BUS 174:

INTRODUCTION TO
BUSINESS INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
Kelvin Prince Owusu

1
 Chapter One

COURSE INTRODUCTION
 Overview
• Course aim / objectives
• Intended Learning Outcome
• Course Content (Specific topics to be
covered)
• Assessment
• Expectations of Students
• Prescribed / Recommended Textbooks
Introduction to Information Systems 3
 Course Aim/
Objectives
1. To provide an understanding of the role,
principles and practice of information
systems within an organizational setting
2. To provide students with an understanding
of the strategies and techniques for dealing
with the inherent complexity in the
development of information systems
3. To introduce students to information
systems in the modern enterprise through a
survey of information systems technologies
and the way they affect management.
Introduction to Information Systems 4
 Intended Learning
Outcome
• On completing this course, you
should:
– Understand the fundamental
components and types of computer-
based information systems and their
inter-relationships.
– Be familiar with the basic
technologies that underpin
organizational information systems.
Introduction to Information Systems
 Intended Learning
Outcome
• On completing this course, you
should:
– Develop an understanding of the
requirements for building and
deploying effective information
systems.
– Be familiar with some of the security
and ethical challenges associated
with the development, deployment
Introduction to Information Systems
Course Content (Topics)

7
 Assessment
• Course assessment components:
1) Coursework:
(i.e. Presentation,Assignment, Mid-Sem
Exams,
Quizzes, Class participation….) 40%

2) Examination:
60%

To pass, students must obtain an overall

pass mark of 45% for all components
combined. Introduction to Information Systems 8
 Course Requirements

• Class Participation
– Preparation and engaged participation
at all class session are expected of all
students. This course depends on your
active and informed participation.
• Students need to have read the given topic
and be prepared with points for discussion.
• Your active participation is vital to your
success and the success of the class.

Introduction to Information Systems 9

 Course Requirements

• Deadlines
– Deadlines are sacred and firm.
– Failure to keep deadlines will
adversely affect your grade.
– All written assignments should be
typed. (Written assignments will be
assessed by content, format,
following directions, and correct
spelling/grammar)
Introduction to Information Systems 10
 Course Requirements

• Attendance
– Regular attendance and promptness
are expected at each lecture.
– The Lecturer is to be informed of
unavoidable absences prior to the
class meeting.
– The student is responsible for getting
Lecture notes and other learning
materials from the Moodle LMS.
Introduction to Information Systems 11
 Expectations of
Students
• To read prescribed textbooks, as
well as other relevant materials on
the world wide web.

• Students are expected to spend at

least 3 hours in private studies for
each hour in class.

Introduction to Information Systems 12

 Prescribed Textbook

• James O’Brien and George Marakas,

Introduction to Information Systems, 15th
Edition, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2009.

Recommended Textbook
• Patricia Wallace, Introduction to
Information Systems, 2nd ed, ISBN-10:
0133571750 Introduction to Information Systems 13
 My Contacts
• Office Location:
Rm 57, Hostel C Block
• Office Hours: Thursdays 2:00pm -
4:00pm
• Phone: 020 2625749/0246123758
• Email Address: [email protected]

Introduction to Information Systems 14

 Unit 1:
Foundations of
Information
Systems in
Business
 Learning objectives

1. Explain why information systems are

important in business
2. Identify the main components of IS and the
role that each plays.
3. Identify and discuss the major types of
information systems in businesses today.
4. Discuss the main role of IS in organizations.
5. Discuss challenges and ethical issues that a
business manager might face using
information systems
 Why Study Information
Systems / Information
Technology
• Vital component of successful
businesses

• Helps businesses expand and

compete

• Businesses use IS and IT

– To improve efficiency and effectiveness
of business processes
– To facilitate managerial decision making17
 What is a System?
• A system
– set of interrelated components
– with a clearly defined boundary
– working together to achieve a common set of
objectives
– by accepting inputs and producing outputs in an
organized transformation process

• Types:
– physical – solar, planet, sun,…
– biological – human body (respiratory, digestive,
…..)
– technological – computer, oil refinery,… 18
 Data versus Information

Monthly Sales Report

for West Region
ann
100 rles M Sales Rep: Charles Mann
200 C ha hoes Emp No. 79154
1 t S Item Qty Sold Price
s M
We 54 T TM Shoes 1200 $100
791

19
 Data versus Information
• Data are raw facts about physical
phenomena or business transactions
– Example:
• Sales data = date, name, quantities and amount

• Information is data that has been

converted into meaningful and useful
context for end users
– Example:
• Sales information = amount of sales by product
type, sales territory or salesperson
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 Sources of Data
• Primary
– firsthand observation
– experiment
– survey
– expert estimation

• Secondary
– organization’s database
– purchase orders / sales invoices
– publications (journals, commissioned reports,
newspapers,..)
– public sources (e.g. library, conferences, 21
 Characteristics of Information
• relevant:
– must pertain to the problem at hand

• complete:
– partial information is often worse than no
information

• accurate:
– erroneous information may lead to disastrous
decisions
22
 Characteristics of Information
• Current / timely:
– decisions are often based on latest information
available as what was a fact yesterday may no
longer be one today

• economical:
– the cost of obtaining information must be
reasonable

23
 What is an Information System?
• Organized combination of people, technology (i.e.
hardware, software, communication networks),
data resources and processes to transform and
disseminate information in an organization

• Information system involves the various

components working together to collect, retrieve,
process and store data / information to facilitate
planning, control, co-ordination, analysis, and
decision-making in businesses. 24
IS and Management Levels within an
Organization

25
Types of Information Systems

26
 Operations Support Systems
• What are they?
– Efficiently process business transactions
– Control industrial processes
– Support communications and
collaboration
– Update corporate databases

27
 Types of Operations Support Systems
• Transaction Processing Systems
– Record and process data from business transactions
– Examples: sales processing, inventory systems,
accounting systems, payroll systems, etc.

• Process Control Systems

– Monitor and control physical processes
– Example: the use of sensors/bluetooth/RFID etc. to
monitor chemical processes in a petroleum refinery

• Enterprise Collaboration Systems

– Enhance team and work group communications
– Examples: e-mail, videoconferencing, etc.

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 Ways to Process Transactions
• Two ways to process transactions
– Batch Processing:
• Accumulate transactions over time and
process periodically
• Example: a bank processes all cheques
received in a batch at night

– Online (real-time) Processing :

• Process transactions immediately
• Example: a bank processes an ATM
withdrawal immediately
29
 Management Support Systems
• What are they?
– Provide information and support for
effective decision making by managers

– It extends the information retrieval

capabilities of managers with query and
analysis functions for searching a
database, and generating ‘what if’
scenarios etc.

30
 Types of Management Support
Systems
• Management Information Systems (MIS)
– Provide reports and displays to managers
– Example: daily sales analysis reports

• Decision Support Systems (DSS)

– Provide interactive ad hoc support for decision
making
– Example: A what-if-analysis to determine where
to spend advertising money, Decision Trees,
Sensitivity Analysis etc.

• Executive Information Systems (EIS)

– Provide critical information for executives and
managers
– Example: easy access to actions of competitors 31
 Operational or Management Systems

• Expert Systems
– Provide expert advice
– Example: credit application advisor,
vehicle diagnostic systems, etc.

• Knowledge Management Systems

– Support creation, organization and
dissemination of business knowledge
throughout company
– Example: Intranet access to best 32
 Classifications of IS by scope
• Functional business systems
– Focus on operational and managerial applications of
basic business functions
– Examples: support accounting, finance or marketing

• Strategic information systems

– Help get a strategic advantage over its customers
– Examples: shipment tracking, e-commerce web
systems

• Cross-functional information systems

– Systems that are combinations of several types of
information systems
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– Provide support for many functions
 Information System in action
• Information is an organization’s most important
asset. Creating, capturing, organizing, storing,
retrieving, analyzing, and acting on information are
fundamental activities in every organization.

• IS cover a very broad scope and contributes to

many different activities in an
organization/business/firm. For example:
– 2012 Elections (Ghana) – biometric devices enabled
biometric voting
– Shoprite – uses IS to track shipment of goods as they
move from supplier factories to warehouses and 34
 Organizations and IS

1 3

6 4

5
35
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
 1. Managing operations
• Functions to deliver goods and services
• Meet compliance standards set by
governments and other regulatory
agencies
•• Industry-specific
Achieving operations
excellence in
operations can
provide cost savings
and competitive 36
 2. Customer interactions

• CRM systems build and

maintain relationships and
support all the processes
that underlie them.

• Web-based front offices and

online self-service
applications transform an
organization’s relationships
with its customers, freeing
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 37
 3. Making decisions

• IS support Data-driven decision making

– Draws on data that can be aggregated to
reveal important trends and patterns

• Business intelligence
– (i.e. information managers use to make
decisions). This information can come from
many sources beyond the organization’s own
operational systems
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 38
 4. Collaborating on teams

• Collaboration and teamwork have

considerable support from innovative
information systems that allow people to
work together at any time and from any
place

• Social networks

• Online communities
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 39
 5. Strategic objectives

• Competitive advantage
– gives a firm a lead over its rivals

• Strategy is important to businesses

and nonprofit organizations
– offer new services to customers / the
public,
– Streamline business operations,
– reduces cost, and
Copyright © 2018 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 40
– improves decision making
 6. Individual productivity

• Computer software to eliminate tedious

work
– Example: Word processors, Spreadsheets,
Databases, etc.

• Electronic devices
– Examples: Smartphones that combine
voice calls with web browsing, e-mail,
music, games,...
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 41
 GROUP DISCUSSION

Web conferencing has been available for

many years. In this market space,
products from Adobe, Cisco, Citrix, IBM,
and Microsoft compete with lower-cost
or free web-conferencing applications
from AnyMeeting, Yugma, and others.
1. What are some of the advantages
of using a virtual meeting space?
2. What are some of the Chapter 1 - 42
 IS components

1. People

2. Technology

3. Processes

4. Data

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 43

 1. People

• The human element plays a crucial role

in the success or failure of most
information systems

• Users

• Managers and staff

• Information technology team

• User-generated content
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 44
 2. Technology

• Hardware

• Software

• Telecommunications

Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 45

 3. Processes
• Set of activities to achieve a task
• Organizations implement IS to support,
streamline, and eliminate business
• processes
Business process
management
(BPM)
– focuses on
designing,
optimizing, and
streamlining
Chapter 1 - 46
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc.
processes, taking
 4. Data
• Raw ingredient for
every information
system

• Converted into
digital format,
integrated and
shared across
systems
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 47
 IS in business
• IS underlie most of the business activities
and processes that thread their way through
functional business unit such as:
– Marketing
– Finance
– HR
– Sales
– Law
– Medicine
– Manufacturing,……etc.
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 48
 Ethical issues
• Privacy breaches present major risk
• Reputations are far more vulnerable
– individuals can use the power of IS to
spread damaging information at lightning
speed

• Organization’s crisis management

teams must be on high alert for signs of
any online firestorms as teams have very
little time to take action before any
Copyright © 2015 Pearson Education, Inc. Chapter 1 - 49