Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill Information Technology The components needed

Introduction What is information technology? What components are needed? How do they fit together? This provides a brief overview Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Components There are four pieces that make up an information technology system –Hardware –Software –Networks –People Lets look a little further Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Data to Information A single datum (singular of data) is not very valuable –It is a sequence of symbols Usually letters and/or digits –It is essentially meaningless It becomes information when the context is identified –Is a string of digits a social security number or a telephone number? –Is a string of characters a person’s name, product name or address? Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Information to Knowledge The information becomes knowledge when we know the relationships Can we use that SSN to lookup a person in our database? Can we plot the route of the FedEx truck through a series of addresses? Once it is knowledge it becomes useful to the enterprise Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Hardware The basic piece is one or more computers Computers typically consist of: –CPU –Memory –Secondary storage –Display/Entry –Communications Your laptop is a common information system –Which you understand Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Software A computer always has an Operating System –A program that runs the machine An office computer or laptop typically has an office suite The Microsoft Office Suite contains: –Word (a word processor) –Excel (a spread sheet) –PowerPoint (a presentation manager) –Among others Without software the computer is junk Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Specialization Although a personal computer demonstrates all the pieces, it is not the only business information system These are usually office devices –Also popular with field representatives The backroom usually contains rack mounted computers –More powerful, less pretty These are the computers that run the software that is the focus of this class Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Rack Mounts Each of these computers has a CPU and memory The secondary storage may be part of the computer or separate shared by the computers on the rack They almost never have a display and keyboard –Instead a common display and keyboard communicates through the network to any one of them Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Racks Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Software The programs that keep the enterprise going run on those back office computers Transaction processing systems Financial management systems Customer relation management (CRM) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Web servers These and others will be considered more fully later Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Networks The days where a normal computer sat in isolation are over They must now communicate in a variety of ways The network is also a system of hardware and software This allows an enterprise to be distributed and have a global presence Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

People No system is complete without people to use and operate Systems analyst, software developer, systems consultant develop software and systems IS auditor, database administrator, Webmaster maintain installed systems IS manager, IS security manager, chief information officer (CIO) manage the systems Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Careers Information System careers are well paid and will continue to be in high demand These people typically need: –Technical skills –Understanding of business principles –People skills This combination is not that common –Thus high salaries and high demand Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Why Information Systems? An organization may use an information system for any or all of the following reasons: –Increase productivity and profitability –Competitive advantage –Reach more customers –Improve customer service Any enterprise may benefit Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Example Consider the following example How long would it take a person to: Compute and write paycheck? –What is the process? List the steps. A computer does the computation in less than a thousandth of a second –The printing does not take much more time What kind of organization does not write checks or otherwise spend money? Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Danger and Opportunity Information systems provide both opportunities as well as dangers They may provide advantages and they come with costs Like most things, if done poorly they costs could be great One of my favorite sayings: If it is worth doing it is worth doing wrong until you figure out how to do it right –Beware that the initial doing it wrong kills the company Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

The Good UPS plots the routes of their delivery trucks based on the needed deliveries 90% of the time a truck turns right –Right turns are safer and quicker Does a person figure out this route? –For each truck –For each day No a program makes it simple –Saves gas, time and reduces accidents Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

The Bad American Airlines computer glitch caused –700 delayed flights –125,000 affected passengers –FAA flight halt –Public apology from CEO –This is not a resumé builder Also recall the Sony (or many other) security breach Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill

Conclusion Much of what we have considered we will examine again later in more detail Virtually no company, non-profit, government can do what it needs without information systems The larger the enterprise the more complicated the systems and the more systems required Copyright © 2016 Curt Hill