The Edge of IT
ITEC-200 Spring 2007
Topic 1: Introduction to
ITEC 200, IT and IS
Professor J. Alberto Espinosa
Course
Introduction
Topic 1: Introduction p.2
Introduction
• The Edge of IT
• Textbook:
Introduction to Information Systems
Rainer, Turban and Potter, 2007
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 0471736368
• Unless otherwise stated in the course schedule, we
will meet in the classroom for the first half of the class
and at the Kogod Lab for the second half
Topic 1: Introduction p.3
Topic 1: Introduction p.4
My Background
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Started as New faculty at AU in Fall’02
Previously at Carnegie Mellon University
PhD and MS in IS at Carnegie Mellon
Also, BS Mech Engineering & MBA
Many years of working experience
Designing, implementing and managing IT & as CFO
Mostly in international contexts
Teach: MIS, Systems Analysis, Database
Research focus:
• IT support for global & geographically distributed collaboration
• Effect of human factors on coordination in global software teams
Topic 1: Introduction p.5
Contact
• Office: KSB 33
• Office Hours:
•
Tuesdays 2-8 PM (may change)
•
And by appointment
• Telephone:
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Office: 202-885-1958
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Fax:
202-885-1992
• E-mail: alberto@american.edu
• Web: http://auapps.american.edu/~alberto
Topic 1: Introduction p.6
Class Web Site
• Current versions of syllabus, class schedule, lecture
notes, and homework assignments will be posted on
the Blackboard class web site.
• Course Syllabus also available at:
http://auapps.american.edu/~alberto/itec200/syllabus.html
• Class Schedule also available at:
http://auapps.american.edu/~alberto/itec200/schedule.html
• All homework assignments, lecture slides, and other
class materials will be available via the Class
Schedule link above, and also via Blackboard
• Class announcements, grades, and e-reserve articles
will be available via Blackboard only
Topic 1: Introduction p.7
What is Information Technology (IT)?
What is an Information System (IS)?
How are IT & IS different than
computer science?
What is the role of IT and IS in
today’s business environment?
Topic 1: Introduction p.8
Information Technology (IT) and Business
IT
Infrastructure
Business
Applications
Business World
Transactions
ERP, SCM, CRM, etc.
Decision Support
Information
Distributed Collaboration
Enterprise Collaboration
Transaction
Financial Management
Server
Client
Processing
etc.
Appl
Appl
Microcomputers
Mainframes
Client/Server
Computing
DB
DB
Database
Ubiquitous
Computing
Routers
Security, (Local/Wide area) Networks
Firewalls
Inter-Networking
(Internet, Intranets)
Virtual Private Networks
Distributed
Computing
Topic 1: Introduction p.9
Roadmap
Business
Applications
e.g., Supply
Chain Mgt
(SCM)
e.g., Enterprise
Resource
Planning
(ERP)
e.g., Customer
Relations Mgt
(CRM)
Topic 1: Introduction p.10
Information Systems
ORGANIZATIONS
(Business)
TECHNOLOGY
(IT)
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
(People)
Topic 1: Introduction p.11
Information Technology (IT)
vs. Information Systems (IS)?
Information Systems
IT for Business
IT
Infrastructure
Business
Applications
Business
Issues in IT
(People, Organizations,
Management Processes,
(HW, SW,
(DSS, EIS, ERP, CRM,
database, telecom) SCM, Security, Ethics, etc.) Strategy, E-Commerce, EBusiness, etc.)
ITEC 200
The Edge of IT
ITEC-350 (follow up course)
Management Information Systems
Class Schedule
Topic 1: Introduction p.12
The Information Age
• First Electronic Messaging: In 1835, Samuel Morse developed
the telegraph. Used magnetic transmitters and receivers to
send signals.
• First Long-distance Communication: an iron wire, was strung
between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. -- 37 miles.
• First Message: On May 24, 1844, the first telegraph message,
"What hath God wrought," was successfully sent and received.
• First Information Code: Morse developed a language of signals
called Morse Code, which used a combination of short and
long signals - dots and dashes to represent numbers and
letters.
Topic 1: Introduction p.13
The Information Age
• First Transatlantic Cable : Atlantic Cable was
established in 1858 to carry instantaneous
communications across the ocean. It was a failure
after a few hours. Subsequent cables laid in 1866
were completely successful. The cable remained in
use for almost 100 years.
• First Voice Communications: Alexander Graham Bell
Exhibits Telephone in 1876
Topic 1: Introduction p.14
Circuit Switching and
The Information Age
• Circuit Switching:
A
 The first manual exchange was installed
in New Haven, USA, in 1878.
 The electro-mechanical switch was patented in 1889
by Almon B. Strowger, Kansas City, USA.
 The first computer-operated exchange was put in
service in 1960 in the US.
 Today's telephone exchanges use circuit switching
technology, just like in the end of the 19th century.
 Lucent Technologies’ 5ESS digital switch consists of
generic hardware driven by software
 With more than 80 million lines of instructions written
by more than 5,000 software developers.
 And serves over 130 million subscriber lines, in 66
countries
B
Topic 1: Introduction p.15
Packet Switching and
The Information Age
A
• Packet Switching:
 President Eisenhower saw the need for the
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
after the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of Sputnik.
1
2
B
3
 Military needed a network that would survive a
nuclear attack. (no single outage point).
 Data split into tiny messages called packets that
may take different routes to a destination.
 Hard to eavesdrop on messages.
 More than one route available -- if one route
goes down another may be followed.
Topic 1: Introduction p.16
Internet and the Information Age

Internetworking:
 15 nodes (23 hosts) on ARPANET (a defense network
envisioned to survive a nuclear attack) in 1971.
 E-mail invented—a program to send messages across a
distributed network. E-mail is still the main way of interperson communication on the Internet today.
 Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
adopted in 1982—interconnecting independent networks
rather than specific networks with an arbitrary design
The full story: http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Origins
Appl
Computer 1
Appl
TCP
Router
TCP
IP
IP
IP
Net 1
Net 1 Net 2
Net 2
Computer 2
The Internet
Topic 1: Introduction p.17
The Web and The
Information Age

World Wide Web:
 www: a friendly interface established in 1991
 600 www sites in 1993
 100,000 www sites in 1995
 >800 million www sites in 1999
 >70 million Internet users in the US
 more than 50% of US households have Internet access
 In the past 24 hours, >41 million persons went online
 500,000 new users every month in 2000
 2.1 billion online in 2000
 The full story of the www: http://www.w3.org/History.html
Topic 1: Introduction p.18
Why are we here?
• I.T. IS EVERYWHERE THESE DAYS:
• 1/2 of all new businesses today involve computer
products or services
• Most of the ones that don’t, still use and rely on some
form of IT to do business (e-mail, databases, Internet,
etc.)
• Need to be knowledgeable about IT/IS to succeed in an
organization today (whether in an IT job or not)
• Need to be able to discuss your IT needs with IT staff –
i.e., need to have at least a basic understanding of IT
Topic 1: Introduction p.19
Information Systems Literacy
• IT professional:
• Hands-on knowledge of IT
• Understand how IT adds business value
• Non IT professional:
• Ability to converse/interface with IT staff
• Leverage the power of information via IS
• Improve productivity in an IT context
• Everyone:
• Understanding of organizations and individuals from a
behavioral perspective
• Understanding of how to analyze and solve problems
Topic 1: Introduction p.20
Web Page Design
and Implementation
Topic 1: Introduction p.21
Please complete the
IT Background Survey
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Use your AU EagleNet login ID
And password = “changeme”
Log into the MIS Student System
http://www.jibe4fun.com/scripts/mis/misuserlogin.asp
Change your password and then
Click on Tech Background Survey
Complete the survey and click Submit
Topic 1: Introduction p.22
Agenda
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Discuss basic design principles for web sites
Learn the basics about web page development
Get hands-on experience with FrontPage
Follow up course:
ITEC-334
Computer Programming in the Web Era
Topic 1: Introduction p.23
What is the World Wide Web?
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The Internet vs. the WWW
Internet applications:
– WWW, E-mail, FTP, Telnet, Internet EDI, etc.
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WWW:
– Sharing of electronic documents via the Internet
– System and set of rules (standards) for storing,
retrieving, formatting and displaying information
– Web servers and Web browsers
Topic 1: Introduction p.24
Web Servers and Browsers
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Web Servers:
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Located anywhere on the Internet
Store information to be retrieved
Serves electronic documents to users
Executes applications as needed
Web
Server
Browser
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Web Browsers (clients):
– Request information from Web servers
– Formats and presents info to user
– Standard user interface
Web Page Request
(click hyperling)
Send Web Page
Browser
i.e., Web Client
The Internet
Web
Server
Browser
Topic 1: Introduction p.25
HTTP & HTML
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HTTP hypertext transfer protocol
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A standard protocol to access Web documents
A protocol: needed for 2 apps to communicate
Protocol = communication rules
HTTP: designed for efficient document retrieval
HTML hypertext markup language
– A standard file format used by Web browsers
– Text is “marked-up” with tags
– Hyperlinks to other documents
Topic 1: Introduction p.26
URL = Uniform Resource Locator
i.e., location of a web page
Web sites are located by specifying the Uniform Resource Locator
– <access protocol>://<domain>/<file location>
– ex. http://auapps.american.edu/~alberto/index.html
– The domain is the main Web site,
which may consist of many Web servers
and it translates to an IP Address, e.g.
– Ex. http://147.9.18.105/~alberto/index.html
– For example, see domains to IP address mappings
http://swhois.net/
Topic 1: Introduction p.27
Design Issue #1:
Think of your page organization in advance
Topic 1: Introduction p.28
Bad (or no) Design:
Topic 1: Introduction p.29
Design Issue #2:
Hyperlinks:
internal
within a page
(like a bookmark)
or
external
to other pages
Link URL
URL
Link #name
….
….
….
….
….
name
….
….
….
Topic 1: Introduction p.30
Design Issue #3:
Hyperlink Types
LINK TO SPECIFIC POINTS IN A PAGE (use #)
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Relative reference: within currently loaded page
#ITReviews
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Absolute reference: to other pages (ext docs)
http://auapps.american.edu/~alberto/itec200/syllabus.html#ITReviews
LINK TO OUTSIDE PAGES
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Relative reference: within your web site (your docs)
index.html
students/teams/webpages.html
students/teams/webpages.html#names
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Absolute reference: external to web (ext docs)
http://auapps.american.edu/~alberto/index.html
Topic 1: Introduction p.31
Other Important Design Issues
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Too many graphics slow down loading of page
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Too much animation distracts
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Use top page as a menu or index
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Make navigation easy--back and forth
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Soft backgrounds (white is best for business docs)
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Dark or bright text (dark is best for business docs)
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Test your colors/fonts on a variety of monitors
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New things attract visitors—update your page
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Include your URL and e-mail address
Topic 1: Introduction p.32
Web Publishing Basics
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Many ways to create HTML pages
– By hand (Notepad), FrontPage, Dreamweaver, etc.
– It helps to understand how HTML works
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Tips to ensure your web site works well beforehand
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Compose a quick html file and call it “test.html”
View this file using your browser
Copy this file to the www folder on your G drive
Then browse this HTML file and ensure it works
You will do this shortly
Topic 1: Introduction p.33
HTML Files, Web Pages and Web Sites
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HTML file = Text (info) + HTML <Tags> (formatting)
Ex. <BOLD>Hello</BOLD> there!!
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Web page = HTML files + graphics & other files
HTML
Tags
HTML
File
Text
Graphics
Files
Web
Page
(jpg,gif,etc.)
Other Files
Web
Site
Other
Web
Pages
(video,
sound)
Topic 1: Introduction p.34
HTML Tags
General format:
<TAG attrib1=value1 attrib2=value2….>Text</TAG>
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Ex. tag without attributes <BOLD>
Ex. tag with attributes
<FONT size=2 color=blue>
Need a beginning tag, e.g. <U> (underline)
And often an ending tag, e.g. <U>Hello!</U>
Topic 1: Introduction p.35
Organizational
Information Systems
Topic 1: Introduction p.36
Data and Information:
Difference ???
Information
Data
Topic 1: Introduction p.37
Data vs. Information
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Data - Raw Facts - No intelligence by itself, data alone is useless
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Information - Data processed into meaningful intelligence – useful
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What is Knowledge????
Knowledge:
how people
process and
relate to
information
Information
Topic 1: Introduction p.38
Information Technology (IT)
• Technology Infrastructure
(HW, SW, Databases and Networks)
• + Business Applications
(HR, Finance, Accounting, ERP, CRM, SCM, etc.)
• Which allows business employees and managers to
process data into useful information for managerial
decisions and actions
• i.e., it is the TECHNOLOGY itself
Topic 1: Introduction p.39
Information Systems (IS)
• More than just IT!!
• IS are systems to process data into useful
information for managerial decisions and actions, but
in addition to IT issues, it also involves an
understanding o business and people processes
employed to get the work done.
• Not just a computer or technical issue, but also:
 How an organization gets the work done and
what are the work processes employed
 How people do their work and how they relate
to one another
Topic 1: Introduction p.40
Implementing Information Systems
• Implementing IS means change
• It affects people, groups, structure, tasks,
processes, role relations, power structure, etc.
• A successful IS implementation must take this
into account
• It cannot rely on technology alone
Topic 1: Introduction p.41
MIS: Fit Organizations, IT & Management
- Fit
- Interdependence
ORGANIZATIONS
(Business)
TECHNOLOGY
(IT)
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
(People)
Topic 1: Introduction p.42
Classification of Information
Systems for Business
By:
1. Organizational Level
2. Functional Area
3. Support Provided
Topic 1: Introduction p.43
1. Classification By Organizational Level
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Operational Level Systems
(e.g. support production & operations workers)
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Knowledge Level Systems
(e.g., support engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc.)
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Management Level Systems
(e.g., support middle to upper management)
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Strategic Level Systems
(e.g., support CEO’s and other executives)
Topic 1: Introduction p.44
2. Classification by Business Function
Systems for:
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Sales, Marketing
Manufacturing, Production,
Operations
Finance, Accounting
Human Resources
Etc.
Topic 1: Introduction p.45
Classification by 1. Organizational Level and
2. Functional Area (together)
Topic 1: Introduction p.46
3. Classification by
type of Support Provided
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Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
A basic business system that performs and records the daily routine
transactions necessary to the conduct of the business. These are
systems or system components that interact with the external world
(e.g., customer registration, data entry, online purchases, point of sales,
etc.)
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Office Automation Systems (OAS)
e.g., word processing, electronic mail, presentation graphics, desktop
publishing
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Knowledge Work Systems (KWS)
e.g., engineering, software, medical systems
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Management Information Systems (MIS)
To extract data from data repositories and prepare management reports,
e.g., budgets, financial summaries, client activity summaries, etc.
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Decision Support Systems (DSS)
To assist with decision analysis and application of business decision
rules, e.g., loan application processing, investment analysis, etc.)
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Executive Support Systems (ESS)
To tie data from all levels and from external/strategic sources to the CEO
and other business executives
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Etc.
Topic 1: Introduction p.47
Systems Often
Interact with
Each Other
MIS
KWS
ESS
DSS
TPS
OAS
Topic 1: Introduction p.48
Integrating Functions and Processes:
A New Kind IS for Business
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IS also helps integrate business processes and
data across organizational levels and functions:
– Customer Relations Management (CRM)
– Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
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And with other companies organizations
(e.g., suppliers, customers):
– Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Topic 1: Introduction p.49
Business Processes
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A process: manner in which work is organized and
coordinated to produce a product or service
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Some business processes take place within a function
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Some others cut across multiple business functions
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Involves workflows of material, information, and
knowledge
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Provides unique ways to coordinate work, information,
and knowledge
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Example: processing a customer order
Topic 1: Introduction p.50
Integrating Across Functions
in Business Processes
Topic 1: Introduction p.51
Traditional View of Business Systems
Topic 1: Introduction p.52
Newer View of Business using
Business Process Systems
Topic 1: Introduction p.53
Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) System
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Manages ways to deal with existing and
potential new customers
Coordinates business processes of a firm
necessary to provides end-to-end customer care
Provides a unified view of customer across the
company
Consolidates customer data from multiple
sources and provides analytical tools for
answering questions
Topic 1: Introduction p.54
Enterprise Systems or
Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) Systems
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•
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Organization-wide information systems that
integrate business processes so that information
can flow through the necessary parts of the firm
Very expensive and difficult to implement
Integrates data from multiple business functions
(e.g., accounting, finance, inventory, etc.)
Topic 1: Introduction p.55
Supply Chain Management
(SCM) Systems
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Links the organization with customers and suppliers
(i.e., “the supply chain”) as one “virtual organization”
Integrates all aspects of procurement,
production and logistics to deliver
products and services to clients
Helps forecast and decide when
& what to produce
Helps place/receive orders and
track their status
Helps communicate product
design/specs changes
Helps manage inventories
Enables “just-in-time” (JIT) and
“stockless” inventory methods
(vendor managed)
Topic 1: Introduction p.56
MIS and The Digital Firm
Business
Applications
Business
Applications
ESS
e.g., Enterprise
Resource
Planning
(ERP)
MIS
DSS
KWS
OAS
e.g., Supply
Chain Mgmt
(SCM)
e.g., Customer
Relations Mgmt
(CRM)
TPS
OAS
Topic 1: Introduction p.57
A High Level View of IT
IT
Infrastructure
Business
Applications
Business World
Transactions
HR, Finance, DSS, KWS,
ESS, ERP, SCM, CRM,
etc.
TPS
Databases
Information
Reports
Servers
Clients
Databases
Routers
Security
Switches
Networks
(LANs, WANs, Internet, Intranets, Extranets, etc.)
Topic 1: Introduction p.58