Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel

City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines

COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES AND ENGINEERING
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

Program Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

Course Code ELEC4
Description Management Information Systems

LEARNING SHEET NO. 1

Name Score
Date Section

Topic Introduction to Information Systems

Learning 1. Define Information System and identify its purpose in the organization.
Outcomes 2. Differentiate Information System from Information Technology.
3. Enumerate the enabling technologies.
4. Identify the capabilities of Information Systems.
5. Evaluate the human side of Information Systems.
6. Identify IT-based innovations or improvements in the functional areas of business.
7. Analyze the progress in processing data.
8. Explain the effects of the trends in processing data in the business and in everyday life.
9. Identify the phases in building and maintaining systems.

References Alter, Steven, Information Systems: A Management Perspective, 2nd and 3rd Edition.
Haag, Stephen (2007), Management Information Systems for Information Age, 6th Ed., Irwin
/ McGraw Hill.
McLeod, Raymond (2007), Management Information Systems, 10th Ed., Prentice-Hill, Inc.
Oz, Effy (2009), Management Information Systems, 6th Ed., Thompson / Course Technology.
Stair, R. M., and Reynolds, G. (2007), Principles of Information System: A Managerial
Approach, Delmar Learning.

Discussion
Information Technology is defined as the hardware and software that comprises an information system. (Steven Atler).
Hardware is the physical device involved in the processing of data to create information such as computers, workstations, physical
networks, data storage, and transmission devices. Software, on the other hand, is the computer application or program that
interprets user inputs and tells the hardware what to do.
Information System is a system that makes use of information technology to capture, transmit, store, retrieve, manipulate,
or display information used in one or more business processes. (Steven Alter)

What do Information Systems do for an organization?

Information Systems include the following concepts:
 Transaction processing systems for operational data processing.
 Management reporting systems capable of producing reports for specific time periods, designed for managers
responsible for specific function.
 Decision Support Systems, expressly designed for the support of individual and collective decision making.
 Executive Information Systems, which support the work of senior executives and company boards by giving them
ready access to a variety of summarized company data against a background of general information on the industry
and the economy at large.
 Professional Support Systems, which support performance of tasks specific to a profession.

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 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES AND ENGINEERING
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

 Office Information Systems, which support and coordinate the knowledge work in an office environment by
handling documents and messages in a variety of forms – text, data, image, and voice.

Operational Support Systems assist in the day-to-day activities of the enterprise by keeping track of its resources and
commitments. Through such systems, manufacturing companies can track the inventory of finished goods, banks can maintain the
status of demand deposits for its customers, and a distributor’s system can answer customer queries regarding orders. Its primary
function is transaction processing.
Management Support Systems, assist the various levels of management in their tasks. Through such systems, managers
are able to obtain summary reports on past, present, and projected activity within their areas of responsibility.
Decision Support Systems allow managers to consider various courses of future action and see projected results in order

to plan future activities.

Office Information Systems support diverse aspects of individual and group knowledge work. The range of this type of
support is broad and growing. An individual may maintain his / her business calendar and communicate with co-workers through
the medium of electronic mail. Other systems offer a variety of computerized supports for team work even when the participants
are widely dispersed.
To summarize, by studying information systems:
 Company gains both personal and professional benefits.
 They give organizations access to information, goods, and services.
 Through resources like the Internet, companies are brought into contact to a rich stream of people and ideas that they
would never experience in any other way.
 Companies know that effective information systems can powerfully affect the strategies they pursue and the success
they can achieve.
 The impact of various systems can benefit the organizations, users of their information systems, and any individual or
group that interacts with them.

Management information system integrates data from all departments of an organization. It provides information for
managing an organization such as in monitoring company performance, maintaining coordination among the functional areas of
the firm, providing background information on how the firm operates. The MIS simply reports information but leaves the
decision making on how to improve performance to the people such as managers and executives.

Three (3) Major Departments in an Organization that Needs MIS

1. Finance Department
 Manages the financial resources of the firm.
 Monitors the budget, expenses, cash flows, and other financial statements of the company.
2. Operations Department
 Produces the products and other goods which the company sells.
 Monitors the daily operations and business of the company – from the factory or head office down to the
delivery of goods to the customers.
3. Marketing Department
 Responsible in the advertising and promotion of goods and corporate image of the company.
The Enabling Technologies: Computers and Telecommunications
A computer is a general purpose information processor. Today, multiple computers are combined within an information
system. They range from super computers, costing in millions and process hundreds of millions of instructions per second, to
inexpensive microprocessors embedded.
Computer program, also called software, is a computer program that controls the operation of a computer system.
Telecommunication is the electronic transmission of information over distances. A computer network is a system of computers
and telecommunications.

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 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES AND ENGINEERING
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

The Internet is a global network of networks that has become the worldwide information utility. The World Wide Web is
a collection of hyperlinked multimedia and databases stored in computers known as servers in worldwide locations and accessible
in the Internet.

Capabilities of Information Systems

The principal capabilities of information systems include:
1. Fast and accurate data processing with large capacity storage and rapid communication between sites.
2. Instantaneous access to information.
3. Means of coordination – brings parts of an organization together in a common effort with the exchange of
information playing a major role.
4. Boundary spanning. Systems through which an organization receives intelligence about its environment and
provides computerized information for its customers, suppliers, and the public at large.
5. Support decision making.
6. Formalization of organizational practice.
7. Differentiation of products or services.
8. Modelling
9. Production control

An Initial Look at the Human Side of Information Systems in Organizations and Society
 Information systems do not benefit an organization or society by simply having developed or installed.
 A system appropriate for the firm and its users has to be carefully identified and implemented from the socio-
technical perspective.
 Job satisfaction must be provided.
 Employees should be given an opportunity to contribute to the development of an information system.
 Employees should be motivated and trained to use the system.
 An information system must be designed to fit the needs of its users and the organization at large and evolve as the
needs change.

Principal Ethical Issues in Information Systems

1. Privacy – Does the information system or the way the system is used abridge the rights of individuals to control
information about them?
2. Accuracy – Are there safeguards to provide accurate information?
3. Property – Is it right to copy a program without permission under certain circumstances?
4. Access – How can information systems be used to break down rather than erect barriers to the enjoyment of benefits
that society has to offer?

IT-based Innovations in Every Business Function

1. Telecommuting
2. Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Software
3. Supply Chain Management (SCM)
4. Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)
5. Electronic Commerce (e-Commerce)
6. Point-Of-Sale (POS)
7. Electronic Cash (e-CASH)
8. Program Trading

Progress in Processing Data

To understand the role of information technology in the business, everything that the IT does are processed with the 6
consecutive basic data processing functions:

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 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES AND ENGINEERING
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

1. Capturing
2. Transmitting
3. Storing
4. Retrieving
5. Manipulating
6. Displaying
The table explains how the processing of data is performed by the information technology. The last column lists the tools or
devices that are used to perform the said functions.

Function Definition Example of Devices or Technologies Used to

Perform this Function
Capture Obtain a representation of information in a form Keyboard, barcode scanner, document scanner,
permitting it to be transmitted or stored. optical character recognition (OCR), sound
recorder, video camera, voice recognition
software
Transmit Move information from one place to another. Broadcast radio, broadcast television, regional
transmitters, cable television, satellite broadcast,
telephone networks, data transmission networks
for moving business data, fiber optic, cable, fax
machine, e-mail, voice mail, Internet
Store Move information to a specific place for later Paper, computer tape, floppy disk, hard disk,
retrieval. optical disk, CD-ROM, flash memory, server
Retrieve Find the specific information that is currently
needed.
Manipulate Create new information from existing Computer (plus software)
information through summarizing, sorting, re-
arranging, re-formatting, and other types of
calculations
Display Show information to a person. Printer, computer screen

Trends in Data Processing

Many experts believe that the current rate of improvement will continue for another decade to extend the trend that was
operated before. Major directions included in these improvements are the following:
1. Greater miniaturization, speed, and portability.
2. Greater connectivity and continuing convergence of computing and communications.
3. Greater use of digitized information and multimedia.

Phases in Building and Maintaining Systems

1. Initiation is the process of defining the need to change an existing work system, identifying the people who should
be involved in deciding what to do and describing in general terms how the work system should operate differently
and how any information system that supports it should operate differently.
2. Development is the process of acquiring and configuring hardware, software, and other resources needed to perform
both the required IT- related functions and the required functions not related to IT.
3. Implementation is the process of making a new work system operational in the organization.
4. Operation and maintenance is the ongoing operation of the work system and the information system, plus efforts
directed at enhancing either system and correcting bugs.

Review Questions
1. What is Management Information System?
2. Enumerate the departments in a firm that needs an MIS.
3. What are the ethical issues involved in the development of an Information System?

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 Colegio de San Gabriel Arcangel
City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, Philippines
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER STUDIES AND ENGINEERING
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT

4. Name the IT-based innovations in every business function.

5. What are the six consecutive basic data processing functions? Describe each.

Activities
In a clean sheet of paper, answer the following questions:
1. Differentiate information system from information technology.
2. How important does information system play in an organization?
3. As students, how did technology affect your everyday life?
4. Is having an information system advantageous or disadvantageous? In what ways?

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