La influencia de la STC 227/1993, de 9 julio, el caso de la Ley catalana de

26 MIS Chapter 2

Structure of MIS

2.1. Structure of Information Systems : 2.1.1 Components of IS :

An information system is a system that accepts data resources as input and processes them into information products as output. The figure 2.1 illustrates an information system model that express fundamental conceptual framework for the major components and activities of information systems.

Fig. 2.1 : Business Information System model.

An information system depends on the resources of people (end users and IS specialists), hardware (machines and media), software (programs and procedures), data (data and knowledge bases), and networks (communications media and network support) to perform input, processing, output, storage, and control activities that convert data resources into information products. This information system model highlights the relationships among the components and activities of information systems. It provides a framework that emphasizes our major concepts that can be applied to all types of information systems : People, hardware, software, data, and networks are the five basic resources of information systems.

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People resource include end users and IS specialists, hardware resources consist of machines and media, software resources include both programs and procedures, data resources can include data and knowledge bases, and network

resource include communications media and networks.

Data resources are transformed by information processing activities into a variety of information products for end users. Information processing consists of input, processing, output, storage, and control activities.

Fig 2.2 : The components of an information system.

2.1.2 Information System Resources :

The basic IS model shows that an information system consists of five major resources:

people, hardware, software, data, and networks. Let's briefly discuss several basic concepts and examples of the roles these resources play as the fundamental components of information systems. You should be able to recognize these five components at work in any type of information system you encounter in the real world.

Following box outlines several examples of typical information system resources and products.

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28 (1) People Resources :

People are required for the operation of all information systems. These people resource include end users and IS specialists.

( End users : (also called users or clients) are people who use an information system or the information it produces. They can be accountants, salespersons, engineers, clerks, customers, or managers. Most of us are information system end users.

( IS specialists : are people who develop and operate information systems. They include systems analysts, programmers, computer operators, and other managerial, technical, and clerical IS personnel. Briefly, systems analysts design information systems based on the information requirements of end users, programmers prepare computer programs based on the specifications of systems analysts, and computer operators operate large computer systems.

(2) Hardware Resources :

The concept of hardware resources includes all physical devices and materials used in information processing. Specifically, it includes not only machines, such as computers and other equipment, but also all data media, that is, all tangible objects on which data is recorded, from sheets of paper to magnetic disks. Examples of hardware in computer-based information systems are:

( Computer systems : which consist of central processing units containing microprocessors, and a variety of interconnected peripheral devices. Examples are microcomputer systems, midrange computer systems; and large mainframe computer systems.

( Computer peripherals : which are devices such as a keyboard or electronic - mouse for input of data and commands, a video screen or printer for output of information, and magnetic or optical disks for storage of data resources.

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29 (3) Software Resources :

The concept of software resources includes all sets of information processing instructions. This generic concept of software includes not only the sets of operating instructions called programs, which direct and control computer hardware, but also the sets of information processing instructions needed by people, called procedures. . It is important to understand that even information systems that don't use computers have a software resource component. This is true even for the information systems of ancient times, or the manual and machine-supported information systems still used in the world today. They all require software resources in the form of information processing instructions and procedures in order to properly capture, process, and disseminate information to their users.

The following are examples of software resources:

(. System software : such as an operating system program, which controls and supports the operations of a computer system.

(. Application software : which are programs that direct processing for a particular use of computers by end users. Examples are a sales analysis program, a payroll program, and a word processing program.

(. Procedures : which are operating instructions for the people who will use an information system. Examples are instructions for filling out a paper form or using a software package.

(4) Data Resource :

Data is more than the raw material of information systems. The concept of data resources has been broadened by managers and information systems professionals.

They realize that data constitutes a valuable organizational resource. Thus, you should View data as data resources that must be managed effectively to benefit all end users in an organization.

Data can take many forms, including traditional alphanumeric data, composed of numbers and alphabetical and other characters that describe business transactions and other events and entities. Text data, consisting of sentences and paragraphs used in written communications; image data, such as graphic shapes and figures; and audio data, the human voice and other sounds, are also important: forms of data. The data resources of information systems are typically organized into:

(. Databases that hold processed and organized data.

(. Knowledge bases that hold knowledge in a variety of forms such as facts, rules, and case examples about successful business practices.

For example, data about sales transactions may be accumulated and stored in a sales database for subsequent processing that yields daily, weekly, and monthly sales analysis reports for management. Knowledge bases are used by knowledge management systems and expert systems to share knowledge and give expert advice on specific subjects.

Data versus Information : The word data is the plural of datum, though data commonly represents both singular and plural forms. Data are raw facts or observations, typically about physical phenomena or business transactions. For example, a spacecraft launch

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or the sale of an automobile would generate a lot of data describing those events. More specifically, data are objective measurements of the attributes (the characteristics) of entities (such as people, places, things, and events).

(5) Network Resources :

Telecommunications networks like the Internet, intranets, and extranets have become essential to the successful operations of all types of organizations and their computer-based information systems. Telecommunications networks consist of computers, communications processors, and other devices interconnected by communications media and controlled by communications software. The concept of network resources emphasizes that communications networks are a fundamental resource component of all information systems. Network resources include:

(. Communications media : Examples include twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, microwave systems, and communications satellite systems.

(. Network support : This generic category includes all of the people, hardware, software, and data resources that directly support the operation and use of a communications network. Examples include communications processors such as modems and internet work processors, and communications control software such as network operating systems and Internet browser packages.

2.1.3 Information System Activities :

When we take a closer look at each of the basic information processing (or data processing) activities that occur in information systems, we should be able to recognize input, processing, output, storage, and control activities taking place in any information system you are studying. Following lists business examples that illustrate each of these information system activities.

(1) Input of Data Resources :

Data about business transactions and other events must be captured and prepared for processing by the input activity. Input typically takes the form of data entry activities such as recording and editing. End users typically record data about transactions on some type of physical medium such as a paper form, or enter it directly into a computer system.

This usually includes a variety of editing activities to ensure that they have recorded data correctly. Once entered, data may be transferred onto a machine readable medium such as a magnetic disk or semiconductor memory until needed for processing.

For example, data about sales transactions can be recorded on source documents such as paper sales order forms. (A source document is the original formal record of a

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transaction.) Alternately, salespersons can capture sales data using computer keyboards or optical scanning devices; they are visually prompted to enter data correctly by video displays. This provides them with a more convenient and efficient user interface, that is, methods of end user input and output with a computer system. Methods such as optical scanning and displays of menus, prompts, and fill-in-the-blanks format make it easier for end users to enter data correctly into an information system.

(2) Processing of Data into Information :

Data is typically subjected to processing activities such as calculating, comparing, sorting, classifying, and summarizing. These activities organize, analyze, and manipulate data, thus converting them into information for end users. The quality of any data stored in an information system must also be maintained by a continual process of correcting and updating activities.

For example, data received about a purchase can be (1) added to a running total of sales results, (2) compared to a standard to determine eligibility for a sales discount, (3) sorted in numerical order based on product identification numbers, (4) classified into product categories (such as food and nonfood items), (5) summarized to provide a sales manager with information about various product categories, and, finally, (6) used to update sales records.

(3) Output of Information Products :

Information in various forms is transmitted to end users and made available to them in the output activity. The goal of information systems is the production of appropriate information products for end users. Common information products include messages, reports, forms, and graphic images, which may be provided by video displays, audio responses, paper products, and multimedia. We routinely use the information provided by these products as we work in organizations and live in society. For example, a sales manager may view a video display to check on the performance of a salesperson, accept a computer-produced voice message by telephone, and receive a printout of monthly sales results.

What characteristics would make information products valuable and useful to you?

One way to answer this important question is to examine the characteristics or attributes of information quality. Information that is outdated, inaccurate, or hard to understand would not be very meaningful, useful, or valuable to you or other end users.

People want information of high quality, that is, information products whose characteristics, attributes, or qualities help make it valuable to them. It is useful to think of information as having the three dimensions of time, content, and form.

(4) Storage of Data Resources :

Storage is a basic system component of information systems. Storage is the information system activity in which data and information are, retained in an organized manner for later use. For example, just as written text material is organized into words, sentences, paragraphs, and documents, stored data is commonly organized into fields, records, files, and databases. This facilitates its later use in processing or its retrieval as output when needed by users of a system.

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32 (5) Control of System Performance :

An important information system activity is the control of its performance. An information system should produce feedback about its input, processing, output, and storage activities. This feedback must be monitored and evaluated to determine if the system is meeting established performance standards. Then appropriate system activities must be adjusted so that proper information products are produced for end users.

For example, a manager may discover that subtotals of sales amounts in a sales report do not add up to total sales. This might mean that data entry or processing procedures need to be corrected. Then changes would have to be made to ensure that all sales transactions would be properly captured and processed by a sales information system.

2.2. Strategic use of Information Systems :

2.2.1. Information Systems for competitive strategy :

The strategic role of information systems involves using information technology to develop products, services, and capabilities that give a company strategic advantages over the competitive forces it faces in the global marketplace. This creates strategic information systems, information systems that support or shape the competitive position and strategies of an enterprise. So a strategic information system can be any kind of information system (TPS, MIS, DSS, etc.) that helps an organization gain a competitive advantage, reduce a competitive disadvantage, or meet other strategic enterprise objectives. Let's look at several basic concepts that define the role of such strategic information systems.

How should a managerial end user think about competitive strategies? How can competitive strategies be applied to the use of information systems by an organization?

Several important conceptual frameworks for understanding and applying competitive strategies have been developed by Michael Porter, Charles Wiseman and others. Figure 2.3 illustrates several important concepts. A firm can survive and succeed in the long run if it successfully develops strategies to confront five competitive forces that shape the structure of competition in its industry. These are: (1) rivalry of competitors within its industry, (2) threat of new entrants, (3) threat of substitutes, (4) the bargaining power of customers, and (5) the bargaining power of suppliers.

A variety of competitive strategies can be developed to help a firm confront these competitive forces. For example, businesses may try to counter the bargaining power of their customers and suppliers by developing unique business relationships with them.

This effectively locks in customers or suppliers by creating "switching costs" that make it expensive or inconvenient for them to switch to another firm. Thus, competitors are also locked out by such strategies. Companies may use other strategies to protect themselves from the threat of new businesses entering their industry, or the development of substitutes for their products or services. For example, businesses may try to develop legal, financial, or technological requirements that create barriers to entry to discourage firms from entering an industry, or make substitution unattractive or uneconomical.

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Fig. 2.3 : The competitive environment of an industry.

The five basic competitive strategies to be implemented in any business are :

1. Cost Leadership Strategy. Becoming a low-cost producer of products and services in the industry. Also, a firm can find ways to help its suppliers or customers reduce their costs or to increase the costs of their competitors.

2. Differentiation Strategy. Developing ways to differentiate a firm's products and services from its competitors' or reduce the differentiation advantages of competitors.

This may allow a firm to focus its products or services to give it an advantage in particular segments or niches of a market.

3. Innovation Strategy. Finding new ways of doing business. This may involve the development of unique products and services, or entry into unique markets or market niches. It may also involve making radical changes to the business processes for producing or distributing products and services that are so different from the way business has been conducted that they alter the fundamental structure of an industry.

4. Growth Strategies. Significantly expanding a company's capacity to produce goods and services, expanding into global markets, diversifying into new products and services, or integrating into related products and services.

5. Alliance Strategies. Establishing new business linkages and alliances with customers, suppliers, competitors, consultants, and other companies. These linkages may include mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, forming of "virtual companies," or other marketing, manufacturing, or distribution agreements between a business and its trading partners.

2.2.2. Strategic Role of Information Systems :

How can the preceding competitive strategy concepts be applied to the strategic role of information systems in an organization? or, How can managers use investments in information technology to directly support a firm's competitive strategies?

These questions can be answered in terms of the key strategic roles that information systems can perform in a firm. Following table summarizes how information technology can be used to implement a variety of competitive strategies.

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These include not only the five basic competitive strategies, but also other ways that companies can use information systems strategically to gain a competitive edge.

Following table has examples of how companies used information technology to implement five competitive strategies for strategic advantage.

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35 2.2.3. Strategic Use of Information Systems : (1) Improving Business Process :

One of the strategic business values of information technology is its role in making major improvements in a company's business processes. Investments in information technology can help make a firm's operational processes substantially more efficient, and its managerial processes much more effective. Making such improvements to its business processes could enable a company to cut costs, improve quality and customer service, and develop innovative products for new markets. For example, manufacturing processes for everything from automobiles to watches have been automated and significantly improved by computer-aided design, engineering, production, and manufacturing resource management technologies. In the automobile industry, the process for the production, distribution, and sales of cars and parts and the sharing of vital business data by managers and others has been substantially improved by using the Internet, extranets, and other networks that electronically connect an automobile manufacturer's production and distribution facilities with car dealers and suppliers.

Following table outlines many of the ways that information technology can improve business processes.

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Chrysler's CATIA Pipeline : Chrysler Corporation has reorganized its vehicle development process into multidisciplinary platform teams interconnected by the CATIA Pipeline, a telecommunications network that connects nearly every part of the company's "extended enterprise" to every other, including external suppliers and contractors. The software engine that moves data through the network and manages its database is CATIA (Computer-Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application), an integrated computer-aided design, development, engineering, and manufacturing execution system from Dassault Systems of France. Product information flows instantaneously from all directions and in all directions, linking managers, designers, engineers, marketers, service technicians, suppliers, and manufacturing.

The 1998 Dodge Intrepid and Chyrsler Concorde were the first products developed with the CATIA Pipeline. The cars and almost all of their components were electronically designed, tested, and stored in the CATIA database before any physical models or prototypes were made. Chyrsler designers and engineers are able to design and test every part thousands of times, simulate crashes, test air conditioners, plan production processes, and practice servicing procedures-all electronically. More importantly, CATIA determines how any design change affects any others and instantly notifies everyone affected. CATIA has thus made significant improvements to Chrysler's business process.

The payoff to Chrysler has been dramatic reductions in costs, and major improvements in production efficiency and in product quality and performance.

Investments in information systems technology can result in the development of unique products and services or processes. This can create new business opportunities and enable a firm to expand into new markets or into new segments of existing markets.

The use of automated teller machines (ATMs) in banking is another classic example of an innovative investment in information systems technology.

The use of automated teller machines (ATMs) in banking is another classic example of an innovative investment in information systems technology.

In document PROHIBICIONES AMBIENTALES Y LIBERTAD DE EMPRESA (página 163-168)