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Information Management System

Pertemuan IIMagister Teknik Elektro

Universitas Udayana

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• Organizations, Managers, & Information

– To understand how information flows in an organization, we need to understand how organizations work.

– Information flows horizontally between the five departments of an organization: research and development, production, marketing, accounting and finance, and human resources.

– It also flows vertically between the layers of managements.

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• There are three levels of management corresponding to three kinds of decisions, as reflected in the organization chart, a schematic drawing showing the hierarchy of formal relationships among an organizations' employees. – (1) Top managers are concerned with long-range, or

strategic, planning and decisions. – (2) Middle-level managers, make tactical decisions

to implement the strategic goals of the organization.– (3) Supervisory managers make operational

decisions, predictable decisions that can be made by following a well-defined set of routine procedures.

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– Organization chart • Schematic drawing showing the hierarchy of

relationships among an organization's employees. • Why it's important: Organization charts show levels

of management and formal lines of authority.• Related Industry: SmartDraw.com claims to "draw

anything easily," including organizational charts. Visit the SmartDraw.com Webpage that shows various examples of organizational charts.

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– Top managers• One of the three types of managers; also called

strategic managers, they are concerned with long-range planning and strategic decisions.

• Why it's important: Top managers need information that is unstructured—that is, summarized, less current, future-oriented, covering a broad range of facts, and concerned with events outside as well as inside the organization.

• Web Exercise: Select a well-known IT company which you admire. Use the WWW to learn the name of the company's current CEO (Chief Executive Officer). Then research that person's career using the WWW. Write up your findings in a one-page autobiographical sketch.

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• Middle-level managers– One of the three types of managers; they implement

the goals of the organization. Their job is to oversee the supervisors and to make tactical decisions.

– Why it's important: Middle managers require information that is both structured and unstructured.

– Career Corner: How much would you guess a middle manager at an IT company is compensated? To find out how close your guess is, visit ComputerWorld'sWebsite to look at the latest Annual Salary Survey. The 2001 survey is at http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV64_STO63423,00.html.

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• Supervisory managers– Also called low-level managers; the lowest level in the

hierarchy of the three types of managers. Their job is to make operational decisions, monitoring day-to-day events, and, if necessary, taking corrective action.

– Why it's important: Lower managers need information that is structured—that is, detailed, current, and past-oriented, covering a narrow range of facts and events inside the organization.

– For More Info: Yet another commonly-used term for a supervisory manager is a first-line manager.

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• Information has three distinct properties: level of summarization, degree of accuracy, and timeliness.

• To make the appropriate decisions strategic, tactical, operation the different levels of managers need the right kind of information: structured, semi-structured, and unstructured.

• Structured information is detailed, current, concerned with past events, records a narrow range of facts, and covers an organization's internal activities.

• Unstructured information is summarized, less current, concerned with future events, records a broad range of facts, and covers activities outside as well as inside an organization.

• Semi-structured information includes some structured information and some unstructured information.

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• Computer-Based Information Systems. – Six types of computer-based information systems

provide managers with appropriate information for making decisions:

• (1) A transaction processing system (TPS) is used by supervisory managers to keep track of transactionsrecorded events having to do with routine business activities-needed to conduct business. A TPS produces detail reports, which contain specific information about routine activities.

• (2) A management information system (MIS) is used by middle managers. An MIS uses data from a TPS to produce routine reports—summary reports to show totals and trends, exception reports to show out-of-the-ordinary data, periodic reports produced on a regular schedule, and demand reports to produce information in response to an unscheduled demand.

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• (3) A decision support system (DSS) is also used by middle managers. – A DSS provides models mathematical representations of real

systems—that gives managers a tool for analysis and helps them focus on the future.

• (4) An executive support system (ESS) is used by top managers to support strategic decision making.

• (5) An office automation system (OAS) is used by all levels of managers as well as nonmanagers. An OAS combines various technologies, such as word processing, scheduling software, e-mail, and the like, on a network to reduce the manual labor required in operating an efficient office.

• (6) An expert system helps users solve problems that would otherwise require the assistance of a human expert.

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• Transaction processing system (TPS)– Computer-based information system that keeps track of the

transactions needed to conduct business. – Inputs are transaction data (for example, bills, orders, inventory

levels, production output). – Outputs are processed transactions (for example, bills,

paychecks). – Each functional area of an organization—Research and

Development, Production, Marketing, and Accounting and Finance—usually has its own TPS.

– Why it's important: The TPS helps supervisory managers in making operational decisions. The database of transactions stored in a TPS is used to support a management information system and a decision support system.

– Related Industry: Transaction Processing Systems are often measured using benchmarks (performance tests) produced by the nonprofit Transaction Processing Performance Council(http://www.tpc.org/ )

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• TPC– The essence of a transaction program is that it manages data

that must be left in a consistent state. – E.g. if an electronic payment is made, the amount must be either

both withdrawn from one account and added to the other, or none at all. In case of a failure preventing transaction completion, the partially executed transaction must be 'rolled back' by the TPS.

– While this type of integrity must be provided also for batch transaction processing, it is particularly important for online processing: if e.g. an airline seat reservation system is accessed by multiple operators, after an empty seat inquiry, the seat reservation data must be locked until the reservation is made, otherwise another user may get the impression a seat is still free while it is actually being booked at the time. Without proper transaction monitoring, double bookings may occur.

– Other transaction monitor functions include deadlock detection and resolution (deadlocks may be inevitable in certain cases of cross-dependence on data), and transaction logging (in 'journals') for 'forward recovery' in case of massive failures.

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• Transaction– Recorded event having to do with routine

business activities (for example, materials purchased, employees hired, or taxes paid).

– Why it's important: Today in most organizations the bulk of transactions are recorded in a computer-based information system.

– Related Industry: IBM is one of many companies that provide products to help businesses manage their transactions. For an overview of IBM's Transaction Systems, view their Website.

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• Management information system (MIS)– Computer-based information system that

derives data from all an organization's departments and produces summary, exception, periodic, and on-demand reports of the organization's performance.

– Why it's important: A MIS principally assists middle managers, helping them make tactical decisions—spotting trends and getting an overview of current business activities.

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• Decision support system (DSS)– Computer-based information system that helps managers with

non-routine decision-making tasks. – Inputs consist of some summarized reports, some processed

transaction data, and other internal data. They also include data from sources outside the organization —for example, data may be produced by trade associations, marketing research firms, and government agencies.

– The outputs are flexible, on-demand reports from which a top manager can make decisions about unstructured problems.

– Why it's important: A DSS is installed to help top managers and middle managers make strategic decisions—decisions about unstructured problems, those involving events and trends outside the organization (for example, rising interest rates). The key attribute of a DSS is that it uses models. The DSS database, which draws on the TPS and MIS files, as well as outside data, is accessed through DSS software.

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• Executive support system (ESS)– Also called an executive information system (EIS);

DSS made especially for top managers that specifically supports strategic decision making.

– It draws on data both from inside and outside the organization (for example, news services, market-research databases).

– Why it's important: The EIS includes capabilities for analyzing data and doing "what if" scenarios.

– For More Info: Read "Implementing an EIS" on the ceoreview.com Website. What are the three purposes of an EIS according to author Floyd Kelly?

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• Office automation system (OAS)– Computer information system that combines

various technologies to reduce the manual labor needed to operate an office efficiently; used at all levels of an organization.

– Why it's important: An OAS uses a network to integrate such technologies as fax, voice mail, e-mail, scheduling software, word processing, and desktop publishing and make them available throughout the organization.

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• Expert system– Set of computer programs that perform a task at the

level of a human expert. – Why it's important: Expert systems are used by

management and non-management personnel to solve sophisticated problems.

– Related Industry: CLIPS is a tool for developing expert systems. Developed in 1984 at the Nasa'sJohnson Space Center, CLIPS is now widely used throughout government, industry, and academia. CLIPS is now maintained separate from Nasa, as public-domain software, meaning that it is free to everyone. Read more about CLIPS and expert systems on the CLIPS home page.

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• Systems Development• The Six Phases of Systems Analysis &

Design. A powerful tool for helping organizations keep up with new information needs is systems analysis and design.

• In general, a system is a collection of related components that interact to perform a task in order to accomplish a goal.

• Participants in an information-system project should be users, managers, and technical staff, including systems analysts, information specialists who perform systems analysis, design, and implementation.

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• System– Collection of related components that interact to perform a task

in order to accomplish a goal. – Why it's important: Understanding a set of activities as a system

allows one to look for better ways to reach the goal.– Knowledge in Action: You probably participate in one or more

systems without ever having thought about it. For example, perhaps you do volunteer work, in which case you help the beneficiary organization with tasks needed to accomplish an established goal. Or perhaps your family has a system for managing household finances in which everyone participates, i.e., one person may pay the bills, another may take deposits tothe bank, yet another may balance the checkbook on a monthly basis, etc. Write up a couple of paragraphs describing a system in which you participate. Be sure to describe all of the components, the tasks accomplished, and the overall goal of the system.

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• Systems analyst– Information specialist who performs systems analysis,

design, and implementation. – Why it’s important: The systems analyst studies the

information and communications needs of an organization to determine how to deliver information that is more accurate, timely, and useful. The systems analyst achieves this goal through the problem-solving method of systems analysis and design.

– Career Corner: Read the U. S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook entry for Systems analysts. Does this sound like a job you would like to have? Why or why not?

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• Systems analysis and design is a six-phase problem-solving procedure for examining an information system and improving it.

• The six phases make up the systems development life cycle (SDLC), the step-by-step process that organizations follow during systems analysis and design.

• The six steps are preliminary investigation followed by systems analysis, design, development, implementation, and maintenance.

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• Systems development life cycle (SDLC)– Six-phase process that many organizations follow during

systems analysis and design: – (1) preliminary investigation;– (2) systems analysis;– (3) systems design; – (4) systems development;– (5) systems implementation;– (6) systems maintenance.– Phases often overlap, and a new one may start before the old

one is finished. After the first four phases, management must decide whether to proceed to the next phase. User input and review is a critical part of each phase.

– Why it's important: The SDLC is a comprehensive tool for solving organizational problems, particularly those relating to the flow of computer-based information.

• Web Exercise: The Systems Development Life Cycle model is sometimes called the waterfall model. Use the WWW to find out the rationale for this alternative term. (Answer)

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• (1) The objective of preliminary investigationis to conduct a preliminary analysis, propose alternative solutions, describe costs and benefits, and submit a preliminary plan with recommendations.

• (2) The objective of systems analysis is to gather data, analyze the data, and write a report. Several tools are used to analyze the data. – Modeling tools enable an analyst to present graphic

representations of a system. – Data flow diagrams, for example, graphically show

the flow of data through a system.

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• Preliminary investigation– Phase 1 of the SDLC; the purpose is to

conduct a preliminary analysis (determine the organization's objectives, determine the nature and scope of the problem), propose alternative solutions (leave the system as is, improve the efficiency of the system, or develop a new system), describe costs and benefits, and submit a preliminary plan with recommendations.

– Why it's important: The preliminary investigation lays the groundwork for the other phases of the SDLC.

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• Systems analysis– Phase 2 of the SDLC; the purpose is to gather data

(using written documents, interviews, questionnaires, observation, and sampling), analyze the data, and write a report.

– Why it's important: The results of systems analysis will determine whether the system should be redesigned.

– Web Exercise: Focus groups are another popular method of gathering data during the systems analysis phase of the SDLC. Look up the term focus group in an online dictionary such as Merriam-webster.com. How long has this term been around?

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• Modeling tools– Analytical tools like charts, tables, and diagrams used

by systems analysts. Examples are data flow diagrams, decision tables, systems flowcharts, and object-oriented analysis.

– Why it's important: Modeling tools enable a systems analyst to present graphic, or pictorial, representations of a system.

– For More Info: Read more on modeling tools in an online book entitled Just Enough Structured Analysisby Edward Yourdon, a member of the Computer Hall of Fame. Pay particular attention to the five points that any model should possess, according to Yourdon.

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• Data flow diagrams– Modeling tool that graphically shows the flow

of data through a system. – Why it's important: A DFD diagrams the

processes that change data into information. DFDs have only four symbols—for source or destination of data, data flow, data processing, and data storage—which makes them easy to use.

– For More Info: Read more on DFDs in an online book entitled Just Enough Structured Analysis by Edward Yourdon, a member of the Computer Hall of Fame.

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• (3) The objective of systems design is to do a preliminary design, which describes the general functional capabilities of a proposed information system; then do a detail design, which describes how the system will deliver the capabilities described in the preliminary design; and then to write a report. – Tools used in the preliminary design are CASE tools and project

management software. CASE (computer-aided software engineering) tools are programs that automate the various activities of the SDLC in several phases.

– Prototyping refers to using workstations, CASE tools, and other software applications to build working models of system components that can be quickly tested.

– A prototype is just such a limited working system developed to test out design concepts.

– Project management software consists of programs used to plan, schedule, and control the people, costs, and resources required to complete a project.

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• Systems design– Phase 3 of the SDLC; the purpose is to do a

preliminary design and then a detail design, and write a report.

– Why it’s important: Systems design is one of the most crucial phases of the SDLC.

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• CASE tools– (Computer-Aided Software Engineering) tools.

Software that provides computer-automated means of designing and changing systems.

– Why it's important: CASE tools may be used in almost any phase of the SDLC, not just design. So-called front-end CASE tools are used during the first three phases—preliminary analysis, systems analysis, systems design—to help with the early analysis and design. So-called back-end CASE tools are used during two later phases—systems development and implementation—to help in coding and testing, for instance.

– Related Industry: Rational Software Corporation makes a very popular CASE tool called RUP (Rational Unified Process). Visit the RUP Web pageto learn more about this computer-aided software engineering tool.

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• Prototyping– Involves building a model or experimental version of

all or part of a system so that it can be quickly tested and evaluated; uses workstations, CASE tools, and other applications software.

– Why it's important: Prototyping is part of the preliminary design stage of Phase 3 of the SDLC.

– For More Info: A plethora of prototyping tools exist, many of them with specific targets in mind, i.e., graphical user interfaces (GUIs), 3-dimensional applications, gaming applications, etc. However, one designer has proposed that yellow stickies are the best prototyping tool of all! Read this amusing and informative article at http://www.sum-it.nl/en200148.html .

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• (4) The objective of systems development is to develop or acquire the software, acquire the hardware, and then test the system. – In considering what software to acquire, the

systems analyst must make a make-or-buy decision decide whether to create a program or buy existing software.

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• Systems development– Phase 4 of the SDLC; hardware and software for the

new system are acquired and tested. – The fourth phase begins once management has

accepted the report containing the design and has approved the way to development.

– Why it's important: This phase may involve the organization in investing substantial time and money.

– Career Corner: Software engineers are likely to be involved with the systems development phase of the SDLC, assuming that the business has decided to go with the "make" in their "make-or-buy decision." The U. S. Department of Labor's "Occupational Outlook Handbook" predicts that software engineering will be the fastest-growing occupation in the years 2000-2010.

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• Make-or-buy decision– Decision made in Phase 4 (programming) of the SDLC

concerning whether the organization has to make a program—have it custom-written—or buy it, meaning simply purchase an existing software package.

– Why it's important: The decision taken affects the costs and time required to develop the system.

– For More Info: The term make-or-buy decision is applicable to more than just the SDLC. IT companies have to decide whether to make or buy training classes for their employees, and whetherto make or buy technical support services for their customers.

– Manufacturing companies have to decide whether to make or buy various components needed for their products.

– Another common term for the "buy" in make-or-buy is outsourcing. Originally, this term referred to U. S. companies moving their manufacturing plants overseas where labor was cheaper. But outsourcing has come to mean the "buy" in any make-or-buy decision made by a business.

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• (5) Systems implementation consists of converting the hardware, software, and files to the new system and training the users. – Conversion to the next system may be by

direct implementation (stop the old, start the new), parallel implementation (operate both old and new concurrently for a while), phased implementation (phase in new system in stages), or pilot implementation (try out new system by some users).

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• (6) Systems maintenance adjusts and improves the system by having system audits and periodic evaluations and by making changes based on new conditions.