Intorduction to Information Systems

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Introduction To Information Systems.
1-1; The six primary roles that information systems play in organisations are managing operations, decision making, collaboration and teamwork, strategic initiatives gaining competitive advantage and individual productivity.
1-2; The difference between data and information is that information is facts connected to form a full meaning while data refers to particular facts that form pieces of information.
1-3; The three characteristics that make information valuable are timeliness, preciseness and completeness.
1-4; The four components of an information system are people, technology, processes and data.
1-5; Information systems are essential to managers in a variety of functional units in that it helps to streamline processes, reduce costs, increase revenue which is fundamental to success.
1-6; The functional areas that are common to most information technology departments are data centre operations, telecommunications and networks services and end-user support with a help desk.
1-7; The role of the chief information officer is to oversee the I.T. department and help shape the organisation’s strategic goals to ensure that the information systems support the company.
1-8; Information systems have set off in a game-changing innovation to organise the world’s information which is a daunting task. It also poses a significant risk to privacy.
2-1; There are five competitive forces that shape industry.

They are the threat to a new entrant, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the risk of substitute products and rivalry among competitors.
2-2; External factors may affect the five forces and how they operate. For example introduction of new technologies pushes businesses to either advance or pave the way for new developments.
2-3; The components of a value chain involve two activities which are primary (bringing new materials, making product, marketing, delivery and customer support) the other being support activities (administration and management, human resources, technology support and procurement).
2-4; Managers use benchmarks to analyse the organisations performance by comparing how much expenditure they are accruing against their competitors.
2-5; Information systems apply to competitive strategies of businesses by reducing costs and streamlining processes.
2-6 ; Information systems are used to run and grow a business through low cost leadership, product differentiation and a focused niche strategy for a particular market segment.
2-7; Information systems apply to an aggressive plan for non-profit organisations by helping in organising fundraisers and volunteer management.
2-8; Governments use information systems to improve services and fund research by providing extensive e-government initiatives to the public.
3-1; The functions of the four components of a computer are input (example being sensors and scanners), output (example being displayed screens and printers), the central processing unit and the storage (the case being RAM).
3-2; The meaning and significance of Moore’s law are that it continues to have a significant impact on technology today since it reflects on the number of transistors in a complexly integrated circuit doubles after two years.
3-3; The two major types of software are the application software which handles personal activities and system software which controls the operating system. Examples of the system software are Microsoft.
3-4 ; The different ways of creating and deploying software are by making unique applications for custom software development or open source application which is free for redistribution.
3-5; The critical types of wired media include twisted pair, coaxial cable and optical fibre. The major types of wireless media include Bluetooth, wifi and wave transmissions.
3-6; Packet switching is where strings of digital data are broken into segments and are advantageous because they are flexible making the networks more conducive against disasters.
3-7; Network protocol is the medium in which devices transmit data from one another. TCP and Ethernet both provide a platform for data packaging and transportation.
3-8; An enterprise architecture is a plan that the organisation adopts and reflects on it is a reflection on the company’s future. It helps guide the group in achieving its business needs.
3-9; ICT architecture has changed due to change in enterprise architecture which is a business mission that encompasses the people processes and technology.
3-10; Cloud computing is a software as a service (SaaS) where an information system is owned and hosted by a vendor shares with an organisation who pay subscription fees to access it through the internet which helps the group save on a data centre.

Reference
BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Wallace, P. (2018). Introduction to Information Systems (3rd ed.). New York, NY