1. Information Systems in Organizations
Section A
Organizational Structure
CHAPTER 12
Information Systems in Organizations
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2. Organizational Structure 12
Section A
Organizational Structure
Chapter 12
Section PREVIEW
Section D
Section A
You will be able to:
Describe the activities that take place in a typical business
Provide examples of the computer’s role in TQM, employee empowerment, rightsizing, BPR, and e-commerce
Page 534

3. Organizational Structure 12
Section A
Organizational Structure
Chapter 12
Section A
An information system collects, maintains, and provides information to people.
An organization is a group of people working together to accomplish a goal.
Many organizations use computers to operate more effectively, gather information, and accomplish tasks.
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4. 12 Types of Organizations
What’s the difference between an organization and a business?
Chapter 12
Section A
An organization is a group of people working together toward a goal.
A business is an organization that seeks profit by providing goods and services.
The written expression of an organization’s mission is called a mission statement.
describes goals
way goals will be accomplished
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5. 12 Types of Organizations
What’s the difference between an organization and a business?
Chapter 12
Section A
Mission statements are published in corporate reports and on the Web.
Course Technology’s
mission statement
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6. 12 Organizational Activities
Are there activities that most organizations have in common?
Chapter 12
Section A
Most organizational activities can be classified into four functional groups as shown below.
Financial Management
Operations
Human Resources Management
Sales and Marketing
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7. 12 Organizational Activities
Are there activities that most organizations have in common?
Chapter 12
Section A
The primary activities of an organization are called production or operations.
Tracking the flow of money through an organization is referred to as accounting or financial management.
Advertising and promoting an organization are the jobs of sales and marketing or public relations.
Keeping track of employees is referred to human resources management.
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8. Trends and Challenges
Could an organization function without computers?
Chapter 12
Section A
Computers are an important aspect of organizational activities.
Organizations exist in a competitive environment where opportunities and threats abound.
In response to threats, an organization can:
become better at what it does
change the structure of an industry
create a new product or service
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9. Trends and Challenges
Could an organization function without computers?
Chapter 12
Section A
Automation is the use of electrical or mechanical devices to improve manufacturing or other processes.
Computerization - implementing a computer system in an organization
TQM (total quality management) is a strategy in which an organization makes a commitment to analyzing and improving the quality of its products and services.
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10. Trends and Challenges
Could an organization function without computers?
Chapter 12
Section A
Employee empowerment means giving employees the authority to make business decisions.
Rightsize means to find the most effective configuration for human and computer resources.
Business process redesign requires radical changes to existing business practices to achieve improvements in performance.
Just-in-time inventory management - a way to reduce inventory costs
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12. Information Systems in Organizations
Section B
People, Decisions and Information
CHAPTER 12
Information Systems in Organizations
Page 540

13. Section B 12 People, Decisions and Information Section PREVIEW
Chapter 12
Section PREVIEW
Section D
Section B
You will be able to:
Describe the information needs of executives, managers, and workers
Page 540

14. Section B 12 People, Decisions and Information
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
Every organization requires people.
Workers are the people who carry out the organization’s mission.
Managers determine organizational goals and plan what steps to take to achieve those goals.
both need to make decisions
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15. 12 Workers Do workers use information systems?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
A high percentage of workers use information systems and other computer or communications technologies.
Information workers - produce and manipulate information
Service workers - deliver services to customers
Goods workers - create and manipulate physical objects
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16. 12 Workers Do workers use information systems? Worker classification
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
Worker classification
in the organizational
pyramid
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17. 12 Managers What managerial tasks are enhanced by information systems?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
Executive managers - set long range goals for organization called strategic planning
Middle managers - design ways to achieve plans laid out by executive managers, known as tactical planning
Supervisors - deal primarily with day-to-day operations, known as operational planning
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18. 12 Problems and Decisions
How do workers and managers use information systems?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
To solve a problem, a worker must:
recognize the problem
devise possible solutions
select an action or solution
Problems
structured (every day, routine)
semi-structured (less routine, uncertain)
unstructured (require human intuition)
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19. 12 Problems and Decisions
How do workers and managers use information systems?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
Computer information systems help people solve structured, semi-structured, and unstructured problems.
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20. 12 Information Analysis Tools
Where do computers get information that they supply to workers and managers?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
Organizations generate internal information :
inventory
cash flow
personnel
stored in an information system
External information is collected from outside sources.
not permanently stored in information system
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21. 12 Information Analysis Tools
Where do computers get information that they supply to workers and managers?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
It is easy to collect external information using Internet resources and other communications capabilities.
Zacks Web site
provides information
about businesses
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22. 12 Information Analysis Tools
Where do computers get information that they supply to workers and managers?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
Most information systems produce a fixed set of reports (daily cash receipts).
Information analysis tools help people model problems then find a solution or decision.
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23. 12 Information Analysis Tools
Where do computers get information that they supply to workers and managers?
Chapter 12
Section B
Section B
Criterium
DecisionPlus
software
Page 546

25. Information Systems in Organizations
Section C
Information Systems
CHAPTER 12
Information Systems in Organizations
Page 547

26. Section C Information Systems 12 Section PREVIEW You will be able to:
Chapter 12
Section PREVIEW
Section D
Section C
You will be able to:
Provide examples of office automation that make significant improvements in ways that organizations operate
Describe the transaction processing systems that are typically used in businesses
Differentiate between an MIS and a DSS
Explain how an expert system works
Page 547

27. Section C Information Systems 12
Chapter 12
Section C
An information system must have one or more of the following components:
office automation system
transaction processing system
management information system
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28. Office Automation
Can an information system automate routine office tasks?
Chapter 12
Section C
An office automation system “automates” or computerizes, routine office tasks.
word processing software
spreadsheet software
scheduling software
software
Page 547

29. 12 Transaction Processing
How does an organization collect information on production or operations?
Chapter 12
Section C
In an information system context, a transaction is an event that requires a manual or computer-based activity.
A transaction processing system (TPS) keeps track of the transactions for an organization by providing a way to collect, store, display, modify, or cancel transactions.
Page 547

30. 12 Transaction Processing
How does an organization collect information on production or operations?
Chapter 12
Section C
Examples of transaction processing systems:
point of sale system records items purchased at each cash register
order-entry/invoice system provides a way to input, view, modify, and delete orders
general accounting system records financial status of business
e-commerce system - collects online orders and processes credit card payments
Page 547

31. 12 Transaction Processing
How does an organization collect information on production or operations?
Chapter 12
Section C
Data that is used by a transaction processing system is stored in files or databases
Transaction
processing
system
Page 548

32. 12 Management Information Systems
Can data collected by transaction be presented in a format conducive to decision making?
Chapter 12
Section C
Managers need sophisticated reports to help them understand and analyze data.
created by a management information system
Management information system can be a synonym for the term “information system” or refer to a type of information system.
characterized by production of routine reports that managers use for structured and routine tasks
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33. 12 Management Information Systems
Can data collected by transaction be presented in a format conducive to decision making?
Chapter 12
Section C
One of the major goals of an MIS is to increase the efficiency of managerial activity.
A managerial information system produces several types of reports.
Detail report - organized list
Summary report - combines or groups data
Exception report - show information outside normal or acceptable ranges
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34. 12 Decision Support Systems
Can managers get information about unanticipated problems?
Chapter 12
Section C
A decision report system (DSS) allows users to:
manipulate data directly
incorporate data from external sources
create data models and “what if” scenarios
designed to make non-routine decisions
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35. 12 Decision Support Systems
Can managers get information about unanticipated problems?
Chapter 12
Section C
A decision model is a numerical representation of a realistic situation.
A decision query is a question or set of instructions describing the data that needs to be gathered to make a decision.
A decision support system “supports” the decision maker but does not make the decision.
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36. 12 Expert Systems and Neural Networks
Do information systems ever make decisions?
Chapter 12
Section C
Information systems do not make decisions. The manager analyzes the data and reaches a decision.
An expert system, sometimes referred to as a “knowledge-based system”, is a computer system designed to analyze data and produce a recommendation or decision.
uses a set of facts or rules
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37. 12 Expert Systems and Neural Networks
Do information systems ever make decisions?
Chapter 12
Section C
Expert system
Page 553

38. 12 Expert Systems and Neural Networks
Do information systems ever make decisions?
Chapter 12
Section C
Knowledge base - set of facts and rules, stored in a computer file
manipulated by inference engine software
An expert system is not a general-purpose problem solver or decision maker.
An expert system shell is a software tool that helps in developing expert system applications.
contains an inference engine
expert system without rules
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39. 12 Expert Systems and Neural Networks
Do information systems ever make decisions?
Chapter 12
Section C
Expert systems are designed to deal with imprecise data or problems that have more than one solution.
Using a technique called fuzzy logic, an expert system can deal with imprecise data by asking for a level of confidence.
A neural network uses computer circuitry to simulate the way in which a brain might process information.
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41. Information Systems in Organizations
User Focus
Expert System Facts and Rules
CHAPTER 12
Information Systems in Organizations
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42. User Focus 12 Expert System Facts and Rules
Chapter 12
User Focus
An expert system has the ability to make inferences based on the rules and data in a knowledge base.
An expert system can “think for itself” to draw conclusions from a set of facts.
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43. 12 Facts How do I write the facts for a knowledge base?
Chapter 12
User Focus
A fact is a basic building block of a knowledge base.
Once facts are in a knowledge base, you can search through facts to produce an answer.
The way you write facts for a knowledge base depends on the development tool you use.
Predicate logic is a shorthand notation system used to construct your expert system.
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44. 12 Rules Can I use predicate logic for rules?
Chapter 12
User Focus
The way that you enter facts depends on the development tool you use.
most do not allow free-form English
too ambiguous
A development tool requires you to use IF...THEN format or predicate logic to write rule.
When creating an expert system, the goal is to hide all of the details of a decision from the user.
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