# Information Systems/Information Systems

An information system (IS) is an organized system for the collection, organization, storage and communication of information. More specifically, it is the study of complementary networks that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create and distribute data.

## Objectives and Skills

Objectives and skills for the information systems portion of CLEP Information Systems include:
* 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

* Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems/Information Systems
* Wikipedia: Learning management system
* Wikipedia: Management information system
* Wikipedia: Transaction processing system
* Wikipedia: Office automation
* Wikipedia: Expert system
* Wikipedia: Enterprise resource planning
* Wikipedia: Knowledge management
* Wikipedia: Decision support system
* Wikipedia: Geographic information system
* Wikipedia: Systems development life cycle
* Wikipedia: Web 2.0

## Multimedia

* YouTube: Knowledge Management Basics
* YouTube: What is EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)?
* YouTube: What is a Database?
* YouTube: How IT and Business Process Fit Together
* YouTube: Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
* YouTube: What is a Workflow?
* YouTube: What is Business Intelligence (BI)?
* YouTube: What is an ERP system
* YouTube: Introduction to Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
* YouTube: Decision Support System (DSS)
* YouTube: The 5 Components of an Information System
* YouTube: Microsoft Dynamics 365

## 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 Wikipedia: Geographic Information System. Consider goods or services needed in your area(park, hospital etc.). Now, determine where the providers of these services should be placed.

## Research and Discussion

* Employment in computer and information technology occupations are expected to increase within the next ten years. With these different types of advancements in information systems, what types of potential skills do you feel will be necessary for students to need to be successful?
* Most information systems include the discussion of hardware, software, data, people, and procedures. What is the importance of including people? What are some skills and concepts that are critical for people in information technology to be successful? Discuss.
* With our current use of technology and information system resources, do you feel that you receive enough information or not enough information to make appropriate decisions (personally or professionally)? Discuss.
* Many individuals may agree that the use of robots has benefits for our society. What do you think would be some potential positive and negative implications?
* From the above readings, select an information system and explain how that information system relates to you. Support your answer with potential advantages and disadvantages.

## Lesson Summary

* An information system is any organized system for the collection, organization, storage and communication of information.
* 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 hardware, software, data, procedures, people, and feedback.
* Expert systems are computer systems that emulate the decision-making ability of a human expert.
* 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 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 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 necessary business process changes and cost in time and money for initial set-up.
* 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 product planning, manufacturing or service delivery, marketing and sales, inventory management, shipping, and payment.
* 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 improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, integration and continuous improvement of the organization.
* GIS is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present spatial or geographic data.

## Key Terms
### access point

    Box consisting of a radio receiver/transmitter and antennae that link to a wired network, router, or hub.

### acceptance testing

    Provides the final certification that the system is ready to be used in a production setting.

### artificial intelligence (AI)

    artificial intelligence diagramis intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence (NI) displayed by humans and other animals. In computer science AI research is defined as the study of "intelligent agents": any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals.

### batch processing

    The execution of a series of programs on a computer without manual intervention.

### business intelligence (BI)

    A set of techniques and tools for the acquisition and transformation of raw data into meaningful and useful information for business analysis purposes.

### 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.

### 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.

### critical path method (CPM)

    An algorithm for scheduling a set of project activities based on 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.

### critical success factor (CSF)

    An element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission.

### 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.

### data mining

    Analysis of large pools of data to find patterns and rules that can be used to guide decision making and predict future behavior.

### data administration

    A special organizational function for managing the organization's data resources, concerned with information policy, data planning, maintenance of data dictionaries, and data quality standards.

### database management system (DBMS)

    A computer software application that interacts with the user, other applications, and the database itself to capture and analyze data.

### decision support system (DSS)

    A computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities.

### E-commerce (electronic commerce)

    Trading in products or services using computer networks, such as the Internet.

### eLearning

    eLearning technology enables organizations to create customized training and education software. This can include lesson plans, monitoring progress against learning goals, online classes, etc. eLearning technology enables organizations to significantly reduce the cost of training and educating their members.

### electronic data interchange (EDI)

    An electronic communication method that provides standards for exchanging data via any electronic means.

### enterprise portal

    Web site that aggregates information across the entire organization or for groups within the organization such as project teams.

### enterprise resource planning (ERP)

    Business management software that a company can use to collect, store, manage and interpret data from many business activities.

### executive information system (EIS)

    A type of management information system that facilitates and supports senior executive information and decision-making needs.

### expert system

    A computer system that emulates the decision-making ability of a human expert.

### GIGO (garbage in, garbage out)

    Describes how computers may unquestioningly process unintended, even nonsensical, input data and produce undesired, often nonsensical, output.

### geographic information system (GIS)

    A system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of spatial or geographical data.

### groupware

    Technologies that facilitate collaboration and sharing of organizational information. One of the earliest very successful products in this category was Lotus Notes. Notes provided tools for threaded discussions, sharing of documents, organization wide uniform email, etc.

### information system

    A system composed of people and computers that processes or interprets information.

### knowledge base

    Represents facts and rules.

### knowledge management (KM)

    The process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge, It refers to a multi-disciplinary approach to achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge.

### learning management system (LMS)

    Is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of educational courses or training programs.

### management information system (MIS)

    The management of information systems to provide efficiency and effectiveness of strategic decision making.

### robot

    Robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer— capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically.[2] Robots can be guided by an external control device or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to take on human form but most robots are machines designed to perform a task with no regard to how they look.

### scheduling and planning tools

    Automate the creation and maintenance of an organization's schedule: scheduling meetings,notifying people of a meeting, etc. An example of a well known scheduling tool is Microsoft Outlook. The planning aspect can integrate with project management tools such as Microsoft Project. Some of the earliest successful uses of KM technology in the business world were the development of the following types of tools: online versions of corporate "yellow pages" with listing of contact info, relevant knowledge, and work history.

### strategic planning

    An organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.

### supply chain management (SCM)

    The oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. .

### telepresence

    Telepresence technology enables individuals to have virtual meetings rather than having to be in the same place. Videoconferencing is the most obvious example.

### 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.

### software prototyping

    The activity of creating prototypes of software applications, i.e., incomplete versions of the software program being developed.

### transaction processing system (TPS)

    A software system, or software/hardware combination, that processes data by dividing the processes into individual, indivisible operations.

### value added network (VAN)

    A hosted service offering that acts as an intermediary between business partners sharing standards based on proprietary data via shared business processes.

### 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.

### Web 2.0

    refers to World Wide Web websites that emphasize user-generated content, usability (ease of use, even by non-experts), and interoperability (this means that a website can work well with other products, systems, and devices) for end users.

### workflow tools

    Allow the representation of processes associated with the creation, use, and maintenance of organizational knowledge. For example the process to create and utilize forms and documents within an organization. For example, a workflow system can do things such as send notifications to appropriate supervisors when a new document has been produced and is awaiting their approval.

### workflow management system (WMS)

    Provides an infrastructure for the set-up, performance and monitoring of a defined sequence of tasks, arranged as a workflow.

## 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

* Quiz: Quizlet: Information Systems - Information Systems
* Flashcards: Quizlet: Information systems (clep)
* Flashcards: Quizlet: Electronic Data Interchange
* Matching cards: Study Stack: Information systems
* Study Table: Study Stack: Information Managment
* Flashcards: Quizlet: Infomation Systems Vocab

## See Also

* Wikibooks: Introduction to Computer Information Systems
* Facts About Computer Information Systems
* Computer and Information Systems Managers Career
* eLearning Trends of the Global eLearning Industry
* The Beginner's Guide to CRM: Customer Relationship Management