ITSS 3300 v.2
💡 Purpose of Information Systems
📌 The purpose of IS in business is to support the achievement of an organization’s strategic, tactical, and operational goals.
💡 What is Information Technology (IT)?
📌 IT includes:
Computer hardware, software, and data
Data management technology
💡 What is an Information System (IS)?
📌 A set of interrelated components that:
✔ Collect, process, store, and distribute information.
✔ Support decision-making, coordination, and control.
✔ Formula: IS = IT + Procedures + People
💡 Info vs. Data
📌 Data = Raw facts (Example: 100°F)
📌 Information = Data shaped into meaningful form (Example: "It’s a hot day!")
💡 Computer vs. Information System
📌 Computers & Software = Just tools. They process data but don’t make business decisions.
📌 Information System = Uses people + procedures to apply technology effectively in an organization.
💡 Activities of an Information System
✔ Input – Captures raw data (e.g., scanning a barcode).
✔ Processing – Converts data into meaningful info (e.g., calculating a discount).
✔ Output – Transfers processed info (e.g., printing a receipt).
✔ Feedback – Helps refine or correct data (e.g., fixing incorrect inventory count).
💡 What is a Business?
📌 An organization where goods & services are exchanged for money.
✅ Types of Business Owners:
✔ Partners – Share ownership & responsibility.
✔ Corporations – Pay taxes & distribute profits.
✔ Investors – Buy ownership through stocks/bonds.
💡 Key Components of a Business
📌 Every business has:
✔ Products, Goods, Services – What they sell.
✔ Customers – Who they serve.
✔ Management & Operations – How they run.
✔ Investment & Sustainability – Long-term growth.
✔ Profit & Return – Making money.
💡 What is an Organization?
📌 A structured system that takes resources (people, materials, etc.) and turns them into products/services.
✅ Key Characteristics:
✔ Hierarchy – Senior, middle, and operational management.
✔ Business Functions – Sales, HR, Finance, Production, etc.
✔ Processes & Routines – Set ways of doing work efficiently.
💡 Levels in an Organization
📌 Three main levels of management:
✔ Senior Management – Makes strategic decisions (CEO, Executives).
✔ Middle Management – Uses data to guide operations (Managers, Analysts).
✔ Operational Management – Handles daily tasks (Workers, Employees).
💡 Business Processes & Organization Culture
📌 Business Process – A set of steps to complete a task (Example: Fulfilling an online order).
📌 Organization Culture – Shared assumptions that shape how a company works, like:
✔ What products they make.
✔ How they are produced.
✔ Who they serve.
💡 Business Processes: Structured vs. Dynamic
✅ Structured Processes:
✔ Standardized, predictable, formal (Example: Payroll processing, Order entry).
✔ Rules-based with few exceptions.
✅ Dynamic Processes:
✔ Flexible, adaptive, changes based on situations (Example: Social media marketing, Collaboration).
✔ Frequent exceptions allowed.
💡 Business Process Modeling (BPMN)
📌 A graphical way to represent how a business process works.
✅ Basic Symbols in BPMN:
⭕ Circle – Start/End
🔲 Square – Activity/Process
🔺 Diamond – Decision/Gateway
📀 Cylinder – Data Store
💡 Eliminating Information Silos
📌 Problem: Data is duplicated or isolated, causing errors & inefficiencies.
📌 Solution: Use Enterprise Applications (ERP, CRM, SCM) to connect all departments.
💡 Enterprise Applications
📌 Enterprise applications help businesses integrate all their operations.
✅ Types of Enterprise Applications:
✔ ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) – Combines HR, Finance, Supply Chain, etc.
✔ CRM (Customer Relationship Management) – Helps businesses track & improve customer interactions.
✔ SCM (Supply Chain Management) – Manages production & delivery.
💡 Best Value of Enterprise Solutions
✔ Integration, integration, integration!
✔ Real-time access to business-wide data.
✔ Faster decision-making & improved efficiency.
💡 E-Commerce: How Businesses Sell Online
📌 E-Commerce = Buying and selling products online.
✅ Three Types of E-Commerce:
✔ B2B (Business-to-Business) – Companies selling to other companies (Example: Alibaba).
✔ B2C (Business-to-Consumer) – Companies selling to individuals (Example: Amazon).
✔ C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) – People selling to each other (Example: eBay).
📌 Key Features of E-Commerce:
✔ Available 24/7
✔ No physical store needed
✔ Customers can shop globally
💡 Digital Goods vs. Physical Goods
📌 Digital Goods: Products delivered over the internet (Example: E-books, Music, Streaming services).
📌 Physical Goods: Items that require shipping (Example: Shoes, Phones, Cars).
✅ Digital Goods Benefits:
✔ Low production costs.
✔ Fast, easy delivery.
✔ No inventory required.
💡 How E-Commerce Makes Money
✅ Business Models:
✔ Retailer (Amazon, Walmart) – Sells products online.
✔ Subscription (Netflix, Spotify) – Monthly payments for access.
✔ Advertising (Google, YouTube) – Earns money from ads.
✅ Revenue Models:
✔ Sales-based – Selling products directly.
✔ Freemium – Free product with paid upgrades.
✔ Transaction Fees – Charging per sale (Example: PayPal, eBay).
💡 What are Cookies?
📌 Cookies = Small files that store website info about you.
✅ Types of Cookies:
✔ Session Cookies – Temporary (Example: Shopping cart memory).
✔ First-Party Cookies – Used by a single website (Example: Login details).
✔ Third-Party Cookies – Used for tracking ads (Example: Facebook tracking your shopping).
📌 Cookies help businesses track:
✔ What you buy.
✔ Which ads you click.
✔ How long you stay on a website.
💡 Social E-Commerce & Marketing
📌 Businesses now sell products through social media (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok).
✅ Social E-Commerce Features:
✔ Newsfeeds – People share & like products.
✔ Social Sign-Ons – Login with Facebook/Google.
✔ Collaborative Shopping – Friends recommend products.
💡 Summary: What You Need to Know!
✔ IS helps businesses improve efficiency & make smarter decisions.
✔ Data must be processed into meaningful information.
✔ Enterprise systems connect different parts of a business.
✔ E-Commerce & Digital Goods are changing how businesses sell.
✔ Cookies track user behavior for personalized experiences.
✔ Social Media is a major tool for marketing & sales.
Purpose of Information Systems,The purpose of IS in Business is to support the achievement of the organization's strategic, tactical, and operational goals.
What is Information Technology?,Computer hardware, software, data. Data management technology.
What is an information system?,- Set of interrelated components.
Collects, processes, stores, and distributes information.
Supports decision-making, coordination, and control.
IS = IT + Procedures + People.
Info vs. Data,- Data = raw facts.
Information = data shaped into meaningful form.
Computer/Computer Program vs. Information System,- Computers and software are technical foundations and tools.
Activities of an Information System,- Input: Captures raw data from an organization/external environment.
Processing: Converts raw data into a meaningful form.
Output: Transfers processed info to people or activities that use it.
Feedback: Output is returned to appropriate members of the organization to help evaluate or correct the input stage.
What is a business?,An organization or economic system where goods and services are exchanged for one another or for money.
Partners: Have some ownership in company & are liable for each other.
Corporations: Responsible for paying taxes & dividends.
Investors: Buy ownership as stocks and bonds.
Key components of a business,- Product, goods, services.
Customers.
Management & operations.
Investment and sustainability.
Profit & return.
What is an organization?,Technical definition: A formal structure that processes resources from the environment to produce outputs, a formal legal entity with internal rules & procedures.
Components & characteristics of an organization,- Uses hierarchical structure.
Separation of business functions.
Goals, management, policies, etc.
Levels in an organization,- Senior management.
Middle management: Scientists and knowledge workers.
Operational management: Production and service workers, data workers.
Routines & Activities,Precise rules, procedures, and practices developed to cope with virtually all expected situations.
Business process,Collection of routines.
Business organization,Collection of business processes.
Organization Culture,- Encompasses a set of assumptions that define goals and products.
What products the organization should produce.
How and where they are produced.
For whom they are produced.
Influenced by management, workforce, competition.
Organizational resistance to change,- Information systems become bound up in politics because they influence access to key information.
IS can change an organization’s structure, culture, and politics.
IT controls innovation and flattens organizations.
Pushes decision-making to lower levels, reduces managers, and authority relies on knowledge rather than hierarchy.
Authoritative management style,Hierarchy, control, large organization.
Collaborative management style,Decision-making is pushed down, reducing reliance on a single authoritative figure (flattened organizations).
CIO,Chief Information Officer - Head of IT/IS in an organization.
Business processes,- Sets of activities, routines, and steps.
Flows of material, information, and knowledge.
Tied to a functional area.
Structured Business Process,- Supports operational & structured managerial decisions.
Standardized and well-documented.
Few exceptions allowed.
Process structure changes slowly.
Examples: Customer returns, order entry, purchasing, payroll.
Dynamic Business Process,- Supports strategic and less structured decisions.
Less specific, more fluid.
Exceptions are frequent and expected.
Adaptive processes that change rapidly.
Examples: Collaboration, social networking, innovation management.
Business process examples,- Sales and marketing: Identifying prospects.
Human resources: Producing payroll.
Finance and accounting: Creating financial statements.
Supply chain: Maintaining inventory levels.
Manufacturing/production: Assembling products.
How IT improves business processes,- Increases efficiency by automating steps.
Enables new processes:
Changing flow of information.
Replacing sequential steps with parallel ones.
Reducing delays in decision-making.
Supporting new business models.
Business process modeling,- Graphic representation of business activities.
BPMN (Business Process Model & Notation) standards are used.
Common tools: Microsoft Visio, Lucidchart, PowerPoint.
Basic shapes and symbols of a business process model,- Circle = Start, end.
Diamond = Gateway/decision.
Square = Activity/process.
Cylinder = Data store.
Business process redesign (BPR),- Business process management (BPM) tools help analyze and optimize processes.
Used to increase efficiency.
Eliminating information silos,- Data is transferred and copied but not always consistent.
Issues: Data duplication, inconsistency, isolation, and disconnected processes.
Enterprise applications,- Software that integrates internal business processes.
Expensive to buy, implement, and maintain.
Connects different business processes (HR, payroll, sales, etc.).
Emergence of enterprise applications,- Managing internal business operations.
Predesigned processes for industry best practices.
Key systems:
CRM (Customer Relationship Management).
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).
Best value of enterprise solutions,- Integration of tools, data, and processes.
Increases operational efficiency.
Provides firm-wide information for decision-making.
Enables rapid customer service responses.
Includes analytical tools for performance evaluation.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications,- ERP integrates all major business processes.
Collects data from multiple divisions for centralized use.
Improves accuracy of business operations.
ERP Solution Components,- ERP Hardware: Servers, databases (local, outsourced, or cloud).
ERP Applications: Industry-specific vendor applications.
ERP Databases: Stores all business process data.
Business Processes & Procedures: Automate business rules and enforce compliance.
Training & Consulting: Includes implementation training, change management, and user education.
Primary Measures of Organizational Health,- Descriptive analytics: Reports and visuals (historical data).
Predictive analytics: Forecasting future trends.
Prescriptive analytics: Optimization (real-time inventory and resource allocation).
Profit/Loss Statement,- Periodic look at profitability.
Includes revenues and expenses.
Balance Sheet,- Snapshot of an organization's financial position.
Human Resource Systems,- Recruiting (internal and external).
Payroll, benefits administration, time tracking.
Supply Chain Systems,- Manages requisitions, purchasing, inventory, shipping, and accounts payable.
The Supply Chain,- Network of processes for producing and distributing products.
Upstream: Suppliers, suppliers' suppliers, raw materials.
Downstream: Distributors, customers, end-users.
Forecasting,- Predicting future demand based on historical data.
Pull-based model,- Customer-driven production (custom orders).
Push-based model,- Supplier-driven production (mass production).
Global supply chain & the internet,- Challenges include different time zones, performance standards, and legal requirements.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM),- Captures and integrates customer data.
Manages customer interactions across all departments.
CRM Software Capabilities,- Sales: Account and lead management, order tracking.
Marketing: Campaign planning, promotions, analytics.
Service: Customer support, satisfaction tracking.
Types of E-Commerce,- B2C (Business-to-Consumer): Retail websites (Amazon).
B2B (Business-to-Business): Supplier transactions (Alibaba).
C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer): Peer-to-peer selling (eBay).
How E-Commerce makes money,- Business models: Retailer, subscription, advertising, transaction fees.
Cookies,- Track user behavior and preferences.
Types of Cookies,- Session Cookies: Temporary, erased after a session.
First-Party Cookies: Used only by the original website.
Third-Party Cookies: Used for advertising and tracking across sites.