1. 18-1 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Information and the Manager’s Job Data  Raw, unsummarized, and unanalyzed facts. Information  Data that are organized in a meaningful fashion

2. 18-2 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Factors Affecting the Usefulness of Information Figure 18.1

3. 18-3 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin What is Information Technology? Information Technology – set of techniques for acquiring, organizing, storing, manipulating, and transmitting information

4. 18-4 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin What is Information Technology? Management Information System – specific form of IT that managers utilize to generate the specific, detailed information they need to perform their roles effectively

5. 18-5 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Information and Control Managers achieve control by: establishing measurable goals, measuring actual performance, compare actual performance with goals, take any corrective action Managers must have information to achieve control over any organizational activity

6. 18-6 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Information and Coordination Coordination problems that managers face in managing global supply chains are increasing Managers have adopted sophisticated IT that helps them coordinate the flow of materials, semifinished goods, and finished goods throughout the world

7. 18-7 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin The Information Technology Revolution The Tumbling Price of Information  The cost of computer hardware has dropped dramatically while the power of computers has risen sharply.

8. 18-8 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin The Information Technology Revolution Computer Networks  Networking The exchange of information through a group or network of interlinked computers Servers are powerful computers that relay information to client computers connected on a Local Area Network (LAN). Mainframes are large computers processing vast amounts of information. The Internet is a world wide network of computers.

9. 18-9 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Software Developments Operating system software – software that tells computer hardware how to run Applications software – software designed for a specific task or use Artificial intelligence – behavior performed by a machine that, if performed by a human being, would be called intelligent

10. 18-10 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Types of Information Systems Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)  Systems designed to handle large volumes of routine transactions. Were the first computer-based information systems handling billing, payroll, and supplier payments. Operations Information Systems (OIS)  Systems that gather, organize, and summarize comprehensive data in a form of value to managers. Can help managers with non-routine decisions such as customer service and productivity.

11. 18-11 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Types of Information Systems Decision Support Systems (DSS)  Provide interactive models to help managers make non-routine decisions. Analyzes investment potential, new product pricing.  Executive Support System (ESS) Sophisticated version of a DSS matched a top manager’s needs.  Group Decision Support System An executive support system that links top managers so that they can function as a team.

12. 18-12 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Types of Information Systems Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence  Employ human knowledge embedded in a computer to solve problems usually requiring human expertise. Uses artificial Intelligence to recognize, formulate, solve problems, and learn from experience.

13. 18-13 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Types of Information Systems Enterprise Resource Planning Systems – multi-module application software packages that coordinate the functional activities necessary to move products from the product design stage to the final customer stage

14. 18-14 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Types of Information Systems E-Commerce Systems – Trade that takes place between companies, and between companies and individual customers, using IT and the Internet

15. 18-15 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Types of E-Commerce Business-to-business (B2B) – trade that takes place between companies using IT and the Internet to link and coordinate the value chains of different companies B2B marketplace – Internet-based trading platform set up to connect buyers and sellers in an industry

16. 18-16 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin Types of E-Commerce Business-to-customer (B2C) – trade that takes place between a company and individual customers using IT and the Internet

17. 18-17 © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill/Irwin How Computer-Based Information Systems Affect the Organizational Hierarchy Figure 18.5