Information Systems/Information Systems

< Information Systems

This lesson covers information systems.

Objectives and Skills

Objectives and skills for the information systems portion of CLEP Information Systems include:^[1]

Specialized systems (expert systems, collaborative systems, DSS, GIS, BI, workflow management, project management tools)
Electronic Data Interchange (standards, tools, characteristics, types of transactions)
Enterprise-wide systems (ERP, CRM, SCM)
Knowledge management (capturing, distributing, summarizing)
Business strategies (competition, process re-engineering, process modeling, e-commerce, TQM, Web 2.0)

Readings

Read Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/Information Systems.
Read Wikipedia: Information system.
Read Wikipedia: Expert system.
Read Wikipedia: Electronic data interchange.
Read Wikipedia: Enterprise resource planning.
Read Wikipedia: Knowledge management.

Multimedia

Watch YouTube: What is Knowledge Management?.
Watch YouTube: What We Know About Knowledge Management
Watch YouTube: Why should you be interested in Knowledge Management today?.
Watch YouTube: What is EDI? (Electronic Data Interchange).
Watch YouTube: Three Eras of Knowledge Management.
Watch YouTube: What is Workflow Management?.
Watch YouTube: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Watch YouTube: Top Project Management Tools.
Watch YouTube: What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
Watch YouTube: What is ERP(Enterprise resource planning).
Watch YouTube: What is CRM.

Activities

Review Wikipedia: Information system. Create a list of information systems you encounter every day. What systems and devices do you use that capture and interpret information? This may include computers, automobiles, shopping at stores, Internet purchases, Internet surfing, business systems, accounting systems, healthcare systems, etc.
Review Wikipedia: Privacy. Consider the information that various vendors and providers track about you. What information do they have? How is your information used and who do they share it with? Select a vendor or provider and read their privacy policy to find out.
Review Wikipedia: Enterprise resource planning. Research ERP systems. Who are the top three or top five vendors? Find out what these systems cost and consider why a company would make an investment in this type of system. Provide examples.
Review Wikipedia: Supply chain management. Think about a recent manufactured food or beverage product purchase you made at a store. Now consider the full supply chain involved in making that item available for you to purchase. What inventory control systems are likely in place at the store, the distributor, and the manufacturer? What manufacturing processes and ingredients were necessary, and what information systems would have been required to support manufacturing and delivering this product to you?
Review Wikipedia: Watson (computer). IBM's Watson computer system is now being used to improve health care. How does Watson use knowledge management concepts to improve healthcare, and what types of benefits are being seen? Provide examples.
Review the lesson summary, key terms, review questions, and assessments below.

Lesson Summary

An information system is any organized system for the collection, organization, storage and communication of information.^[2]
Information systems aim to support operations, management and decision making through inter-relation between data systems and activity systems.^[3]
Information systems are a combination of hardware, software, data, procedures, people, and feedback.^[4]
Expert systems are computer systems that emulate the decision-making ability of a human expert.^[5]
An expert system is divided into two sub-systems: the knowledge base and the inference engine. The knowledge base represents facts and rules. The inference engine applies the rules to the known facts to deduce new facts.^[6]
Electronic data interchange (EDI) is an electronic communication method that provides standards for exchanging data via any electronic means. By adhering to the same standard, two different companies or organizations, even in two different countries, can electronically exchange documents (such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, and many others).^[7]
EDI and other similar technologies save a company money by providing an alternative to, or replacing, information flows that require a great deal of human interaction and paper documents.^[8]
Barriers to implementing EDI systems include necessary business process changes and cost in time and money for initial set-up.^[9]
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is business-management software that an organization can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from a variety of business activities.^[10]
ERP systems may include product planning, manufacturing or service delivery, marketing and sales, inventory management, shipping, and payment.^[11]
Knowledge management (KM) is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge.^[12]
Knowledge management efforts typically focus on organizational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration and continuous improvement of the organization.^[13]

Key Terms

batch processing: The execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.^[14]
business intelligence (BI): The set of techniques and tools for the transformation of raw data into meaningful and useful information for business analysis purposes.^[15]
business strategy: The formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by a company's top management on behalf of owners, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization competes.^[16]
cost-benefit analysis (CBA): A systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives that satisfy transactions, activities or functional requirements for a business.^[17]
critical path method: An algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities based on the the time (duration) that each activity will take to complete, the dependencies between the activities, and logical end points such as milestones or deliverable items.^[18]
critical success factor: An element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission.^[19]
decision support system (DSS): A computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities.^[20]
customer relationship management (CRM): An approach to managing a company’s interactions with current and future customers that often involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.^[21]
e-commerce: Trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet.^[22]
electronic data interchange (EDI): An electronic communication method that provides standards for exchanging data via any electronic means.^[23]
Enterprise Resource planning (ERP): Business management software that a company can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities.^[24]
executive information system (EIS): A type of management information system that facilitates and supports senior executive information and decision-making needs.^[25]
expert system: A computer system that emulates the decision-making ability of a human expert. ^[26]
GIGO (garbage in, garbage out): Describes how computers may unquestioningly process unintended, even nonsensical, input data and produce undesired, often nonsensical, output.^[27]
geographic information system (GIS): A system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data.^[28]
information system: A system composed of people and computers that processes or interprets information.^[29]
management information system (MIS): The management of information systems to provide efficiency and effectiveness of strategic decision making. ^[30]
strategic planning: An organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.^[31]
supply chain management (SCM): The management of the flow of goods and services.^[32]
Total Quality Management (TQM): Consists of organization-wide efforts to install and make permanent a climate in which an organization continuously improves its ability to deliver high-quality products and services to customers.^[33]
transaction processing system (TPS): A software system, or software/hardware combination, that processes data by dividing the processes into individual, indivisible operations.^[34]
value added network (VAN): A hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based or proprietary data via shared business processes. ^[35]
value chain: A set of activities that a firm operating in a specific industry performs in order to deliver a valuable product or service for the market.^[36]
workflow management system (WMS): Provides an infrastructure for the set-up, performance and monitoring of a defined sequence of tasks, arranged as a workflow.^[37]

Review Questions

An information system is _____.

An information system is any organized system for the collection, organization, storage and communication of information.
Information systems aim to _____.

Information systems aim to support operations, management and decision making through inter-relation between data systems and activity systems.
Information systems are a combination of _____, _____, _____, _____, _____, and _____.

Information systems are a combination of hardware, software, data, procedures, people, and feedback.
Expert systems are _____.

Expert systems are computer systems that emulate the decision-making ability of a human expert.
An expert system is divided into two sub-systems: _____ and _____. _____ represents facts and rules. _____ applies the rules to the known facts to deduce new facts.

An expert system is divided into two sub-systems: the knowledge base and the inference engine. The knowledge base represents facts and rules. The inference engine applies the rules to the known facts to deduce new facts.
Electronic data interchange (EDI) is _____.

Electronic data interchange (EDI) is an electronic communication method that provides standards for exchanging data via any electronic means. By adhering to the same standard, two different companies or organizations, even in two different countries, can electronically exchange documents (such as purchase orders, invoices, shipping notices, and many others).
EDI and other similar technologies save a company money by _____.

EDI and other similar technologies save a company money by providing an alternative to, or replacing, information flows that require a great deal of human interaction and paper documents.
Barriers to implementing EDI systems include _____.

Barriers to implementing EDI systems include necessary business process changes and cost in time and money for initial set-up.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is _____.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is business-management software that an organization can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from a variety of business activities.
ERP systems may include processes such as _____.

ERP systems may include processes product planning, manufacturing or service delivery, marketing and sales, inventory management, shipping, and payment.
Knowledge management (KM) is _____.

Knowledge management (KM) is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge.
Knowledge management efforts typically focus on organizational objectives such as _____.

Knowledge management efforts typically focus on organizational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration and continuous improvement of the organization.

Assessments

Flashcards: Quizlet: Information Systems - Information Systems
Quiz: Quizlet: Information Systems - Information Systems

References

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