INFO 101 / ILP104 FOUNDATIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

An Introduction to Information Systems (IS)

Week 1 - Lecture Notes (Chapter 1 of text book)

Contents
Concepts of Information Systems (IS) Components of an IS Data vs Information Characteristics of Valuable Information What is a System ? What is a Model ? Computer-Based IS (CBIS) Technology Infrastructure Business Information Systems (BIS) Special-Purpose BIS

Concepts of Information Systems (IS)

IS are everywhere! e.g
? ATM cash withdrawal / deposit, check balance, transfer money to another A/c ? Internet online trading, searching, etc.. ? Touch N Go system, Movie Ticketing System ? HandPhone, PDA, ? scanners, bar codes,etc.. Can we live without IS ???

What is an IS ?
- a set of interrelated components that collect, manipulate, and disseminate data/information and provide a feedback mechanism to meet an objective. Components of an IS
collect manipulate disseminate

feedback

Components of an IS
? Input (I/P)
the activity of collecting, capturing or gathering of raw data. E.g to produce a paycheck for an employee
? No. of hours work, hourly rate

can be manual or automatic input device i.e. scanner, keyboard etc..

Components of an IS
? Process

cont

the activity of manipulating, converting or transforming data into useful outputs. involves calculations or comparisons E.g to produce a paycheck for an employee
? Multiply No. of hours work by hourly rate

can be done manually or with the assistance of computers

Components of an IS
? Output (O/P)

cont

the activity of producing useful information types of formats i.e. reports, documents. Output from one system can become input for another. E.g Sales order can be used as input to a Customer Billing/Invoice system. Output devices i.e. printers, display screens

Data vs Information
? Data
are raw facts i.e employees name, no. of hours worked, hourly rate, sales order (qty), etc represented by:? alphanumeric data - numbers/digits, letters, special characters, ? image pictures, graphic images ? audio sound, ? video movie pictures

Data vs Information
? Information
a collection of data that is organized in a meaningful or valuable manner. E.g A sales manager would prefer Total sales than individual sales of an employee

Characteristics of Valuable Information

? accurate error free ? complete e.g an investment report must include all important costs ? simple not very complex ? flexible can be used for variety of purpose ? economical not so expensive to produce ? timely past information is not valuable

What is a System ?
? a set of elements/components that interact to accomplish goals. ? E.g a College Elements Input Process Output Goals students teaching educated acquire professors research students knowbooks ledge

 cont ? Other elements i.e:

boundary the campus fencing feedback graduate performance from parents or public control academic standard set by the university authorities and external examiner. subsystems accounting, business, computing, engineering, etc..

What is a model?
? An abstraction that is used to represent reality (real systems) ? Why do we use model?
A real system can be very dynamic and complex. To study or experiment with such as a system can be quite difficult.

? 4 types of model: Narrative based on words, verbal or written descriptions i.e. reports, documents

. cont physical e.g a builder may develop a scale model of a new apartments to give potential buyer information about the overall appearance of the project. schematic uses graphs, charts, figures, diagrams, illustrations, pictures. mathematical used to analyze and solve problems.

Computer-Based IS (CBIS)
? a single set of hardware, software, databases, telecommunications, people and procedures that are configured to collect, manipulate, store, and process data into information. ? E.g a company payroll system, order entry system, inventory control system

Technology Infrastructure
? ? ? ? Hardware - equipments Software - programs Databases how data is organized Telecommunications the electronic transmission of data from one computer to another ? People the most important element ? Procedures strategies, policies, methods and rules.

Business Information Systems (BIS)

? Common types of BIS: E-Commerce systems ? Refers to any business transaction executed electronically between parties i.e. B2b business-to-business B2c business-to-consumer

 . Cont Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) ? are systems that used to record business transaction. (any transaction that takes place) ? E.g when buying goods from supermarket, withdrawing money from ATM, making a flight reservation at an airlines office. ? a.k.a Data Processing Systems (DPS) ? produce documents i.e. sales invoice, total sales by items, salary slip (routine task)

. Cont Management Information Systems (MIS) ? build on a TPS by integrating various functional areas that linked through a common database ? focus efficiency do the Thing right greater output for given input ? produce reports i.e summary, periodically, demand reports, or exception reports i.e. low stock level ? cannot produce future information i.e. predicting sales trends what if analysis

. cont
Marketing MIS Manufacturing MIS

Common Database

Financial MIS TPS

Other MIS

 . Cont Decision Support Systems (DSS) ? support problem-specific decision-making ? main focus effectiveness of decisionmaking do the Right thing meeting the business goals ? include elements i.e.
model base - a collection of models database a collection of facts/information user interface systems and procedures

? produces ad-hoc reports ? flexible and adaptable suitable to any users style and decision environment

Special-Purpose BIS
? Artificial Intelligence (AI)
a system takes on the characteristics of human intelligence. include elements:
? Robotics ? Vision systems robots can store and process visual images (can see images) ? Natural language processing system that can understand languages i.e Spanish, English, Mandarin

. Cont
? Learning systems able to learn from past mistakes and experiences i.e. playing games, making business decisions ? Neural Networks trends or patterns recognition i.e. stock market spot market trend

Expert systems an interactive software that mimics human experts i.e. give opinion, advice, recommendations. E.g loan approval, tax experts Virtual Reality (VR) users become fully immersed in an artificial, 3-d world.

- End of Week 1-