INF1505 NOTES.
, CHAPTER 1 – Overview
Overview
• Organisations use computers and information systems to reduce costs and gain a competitive
advantage.
• Help be more effective and productive.
Computers and information systems in daily life
• Use of computers and MS office
• Used to grade exams and generate reports comparing performance.
• POS point of sale
• UPC universal product codes
• Used in banks, grocery stores etc.
• PDA – personal digital assistant includes: calendar, address book and task listing programs. More
advanced PDAs allow wireless connection and have MP3.
• Internet is used for shopping, desktop connection, social networking, video sharing.
• Anyone can watch videos on YouTube but you must register to upload. Can be used as a
marketing tool e.g. quicksilver ,ford models, university of phoenix online, the home depot and
nikefootball.
• Information systems are broader in scope than information technologies but the two overlap in
many areas. Information technologies improve decision making and add security and privacy.
Computer Literacy and Information Literacy
• Computer literacy
o Is a skill in using productivity software such as, word processors, spreadsheets, data
base management systems and presentation software. And having the knowledge of
hardware software and internet.
• Information literacy
o Understanding the role of information in generating and using business intelligence.
o BI – Business Intelligence – provides historical, current and predictive views of
business operations and environments and gives organizations a competitive
advantage in the market place.
o TPS – transaction processing systems – focus on data collection and processing, the
major reason for using them is cost reduction.
o
Transaction processing systems - TPS
• Applied to structured tasks such as record keeping, clerical operations, and inventory control.
For example: payroll one of the first automated.
• Automation involves less human involvement decreasing personnel costs.
, Management information systems – MIS
• Is an organized integration of hardware and software technologies, data, processes and
human elements designed to produce timely, integrated, relevant, accurate and useful
information for decision making purposes.
• In designing an MIS – define the system objectives, data to be collected and present
information in an acceptable format.
• DSS -Decision support system
• EIS – executive information system
Major components of an information system
• There are four major components of an information system:
Data Database Process Information
• Data consists of raw facts and is a component of the information system.
• A database is a collection of all relevant data organized in a series of integrated files.
• The process generates the most useful type of information for decision making, including
transaction processing reports and models for decision making.
• Information consists of facts that have been analyzed by the process component and is an
output of an information system.
• Data
o The data component in considered the input to the system. The information users need
affect the type of data. Two sources of data are internal which includes sale records,
personnel records etc. and external which include customers, competitors, suppliers,
government, financial institutions, labor and population stats and economic conditions.
o Past data is collected for performance reports.
o Present data is collected for operational reports.
o Future data is predicted for budget and cashflow reports.
o Data can be collected in the form of Aggregated reporting totals or disaggregated
reporting lists.
o Strategic goals must be defined to easily identify what data is needed.
, • Database
o Is the heart of an information system, collection of all relevant data organized in a series
of integrated files.
o A comprehensive database is critical for a successful information system.
o To create, organize and manage database a DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DBMS)
is used like access and filemaker pro for small business and oracle, IBM and DB2 for
large business.
• Process
o The includes transaction processing reports and models of decision analysis that can be
built in or assessed externally.
o Should grow with the organize so that they can redefine and restructure models to
incorporate new information in their analysis.
• Information
o Consists of facts that have been analyzed by the process component and are more
useful to the MIS user.
o The quality of the system is determined by its usefulness and the usefulness determines
the success of the system. To be useful, information must have qualities:
▪ Timeliness
▪ Integration with other data and information
▪ Consistency and accuracy
▪ Relevance
o Systems user interface must be flexible and easy to use. GUI (graphical user interface)
has features such as menus and buttons and must present information in different
formats including graphs and tables.
• The ultimate goal of an information system is to generate business intelligence.
Using information systems and information technologies
Information systems are designed to collect data, process the collected data and deliver useful
information and to achieve this goal, information systems use different information technologies. For
example: internet for worldwide communication, computer networks, database systems, POS systems
and radio-frequency-identification RFID
, CHAPTER 1 – Overview
Overview
• Organisations use computers and information systems to reduce costs and gain a competitive
advantage.
• Help be more effective and productive.
Computers and information systems in daily life
• Use of computers and MS office
• Used to grade exams and generate reports comparing performance.
• POS point of sale
• UPC universal product codes
• Used in banks, grocery stores etc.
• PDA – personal digital assistant includes: calendar, address book and task listing programs. More
advanced PDAs allow wireless connection and have MP3.
• Internet is used for shopping, desktop connection, social networking, video sharing.
• Anyone can watch videos on YouTube but you must register to upload. Can be used as a
marketing tool e.g. quicksilver ,ford models, university of phoenix online, the home depot and
nikefootball.
• Information systems are broader in scope than information technologies but the two overlap in
many areas. Information technologies improve decision making and add security and privacy.
Computer Literacy and Information Literacy
• Computer literacy
o Is a skill in using productivity software such as, word processors, spreadsheets, data
base management systems and presentation software. And having the knowledge of
hardware software and internet.
• Information literacy
o Understanding the role of information in generating and using business intelligence.
o BI – Business Intelligence – provides historical, current and predictive views of
business operations and environments and gives organizations a competitive
advantage in the market place.
o TPS – transaction processing systems – focus on data collection and processing, the
major reason for using them is cost reduction.
o
Transaction processing systems - TPS
• Applied to structured tasks such as record keeping, clerical operations, and inventory control.
For example: payroll one of the first automated.
• Automation involves less human involvement decreasing personnel costs.
, Management information systems – MIS
• Is an organized integration of hardware and software technologies, data, processes and
human elements designed to produce timely, integrated, relevant, accurate and useful
information for decision making purposes.
• In designing an MIS – define the system objectives, data to be collected and present
information in an acceptable format.
• DSS -Decision support system
• EIS – executive information system
Major components of an information system
• There are four major components of an information system:
Data Database Process Information
• Data consists of raw facts and is a component of the information system.
• A database is a collection of all relevant data organized in a series of integrated files.
• The process generates the most useful type of information for decision making, including
transaction processing reports and models for decision making.
• Information consists of facts that have been analyzed by the process component and is an
output of an information system.
• Data
o The data component in considered the input to the system. The information users need
affect the type of data. Two sources of data are internal which includes sale records,
personnel records etc. and external which include customers, competitors, suppliers,
government, financial institutions, labor and population stats and economic conditions.
o Past data is collected for performance reports.
o Present data is collected for operational reports.
o Future data is predicted for budget and cashflow reports.
o Data can be collected in the form of Aggregated reporting totals or disaggregated
reporting lists.
o Strategic goals must be defined to easily identify what data is needed.
, • Database
o Is the heart of an information system, collection of all relevant data organized in a series
of integrated files.
o A comprehensive database is critical for a successful information system.
o To create, organize and manage database a DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DBMS)
is used like access and filemaker pro for small business and oracle, IBM and DB2 for
large business.
• Process
o The includes transaction processing reports and models of decision analysis that can be
built in or assessed externally.
o Should grow with the organize so that they can redefine and restructure models to
incorporate new information in their analysis.
• Information
o Consists of facts that have been analyzed by the process component and are more
useful to the MIS user.
o The quality of the system is determined by its usefulness and the usefulness determines
the success of the system. To be useful, information must have qualities:
▪ Timeliness
▪ Integration with other data and information
▪ Consistency and accuracy
▪ Relevance
o Systems user interface must be flexible and easy to use. GUI (graphical user interface)
has features such as menus and buttons and must present information in different
formats including graphs and tables.
• The ultimate goal of an information system is to generate business intelligence.
Using information systems and information technologies
Information systems are designed to collect data, process the collected data and deliver useful
information and to achieve this goal, information systems use different information technologies. For
example: internet for worldwide communication, computer networks, database systems, POS systems
and radio-frequency-identification RFID
