An Information System(IS) supports activities in a business process (BP), by facilitating the flow of information, automating tasks, and enabling decision-making. It integrates various components including IT, people, and procedures to streamline business activities, improve efficiency, and enhance effectiveness of the business process. Ultimately, an IS contributes to the organisation’s objectives and helps achieve competitive advantage.
IS vs. IT
Information systems is an umbrella term for the system, procedures, and people to create, store, manipulate and disseminate information. Information technology falls under the IS umbrella, it deals with the technology involved in the systems themselves.
IT typically includes hardware, software, and databases. IT focuses on managing technology and improving its utilisation to advance the overall business goals.
An IT specialist’s primary focus is on the technology infrastructure that supports the business; an IS specialist is more concerned with how IT is used to manage information and support business processes, making sure that the organisation’s data is effectively organised and used to drive business success.
Five components of IS
Hardware The tangible and physical portion of an information system, such as servers for processing data, computers used by the people to interact with the system; network devices such as routers and switches; storage devices such as hard drives and SSDs.
Software Softwares are programs and applications that runs on the hardware to perform specific tasks. They can be operating systems such as Windows and MacOS; business applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems; Database Management Systems (DBMS) that organise and manage data.
Data You can think of data as a collections of raw facts and figures that are processed to generate useful information. For example customer data like their names and email addresses; financial data such as sales figures and expenses; inventory data such as stock levels.
Procedure Procedures are the policies, processes that governs the operation and use of the IS to achieve a desired outcome or goal. Today, information systems are not just for streamlining business activities; they are increasingly integrated with business processes to deliver greater value and provide companies competitive advantages.
Here are some examples to demonstrate the five components.
Benefits of IT use in BPs
- More accurate information
- BPs draw on databases, which ensure accurate information across many activities and BPs.
- More automated
- Some activities that were manual before can be automated.
- More streamlined
- Enterprise applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can facilitate quick hand-over of activities between workplaces.
- More efficient
- All of the above together can lead to significantly reduced cost.
Roles in a IS project team
In a information system project team, there four main roles:
- Business analyst
- Analyse the key business aspect of the system
- Identify how the system will provide business value
- Design new business processes and polices
- System analyst
- Identify how technology can improve business processes
- Design the new business processes
- Design the information system
- Ensure the system conforms to the information system standards
- Infrastructure analyst
- Ensure the system conforms to infrastructure standards
- Identify the infrastructure changes needed to support the system
- Change management analyst
- Develop and execute a change management plan
- Develop and execute a user training plan
- Project manager
- Manage the team of analysts, programmers, technical writers and other specialists
- Develop and monitor the project plan
- Assign resources
- Serve as the primary point of contact for the project
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