MIS Information Systems in Organizations Dave Salisbury ( ) (web site)

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Information Systems John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Mark Huber, Craig Piercy, and Patrick McKeown

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Chapter 5 IT for Organizations

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. What We Will Cover: The technological infrastructure of an organization Databases: the primary data storage for organizations Beyond databases: using other methods to store data, information, and knowledge The IS integration problem Information systems that support business activities Business intelligence

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Student ROI (Return on Investment) Your investment of time and effort in this course will result in your being able to answer these questions: 1.How do organizations use processors, networks, software, and storage? 2.What are the key concepts of data organization for an IS? 3.In what ways can organizations use IT to store and share data, information and knowledge? 4.What is the IS integration problem and how are organizations solving it? 5.How do organizations use IT to support transactions and business processes? 6.How does business intelligence enhance organizational decision making?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. IT: The “Plumbing of an Organization” Data and information are as vital to an organization as the water we drink Data and information must be delivered in a usable form Just as pipes acts plumbing to deliver water for us to drink, IT acts as the plumbing of an organization by delivering “clean” data and information to those who need it.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Forms and Organizations of Data and Information While we need only clean water, we need different forms of data and information that is often organized in many different ways. What are some different forms of data and information? How can data and information be organized?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Technology Infrastructure of an Organization All core components discussed at the individual level— hardware, software, and networks—also apply at the organizational level. What are the two main differences between personal and organizational IT? How and why do these differences create challenges and opportunities for organizations?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Organizational Hardware Processing hardware is at the heart of business IS. The computer hierarchy categorizes processors according to their power. If determining computer power is often based on physical size, why isn’t it always possible to compare computer types on power alone?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Computer Hierarchy Computer Type Relative Processing Power Purpose SupercomputerLargest and Fastest MainframeLarge Server FarmsMedium/many Personal Computer (PC) Small to medium Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) Very small Embedded processors Extremely small

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. General Computing Job Types Input-Output Bound –Speed of job depends on speed of input- output devices –Common in business Processor Bound –Speed of job depends on speed of processor –Heavy calculations – common in science and advanced statistical fields

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Organizational Networks Networked computers provide the core function of ________ ________ in organizations Networks also support communications between … – What is one way to classify networks?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Types of Organizational Networks NetworkSizePurpose PAN (Private Area Network--private) Up to a small office LAN (Local Area Network--private) Within a building MAN (Metropolitan Area Network— private/public) Within a metropolitan area WAN (Wide Area Network— private/public) Over a large geo- graphical area) Internet (Public)Global

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Intranets in the Organization If intranets are very important to the organization, then what is an intranet? From a hardware perspective, an intranet is a ….. What protocols enable intranets to share information just like you do using the Internet? Intranets also use what other Internet-compatible file formats ?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Advantages of Intranets What are three major advantages of intranets?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Individual vs. Organizational Software Type of Software Individual UseOrganizational Use Operating Systems Application Software Collaboration Software Software at the organizational level is like that at personal level, just more complex and able to handle more transactions.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Databases: Primary Data Storage for Organizations All business information systems rely on stored data to help organizations make decisions. The primary technology for data storage is the database. What is a database? What is a database management system (DBMS) ?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. DBMSs Control Database Access

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Database Systems A database and its DBMS is often referred to as a database system. People who create and manage organizational database systems are referred to as database administrators. How and why do knowledge workers use database systems?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The Data Hierarchy The data hierarchy is a way of organizing stored data in progressively larger levels of complexity. Database File Record Field Character Bit Bottom-up View Top-down View

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. File Processing Systems Before the development of database systems, most organizations used file processing systems. With file processing, each application uses it own set of files. Even though files may be related by an application, they are not necessarily stored or managed together.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Four Disadvantages of File Processing Systems 1.Data Redundancy: 2.Data Dependence: 3.Data Inaccessibility: 4.Poor File Management:

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Four Advantages of Database Management Systems

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Relational Data Model The relational data model was created by E. F. Codd in the early 1970’s. The relational data model is a method of logically storing data in a database that is independent of the method used to physically store the data. Relational database management systems (RDBMS) are the most popular way of storing large amounts of data.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The Relational Data Model The relational data model stores data in one or more ________ corresponding to entities. Tables consist of ________ which correspond to ________ in the tables. ________ store data on a single instance of an entity. A record consists of one or more ________. ________ are often referred to as attributes and correspond to ________ of the tables.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Related Tables Each table has a unique field called the ________ ______. Tables are related via matching ________. If the primary key in one table is the reference key to another table, it is referred to as a ________ ______.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Using a Database Designing and building a database and than storing data in it are just the first steps that organizations take toward using a database. Given that organizations use and rely heavily upon databases, why are databases such powerful organizational tools? What is the primary method of using a database to make sense of the data it contains? What is Structured Query Language (SQL).

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Using SQL To write an SQL query, you define the fields to be displayed, the tables to be searched, and the conditions that are to be matched.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Other Methods to Store Data, Information, and Knowledge In addition to using databases, there are a number of other ways to store data, information and knowledge. These include (but are not limited to):

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Using Data Warehouses Databases are not the only or necessarily the best way of storing data for all business needs. What is a data warehouse? A data warehouse can consist of transaction data. What must be done to this transaction data before it can be stored and retrieved from the data warehouse? What are three purposes for data warehouses? –

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Database vs. Data Warehouse DatabaseData Warehouse Supported ActivityOperationalAnalytical Response TimeFastCan be slow Age of DataCurrent transactionHistorical data ScopeLimited area within organization Provides view of entire organization Data VariabilityChanges oftenInfrequent changes SourceTransactionsMultiple sources Data ModelBusiness rulesAligns with overall business structure

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Data Warehouses Data warehouses are very large and work with tools that allow users to more easily deal with vast amounts of data. What is a data mart? Data warehouses often provide support for organizing multidimensional data (based on two or more characteristics.) Retrieving data organized in this fashion is sometimes called slicing-and- dicing.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Using a Data Warehouse What are four ways to use a data warehouse?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Management Information Systems What is the primary reason that businesses use captured and stored data to create information? One way to have information available is to store it in the form of reports created by a management information system (MIS). MIS typically generate three types of reports. – Give an example of each type of report at the 1.Individual (Personal) level – 2.Organizational level -

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Document Management Systems More modern versions of some types of MIS are referred to as document management systems (DMS). What is a DMS and how can it create business value for organizations? What is imaging technology and how does it relate to DMS? What are workflow systems and how can DMS be used to support workflow systems ?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Knowledge Management Knowledge is the most difficult form of informational resource to store and share. What are the two main types of knowledge? What are examples of each type? Knowledge management involves recognizes, generates, manages, and shares knowledge.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Knowledge Management Systems ________ ________ are a form of knowledge management that tries to capture and store the knowledge of a human expert. Observation and interview techniques are used to capture how an expert performs work and makes decisions. They are a form of ________ ________ which tries to provide computer applications that mimic human intelligence. ________ ________(groupware) is often used to support tacit knowledge management.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Collaborative Tools Collaborative SoftwareCan … Communication Tools Conferencing Tools Collaborative Management Tools

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The IS Integration Problem Describe the IS integration problem. Solutions to the integration problem include: –

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Middleware What is middleware? An important class of middleware technology that is designed to work with Internet protocols is known as Web services.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Middleware

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Web Services What does a web service do? What standard data format is used to deliver the data over the network? Why is this standard data format useful? How do web services help companies create business value? What is a mashup and what is an example of a mashup used by businesses or individuals?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Web Services

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Why are ERP systems important? How does an ERP link the data generated by an organization’s business (functional) units? What are the main benefits of ERP systems? What are the primary disadvantages of ERP systems?

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Information Systems that Support Business Activities There are a variety of information systems that support business activities. These IS include These are just a few of the many IS that organizations use to support knowledge work and business processes.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Transactions Business transactions are critical to the core activities of an organization. A transaction is a unit of work that has the following characteristics (ACID): –Atomicity: –Consistency: –Isolation: –Durability:

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) A TPS brings together the common components of IT (data storage, data processing, data capture, and software). A TPS must control the flow of both the activities and data involved in the transaction. TPS must incorporate:

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Transaction Processing Systems

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Types of TPS Batch transaction processing: – Online transaction processing (OLTP): –

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Functional IS SystemDescription/Function Accounting IS Marketing IS Human Resource IS Financial IS Manufacturing IS Functional information systems (FIS) focus on the activities of the a department to improve its efficiency and effectiveness.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Workflow Management Systems A workflow represents the steps, resources, input and output data, and tools needed to complete a business process. A workflow management system (WMS) or business process management (BPM) focuses on a business process from beginning to end. WMS enables modeling the steps of the business process to show the flow of work along with the state of the components.

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Workflow Reference Model

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Business Intelligence What is Business intelligence (BI)? – Data and information must go through several stages to be used in decision making. IT assists at every step

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Stages of Business Intelligence StageDescription 1. Data sourcing 2. Data analysis 3. Situation awareness 4. Risk assessment 5. Decision support

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Decision Support Systems (DSS) DSS help businesses use technology, data organization and access, knowledge, and models to carry out decision- making. Type of DSSFocus/purpose Communication- driven DSS Data-driven DSS Document-driven DSS Knowledge-driven DSS Model-driven DSS

Copyright 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Types of Models in Model-driven DSS Financial models – Statistical models – Optimization models – Simulation modeling –