INFORMATION SYSTEM
Introduction
https://www.britannica.com/topic/information-system/Operational-support-and-enterprise-systems
Jacksonville Beach closed City Hall and announced a temporary shutdown of multiple municipal operations Monday
afternoon, citing "information systems issues."
In addition to City Hall, Jacksonville Beach also announced the immediate closure of all parks, including the
Jacksonville Beach Golf Course and the Tennis Center, in a statement posted to the city website.
Officials plan to reopen City Hall on Tuesday with limited operations, although Jacksonville Beach did not specify
which operations would remain affected.
City officials also did not specify the nature of the technology issues that triggered the shutdown.
The police and fire departments, 911 emergency services, utilities and waste pickup continued as normal. However,
a Jacksonville Beach spokesman said that residents can expect "extreme delays" in email communication with city
staff.
Information system, an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing data and for
providing information, knowledge, and digital products.
Business firms and other organizations rely on information systems to carry out and manage their operations,
interact with their customers and suppliers, and compete in the marketplace. Information systems are used to
run interorganizational supply chains and electronic markets.
For instance, corporations use information systems to process financial accounts, to manage their human
resources, and to reach their potential customers with online promotions.
Many major companies are built entirely around information systems. These include eBay, a largely auction
marketplace; Amazon, an expanding electronic mall and provider of cloud computing services; Alibaba, a business-
to-business e-marketplace; and Google, a search engine company that derives most of its revenue from keyword
advertising on Internet searches.
Governments deploy information systems to provide services cost-effectively to citizens. Digital goods—such as
electronic books, video products, and software—and online services, such as gaming and social networking, are
delivered with information systems. Individuals rely on information systems, generally Internet-based, for
conducting much of their personal lives: for socializing, study, shopping, banking, and entertainment.
As major new technologies for recording and processing information were invented over the millennia, new
capabilities appeared, and people became empowered. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg
in the mid-15th century and the invention of a mechanical calculator by Blaise Pascal in the 17th century are but
two examples. These inventions led to a profound revolution in the ability to record, process, disseminate, and
reach for information and knowledge. This led, in turn, to even deeper changes in individual lives, business
organization, and human governance.
The first large-scale mechanical information system was Herman Hollerith’s census tabulator. Invented in time to
process the 1890 U.S. census, Hollerith’s machine represented a major step in automation, as well as an inspiration
to develop computerized information systems.
One of the first computers used for such information processing was the UNIVAC I, installed at the U.S. Bureau of
the Census in 1951 for administrative use and at General Electric in 1954 for commercial use. Beginning in the late
1970s, personal computers brought some of the advantages of information systems to small businesses and to
individuals. Early in the same decade the Internet began its expansion as the global network of networks.
In 1991 the World Wide Web, invented by Tim Berners-Lee as a means to access the interlinked information stored
in the globally dispersed computers connected by the Internet, began operation and became the principal service
delivered on the network.
The global penetration of the Internet and the Web has enabled access to information and other resources and
facilitated the forming of relationships among people and organizations on an unprecedented scale.
The progress of electronic commerce over the Internet has resulted in a dramatic growth in digital interpersonal
communications (via e-mail and social networks), distribution of products (software, music, e-books, and movies),
and business transactions (buying, selling, and advertising on the Web).
With the worldwide spread of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other computer-based mobile devices, all of
which are connected by wireless communication networks, information systems have been extended to support
mobility as the natural human condition.
As information systems enabled more diverse human activities, they exerted a profound influence over society.
These systems quickened the pace of daily activities, enabled people to develop and maintain new and often more-
rewarding relationships, affected the structure and mix of organizations, changed the type of products bought, and
influenced the nature of work.
COMPONENTS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
The components of information systems are computer hardware and software, telecommunications, databases
and data warehouses, human resources, and procedures.
1. COMPUTER HARDWARE
Today throughout the world even the smallest firms, as well as many households, own or lease computers.
Individuals may own multiple computers in the form of smartphones, tablets, and other wearable devices.
Large organizations typically employ distributed computer systems, from powerful parallel-processing servers
located in data centers to widely dispersed personal computers and mobile devices, integrated into the
organizational information systems.
Sensors are becoming ever more widely distributed throughout the physical and biological environment to gather
data and, in many cases, to effect control via devices known as actuators.
Sensor is defined as a device that converts signals from one energy domain to electrical domain. The definition
of the Sensor can be better understood if we take an example in to consideration.
https://www.electronicshub.org/different-types-sensors/
Together with the peripheral equipment—such as magnetic or solid-state storage disks, input-output devices, and
telecommunications gear—these constitute the hardware of information systems.
2. COMPUTER SOFTWARE
Computer software falls into two broad classes: system software and application software. The principal system
software is the operating system. It manages the hardware, data and program files, and other system resources
and provides means for the user to control the computer, generally via a graphical user interface (GUI). Application
software is programs designed to handle specific tasks for users.
Smartphone apps became a common way for individuals to access information systems. Other examples include
general-purpose application suites with their spreadsheet and word-processing programs, as well as “vertical”
applications that serve a specific industry segment—for instance, an application that schedules, routes, and tracks
package deliveries for an overnight carrier. Larger firms use licensed applications developed and maintained by
specialized software companies, customizing them to meet their specific needs, and develop other applications in-
house or on an outsourced basis.
Companies may also use applications delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS) from the cloud over the Web.
Proprietary software, available from and supported by its vendors, is being challenged by open-source software
available on the Web for free use and modification under a license that protects its future availability.
3. TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Telecommunications are used to connect, or network, computer systems and portable and wearable devices and
to transmit information. Connections are established via wired or wireless media.
Wired technologies include coaxial cable and fibre optics.
Wireless technologies, predominantly based on the transmission of microwaves and radio waves, support mobile
computing.
Pervasive information systems have arisen with the computing devices embedded in many different physical
objects.
For example, sensors such as radio frequency identification devices (RFIDs) can be attached to products moving
through the supply chain to enable the tracking of their location and the monitoring of their condition. Wireless
sensor networks that are integrated into the Internet can produce massive amounts of data that can be used in
seeking higher productivity or in monitoring the environment.
Various computer network configurations are possible, depending on the needs of an organization. Local area
networks (LANs) join computers at a particular site, such as an office building or an academic campus. Metropolitan
area networks (MANs) cover a limited densely populated area and are the electronic infrastructure of “smart
cities.” Wide area networks (WANs) connect widely distributed data centres, frequently run by different
organizations. Peer-to-peer networks, without a centralized control, enable broad sharing of content. The Internet
is a network of networks, connecting billions of computers located on every continent.
A massive “Internet of things” has emerged, as sensors and actuators have been widely distributed in the physical
environment and are supplying data, such as acidity of a square yard of soil, the speed of a driving vehicle, or the
blood pressure of an individual. The availability of such information enables a rapid reaction when necessary as
well as sustained decision making based on processing of the massive accumulated data.
Extensive networking infrastructure supports the growing move to cloud computing, with the information-system
resources shared among multiple companies, leading to utilization efficiencies and freedom in localization of the
data centres. Software-defined networking affords flexible control of telecommunications networks with
algorithms that are responsive to real-time demands and resource availabilities.
4. DATABASES AND DATA WAREHOUSES
Information systems are primarily delivery vehicles for data stored in databases. A database is a collection of
interrelated data organized so that individual records or groups of records can be retrieved to satisfy various
criteria.
Examples of databases include employee records and product catalogs.
Data warehouses contain the archival data, collected over time, that can be mined for information in order to
develop and market new products, serve the existing customers better, or reach out to potential new customers.
Massive collection and processing of the quantitative, or structured, data, as well as of the textual data often
gathered on the Web, has developed into a broad initiative known as “big data.”
Many benefits can arise from decisions based on the facts reflected by big data. Big data enables innovative
business models. For example, a commercial firm collects the prices of goods by crowdsourcing (collecting from
numerous independent individuals) via smartphones around the world.
5. HUMAN RESOURCES AND PROCEDURES
Qualified people are a vital component of any information system. Technical personnel include development and
operations managers, business analysts, systems analysts and designers, database administrators, programmers,
computer security specialists, and computer operators.
Procedures for using, operating, and maintaining an information system are part of its documentation. For
example, procedures need to be established to run a payroll program, including when to run it, who is authorized
to run it, and who has access to the output.
TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Information systems support operations, knowledge work, and management in organizations. Functional
information systems that support a specific organizational function, such as marketing or production, have been
supplanted in many cases by cross-functional systems built to support complete business processes, such as order
processing or employee management.
1. OPERATIONAL SUPPORT AND ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS
Transaction processing systems support the operations through which products are designed, marketed, produced,
and delivered. In larger organizations, transaction processing is frequently accomplished with large integrated
systems known as enterprise systems. For example, an individual or another business may submit a custom order
over the Web that automatically initiates just-in-time production to the customer’s specifications through an
approach known as mass customization.
Transaction processing systems accumulate the data in databases and data warehouses that are necessary for the
higher-level information systems. Enterprise systems also provide software modules needed to perform many of
these higher-level functions.
2. Support of knowledge work
A large proportion of work in an information society involves manipulating abstract information and knowledge
(understood in this context as an organized and comprehensive structure of facts, relationships, theories, and
insights) rather than directly processing, manufacturing, or delivering tangible materials.
Three general categories of information systems support such knowledge work: professional support systems,
collaboration systems, and knowledge management systems.
1. Professional support systems
Professional support systems offer the facilities needed to perform tasks specific to a given profession. For example,
automotive engineers use computer-aided engineering (CAE) software together with virtual reality systems to
design and test new models as electronic prototypes for fuel efficiency, handling, and passenger protection before
producing physical prototypes, and later they use CAE in the design and analysis of physical tests.
2. Collaboration systems
The main objectives of collaboration systems are to facilitate communication and teamwork among the members
of an organization and across organizations. One type of collaboration system, known as a workflow system, is used
to route relevant documents automatically to all appropriate individuals for their contributions.
3. Knowledge management systems
Knowledge management systems provide a means to assemble and act on the knowledge accumulated throughout
an organization. Such knowledge may include the texts and images contained in patents, design methods, best
practices, competitor intelligence, and similar sources, with the elaboration and commentary included.
