CCT 355: E-Business Technologies

Class 2: Introduction to Information Systems

Administratrivia

• Article analysis scheduling – later today• CI brainstorming – later today

Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom

• Data - raw bits (e.g., 0’s and 1’s, many computer controls)

• Information - data organized into chunks that have semantic value

• Knowledge - Application of information to tasks and goals of value and importance

• Wisdom - Ethical and political judgements regarding tasks of importance

What is IT, then?

• IT transmits data - but data alone is rather difficult for use to process

• Information is generally central role (why IT has an I in it, I guess.)

• While knowledge is mostly human domain, IT increasingly supports knowledge communities, making knowledge creation easier

• Relation to wisdom?

Input Process Output (IPO)

• Data is provided, computer transforms, data is generated

• Output data usually then become inputs for other processes (including processes that make us understand data as information)

• Garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) - badly formatted inputs break processes, wrong inputs generate incorrect results

• What’s garbage? Depends on the problem.

Types of Information Systems

• Transaction processing (TPS)• Management and Decision Support (MIS/DSS)• Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)• Knowledge Management (KM)• Communication and social networking systems

Transaction Processing Systems

• Facilitate processing of transfer of goods and services

• Non-internet – electronic data interchange (EDI) systems

• Internet – e-commerce sites• Key concerns?

Management and Decision Support

• Culling and representing key data to support human decisions

• “expert” systems – e.g., diagnosis software• “dashboards” – key information about a given

information system presented for quick analysis

• Key concerns?

Enterprise Resource Planning

• Systems to manage key inputs of organization• Can be human, physical or more abstract

resources• HR systems• Inventory control and updating• Key concerns?

Customer Relationship Management

• Representing key information of customer base and history of interaction

• Sales support systems• Data mining for key customer habits• Affiliate and loyalty systems• Key concerns?

Knowledge Management and Communication Systems

• Representation and sharing of information within organization

• Supports knowledge building – but isn’t knowledge!

• Groupware systems• Learning Management Systems• Key concerns?

Application: CNC Machining

• Data - raw information fed to machine - makes sense to machine, but incomprehensible to most

• Information - dimensions, material, tool selection• Knowledge - design of part, choice of tools and

materials• Wisdom - relation to whole system, weighing of

alternatives

Application: Email

• Data - streaming of digital information and message metadata, perhaps encrypted

• Information - what you see - grammar, spelling, semantic value

• Knowledge - ability to discern logic of sender, message, response, etc.

• Wisdom – what to say when, gauging importance of email, choice of medium, etc.

Application: KM system

• Data - choice of formats and transmission of data

• Information - semantically valid data• Knowledge - what people do with

information, application to tasks at hand• Wisdom – what elements should be known,

what can be safely ignored when

Tacit Knowledgeand Explicit Information

• IT - superior at representation and transfer of explicit information

• Explicit information requires tacit knowledge to process correctly though - and IT has issues with tacit knowledge

• Example: understanding visual data – human recognition vs. image search engines

• Example: false assumption of some KM systems re: organizational knowledge

Example: Car Team

• Solid base of explicit information represented in reports

• Much tacit knowledge beyond that required to understand reports

• Many tacit and explicit learning mechanisms• Many learning styles among members – some

are more comfortable with some mechanisms• Learning ecology vs. learning management?

Competitive Advantage of IT?

• IT can increase speed and lower cost of distribution and production of information

• IT and the productivity paradox - for years, the above was true, but return on investment (ROI) was stagnant or even negative - why?

• Paradox solved - IT now trends positive ROI - why?

A Balance…

• IT alone doesn’t do much - it must be used intelligently by intelligent people

• People, business process, technology, end objectives, market dynamics, partners and competitors, ethical concerns, legal concerns - all interact to determine success or failure of implementation

• IS types/functions blend – create information ecology usually as robust as weakest link

• Right balance? Well, that’s where knowledge and wisdom come in.

CI

• Where to get companies of interest?• Who to talk to?• How to approach?• What questions to ask?• Proposal in two weeks – one/two pages of

approach and possibilities

Article Analysis

• Scheduling• Sources• Presentation Tips and Mechanics

Next Week

• Ch.3• First presentations