1. Types of Information Systems
MBA 572
Craig K. Tyran
Fall 2002

2. A. Game Plan Introduction Transaction vs. Analytical Processing
Types of information systems

3. B. Introduction Who cares?
Useful to become reacquainted with the range of capabilities of IS
And … the related acronyms
OLAP, TPS, MIS, DSS, ES, ERP, …
Also important to refresh on the relationships between different types of systems

4. C. Transaction vs. Analytical Processing
Online transaction processing (OLTP)
What is a business “transaction”?
Example???
An OLTP type of system captures new info, does basic processing, updates existing info
e.g., bar code scanner, calculation of check-out bill
Online analytical processing (OLAP)
An OLAP system manipulates info to support decision making
e.g., a “what-if” spreadsheet model, a database query, data mining

5. D. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
Emerged in the early days of IS
Collect, store, and process transactions
Perform routine, repetitive tasks
Found in all functions of an organization
At the very heart of every organization
Used as the source of data for other systems
If TPS fails, the whole organization may suffer!!!

6. Order Entry TPS

7. D. Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) – cont.
2. Other examples of TPS
???
3. OLTP or OLAP??

8. E. Management Information Systems (MIS)
Evolution of IS types …
MIS followed TPS
MIS
Provide periodic and routine reports
e.g., summary reports, exception reports, comparison reports
Alternate name: “Management Alerting Systems”
Alert managers to problems/opportunities
A very common management tool … but
Some managers get swamped with lots of paper (or electronic reports)
3. Note: For those that know MS Access
You have probably created customized MIS reports

9. MIS Example

10. Purchase Order Report (Created with MS Access)

11. E. Management Information Systems (Cont.)
4. OLTP or OLAP??
5. A MIS typically uses information that is stored in a database ...
Quick review: What type of IS may be used to capture the info in the first place???
What is the relationship between TPS and MIS?
TPS (captures/stores info)  MIS (uses info to create reports)

12. F. Decision Support Systems (DSS)
DSS are developed to support:
Complex and/or non routine decisions
“What if” analysis
DSS can be use to support people at all levels of an organization
Have you ever developed a DSS??

13. F. Decision Support Systems (cont.)
3. Examples
Car Loan DSS
MS Excel and VBA
“Cow culling” DSS at

14. DSS Example: Car Loan

15. DSS Example: Cow Culling

16. F. Decision Support Systems (cont.)
Do DSS replace human decision makers?
OLTP or OLAP?
Components of a DSS
Data management
Model management
User Interface management
Mail management

17. DSS Components

18. G. Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)
Designed to support/improve performance of teams
e.g., Group meetings
Include support for
Communication
Group decision making

19. G. Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)
2. OLTP or OLAP?

20. H. Expert Systems (ES) and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
ES and AI
“Intelligent” systems
Appear to replicate human thought processes of “experts”
Typically process facts, not numbers
Can be used to find patterns in data
Examples
Whale watcher demo at

22. H. Expert Systems (ES) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) (cont.)
2. Examples (cont.)
Other examples ? ?
3. OLTP or OLAP?

23. I. Focus of MBA 572
This course will focus on systems and topics related to OLAP
Support for management decision making
e.g., DSS, GDSS, ES, Data Warehouses, Executive Information Systems, etc.