Five Types of Information Systems Used in Organizations - Assignment Example

Information Systems Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1.0 Define the term information systems (IS) and explain its data, technology, people, and organizational components. 3 List and define five types of information systems used in organizations 4 Peter Drucker has defined the knowledge worker and knowledge society. What are his definitions? Do you agree with them? What examples can you give to support or disprove these concepts? 5 Compare and contrast data warehouses and data marts. 6 List and explain three benefits of using extranets. 7 List and describe three emerging topics in consumer-to-consumer e-commerce. 8 List and describe the two main types of software licenses 8 Describe four types of intelligent agents. How can they be used to benefit organizations? 9 Describe risk analysis as it relates to information systems security and explain three ways to approach systems security risk. 10 9.1. Identifying assets 10 9.2. Identifying the threat 10 9.3. Determine the vulnerability of assets to threats 11 Compare and contrast information accuracy, information privacy, and information property 11 11.0 References 12 1.0 Define the term information systems (IS) and explain its data, technology, people, and organizational components. An information system is a combination of hardware; software and telecommunication networks built by people to help collect create and distribute vital data in an organization or business. In this case, the hardware stands for the computer equipments and peripherals, software referring to programs that assist the computer perform tasks as commanded, telecommunication networks referring to a set of computers systems linked together with communication equipment (Joe & Christophe 2010). An information system is characterized by data, technology, people and organizational equipment. 1.1 Data for in this case refers to raw material, unformatted information mostly inform of words and numbers. Once data is process then information is acquired which a platform for decision making in any organization. 1.2 Technology is any mechanical or electrical means that is aimed at supplementing extending or even replacing human, manual operations or devices. Connecting this to information systems, technology is machines that use or are controlled by information as operational instructions from a computer based database. They are essential in processing data for the output desired by the user (DeLone & McLean 1992). 1.3 People in regard to information system refers to the manpower or human who are involved in developing, maintains, managing and studying information systems. A computer by itself cannot be useful or cannot generate the desired results unless there is a person to give it the right inputs for the right output. these are the people involved in coming up with the best programs or in short they are programmers who tailor make software, with the end user in mind for better results. Furthermore, systems need to be designed and built, used and maintained this is done by people. People are therefore an important aspect in the operations of the information systems in the organization. 1.4. Organization- it is another very vital component when information systems are mentioned (Jurison 1996). This is because they are used to help the organization be more productive and profitable, have a competitive advantage, help in business expansion in increasing the market share and also improve on the services rendered to the customers. This therefore means that, an information system is of no use if it is not utilized by an organization to its good or to get better results in all the operations (Joe & Christophe 2010). List and define five types of information systems used in organizations 2.1. Management information system - in this category, it main purpose is to produce information that is in turn used for managing the organization or a part of the organization (Joe & Christophe 2010). 2.2. Decision support system – this is aimed at providing high level, precise information to help the management make acute decisions to the advantage of the organization. In other words it helps in providing information for decision making. 2.3 Intelligent system - this is the system that is used to emulate or enhance human capabilities. They perform in a way that they capture and store the knowledge of a human expert and then imitate human reasoning when executing commands. 2.4 Collaboration system – this is aimed at helping or enhancing communication and paramount coordination in the workplace or in the entire organization. They entail electronic mail exchanges, video conferencing and also enhance communication when connected to other communication peripherals like facsimile. 2.5. Transaction processing system – this is entitled to capturing processing and generating data realized during the day to day operations. This includes all business transactions such as deposits, payments just to mention but a few. Peter Drucker has defined the knowledge worker and knowledge society. What are his definitions? Do you agree with them? What examples can you give to support or disprove these concepts? Knowledge workers are well educated professionals who create, modify and process knowledge as a fundamental part of their jobs. According to Drucker this professionals continually learn how to improve their job performances. He predicted that, with the rate that the knowledge workers are rising then knowledge society is going to emerge. Having that education is regarded with such great importance and also the knowledge worker demand shooting upwards; education will in the long run become the cornerstone of the knowledge society. Processing knowledge in accordance to Drucker argument is that it will equal processing other entities like land, labor and capital ((Joe & Christophe 2010).). Many people agree with Ducker ageing that, the new economy calls for people who have a higher capability of using their brains rather than their hands to get things done, by this I mean that, the current economic trend calls for innovation if mass production is to be maintained. I agree with his statement owing to the fact that, the current dynamism experienced all over the world in regard to economy needs innovation and utilization of the brain. For example, organizations like Microsoft which deals with software development for users all over the world, is totally dependent on the brains of its workers. If this is not the case then the innovations realized would not have be there. Compare and contrast data warehouses and data marts. A data warehouse is a subject oriented, integrated, time variant, non volatile collection of data that are derived to supporting decision making. It is an information environment that is very vital in an organization for it helps makes decisions that help improve the operations to the advantage of the entire organization. As the name suggests it integrate multiple large databases and other information sources as a compact data collection. The data collections are vital for analysis, direct querying or processing. In this warehouse, computer based information systems are stored and distributed, supporting online access ((Joe & Christophe 2010).) The main importance and purpose of a data warehouse is that o put vital business information into the hands of many decision makers. A data mart is a data warehouse with limited scope. By this I mean that it has selected information from the data warehouse such that each data mart is customized for decision support of a certain end user group; for instance, the inventory, personnel or finance. Developing a data mart is much cheaper than developing a data warehouse. Therefore it is popular is small and medium businesses (Joe & Christophe 2010). data warehouses has larger capacity than data marts and therefore data marts can be used on less powerful hardware as compared to data warehouse which can handle even the sophisticated hardware. Furthermore, the cost of developing a data warehouse is much higher than that of developing a data mart. List and explain three benefits of using extranets. Extranet is an internal business network that enables employees to share information as well as enable two or more firms to use internet to do business together. For businesses to gain positive rewards for their investments in technology, they have resulted to suing internet to support business to business activities (B2B) (Joe & Christophe 2010). Extranets benefit business firm in many ways like; 5.1 Information timeless and accuracy – communication is enhanced in many ways and misunderstandings between business partners and customers are curbed. Information in business arena is never static, therefore it need frequent updates. Extranet enhance this by providing a cost effective, goal medium over which business information can be distributed. It also allows central management of documents allowing data to be scrutinized before it is stored and finally it also enhances security (Joe & Christophe 2010). 5.2 Technology integration – when a standard web protocol has been implemented disparate computing systems can communicate through the web platform. Even when computer are using different operating systems, they can still communicate with each other through the internet (Joe & Christophe 2010). 5.3 Low cost value – they do not require much expenses to train users on the technologies. Many people are familiar with the tools associated with web and therefore no special training is needed (Joe & Christophe 2010). List and describe three emerging topics in consumer-to-consumer e-commerce. Consumer to consumer has been operational for a long time. Many organizations have used internet to sell their products. C2C operates under electronically facilitated interaction which it is worth noting that it creates opportunities and unique problems like fraudulent activities (Joe & Christophe 2010). Developments and dynamism in technology and systems have improved e-commerce popularity and now it is one of the most prevalent in the global economy. This has opened opportunities and this has lead to emerging of topics within this sectors including mobile commerce and location based m- commerce (Joe & Christophe 2010). 6.1. M-Commerce – the most exiting form of e-commerce is mobile electronic commerce. It is defined as any electronic transaction or information interaction conducted using a wireless, mobile device and mobile networks that transfers real value in exchange for information, service or goods. This is well elaborated by the use of smart phones which support high speed data transfer (Liu & Arnett 2000). 6.2. Location based m-commerce – this is a more personalized service based on a user’s location. They are affected through cellular network and global positioning system. This is like when using blue tooth which you must be within a specific distance or transmitter sending content to all available locations. This is for example in a restaurant. In this case businesses can provide information about current products or sales as customers pass by a shop (Joe & Christophe 2010)... List and describe the two main types of software licenses 7.1. Freeware – this is the type of software offered at no cost. In most cases they are copyrighted so they cannot be incorporated to any other developed programs. 7.2. Adware –the software used for advertising other products. The price for the software is for advertisement clips. It operates like spyware. Describe four types of intelligent agents. How can they be used to benefit organizations? An agent is something whose performances are through sensors and acting upon the same environment but through effectors. A human agent has eyes, ears and other organs for sensors, hand, legs mouth and other body parts for effectors (Smith 1983). A robotic agent has cameras and infrared for sensors and various motor for effectors. An intelligent agent therefore is software entities that can execute functions in an autonomous, proactive, social and even adaptive fashion. They can even be referred to as software robot whereby, they are a program that works in the background to provide some service when a specific event occurs. They are simply programmed (Joe & Christophe 2010). 8.1. User agents – they perform specific task for a user such as sending a report at a set date, assembling customized news or even filling out a web form with outlined information. 8.2. Monitoring and sensing agents – they keep track of key information such as inventory levels or competitors’ prices and notifying the user when conditions change. 8.3. Data- mining agents – they continuously analyse large data warehouses to detect changes deemed important by user sending notifications when changes occur. 8.4. Destructive agents – this are malicious agents designed by spammers and other internet attackers to farm email addresses off websites or deposit spyware on machines Describe risk analysis as it relates to information systems security and explain three ways to approach systems security risk. Critical analysis is a process of indentifying assets, the risk to the said assets, and the procedures to curb the risks to the assets. In an organization, there is a need to understand what risks exist in the information environment and how they can be reduced or even eliminated (Baskerville 1991). When risk analysis is conducted in an organization, it provides useful information and has impact on decision making in regard to plans of mitigating the risks. When conducting an analysis they identify weaknesses in the system and provide processes for making decisions about how to protect the system (Joe & Christophe 2010)... 9.1. Identifying assets The organization need to understand what risks exist in the information environment and how they can be reduced or even eliminated (Baskerville 1991). 9.2. Identifying the threat The source of the risk must be identified. These risks may come be; human threats, natural threats or even environmental threats. When this information is well defined, risk management is effective in the organization to its advantage (Baskerville 1991). 9.3. Determine the vulnerability of assets to threats In this case, the analysis determine how they system is prone to risks and the control measures to be applied to eliminate the risk or reduce the impact of the same risk (Baskerville 1991). Compare and contrast information accuracy, information privacy, and information property Information privacy involves the information that one is to reveal to others in the workplace or through any other transaction for instance in online shopping. This is due to the fact that, using internet regularly like sending emails and accessing various websites puts the user at a privacy risk (Joe & Christophe 2010).). People can gain access to information that one is not destined to view. Much personal information is available in the search engines. In most cases, identity theft is one o the crimes associated with personal information like security numbers, credit cards numbers or even medical histories. One should void revealing private information in the internet. Information accuracy is concerned with ensuring the authenticity and fidelity of information and more so in identifying those involved with information errors and harm (Joe & Christophe 2010). Information property is all about who owns information about individuals and how it can be sold or exchanged. For instance the information stored in databases by retailers, credit card companies and marketing research companies are the legal owners of that information and they are free to sell it (Joe & Christophe 2010).. However, the promise kept in the day of getting all the individuals information need to kept and maintained failure to which the company can be implicated with unethical and illegal implications. In regard to information privacy, individuals need to be aware of technologies like spyware which collects information about a person or organization without their conceit (Joe & Christophe 2010). 11.0 References Baskerville, R. (1991) “Risk analysis: an interpretive feasibility tool in justifying information systems security,” European Journal of Information Systems, 1 (2), 121-130 Chaffey D., Ellis-Chadwick F., Johnston K., Mayer R. (2006), “Internet Marketing,” Prentice Hall 3rd edition. DeLone, H. W. and McLean, E. R. (1992) Information Systems Success: The Quest for the Dependent Variable,” Information Systems Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp.60-95. Smith, R. D. 1983 “Measuring the Intangible Benefits of Computer-Based Information Systems,” Journal of Systems Management,Vol. 33, No. 9, , pp.22-27 Joseph Valacich and Christoph Schneider, 2010 .Information Systems Today: Managing the Digital World, 4th Edition, Jurison, J. (1996), The temporal nature of IS benefits: A longitudinal study. Information & Management, 30, 2 75–79. Liu, C., and Arnett, K.P. (2000), Exploring the factors associated with Web site success in the context of electronic commerce. Information and Management, 38, 1 23–33. Siponen, M., Baskerville, R., & Heikka, J. (2006). A Design Theory for Secure Informatio Systems Design Methods. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 7 (11) 725-770. . Read More