Introduction of Information System

Information System the term is a very popular one these days. Everyone is talking about Information System and how this thing is connected or related closely with computer science. As a matter of fact, this is no doubt true. Information System is a brunch of computer science, where computer science is playing the role of the mother or root subject. Information System cannot exist excluding it. So, what is Information System? To be brief, an Information System (or according to some people, Application Landscape) is some kind of combination of information technology and the activities of people associated to support and execute the necessary operations and management of the system with the responsibility of decision-making. It's a system of people and technology depending on each other to achieve some common goal. The very name suggests not only this co-operation of man and machine, but also the way in which the interactions between them work in support of various business processes. Information Technology is distinct from Information System as the later is generally seen as a component of the former one, i.e. communication technology. Information System also helps to control and manage the activities and performance of a business process; hence they are not identical too. An Information System can be viewed as a work system where all activities are devoted to different types of digital processing. The main components of a typical Information system are computers, stored facts, instructions and procedures. Those instructions and procedures are applied on those facts in store to create new information or manage the existing ones. That's the basic structure of an information system and its working principle. Some laymen find no difference between information systems and computer science. But in fact, information system is not computer science and vice-versa. The main object of an information system is to focus on exploring the platform or interface between business management and information science with the inseparable aid of computer science. Thus computer science is merely used as a tool to make it work. Computer science here acts as a bridge between pure information technology and human activity systems. So by the term Information System' we
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refer to the wider system consisted of raw data, people related to the organization and their activities, both manual and computer-based. Information systems are now leading to the largest economic growth all over the world as they are the center of knowledge-based organizations as well as pure technical industries.

Definition
Information Systems are implemented within an organization for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. Capabilities of the information system and characteristics of the organization, its work systems, its people, and its development and implementation methodologies together determine the extent to which that purpose is achieved.

Objectives of information systems management

y y y y y y y y y y Building a responsive IT infrastructure Facilitating and managing business process redesign Developing and managing distributed systems Developing and implementing an information infrastructure Planning and managing communication networks. Improving the effectiveness of software development. Making effective use of the data resource. Recruiting and developing IS human resources. Aligning the IS organization with the enterprise. Improving IS strategic planning

Characteristics of Information Systems

Passive and Interactive Information Systems

An information system is a system that provides information according to a users requests.

Passive Information Systems

Passive information systems are systems that will answer queries based on the data that is held within them, but the data is not altered. A simple example would be an electronic encyclopedia where queries can be used to search for data and much valuable information can be learned, but the user is not allowed to alter the data. Another example would be the student file in a school that can be accessed by members of the teaching staff to find out where a student is at a particular time of day, or to look up their telephone number in order to contact the parents. The database of information is a valuable resource but it is not possible for an ordinary teacher to alter it.

Interactive Information Systems

An interactive system is one that data can be entered for processing which may alter the contents of the database. An example would be the school secretary updating the attendance record of a pupil in the pupil file. In commerce, a stock control system in a supermarket is an interactive information system because it not only gives information like the price and the description of the goods for the till receipt (passive), but also updates the number in stock immediately (interactive) so that when the next item is sold the number in stock has already been altered.

Management Information Systems

A Management Information System is software that allows the managers within a company to access and analysis data. The management within a company, or any other organization, is usually working on two levels. These levels may be different levels of management or may be the same people but with two different tasks. One is the day to day management of the organization, keeping track of invoices, ensuring that the business has enough stock, arranging for the workers to be paid The other is the strategic management, making decisions about what
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items

of stock

to

keep,

what

new

items

to

stock,

what

to

discontinue

The first of these management tasks is condition driven. The information system can be used to trigger decisions that have to be made. A certain item is reported to be low in stock by the system requiring a decision to be made as to whether to reorder and how many to reorder. The second of these management tasks is to look at the wider picture. To extract information from the system which can inform wider decisions like should an item be stocked, which areas of the business are doing well and which are not, which workers are lot of overtime which may point to the need to increase staff in that sector. A good MIS provides managers with appropriate information at the right time. It also presents information in the right amount of detail according to the level of management. Shop managers want to know details of sales of all the products in the shop that they manage. Area managers want details of total sales for each shop in the area for which they are responsible. Senior managers want details of sales and costs in areas, so that they can make decisions about, for having to do a

example, whether or not to open a new shop or close an existing shop. If a new shop is to be opened, in which area should it be so as to be most profitable? The MIS needs to organize the data collected over a period of time and to turn the data into information for the management of the business. Information must be appropriate for the making of decisions at specified levels of management. Another example is the information available in a manufacturing business. The manager of the production line needs to know what orders are outstanding in order to decide the best order in which to fulfill them. The sales manager needs to know the overall picture of sales and orders not necessarily details of individual orders. The manager will also need to be able to answer questions such as Are sales of some products better than others? What effect has marketing had on sales? Has a marketing strategy in one area had a better effect than in another area? Summarizing, a good MIS provides information that is relevant and accurate for its purpose, provides information that is sufficiently complete and reliable to instill confidence in the user, communicates the information to the right user in time for its purpose and targets its detail appropriately for the use to which it may be put, communicates the information to the user in such a way that it is understandable to
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the user.

Applications requiring Batch Processing/Rapid Response

Batch processing A batch processing system is used when the output does not have to be produced immediately. Other factors are that the application will tend to use a large amount of data that processing will tend to be of the same type for each set of data and that human intervention is not necessary. In module 1 we saw that the perfect example of batch processing is the payroll system, and nothing has changed because we are in a different module.

Rapid Response Processing In module 1 this was referred to as real time processing. Real time processing can be thought of as being used in process control where the results of the process are used to inform the next input. A good example would be the control of a robotic machine on the production line. The other example is in information systems where it becomes necessary to information before the next enquiry is dealt with. The classic example is update the file of the airline (or theatre)

booking system. If a customer enquires whether there is a seat available on the flight and in response to a positive reply decides to buy the ticket, then the number of tickets now available must be updated before the next person makes an enquiry, otherwise the second person may be sold the same seat. Similarly, the mail order company will need to change the number of items in stock before the next query arrives. In general terms, an examination question will expect the student to be able to decide which of these two types of processing are most appropriate in a given situation. It is not sensible to list a number of different applications for each type and to expect students to learn them. The application in a question may not be on the list and the student would not be demonstrating an understanding of the concepts even if it was. Far more sensible is to learn to recognize the characteristics of each of the types of processing in a given application.

Knowledge-based Systems
A knowledge-based system (KBS) a system where all the expert human knowledge covering a particular topic is brought together and made available to the user through a computer system which uses the facts in its knowledge base by applying rules that may sensibly be applied to the knowledge. Human knowledge encompasses such a massive area of data that it is not reasonable to try to distill all human knowledge into one computer database. Because of this problem of volume, knowledge-based systems are restricted to a narrow area of knowledge. It may be geological patterns in the oil exploration industry, medical diagnosis in the doctors waiting room or

personnel information in a company, all are well delineated areas of expertise where there are no grey areas of whether the data should be included or not. The access to this knowledge can be very haphazard unless the system follows certain rules. That is why all expert, or knowledge-based, systems include rule bases which determine how the data within the system relate to each other. There must be an algorithm, or set of algorithms, for determining how the rules in the rule base should be applied to the knowledge in the knowledge base. These algorithms are known as the inference engine which gives a method for searching and querying the knowledge and rule base. Finally there must be a user interface which allows the user to interrogate the knowledge base. The user interface will pass requests on to the inference engine which, in turn, interrogates the knowledge base. The user interface will prompt the user, often by producing a series of questions each of which will have a small number of possible answers, and each of which will have the effect of accessing smaller and smaller areas of the knowledge base. The user interface will also allow the user to ask for explanations of the reasoning behind the advice that has been given and the results will give conclusions with the probabilities of those conclusions being correct.

Types of Knowledge-based Systems

Students should be able to discern three different types of knowledge-based system. Diagnostic the user interface gives a series of questions, each of which has a limited number of possible answers, each one of which leads to another question. Gradually, the amount of data
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in the knowledge base is reduced until there is only a small amount of relevant data which must provide the answer to the query. A good example is a medical diagnostic machine. This

contains an enormous amount of knowledge about medical conditions. To read all of it would be a Herculean task. If the user interface asks whether the patient has a high temperature there are two possible answers which immediately divide the knowledge base into two parts. A series of similar questions will result in only a small amount of the knowledge base being relevant. The result may well be more than one possible diagnosis. In this case, probabilities will be assigned to each diagnosis and a doctor has to finally reach a conclusion. Advice Giving An advice giving system is one that follows some process being done and then offers advice on how to proceed if something needs to be done or goes wrong. An example would be a stock control system which has knowledge of the stock levels of all the items and can offer advice as to whether further stock should be ordered, when to order, who to order from. Decision Making A decision making knowledge-based system is precisely that, a system which understands what is happening in a system and has been given enough rules to be able to make and carry out decisions without further intervention. A good example is the stock exchange share systems used by stock brokers. The computer system keeps a check on the values of shares constantly. The system has been given certain rules about what to do when share prices change. For example,

the system may have been told to sell the shares owned by a customer if they fall below a certain value. The reason for this is that, if the shares are falling sharply, the instruction to sell when a particular value is reached can save the investor a lot of money. This has become necessary because shares are now traded 24 hours a day in stock markets all over the world, not just in the hours that, for instance, the London stock exchange is open. This means that if shares fell suddenly in the early hours of the morning an investor may be bankrupted before the stock market opens again. This has led to the automated buying and selling of shares by knowledgebased systems. There are dangers in such an approach. In the 1990s there was a big plunge in the stock markets all over the world caused by just such an automated approach. Some stock fell triggering some systems to automatically sell. This put more stock on the market which, in turn, brought the price down again, which triggered more machines to sell. It was very nearly a
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disaster caused by the fact that the knowledge bases were not big enough to see a wide enough picture. Because the detail was so narrow, the systems had no way of realizing that they were causing the problem and had no rules for dealing with the situation even if they had. New rules have been written into the knowledge base to make such an occurrence far less likely to happen again in the future.

Business MIS and Knowledge-based Systems

A Management Information System is a tool that can be used by a human being in order to make sense of and glean information from data in a database. A knowledge-based system is one that can do some of the reasoning that would otherwise have to be done by the human being, by following the rules in its rule base.

Benefits of an Information System

An information system is there to empower its users. A database simply provides data, but an information system is all about providing the best information the user needs to do their task more effectively. It also takes into account that different users doing their own specific tasks may need to see their information presented in differing ways. The benefits of an information system follow when the user can quickly access, understand and respond correctly to that information. Take for example a bottling line that has the capability of filling 10,000 bottles a day, but like the majority of packaging lines actually achieves about 50% of its potential on average. The production manager wants to see the throughput data and the reasons why the machine is falling short. The operators on the other hand need to see alert messages as why the machine has just stopped and what action to take to fix it. The cause may be a specific mechanical failure such as a jam up, lack of product or one of many things. The production manager will be interested to discover that the mechanical failures only amounted to 8% stoppage time and another 5% due to lack of product. He will also notice that the main reason the line did not perform is because nobody pressed the start button when the machine was ready to run! This example shows that Information systems can be powerful tools for business. The key is having current data converted to useful information and having that delivered to people who can act upon it before its too late. If the information is delivered too slowly then it is only a lesson learned rather than profitable opportunity. Information Systems do not need to be a real-time to qualify for this definition. The emphasis is more on providing useful information rather than raw data from a database that still needs processing or analyzing to become meaningful. Sometimes how an Information System may benefit you is not initially clear. Often information systems evolve as your business grows. You may start with a simple database and as you identify areas where better information may provide economic benefits, you add to your base system. Information systems are rarely out-of-the-box solutions, they are something that grows with you. It is therefore very important that your systems technology allows you to have this path to build upon. You must be able to control the technology and not be locked into a standard boxed
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solution that only its manufacturers control. You get no assurance that their upgrades will be in line with your business needs of the future. In summary, to get the greatest benefits from an information system, consider it an adaptable tool that you progress as your business progresses. Dont get locked into inflexible technology, grow a system that delivers on what you really need most today, knowing that when tomorrows new challenges come, the system will have the flexibility to adapt. This is where custom software development delivers strongly.

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Components of Information System

Hardware: The term hardware refers to machinery. This category includes the computer itself,
which is often referred to as the central processing unit (CPU), and all of its support equipments. Among the support equipments are input and output devices, storage devices and communications devices.

Software: The term software refers to computer programs and the manuals (if any) that
support them. Computer programs are machine-readable instructions that direct the circuitry within the hardware parts of the CBIS to function in ways that produce useful information from data. Programs are generally stored on some input / output medium, often a disk or tape.

Data: Data are facts that are used by programs to produce useful information. Like programs,
data are generally stored in machine-readable form on disk or tape until the computer needs them.

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Procedures: Procedures are the policies that govern the operation of a computer system.
"Procedures are to people what software is to hardware" is a common analogy that is used to illustrate the role of procedures in a CBIS.

People: Every CBIS needs people if it is to be useful. Often the most over-looked element of
the CBIS is the people, probably the component that most influence the success or failure of information systems.

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Information System Resources:

People Resources:
People are required for the operation of all information systems. This people resource includes end users and IS specialists.
y

End users (also called users or clients) are people who use an information system or the information it produces. They can be accountants, salespersons, engineers, clerks, customers, or managers. Most of us are information system end users.

IS Specialists are people who develop and operate information systems. They include systems analysts, programmers, computer operators, and other managerial technical, and clerical IS personnel. Briefly, systems analysts design information systems based on the information requirements of end users, programmers prepare computer programs based on the specifications of systems analysts, and computer operators operate large computer systems.

Hardware Resources:
The concept of Hardware resources includes all physical devices and materials used in information processing. Specially, it includes not only machines, such as computers and other equipment, but also all data media, that is, all tangible objects on which data is recorded, from sheets of paper to magnetic disks. Example of hardware in computer-based information systems are:
y

Computer

systems, which

consist

of

central

processing

units

containing

microprocessors, and variety of interconnected peripheral devices. Examples are microcomputer systems, midrange computer systems, and large mainframe computer systems.
y

Computer peripherals, which are devices such as a keyboard or electronic mouse for input of data and commands, a video screen or printer for output of information, and magnetic or optical disks for storage of data resources.

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Software Resources:
The concept of Software Resources includes all sets of information processing instructions. This generic concept of software includes not only the sets of operating instructions called programs, which direct and control computer hardware, but also the sets of information processing instructions needed by people, called procedures. It is important to understand that even information systems that dont use computers have a software resource component. This is true even for the information systems of ancient times, or the manual and machine-supported information systems still used in the world today. They all require software resources in the form of information processing instructions and procedures in order to properly capture, process, and disseminate information to their users. The following are the examples of software resources:
y

System Software, such as an operating system program, which con controls and supports the operations of a computer system.

Application Software, which are programs that direct processing for a particular use of computers by end users. Examples are a sales analysis program, a payroll program, and a work processing program.

Procedures, which are operating instructions for the people who will use an information system. Examples are instructions for filling out a paper form or using a software package.

Data Resources:
Data is more than the raw material of information systems. The concept of data resources has been broadened by managers and information systems professionals. They realize that data constitutes a valuable organization resource. Thus, you should view data as data resources that must be managed effectively to benefit all end users in an organization. Data can take many forms, including traditional alphanumeric data, composed of numbers and alphabetical and other characters that describe business transactions and other events and entities. Text data, consisting of sentences and paragraphs used in written communications;

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image data, such as graphic shapes and figures; and audio data, the human voice and other sounds, are also important forms of data. The data resources of information systems are typically organized into:
y y

Database that hold processed and organized data. Knowledge bases that hold knowledge in variety of forms such as facts, rules, and case examples about successful business practices. For example, data about sales transactions may be accumulated and stored in a sales database for subsequent processing that yields daily, weekly, and monthly sales analysis reports for management. Knowledge bases are used by knowledge management systems and expert systems to share knowledge and give expert advice on specific subjects.

Data Vs Information:
The word data is the plural of datum, though data commonly represents both singular and plural forms. Data are raw facts or observations, typically about physical phenomena or business transactions. For example, a spacecraft launch or the sale of an automobile would generate a lot of data describing those events. More specifically, data are objective measurements of the attributes (the characteristics) of entities (such as people, places, things, and events). Example 1: A spacecraft launch generates vast amounts of data. Electronic transmissions of data (telemetry) form thousands of sensors are converted to numeric and text data by computers. Voice and image data are also captured through video and radio monitoring of the launch by mission controllers. Of course, buying a car or an airline ticket also produces a lot of data. Just think of the hundreds of facts needed to describe the characteristics of the car you want and its financing, or the details for even the simplest airline reservation. Peoples often use the terms data and information interchangeably. However, it is better to view data as raw material resources that are processed into finished information products. Then we can define information as data that have been converted into a meaningful and useful context for specific end users. Thus, data are usually subjected to a value-added process (we call data processing or information processing) where (1) its form is aggregated, manipulated, and organized; (2) its content is analyzed and view information as processed data placed in a context for human user. So you should view information as processed data placed in a context that gives it value for specific end users.

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Example 2: Names, quantities, and dollar amounts recorded on sales forms represent data about sales transactions. However, a sales manager may not regard these as information. Only after such facts are properly organized and manipulated can meaningful sales information be furnished, specifying, for example, the amount of sales by product type, sales territory, or sales persons.

Network Resources:
Telecommunications networks like the Internet, intranets, and extranets have become essential to the successful operations of all types of organizations and their computer-based information systems. Telecommunications networks consist of computers, communications processors, and other devices interconnected by communications media and controlled by communications software. The concept of Network resources emphasizes that communications networks are a fundamental resource component of all information systems. Network resources include:
y

Communication media, Examples include twisted pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, microwave systems, and communication satellite systems.

Network Support, This generic category includes all of the people, hardware, software, and data resources that directly support the operation and use of a communications network. Examples include communications control software such as network operating systems and Internet packages.

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ESS (EXECUTIVE SUPPORT SYSTEM)

Supply the necessary tools to senior. The decisions at this level of the company are usually never structured and could be described as educated Guesses . Executives rely as much, if not more so, on external data than they do on data internal to their organization. Decisions must be made in the context of the world outside the organizations. The problems and situations senior executives face are very fluid, always changing, so the system must be flexible and easy to manipulate.

Application of ESS

1. MANUFACTURING: Manufacturing operational control focuses on day-to-day operations, and the central idea of this process is effectiveness and efficiency. 2. MARKETING: To assist marketing executives in making effective marketing decisions, an ESS can be applied. ESS provides an approach to sales forecasting, which can allow the market executive to compare sales forecast with past sales. 3. FINANCIAL: The executive needs to use financial ratios and cash flow analysis to estimate the trends and make capital investment decisions.

Advantages of ESS
1. Easy for upper-level executives to use, extensive computer 2. Experience is not required in operations

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3. Provides timely delivery of company summary information 4. Information that is provided is better understood 5. Filters data for management 6. Offers efficiency to decision makers

Disadvantages of ESS
1. System dependent 2. Information overload for some managers 3. High implementation costs 4. System may become slow, large, and hard to manage 5. Need good internal processes for data management 6. May lead to less reliable and less secure data

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Type of information system

Conceptually, information systems in the real world can be classified in several different ways. For example, several types of information systems can be classified conceptually as either operations or Management Information Systems.

1. Operations Support Systems

Information systems have always been needed to process data generated by, and used in, business operations. Such operations support systems produce a variety of information products for internal and external use. However, they do not emphasize producing the specific information products that can best be sued by managers. Further processing by Management Information Systems is usually required. The role of a business firms operations support systems is to efficiently process business transactions, control industrial processes, support enterprise communications and collaboration, and update corporate databases.

2. Transaction Processing Systems

Operations support systems include the major category of transaction processing systems (TPS). Transaction processing systems record and process data resulting for business transactions.
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Typically examples are information systems that process sales, purchases, and inventory changes. The results of such processing are sued to update customer, inventory, and other organizational databases. These databases then provide the data resources that can be processed and used by Management Information Systems, decision support systems, and executive information systems. Transaction processing systems process transactions in two basic ways. In batch processing, transactions data is accumulated over a period of time and processed periodically. In real-time (or online) processing, data is processed immediately after a transaction occurs. For example, point of sale (POS) systems at retail stores may use electronic cash register terminals to capture and transmit sales data over telecommunication links to regional computer centers for immediate (real-time) or nightly (batch) processing.

3. Process Control Systems

Operation support systems also make routine decisions that control operational processes. Examples are automatic inventory reorder decisions and production control decisions. This includes a category of information systems called process control systems, in which decisions adjusting a physical production process are automatically made by computers. For example, a petroleum refiner uses electronic sensors linked to computers to continually monitor chemical processes. The computers monitor a chemical process, capture and process data detected by sensors, and make instant (real-time) adjustments to appropriate refinery processes.

4. Enterprise Collaboration Systems

Enterprise collaboration systems are information systems that use a variety of information technologies to help people work together. Enterprise collaboration systems help us collaborate to communicate ides, share resources, and coordinate our cooperative work efforts as members of the many formal and informal process and project teams and other workgroups that are a vital part of todays organizations. Thus, the goal of enterprise collaboration systems is to use information technology to enhance the productivity and creativity of teams and workgroups in the modern business enterprise.

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5. Management Support Systems

When information systems focus on providing information and support for effective decision making by managers, they are called management support systems.

Management Information Systems

Management Information Systems (MIS) are the most common form of management support systems. They provide managerial end users with information products that support much of their day-to-day decision-making needs. Management Information Systems provide a variety of reports and displays to management. The contents of these information products are specified in advance by managers so that they contain information that managers need. Management Information Systems retrieve information about internal operations from database that have been updated by transaction processing systems. They also obtain data about the business environment from external source. Information products provided to managers include displays and reports that can be furnished (1) on demand, (2) periodically, according to a predetermined schedule.

(a) Decision Support Systems

Decision support systems (DSS) are a natural progression from information reporting systems and transaction processing systems. Decision support systems are interactive, computer-based information systems that use decision models and specialized database to assist the decision making process of managerial end users.

(b) Executive Information Systems

Executive information systems (EIS) are Management Information Systems tailored to the strategic information needs of top management. Top executives get the information they need from many sources, including letters, memos, periodicals, and reports produced manually as well as by computer systems. Other sources of executive information are meetings, telephone calls, and social activities. Thus, much of a top executives information comes from non-computer services. Computer generated information has not played a primary role in meeting many top executives information needs.

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Other classifications of Information Systems 1. Expert Systems

An expert system is a knowledge-based information systems; that is, it uses its knowledge about a specific area to act as an expert consultant to users. The components of an expert system are a knowledge base and software modules that perform inferences on the knowledge and offer answers to a users questions. Expert systems are being used in many different fields, including medicine, engineering, the physical sciences, and business. For example, expert systems now help diagnose illnesses, search for minerals, analyze compounds, recommend repairs, and do financial planning. Expert systems can support either operations or management activities.

2. Knowledge Management Systems

Knowledge Management systems (KMS), Workers create, organize, and share important business knowledge wherever and whenever it is needed. For example, many knowledge management systems rely on Internet and intranet Web sites, knowledge bases, and discussion forums as key technologies for gathering, storing, and disseminating business knowledge. In this way, knowledge management systems facilitate organization learning and knowledge creation and dissemination within the business enterprise.

3. Strategic Information Systems

The strategic role of information systems involves using information technology to develop products, services, and capabilities that give a company strategic advantages over the competitive forces it faces in the global marketplace. This creates strategic information system, information systems that support or shape the competitive position and strategies of an enterprise. So a strategic information system can be any kind of information systems (TPS, MIS, DSS, etc.) that helps an organization gain a competitive advantage, reduce a competitive disadvantage, or meet other strategic enterprise objectives.

4. Business Information Systems

As a future managerial end user, it is important for you to realize that information systems directly support both operations and management activities in the business functions of
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accounting, finance, human resource management, marketing, and operations management. Such business information systems are needed by all business functions. For example, marketing managers need information about sales performance and trends provided by marketing information systems. Financial managers need information concerning financing costs and investment returns provided by financial information systems.

5. Integrated Information Systems

It is also important to realize that information systems in the real world are typically integrated combinations of several types of information systems we have just mentioned. Thats because conceptual classification of information systems are designed to emphasize the many different roles of information systems. In practice, these roles are integrated into composite or crossfunctional information systems that provide a variety of functions. Thus, most information systems are designed to produce information and support decision making for various levels of management and business functions, as well as do record keeping and transaction processing systems.

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Activities of Information System

The major activities of an information system are:

1. Input of data resource:

Data about business transactions and other events must be captured and prepared for processing by the input activity. Input typically takes the form of data entry activities such as recording and editing. End uses typically record data about transactions on some type of physical medium such as paper form, or enter it directly into a computer system. This usually includes a variety of editing activities to ensure that they have recorded data correctly. Once entered, data may be transferred onto a machine-readable medium such as a magnetic disk until needed for processing. For example, data about sales transactions can be recorded on source documents such as paper sales order forms. (A source document is the original formal record of a transaction). Alternately, salespersons can capture sales data using computer keyboards or optical scanning devices; they are visually prompted to enter data correctly by video displays. This provides them with a more convenient and efficient user interface, that is, methods of end user input and output with a computer system. Methods such as optical scanning and displays of menus, prompts, and fill-inthe-blanks formats make it easier for end users to enter data correctly into an information system.

2. Processing of data into information:

Data is typically subjected to processing activities such as calculating, comparing, sorting, classifying, and summarizing. These activities organize, analyze and manipulate data, thus converting them into information for end users. The quality of any data stored in an information system must also be maintained by a continual process of correcting and updating activities. For example, data received about a purchase can be (1) added to a running total of sales results, (2) compared to a standard to determine eligibility for a sales discount, (3) sorted in numerical order based on product identification numbers, (4) classified into product categories (such as food and nonfood items), (5) summarized to provide a sales manager with information about various product categories, and finally, (6) used to update sales records.

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3. Output of information products:

Information in various forms is transmitted to end-users and made available to them in the output activity. The goal of information systems is the production of appropriate information products for end users. Common information products messages, reports, forms, and graphic images, which may be provided by video displays, audio responses, paper products, and multimedia. For example, a sales manager may view a video display to check on the performance of a salesperson, accept a computer-produced voice message by telephone, and receive a printout of monthly sales results.

4. Storage of data resource:

Storage is a basic system component of information systems. Storage is the information system activity in which data and information are retained in an organized manner for later use. For example, just as written text material is organized into words, sentences, paragraphs, and documents; stored data is commonly organized into fields, records, files, and database. This facilitates its later use in processing or its retrieval as output when needed by users of a system.

5. Control of system performance:

An important information system activity is the control of its performance. An information system should produce feedback about its input, processing, output, and the system is meeting established performance standards. Then appropriate system activities must be adjusted so that proper information products are produced for end users. For example, a manager may discover that subtotals of sales amounts in a sales report do not add up to total sales. This might mean that data entry or processing procedures need to be corrected. Then changes would have to be made to ensure that all sales transactions would be properly captured and processed by a sales information system.

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Information Systems Functions:

We have identified that information systems is an interdisciplinary subject that must be seen as more than just computerized information collection, storage, processing and distribution. However, in order to justify this argument, we must also identify what other functions information systems perform. We can identify 5 functions of information systems (Jayaratna 1994), including the information processing function described earlier.

Educating & Learning Function

y y Systems should provide learning opportunities for inexperienced and naive users. Enabling users to make best use of systems incorporates the effectiveness of the decisionmaking process based on the information provided. y Continuous examination and modification of models and decisions is necessary where users have to operate in a dynamic environment. y Expecting users to abandon the status quo in favors of a new and potentially threatening system is unrealistic without transition information and support (change management).

Management & Control Function

The Management & Control Function is concerned with maintaining efficient and effective performance of the first 3 functions, and also providing performance information for the Information Strategic Function. The breakdown of tasks identified as belonging to the Management & Control Function can be shown by using the other Information Systems Functions as headings So the Management and Control Function is concerned with the following activities, relative to the:

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Information Processing & Usability Function : y acquisition of new hardware and software (including upgrades and

amendments/extensions) y y y y y y y budget management cost analysis guidelines and policies (both statutory & permissive) supplier and service contracts task prioritization quality control, safety standards and service performance communication and procedural controls for client and user requests , complaints, revisions and amendments y target-setting and monitoring (i.e. MTBF, MTTR, down-time, lead-time, production targets) y user management

User Education and Learning Function : y y y y y y provision for user training/retraining budgetary control co-ordination of training effort with requirements of other Information System functions timetabling promotion/promulgation of guidelines, standards, policies and controls user awareness of competitive products, new technology and models

Information Systems Development Function : y y y y Project Management Policy on performance and delivery targets Decisions on standardization, controls, constraints Amendment/upgrade to systems on basis of user feedback, competitive factors, new methods/technologies, etc.

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Strategy & Planning Function

As we have already identified, the Management and Control Function provides performance data to the Information Strategic Function, which in turn provides the Management and Control Function with the strategy by which the system evolves. The relationship is that the Management and Control Function is informed by strategy developed by the Information Strategic Function in relation to the following activities: y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y y The Manager Budgeting Time Constraints Production Planning Auditing Quality Assurance Law Market Factors Competitive Products Capital Available Manpower Skills Distribution Technology Location Infrastructure Economic Trends Management Techniques

From this list we can see that the Information Strategic Function provides the following necessary facilities for the Information Systems Functional Model: y y y Supports corporate strategy Executive Information Support Comparison of strategic position with marketplace and broader markets
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y y y y

Aid in development of existing market/product-base and lateral movement Aid in deriving corporate strategy Altering balance of power with suppliers, competitors, etc Identification of new marketplaces, products, approaches, etc.

An information system is strategic if it changes an organizations products or service or the way it competes in its industry.

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Conclusion
Growing importance is being placed on the value of information in the regeneration process the 2006 Local Government White Paper highlighted the important role that local information systems can play in targeting activity and improving decision making. National sources of information are valuable, but at the local level the statistics they provide are increasingly being supplemented by local information systems which obtain data from local organizations and present this information online alongside national statistics.

Systems are at any early stage of development; nearly all have been developed over the past five years. The Local Government White Paper and other government initiatives, such as Local Area Agreements, MISC31 and Government Connects will stimulate the utilization of systems and provide support for their development.

Prior to this study little was known about the characteristics of systems or the role they play in the regeneration process. This chapter highlights key results from the study with recommendations to enhance the use and development of systems. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part examines the role, context and benefits of systems. The second part examines operational issues and day-to-day activities.

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BIBILIOGRAPHY
Management Information System by Neeraj Anand

www.wikipedia.com

www.scribd.com

www.google.com

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