INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION

SYSTEMS
LESSON OBJECTIVES
Explain the term Information system.
Discuss the media types in presenting Information
Distinguish between manual and computerized
Information.
Discuss the types of information systems.
Describe the attributes of a good information
system.
Outline the processes (building blocks) for the
development of Information.
Distinguish among different types of Information.
Indicate the role of Information in society.
State the System Development Life Cycle.
 INFORMATION vs DATA

 Data are plain facts. The word data is plural for

datum.
 Data is the raw material that can be processed by any
computing device.
 Information is data that has been processed in such
a way that it meaningful to the person who receives
it.
 When data are processed, organized, structured or
presented in a given context so as to make them
useful, they are called information.
 This means that information always gives some idea
to the user and therefore is an important asset to an
organization.
 Some Basic concepts

Information
1.is that which inform.
2.It is also a process data which is meaningful.
3.Any data that is accurate, reliable, relevant, economical, complete,
timely, Verifiable and meaningful.
System
A system is a group of components working together to achieve a
common goal. Meaning that, in every system two or more
components have to work cordially before a task can be
accomplished.
 QUALITIES OF A GOOD INFORMATION
• Timeliness:
• Current:
• Accuracy
• Relevance
• Completeness
• Conciseness.
• Verifiable:
• Reliable.
• Meaningful
 QUALITIES OF A GOOD INFORMATION
• Timeliness: The information must reach the recipients within the given period. The
information should be available when needed.

• Current: The information should reflect current circumstances when provided. The
information should be up-to-date.

• Accuracy: The information is free from mistakes and errors, is clear and accurately
reflects the meaning of data on which it’s based.

• Relevance: The information supplied should be related to a particular situation and

should meet the information needs of the recipient. It must have logical connection to
issues at hand.

• Completeness: The information must be whole and should meet all it needs.
• Conciseness: The information needs of the recipient should be provided in the most
summarised form possible.

• Verifiable: The information must be confirmable and approvable.

• Reliable: It must be dependable, unfailing and trustworthy.
• Meaningful: The recipient must easily understand the information.
 CLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION

By Business Categorization – Strategic, Tactical, and

Operational.

By Framework within which it used – International, National,

Corporate, Departmental, and Individual.

By Time – Past, Present, and Future.

By Nature – Quantitative, and Qualitative.

By Source – Internal and External.

 By Business Categorization
1. Strategic Information: A strategic plan is a high-level overview
of the entire business information, its vision, objectives, and
value. This plan is the foundational basis of the organization and
will dictate decisions in the long-term.

2. Tactical Information: Tactical is a short range (short-term)

planning emphasizing the current operations of various parts of
the organization. Tactical information is in the areas of
production, marketing, personnel, finance and plant facilities.

3. Operational Information: Operational is the process of linking

strategic goals and objectives to tactical goals and objectives.
The operational Information describes the day-to-day running of
a company.
 By framework within which data is used
International Information: International means a company, language, or organization
involving more than a single country. It also means involvement of interaction between
or encompassing more than one nation, or beyond national boundaries.

National Information: National means relating to, or maintained by a nation as an

organized whole or independent political unit Peculiar or common to a whole people of
a country.

Corporate Information: A corporation is a company or group of people authorized to act

as a single entity (legal a person) and recognized as such in law

Departmental Information: A distinct part or a section of anything arranged in divisions.

A division of a complex whole or organized system dealing with a particular area of
activity. Information that is peculiar to the members of the department only.

Individual Information: An individual is a person. Individuality (selfhood) is the state or

quality of being an individual; particularly of being a person separate from other persons
and possessing his or her own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. Information
that pertains to a person and shared among individuals.
 By Time

1. Past Information: Information that is gone by time or elapsed

in time and longer existing

2. Present Information: Information that is existing or occurring

now. The present situation which is the period of time of an
occurrence.

3. Future Information: Information about a situation or event that

is will exist or happen in time to come
 By Nature

1. Quantitative Information: Is about quantities; that is

information that can be measured and written down with
numbers. For instance, 30 ICT students develop a simple
calculator software.

2. Qualitative Information: Is about qualities; information that

can’t be measured. For instance, ICT students develop a perfect
simple calculator software.
 By Source

1. Internal: Organizations internally generated data or

information. Example is Home Economics students
End of Semester results.

2. External: Information retrieved or generated outside

the organization. Example is Home Economics students
WASSCE results.
 PROCESSES (BUILDING BLOCKS) FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION OF
INFORMATION

1. Creating
2. Collecting
3. Organizing
4. Manipulating
5. Storing (saving), retrieving,
communicating
 PROCESSES (BUILDING BLOCKS) FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND
PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
1. Creating: Producing information to convoy message to readers should be done using
appropriate tools like the apps (software applications) and hardware devices relevant to
the creating of the information.

2. Collecting: Gathering together information from all sources: observations,

questionnaires, surveys, checklists, interviews, documentation review, case studies, etc.

3. Organizing: Enter any necessary data into the computer. This may mean simply typing
comments, descriptions, etc., into a word processing program, or entering various kinds
of information (possibly including audio and video) into a database, spreadsheet, etc.
Sort your information in ways appropriate to your interest.

4. Manipulating: Manipulation is how the information is corrected, shaped, handle,

controlled, etc. It is very important how both text and images are shaped in view of how
these affect users’ choices and decisions.

5. Storing (saving), retrieving, communicating: Saving/storing information is one best

practice of ensuring information security for future use and easy for retrieval. Devices
like flash drive/pen drive, External Hard disk, cloud saving (google drive, one drive,
iCloud, etc.). Then finally accessing and presenting the information.
 THE ROLES OF INFORMATION IN THE SOCIETY

Keeping people informed on current issues

Proving facts for decision-making

Making facts available for a firm to compete effectively in its

industry

Facilitating plans for development

Enabling business decisions on what will make organizations

more successful

Keeping the security agencies informed on relevant issues

Definitions of Information system(s)

Information system has been defined in terms of two

perspectives: one relating to its function; the other
relating to its structure.
From a functional perspective
From a structural perspective
 From a functional perspective;

An information system is a technologically

implemented medium for the purpose of
recording, storing, and disseminating linguistic
expressions as well as for the supporting of
inference making.
From a structural perspective;
 An information system consists of a collection of
people, processes, data, models, technology and
partly formalized language, forming a cohesive
structure which serves some organizational purpose
or function.
 A combination of hardware, software, infrastructure and
trained personnel organized to facilitate planning, control,
coordination, and decision making in an organization.
An information system (IS) is an organized system for the
collection, organization, storage and communication of
information. More specifically, it is the study of complementary
networks that people and organizations use to collect, filter,
process, create and distribute data.
DEFINATIONS OF IS CONT’D
An information system is software that helps you organize and
analyze data. This makes it possible to answer questions and
solve problems relevant to the mission of an organization.
“Information systems (IS) is the study of complementary
networks of hardware and software that people and
organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and
distribute data.”
“Information systems are combinations of hardware, software,
and telecommunications networks that people build and use to
collect, create, and distribute useful data, typically in
organizational settings.”
“Information systems are interrelated components working
together to collect, process, store, and disseminate information
to support decision making, coordination, control, analysis, and
visualization in an organization.”
A combination of
Hardware
Software
Infrastructure and
Trained
personnel
organized to facilitate
Planning
Control
Coordination and
Decision Making
in an organization.
Executive Support System (ESS)
Management Information System (MIS)
Decision Support System (DSS)
Knowledge Management System (KMS)
Transaction Processing System (TPS)

Office Automation System (OAS)

 Transaction Processing System (TPS)
Transaction Processing Systems ("TPS") are
designed to process routine transactions
efficiently and accurately
TPS is an operational level system that
performs and record the daily routine
transactions (operations) necessary to conduct
business, such as sales order
entry, hotel reservations, payroll, employee
record keeping, and shipping.
Example is the Automated Teller Machine
(ATM) systems.
 Management Information System (MIS):
 MIS is a managerial level system that provides
information needed to manage organizations
effectively.
 Information Systems at management level of
organization serve the functions of planning,
controlling, and decision making by providing routine
summary and exception reports.
 MIS generates three basic types of information namely,
detailed, summary and exceptional.
 Moreover, it mainly use for making managerial
decisions. MIS tend to produce high volumes of
printed output leading to what has been termed
‘Information Overload’.
Decision Support System (DSS):

DSS is a managerial level system that

combines data and sophisticated analytical
models and tools to support business
decisions.
 DSS does not make decisions: rather it is
a powerful tool that is used to support
decision-making. DSS helps managers “do
the right thing”.
Executive Support System (ESS):
ESS is a strategic level system that facilitates
and supports senior executive information and
decision-making needs.
They address non-routine decisions requiring
judgement, evaluation, and insight because
there is no agreed-on procedure for arriving at
a solution.
 ESS emphasis graphical displays and easy-to-
use user interfaces. Decisions that seek to
upgrade the operations of the whole
organization is taken by the ESS.
 Office Automated System (OAS):

 OAS is an all-level system that uses hardware,

software and networks (LAN) to enhance work
flow and facilitate communications among
employees.
 The backbone of OAS is a LAN, which allows
users to transfer data, mail, and even voice
across the network.
 Example is the Point of Sale (POS) systems.
Knowledge Work System (KWS):

 KWS aid knowledge workers (lawyers,

accountants, management consultant, etc.) to
create information in their area of expertise.
 KWS such as scientific or engineering design
workstations, promote the creation of new
knowledge and ensure that new knowledge
and technical expertise are properly integrated
into the business.
Basically there are 5 components available.

Hardware
Software
Data
Procedures
People
The term hardware refers to machinery.
This category includes the
computer itself, which is often
referred to as the central processing
unit (CPU), and all of its support
equipments.
The term software
refers to computer
programs and the
manuals (if any) that
support them.
Data are facts that are used by programs to
produce useful information.
Procedures are the policies that govern the
operation of a computer system.
People mean the end user of the Systems.
Every CBIS (Computer Based Information
System) needs people if it is to be useful.
 Media Types Used in Presenting Information
Media is the main means of mass communication
(broadcasting, publishing, and the Internet) regarded
collectively. Types of media use in presenting
information
1. Text
2. video -Pictures (still and moving)
3. Sound
4. Graphic
5. Statistic
6. Animation
NOTE: All these media types can be combined (multimedia) in the presentation of
quality information
 Text
From the dictionary point of view Text is -
1. A book or other written or printed work, regarded in terms
of its content rather than its physical form.
2. the main body of a book or other piece of writing, is distinct
from other material such as notes, appendices, and
illustrations

But in information technology, text is a human-readable sequence

of character and the words they form that can be encoded into
computer-readable formats such as ASCII. Text is usually
distinguished from non-character encoded data, such as graphic
images in the form of bitmap and program code, which is
sometimes referred to as being in "binary" (but is actually in its
own computer-readable format).
 Definition of terms
Character – In information technology, a character is a printable symbol having
phonetic or pictographic meaning and usually forming part of a word depicting a
numeral, or expressing grammatical punctuation. In information technology today, a
character is generally one of a limited number of symbols, including the letters of a
particular language's alphabet, the numerals in the decimal number system, and certain
special symbols such as the ampersand (&) and "at sign" (@).

ASCII –Stands for (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) is the
most common format for textfiles in computers and on the Internet. In an ASCII file,
each alphabetic, numeric, or special character is represented with a 7-bit binary number
(a string of seven 0s or 1s). 128 possible characters are defined.

A bit map (often spelled "bitmap") defines a display space and the color for each pixel or
"bit" in the display space. A Graphics Interchange Format and a JPEG are examples of
graphic image file types that contain bit maps.
 PICTURE also known as Images

a design or representation made by various means (such as

painting, drawing, or photography). Pictures are been
categorize into still and moving pictures. Still pictures are non-
moving visual information that is fixed images, such as graphs
and drawing.
While a moving picture or motion picture is a sequence of
consecutive photographic images projected onto a screen in
such rapid succession as to give the illusion of movement
 GRAPHICS

A graphic is a photo, painting, sketch, or other image that

provides a detailed representation of something. The
representation can be an object, scenario, person, animal, chart or
graph among other things.

Two types of graphics:

• Bitmap graphics (paint graphics, [raster graphics]) are real
images that can be captured from devices such as cameras or
scanners (as in a digital photograph).
• Vector graphics (draw graphics) are drawn on the computer
where mathematical formulas are used to draw lines and shapes.
GRAPHICS CONT’D
 VIDEO
Video is a recording, reproducing or
broadcasting of moving pictures and sound,
especially as a digital file, DVD, or Video
tape. The technology of capturing,
recording, processing, transmitting, and
reconstructing moving pictures. It takes a
lot of storage space.
 STATISTICS

The practice or science of collecting and analyzing

numerical data in large quantities, especially for the
purpose of inferring proportions in a whole from those in
a representative sample.
 SOUND
Sounds are vibrations that travel through the air
or another medium and can be heard when they
reach a person’s or animal’s ear.
• WAV - a Waveform Audio Format (One of the
oldest and most common formats).
• MP3 - Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG).
• MP4 - file formats can hold audio data and video
data as well.
• AIFF - Audio Interchange File Format files, (this
file format is used most often on Apple systems)
 ANIMATION

Animation is defined as a simulation or

movement created by displaying a series of
pictures or frames. Cartoons on television is one
example of animation. To “animate” means to
bring to life. Thus, when a multimedia developer
wants to bring an image to life, animation is used
Animation can be categorized into two broad
area:
• 2D (2-Dimension) and
• 3D (3-Dimension).
 MANUAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

A manual information system is a system

where records are maintained by hand,
without using a computer system. Instead,
records are written on paper, books,
journals, etc.

An example of a manual information

system is a telephone directory, our class
register and any record on paper kept in
file.
 Manual and Computerized Information Systems
• An information system can be:
• Manual or computerized

• Example:
• Investment analysts manually draw charts and trend
lines to assist
them in making investment decisions

• Computerized information systems:

• Follow stock indexes and markets and suggest when
large blocks of stocks should be purchased or sold