MIS1
1.1 Why Information Systems?
Information Technology (It) reflects all of the Computer based information systems used by an organization as well as their underlying technology.

Why information Systems Matter?
Capital Management
Information technology is largest investment for firms in the United States, and industrial countries in the world. As a manager you bill be involved in these investment

Foundations of Doing Business
While it is obvious that e-commerce would not exist without IT, many companies cannot continue to exist if IT was not the way it is now. Firms and Information Technology have become interdependent on each other. This is no different than any other technology change that has come along in the post.

Productivity
There are very few tools available to a manager to improve productivity. Information Technology is part of that. In fact inflation has keen slowed and productivity increased because of IT.

Strategic opportunity and Advantage
Strategic advantages are often part of Information Technology being added to a company.


How much does IT Matter?
Some people believe that IT is first another commodity and business should learn not to depended on IT and in fact cut back spending on IT. Others feel that there is still some areas that have been been untapped and can provide a strategic advantage when applied properly. Still others say that there is always mew technology to be developed. There is also advantages that can be made.

Why It Now? Digital Convergence and the Changing Business Environment

The Internet and technology Convergence

We do not have to wait for the next big thing, it is happening now. Digital convergence, where industries move together to a common platform, is here. Computers and software, consumers electronics, communications, and entertainment, have all combined or are moving that way. And the Internet is showing the way.
One cannot hope to do business when all major retailers and most minor ones as well, if one does not have a way to do business on the Internet. E-commerce is changing the way we do business. E-commerce is buying and selling over the Internet. E- business is conducting business in general over the Internet. The two parts however, have come to be used interchangeably in our culture today. We even now have e-government, conducting business of government on the Internet, makings it more efficient to do.

Transformation of the Business Enterprise
The Internet has changed the way things are done in many businesses. Travel arrangements are now made on line quite regularly and at a more cost efficient way. And though use is heavy now it will get even more heavy in the next decade. Because of the Internet, many businesses work across company lines. A company need not even make a product. It can have others make the parts and combine them into a product, and even have them do the shipping for them. Management has changed from a deep hierarchy structure to a more flattened one. Relying on networks to get the job done.

Gloabalization
Because of the use of computer and communications we now have ways of doing business across country lines efficiently. Electronic communications makes everything more productive and necessary to compete in our global economy.

Rise of the information economy
We have transferred from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy. Knowledge is what most people work at today. Even the products that people create today are knowledge intensive.

Emergence of the digital firm
The digital firm is one where all or most of the business relationships are in some way digitally done. Digital firms do core business processes, tasks and behaviors that a company do to become proficient in the market, almost completely done digital by a digital firm. Key corporate assets are also heavily digital in the digital environment. Because they are digital, a digital firm can respond quicker to changes.


1.2 Perspectives on information Systems
What Is an Information system?
An information system can be defined as a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization. Data is raw facts that are collected. Information is data that has been processed to a useful form. Information systems take in input, process it, and output information in a way that can be used. Feedback is also used to find and correct problems that exist. We will be interested in the formal systems that are used. By formal systems we mean ones that have been build around well recognized standards for businesses. Formal systems can be digital or manual, but digital or Compute Based information Systems (CBIS) serve the important need in a quicker more efficient manner.

It Isn't Just Technology: A Business Perspective on Information Systems

Managers add business systems to an organization because they expect real economic value to be returned from the systems. Other reasons could be because government or outside agency requires it. Also, it is also necessary sometimes to invest in these systems so that they can be competitive in business. Information Systems help these decisions to be made in a quicker and more efficient way. Managers need to not only need to be computes literate but also information system literate as well.

Dimensions of Infirmities Systems
Organizations
Some organizations whole existence is because of digital technology. Other just have a serious investment in it. In action to managers, others are needed to run a firm. Knowledge workers design products and services as well as create new knowledge. Data workers are needed to process the organizations paperwork. Production and service workers produce the product and ship it. Each organization has its own culture (way of doing things) that are often reflected in the way the information system is done.

Management
Along with being the leader a manager must make decisions and formulate plans. They are also ones to create products and even recreate the organization. There are different levels of management in an organization and each have their own level of information technology.

Technology
Computer hardware is the physical equipment used for the input, processing, output and storage. Computer software is the instructions that controls the hardware. Storage technology deals how the data and information gets stored. Communications technology allows for computer and peripherals to move data, voice images, sound and even now, video to other machines usually over a network. The Internet is the largest and most widely used network. It is elastic and can work around and problems that happen. The world wide web is a special part of the Internet that is well suited for for doing business electronically. All of these together make up a firms information technology infrastructure.

Complementary Assets and Organizational Capital
There is considerable difference in the returns that companies get in investment in information technology. Why the variations? The difference has to do with complementary assets, which are assets that get benefit from other assets, is the answer.

1.3 Contemporary Approaches to Information Systems
Technical Approach
The technical approach emphasizes mathematically based models to study information systems. It is strong on computer science which is concerned with theories of computations and efficient storage of data.

Behavioral Approach
This approach looks towards many things. One is the influence that groups and organizations on how the information system is developed. Economist look towards how systems have impact on control and cost structures. This approach does not ignore technology but it is not focused on the technology as the solution.

Approach of This Text: Sociotechnical Systems
This book focuses on the four actors in a company. The first is the technologist, the hardware and software people. Next the investors followed by the managers and employees. Lastly the environmental people who seek to deal with legal, social and cultural things in the firm. Management Information Systems (MIS) Combines Computer Science, Management science, and operational research. It combines them with an eye to behavioral issues as well. Rarely is it just technology or behavioral problems that cause an MIS system to fail. By choosing a Sociotechnical approach we avoid focusing on just one or the other. If we view the firm as a whole we avoid these problems.

1.4 Learning to Use Information Systems: New Opportunities with Technology
The Challenge of Information Systems: Key Management Issues
1. The information system investment challenge: how can organizations obtain business value from their information systems?
2. The strategic business challenge: what complementary assets are needed to use information effectively?
3. The globalization challenge: how can firms understand the business and system requirements of a global economic environment?
4. The information technology infrastructure challenge: how can organizations develop an information technology infrastructure that can support their goals when business conditions and technologies are changing so rapidly?
5. Ethics and security: the responsibility and control challenge: how can organizations ensure that their information systems are used in an ethically and socially responsible manner.


Integrating Text with Technology: New Opportunities for Learning