WGU D220 Information Systems
Study Guide | IT Systems,
Databases, Business Processes &
OA Revision Notes (2026 Updated)
Detailed Rationale
,Table of Contents
Section 1: Information Systems Foundations
1. Introduction to Information Systems
2. Information Systems vs. Information Technology
3. Components of an Information System
4. People, Processes, Data, Hardware, Software, and Networks
5. The Role of Information Systems in Organizations
6. Operational, Tactical, and Strategic Information Systems
7. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
8. Management Information Systems (MIS)
9. Decision Support Systems (DSS)
10. Executive/Executive Support Systems (ESS)
11. Enterprise Information Systems
12. Knowledge Management Systems
13. Information Systems and Organizational Goals
Section 2: Healthcare Information Systems
14. Health Information Technology (HIT)
15. Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
16. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs)
17. Clinical Information Systems
18. Administrative Information Systems
19. Admission-Discharge-Transfer (ADT) Systems
20. Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE)
21. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS)
22. Medication Administration Systems
23. Barcode Medication Administration
24. Patient Monitoring Systems
25. Health Information Systems and Patient Safety
26. Interoperability in Healthcare
27. Health Information Exchange (HIE)
Section 3: Healthcare Data Foundations
28. Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom
29. The DIKW Framework
30. Structured vs. Unstructured Data
31. Data Quality
32. Data Accuracy
33. Data Completeness
34. Data Consistency
35. Data Timeliness
36. Data Integrity
, 37. Data Standardization
38. Data Governance
39. Data Management
40. Metadata
41. Master Data
42. Data Lifecycle
43. Knowledge Workers
44. Evidence-Based Practice
45. Standardized Languages and Terminologies
Section 4: Databases and Data Management
46. Database Fundamentals
47. Database Management Systems (DBMS)
48. Relational Databases
49. Database Tables
50. Records, Rows, and Fields
51. Attributes and Entities
52. Primary Keys
53. Foreign Keys
54. Relationships Between Tables
55. One-to-One Relationships
56. One-to-Many Relationships
57. Many-to-Many Relationships
58. Database Normalization
59. First, Second, and Third Normal Forms
60. Data Redundancy
61. Referential Integrity
62. Database Queries
63. SQL Fundamentals
64. SELECT, FROM, and WHERE
65. Sorting and Filtering Data
66. Aggregate Functions
67. Database Joins
68. Data Warehouses
69. Data Marts
70. Data Lakes
71. ETL: Extract, Transform, Load
72. Data Scrubbing and Data Cleaning
Section 5: Data Analytics and Business Intelligence
73. Introduction to Data Analytics
74. Descriptive Analytics
75. Diagnostic Analytics
76. Predictive Analytics
77. Prescriptive Analytics
78. Data Mining
79. Big Data
80. The Five Vs of Big Data
, 81. Data Visualization
82. Dashboards
83. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
84. Business Intelligence
85. Business Intelligence vs. Big Data
86. Trends and Patterns
87. Data-Driven Decision-Making
88. Analytics in Healthcare
89. Analytics in Business Operations
Section 6: Information Security and Privacy
90. Information Security Fundamentals
91. Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA Triad)
92. Authentication
93. Authorization
94. Access Control
95. Role-Based Access Control
96. Least-Privilege Principle
97. Password Security
98. Multi-Factor Authentication
99. Encryption
100. Audit Trails
101. Security Policies and Procedures
102. Malware and Cybersecurity Threats
103. Phishing and Social Engineering
104. Ransomware
105. Network Security
106. Firewalls
107. Secure Data Transmission
108. Privacy vs. Security
109. HIPAA
110. Protected Health Information (PHI)
111. HITECH Act
112. Administrative, Physical, and Technical Safeguards
113. Security Risk Assessment
114. Incident Response
Section 7: Interoperability and Health Data Standards
115. Interoperability Fundamentals
116. Syntactic Interoperability
117. Semantic Interoperability
118. Health Information Exchange
119. HL7
120. FHIR
121. C-CDA
122. Clinical Document Architecture
123. Standardized Terminologies
124. SNOMED CT
Study Guide | IT Systems,
Databases, Business Processes &
OA Revision Notes (2026 Updated)
Detailed Rationale
,Table of Contents
Section 1: Information Systems Foundations
1. Introduction to Information Systems
2. Information Systems vs. Information Technology
3. Components of an Information System
4. People, Processes, Data, Hardware, Software, and Networks
5. The Role of Information Systems in Organizations
6. Operational, Tactical, and Strategic Information Systems
7. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
8. Management Information Systems (MIS)
9. Decision Support Systems (DSS)
10. Executive/Executive Support Systems (ESS)
11. Enterprise Information Systems
12. Knowledge Management Systems
13. Information Systems and Organizational Goals
Section 2: Healthcare Information Systems
14. Health Information Technology (HIT)
15. Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
16. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs)
17. Clinical Information Systems
18. Administrative Information Systems
19. Admission-Discharge-Transfer (ADT) Systems
20. Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE)
21. Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS)
22. Medication Administration Systems
23. Barcode Medication Administration
24. Patient Monitoring Systems
25. Health Information Systems and Patient Safety
26. Interoperability in Healthcare
27. Health Information Exchange (HIE)
Section 3: Healthcare Data Foundations
28. Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom
29. The DIKW Framework
30. Structured vs. Unstructured Data
31. Data Quality
32. Data Accuracy
33. Data Completeness
34. Data Consistency
35. Data Timeliness
36. Data Integrity
, 37. Data Standardization
38. Data Governance
39. Data Management
40. Metadata
41. Master Data
42. Data Lifecycle
43. Knowledge Workers
44. Evidence-Based Practice
45. Standardized Languages and Terminologies
Section 4: Databases and Data Management
46. Database Fundamentals
47. Database Management Systems (DBMS)
48. Relational Databases
49. Database Tables
50. Records, Rows, and Fields
51. Attributes and Entities
52. Primary Keys
53. Foreign Keys
54. Relationships Between Tables
55. One-to-One Relationships
56. One-to-Many Relationships
57. Many-to-Many Relationships
58. Database Normalization
59. First, Second, and Third Normal Forms
60. Data Redundancy
61. Referential Integrity
62. Database Queries
63. SQL Fundamentals
64. SELECT, FROM, and WHERE
65. Sorting and Filtering Data
66. Aggregate Functions
67. Database Joins
68. Data Warehouses
69. Data Marts
70. Data Lakes
71. ETL: Extract, Transform, Load
72. Data Scrubbing and Data Cleaning
Section 5: Data Analytics and Business Intelligence
73. Introduction to Data Analytics
74. Descriptive Analytics
75. Diagnostic Analytics
76. Predictive Analytics
77. Prescriptive Analytics
78. Data Mining
79. Big Data
80. The Five Vs of Big Data
, 81. Data Visualization
82. Dashboards
83. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
84. Business Intelligence
85. Business Intelligence vs. Big Data
86. Trends and Patterns
87. Data-Driven Decision-Making
88. Analytics in Healthcare
89. Analytics in Business Operations
Section 6: Information Security and Privacy
90. Information Security Fundamentals
91. Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA Triad)
92. Authentication
93. Authorization
94. Access Control
95. Role-Based Access Control
96. Least-Privilege Principle
97. Password Security
98. Multi-Factor Authentication
99. Encryption
100. Audit Trails
101. Security Policies and Procedures
102. Malware and Cybersecurity Threats
103. Phishing and Social Engineering
104. Ransomware
105. Network Security
106. Firewalls
107. Secure Data Transmission
108. Privacy vs. Security
109. HIPAA
110. Protected Health Information (PHI)
111. HITECH Act
112. Administrative, Physical, and Technical Safeguards
113. Security Risk Assessment
114. Incident Response
Section 7: Interoperability and Health Data Standards
115. Interoperability Fundamentals
116. Syntactic Interoperability
117. Semantic Interoperability
118. Health Information Exchange
119. HL7
120. FHIR
121. C-CDA
122. Clinical Document Architecture
123. Standardized Terminologies
124. SNOMED CT
