Ch19

MultiMedia by Stephen M. Peters © 2001 South-Western

Information Management Systems


Information Technologies (IT)

Manual and electronic means for creating and handling intellectual capital and facilitating

communication—as they relate to an information system.

On June 5, 2000, the Commerce Department said that the information technology industry is

the number one driver of the American economy.


Data Include Such Things As

Sales figures

Customer complaints

Inventory items and quantities

Government statistics

Costs


Seven Characteristics of Useful Information

Understandable—presented in a suitable formReliable—accurate, consistent with fact, and verifiableRelevant—pertains to a manager’s area of responsibility

and is essentialComplete—contains all the facts that a manager needs to

make decisions and solve problemsConcise—just enough, omitting material that is not neededTimely—available when needed, in real time when

possibleCost-effective—created and disseminated at a reasonable

cost


Top-Level Managers Need Information On

Competitors

Progress of operational

units

Technological innovations

Economic conditions

Legal and political

developments

Customers’ needs for and acceptance of the products and services


Management Information System (MIS)

A subsystem within an organization’s IS designed to serve the

specific information needs of all decision makers

A formal collection of processes provides managers with the

quality of information they need to:

– Make decisions

– Solve problems

– Implement change

– Create effective and efficient working environments


Information Provided ThroughMIS Helps To

Plan

Control operations

Lead

Organize Staff

Properly use

resources


MIS For An Oil Company


Developing an IS and MISBegins With

A task force or committee is formed.

An inventory is taken of equipment on hand.

Machine capabilities along with those of their support personnel are determined.

A survey of current information practices is conducted.

The organization’s culture and climate must be analyzed.


MIS Guidelines

Involve users in the system’s design.

Establish clear lines of authority and leadership for the IS personnel.

Establish clear procedures for gathering, sorting, interpreting, displaying, storing, and distributing data and for interacting with the system.

Where technical specialists are used, ensure that both they and the people they support fully understand each specialist’s function and roles.

Build an IS and MIS staff.


Basic Core Equipment of

Any CIS


The Basic Functions of a CIS

Data Entry

Application Program Development

Application Program Maintenance

Data Management

Communications Management

Helping and educating users

Configuring and maintaining the network

Assuring data security, access, integrity, and usability

Correcting and updating existing application systems

Writing new application systems

Entering data in machine-readable form

System Programming Installs and maintains the operating system and associated system software

Computer Operations Runs the system; involves starting jobs, mounting the proper input and output volumes, and responding to problem conditions

End-User Computing

Function Description


End-User Computing, Collateral Problems

The first problem concerns control.The first problem concerns control.

A second problem concerns possible duplication of expensive software and hardware.

A second problem concerns possible duplication of expensive software and hardware.

The third problem lies in orderly, authorized access to both the organization’s systems and to its database.

The third problem lies in orderly, authorized access to both the organization’s systems and to its database.


Databases: Organizations’ Most Valuable Assets

Loss or impairment may shut down the enterprise Accessing

outside databases can be useful but

expensive

May be created

internally


Computer Hardware Consists Of

Control unit

Input devices

Storage devices

Output devices

Central processing unit

(CPU)


Protocol

Rules and standards for transferring information between

computers

Most common TCP/IP protocols

– SMTP for email

– NNTP for Usenet news groups

– FTP for file transfer

– DNS for servers exchanging directions with each other


Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The capability of computers to

– Learn

– Sense

– Think for themselves


Branches of AI Include:

• Voice-recognition systems• Speech synthesis programs• Computer vision• Neural networks


Group Decision Support System

Allows a group focusing on a problem to interact with one another

Used to exchange information, data, and ideas

Used to facilitate conferencing of all kinds

Requires networking and meetingware or groupware software programs

Used in brainstorming and problem-solving sessions


EIS Uses Include

ForecastingPerforming risk and cost-benefit

analyses

Strategic planning

Monitoring quality,

productivity, and ethics

Social responsibility

efforts

Linear programming

Monitoring critical success

factors and stakeholder expectations

Running business game situations


Managing Information SystemsFour Basic Challenges

Overcome resistance to the new and different

Enable employees to use the system

Decide what operations to keep and what to

outsource

Evaluate the results of the system’s operations


Overcoming Resistance, Traditional Functional Organizations

Have too many levels and filters

Impede the flow of and access to

information

Find it difficult to change the ways in

which information is gathered and shared

Ch19

Technology

Transcript of Ch19