CHAPTER 1

1. Define MIS and IT and describe their relationship

2. Validate information personally and organizationally as a key resource

3. Explain why people are the most important organizational resource

4. Describe IT as a key organizational resource

5. Define competitive advantage and the role of IT to achieve a competitive advantage

6. Discuss how IT can and will impact your life

INTRODUCTION

Information age – a time when knowledge is power

Knowledge worker – works with and produces information as a product

Outnumber all other types of workers at least four-to-one

MIS – planning for, developing, managing, and using IT tools to help people perform all tasks related to
information processing and management

IT – any computer-based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and
information processing needs of an organization

Use of technology is exploding

Telecommuting – the use of technologies to work in a place other than a central location

INFORMATION AS A KEY RESOURCE

Data – raw facts

Information – data that have a particular meaning within a specific context

Business intelligence – knowledge about your customers, competitors, business partners, competitive
environment, and own international operations that gives you the ability to make effective, important, and often
strategic business decisions.

Business intelligence is a combination of many different types of information

Personal Dimensions of Information

Time
When you need information
Describing the right time period

Location – no matter where you are

 Intranet – internal organizational Internet
Form
Usable, understandable, accurate

Organizational Dimensions of Information

Information flows
Upward – current state of the organization based on its transactions
Downward – strategies, goals, directives
Horizontal – between functional units and work teams
Outward/Inward – to/from customers, suppliers, distributors, and other partners

Information granularity – extent of detail within the information

Lower organizational levels – tremendous detail (fine)

Higher organizational levels – summarized information (coarse)

Internal – specific operational aspects of an organization

External – environment surrounding the organization

Objective – something that is known

Subjective – something that is unknown

PEOPLE AS A KEY RESOURCE

You And technology

Technology-literate knowledge worker – a person who knows how and when to apply technology

The chapters help you determine when to apply technology

The modules help you in applying technology

Information-literate knowledge workers…

Can define what information they need
Know how and where to obtain information
Understand the information
Can act appropriately

Your Ethical Responsibilities

Ethics and laws are different

Laws require or prohibit action on your part
Ethics are more of a matter of personal interpretation

Ethics – the principles and standards that guide our behavior toward other people

Sometimes ethics and laws collide

IT AS A KEY RESOURCE
Information technology (IT) – any computer-based tool that people use to work with information and support
the information and information-processing needs of an organization

Two categories of technology

Hardware – the physical devices that make up a computer

Software – the set of instructions that your hardware executes to carry out a specific task for you

Module A covers technology categories in detail

Technology Hardware

Input device – enter information and commands

Output device – receive the results

Storage device – stores information

CPU – hardware that interprets and executes the software

RAM – temporary holding area for information and software

Telecommunications device – sends information to and receives it from another person or computer in a
network

Connecting hardware – hardware that connects other hardware (e.g., ports, cables, etc.)

Technology Software

Application software – enables you to solve specific problems or perform specific tasks

System software – handles tasks specific to technology management and coordinates the interaction of all
technology devices

Two types of system software

Operating system software – controls your application software and manages how your hardware devices
work together

Utility software – provides additional functionality to your operating system software (e.g., anti-virus software)

Decentralized Computing

Decentralized computing – an environment in which an organization distributes computing power and locates
it in functional business areas as well as on the desktops of knowledge

Workers
Servers
Personal computers
PDAs
Tablet PCs
Shared Information

Shared information – an environment in which an organization’s information is organized in one or more

central locations, allowing anyone to access and use it as he or she needs to

Necessary because businesses are greatly internally integrated today

Mobile Computing

Mobile computing – broad general term describing your ability to use technology to wirelessly connect to and
use centrally located information and/or application software

M-commerce – electronic commerce conducted over a wireless device such as a cell phone, PDA, or notebook
computer

IT IN SUPPORT OF BUSINESS

Competitive advantage – providing a product or service in a way that customers value more than what the
competition is able to do

Use technology for

Operational excellence
Major business initiatives
Decision making
Organizational transformation

Operational Excellence

Being efficient in what you do

Transaction processing system (TPS) – processes transactions within an organization

Customer self-service system – extension of a TPS that places technology in the hands of an organization’s
customers and allows them to process their own transactions

TPSs and customer-self service systems require the use of databases and database management system
(DBMS) software

Databases contain tremendous detail on every transaction

DBMS is the software bridge between a database and the actual software application

Major Business Initiatives

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Sales force automation (SFA)
Supply chain management (SCM)

Supply chain management (SCM) – tracks inventory and information among business processes and across
companies
Supply chain management (SCM) system – an IT system that supports supply chain management activities by
automating the tracking of inventory and information among business processes and across companies

Another focuses on managing knowledge

Knowledge management (KM) system – an IT system that supports the capturing, organization, and
dissemination of knowledge (i.e., know-how) throughout an organization

Helps you avoid “reinventing the wheel”

Supply Chain Management

Uses EDI to facilitate the movement of information

Electronic data interchange (EDI) – the direct computer-to-computer transfer of transaction information
contained in standard business documents, such as invoices and purchase orders, in a standard format

Decision Making

Online transaction processing (OLTP) – the gathering of input information, processing that information, and
updating existing information to reflect the gathered and processed information

Online analytical processing (OLAP) – the manipulation of information to support decision making

Two types of technology support

Support for analyzing a situation

Executive information system (EIS) – highly interactive IT system that allows you to first view highly
summarized information and then choose how you would like to see greater detail

Collaboration systems help groups of people analyze a situation

Collaboration system – a system that is designed specifically to improve the performance of teams by
supporting the sharing and flow of information

Other technology systems can actually make a recommendation to you

Artificial intelligence – the science of making machines imitate human thinking and behavior

Neural network – type of AI that recognizes and differentiates patterns

Organizational Transformation

Organizations must continually transform to…

Stay ahead of the competition
Offer a competitive advantage
Survive
Many organizations turn to ASPs to help with their transformational technologies

Application service provider (ASP) – supplies software applications (and often related services such as
maintenance, technical support, and the like) over the Internet that would otherwise reside on its customers’ in-
house computers

IT IN YOUR LIFE

Your career
Learn IT tools no matter your career choice

Vertical market software – specific to a given industry

Horizontal market software – general to many industries (e.g., accounting and payroll)

You will have to manage technology

Ethics, Security, & Privacy

Some software is “bad”

Spyware (sneakware, stealthware) – software that comes hidden in free downloadable software and tracks
your online movements, mines the information stored on your computer, or uses your computer’s CPU and
storage for tasks you know nothing about

Some people use technology in a bad way

Identity theft – forging of someone’s identity for the purpose of fraud

Identity theft may be as high as $5 trillion worldwide by 2005