1. INTRODUCTION TO
CORPORATE
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
IS524 BY
CHANDRA S. AMARAVADI

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

3. 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

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

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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;

11. 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

12. 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.

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

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

15. 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

16. 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

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

18. 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

19. 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

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

21. 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.

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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?

25. IS STRATEGY & IMPACTS

26. 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.

27. 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

28. 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).

29. IS DEVELOPMENT

30. 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.

31. 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

32. 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?

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

34. THE END