MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM ASSIGNMENT

REVIEW OF CHAPTER 4 AND 5 OF THE BOOK MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Definition of Management Information System

Chapter four of the book Management Information System by Mallam Ibrahim Fari Okeji stressed on the Expanding Roles of Information Systems – the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s roles. The chapter also throw light on types of information systems and summarizes the major categories of information systems as below:

i. Operation support systems process data generated by business operations; Major categories are: Transactions processing system process data resulting from business transaction, update operational databases, and produce business

ii. Process Control Systems

iii. Enterprise Collaboration System

iv. Management Support Systems

v. Decision Support Systems

Other categories are:

i. Expert Systems

ii. Knowledge Management Systems

iii. Strategic Information Systems

iv. Business Information Systems

Conclusion:

In this chapter four, the book highlighted expanded role of information systems during the last 25years, several conceptual classifications of information systems and how the internet and intranets can support enterprise corroboration and knowledge management.

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS IN CHAPTER 4:

QUESTION:

1. In what major ways have the role of information systems expanded during the last 25 years

ANSWER:

Here are the major ways the role of information systems expanded during the last 25 years:

· Support of its business process and operations

· Support of decision making by its managers

· Support of its strategies for competitive advantages

Until the 1960s, the role of information systems was simple transaction processing record keeping., accounting and other electronic data processing (EDP) applications. In the 1980s, several new role for information systems appear. First, the rapid development of microcomputer processing power, application (NOTE, FROM THE TEXT BOOK PAGE 53, TYPE IN THE WRITE UP TO COMPLETE THIS QUESTION ONE HERE).

QUESTION:

2. How can the internet and intranets support enterprise corroboration and knowledge management?

ANSWER:

The Intranets and Extranets in Business

· The Intranet Revolution

Many businesses realize that intranets enable them to use Internet and World Wide Web technologies to support communication, collaboration, and business processes throughout the internetworked enterprise.

Intranet characteristics include:

1. An intranet is a network inside an organization that uses Internet technologies (such as web browsers and servers, TCP/IP network protocols, HTML hypermedia document publishing and databases, and so on) to provide an Internet-like environment within the enterprise for information sharing, communications, collaboration, and the support of business processes.

2. An intranet is protected by security measures such as passwords, encryption, and fire walls, and thus can be accessed by authorized users throughout the Internet.

3. A company’s intranet can also be accessed through the intranets of customers, suppliers, and other business partners via extranet links.

Applications of Intranets:

Organizations are implementing a broad range of intranet uses. Several common functional intranet business applications include:

1. Marketing

2. Finance

3. Human Resources

4. Sales

5. Manufacturing

6. Training

7. Customer Information

Intranet applications support communications and collaboration, web publishing, business operations and management, and intranet management. These applications can be integrated with existing IS resources and applications, and extended to customers, suppliers, and business partners.

· Communications and Collaboration

Intranets can significantly improve communications and collaboration within an enterprise. Examples include:

1. Using an intranet browser and PC or NC workstation to send and receive E-mail, voicemail, paging, and faxes to communicate with others within your organization, and externally through the Internet and extranets.

2. Use intranet groupware features to improve team and project collaboration with services such as discussion groups, chat rooms, and audio and videoconferencing.

· Web Publishing:

The advantages of developing and publishing hyperlinked multimedia documents to hypermedia databases accessible on World Wide Web servers has moved to corporate intranets. The comparative ease, attractiveness, and lower cost of publishing and accessing multimedia business information internally via intranet web sites has been one of the primary reasons for the explosive growth in the use of intranets in business. Examples include:

1. Company newsletters, technical drawings, and product catalogues can be published in a variety of ways including hypermedia and web pages, E-mail, net broadcasting, and as part of in-house business applications.

2. Intranet software browsers, servers, and search engines can help you easily navigate and locate the business information you need.

Business Operations and Management:

Intranets are being used as the platform for developing and deploying critical business applications to support business operations and managerial decision making across the internetworked enterprise. Employees within the company, or external business partners can access and run such applications using web browsers from anywhere on the network whenever needed. Examples include:

1. Many companies are developing customer applications like order processing, inventory

QUESTION:

3. Why are there several conceptual classifications of information systems?

ANSWER:

There is no any sure and certain way of information system which is perfect to each and every kind of organizations. Different nature of organizations has different ways of doing things and keeping the datas.As per the functions performed in organization information's are kept in different formats and order. So there are different conceptual classifications of information systems which vary as per the size, functions and structure of organization. These conceptual information systems help the management of the organization to decide about which system to follow in their organization, considering their functions, size and structure. These concepts of information systems are scientific and systematic as well as effective to use, in order to manage the information's available in the organization for the future prospect. In real world organizations need to analyze and store data's and information in order to use them at the time of need so they typically integrate these concepts of information system in their business so as to have reliable and smooth information management system which is more favorable to their kind of organization.

Review of Chapter 5 of same book “Management Information System by Mallam Ibrahim Fari Okeji:

In this chapter, Mallam Ibrahim Fari Okeji talked extensively on developing Information System Solution, starting the systems development process with; feasibility studies, analyzing the system, organizational analysis, analysis of the present system, functional requirements analysis, the user interface requirements, processing requirements, storage requirements, control requirements, etc…

Mallam Ibrahim Fari Okeji opines on implementing a new information system and the maintenance of information systems.

In summary, he stressed on the systems approach of problem solving, uses systems orientation to define problems and opportunities and to develops solutions.

Then at the end of chapter five, he asked the following questions which answers are to be provided:

Question:

1. Pick a task you would like to computerize. How would you use the steps of the information system development circle as illustrated in the chapter

Answers:

Using software programming as a task, here are the stages/steps of information system development cycle:

Project planning, feasibility study: I will establishe a high-level view of the intended project and determines its goals.

Systems analysis, requirements definition: I will refine project goals into defined functions and operation of the intended application. Analyzing end-user information needs.

Systems design: Here, I will describe desired features and operations in detail, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudocode and other documentation.

Implementation: The real code is written here.

Integration and testing: I will bring all the pieces together into a special testing environment, then checks for errors, bugs and interoperability.

Acceptance, installation, deployment: Here is my final stage of initial development, where the software is put into production and runs actual business.

Maintenance: What happens during the rest of the software's life: changes, correction, additions, moves to a different computing platform and more. This, the least glamorous and perhaps most important step of all, goes on seemingly forever.

Question:

2. What application software packages can be used by end users to help them develop business application on the internet and intranet website? Give several examples.

Answer:

Examples of end-user business application on the internet and intranet website are;

Java
CC+
Oracle
Dreamweaver
Web pages - plain HTML or HTML and scripting
Wikis - a collaborative end-user development process^{[citation needed]}
Web Mashups in the form of visual languages such as Yahoo! Pipes.
Visual query systems such as OptiqueVQS.
3D models created with end-user oriented tools and approaches such as Sketchup
Animation scripts used by graphic artists to describe characters, environments and how characters move to produce an intended animation
Configuration files that blur the line between programs and data (e.g., email filters are sequenced lists of criteria and actions to take)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

In the next edition, the Author should pay attention to typographical errors and arrangement. As some pages are missing in the text book, thereby making it difficult for reader to comprehend the portion that was missing. A prime example is the Chapter Five title is missing and I am very sure that other write-ups are missing too.