Management Information

Systems:

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-1

 Objectives
 Understand the term information systems (IS)
 Understand IS components:
 Technology, people, organizations
 Understand IS career opportunities
 Understand types of information systems
 Understand IS and organizational success or
failure
 Understand the future of IS management

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-2

 What is Management?

“The act of managing something”

Or
Management is the organizational process that includes
strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing
resources, deploying the human and financial assets
needed to achieve objectives, and measuring results.

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-3

 Data vs. Information
Data:
consists of raw or unstructured facts (text, pictures, sound)
eg. Student number, date

Information:
Data that has been refined for a particular purpose: a collection of
facts organised so that they have meaning and use to a particular
recipient in a particular context. It has additional value beyond
the value of the facts themselves.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-4
 Information characteristics
 Useful information is essential if an organization is to
achieve its goals:

accurate complete economical

flexible reliable relevant
simple timely verifiable
accessible secure

 An information system is designed to produce such

information
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 A System

An assembly of components that interact in an

organised way to accomplish goals

 E.g. river systems, nervous system, public

transport system, legal system, education
system, water supply system, elevator system,
information system.

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-6

 Information Systems Fundamentals
 Organizations may be classified according to the systems they
employ:
 Simple vs. complex

 Open vs. closed

 Stable vs. dynamic

 Permanent vs. temporary

 System performance can be measured along three dimensions:

 Efficiency

 Effectiveness

 Equity (fairness)

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-7

 Types of Information Systems
 There is a range of information systems to serve the varied needs
of users:

 Transaction processing systems

 Electronic commerce
 Process control systems
 Management support systems: Management information systems,
Decision support systems, Executive information systems
 Knowledge-based systems: Expert systems, Neural networks,
 Multimedia systems
 Office automation systems
 Geographical information systems
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-8
 How can
Information Systems help ?
An Information System is a formal arrangement of people, data,
processes

 Integrated to
 Manage complexity
 Support and improve business operations
 Support and improve the problem-solving and decision-making
activities of managers.
 It transforms Data into Information

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-9

 Benefits of
Information Systems

A good information system ensures:-

 the right information

 to the right degree of accuracy
 when it is required
 in the right format/layout
 to the right people
 in the most efficient way possible

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-10

 The Complexity of
Information Systems

Even small information systems can be very complex:

 many components (lots of information)

 much interaction between components
 systems within systems (subsystems)
 the intangibility of information (hard to define)
 the subjective nature of information (interpretation)
 differing needs of different system users

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-11

Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments
 The Problem
 Since 1907 United Parcel Service (UPS)

has been in the package distribution

business
 It is the world’s largest package

distribution company, transporting over 3

billion parcels and documents each year in
over 200 countries.
© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-12
Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 UPS provides the means for customers to
track their shipments to determine the
status and whereabouts of a particular
package
 In the past, this was done primarily over

the telephone
 Customers would call UPS with the

tracking number of their shipment

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-13
Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 An operator would look up the status of
the shipment in the UPS database and
relay the information to the customer
 Servicing these calls cost an estimated $2

per call

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-14

Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 The Solution
 UPS created a Web site (ups.com) that

enabled customers to:

 track their shipments online

 determine the cost and transit time for

delivery of a package
 schedule a package for pickup

 locate the nearest drop-off facility

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-15

Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 These online facilities are accessed from the UPS
homepage
 The customer clicks the “Tracking” tab at the

top of the homepage

 This takes the customer to an online form where

the customer simply enters the tracking number

and then hits the “Track” button
 The customer receives precise information

about the location of the designated shipment

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-16

Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 The front end of the UPS Web site is simple,
but the back-end processing used to handle a
tracking request is more complicated
 Requests are handed off to one of a

handful of Web servers

 This server passes the request to the

appropriate application serve

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Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 The application server passes the request to
an IBM AS/400 computer attached to the
UPS tracking database (the largest
transaction database in the world—20
terabytes of data
 The mainframe performs the database search

for the status information

 Then it is passed back up the line through the

various servers to the customer’s browser

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Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 The Results
 The UPS site services over 4 million

online tracking requests per day

 It keeps UPS competitive with other

shipping companies that also offer online

tracking services and customer
information (FedEx)

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-19

Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 UPS now offers customers the option of
tracking their packages through wireless
devices (cell phones, PDAs, and Web-
enabled pagers
 Web pages have been modified to support

the particular wireless device being used

 Specialized servers are used to deliver the

pages over the wireless communication

networks
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Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 UPS (ec.ups.com) offers a set of e-commerce
solutions and a technology infrastructure that
enables other companies to incorporate UPS’
online:
 order entry

 Shipping

 tracking capabilities

 Example: Amazon.com

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Tracking United Parcel
Service Shipments (cont.)
 The company also offers e-commerce
tools and services for managing an
enterprises’ overall supply chain

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-22

Case: IS at Washington State University
 Automating educational processes
 Online Administration
 Registration

 Financial aid

 Grades

 Online Course Management

 Syllabi

 Assignments

 Online class discussions

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-23

Information Systems Defined
Combinations of hardware, software, and
telecommunications networks that people
build and use to collect, create, and
distribute useful data in organizations

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Key Elements of Information Systems

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Knowledge as a Business Resource
 Knowledge Worker
 A well-educated professional who creates,

modifies, or synthesizes knowledge in one’s

profession
 Knowledge Society
 Also called digital society, new economy

 Working with brains instead of hands

 The importance of education

 Digital divide

© 2008 Prentice Hall, Inc. 1-26

Careers in IS
 Systems Analyst
 Systems Programmer
 Systems Consultant
 Database Administrator
 Webmaster
 IS Director
 Chief Information Officer
 Professor
 Government scientist

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International Outsourcing
 Round-the-clock productivity
 Cost savings

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