Information Systems

Lecturer: Lowu Francis

Msc.Csc, PgdCsc, Bsc
 Course Content
 Description
 Information Systems focuses on the organization involves People,
business processes, information and technology, managerial aspects in
decision making and human resource management. Information systems
are made of software and hardware systems that support data-intensive
applications.
 Objectives
 To make students understand the use of different information systems
that are used in different organizations
 To teach students to be able to make decisions using information
systems in organizations as managers
 To teach students to be able to use and manipulate information systems
 Assessment
 Students are encouraged to use the University undergraduate bulletin to
check for the grading system. Consult when you do not understand the
system.
 Grading
Assignments 10%

Tests
 10%
 Mid-semester 20%
 Final examination 60%
 Ethics and Academic Honesty
 No receiving phone calls in class
 Students must attend classes and ask questions to make the class more
interactive.
 Frequent absenteeism is un acceptable
 Tutorials are compulsory for every student, single hour lessons will be
used for tutorials.

12/08/21 Masters Notes 2

 Course Content
 Introduction and general knowledge of IS
 Data, Information, and Systems Information system
 Ethical and Social Issues
 Types of Information Systems
 MIS, DSS, Market research and techniques
 Information System
 Dev’t of IS
 IS development Life Cycle
 Mid-Semester Exams/Test
 Tutorials
 Databases and IS
 IS Projects – Case Studies
 More detailed content at the copier

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 Information Systems

 Why Do People Need Information?

 Individuals - Entertainment and
enlightenment
 Businesses - Decision making,
problem solving and control
 Education – imparting academic
knowledge onto the students

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 Data, Information, and Systems
 Data vs. Information
 Data

 Any given fact; a number, a statement, or a picture

 Represents something in the real world

 The raw materials in the production of information

 Information

 Data that have meaning within a context

 Data in relationships

 Data after manipulation

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 Data, Information, and Systems
 Data Manipulation
 Example: customer survey

 Reading through data collected from a

customer survey with questions in

various categories would be time-
consuming and not very helpful.
 When manipulated, the surveys may

provide useful information.

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 Data, Information, and Systems
 Generating Information
 Computer-based ISs take data as raw material, process it,
and produce information as output.

Figure 1.1 Input-process-output

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 Data, Information, and Systems
 Information in Context

Figure 1.2 Characteristics of useful information

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 Data, Information, and Systems
 What Is a System?
 System: A set of components that work together
to achieve a common goal
 Subsystem: One part of a system where the
products of more than one system are combined
to reach an ultimate goal
 Closed system: Stand-alone system that has no
contact with other systems
 Open system: System that interfaces with other
systems
 Therefore Information Systems can be defined as the
means by which organizations and people use computers
to collect, process, store, use, analyze and distribute
information.  

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 Data, Information, and Systems

Figure 1.3 Several subsystems make up this corporate accounting system.

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 Data, Information, and Systems
 Information and Managers
 Systems thinking
 Creates a framework for problem
solving and decision making.
 Solving specific problems faced by
organizations
 Keeps managers focused on overall
goals and operations of business.
 Setting new goals can create more
opportunities for an organization
 Makes managers competitive
 Competitiveness grows an organization

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 Data, Information, and Systems

Figure 1.5 Qualities of humans and computers that contribute to

synergy
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 Data, Information, and Systems
 The Benefits of Human-Computer Synergy

 Synergy
 When combined resources produce output

that exceeds the sum of the outputs of

the same resources employed separately

 Allows human thought to be translated into

efficient processing of large amounts of data

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 Data, Information, and Systems

Figure 1.6 Components of an information system

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 Data, Information, and Systems
 The Four Stages of Data Processing

 Input: Data is collected and entered into

computer.

 Data processing: Data is manipulated into

information using mathematical, statistical,
and other tools.
 Output: Information is displayed or
presented.
 Storage: Data and information are
maintained for later use.

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 Why Study IS?
 Information Systems Careers
 Systems analyst, specialist in enterprise
resource planning (ERP), database
administrator, telecommunications specialist,
consulting, etc.
 Knowledge Workers
 Managers and non-managers

 Employers seek computer-literate professionals

who know how to use information technology.
 Computer Literacy Replacing Traditional Literacy
 Key to full participation in western society

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 Ethical and Societal Issues

 Consumer Privacy
 Organizations collect (and
sometimes sell) huge amounts of
data on individuals.
 Employee Privacy
 IT supports remote monitoring of
employees, violating privacy and
creating stress.

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 Ethical and Societal Issues
 Freedom of Speech
 IT increases opportunities for pornography,
hate speech, intellectual property crime, and
other intrusions; prevention may abridge free
speech.
 IT Professionalism
 No mandatory or enforced code of ethics for IT
professionals--unlike other professions.
 Social Inequality
 A few of the world’s population have ever used
a PC; much fewer have Internet access.

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 Types of Information Systems
 There are many types of
information systems, each of the
information systems has a
tremendous effect on an
organization
 These information systems help
organizations achieve there object and
realize the set goals

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 Information Systems Types
 These include
 Management Information systems
 Used mostly by middle managers
 Transaction information systems
 Monitors operations by worker interacting with clients
 Human resource information systems
 Deals with the personnel in organizations
 Financial Information systems
 Looks at generating pay roles and or financial
transactions of and organization
 Geographic Information Systems
 Land Information systems
 Disaster Information Systems
 These last three are emerging IS and therefore they are
called spatial IS

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 Information systems Types

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 IS Dev’t Life Cycle
 Problem recognition and specification
 Information gathering
 Requirements specification for the new
system
 System design
 System construction
 System implementation
 Review and maintenance

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 Information Systems Development
 Information technology departments in larger
organizations tend to strongly influence
information technology dev’t, use, and
application in the organizations, which may
be a business or corporation.
 IS are developed through systematic steps
known as System development life cycle
(SDLC)
 An Information system can be developed in
house (within the organization) or outsourced
 Outsourcing may need components only or the
entire system

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 Management Information Systems

Transaction Management
Processing Information
Systems (TPS) Systems (MIS)
 Support  Provide decision-
operation making support
 Management and for routine,
control structured
 Routine, normal decisions
operations  Closely linked to
and fed by TPS

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 Management Information Systems
 Terminology Confusion
 MIS is the study of information
technology in business settings
 But,MIS is also a term that refers
to class of systems used to support
operational and tactical decision
making

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 A Model for Problem Solving
 Decision Making Phase
 Intelligence gathering
 Design

 Choice

 Implementation

 Monitoring

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 Decision Making
 A step in problem solving
 Intelligence gathering
 Definition of problem
 Data gathered on scope
 Constraints identified
 Design phase
 Alternatives identified and assessed
 Choice
 Selection of an alternative

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 Structured vs. Unstructured Problems

 Structured
problems lend
themselves to programmed
decisions
 The implication is that a repeatable
process can be employed and
these can be automated
 Unstructured
problems require
unprogrammed decisions

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 Unstructured Problems
 Canbe addressed (or partially
addressed) with Decision
Support Systems

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 Structured Problems
 Can be addressed by an MIS
 Three decision models or techniques
 Optimization
 Find the best solution
 Satisfying
 Find a solution which meets certain
criteria
 Heuristics
 Rule-based solution generation

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 Goals of an MIS
 Provide managers with
information
 Regular, routine operations

 Control, organize and plan

better

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 Typical Inputs and Outputs
 Inputs: Information from the TPS
 Outputs: hard and softcopy
reports
 Scheduled reports
 On-demand reports

 Key-indicator (business
fundamentals)
 Exception reports

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 Functional Perspectives of MIS

 Financial MIS
 Will integrate information from
multiple sources
 Functions
 Costing

 P&L reporting
 Auditing

 Funds management

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 Functional Perspectives of MIS
 Manufacturing
 Design and Engineering
 Master Production Scheduling

 Inventory Control

 Materials Planning

 Manufacturing and Process Control

 Quality Control

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 Functional Perspectives of MIS
 Marketing
 Market research
 Web-based market research
 Pricing
 Need to research on the demand
and consumption levels

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 Functional Perspectives of MIS
 Transportation and Logistics
 Route and schedule optimization
 Human Resources
 The personnel available for the
work
 Accounting
 Processed transactions
harmonization

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 Decision Support Systems
 Used for unstructured problems
 Characteristics
 Data from multiple sources internal and
external to organization
 Presentation flexibility
 Simulation and what-if capability
 Support for multiple decision
approaches
 Statistical analysis

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 Components of a DSS
 Model management software
 Provides a variety of solution
models
 Financial,
statistical, graphical,
project management
 Dialogue Manager
 Allows user interaction with DSS

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 Group Decision Making Systems

 Very interesting field

 Without decisions organizations
can’t survive
 How can information
technology improve how
decisions are made by groups?

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 Group Decision Making Systems
 Applications
 Where time is critical
 Where participants are geographically
dispersed
 Where authority obstructs
communication
 Military
 Business
 Government

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 Group Decision Making Systems
 Common characteristics
 Meeting moderation/facilitation
 Signed and anonymous comments
 Structured deliberations
 Presentation period
 Comment period

 Automated collation of comments

 Passing decisions

 Face-to-face and remote

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 Executive Information Systems-EIS

 What information does a chief

executive of board member require?
 Definition:
 An Executive Information System (EIS) is a set
of management tools that support;
 Information and decision-making needs of the

management by combining internal

information available in the organization with
external information in an analytical
framework.

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 Executive Information Systems

 Key business and industry data

 Structured and unstructured
information
 Structured: MTD orders
 Unstructured: Industry news feed

 Graphical

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 Marketing Information Systems
 Marketing Research
 What is Marketing Research?
 Process

 Terminology

 Techniques

 MKIS - Marketing Information

Systems
 What is MKIS
 Components of an electronic MKIS

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 Marketing Research

Is the systematic
 gathering, recording and analysing
of data about problems relating to
the marketing of goods and services
 It involves all aspects of understanding
the needs of the people you are dealing
with as a marketer.

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 The Marketing Research Process
 Set objectives
 Define research Problem
 Assess the value of the research
 Construct a research proposal
 Specify data collection method
 Specify techniques of measurement
 Select the sample
 Data collection
 Analysis of results
 Present in a final report

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 Terminology of Marketing Research

 Primary data - collected firsthand

 Secondary data - already exists, desk
research
 Quantitative research - statistical basis
 Qualitative research - subjective and
personal
 sampling - studying part of a ‘population’
to learn about the whole

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 Marketing Research Techniques
 Interviews
 face-to-face
 telephone

 postal questionnaire

 Attitude measurement
 cognitive component (know/believe about an
act/object)
 affective component (feel about an act/object)

 cognitive component (behave towards an

object or act)

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 Marketing Research Techniques
 Likely scale
 strongly agree
 agree
 neither agree nor disagree
 disagree
 strongly disagree
 Semantic differential scales - differences
between words e.g. practical v impractical
 Projective techniques
 sentence completion
 psychodrama (yourself as a product)
 friendly (what someone else might do)

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 Marketing Research Techniques
 Group discussion and focus group
 Postal research questionnaires
 Diary panels - sources of continuous data
 In-home scanning - hand-held light pen to scan
barcodes
 Telephone research
 Observation
 home audit
 direct observation
 In-store testing

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 What is MKIS?
 MKIS (MIS) is a set of procedures
and methods for the regular,
planned collection, analysis and
presentation of information for use
in marketing decisions

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 The components of a
computerised MKIS
The
The Components
Components
Data Bank

Statistical Display Marketing

MKIS
Bank unit Manager

Model
Bank

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 The components of a computerised MKIS

 Data bank - raw data e.g historical sales

data, secondary data
 Statistical bank - programmes to carry-
out sales forecasts, spending projections
 A model bank - stores marketing models
e.g Ansoff’s matrix, Boston Matrix
 Display unit - VDU and keyboard

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