Prelim Question # 3

1. Identify and describe information systems (IS) used in each level.

Answer:

Information System is a combination of people, hardware, software, communication devices, network and data resources that processes (can be storing, retrieving, transforming information) data and information for a specific purpose. The operation theory is just similar to any other system, which needs inputs from user (key in instructions and commands, typing, scanning). The inputted data then will be processed (calculating, reporting) using technology devices such as computers, and produce output (printing reports, displaying results) that will be sent to another user or other system via a network and a feedback method that controls the operation. The picture below shows the procedure of Information System when it works.

Information System (IS) refers to a system of people, data records and activities that process the data and information in an organization, and it includes the organization's manual and automated processes. In a narrow sense, the term information system (or computer-based information system) refers to the specific application software that is used to store data records in a computer system and automates some of the information-processing activities of the organization. Computer-based information systems are in the field of information technology. The discipline of business process modelling describes the business processes supported by information systems.

2. How do these IS help the employees and managers achieve their objectives.

Answer:

There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction processing systems, decision support systems, knowledge management systems, database management systems, and office information systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies, which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information, performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.

Information technologies are a very important and malleable resource available to executives.^[1] Many companies have created a position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) that sits on the executive board with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Technical Officer (CTO).The CTO may also serve as CIO, and vice versa. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), who focuses on information security within an organization, normally reports to the CIO.

In computer security, an information system is described by the following components ^[2]:

• Repositories, which hold data permanently or temporarily, such as buffers, RAM, hard disks, cache, etc. Often data stored in repositories is managed through a database management system.
• Interfaces, which support the interaction between humans and computers, such as keyboards, speakers, scanners, printers, etc.
• Channels, which connect repositories, such as routers, cables, wireless links, etc.

3. Cite a local or national company that makes use of these IS and identify the benefits and drawbacks/lapses of these IS.

Answer:

The implementation of information system strategies in UK companies - aims and barriers to success

Introduction

Building on Porter's (1985) definition of strategy as, ' . . . the route to competitive advantage that will determine . . . performance', we can define an ISS as the analysis of the role that information systems can play in helping business units or companies to define a route to competitive strategy.

The literature on information system strategies is extensive: much of it anecdotal in character, or exhorting managers or chief executives in British industry to make more use of information technology. The claim is made, repeatedly, that unless Britain can keep up with Japan, the USA, and the major European competitors in the rate of application of information technology, economic decline is inevitable. The most persuasive argument of this kind has been spelled out by Mackintosh (1987). Some writers, however, go beyond exhortation to try to identify the ways in which information technology may have long-term strategic value for companies, or to show how information technology can have an impact upon profitability. The key names in this respect are Michael E. Porter, who devotes a significant part of his Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance (1985) to the ways in which technology in general, and information technology in particular, can have an impact upon competitive advantage; and Paul Strassman ( 1985), who develops the concept of management productivity in his Information pay-off: the transformation of work in the electronics age and who has used the PIMS database of key indicators to advise companies on appropriate investment in IT.

The work reported here resulted from an interest shared by the author and Arthur Andersen & Co.: the overall objective of the study was to discover the extent to which major UK companies had adopted a strategic view of information systems development. In addition to this main objective there were a number of subsidiary aims. For companies that claimed to have a strategy we wished to know:

1. How the link to business strategy was maintained.
2. The organizational level at which strategy was initiated.
3. How the effectiveness of a strategy was monitored.
4. What aspects of information systems development featured in existing strategies, and what were future plans for investment.
5. How successful strategies were deemed to have been, and what barriers to the establishment and implementation of strategy had been experienced.
6. How far the idea of competitive advantage was incorporated in strategy, and what particular competitive ends were pursued.

A number of interviews were first carried out in major companies to explore the objectives in an informal manner. A questionnaire for self-completion was then prepared, with sections devoted to the above issues, and in two parts - Part A for those companies with a strategy, and Part B for those without. To enable companies to determine whether or not they had a strategy, the following definition was provided:

An information systems strategy brings together the business aims of the company, an understanding of the information needed to support those aims, and the implementation of computer systems to provide that information. It is a plan for the development of systems towards some future vision of the role of information systems in the organization.

In this paper only the results relating to companies with a strategy are reported.

Of the questionnaires returned, 75 per cent were from companies which claimed to have an information systems strategy as defined above, suggesting that the idea of an information system strategy has been widely adopted. Some caution is necessary, however: first, there is a difference between companies in the financial sector and those in the Times 500 group - 86 per cent of the former and only 73 per cent of the latter report having a strategy (Table 1). This distribution is statistically significant, i.e., in general, financial services companies are more likely to have adopted information system strategies than are other industrial firms.

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References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_systems
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=Importance+of+Information+Systems&page=1&qsrc=6&ab=4&u=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FInformation_systems
http://informationr.net/tdw/publ/papers/1989ISstrat.html


DIPAY, IVY MAE J.