Chapter 1 System Concepts

Announcement The Pre-lab must be completed before lab. Let me show you what to do…

What have we learned so far… Microsoft Word (a word processor) What kind of Information System is it?

What have we learned so far… Turbo Tax What kind of Information System is it?

What is a System? Set of inter-related components with a clearly defined boundary Working together to achieve objectives

Simple Example Heating System Objective: Control the temperature inside a building Components: Furnace Thermostat Building Fuel

General Components Every system has some form of Input, and Output Processing is often required to transform the input to output Systems have some point of Control Systems often provide Feedback

Simple Example Heating System Input: Fuel Source, Desired Temperature, Actual Temperature Processing: If Actual Temp. < Desired then burn fuel to produce heat Output: Heat or no heat (depending on Input)

Simple Example Q: In a heating system, what could trigger the furnace to turn on? Q: In a heating system, what could trigger the furnace to turn off?

Feedback Feedback is data about the performance of a system. Example: Data about sales performance is feedback to a sales manager In a heating system, feedback would be the change +/- of the actual temperature.

Control Control involves monitoring and evaluating the feedback to determine whether the system is achieving its goals. Heating System Example: Goal: keep the building at 65 degrees Feedback: Temp falls to 62. Control: Turn on or turn up the furnace.

Control & Feedback A thermostat is a control unit of a heating system. Makes control decisions based on feedback. Good systems have self-monitoring control built into them (Cybernetic). Imagine trying to regulate the temperature in a room without a thermostat.

Important Terminology Cybernetic System Sub-system Open System Closed System Adaptive System System Parameter System Variable

Business Systems An Information System helps process Input into Output but it is also the backbone for directing feedback to Management (Control)

Information System Components These are the 5 components of an IS These are IS Activities In some sense providing Feedback is the primary objective of all these components and activities

Discussion Questions Is Microsoft Word really an information system? What is it missing that is so important to information systems? Is Microsoft Word a business information system? Is Turbo Tax an information system? Is Turbo Tax a business information system?

Conclusions about Word Word can best be described as office productivity software. It makes creating and printing documents easier (Purpose) It could be uses as part of a larger information system. Outlook can use Word to edit s. Word really doesn’t provided feedback in the formal sense. Also, it has tons of uses that are not business related. Its really not a business information system So, I wouldn’t put it in any category.

Conclusions about TurboTax Paying your taxes is a transaction and TurboTax is specifically designed to make this transaction easier (Purpose). The IRS has integrated it with their internal systems to facilitate data entry and accounting. While it provides users with info that helps them make selections, these are not really decisions…but rather correct or incorrect repsonses. It is most correct to think of Turbo Tax an important part of a bigger TPS system.