Fundamentals of Information Systems

Chapter 1:Introduction to Information Systems

 Outlines
 Meaning and concepts of Information

 Data, Information and Knowledge

 Attributes of Information Quality

 The Value of Information (Importance of Information)

 Understanding Information System

 Information system flows (Input, Processing, Output, Feedback)

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 Information concepts

Information
 One of organizations most valuable resource

 Often confused with the term data

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 Data ,information and knowledge
Data
 Raw facts

 Data consists of raw facts, such as an employee number,

total hours worked in a week, inventory part numbers,
or sales orders.
Information
 Information is a collection of facts organized and processed so
that they have additional value beyond the value of the individual
facts.
Knowledge
 Awareness and understanding of set of information

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 Data , information and knowledge
Types of data

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 The value of Information
 Information plays a vital role in just about everything
we do in modern society.
 Information is facts, data, numbers, images, documents,
sound or act of a person to be delivered to the recipient
in order to explain, inform and verify that the recipient
may use such information for any particular purpose.
 In other words, information is knowledge that derived
from data, which have been transformed, interpreted,
stored and used for some purposes.

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 The value of Information
 With that information we can find out what we do not
know before and it will affect what we already know.
Besides, we can make a right decision.
 Decisions are impossible without information and users
are constantly seeking more and better information to
support decision making.
 It also can reduce the sense of doubt and a sense of
uncertainty about the information.
 For example, accounting information is very important
for a company to be able to determine the profit or loss
of the business.
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 Characteristics of Valuable Information
 To be valuable to managers and decision makers, information
should have the following characteristics
 Accessible
 Accurate
 Complete
 Economical
 Flexible
 Relevant
 Reliable
 Secure
 Timely
 Verifiable
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Characteristics of Valuable Information

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Characteristics of Valuable Information

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 Understanding Information system
What is information system?
 A set of interrelated components that collect,
manipulate and disseminate data and information
and provide feedback to meet an objective.
 Combination of hardware ,software
,infrastructure trained personnel(people),
data/information, procedure
 Businesses can use information systems to
increase revenues and reduce cost.

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IS examples

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 Components of IS
 Hardware
 Input devices
 Output devices
 Servers
 Personal computers
 Communication devices
 Networks
 Routers
 Switches
 links

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 Components of IS
Data/ information
 Organization data
 Customers data
 Data warehouse
 Data mining

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 Components of IS
 People
 The most important components
 The main cause of success or failure
 Software
 System software
 Application software
 middleware

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 Components of IS
 Process/procedure
 The flow –guideline- for the work instructions
 Same tasks may be done in different processes for different
companies.
 RACI matrix

Fig : Process example 16

 Components of IS
 RACI matrix

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 Information system flows
 As mentioned previously, an information system (IS) is a
set of interrelated elements or components that collect
(input), manipulate (process), store, and disseminate
(output) data and information and provide a corrective
reaction (feedback mechanism) to meet an objective.
 The feedback mechanism is the component that helps
organizations achieve their goals, such as increasing
profits or improving customer service.

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 Information system flows

 Input, Processing, Output, Feedback

Input
 In information systems, input is the activity of gathering
and capturing raw data. In producing paychecks, for
example, the number of hours every employee works
must be collected before paychecks can be calculated or
printed.
 In a university grading system, instructors must submit

student grades before a summary of grades for the

semester or quarter can be compiled and sent to students

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 Information system flows
Processing
 In information systems, processing means converting or
transforming data into useful outputs. Processing can
involve making calculations, comparing data and taking
alternative actions, and storing data for future use.
Processing data into useful information is critical in
business settings.
 Processing can be done manually or with computer
assistance

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 Information system flows
Output
 In information systems, output involves producing
useful information, usually in the form of documents
and reports. Outputs can include paychecks for
employees, reports for managers, and information
supplied to stockholders, banks, government agencies,
and other groups.
 In some cases, output from one system can become
input for another. For example, output from a system
that processes sales orders can be used as input to a
customer billing system
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 Information system flows
Feedback
 In information systems, feedback is information from
the system that is used to make changes to input or
processing activities.
 For example, errors or problems might make it

necessary to correct input data or change a process.

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