Information what is it

INFORMATION

•What is it?

Information???

• Data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningful and useful to human beings.

What comes first--the Chicken or the Egg?

• Information vs. data

–Data are streams of raw facts representing events occurring in organizations or the physical environment before they have been organized and arranged into a form that people can understand or use.

Data

–Data are: (Ex: names and vital info of CSULA students)

»Stored Facts

» Inactive (they exist)

»Technology-based

»Gathered from various sources

Information

– Information is: (Students with 4.0 GPA)

»Presented facts

»Active (it enables doing)

»Business-based

»Transformed from data

The War is Over!

During the next three to five years, data traffic on telecommunications networks is going to easily outstrip

voice traffic.

Michael Vizard, Info World, June 8, 1998

What is an Information System?

• Any system that provides people with either data or information relating to an organization’s operations.

• An information system contains information about an organization (internal) and its surrounding environment (external).

• The internal environment is the organization.• The external environment are the customers,

suppliers, regulatory agencies, stockholders, competitors.

Three Basic Activities of an Information System

• Input--Raw data collected/captured from internal or external environments. (raw materials, energy, people, money)

• Processing--Conversion of raw input into a meaningful form.

• Output--Transfers the processed information to the people or activities where it will be used. (products and services)

• And then there’s the feedback process--this is a necessary output activity which is used to evaluate/refine the input.

MIS FIELD IS EVOLVING RAPIDLY DUE TO:

• Changing Technologies

• Changing Management Priorities

Class Activity

• Input--Teacher-provided description

• Processing--Student arranging/classifying/calculating information

• Output--Student hands output to student seated on their right

• Feedback--Student evaluates the information based on teacher input, owner of the information refines their information

DATA

• Types of Transformations:

–Retrieval

–Analysis

–Capture

–Presentations

• Types of Information:

–Reports

–New Files

– Graphical displays

The Powerful Changes in Managing Information

• Emergence/Strength of Global Economy– Global Corporations

– Worldwide Marketplace--Internet--I-Commerce, E-commerce, E-Business

» Is your chair comfortable? Old saying: “Don’t leave home without it.” New saying: “No need to leave home.”

• Transformation of Economies from industrial to knowledge/information based– Instant service--credit card usage, smart card usage, quick delivery,

immediate on-line reservations, instant access/retrieval of information.

– Transformation of Business Enterprise

– Project Workgroups, Temp workforce

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO PREPARE FOR THESE

CHANGES?

• Basic skill core preparation– Communication skills

– Computational skills

– Critical-thinking/Problem-solving skills

– People skills

• Lifelong learning approach

• Adaptability & Flexibility-- Attitude

MIS IS COMPRISED OF DISSIMILAR SKILL BASES:

• Technical skills vs. Business Skills

• “Hard Science” skills vs. “Soft Science” skills

• Practical, contingency-based perspective skills vs. theoretical perspective skills

Technical Approach

• Emphasizes mathematically-based model–Contributing disciplines:

»Computer science--• Established Computability theories

• Computational methods

• Efficient data storage and access methods

»Management science• Development of models for decision-making and management

practices

»Operations research• Mathematical techniques for organizational optimal effectiveness

and efficiency: inventory control, transportation, transaction costs

Behavioral Approach

• Concerned with behavioral problems–Creative design, system utilization, implementation

– (What can I do/cannot do? I have a “tude”! This policy stinks! I am not going to do it that way!”)

»Contributing disciplines:

• Sociology--focus on impact of information systems on people

• Political science--investigates the political impacts/uses of information systems (legal issues)

• Psychology--concerned individual responses to info systems and cognitive models of human reasoning. (Techno-stress, adapto-stress, work-related stress issues)

SocioTechnical Systems

• Change is necessary in today’s environment.

• Change is inevitable in today’s environment.

• Change is an ongoing process.

• Change impacts both the internal and external environments.

• Imagine the changes that will occur in the environment with ethical issues, security issues, robotic body parts, machine cloning?

Organizational Design Options-A flexible

Workplace/Marketplace

• Virtual Organizations free workers to live and work anywhere

• Custom Manufacturing, preferred customer plans, one-to-one marketing, individualized products & services

• Electronic markets which operate as electronic middle men between buyer and seller

• Restructure of workflow

• Empowerment of employees

• Information Architecture challenge

• Hierarchical Organizational Levels

SIX TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS:

• TPS- Transaction Processing Systems

• OAS- Office Automation Systems

• KWS-Knowledge Work Systems

• DSS-Decision Support Systems

• MIS-Management Information Systems

• ESS-Executive Support Systems

But wait! These systems serve four distinct levels

in an organization.

• TPS--an operational level

• KWS and OAS-- a knowledge level

• DSS and MIS--a management level

• ESS--a strategic level

SPECIFIC PURPOSES SERVED BY INFORMATION SYSTEMS

• TPS: Routine data processing and accounting procedures

• OAS: The use of technologies to produce an end product

• KWS: Promote the creation and design of new knowledge/information, technical/engineering expertise

• DSS: An information gathering and reporting tool for management, a prototype, a model

• MIS: Generation of preplanned, printed reports to assist in decision-making

• ESS:Designed to be used by senior managers who have little direct contact/expertise with CBIS. Easy-to-use, “seductive” software, Not designed specifically to solve specific problems.

WHAT IS A CBIS?

• Consists of hardware, software, data, procedures, and people

• People are defined as users, systems analysts, and programmers

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF CBIS?

• Input, processing, output, and storage

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN COMPANY COMPETITIVE

APPROACHES:

•Knowledge is Power

WHAT CHALLENGES FACE THOSE WHO DESIGN, USE, OR

APPROVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS?

• Rapid Changes in Technology

• A Movement toward a Global Society

• The Processing Speed of Information

INFORMATION-INTENSIVE SOCIETY

• 1950s ushered in the age of information-intensive jobs in the U.S. labor force

• Blending of communications and computing technologies continues (i.e. computer networks)

• A movement toward a global society created for a global telecommunications network

• Information is now recognized as the central organizational resource in today’s economy

WHAT IS MIS?

• Any system that provides people with either data or information relating to an organization’s operations.

MIS SUPPORTS THE ACTIVITIES OF

ORGANIZATIONAL PEOPLES BY:

• Processing data to assist with transaction workload (in an effective manner)

• Supplying information to authorized people in a timely manner

INFORMATION SYSTEMS HAVE EVOLVED AS

FOLLOWS:

• 1950s Transaction Processing Systems

• 1960s Management Information Systems

• 1970s Decision Support Systems

• 1980s, 1990s Knowledge-based Systems used for strategic organizational competitive knowledge/information advantages

• New Century: Wireless technologies

INFORMATION RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• Data vs. Information

• Data are facts

• Data filtering is processed to apply meaning and value, resulting in information (Example: O.J./DNA testing)

• Data is useful for everyday transaction processing

• Information is more useful for managerial decision-making

INFORMATION RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

• IRM REFERS TO:–Properly managing data and information as key

organizational resources

–Seeing information as a desirable investment used to strategically provide a competitive advantage

–Recognizing the role of CIO and the importance of this rank

–Goals of information Systems

– Leveraging Investment in Information Technology

»Selling MIS Products (i.e. Microsoft)

»Providing services/outsourcing (i.e. Novell)

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS

• We live in an INFORMATION AGE; most people have INFORMATION-INTENSIVE JOBS.

• We are entering a KNOWLEDGE AGE where information technology has greater intelligence

• The blending of communications and computing technologies continues; computer networks are becoming increasingly common

• A need has arisen for global telecommunications networks due to global financing, global outsourcing, and international joint ventures.

• Information is now recognized as a central organizational resource in today’s economy.

KEY ISSUES IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

• ISSUE #1: The Development of an information Architecture

• ISSUE #2: The Management of data as an organizational resource

• ISSUE #3: Strategic Planning of data and information– Management & enterprise-wide problems are often

viewed as more important than technical and application-related problems

– The same issues have been highly ranked since the 1980s; however, recently global systems have taken on much importance

WHAT IS MEANT BY STRATEGIC PLANNING?

• A Long-range planning process, the “strategic use of information” refers to using information technologies for competitive advantage.

Now, Let’s get serious!

Strategic is only about achieving strategic direction, ignoring the practicalities of day-to-day operations that

absorb all of your resources and more.

SO

An Integrated plan is needed because it includes strategic components with the realities of the current

operating environment. An integrated plan is a roadmap for where you are going and how to survive until the

future gets here.

Source: Bob Lewis, Info World, June 8, 1998

CHALLENGES FOR THE STUDY OF MIS

• MIS incorporates an unusually wide variety of knowledge areas

• Both technology & technology-related products are evolving at an extremely fast and unpredictable rate.

• Many MIS terms are imprecise & controversial

• MIS problems are not easy to define or structure

• The body of MIS knowledge is recent and scarce

• Often, a lack of rapport exists between MIS personnel & management and between MIS personnel & users.

• Knowing how much money to spend on information systems is still a guessing game. (Can you afford to make million dollar mistakes in your organization?)

MIS IS A GREY AREA OF STUDY

• A “soft” field: A field where there are few universally correct answers that work for every situation; situational actions are dependent on a number of variables.

MISs Involve:• The processing of data and the supply of

timely information for managerial decision-making

• Both people inside and outside the organization; with electronic data interchange (EDI) and other interorganizational systems; some users of an organization’s information system may be employees of other organizations

• The process of making the organization both more efficient and more effective

READ, READ, READ!

• Business Week and Fortune carry articles on new technologies that may change the way business is conducted, the state of MIS in a particular company, the revolutionary products emerging, etc.

• Read Info World, Computer World, MIS

Quarterly, Information Week, FirstMover, CIO, Journal of Management Information Systems

QUESTION: HOW CAN INFORMATION SYSTEMS BE

USED AS COMPETITIVE WEAPONS?

• Assignment: Research a company which has made effective use of technology to expand their customer base without forgoing quality to gain a lion’s share of the marketplace. Next week submit your article and one-page paper (typed, double-spaced summary)

• Example: Use Mercantile Mutual on page 45 as a guide. *Do not use the examples given in your textbook as your final assignment.