Chapter 1
THE INFORMATION AGE IN WHICH YOU LIVE
Changing the Face of Business
Chapter 1
Today’s Economic Environment
Information
MIS
People
Roles and Goals of IT
Information Technology
1
What is a system?
?
2
What is an Information
System?

A set of interrelated components that collect, manipulate,
and disseminate data and information and provide a
feedback mechanism to meet an objective.
Control of System Performance
Input of
Data
Resources
Processing
Data
Storage of Data Resources
Output of
Information
Products
3
Introduction Continued
As a Formal Definition:
Management information systems (MIS)
deals with the planning for, development,
management, and use of information
technology tools to help people perform all
tasks related to information processing and
management.
4
Introduction
Today we live in an Information age
Where knowledge is power.
Businesses are using information to gain and sustain a competitive
advantage.
Once you finish your program, you will enter the marketplace as
a knowledge worker.


Knowledge worker works with and produces information as a product.
A knowledge worker outnumbers all other types of workers by a 4-to-1
margin.

5
Introduction Continued
Where does MIS fit in today's’
information age and why is it so
important?
 Because it deals with the coordination
and use of 3 important organizational

resources:



Information
Information Technology and
People
6
Chapter 1
Today’s Economic Environment
Information
MIS
People
Roles and Goals of IT
Information Technology
For a business to be successful today, it has to
understand and operate in dynamic, fast-paced and
changing economic environment.
What does today’s economic environment entail?
The E.Conomy
The “Now” Economy
The Global Economy
The Arriving Digital Economy
7
Today’s Economic Environment
The E.conomy
eCommerce
Telecommuting
•
•
Distance Learning
Telephone service
representative working
from home
Virtual Workplace
Work anytime anyplace.
8
Today’s Economic Environment
The E.conomy
Figure 1.1
Telecommuting –
Canadian
Statistics
page 6
9
Today’s Economic Environment
The “Now” Economy


Characterized by the immediate
access customers have to the
ordering of products and services.
M-commerce – electronic
Team Work
commerce conducted over a
wireless device such as a cell
phone or personal digital
assistant. Case study
I Want It!
(p.8)
10
Today’s Economic Environment
The Global Economy

Global economy – one in which customers,
businesses, suppliers, distributors, and
manufacturers all operate without regard to
physical and geographical boundaries.

Transnational firms – produce and sell
products and services in countries all over the
world.
11
Today’s Economic Environment
The Global Economy
Figure 1.2
2000
Total Import and Export Figures, 1998 to
(millions of Canadian dollars)
page 9
12
Today’s Economic Environment
The Arriving Digital Economy

Digital economy – marked by the electronic
movement of all types of information including
physiological information such as:




Voice recognition
Speech synthesization
Biometrics
Holograms
13
Information as a Key Resource
Chapter 1
Today’s Economic Environment
Information
MIS
People
Roles and Goals of IT
Information Technology
1. Information is one of the three components of MIS.
2. Information leads to knowledge and knowledge is power.
3. Knowledge comes from having timely access to information and
knowing what to do with it.
14
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
There are three aspects to
information:
1.
2.
3.
Data V.S. Information.
Personal dimensions of information.
Organization’s dimensions of
information.
15
Data versus Information

Data:


Raw facts, such as an employee’s name and number of
hours worked in a week, inventory part numbers, or
sales orders.
Information:

A collection of facts organized in such a way that they
have additional value beyond the value of the facts
themselves
Monthly Sales Report
for West Region
Sales Rep: Charles Mann
Emp No. 79154
Item
Qty Sold
TM Shoes 1200
$100
Price
16
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Personal Dimensions of Information
Figure 1.3
Personal
Dimensions of
Information
page 10
17
MIS
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Information
People
Information Technology
For your own business or while
working in a company, you need to
consider the various organizational
dimensions of information, including:



Information flows
Information granularity and
What information describes.
18
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Organizational Dimensions of
Information
Figure 1.4
An Organization,
Its Information
Flows, and
Information
Granularity
page 12
19
MIS
Organizational
Dimensions of Information Granularity
Information

People
Information Technology
Information granularity – refers to
the extent of detail within the
information.
20
Organizational
Dimensions of Information
Information
MIS
People
Information Technology
What information describes

What the information describes can
include:




Internal information – specific operational
aspects of the organization.
External information – the environment
surrounding the organization.
Objective information – something that is
known.
Subjective information – something that is
unknown.
21
People as a Key Resource
Chapter 1
Today’s Economic Environment
Information
People
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
MIS
Roles and Goals of IT
People
Set goals
Carry out tasks
Make decisions
Serve customer
Provide a stable and reliable
technology environment.
Information Technology
When it comes to you (the people)
there are two important issues to be
aware of:
1. Information and technology
literacy.
2. You ethical responsibilities.
22
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Information and Technology Literacy


The single most important resource in any
organization is its people.
To be more precise, the most
valuable asset to the organization is
your mind.
23
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Information and Technology Literacy
A Technology-literate knowledge
worker is a person who knows how and
when to apply technology.


HOW is knowing what technology to buy and
how to exploit it benefits.
When is knowing the right time to apply
technology.
24
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Information and Technology Literacy

Information-literate knowledge
workers:




Define what information they need.
Know how and where to obtain
information.
Understand the information.
Act appropriately based on the information
to help the organization achieve the
greatest advantage.
25
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Your Ethical Responsibilities

Ethics – the principals and standards that

Ethics are different from laws as they are a
matter of personal interpretation.

Ethics have a right and wrong outcome
according to different people.
guide our behavior toward other people.
26
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Which ones are ethical / legal or not?

Consider:

Copying software you purchased, making copies
for your friends and charging them for the copies.


Making extra backup copies.


This is not ethical nor legal.
It is ethical but only legal to make one backup copy.
Giving out the phone numbers of your friends and
relatives without their permission to a provider of
some sort.

Not ethical.
27
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Your Ethical Responsibilities
Figure 1.5
Acting Ethically
and Legally
page 16
28
MIS
Information
People
Information Technology
Your Ethical Responsibilities
On Your Own
E-Mail: Electronic Mail
or Expensive Mail?
(p. 17)
29
IT as a Key Resource
Chapter 1
Today’s Economic Environment
Information
MIS
Roles and Goals of IT
People
Information
Technology
Information Technology is any computer-based
tool that people use to work with information
and support the information and information
processing needs of an organization.
30
MIS
Information

People
Information
Technology
There are two basic categories of
technology:

Hardware – physical devices that make up a
computer.

Software – set of instructions that the
hardware executes to carry out a specific
task.
31
MIS
Information
Key Technology Categories

People
Information
Technology
On Your Own
Hardware categories







Input devices
Output devices
Storage devices
Central processing unit
Random access memory
Telecommunications devices
Connecting devices
Identifying
Hardware
And Software
(p. 21)
32
MIS
Information
People
Information
Technology
Key Technology Categories

Software categories



Application software
Operating system software
Utility software
(See Figure 1.6 on page 19 for a complete overview
of software categories.)
33
MIS
Information
People
Information
Technology
Decentralized Computing and Shared Information
Figure 1.7
Decentralized
Computing
and Shared
Information
page 21
34
Roles and Goals of
Information Technology
Chapter 1
Today’s Economic Environment
MIS
Information
People
Roles and Goals of IT
Information Technology
Roles and Goals of IT relates to the reasons you
wish to buy, create, implement, use, and integrate
IT into your business strategy.
35
Roles and Goals of IT
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Increase employee productivity
Enhance decision making
Improve team collaboration
Create business partnerships and
alliances
Enable global reach
Facilitate organizational transformation
36
Roles and Goals of IT
1 - Increase Employee Productivity



Online transaction processing
(OLTP)
Transaction processing system
(TPS)
Customer-integrated system (CIS)
37
Roles and Goals of IT
1 - Increase Employee Productivity
Figure 1.9
Transaction
Processing and
Customer-Integrated
Systems
page 24
38
Roles and Goals of IT
2 - Enhance Decision Making




Online analytical processing
(OLAP)
Artificial intelligence
Neural network
Executive information system
(EIS)
39
Roles and Goals of IT
2 - Enhance Decision Making
Figure 1.10
Drilling Down with an Executive Information System
page 25
40
Roles and Goals of IT
3 - Improve Team Collaboration

Collaboration system – designed
specifically to improve the performance of
teams by supporting the sharing and flow of
information.

Groupware – software components that
supports the collaborative efforts of a team.
41
Roles and Goals of IT
4 - Create Business Partnerships and
Alliances
Team Work


Interorganizational
system (IOS)
Electronic data
interchange (EDI)
Finding Business
Partners and
Alliances on
The Web
(p. 27)
42
Roles and Goals of IT
5 - Enable Global Reach
43
Roles and Goals of IT
6 - Facilitate Organizational
Transformation


Organizational transformation is
necessary to respond to the everchanging needs (and wants) of today’s
marketplace.
Blockbuster now provides movies on a
pay-per-view rental basis through cable.
44
Closing Case Study One
You and Your Information



Information travels with you and is captured
and stored by a number of organizations.
Trust and accuracy of information is
important.
Do you trust organizations to maintain
accurate information about you?
45