1
Chapter 1
We have to distinguish between management information systems, also called
information systems, and information technology. MIS deal with planning for, and the
development, management, and use of information technology tools to help people
perform all of the tasks related to information processing and management.
Information technology relates to any computer based tool that people use to work
with information and to support the information and information-processing needs for
an organization.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING FOR IT
• The need for information systems is usually related to organizational planning
and to the analysis of organizational performance vis a vis its competitors
• New system proposals may be organized and grouped into application
portfolios. These would be the applications that have to be added, or modified
if they already exist.
• IT Planning
o The planning process for new IT applications begins with analysis of
the organizational strategic plan
o The IT architecture delineates the way organizations information
resources should be used to accomplish its mission. It encompasses
both the technical and the managerial aspects of information
resources. The technical aspects include hardware and operating
systems, networking, data management systems, and applications
software. The managerial aspects specify how managing the IT
department will be accomplished, how the functional area managers
will be involved, and how IT decisions will be made.
o The IT strategic plan is a set of long-range goals that describe the IT
infrastructure and identify the major It initiatives needed to achieve
the organizations goals. The IT strategic plan must meet three
objectives:
it must be aligned with the organizations strategic plan
it must provide for an IT architecture that enables users,
applications, and database to be seamlessly networked and
integrated
it must efficiently allocate IS development resources among
competing projects so the projects can be completed on time
and within budget and have the required functionality
o one critical component in developing and implementing the IT strategic
plan is the IT steering committee. This committee, composed of a
group of managers and staff representing various organizational units,
is set up to establish IT priorities and to ensure that the MIS function is
meeting the enterprise’s needs. The committee’s major tasks are to
link corporate strategy and IT strategy, to approve the allocation of
resources for the MIS function, and to establish performance measures
for the MIS function and ensure that they are met.
o After a company has agreed on an IT strategic plan, it next develops
the IS operational plan.
o IS operational plan contains the following elements:
Mission – the mission of the IS function
IS Environment – a summary of the information needs of the
functional areas and of the organization as a whole
Objectives of the IS Function – the best current estimate of the
goals of the IS function 2
Constraints on the IS function – technological, financial,
personnel, and other resource limitations on the IS functions
The Application Portfolio – a prioritized inventory of present
applications and a detailed plan of projects to be developed or
continued during the current year
Resource allocation and project management – a listing of who
is going to do what, how, and when
BUSINESS PROCESSES AND BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT
• A business process is a collection of related activities that produce a
product or a service of value to the organization, its business partners, and/or
its customers. a process has inputs and outputs, and its activities can be
measured. Many processes cross functional areas in an organization, such as
product development, which involves design, engineering, manufacturing,
marketing, and distribution.
• An organization’s business processes can lead to competitive advantages if
they enable the company to innovate or execute better than competitors.
Business processes can also be liabilities if they impede organizational
responsiveness and efficiency
• Business process excellence is widely recognized as the underlying basis for
all significant measures of competitive performance in the organization.
Consider these measures, for example:
o Customer satisfaction – result of improving business process to fulfill
the customers needs, wants, and desires
o Cost reduction – result of having more efficient operations and supplier
processes
o Cycle and fulfillment time – result of having better manufacturing
o Quality – result of improving the design, development, and production
processes
o Product differentiation – result of having effective marketing and
innovation processes
o Productivity – result of improving each individuals work processes
• The question is: how does an organization ensure business process excellence
• In their book reengineering the corporation, Hammer and Champy argued that
American businesses needed to radically redesign their business processes to
lower costs and increase quality in order to become more competitive. The
authors further asserted that information technology was the key enabler of
such radical change. This radical redesign, called business process
reengineering (BPR), is an approach that improves the efficiency and
effectiveness of organizations business processes.
• BPM, which is a management technique that includes methods and tools to
support the design, analysis, implementation, management, and optimization
of business processes
• Initially, BPM helps companies improve profitability by decreasing costs and
increasing revenues. Over time, BPM, can create a competitive advantage by
improving organizational flexibility
INFORMATION SYSTEMS: CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS
As we will find out more detail in chapter 2, an information system (IS) collects,
processes, stores, analyzes, and disseminates information for a specific purpose. It
has been said that the purpose of information systems is to get the right information
to the right people at the right time in the right amount and in the right format.
• Data, Information, and Knowledge 3
• One of the primary goals of information systems is to economically process
data into information and knowledge.
• Data Items – elementary description of the things, events, activities, and
transactions that are recorded, classified, and stored but not organized to
convey any specific meaning. Example – numbers, letters, figures, sounds,
images
• Information – refers to data that have been organized so that they have
meaning and value to the recipient. Example – gpa is data, but couples with
students name is information
• Knowledge – consists of data and/or information that have been organized
and processed to convey understanding, experience, accumulated learning,
and expertise as they apply to a current business problem.
• Information Technology Architecture
o An organization’s IT architecture is a high-level map or plan of the
information assets in an organization. It is both a guide for current
operations and a blueprint for future directions.
o IT architecture shows how all aspects of information technology in an
organization fit together
• Information Technology Infrastructure
o An organization’s IT infrastructure consists of the physical facilities, It
components, IT services, and IT personnel that support the entire
organization.
o We see that IT components are the computer hardware, software, and
communications technologies that provide the foundation for all of an
organization’s information systems. As we move up the pyramid (p.13),
we see that IT personnel use IT components to produce IT services,
which include data management, systems development, and security
concerns.
THE GLOBAL, WEB-BASED PLATFORM
Globalization is the integration and interdependence of economic, social,
cultural, and ecological facets of life, enabled by rapid advances in information
technology.
• The Three Stages of Globalization
o Book: World is Flat – Thomas Friedman
o He identifies
More
Less
