions that are critical to
the daily function of the business
OFFICE AUTOMATION SYSTEM (OAS)
 OAS supports automation of the tasks in an office. It supports
general office work for handling and managing documents.
 It facilitates communication, both within the office, and,
between the office and its environment.
 It provides support for the traditional office operations like
managing the documents, sending messages for interaction,
arranging and conducting meetings, scheduling of the
projects etc
 OAS includes the communication systems required for
transmitting the messages, documents, images, video or
voice. For this, it uses the network and the Internet.
 It incorporates the e-mail facility, voice mail,
teleconferencing capabilities, accessing web sites etc
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEM
MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEM
 The purpose of the management support system is to assist
the managers at different levels in an organization, in the
controlling and the management of the business.
 Management support systems provide different kinds of
reports, such as summary report, sales report, and customer
balance report.
 They also assist the managers in the decision making process
by generating projected reports like projected sales report etc.
 Management support systems also provide information to the
executives related to the overall operations of the
organization, the overall growth, profits, its performance etc.
 Moreover, for any of the reports, it also provides a detailed
report specifying its internal details, if required.
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
(MIS)
 MIS is a collection of people, procedures, software,
databases, and devices that provides information to
managers and decision makers.
 MIS provides information to the managers to help them
make informed decisions. MIS supports the managers in
the decision making process and enhances their
productivity and performance.
 For example, MIS may generate information related to the
sales of a product in a month and the inventory status
during that month.
 It can also monitor the performance and maintain
coordination between the different functional areas, like
purchase and accounts payable, in an organization.
DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (DSS)
 DSS is a collection of people, procedures, software,
databases, and devices that supports problem-specific
decision making.
 DSS support the middle level managers in the decision
making process.
 They supplement the decision making power of the
manager with the information technology.
 DSS facilitate decision making by applying mathematical
or logical models and interactions to solve problems.
 For examples, a large number of mathematical and logical
calculations are required to be performed on data which
may be more than million in number, in order to generate
information that helps in the decision making process.
EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM
(EIS)
 EIS provides a generalized computing and
communication environment to senior managers to
support strategic decisions. It provides summarized
information in a convenient form to the top level
managers.
 EIS is used by the senior managers to identify a problem,
an opportunity, or a trend which affects the
organization’s future growth.
 The middle level managers use DSS to suggest solution
to the problem or analyze the opportunity.
SPECIALIZED INFORMATION
SYSTEM
EXPERT SYSTEMS
 Artificial Intelligence (AI) system is the people, procedures,
hardware, software, data, and knowledge needed to develop
computer that display the characteristics of intelligence. For
certain types of well-defined problems, AI systems can replicate
the human decision making.
 AI systems mimic the functions of the human brain.
 Expert system is an applied area of AI. An expert system is a
knowledge based system having two main components—
 knowledge base and
 inference engine.
 It uses the knowledge base to store relevant information, data,
rules, cases, and relationships, and, the inference engine gets
information and relationships from the knowledge base, and,
provides answers and predictions the way a human expert does.
ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
(ERP)
 ERP system is a computer software system that manages
and coordinates all the resources, information, and
functions of a business from shared data stores.
 ERP systems are integrated programs that manage all
business operations. For example, they coordinate the
planning, inventory control, production, and ordering.
 ERP systems integrate functions such as human
resources, supply chain management, customer relations
management, financial, manufacturing functions, and
warehouse management functions.
ELECTRONIC-COMMERCE (E-
COMMERCE)

 E-commerce involves any business transaction executed

electronically between parties.
 It uses Internet and Web for doing the business.

 It uses services like e-mail, workflow software tools,

Intranet, and, the e-payment services.
 E-commerce involves buying and selling of products and
services, electronically.
PROCESSING METHODS
PROCESSING TECHNIQUES
 All computers perform the three general tasks of Input –
Process – Output.
 Within this broad framework, the ways in which we use
computers to perform various tasks can be broken down
into different categories.
 The processing can be real-time, on-line or batch.
BATCH PROCESSING
 In a typical batch processing environment, large volumes
of data are received at a centralized data processing
department, usually in the form of typed or handwritten
forms.

 These source documents are then counted into batches

of say 50 or 100 and entered into the computer to be held
on a transaction file until they can be processed.
BATCH PROCESSING
 Batch processing is often carried out on mainframe
computers, which are also being used for real-time
processing.
 Since there is generally no immediate urgency for a
batch of data to be processed, this is often done at night
when the computer would otherwise be idle.
 Typical applications are payroll and billing systems.
REAL-TIME PROCESSING
 Real-time systems are on-line interactive systems for
controlling critical operations in real time, that is, while
events occur.
 thistype of system helps airlines to be operated efficiently.
 Seat reservation systems require powerful communication-
oriented computers supporting a network of terminals dealing
with enquiries and seat reservations, which are immediately
updated on the master file.
REAL-TIME PROCESSING
 The primary objectives of the system are to provide
instant information on demand
 Real-time processing means that the computer has to
keep pace with some external operation, processing the
data that it receives more or less instantaneously and
producing immediate results.
 Thus, real-time systems are online systems but with tighter
constraints on response time and availability.
REAL-TIME PROCESSING
 Real-time systems are used in a variety of situations and
generally speaking fall into one of two categories:
 Process control;
 Information storage and retrieval
PROCESS CONTROL
 Process control involves the control of machinery or
industrial processes by means of a computer.
 Sensors continuously monitor data such as temperature,
pressure, composition of substances and so on and the
computer reacts accordingly.
 Feedback is an essential element in most control
systems.
 Timing considerations are often critical and the term
real-time control system is sometimes used to indicate
this.
INFORMATION STORAGE AND
RETRIEVAL (‘INTERACTIVE
PROCESSING’)
 A different type of real-time system is one in which a
single user or a number of users needs to be able to make
queries and update information held in a file.

 stockcontrol systems where as soon as a sale is made the

invoice is printed out and the appropriate amount deducted
from the quantity in stock.
 A library system where books borrowed are immediately
recorded as being out to a particular person is another
example of a real-time system.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A REAL-TIME
SYSTEM
 A small volume of data is involved at any one time;
 Turnaround time is critical;

 Processing efficiency is subordinate to response need;

 The system responds to and often controls its

environment, so feedback is essential and processing
must keep pace with external events;
 High availability is required.
INTERACTIVE PROCESSING
 Interactive processing is another term used to mean that
data is processed upon entry and output produced
immediately.
ON-LINE PROCESSING

 A fast response time often demands the implementation

of an on-line system.

 For real-time processing, the input device (which may be

a terminal, a barcode reader, a device to read the
magnetic strip on a credit card, etc.) must be on-line to
the computer, that is, connected to the computer and able
to access information held on the computer.
ON-LINE PROCESSING
 The term on-line is also applied to files of data held on
backing storage such as disk.
 If a file is ‘on-line’ it is accessible at that particular time
to the program currently running.
 Data stored on flash disk which is lying on your desk is
‘off-line’!
CENTRALIZED PROCESSING
 Inthe 1960s when computers began to be widely
used in business and commerce, the trend was to
have a centralized data processing department
with a mainframe computer and a staff of
systems analysts, programmers, computer
operators and other data processing staff. All
data would be sent to this department for input
and processing and the reports would be sent
back to the department originating the request.
DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING
 A distributed system is one in which there are several,
autonomous, but interacting processors and/or data
stores at different geographical locations.
 In a distributed system processing is carried out
independently in more than one location, but with shared
and controlled access to some common facilities which
normally include file storage and information resources.
 Examples of distributed systems include networks
(LANs and WANs).
DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING
The advantages of distributing the processing include:

 Reduction in costs and delays in transmitting and

processing data;
 Reduced load on the ‘host’;

 Better local control and service.

END