UNIT-I

Q:1- What is Information System? Give the components of

Information system.
Ans: An information system has a set of interrelated components that
collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to
support decision making and control in an organization. For Ex:
ATMs, airline reservation systems.
An information system has an organized combination of People,
Hardware and Software, Communication networks, Data resources
and Policies and procedures. Therefore, information system is stores,
retrieves, transforms, and disseminates information in an organization.
The Information System transforms the input of data resources into an
output of information and its products. The processed data as
information shall be stored for further uses.

There are Various components of Information Systems such as

Data, Hardware, Software, Telecommunications and network, People
and Procedures.
Data: Input that the system takes to produce information.
Hardware: A computer and its peripheral equipment: input, output,
and storage devices. Hardware includes data communication
equipment

Software: Set of instructions that tell the computer how to take data
in, how to process it, how to display information, and how to store
data and information.
Telecommunications and network: Hardware and software that
facilitate fast transmission and reception of text, pictures, sound and
animation in the form of electronic data.
People: Information systems professionals and users who analyse
organisational information needs, design and construct information
systems, write computer programs, operate the hardware, and
maintain software.
Procedures: Rules for achieving optimal and secure operations in
data processing. Procedures include priorities in dispensing software
applications and security measures.
Q:2- Give The Classification of Information Systems.
There are different types of information system being uses in the
organization. Which are all differs and identified as based on
organizational level, Based on functional area of Management,
Based on decision making condition. However information system
can generally categorize based on the level of a system and the types
of functions it performed.

Based on Organizational level: There are different types of

information system on the basis of organizational level
Strategic Information System: Information System that
support the long range planning activities of top level
management.
Knowledge Information System: Information System that
support knowledge and data workers in an organization.
Tactical Information System: An information system that
monitors and support the middle level organization and
management in decision making.
Operational information System: An information system that
monitor the elementary activities and transaction of the
organization.
Based on Functional Area: A typical business organization have
different functional area such as production, Marketing, Finance and
Accounting, Human resource and Management, and logistic and
purchase management.
Financial and Accounting Information System: A Financial
information system contain control to determine adherence to
standards, Investment decision etc.
Marketing Information System: Marketing information
system develop through the input data sources, such as external
data, sale data and marketing intelligence, marketing research,
and market decision support analysis through MIS workstation.
Production Information System(PIS): Production information
system has occupied a central role in the manufacturing
information system.
Based on decision making condition:
Transaction Process system: An information system that
captures and processes data about business transaction. TPS
supports day-to-day operation by managing detailed records.

 Executive Information System: An information system that

supports the planning and assessment needs of executive
managers. EIS is one of the organizational information system
which support at top level management that too in the structural
decision condition. The primary role of is to obtain data from a
verity of sources, integrates and aggregate the data and display
the result to the top level management for all structural decision.
Management Information System: Management information
system is one among the various types of information system. It
is a computer system at the management level of an organization
that serve the functions of planning, controlling & decision
making by providing routine summary and exception reports.
Decision support system: DSS are intended to help the
manager in their decision making at unstructured or nonprogrammed decisions. It is a computer system management
level of an organization that combines data and sophisticated
analytical modes to support semistructured and unstructured
decision making.
Q-3: How the effectiveness of an information system is ascertained?
Ans:
1-More Efficient and effective corporate planning: Planning
a MIS forces the management to evaluate it needs, resources and
problem. The MIS planning and implementation stage should
accomplish the following:
Enable the company to decide where it is now and where it
want to be at certain time in future.
Redefine the real problem of the organization and how to
use the information system to solve them.
Eliminate inefficient policies and procedures.
Redesign organizational reporting responsibility.
2- Improve Communication through-out the organization:
Top management must be involve in and initiated planning
process from its level down to the operating levels of the
organization.

3- Values from Independent Consultant: Independent

consultants are able to provide:
The initial feed-back as a how the company currently
operates and uncovered problems.
To recommends the step to be taken in planning and
designing the problems. The discussion should be with the
companys system committee.
Systems analysis and the feasibility studies relating to the
data processing.
4- Streamlined Information requirements: Planning and
design of the information, therefore, often become a tool for
eliminating unnecessary and wasteful practices that drain
Company resources
5- Quicker Responses time and their internal control: A well
organized MIS allows management to be flexible in reacting to
the day to day need of the organization. For the purpose of
critical analysis planned information can adjust to the changing
demand of the management.
Q-4: Identify the advantages and disadvantages of CASE tools.
Ans: The advantages of CASE tools are that they can produce
systems with a longer effective operational life that more closely meet
user requirements, can speed up the development process and result in
systems that are more flexible and adaptable to changing business
conditions, and can produce systems with excellent documentation.
The disadvantages are that CASE tools can produce initial systems
that are more expensive to build and maintain, require more extensive
and accurate definition of user needs and requirements, are difficult to
customize, and may be difficult to use with existing systems.

Q-5: What is the need of Information System?

Managers make decisions. Decision-making generally takes a fourfold path:

Understanding the need for decision or the opportunity

Preparing alternative course of actions,
Evaluating all alternative course of actions,
Deciding the right path for implementation.

MIS is an information system that provides information in the form of

standardized reports and displays for the managers. MIS is a broad
class of information systems designed to provide information needed
for effective decision making.
Data and information created from an accounting information system
and the reports generated thereon are used to provide accurate, timely
and relevant information needed for effective decision making by
managers.
Management information systems provide information to support
management decision making, with the following goals:
Pre-specified and pre-planned reporting to managers.
Interactive and ad-hoc support for decision making.
Critical information for top management.
MIS is of vital importance to any organization, because:
It emphasizes on the management decision making, not only
processing of data generated by business operations.
It emphasizes on the systems framework that should be used for
organizing information systems applications.
Q-6: What is the Importance of Information Systems in an
Organization
Ans: To gain the maximum benefits from your company's information
system, you have to exploit all its capacities. Information systems
gain their importance by processing the data from company inputs to
generate information that is useful for managing your operations. To
increase the information system's effectiveness, you can either add
more data to make the information more accurate or use the
information in new ways.

Communication:

Operations:

Decisions:

Part of management is gathering and

distributing information, and information systems
can make this process more efficient by allowing
managers to communicate rapidly. Email is quick
and effective, but managers can use information
systems even more efficiently by storing
documents in folders that they share with the
employees who need the information. This type of
communication lets employees collaborate in a
systematic way. Each employee can communicate
additional information by making changes that the
system tracks. The manager collects the inputs
and sends the newly revised document to his
target audience.
How you manage your company's
operations depends on the information you have.
Information systems can offer more complete and
more recent information, allowing you to operate
your company more efficiently. You can use
information systems to gain a cost advantage over
competitors or to differentiate yourself by offering
better customer service. Sales data give you
insights about what customers are buying and let
you stock or produce items that are selling well.
The company information system can help
you make better decisions by delivering all the
information you need and by modeling the results
of your decisions. A decision involves choosing a
course of action from several alternatives and
carrying out the corresponding tasks. When you

have accurate, up-to-date information, you can

make the choice with confidence. If more than one
choice looks appealing, you can use the
information system to run different scenarios. For
each possibility, the system can calculate key
indicators such as sales, costs and profits to help
you determine which alternative gives the most
beneficial result.

Your company needs records of its activities

for financial and regulatory purposes as well as for
finding the causes of problems and taking
corrective action. The information system stores
documents and revision histories, communication
records and operational data. The trick to
exploiting this recording capability is organizing the
data and using the system to process and present
it as useful historical information. You can use such
information to prepare cost estimates and
forecasts and to analyze how your actions affected
the key company indicators.
Records:

Q-7:
Explain
approaches.

Information

system

development

Ans:
Approach

What?

When?

Why?

Why not?

SDLC

Building the system

by completing 6
stages sequentially:

Medium to
large
mainframebased systems

1.Structured

1.Time
consuming

2.Formal
2.Costly

1. Project Definition

3.Inflexible

2. Systems Study
3. Design
4. Programming
5. Installation
6. Post
implementation
Prototyping

End-user
Developmen
t

Building an
experimental system
quickly and cheaply

Building the system

by end-users with
little or no formal
technical assistance

Unclear user
requirements

Personal &
small
applications

1.User
involvement

1.Poor system
quality

2.Fast

2.Lack of
standard

1.No
misunderstandin
g

1.Limited
scope

2.Fast

2.Loss of
control

Systems development life cycle (SDLC)

The systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the
application development life-cycle, is a term used in systems
engineering, information systems and software engineering to
describe a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an
information system. The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is
the traditional systems development method used by most
organizations today. The SDLC is a structured framework that
consists of sequential processes by which information systems are
developed. these include systems investigation, systems analysis,
systems design, programming, testing, implementation, operation, and
maintenance. In the past, developers used the waterfall approach to
the SDLC, in which tasks in one stage were completed before the
work proceeded to the next stage.

1-Systems Investigation: Systems development professionals agree

that the more time invested in understanding the business problem to
be solved, in understanding technical options for systems, and in
understanding problems that are likely to occur during development,
the greater the chance of actually successfully solving the (correct)
problem. So there are several types of Feasibility studies comes under
this such as:
Technical feasibility: determines if the hardware, software, and
communications components can be developed and/or
acquired to solve the business problem.
Economic feasibility: determines if the project is an acceptable
financial risk and if the organization can afford the expense and
time needed to complete the project.
Behavioral feasibility: addresses the human issues of the
project. All systems development projects introduce change into
the organization, and people generally fear change. In fact,
employees may overtly or covertly resist a new system.

A more positive and pragmatic concern of behavioral feasibility

is assessing the skills and training needs that often accompany a
new information system.
2-System analysis: Systems analysis is the examination of the
business problem that the organization plans to solve with an
information system. This stage defines the business problem,
identifies its causes, specifies the solution, and identifies the
information requirements that the solution must satisfy
The systems analysis stage produces the following information:
Strengths and weaknesses of the existing system
Functions that the new system must have to solve the business
problem
User information requirements for the new system
3-Systems Design
Systems analysis describes what a system must do to solve the
business problem, and systems design describes how the system will
accomplish this task. The deliverable of the systems design phase is
the technical design that specifies the following:
System outputs, inputs, and user interfaces
Hardware, software, databases, telecommunications, personnel,
and procedures
How these components are integrated
Systems design encompasses two major aspects of the new system:
Logical systems design states what the system will do, with
abstract specifications.
Physical systems design states how the system will perform its
functions, with actual physical specifications.
4- Programming: Programming involves the translation of the design
specifications into computer code. Systems developers utilize the
design specifications to acquire the software needed for the system to
meet its functional objectives and solve the business problem.

5- Testing: Testing is designed to detect errors (bugs) in the

computer code. These errors are of two types: syntax errors and logic
errors. Syntax errors (e.g., a misspelled word or a misplaced comma)
are easier to find and will not permit the program to run. Logic errors
permit the program to run, but result in incorrect output.
6- Implementation: Implementation is the process of converting
from the old system to the new system.
7- Maintenance: Systems need several types of maintenance. The
first type is debugging the program, a process that continues
throughout the life of the system. The second type is updating the
system to accommodate changes in business conditions.

Alternative Method for System Development

Most organizations use the traditional systems development life cycle
because it has three major advantages: control, accountability, and
error detection. An important issue in systems development is that the
later in the development process that errors are detected, the more
expensive they are to correct. The structured sequence of tasks and
milestones in the SDLC thus makes error detection easier and saves
money in the long run.
However, the SDLC does have disadvantages. By its structured
nature, it is relatively inflexible. It is also time-consuming, expensive,
and discourages changes to user requirements once they have been
established.

Prototyping
Prototyping is a process of building an experimental system for
quickly and inexpensively for demonstration and evaluation so that
users can better determine information requirement.
A model prototyping was identified in the design of information
system as one of the more effective model. Prototyping is technique
for quickly building a functioning but incomplete model of the
information system using rapidly application development tools.

Advantages and Disadvantages of prototyping Model:

Advantages:
speeds up the development process
prototyping gives users the opportunity to clarify their
information requirements as they review iterations of the new
system
useful in the development of decision support systems and
executive information systems
Disadvantages:
systems analysts may not produce adequate documentation for
the programmers

 lack of documentation can lead to problems after the system

becomes operational and needs maintenance
Prototyping can only simulate system functionality and are
incomplete in nature.

End User Development

The development of an information system by the managers or
management themselves with little or no formal assistance of
technical specialists by using sophisticated computers, software,
graphics and operating system tools is called End-User
Development System. It is one of the model of information system
where as organizations people are affordable to develop their own
system. The end user can access data, create data, and report, and
develop entire information system without support of system
analysts and professionals.

Q: Wright down Characteristics of Good Management

Information Systems.
Ans: Some of the characteristics of good information are discussed as follows:
i. Understandable:

Since information is already in a summarized form, it must be understood by the receiver so

that he will interpret it correctly. He must be able to decode any abbreviations, shorthand
notations or any other acronyms contained in the information.
ii. Relevant:

Information is good only if it is relevant. This means that it should be pertinent and
meaningful to the decision maker and should be in his area of responsibility.
iii. Complete:

It should contain all the facts that are necessary for the decision maker to satisfactorily solve
the problem at hand using such information. Nothing important should be left out. Although
information cannot always be complete, every reasonable effort should be made to obtain it.
iv. Available:

Information may be useless if it is not readily accessible in the desired form, when it is
needed. Advances in technology have made information more accessible today than ever
before.

v. Reliable:

The information should be counted on to be trustworthy. It should be accurate, consistent

with facts and verifiable. Inadequate or incorrect information generally leads to decisions of
poor quality. For example, sales figures that have not been adjusted for returns and refunds
are not reliable.
vi. Concise:

Too much information is a big burden on management and cannot be processed in time and
accurately due to bounded rationality. Bounded rationality determines the limits of the
thinking process which cannot sort out and process large amounts of information.
Accordingly, information should be to the point and just enough no more, no less.
vii. Timely:

Information must be delivered at the right time and the right place to the right person.
Premature information can become obsolete or be forgotten by the time it is actually needed.
Similarly, some crucial decisions can be delayed because proper and necessary information is
not available in time, resulting in missed opportunities. Accordingly the time gap between
collection of data and the presentation of the proper information to the decision maker must
be reduced as much as possible.
viii. Cost-effective:

The information is not desirable if the solution is more costly than the problem. The cost of
gathering data and processing it into information must be weighed against the benefits
derived from using such information.