Inf 220: Is Principles.
INF 220: IS Principles.
Information Systems
Professor Ray Schafer
January 31, 2010
Information systems have had a great impact on today’s businesses, culture and society. They have changed how people do business, how corporations manage their resources, and among other things, how firms interact and compete with each other. This paper will address several questions concerning information systems, their origin, their future, and their present. This paper will define and describe information systems, and how they impact both employees but also different departments and functions. It will also show how problem solving is involved in developing and implementing information systems. Describing information systems is the best place to start. Business dictionary.com (2010) defines it as “Combination of hardware, software, infrastructure and trained personnel organized to facilitate control, coordination and decision making.” This encompasses a lot of areas. Let me explain it a little more. Information Systems, or IS have moved from the early days of file cabinets which held data (customer orders, vendor status, and ordering records), to the electronic age where it is responsible for communication, data collection, data processing, storage, data protection, tracking, handling of transactions and many more things. On a physical level, it can consist of workstations, servers, scanners, backup storage, networks, cabling and much more as it is ever evolving. Each of these items also needs software to tell each piece of hardware how to work together and perform their duties. This includes operating systems like Windows NT, Linux and application software like APL, MS Access, or Oracle. Lastly, we also have to include the personnel who are in charge of designing, implementing, maintaining and upgrading each unit, and system. The question is raised why do we need an information system? This can be determined by using a problem solving process. As seen
Information Systems
Professor Ray Schafer
January 31, 2010
Information systems have had a great impact on today’s businesses, culture and society. They have changed how people do business, how corporations manage their resources, and among other things, how firms interact and compete with each other. This paper will address several questions concerning information systems, their origin, their future, and their present. This paper will define and describe information systems, and how they impact both employees but also different departments and functions. It will also show how problem solving is involved in developing and implementing information systems. Describing information systems is the best place to start. Business dictionary.com (2010) defines it as “Combination of hardware, software, infrastructure and trained personnel organized to facilitate control, coordination and decision making.” This encompasses a lot of areas. Let me explain it a little more. Information Systems, or IS have moved from the early days of file cabinets which held data (customer orders, vendor status, and ordering records), to the electronic age where it is responsible for communication, data collection, data processing, storage, data protection, tracking, handling of transactions and many more things. On a physical level, it can consist of workstations, servers, scanners, backup storage, networks, cabling and much more as it is ever evolving. Each of these items also needs software to tell each piece of hardware how to work together and perform their duties. This includes operating systems like Windows NT, Linux and application software like APL, MS Access, or Oracle. Lastly, we also have to include the personnel who are in charge of designing, implementing, maintaining and upgrading each unit, and system. The question is raised why do we need an information system? This can be determined by using a problem solving process. As seen
References: Information Systems. (2010). Business Dictionary.com. Retrieved January 25, 2010, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/information-system.html Laudon, K., Laudon, J. (2009). Essentials of management information systems (8th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Kuchera, B. (2010). Wii Netflix support a natural evolution, cure for sales woes”, Ars Technica retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/01/wii-to-offer-netflix-streaming.ars.on January 25, 2010. Kumar, S., Kwong A., Misra C. (2009). Emerald Risk mitigation in offshoring of business operations. Doi: 10.1108/17410380910953711