INFO 101 / ILP104
FOUNDATIONS OF
INFORMATION SYSTEMS

An Introduction to Information
Systems (IS)

W eek 1 - Lecture Notes
(Chapter 1 of text book)

Contents
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Concepts of Information System s (IS)
Com ponents of an IS
Data vs Inform ation
Characteristics of Valuable Information
What is a System ?
What is a Model ?
Com puter-Based IS (CBIS)
Technology Infrastructure
Business Inform ation System s (BIS)
Special-Purpose BIS

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Concepts of Information Systems
(IS)
IS are ev erywhere! e.g
? ATM ¨ cash withdrawal / deposit, check balance, transfer m oney 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 s et of interr elat ed c om pon ents th at c ollect, manipu late, an d diss emin at e dat a/inf orm ation an d pr ovide a f eedback m ech anism t o m eet an objective.
Com pon ent s of an IS collect manipulate

disseminate

f eedback

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 em ployee
? No. of hours work, h ourly r at e

¨ can be m anual or autom atic
¨ input device i.e. scanner, keyboard etc..

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Components of an IS

¡ c o n t¡

? Process
¨ the activity of manipulating, converting or transforming data into useful outputs.
¨ involves calculations or com parisons
¨ E.g to produce a paycheck for an em ployee
? Multiply No. of hours work by h ourly r at e

¨ can be done m anually or with the assistance of computers

Components of an IS

¡ c o n t¡

? Output (O/P)
¨ the activity of producing useful inform ation
¨ types of formats i.e. reports, docum ents.
¨ Output from one system can becom e input for another. E.g Sales order can be used as input to a Custom er Billing/Invoice system.
¨ Output devices i.e. printers, display screens

Data vs Information
? Data
¨ are raw facts i.e em ployee¡s nam e, no. of hours worked, hourly rate, sales order (qty), etc¡ ¨ represent ed by:? alph anum eric dat a - num bers/ digits, letters, spec ial ch ar act ers,
? image ¨ pictur es, gr aphic im ages
? au dio ¨ s oun d,
? video ¨ m ovie pictures

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Data vs Information
? Information
¨ a collection of data that is organized in a m eaningful or valuable m anner.
¨ E.g A sales m anager would prefer Total sales than individual sales of an em ployee

Characteristics of Valuable
Information
? accurate ¨ error free
? complete ¨ e.g an inv estment report must include all important costs
? simple ¨ not v ery complex
? flexible ¨ can be used for v ariety of purpose ? economical ¨ not so expensive to produce
? timely ¨ past information is not valuable

What is a System ?
? a set of elem ents/com ponents that interact to accom plish goals.
? E.g a College
Elem ents
Input
Process
Output Goals students teaching educated acquire professors research students knowbooks ledge 4

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ c o n t¡
? Other elements i.e:
¨ boundary ¨ the cam pus fencing
¨ feedback ¨ graduate perform ance from parents or public
¨ control ¨ academ ic standard set by the university authorities and external examiner.
¨ subsystems ¨ accounting, business, com puting, engineering, etc..

What is a model?
? An abstraction that is used to represent reality (real systems)
? W hy do we use model?
¨ A real system can be very dynamic and com plex. To study or experim ent with such as a system can be quite difficult.

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

¡ ¡ ¡ . cont¡
¨ physical ¨ e.g a builder m ay develop a scale m odel of a new apartm ents to give potential buyer information about the overall appearance of the project.
¨ schem atic ¨ uses graphs, charts, figures, diagram s, illustrations, pictures.
¨ m athem atical ¨ used to analyze and solve problem s.

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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, inv entory control system

Technology Infrastructure
?
?
?
?

Hardware - equipm ents
Software - programs
Databases ¨ how data is organized
Tel ecomm unications ¨ the electronic transmission of data from one com puter to another ? Peopl e ¨ the m ost important elem ent
? Procedures ¨ strategies, policies, m ethods and rules. Business Information Systems (BIS)
? Common types of BIS:¨ E-Comm erce systems
? Ref ers to any business transaction executed electronically between parties i.e.
¨ B2b ¨ business-to-business
¨ B2c ¨ business-to-consum er

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¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ . Cont¡
¨ Transaction Processing System s (TPS)
? are system s that used to record business transaction. (any transaction that takes place) ? E.g when buying goods from superm arket, withdrawing m oney from ATM, making a flight reservation at an airlines office.
? a.k.a Data Processing System s (DPS)
? produce docum ents i.e. sales invoice, total sales by item s, salary slip (routine task)

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

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ . cont¡
Manufacturing MIS

Marketing MIS

Common
Database

Financial MIS
TPS

O t h e r M IS

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¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ . Cont¡
¨ Decision Support System s (DSS)
? support problem -specific decision-making
? m ain focus ¨ effectiveness of decisionm aking ¨ ¡do the Right thing¡ ¨ m eeting the business goals
? include elem ents i.e.
¨ model bas e - a c ollection of models
¨ dat abas e ¨ a c ollection of f acts/inf orm ation
¨ user int erf ac e ¨ s yst ems an d pr oc edur es

? produces ad-hoc reports
? flexible and adaptable ¨ suitable to any user¡s style and decision environm ent

Special-Purpose BIS
? Artificial Intelligence (AI)
¨ a system takes on the characteristics of hum an intelligence.
¨ include elem ents:
? Robot ics
? Vision s yst ems ¨ r obots c an st or e an d pr oc ess visu al im ages (c an s ee im ages)
? Natur al lan gu age proc essin g ¨ s yst em th at c an underst an d lan gu ages i. e Spanish, En glish,
Man darin

¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¡ . Cont¡
? Learnin g s yst ems ¨ able t o learn f rom past mistak es an d experienc es i. e. playin g gam es, makin g bu sin ess dec isions
? Neur al Networks ¨ tr en ds or patt erns r ec ognit ion
i.e. st ock m ark et ¨ s pot m ark et tren d

¨ Expert system s ¨ an interactive software that mimics hum an experts i.e. give opinion, advice, recomm endations. E.g loan approval, tax experts
¨ Virtual Reality (VR) ¨ users becom e fully imm ersed in an artificial, 3-d world.

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- E nd of W eek 1-

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