IT1104 – Information Systems and Technology

LESSON 1- Introduction to Information Systems

Instructional Objectives

Students will be able to:
• Distinguish data from information
• Describe the characteristics used to evaluate the quality of information
• Identify system concepts
• Differentiate various types of systems
• Name the components of an information system
• Briefly explain the activities of an IS
• Recognize the components of a computer based information system
• List out the basic types of business information systems
• Identify the role of IS in business and the management challenges
• Describe the importance of studying information systems

Overview:

Information Systems exist in our environment with or without our
knowledge. Sometimes, we do not recognize a particular thing
as an information system and they appear as a good or service
in the neighborhood. For example, a bus timetable or train
timetable which you must know if you are planning to use the
public transport service to travel regularly or occasionally. These
timetables provide information which is very useful to a particular
local community and they are some form of output of a
particular system maintained in a bus or railway company. It is important to mention that
computers are not essential to produce these outputs (i.e. bus/train timetables) or maintain
such a system (i.e. a transport system) in an organization. However, if computers are used in
a system, they will definitely add value to the system.


Question: How computers could add a big value to a system maintained by a transport
company?

Answer: One example would be time taken to produce a report which presents the
schedule and actual transport offered by the company during a particular period of a day.
The management may want to see this report several times a day but may not be possible if
the company maintains a manual way of recording their services and producing an output.
In fact, it will be hard to get a daily report in the early morning when the company starts the
business. A clerk who works in this transport company, may request another half a day to
produce the report by analyzing records of previous day.
In the module of Information Systems and Technologies, we will
study details of Information Systems and how information
technology is used to make these information systems an
effective to tool for all those people who are interested in it.

NOTE: Those who are interested in an information system are
identified as stakeholders of an information system.