Chapter 6 Organizational Information Systems Chapter 6 Objectives • Understand characteristics of operational, managerial, and executive information systems • Understand characteristics of transaction processing systems, management information systems, and executive information systems • Understand characteristics of information systems that span organizational boundaries Types of Information Systems • An organization consists of many people with different interests, specialties, and levels. • How a single information system can provide all the information that an organization needs? • There is no such single information system. • An organization should have different info systems for different interests, specialties, and levels. Decision-Making Levels of an Organization Decision-Making Levels of an Organization • Executive level (top) – Long-term decisions – Unstructured decisions • Managerial level (middle) – Decisions covering weeks and months – Semistructured decisions • Operational level (bottom) – Day-to-day decisions – Structured decisions Basic systems model for all Info. Systems General Types of Information Systems • Transaction Processing Systems (TPSs) – Transactions – Used at Operational level of the organization – Goal: to automate repetitive information processing activities • Increase speed • Increase accuracy • Greater efficiency General Types of Information Systems • Transaction Processing Systems (TPSs) – Online processing – Batch processing • Data input – Manual data entry – Semiautomated data entry – Fully automated data entry General Types of Information Systems • Transaction Processing Systems (TPSs) – Examples: • • • • • Payroll Sales and ordering Inventory Purchasing, receiving, shipping Accounts payable and receivable General Types of Information Systems • Management Information Systems (MISs) – Two Types: • Management of IS in organizations • Specific information systems for mid-level managers – Used at managerial level of the organization General Types of Information Systems Management Information System • It helps the middle managers with reports, with on-line access to the organization’s current performance and historical records. • It primarily serves the functions of planning, controlling, decision-making at the management level. • Generally it depends on TPS for data. • It summarizes and reports on the basic operations of the organization. • It usually serve managers interested in weekly, monthly, and yearly results, not day-to-day activities. • It generally addresses structured questions that are known in advance. • It is not flexible and have little analytical capability. General Types of Information Systems Management Information System • What are the functions of management-level info system? => Helps middle managers for monitoring, controlling, decision-making, and administrative activities. => Generally it provides periodic reports rather than instant information => However, some systems supports nonroutine decision making. • It should answer the questions: => Relocation Control System: It reports on the total moving, house-hunting, and home financing costs for all employees in the organization. It will also notify if actual costs exceed the budgets. => What would happen to our return on investment if an organization schedule were delayed for six months? General Types of Information Systems • Management Information Systems – Types of reports: • • • • • Scheduled report Key-indicator report Exception report Drill-down report Ad hoc report General Types of Information Systems • Management Information Systems (MISs) – Examples: • • • • • Sales forecasting Financial management and forecasting Manufacturing planning and scheduling Inventory management and planning Advertising and product pricing General Types of Information Systems Executive Information Systems • It helps senior managers. • It addresses unstructured decisions. • It provides a generalized computing & telecommunications capability to solve problems. • It employs the most advanced graphics software. • It can deliver graphs & (historical data and competitive data) from internal corporate systems and external databases. • Senior managers often have little experience with computer-based information systems, ESS should have easy-to-use graphic interfaces. General Types of Information Systems • Executive Information Systems (EISs) – Used at executive level of the organization – Highly aggregated form – Data types • Soft data – news and nonanalytical data • Hard data – facts and numbers General Types of Information Systems • Executive Information Systems (EISs) – Examples: • • • • • Executive-level decision making Long-range and strategic planning Monitoring internal and external events Crisis management Staffing and labor relations Information Systems that Span Organizational Boundaries Information Systems that Span Organizational Boundaries • Decision Support Systems (DSSs) – Designed to support organizational decision making – “What-if” analysis • Example of a DSS tool: Microsoft Excel • Text and graphs – Models for each of the functional areas • Accounting, finance, personnel, etc. Information Systems that Span Organizational Boundaries • Expert Systems (ESs) – Mimics human expertise by manipulating knowledge – Rules (If-then) – Inferencing Information Systems that Span Organizational Boundaries • Office Automation Systems (OASs) – Examples: • Communicating and scheduling • Document preparation • Analyzing data • Consolidating information Relationship of Systems to one another: Integration ESS MIS OAS DSS TPS Information Systems that Span Organizational Boundaries • Collaboration Technologies – – – – Virtual teams Videoconferencing Groupware Electronic Meeting Systems (EMSs) Information Systems that Span Organizational Boundaries • Functional Area Information Systems – Geared toward specific areas in the company: • Human Resources • Benefits • Marketing Information Systems that Span Organizational Boundaries • Global Information Systems – – – – International IS Transnational IS Multinational IS Global IS