Transcript Organizational Foundations of Information Systems

Learning Module D:
Information Technology Systems
I. IT Systems
What are Five Components of Information Systems?
- Hardware: equipment, devices
- Software: programs - a set of instructions that
controls hardware
- Data: files, database
- People: technical personnel, users
- Procedures: documents that help people use and
manage MIS (manuals, data dictionary, system
operation manuals, …
1. Data
• Data: facts about objects
• Store data in computer:
– binary data
– bits
– bytes
• Five types of data
What are Five Types of Data and What is
Multimedia?
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Number (.txt, .xls)
Text (.txt, .xls)
Image (.bmp)
Sound (.wav)
Video (.avi)
• Multimedia
How are the Five Types of Data Represented in IT
Systems?
• Number: Base 2 numbers (binary)
• Text: character set
– ASCII (American Standard Code for
Information Interchange), e.g., A 65, B 66.
– EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal
Interchange Code), for IBM Mainframe.
– Different countries may use different
character set.
• Picture: 2 formats
– Pixel format (.bmp, .jpg, paintbrush)
• binary number -> dot for color
• resolution - dpi (dots per inch) & storage
space
– Vector format (autocad)
• Engineering drawings
• Mathematical description -> less storage
space
• Sound:
– two components of sound: volume and pitch
– digitize sound
• Sampling: take observations of two values
(volume and pitch) several times per
second (.wav)
• Video:
– Tremendous amount of data (100 CD’s for
one-hour movie)
– Data compression
2. Hardware Components of Computer System
What are Components of Computer Systems?
• Input
• Output
• Processor
• Secondary Storage
• Input
– Keyboard
– Pointing devices: mouse, light pen, touch
screen
– Scanner
– Pen-based systems: pen & software for
converting handwriting to text
– Sound: microphone and sampler
– Voice recognition (expensive)
– Video capture board: digitize video
• Output
– Monitor
• resolution: # of pixels & colors
• video card & video RAM
– Printer
• laser
• ink-jet
• dot-matrix
• Process System
– Processor: CPU (Central Processing Unit):
carries out instructions; Control Unit +
Arithmetic Logic Unit
– RAM (Random Access Memory)
– Speed vs. Internal Clock
• Speed: MIPS
• Internal clock: 100MHz, 450MHz
• Speed  clock speed (# of clock cycles per
instruction, 486D50 is slower than Pentium 50)
• Comparable only for the same manufacturer
and the same family
– Speed depends on other components
• Data bus
• Access time and capacity of RAM
• Parallel processors
– Price differential
• PC - the lowest $/MIPS
• Use for different purposes (e.g., IBM
Mainframe for multiple users)
• Secondary Storage
– hard drive
– floppy disk drive
– tapes (backup)
– optical drive
• CD-ROM (650 megabytes)
• WORM (Write Once Read Many)
• Erasable
• DVD (Digital Video Disk)
– Solid State/RAM (keep data when power is
off)
3. Software
Programs
• Systems software
– Operating systems
– Utilities
– Language translators
• Applications (Personal Productivity Software)
What are Operating Systems?
• A program that acts as an intermediary
between users and hardware
• Three functions of OS
– allocation and assignment of resources
– scheduling of jobs
– monitoring activities (security, usage)
• Specific operating systems
– VMS (DEC VAX)
– MVS (IBM Mainframe)
– UNIX (machine-independent)
– OS/2 (IBM PC, robust and memoryintensive)
– Windows 98 (PC)
– Windows NT (workstation, network server)
– Windows 2000 (Peer-to-Peer)
• GUI (Graphical User Interface)
• Multitasking
– Users can run more than one job at the same
time
– OS rotates jobs, not exactly run them at the
same time
– Reduce total processing time (OS
coordinates all components of computer
system)
– Prevent users from changing data at the
same time (concurrency problem).
What Are Examples of Application Software?
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DBMS: Access
Calculation: Excel
Writing: Word
Presentation: PowerPoint
Communication: Email (Outlook Express)
Scheduling: Microsoft Outlook
II. Information in an Organization
Three Levels of Management Decision
• Operation Level:
– day-to-day operations
– follow rules (structured decision)
– transaction for collecting data
• Tactical Level:
– managers’ specialization
– structured and unstructured decisions
– short-term to middle-term
– without major changes to organization’s structure
(continued)
• Strategic Level:
– top management
– unstructured decision
– long-term
– with major changes to organization’s structure
1. What are the five categories of informationprocessing task? (p.12)
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Capture information
Present information in useful form
Create new information
Store information
Sending information to other people
2. Why Point of origin or point of sales (POS)?
• Capture data at the point of origin (the sales register
is a computer terminal connected to a central
computer).
• Keyboard (gas station)
• Bar code scanner (supermarket)
• Optical character recognition (OCR) read
handwritten zip code
• Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) - more
accurate than OCR
• Error detection, computations and immediate update
• Avoid - rekey data, lost data, duplicate data,
inaccuracies, long time, fail to identify error.
3. How is TPS Used for Manufacturing?
Process Control
• Manufacturing machines are connected to
computers or have built-in computers.
• Monitor production levels.
• Monitor quality.
• Monitor uptime or downtime.
• Problems
– standard for various machines
– an enormous amount of data: how to use,
how to store, how to transmit.
4. What is Electronic data interchange (EDI)?
• The direct computer-to-computer exchange
between two firms of standard business
transaction documents (invoices, bills, purchase
orders) or send documents through a thirdparty EDI provider.
• Cut lead time and improve quality control
• Lock in customers (easier for customers or
distributors to order)
• Standard: software and hardware, data
definitions, format of documents
5. Web Database Applications
Why do business on the Internet?
– Expanded reach
– Corporate image enhancement
– Improved customer service
– Follow-up sales/marketing material
– New product/service delivery channel
– Reduced operating expenses possibly
– Test marketing (new products, new services,
new market campaigns)