INTRODUCTION TO CORPORATE INFORMATION SYSTEMS IS524 BY CHANDRA S. AMARAVADI

INTRODUCTION (PART I) Definition of Corporate Systems Types of IS & Evolution Roles of IS Characteristics

DEFINITION OF CORPORATE INFORMATION SYSTEMS Corporate Information Systems: A collection of systems designed to fulfill the information/information processing needs of an organization. Information processing: collect, store, process, disseminate ORGANIZATION SYSTEM

INFORMATION PROCESSING IN ORGANIZATIONS orders availability SALES/ MARKETING INVENTORY CUSTOMER raw materials ACCOUNTING/ FINANCE PRODUCTION SUPPLIERS order fulfillment

THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS Transaction processing Reporting systems 1970’s Database management systems Decision support Office information systems 1980’s Database management systems AI based systems Executive information systems Strategic systems 1990’s Enterprise information systems E-Commerce systems Knowledge Management systems BI systems (EIS)

THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS.. 1990’s-2000’s TP Systems Reporting Systems introduced because of problems with reporting Database Systems information is used for d.m. DSS Exec. info. Systems BI Systems can be thought of extension of DSS Expert Systems KM Systems OIS converted E-commerce Systems integrated Enterprise Systems

AN OVERVIEW OF THE DIFFERENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS Transaction processing systems: process business transactions Reporting systems: summarize transaction information Database management systems: systems to manage information Decision support systems: support analysis of data (w models) to aid in d.m. Executive information systems: systems to support executive d.m. BI: systems to provide execs with business intelligence (same as EIS) Office information systems: provide support to office workers (OIS) AI & expert systems: use artificial intelligence to duplicate human activity (in organizations). Strategic systems:systems which support the strategy of the organization and improve competitive advantage. Enterprise information systems: systems which support all functional areas, from marketing to production. E-commerce systems: systems for browsing, ordering, payment etc.

ACRONYMS AI – Artificial Intelligence TP – Transaction Processing DSS – Decision Support Systems EIS -- Executive Information Systems BI – Business Intelligence ES -- Expert Systems ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning (same as Enterprise Systems) KM – Knowledge management Systems MSS – Management Support Systems OIS -- Office Information Systems

ROLES OF IS Support Operations example POS, ATM Provide information/knowledge example KM systems Support decision making example DSS Support organization work (other than d.m) example KM system (same as above) Support strategy, organizational design/redesign example conferencing systems POS – point of sale; dm – decision making

CLASSIFICATION OF CORPORATE SYSTEMS Type of Information System – Systems that: Examples Support operations TP, ERP, E-Commerce Provide information/knowledge DB/reporting, BI, KM Support decision making DSS, BI, GDSS Support organizational work (other than decision making) KM, Expert Systems, OIS Strategic and organizational (org. design) Workflow systems, strategic systems Artificial Intelligence BI – Business Intelligence; DSS – Decision Support Systems; EIS – Executive Information Systems; ERP – Enterprise resource planning; GDSS – Group Decision Support Systems; KM – Knowledge Management; TP – Transaction processing;

CHARACTERISTICS OF IS Used in all organizations Majority of applications are operational systems Rest are DSS etc. Most IS have database as a back end Type of users depend on type of system TP systems are being phased out (legacy systems) AI is becoming part of every other system DSS, BI, OIS customized from generic software

FOR DISCUSSION IT consists of information systems: T/F? DSS are most common IS: T/F? E-commerce systems are operational systems? Office Systems support decision making: T/F? What type of systems supply information? DSS evolved from EIS: T/F? A collection of systems to fulfill information processing needs is called __________ Following chart shows a “gas tax map” of the U.S. It illustrates an example of a display in a (an) __________ system.

INTRODUCTION (PART II) Perspectives on information systems Role of information systems IS strategy Development of IS

DEFINING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: PERSPECTIVES Systems, STS, Work System, Strategic Systems

THE SYSTEM CONCEPT Any set of related elements (which are under consideration) working together towards the common purpose of transforming inputs into outputs Examples: transportation network, education, building... In the IS context: a system is any part (or whole) of the organization which satisfies the definition above

SYSTEM CHARACTERISTICS Systems have characteristics: boundaries inputs, processes & outputs subsystems life cycle The systems concept is used to: understand systems analyze systems Processes Outputs Inputs

SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE How can we view a harbor as a system? A bank?

INFORMATION SYSTEMS FROM SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE The systems perspective provides a template for studying information systems. BUSINESS PROCESSING Inputs: screens/ files Outputs: reports/ Screens/ files data inputs/ outputs

THE STS APPROACH Socio-technical system: A system based on reciprocal inter-relationships between humans and machines. Org consists of systems. What systems? IS implementations can cause disruptions to ???? when implementing IS need to consider ??? any definition of a system should include ______ system systems should fit workplace rather than vice versa To be successful, any IS implementation must consider the impact on work and power relationships. Organization

‘IS’ FROM STS PERSPECTIVE Inputs Processes Outputs Information System Above is a model of information systems based on STS.

THE WORK SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE “Custo-mers” “Products and Services” Business Process Participants Information Technology Context IT Resources Information System Another perspective of an information system.

THE WORK SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE Customers – beneficiaries of the IS i.e. users and their management. Products/services – the physical products/services provided by the IS. Processes – the steps performed within the IS e.g. taking orders. Participants – the people who perform the steps in the processes. Information – information used to perform the work. Technology – hardware, software etc. Context – the organizational, competitive, technical and regulatory realm within which the system operates IT Resources – refers to the IT department and leadership

THE STRATEGIC SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE IS as a competitive weapon Started with classic cases of SABRE & AHS SABRE -- reservation system of AA AHS (BAXTER) -- system now classified as SCM. IS should support org. strategies HOSPITAL AHS Note: AA – American Airlines; AHS – American Hospital Supply, now Baxter

DISCUSSION How do we view an ERP system from the system’s perspective? How do you compare system’s with STS? When does the STS perspective come into play? How is it applied? How do you compare STS with Work System perspective? Which is the most comprehensive perspective? Which perspective is applicable if Merck wants to use IT for its drug delivery process to get drugs faster to market than competitors? Why?

IS STRATEGY & IMPACTS

IS STRATEGY & IMPACTS IS has many different roles most important is strategic IS Strategy is to support corporate strategy e.g. use CRM systems to monitor customers e.g. use robots to cut mfg. costs IS implementations can have strategic impacts Such systems are called strategic systems Model of IT/IS impacts can be used to predict impacts identify IS that can cause them.

COSTS, FIRM SIZE, CUST. BASE ETC. GENERAL MODEL OF IT/IS IMPACTS COSTS, FIRM SIZE, CUST. BASE ETC. Improve operations Improve product/svc. Improve mgmt. proc. Improve admin. proc. Information Systems Infrastructure Leadership Personnel

GENERAL MODEL OF IT IMPACTS IT could be utilized to improve management, administrative and manufacturing processes or it could be used to impact the product itself or the “reach” of the organization. Improve operations – use IT to support the firm’s operations Improve product – primarily where information-based product/ service is possible, e.g. on-line car-service records. Improve management processes -- through “better information” to management via EIS, data mining etc. Improve administrative support processes – through streamlining them via customized applications or through workflow automation (OIS).

IS DEVELOPMENT

INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT IS development refers to software development IS development is an organized process for developing an information system. Consists of many stages and many actors. Stages in the development cycle (SDLC) are: planning, analysis, design, implementation, maintenance.

THE IS DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Project Manager (PM) Project plan Sr. Analyst or PM Planning/feasibility Users specs design code Project manager: assigns teams, schedules projects, reviews progress etc. User: The ultimate consumer of the system. Could be financial analysts, sales people or managers. Analyst: prepares specifications for system. Programmer: converts specifications to code. Business Analysts Developers System Analysis Design Implementation Note: actors are shown in black, outputs in blue and stages in green

DISCUSSION Identify the framework that answers these questions and then answer each of the following questions: How can we analyze ‘order processing’ in an org.? Who are “customers”? Company uses IT to support drug development process. Company uses web technologies to develop an online store What happens to an organization if an ERP system is implemented? What activity/activities take place when specs are received? What is the role of a developer?

WHAT DOES THIS ILLUSTRATE? Decisions. Decisions. Management information Management Decisions. Organization (design)

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