Lesson An introduction to management information systems (MIS)

Chapter 1: An introduction to
Management Information
Systems (MIS)



Study questions
Q1 Why is Introduction to MIS the most
important class in the business school?
Q2  What is MIS?
Q3  How can you use the five-component
model?
Q4  What is information? What makes
some information better than other
information?

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Q1 Why is Introduction to MIS
the most important class in
the business school?

BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY


IS- What is it about?

►

Business Information Systems is the
application of technology to solve business
problems.

►

An professional IS applies technology to
integrate and support business activities
such as Accounting, Finance, Marketing,
HR, Management and so on.

►

Students learn to analyze, design, develop,
and manage Information Systems.

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What’s Different About IS?
IS

Computer Science

Focus:

Business

Software

Objective:

More efficient or effective business Reliable computer program

Core skill:

Problem solving

Logic/Engineering

Core task:

Determine business requirements
for information systems

Deliver information
systems to meet defined
requirements

Starting title:

Business Systems Analyst

Application Programmer

Career goals:

Senior organizational manager

Programming manager

Faculty:

Business

Engineering Science

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Why does it matter?

Suppose you have two transport companies.
How can one get a competitive advantage over
the other?

BUSINESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
What do businesses compete with?

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Why does it matter?

Suppose you have two transport companies.
How can one get a competitive advantage over
the other?
They both use the same roads, pay the same
for fuel, obey the same speed limits, have
same rules, pay their drivers much the same...
If one buys a better truck, the other one can
buy exactly the same....
How can you as a manager make a difference?

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
What do businesses compete with?

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Why does it matter?
Because business is changing….
In 2013, Wal-Mart sold nearly 10% of the total retail sales
in the U.S.
Its RetailLink computer system connects its suppliers to
every one of Wal-Mart’s 5289 stores worldwide. As
soon as a customer purchases any item, the supplier
monitoring the item knows to ship a replacement to the
shelf.

The management of Information is the future of
business.
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Why does it matter?
Because business is changing….
Every time a shirt is sold at a JCPenny store in the U.S.,
details appear in a computer in Hong Kong at its supplier,
TAL Apparel Ltd., a large contract manufacturer that
produces one in eight dress shirts sold in the U.S.
TAL’s computers then decide how many replacement shirts
to make, and in what styles, colors, and sizes, and then
sends the shirts to each JCPenny store. JCPenny’s shirt
inventory is near zero, as is the cost of storing it.

The management of Information is the future of
business.
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Why does it matter?
•
•
•
•

Online news, social networks
Internet advertising continues

significantly.
New laws require businesses to store
more data for longer periods.
Changes in business result in changes
in jobs and careers.

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Why does it matter?
What’s New in MIS?
New technologies

• Cloud computing
• Software as a service (SaaS)
• Mobile digital platforms
People and behavior changes

• Managers use social networks, collaboration.
• Employees have access to powerful decision aids.
• Virtual meetings are accepted and used.
Organizations

Web 2.0 applications widely adopted
• Telework gains momentum
• Co-creation of value, collaboration across firms

•

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Q2  What is MIS?

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What Is MIS?
►

►

Key elements
1.

Management and use.

2.

Information systems.

3.

Strategies.

Goal of MIS
Managing IS to achieve business
strategies.

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What Is MIS
Management
►

The key is to develop, maintain, and
adapt.

►

To create an information system that
meets your needs, take an active role
in the system’s development. Why?
►

Business professionals understand business
needs and requirements.

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What Is MIS
►

Development and Use of Information
Systems: Business professionals need
to:
►

Take active role to ensure systems meet
their needs.

►

Understand how IS is constructed.

►

Consider users’ needs during
development.

►

Learn how to use the IS.

►

Ancillary (security, backups).

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What Is MIS
► Achieving

Strategies: Information
systems exist to help people in a
business achieve the business'
strategies.
►
►
►
►
►

“What is the purpose of our Facebook page?”
“What is it going to do for us?”
“What is our policy for employees’
contributions?”
“What should we do about critical customer
reviews?”
“Are the costs of maintaining the page
sufficiently offset by the benefits?”

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Q3  How can you use the
five-component model?

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Components of an Information
System?

Components interact to produce
information
Source: textbook [1], pg. 8

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How Can You Use the
Five-Component Model?

Source: textbook [1], pg. 10

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Characteristics of the Five
Components
The most Important Component
YOU!
►

Quality of your thinking, your ability to
conceive information from data,
determined by your cognitive skills.

►

Information is value you add to information
systems.

All Components Must Work.

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Characteristics of the Five
Components

►

High-Tech Versus Low-Tech Information
Systems: differ in the amount of work that
is moved from the human side
side

computer

►

Understanding the Scope of New
Information Systems.

►

Components Ordered by Difficulty and
Disruption.

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Q4  What is information?
What makes some
information better than other
information?

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What Is Information?
Definitions vary
1.

Knowledge derived from data, where data
represents recorded facts or figures.

2.

Data presented in a meaningful context.

3.

Processed data, or data processed by
summing, ordering, averaging, grouping,
comparing, or other similar operations.

4.

A difference that makes a difference.

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Where Is Information?
•

Graph is not, in itself, complete
information.

•

Graph is the data which you and others
perceive. You can use it for conceiving
information.

•

The ability to conceive information from
data is determined by cognitive skills.

•

People can perceive different
information from same data.

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One user’s information is another
user’s data

Source: textbook [1], pg. 16

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