An information system can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization. In addition to supporting decision making, coordination, and control, information systems may
also help managers and workers analyze problems, visualize complex subjects,and create new products.
also help managers and workers analyze problems, visualize complex subjects,and create new products.
Information systems contain information about significant people, places, and things within the organization or in the environment surrounding it. By information we mean data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningful and useful to human beings. Data, in contrast, are streams of raw facts representing events occurring in organizations or the physical environment before they have been organized and arranged into a form that people can understand and use. A brief example contrasting information and data may prove useful. Supermarket checkout counters scan millions of pieces of data from bar codes, which describe each product. Such pieces of data can be totaled and analyzed to provide meaningful information, such as the total number of bottles of dish detergent sold at a particular store, which brands of dish detergent were selling the most rapidly at that store or sales territory, or the total amount spent on that brand of dish detergent at that store or sales region (see Figure 1.3).
Three activities in an information system produce the information that organizations need to make decisions, control operations, analyze problems, and create new products or services. These activities are input, processing, and output (see Figure 1.4). Input captures or collects raw data from within the organization or from its external environment. Processing converts this raw input into a meaningful form. Output transfers the processed information to the people who will use it or to the activities for which it will be used. Information systems also require feedback, which is output that is returned to appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the input stage.
For example, in Disney World’s systems for controlling crowds, the raw input consists of data from airline bookings and hotel reservations, satellite weather data, historic attendance data for the date being analyzed, and images of crowds from video cameras stationed at key locations throughout the park. Computers store these data and process them to calculate projected total attendance for a specific date as well as attendance figures and wait times for each ride and restaurant at various times during the day. The systems indicate which rides or attractions are too overcrowded, which have spare capacity, and which can add capacity. The system provides meaningful information such as the number of
Three activities in an information system produce the information that organizations need to make decisions, control operations, analyze problems, and create new products or services. These activities are input, processing, and output (see Figure 1.4). Input captures or collects raw data from within the organization or from its external environment. Processing converts this raw input into a meaningful form. Output transfers the processed information to the people who will use it or to the activities for which it will be used. Information systems also require feedback, which is output that is returned to appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct the input stage.
For example, in Disney World’s systems for controlling crowds, the raw input consists of data from airline bookings and hotel reservations, satellite weather data, historic attendance data for the date being analyzed, and images of crowds from video cameras stationed at key locations throughout the park. Computers store these data and process them to calculate projected total attendance for a specific date as well as attendance figures and wait times for each ride and restaurant at various times during the day. The systems indicate which rides or attractions are too overcrowded, which have spare capacity, and which can add capacity. The system provides meaningful information such as the number of
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| figure 1.3 |
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| figure 1.4 |
An information system contains information about an organization and its surrounding environment. Three basic activities input, processing, and output produce the information organizations need. Feedback is output returned to appropriate people or activities in the organization to evaluate and refine the input. Environmental actors, such as customers, suppliers, competitors, stockholders, and regulatory agencies, interact with the organization and its information systems. guests attending on a particular day or time period, the average wait time per ride, the average number of restaurant and shop visits, the average number of rides guests squeezed into a single day’s visit, and the average amount spent per customer during a specific time period. Such information helps Disney management gauge the theme park’s overall efficiency and profitability.
Although computer-based information systems use computer technology to process raw data into meaningful information, there is a sharp distinction between a computer and a computer program on the one hand, and an information system on the other. Electronic computers and related software programs are the technical foundation, the tools and materials, of modern information systems. Computers provide the equipment for storing and processing information. Computer programs, or software, are sets of operating instructions that direct and control computer processing. Knowing how computers and computer programs work is important in designing solutions to organizational problems, but computers are only part of an information system.
house is an appropriate analogy. Houses are built with hammers, nails, and wood, but these do not make a house. The architecture, design, setting, landscaping, and all of the decisions that lead to the creation of these features are part of the house and are crucial for solving the problem of putting a roof over one’s head. Computers and programs are the hammers, nails, and lumber of computer-based information systems, but alone they cannot produce the information a particular organization needs. To understand information systems,you must understand the problems they are designed to solve, their architectural and design elements, and the organizational processes that lead to these solutions.
Although computer-based information systems use computer technology to process raw data into meaningful information, there is a sharp distinction between a computer and a computer program on the one hand, and an information system on the other. Electronic computers and related software programs are the technical foundation, the tools and materials, of modern information systems. Computers provide the equipment for storing and processing information. Computer programs, or software, are sets of operating instructions that direct and control computer processing. Knowing how computers and computer programs work is important in designing solutions to organizational problems, but computers are only part of an information system.
house is an appropriate analogy. Houses are built with hammers, nails, and wood, but these do not make a house. The architecture, design, setting, landscaping, and all of the decisions that lead to the creation of these features are part of the house and are crucial for solving the problem of putting a roof over one’s head. Computers and programs are the hammers, nails, and lumber of computer-based information systems, but alone they cannot produce the information a particular organization needs. To understand information systems,you must understand the problems they are designed to solve, their architectural and design elements, and the organizational processes that lead to these solutions.
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