BUS3620 Management Information Systems: Essentials of MIS Ch. 1-4 Key Terms

Key terms for Essentials of MIS 15th Ed. Ch. 1-4

Big Data

Data sets with volumes so huge that they are beyond the ability of typical relational DBMS to capture, store, and analyze. The data are often unstructured or semistructured.

Business model

Describes how an enterprise delivers a product or service, thus showing how the enterprise creates wealth.

Business processes

Logically related set of activities that define how specific business tasks are performed. Also refers to the unique ways in which organizations coordinate and organize work activities, information, and knowledge to produce a product or service.

Change management

Giving proper consideration to the impact of organizational change associated with a new system or alteration of an existing system.

Cloud computing

Model of computing that enables access to a shared pool of computing resources over a network, primarily the Internet.

Computer hardware

Physical equipment used for input, processing, and output activities in an information system.

Critical thinking

Sustained suspension of judgment with an awareness of multiple perspectives and alternatives.

Culture

Fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things that has been accepted by most members of an organization.

Data

Streams of raw facts representing events occurring in organizations or the physical environment before they have been organized and arranged into a form that people can understand and use.

Data management technology

Software governing the organization of data on physical storage media.

Extranets

Private intranets that are accessible to authorized outsiders.

Feedback

Output that is returned to the appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct input.

Information

Data that have been shaped into a form that is meaningful and useful to human beings.

Information system

Interrelated components working together to collect, process, store, and distribute information to support decision making, coordination, control, analysis, and visualization in an organization.

Information systems literacy

Broad-based understanding of information systems that includes behavioral knowledge about organizations and individuals as well as technical knowledge about computers.

Information technology

All the hardware and software technologies that a firm needs to achieve its business objectives.

Information technology infrastructure

Computer hardware, software, data, storage technology, and networks, along with the people required to run and manage them, providing a portfolio of shared IT resources for the organization.

Input

The capture or collection of raw data from within the organization or from its external environment for processing in an information system.

Internet

Global network of networks using universal standards to connect millions of networks.

Internet of Things

Network of physical objects (things) embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies enabling them to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems via the Internet.

Intranets

Internal networks based on Internet technology and standards.

Management information systems

The study of information systems, focusing on their use in business and management. Also refers to the specific category of information system providing reports on organizational performance to help middle management monitor and control the business.

Network

The linking of two or more computers to share data or resources such as a printer.

Networking and telecommunications technology

Physical devices and software that link various pieces of hardware and transfer data from one physical location to another.

Output

The distribution of processed information to the people who will use it or to the activities for which it will be used.

Processing

The conversion, manipulation, and analysis of raw input into a form that is more meaningful to humans.

World Wide Web

A service the Internet provides that uses universally accepted standards for storing, retrieving, formatting, and displaying information in a page format; usually referred to as the web.

Business

A formal organization whose aim is to produce products or provide services for a profit.

Business intelligence

Applications and technologies to help users make more informed and thus better business decisions.

Chief data officer

Responsible for enterprise-wide governance and usage of information to maximize the value the organization can realize from its data.

Chief information officer

Senior manager who oversees the use of information technology and information systems in the firm.

Chief knowledge officer

Responsible for the firm’s knowledge management program.

Chief privacy officer

Responsible for ensuring that the company complies with data-privacy laws.

Chief security officer

In charge of information systems security and responsible for enforcing the firm’s information security policy.

Collaboration

Working with others to achieve shared and explicit goals.

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems

Information systems that track all the ways in which a company interacts with its customers and analyze these interactions to optimize revenue, profitability, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.

Data workers

People such as clerks or bookkeepers who assist with administrative work at all levels of the firm.

Decision-support systems

Information systems at the organization’s management level that combine data and sophisticated analytical models or data analysis tools to support semistructured and unstructured decision making.

Digital dashboard

Displays all of a firm’s key performance indicators as graphs and charts on a single screen to provide a one-page overview of all the critical measurements necessary to make key executive decisions.

E-government

Use of the Internet and related technologies to enable government and public sector agencies’ relationships with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government digitally.

Electronic business (e-business)

The use of the Internet and digital technology to execute all the business processes in the enterprise; includes e-commerce as well as processes for the internal management of the firm and coordination with suppliers and other business partners.

Electronic commerce (e-commerce)

The process of buying and selling goods and services by using the Internet, networks, and other digital technologies.

End users

Representatives of departments outside the information systems group for whom applications are developed.

Enterprise applications

Systems that can coordinate activities, decisions, and knowledge across many functions, levels, and business units in a firm; include enterprise systems, supply chain management systems, customer relationship management systems, and knowledge management systems.

Enterprise content management (ECM) systems

Systems that help organizations manage structured, semistructured, and unstructured types of information, providing corporate repositories of documents, reports, presentations, and best practices and capabilities.

Enterprise systems

Integrated, enterprise-wide information systems that coordinate key internal processes of the firm. Also known as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.

Executive support systems (ESS)

Information systems at the organization’s strategic level designed to address unstructured decision making, providing graphs and data from many sources through an interface that is easy for senior managers to use.

Information systems department

The formal organizational unit that is responsible for the information technology services in the organization.

Information systems managers

Leaders of the various specialists in the information systems department.

Interorganizational system

Information system that automates the flow of information across organizational boundaries and links a company to its customers, distributors, or suppliers.

Knowledge management systems

Systems that support the creation, capture, storage, and dissemination of firm expertise and knowledge.

Knowledge workers

People such as engineers, scientists, or architects who design products or services and create knowledge for the organization.

Middle management

People in the middle of the organizational hierarchy who are responsible for carrying out the plans and goals of senior management.

Operational management

People who monitor the day-to-day activities of the organization.

Portal

Web interface for presenting integrated, personalized content from a variety of sources. Also refers to a website service that provides an initial point of entry to the web.

Production or service workers

People who actually produce the products or services of the organization.

Programmers

Highly trained technical specialists who write computer software instructions.

Semistructured knowledge

Information in the form of less structured objects such as email.

Senior management

People occupying the top of an organization’s hierarchy and who are responsible for making long-range decisions for the organization

Social business

Use of social network platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and internal corporate social tools, to engage employees, customers, and suppliers.

Structured knowledge

Knowledge in the form of formal text documents and reports.

Supply chain management (SCM) systems

Information systems that automate the flow of information between a firm and its suppliers to optimize the planning, sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery of products and services.

Systems analysts

Specialists who translate business problems and requirements into information requirements and systems, acting as liaisons between the information systems department and the rest of the organization.

Tacit knowledge

Expertise and experience of organizational members that have not been formally documented.

Teams

Formal groups whose members collaborate to achieve specific goals.

Telepresence

Technology that allows a person to give the appearance of being present at a location other than his or her true physical location.

Transaction processing systems (TPS)

Computerized systems that perform and record the daily, routine transactions necessary to conduct the business; they serve at the organization’s operational level.

Virtual worlds

Online 3-D environments populated by users who have built graphical representations of themselves called avatars.

3-D printing

Uses machines to make solid objects, layer by layer, from specifications in a digital file. Also known as additive manufacturing.

Benchmarking

Involves comparing efficiency and effectiveness of business processes and measuring organizational performance against strict standards.

Best practices

The most successful solutions or problem-solving methods for achieving a business objective that have been developed by a specific organization or industry.

Business ecosystem

Term used to describe loosely coupled interdependent networks of suppliers, distributors, outsourcing firms, transportation services firms, and technology manufacturers that provide related services and products that deliver value to the customer. Also referred to as industry sets.

Business process management (BPM)

Tools and methodologies for continuously improving and managing business processes.

Business process re-engineering (BPR)

The radical redesign of business processes to maximize the benefits of information technology.

Competitive forces model

Model used to describe the interaction of external influences—specifically, threats and opportunities—that affect an organization’s strategy and ability to compete.

Computer-aided design (CAD)

Information system that automates the creation and revision of designs by using sophisticated graphics software.

Core competency

Activity at which a firm is an industry leader.

Customer experience management

Management of all the interactions between a customer and a company throughout their entire business relationship.

Cycle time

The total elapsed time from the beginning of a process to its end

Disruptive technologies

Technologies with disruptive impact on industries and businesses, rendering existing products, services, and business models obsolete.

Domestic exporter

Form of business organization characterized by heavy centralization of corporate activities in the home country of origin.

Efficient customer response system

System that directly links consumer behavior to distribution, production, and supply chains.

Franchiser

Form of business organization in which a product is created, designed, financed, and initially produced in the home country but, for product-specific reasons, relies heavily on foreign personnel for further production, marketing, and human resources.

Mass customization

The capacity to offer individually tailored products or services on a large scale.

Multinational

Form of business organization that concentrates financial management and control out of a central home base while decentralizing production, sales, and marketing.

Network economics

Model of strategic systems at the industry level that is based on the concept of a network when adding another participant entails zero marginal costs but can create much larger marginal gains.

Platforms

Businesses providing information systems, technologies, and services that thousands of other firms in different industries use to enhance their own capabilities.

Primary activities

Activities most directly related to the production and distribution of a firm’s products or services.

Product differentiation

Creating new products and services or enhancing customer convenience in using existing products and services.

Quality

From standpoint of a product, signifies a product’s or service’s conformance to specifications and standards.

Six Sigma

A specific measure of quality, representing 3.4 defects per million opportunities; used to designate a set of methodologies and techniques for improving quality and reducing costs.

Total quality management (TQM)

A concept that makes quality control a responsibility to be shared by all people in an organization.

Transnational

Truly global form of business organization where value-added activities are managed from a global perspective without reference to national borders, thus optimizing sources of supply and demand and local competitive advantage.

Value chain model

Model that highlights the primary or support activities that add a margin of value to a firm’s products or services and where information systems can best be applied to achieve a competitive advantage.

Value web

Customer-driven network of independent firms who use information technology to coordinate their value chains to produce a product or service collectively for a market.

Virtual company

A company that uses networks to link people, assets, and ideas, enabling it to ally with other companies to create and distribute products and services without being limited by traditional organizational boundaries or physical locations.

Accountability

The mechanisms for assessing responsibility for decisions made and actions taken.

Adware

Software that can secretly install itself on an Internet user’s computer by piggybacking on another application, and, once installed, can call out to websites to send ads and other unsolicited material to the user.

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)

Type of RSI in which pressure on the median nerve through the wrist’s bony carpal tunnel structure produces pain.

Computer abuse

The commission of acts involving a computer that may not be illegal but are considered unethical.