Chapter 1: Importance of Information Systems
What is MIS?
Management information systems
What is a business process?
A sequence of activities for accomplishing a function.
What are the important characteristics of processes in organizations?
Stability of Flow, Scope, Objectives, and Location in Value Chain
What is collaboration?
Social activity, doing it as a team
What is the paper game?
Simulation that introduces students to the business process and the flow of information through a paper-based business simulation.
What is a competitive strategy?
The strategy an organization chooses as the way it will succeed in its industry.
What is an information system?
A group of components that interact to produce information
How can management improve processes?
Classify objectives: either effective or efficient
Make unstated assumptions explicit
Match objectives to strategy
What are the objectives of the collaboration process?
Effectiveness:
Product objective, Team objective, Individual objective
Efficiency:
Time and cost
How do you calculate your Net Worth?
Net Worth= Accounts receivable + Cash + Inventory value - Accounts Payable
What are the five forces determine industry structure?
Threat of substitutions, threat of new entrants, existing rivals, bargaining power of suppliers, and bargaining power of customers
What is information?
Knowledge derived from data
How can process management principles improve processes?
Improve an activity, improve data flow among activities, improve control activities, use automation, and improve procedures.
What are the key components of a collaboration IS?
Hardware, Software, Data, Procedures, and People
What is the difference between absolute and relative cell referencing?
Relative: changes when a formula is copied to another cell
Absolute: formula stays constant throughout
How does competitive strategy determine business processes and information systems?
Organizations analyze their industry and choose a competitive strategy. Given the strategy, they examine the value chain and design the business processes that span value-generating activities. Those processes determine the scope and requirements of each organization's information systems.
What are the necessary data characteristics?
Accurate, Timely, Relevant, Just sufficient, and Worth the cost
How do process teams diagram process improvement?
Improve activity, remove unproductive resources, improve feedback, remove bottleneck, redesign the structure, and outsource activity
What is social media?
Support the creation and sharing of user generated content
What is Excel?
Excel calculates, lists, and charts with little effort
What Information Systems would support your Paper business?
Management Information Systems
How do structured and dynamic processes vary?
Structured: formally defined, standardized processes
Dynamic: less specific, more adaptive, and even intuitive
How can an IS hinder a process?
Information silo: the data needed for a process activity is unavailable because it is stored in an isolated, separated information system.
How do businesses manage the risk of social media?
Disclose, Protect, and Use Common Sense
How do you find the sum, average, minimum, and maximum for selected cells?
SUM, AVERAGE, MIN, and MAX