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Information Systems

Information Systems

Richard T. Watson (editor) University of Georgia

Copyright ? 2007 by the Global Text Project

This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License 2

Table of Contents

Preface...............................................................................................................................................................7

1. Being a systems innovator......................................................................................................9

Being a systems innovator................................................................................................................................9 Systems innovators are designers...................................................................................................................12 Innovations are new answers to problems.....................................................................................................13 Innovations are also reactions to change.......................................................................................................13 Exciting times for systems innovators............................................................................................................14 General insights into human (and information) systems..............................................................................15 General implications for a systems innovator................................................................................................15 How can I innovate?.......................................................................................................................................16 What do innovations achieve?........................................................................................................................17 Innovations achieve new products and profits..............................................................................................18 Innovations increase effectiveness.................................................................................................................19

2. 2. Achieving Efficiency and Effectiveness through Systems...............................................23

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................23 What is an information system?.....................................................................................................................23 IT is not information system..........................................................................................................................24 The four components of an information system............................................................................................24 Effectiveness...................................................................................................................................................29

3. Achieving efficiency and effectiveness through systems design.........................................36

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................36 Development process: from idea to detailed instructions.............................................................................36 Issues..............................................................................................................................................................39 Overall development strategy.........................................................................................................................43 Requirements..................................................................................................................................................45 Architecture....................................................................................................................................................50 Design.............................................................................................................................................................52 Code................................................................................................................................................................58 Test..................................................................................................................................................................58 Maintain..........................................................................................................................................................64

4. Business process modeling and process management........................................................69

Understanding the key steps of process management...................................................................................69 What is a process and what are the different types of processes?.................................................................70 Process orientation as prerequisite for process management.......................................................................72 What is business process modeling and what is it good for?.........................................................................74 Modeling with ePK..........................................................................................................................................77 Software for process modeling and process support.....................................................................................79 Process analysis and the benchmarking of processes...................................................................................80 A roadmap to process management...............................................................................................................84

5. Information systems methodologies....................................................................................89

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................89 Selecting a methodology ................................................................................................................................95 Quality selection criteria of methodologies....................................................................................................97 Methodologies misuse....................................................................................................................................97

6. Implementing systems........................................................................................................101

Introduction..................................................................................................................................................101 Demand for Knowledge Harvesting.............................................................................................................102

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Formalizing the Knowledge Harvesting Process..........................................................................................102 Current Practices in Knowledge Harvesting................................................................................................104 Bridge Building.............................................................................................................................................107 Recommendations........................................................................................................................................108

7. How hardware and software contribute to efficiency and effectiveness...........................112

Hardware progress........................................................................................................................................113 Progress in electronic technology.................................................................................................................114 Progress in storage technology......................................................................................................................115 Progress in communication technology........................................................................................................117 Software progress.........................................................................................................................................120 Batch processing...........................................................................................................................................120 Time sharing..................................................................................................................................................121 Personal computers.......................................................................................................................................121 Local area networks......................................................................................................................................123 Wide area networks--the Internet................................................................................................................124 Open source software....................................................................................................................................125 User supplied content...................................................................................................................................125 Composite applications.................................................................................................................................127 Software as a service.....................................................................................................................................128 Mobile, portable and location-aware applications.......................................................................................129 The long tail...................................................................................................................................................131 Collaboration support applications..............................................................................................................132 Will the progress continue?..........................................................................................................................134 Bumps in the information technology road..................................................................................................135 Capacity to handle video traffic....................................................................................................................135 Data center capacity and electric power.......................................................................................................136 Inequity.........................................................................................................................................................136 Vested interests can impede progress...........................................................................................................137 Intellectual property restrictions..................................................................................................................138 Security and privacy......................................................................................................................................139

8. Utilizing data for efficiency and effectiveness....................................................................142

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................142 Organizational decision making ..................................................................................................................142 Decision making: systems view ....................................................................................................................145 Using data to improve decision making ......................................................................................................147

9. Managing data for efficiency...............................................................................................156

Introduction and Data Modeling..................................................................................................................156 The role of data management technologies in achieving organizational efficiencies..................................158 Representing reality through data management.........................................................................................160 What are data?...............................................................................................................................................161 Question .......................................................................................................................................................162 Questions.......................................................................................................................................................163 Information and meaning.............................................................................................................................163 Knowledge.....................................................................................................................................................164 Data versus reality.........................................................................................................................................164 Granularity....................................................................................................................................................166 Question........................................................................................................................................................167 Identity..........................................................................................................................................................167 Assigning values............................................................................................................................................175

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Derived data values.......................................................................................................................................176 Representing composite entities...................................................................................................................178 Relationships.................................................................................................................................................179 Meta-data.......................................................................................................................................................181

10. Opportunities in the network age.....................................................................................185

Introduction..................................................................................................................................................185 Traditional strategy and killer applications.................................................................................................186 The five new forces........................................................................................................................................187 How the new five forces work in industries and markets............................................................................192

11. Opportunities in business to business systems................................................................202

What is integration and why is it important?..............................................................................................202 History of B2B systems................................................................................................................................206 What is a B2B system?..................................................................................................................................207 B2B technologies..........................................................................................................................................208 Challenges for B2B adoption........................................................................................................................212 Buyer Issues..................................................................................................................................................214 Supplier issues ..............................................................................................................................................214 Opportunities: New business models enabled by B2B systems...................................................................215 Future of B2B systems..................................................................................................................................215

12. Opportunities in peer-to-peer systems ............................................................................219

P2P in its historical context .........................................................................................................................220 Peer-to-peer file sharing...............................................................................................................................223 Other P2P Internet applications: communication, commerce, and collaboration.....................................226 One-to-one P2P applications........................................................................................................................227 One-to-many P2P applications....................................................................................................................229 Many-to-many P2P applications..................................................................................................................230 P2P and the Law of the Double-Edged Sword.............................................................................................232

13. Opportunities for new organizational forms....................................................................236

What is an organization?..............................................................................................................................237 Management and the Division of Labour....................................................................................................239 What Do Managers Do?...............................................................................................................................240 Development of information and communication technology....................................................................242 An interim summary....................................................................................................................................244 New Models of Organization........................................................................................................................244 Critique and Conclusions.............................................................................................................................250

14. Information systems security...........................................................................................252

Background...................................................................................................................................................252 The Principles...............................................................................................................................................257 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................262

15. Avoiding information systems failures.............................................................................265

Managing the delivery of IS services: The role of IT infrastructure............................................................266 Defining information system failure: Confidentiality, integrity and availability........................................269 Potential causes of systems failure...............................................................................................................270 Mitigating risk: Reducing the probability of system failure.......................................................................272

16. Green IS: Building Sustainable Business Practices.........................................................290

Sustainability................................................................................................................................................290 The need for green IS and green IT..............................................................................................................291 The information drives ................................................................................................................................292

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