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Unit 1: Information Systems




          2.   A ....................... is a set of components that interact to accomplish some purpose.  Notes
          3.   A ‘.......................’ is a system which is an element of a larger system.

          1.2 Importance of Information Systems

          Information system is the study of information production, flows and use within organizations.
          Information system makes extensive  use of information technology  means. But  it is very
          important to appreciate that its scope encompasses systems in their entirety, including manual
          activities, the interface between manual and automated components of systems, design aspects
          of IT means, and economic, legal, organizational, behavioral and social aspects of systems.
          Information systems  overlap with  both the  computer  science  and  business  management
          disciplines.


                 Example:  Software  engineering  and  database  management  and  some  aspects  of
          application software development overlap with computer science, and systems analysis and
          organisational behaviour overlap with the business-related disciplines.
          The information system of an organization may be defined as a system that serves to provide
          information within the organization when and where it is needed at any managerial level. An
          information system is a set of people, procedures  and resources that interact to satisfy the
          information processing needs of an organization. During the processing, the data is collected,
          stored, transformed and distributed in an organization. Such a system must take the information
          received and store, retrieve, transform, process, and communicate it using the computer system
          or  some other means. It is not necessary that an information system cannot function in  the
          absence of computers. An information system is a logically interrelated set of business processes
          that accomplish organizational goals.
          Management Information System is mainly dependent upon information, which  is a vital
          ingredient of any Management Information System. Information is the most critical resource of
          Management Information System. We all know that information is a vital factor for our existence.
          Just as our body needs air, water and clothes, we are as much dependent upon information.
          To make life more interesting and to achieve the feeling of being a part of the social system, we
          want to know our surroundings and for that we need information. Information is an important
          input for achieving our goals such as learning to help each other and to become integral part of
          society.
          Actually, information system is not a new concept; it is as old as the hills. From biblical times,
          humans have been making the use of information generated through information systems in all
          times.  There have been systems  that generated and communicated information. Kings and
          rulers had their own ways of designing information systems to retrieve information. The main
          objective of these information systems was to ascertain the well being of their people in  the
          kingdom  and to  effectively and efficiently manage  the kingdom. The church  had its own
          information system. In India, Tainali Rama, Akbar and many others had impressive management
          information systems in operation.  Similarly, the  merchants  of  Venice had  their own  fully
          functional appropriate management information system in place.
          Most of us think only of hardware and software when we think of an Information System. There
          is another component of the triangle that should be considered, and that’s the people side, or
          “liveware.”

          We  talk about the input, processing, output and feedback processes. Most important is  the
          feedback process; unfortunately it’s the one most often overlooked. Just as we discussed above,
          the hardware (input and output) and the software (processing) receive the most attention. With




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