IS 2000 Exam #1

process

a way of doing something

information systems

a collection of components, including but not limited to computer, that stores and retrieves data and produces information

information

meaningful insight that helps employee do their job

Management Information Systems (information systems)

Creating, monitoring, and adapting processes, information systems, and information to help organizations achieve their strategies

Abstract reasoning

ability to make and manipulate models which serve to solve problems, understand complex systems and apply knowledge

Systems thinking

the ability to see the whole, not just the parts. It is the ability to model the components of a system and to connect the inputs and outputs among those components into a sensible whole

Collaboration

“isn’t about being nice” – also not about being mean – its working together to achieve a goal – give and receive constructive feedback

Experiment

making a careful and reasoned analysis of an opportunity, envisioning potential products or solutions or applications of technology, and then developing those ideas that seem to have the most promise, consistent with the resources you have. – why did something work, why didn’t it work, what did we learn from both, how does this change our approach next time?

Threat of substitutes

performs the same or similar function as another product

Threat of new entrants

can be controlled by barriers to entry

Barriers to entry

factors that make it difficult for new competitors to exist

Existing rivals

how many companies are doing what you are doing

Bargaining power suppliers

how many orgs supply this product / service

Bargaining power of customers

can customers shop elsewhere.

Competitive Strategy

long term plan of a particular company in order to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors in an industry.

Value Chain

a network of value-creating activities

Primary activity

directly impacts what the org does

Support activity

behind the scenes – makes job easier / better (information system)

Business process

a sequence of activities for accomplishing a function

Activity

a task within a business process

BPMN

Business Process Model and Notation (very similar to workflow diagram - Makes word documentation much easier to create, update, and understand quickly)

Repository

a collection of something – commonly stored in a DB

Swimlanes

activities associated to a specific user within the BPMN

System

a group of components that interact to achieve a purpose

Information system

a group of components that interact to produce information

5 component framework

hardware, software, data, procedures, people

Procedure

a set of instructions for a person to follow when operating an information system (Creating an account, Uploading a file, Entering data)

Structured processes

formally defined, standardized processes. Structured processes are commonly used to support day to day operations – scheduling shifts, calculations.(Steps are fixed and are the same every time)

Dynamic processes

informal, more adaptive and even intuitive- can be used to help make decisions - landscaping, hiring, growing (Steps can be different depending on the circumstances)

information

knowledge derived from data

data

recorded facts or figured

data characteristics

accurate, timely, relevant, just sufficient, worth its cost

ISP – internet service provider

offer various speeds and various data limits

PAN

Personal area network

LAN

local area network

WAN

wide area networks

Wired connections

Ethernet, Fiber

Wireless connections

Radio waves, Microwaves

Protocol

set of standard rules that two communicating devices follow, Broken down into different layers based on what they are communicating

Markup language

documentation

HTML

hypertext markup language – websites

CSS

cascading style sheets – support html

XML

extensible markup language

the cloud

the elastic leasing of pooled computer resources (servers) over the internet.

• Virtualized environment.

• These servers can dynamically allocate resources as needed and are pooled by different

organizations.

• Built on Internet protocols (software layer) and are standardized.

• Cost vs "on prem" or in house.

• Best-in-breed for security and

recovery.

• New levels of cloud allow for

increased flexibility.

• Big players (AWS, Azure, Google)

• Outsourcing skills

public cloud options

Software as a Service

(SaaS)

• Platform as a Service

(PaaS)

• Infrastructure as a Service

(IaaS)

• Desktop as a Service

(DaaS)

• Malware as a Service

(MaaS)

Private Cloud

• Cloud owned and operated by an organization for its own benefit

• Resources not pooled, more direct access.

• Organizational or Government regulations.

• Much more expensive

Public cloud

• The resources are pooled amongst multiple systems.

• Provides the IaaS, PaaS, and Saas options

• Is cheaper than private cloud

database

a self describing collection of integrated records; a collection of related tables

Contents of a database

Characters/Byte, Columns (fields), Rows (records), Table (file)

Relational databases

databases that carry their data in the form of tables and represent relationships using primary and foreign keys

Object oriented / object related databases

database in which information is represented in the form of objects. Sometimes known as OODB.

• Commonly used in the cloud

Primary Key

column or group of columns that identifies a unique row in a table

Foreign Key

a value in one table that appears as a primary key in another table to which it relates

Metadata

data that describes data, documentation about the information contained w/in a database

Database management system 

software used to create, process, and administer databases

DBA

job / person responsible for the DBMS

Database applications

a collection of forms, reports, queries and application programs that use the DBMS to process a database

IT

write queries directly against the DB for information

End users

application (very commonly web) that interacts / performs the functions requested (read, write, query) with the DB

Form

a view that is used to read, insert, modify, and delete data (Ex – mybgsu update personal information) - A controlled environment that only allows users to enter specific data in a specific format

Reports

view showing requested data in a structured context

Queries

the coding used to generate the report (End users create query for report via GUI interface created by IT team)

Data model

describes the relationships that will be stored in the DB.

• Requires input from reporters and generators – tech team

Entity-Relationship (E-R) data model

Tool for constructing data models

Developers use it to describe the content of a data model by defining things(entities) that will be stored into a DB and the relationship of those entities

Crows feet

Short hand to show relationship between tables

normalization

converting a poorly structured table into multiple well structured tables