ISYS 363
Information Systems for
Management
David Chao
Technology
• Changing the way of doing business
• Example: Travel
– Searching for flights, hotels
• Yahoo Travel, Expedia
– Making reservations
• US Aiways -- http://www.usairways.com/awa/
– Select your seats
– Web check-In
• Mobile check-in with web-enabled mobile phones :
– http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_INTL/manageyourtrip
/mobileservices/mobilecheckin
– Tour information
Supermarket Smart Cart
• Stop & Shop, a chain based in the Boston area, is
seeking to change the whole way we shop for
groceries — including the dreaded check-out lane.
– Shopping Buddy: a wireless touch-screen device that is
attached to a shopping cart and scans in items placed in
the cart by shoppers.
– IBM Everywhere Display: Beamed from the
supermarket ceiling, this device transforms surface into
an interactive computer. In a supermarket, you will be
likely to confront it on the floor, where you can access
information by tapping your foot on the display.
• Video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/5465603#5465603
•
Website: http://www.stopandshop.com
Faster Airport Security Check-in Process
Introduced - For a Price
• The Clear Registered Traveler Program, also known as
"Clear Pass"
– http://www.flyclear.com/
• Passengers willing to pay an annual $199 fee will be
able to pre-register. A scan of their hands and fingers,
as well as an electronic "read" of their irises will be
recorded.
• If the applicant passes scrutiny, a small clear card with
an imbedded microchip will be sent to the traveler from
Transportation Security Administration allowing him
or her to bypass the traditional screening area.
Technology Life Cycle
• Technology pushes itself to progress.
–
–
–
–
Problem
Solution
Service
Competition:
• Yahoo Map vs Google Map
– Obsolete
Information Age
• Information Age/society:
– the majority of workers are involved in the creation,
distribution, and application of information.
• Should the President Use E-mail?
– http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/should-thepresident-use-e-mail/
– The MUM Effect:The effect in which subordinates routinely fail to
deliver important bad news to their superiors.
– e-mail may be a powerful antidote to the MUM effect by stripping
away the social cues that make delivering bad news unpleasant for the
messenger.
• President Obama’s website:
– http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president_obama/
• Hey there! BarackObama is using Twitter.
– http://twitter.com/barackobama
– Businesses depend on information technology to get their
Digital Entrepreneur
• People who develop new technologies.
– Search engines, map, browser, etc.
• People who use the technologies innovatively.
– Twitter applications:
• http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/19/the-top-20twitter-applications/
• Ex. SecondLife and interesting applications
• http://secondlife.com/
– Linden dollar, buying virtual land
Examples of Small On-Line Stores
• Amazon Associates:
– Amazon.com's affiliate marketing program. By linking to
Amazon products and services you can add compelling
content for your site visitors enjoyment and receive up to
10% in referral fees for doing so.
– aStore
• eBay Stores:
– An eBay Store helps you get more out of eBay's access to
millions of shoppers worldwide. By showcasing all of your
merchandise in one central location, an eBay Store creates
a central shopping destination where buyers can learn
more about you, your products, and your policies.
Why study information systems?
• An end-user perspective
– Enhance personal productivity, and the
productivity of their work groups and
department.
– Increase your opportunities for success:
• be aware of the management problems and
opportunities presented by the information
technology.
Why study information systems?
• An enterprise perspective: Information
systems play a vital role in the success of
an enterprise.
– Efficient operations
– Effective management
– Competitive advantage
Business Are Becoming Internetworked
Enterprises
• The internet and Internet-like networks (intranets and
extranets) have become the primary information
technology infrastructure that supports the business
operations of many organizations.
• Electronic commerce:
– The buying and selling, and marketing and servicing of
products, services, and information over a variety of computer
networks.
• Globalization:
– Global markets, global production facilities, global partners,
global competitors, global customers.
Management Information Systems
Chapter 1 Information Systems in Global Business Today
The Role of Information Systems in Business Today
Information Technology Capital Investment
Information technology investment, defined as hardware, software, and communications equipment,
grew from 34% to 50% between 1980 and 2004.
Source: Based on data in U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Income and Product
Accounts, 2006.
Figure 1-1
Techies might finally be able to
move into top management
• More Chief Information Officers (CIOs)
are reporting directly to CEOs.
• More CIOs are being included on
management committees.
• In a recent survey of executives at capital
market firms, 89% believed that
technology managers would assume
greater responsibilities.
Course Introduction
• IT – Introduction to information technology
– Computer hardware, software, network
– IT management
• IS – Introduction to information systems
– Information system components
– Types of information systems
• PC – personal computing
– Advanced spreadsheet techniques in decision support.
– Introduction to database and database application
development
– Internet techniques
What is Information Technology?
• A term used to refer to a wide variety of items and
abilities used in the creation, storage, and dispersal
of data, information and knowledge.
– Data: Raw facts, figures, and details.
• Numerical, text, multimedia
– Information: An organized, meaningful, and useful
interpretation of data.
– Knowledge: Insight of a subject matter.
Management Information Systems
Chapter 1 Information Systems in Global Business Today
Perspectives on Information Systems
Data and Information
Raw data from a supermarket checkout counter can be processed and organized to produce meaningful
information, such as the total unit sales of dish detergent or the total sales revenue from dish detergent
for a specific store or sales territory.
Figure 1-3
Hardware
• Input devices
• CPU and primary storage
– RAM - temporary storage
– Processor
• Control Unit - decoder
• Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU)
• Output devices
• Secondary storage devices
• Communication devices
Computer System Concept
Information Systems Concept
Chapter 1 Information Systems in Global Business Today
Perspectives on Information Systems
Functions of an Information System
An information system contains information about an organization and its surrounding environment. Three basic activities—input, processing, and output—
produce the information organizations need. Feedback is output returned to appropriate people or activities in the organization to evaluate and refine the
input. Environmental actors, such as customers, suppliers, competitors, stockholders, and regulatory agencies, interact with the organization and its
information systems.
Figure 1-4
Types of Computer Systems
• Microcomputers
– personal computing, workstation,network server.
• Minicomputers
– Departmental and workgroup systems, network server,
workstation.
• Mainframes
– Enterprisewide systems, transaction processors
– Data mining and warehousing
• Supercomputers
– Billions to trillions of operations per second (gigaflops and teraflops)
– Parallel processing
– Scientific calculations
• Networked computer systems
– WAN, LAN, PAN
Personal Area Network
• A personal area network (PAN) is a computer
network used for communication among computer
devices (including telephones and personal digital
assistants) close to one person. The devices may or
may not belong to the person in question. The reach
of a PAN is typically a few meters.
• BlueTooth: It is an industrial specification for
wireless PANs. Bluetooth provides a way to connect
and exchange information between devices such as
mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital
cameras and video game consoles via a short-range
radio frequency.
Land Warrior
• http://www.army-technology.com/projects/land_warrior/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Warrior
• The Helmet Subsystem (HSS) combined a lightweight
advanced helmet with a computer and OLED display
• The Navigation Subsystem (NSS) provided positional
information, it integrates a GPS receiver and a Dead
Reckoning Module (DRM) that maintains accurate
location when GPS signal becomes unavailable.
• The Communication Network Radio Subsystem (CNRS)
provided communications capabilities for the Land
Warrior.
• Land Warrior's software system was powered by a variant
of the Linux operating system and has a modular, open
architecture for further improvement.
Mobile Social Networking
• Application that works on bluetooth enabled
mobile phone:
• Imity: http://www.imity.com/pocket-radar
– detect and notifies you of other Imity users as
well as bluetooth enabled phones in your
vicinity by vibrating your phone.
– deliver alerts for select people/friends whenever
you come across them.
Hardware Trends
• CPU: Parallel processor systems.
– Intel’s Dual-Core processors: two processors built into a single chip.
• Storage:
– RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks): Arrays of disk
drives that provides a fault tolerant capability by storing multiple
copies of data on several disks.
• RAID hardware/RAID software, Mirroring.
– Terabyte (TB) hard drive:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terabyte
– Storage Area Network, Storage Farm
– Data Center
• Input/output: video and multimedia input/output, voice recognition
and response, optical and magnetic recognition, biometric scanner.
• Hand-held devices
– PDA, Smart phone
Storage
• Storage Area Network, SAN:
– A storage area network is an architecture to
attach remote computer storage devices to
servers in such a way that the devices appear as
locally attached to the operating system.
• Storage Farm:
– The Storage Farm (disk space) is a centrally
managed pool of space. Storage in the Storage
Farm is typically provided by Storage Area
Network technology to allow easy growing of
storage.
Data Center
• Google, Microsoft Data Center
– Data Center Containers:
• http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/catego
ry/technology/containers/
– Global locations:
• http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2008/
03/27/google-data-center-faq/
• Tour:
– Google: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRwPSFpLX8I
– Microsoft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWYmNayS0Kk
Radio Frequency Identification
• RFID is a system for tagging and identifying objects.
– Antenna to send and receive signals.
– RFID reader
• Applications:
– An alternative to bar code
• Supermarket
– Tracking objects
A few interesting RFID applications
– RFID tags help you to choose clothes
• http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=719
– Ford embeds RFID tech into new trucks and
vans
• http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do
?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9061580
&intsrc=hm_list
– Digital watermark to prevent counterfeit:
• http://www.eetasia.com/ART_8800492623_499488
_NP_6d6f04ae.HTM
– Others:
• http://www.rfidexchange.com/applications.aspx?a
pplications=s
Moore’s Law
• A doubling in the number of transistors per
integrated circuit every 18 to 24 months
– Originally observed in 1965, it holds true today
• Common corollary of Moore’s Law…
– Computing prices will be cut in half every 18 to
24 months
– This has been consistently accurate
– Applies to cost of storage as well
Software
• System software
– Operating system
• Application software
– University’s registration system
• Application development software
Operating system functions
– User interface
– Resource management (managing
hardware)
– Task management (managing the
accomplishment of tasks)
– File management (managing data and
program files)
– Utilities (providing a variety of supporting
services)
Today’s Operating Systems
• Personal computers:
– IBM PC compatible:
• Microsoft windows, Unix-like systems such as Linux.
• Windows 7:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows7/videos.aspx
– Apple Macintosh:
• Mac OS, Linux
• Mainframe computers:
– IBM z/OS, Linux
Linux and Open Source
• A Linux system is sometimes referred to as
GNU/Linux.
– GNU – free software
• Linux has been more widely ported to different
computing platforms than any other operating
system.
• Linux is the most prominent example of free
software and of open source development. Its
underlying source code is available for anyone to
use, modify, and redistribute freely, and in some
instances the entire operating system consists of
free/open source software.
Free Software: GNU.Org
• “Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand
the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not
as in “free beer”.
• Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy,
distribute, study, change and improve the software. More
precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the
software:
• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to
your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a
precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your
neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your
improvements to the public, so that the whole community
benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition
for this.
Operating Systems for Mobile Devices
• Mobile devices:
– Pocket PC/PDA
– Smartphones
– Portable media center
• Smartphone Operating systems, the most
important software in any smartphone:
http://communication.howstuffworks.com/smartphone2.htm
–
–
–
–
Windows Mobile, Windows CE
Palm OS
Symbian OS for Nokia
OS X for iPhone
Virtualization
• Virtualization is a technology that makes it possible to run
multiple operating systems and multiple applications on
the same computer at the same time, increasing the
utilization and flexibility of hardware.
• A virtual machine is a software container that can run its
own operating systems and applications as if it were a
physical computer. A virtual machine behaves exactly like
a physical computer and contains it own virtual (ie,
software-based) CPU, RAM hard disk and network
interface card (NIC). An operating system can’t tell the
difference between a virtual machine and a physical
machine, nor can applications or other computers on a
network.
• Vendors: VMware, Parallels, etc.
Grid Computing
• It is a service for sharing computer power and data storage
capacity over the Internet.
• The term Grid computing originated in the early 1990s as a
metaphor for making computer power as easy to access as
an electric power grid.
• Multiple independent computing clusters which act like a
"grid" because they are composed of resource nodes not
located within a single administrative domain.
• The primary advantage is that each node can be purchased
as commodity hardware, which when combined can produce
similar computing resources to a multiprocessor
supercomputer, but at lower cost.
– quickly arrange for the rental of individual servers, for example to
provision a bank of web servers to accommodate a sudden surge in
traffic to a web site.
Application development
software
• Low level language
• High level language
– third generation
– fourth generation
• Word processing, desktop publishing,
spreadsheet, database management, graphic
presentation, etc.
Compiler
• Translator: Translate the source program to
machine executable code.
• Interpreter: Translate one command at a
time.
– VBScript, JavaScript
Object-oriented development tools
–
–
–
–
Graphical user interface
Component programming
Event-driven programming
Code generator/Wizard
• Object example:
– Excel’s cell, chart
• Object-oriented tool example:
• VB.Net
• Java
Portability
Java: Write Once Run Anywhere
Java Byte Code
Java Source Code
Java Virtual Machine
(JVM)
Java Byte Code
(Intermediate Code)
Executable Code
Microsoft’s .Net
• Language must compliance with Common
Language Specification, CLS.
• Compile the language into Microsoft Intermediate
Language (MSIL) code.
• The MSIL code is then executed in the
Common Language Runtime (CLR), which
conceptually is same as the JVM, where it is
translated into machine code by a compiler.
• Microsoft .Net is a server-side technology. It runs
on any servers that implement the .Net system.
Client-Side VS Server-Side
• Client-side technology has the browser
compatibility problem.
• Example:
• Using FireFox, Tools/Options/Web Features
– Enable Java, Enable JavaScript
• Google Maps: Draggable because of AJAX,
which is a JavaScript technique. If we
disable JavaScript, it is not draggable.
Software as a Service, SaaS
• SaaS is a model of software deployment
where an application is hosted as a service
provided to customers across the Internet.
– SaaS alleviates the customer's burden of software
maintenance, ongoing operation, and support.
• no upfront investment in software development
– Conversely, customers relinquish control over
software versions or changing requirements;
– Costs to use the service become a continuous
expense, rather than a single expense at time of
purchase.
Companies Offer SaaS
• SalesForce.com:
– http://www.salesforce.com/
• Workday:
– http://www.workday.com/index.php
• Google Apps:
– http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/inde
x.html
– Google Docs:
– http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/coll
aboration.html#docs
What is cloud computing?
• Cloud computing is a style of computing in
which computing resources are provided as a
service over the Internet. Users need not have
knowledge of, expertise in, or control over
the technology infrastructure in the "cloud"
that supports them.
• Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_
DKNwK_ms&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpardali
s.squarespace.com%2F&feature=player_emb
edded
Examples of Cloud Computing
• SaaS
• Utility computing
Companies such as Amazon.com, Sun, and IBM, now offer
storage and virtual servers that others can access on
demand.
• Platform as a service, PaaS
This form of cloud computing delivers development
environments as a service. You build your own
applications that run on the provider's infrastructure and are
delivered to your users via the Internet from the provider's
servers.
• Service commerce platforms: software personal assistant.
This cloud computing offers a service hub that users
interact with.
– http://www.reardencommerce.com/
Who owns the data?
• http://venturebeat.com/2009/02/17/isfacebook-really-using-its-new-terms-ofservice-to-own-your-data/
• Facebook introduced a new terms of service
agreement in Feb. 09:
– You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable,
perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid,
worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to
(a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain,
publicly perform or display, transmit, scan,
reformat, modify, edit, …..
IT and Business Process
Reengineering
• Information technology provides the means to
rethink/recreate/reengineer conventional business
processes.
– Business Processes: Collections of activities, often
spanning several departments, that take one or more
kinds of input and create a result that is of value to a
company’s customers.
– Reengineering: The reshaping of business processes to
remove barriers that prohibit an organization from
providing better products and services and to help the
organization capitalize on its strengths.
IT and New Business Model
• New products, services, and business
models:
– Business model: describes how company
produces, delivers, and sells product or
service to create wealth
– Information systems and technology a major
enabling tool for new products, services,
business models
• E.g. Netflix’s Internet-based DVD rentals