Niña Tolentino

BSA-4101

1. Discuss. What is information system?

Information system is an integrated set of components for collecting, storing,
and processing data and for providing information, knowledge, and digital products.
Business firms and other organizations rely on information systems to carry out and
manage their operations, interact with their customers and suppliers, and compete in
the marketplace. Information systems are used to run inter organizational supply chains
and electronic markets. For instance, corporations use information systems to process
financial accounts, to manage their human resources, and to reach their potential
customers with online promotions. Many major companies are built entirely around
information systems. These include eBay, a largely auction marketplace; Amazon, an
expanding electronic mall and provider of cloud computing services; Alibaba, a
business-to-business e-marketplace; and Google, a search engine company that
derives most of its revenue from keyword advertising on Internet searches.
Governments deploy information systems to provide services cost-effectively to citizens.
Digital goods—such as electronic books, video products, and software—and online
services, such as gaming and social networking, are delivered with information systems.
Individuals rely on information systems, generally Internet-based, for conducting much
of their personal lives: for socializing, study, shopping, banking, and entertainment.
Components of Information System
The main components of information systems are computer hardware and
software, telecommunications, databases and data warehouses, human resources, and
procedures. The hardware, software, and telecommunications constitute information
technology (IT), which is now ingrained in the operations and management of
organizations.
a. Computer hardware
This is the physical technology that works with information. Hardware can be as small
as a smartphone that fits in a pocket or as large as a supercomputer that fills a building.
Hardware also includes the peripheral devices that work with computers, such as
keyboards, external disk drives, and routers. With the rise of the Internet of things, in
which anything from home appliances to cars to clothes will be able to receive and
transmit data, sensors that interact with computers are permeating the human
environment.
b. Computer software
The hardware needs to know what to do, and that is the role of software. Software can
be divided into two types: system software and application software. The primary piece
of system software is the operating system, such as Windows or iOS, which manages
the hardware’s operation. Application software is designed for specific tasks, such as
handling a spreadsheet, creating a document, or designing a Web page.
c. Telecommunications
This component connects the hardware together to form a network. Connections can be
through wires, such as Ethernet cables or fibre optics, or wireless, such as through Wi-
Fi. A network can be designed to tie together computers in a specific area, such as an
office or a school, through a local area network (LAN). If computers are more dispersed,
the network is called a wide area network (WAN). The Internet itself can be considered
a network of networks.
d. Databases and data warehouses
This component is where the “material” that the other components work with resides. A
database is a place where data is collected and from which it can be retrieved by
querying it using one or more specific criteria. A data warehouse contains all of the data
in whatever form that an organization needs. Databases and data warehouses have
assumed even greater importance in information systems with the emergence of “big
data,” a term for the truly massive amounts of data that can be collected and analyzed.
e. Human resources and procedures
The final, and possibly most important, component of information systems is the human
element: the people that are needed to run the system and the procedures they follow
so that the knowledge in the huge databases and data warehouses can be turned into
learning that can interpret what has happened in the past and guide future action.

2. What are the characteristics of valuable information?

The value of information depends on their usefulness in the decision making
process. This value can be judged based on a set of features that can be identified in
the information.
They are as follows:
a. Accurate. Accurate information is error free. Errors could be occurred due to different
reasons. If there is some problem in the knowledge required for the process, output
(information) may have errors. At the same time, if input (data) contains some errors,
the output will not be accurate. This is known as garbage in garbage out (GIGO).
Inaccurate information is not error free.
b. Complete. Complete information contains all the important facts to make clear
decisions.
For example, an investment report may present all possible benefits and profits without
details of cost that will be required.
c. Economical. Information should also be relatively economical. Decision makers must
always balance the value of information with the cost of producing it. For example, if
collecting the data takes lots of resources and time, it is not economical.
d. Flexible. Flexible information can be used for a variety of purposes. For example,
Information on how much inventory is on hand for a particular part can be for
 a sales representative to determine the sales plan
 a production manager to identify possible constraints for the production
 a financial executive to calculate the current assets figures of inventory
e. Reliable. Reliability of information describes the correctness of the information. If
there are any problems with respect to correctness of data, it will definitely affect the
reliability of information. For example, if the reliability of data collection method is poor, it
will directly affect the information that will be produced.
For example, prediction of prices based on rumors (not past variance information), is
not reliable.
f. Relevant. The relevance of information is determined based on the usefulness of
information with respect to the decision making process. For example (E.g.A),, a drop in
timber prices cannot be used to predict the price fluctuation in computers.
g. Simple. Simplicity in the representation of information is also a very useful feature
utilized to improve the usability of information in the decision making process. Too many
information could affect the simplicity in the presentation. Therefore it is better to
provide interactive customization to determine simplicity. Providing too many
information is known as information overloading.
h. Timeliness. Decisions should be made at the right time to achieve effectiveness.
Timely information refers to providing information at the right time. For example, if you
can get to know today’s weather forecast before you leave home, you can decide
whether to bring an umbrella or not.
i. Verifiable. If it is possible to confirm the reliability of the information about its
correctness (validate), it becomes verifiable Information. If you are not sure about a
particular information (say foreign news) heard from a radio channel, you can search
about it using Internet.
j. Accessible. Accurate information plays a major roll in the decision making process of
any organization. Therefore it is essential to be able to access the Correct/ relevant
information by authorized personnel at the right time to meet their needs.
k. Secure. The value of information could be lost due to issues such as unauthorized
user access or intentionally damaging its existence. Therefore, it is important to make
steps to protect valuable data and information. For example, use of passwords to
protect data and information.
It is important to note that the values of these quality attributes may vary from
one piece of information to another. It affects their usefulness in the decision making
process. For example, at the Stock Exchange, information about market forecast may
not be very accurate but if the timeliness is poor, the total value of information will be
very poor.

3. What are the value of information?

a. Economic information
Economic information consists of data that helps you understand the production,
exchange, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Examples: Economic
articles, travel guides, buying guides, stock exchange data, patents, advertisement,
design, job lists, and classifieds.
If you play according to the basic rules of online self-promotion, economic data is an
easy sell, since your customers can see a direct monetary profit from acquiring your
data.
b. Art
Art is information composed of data as a means and goal in itself and for itself.
Examples: Fiction, Music, Painting, Photography, Poetry. Art is not made to be
profitable but as a means for itself and in itself.
It doesn’t have to be pleasing, it doesn’t need to be nice, it doesn’t have to be
understandable or entertaining, and, first of all, art doesn’t have to make money.
Art may be or do anything, art doesn’t have to be or do anything. Artistic information is
free by its own definition. That’s why art needs to be tutored, sponsored, and supported
by the state, by corporations and by the individual.
c. Scientific Information
Scientific information consists of systematic, verifiable data that provides the foundation
of our objective knowledge. Examples: Scientific articles, encyclopedias, white papers,
medical data.
Scientific data has educational and social value. It should not be sold; it should be
shared as much as possible. Sharing scientific information is the way to increase
scientific knowledge. It’s not an accident, that Wikipedia is often imprecise with cultural
data while it beats the Encyclopedia Britannica on specific scientific knowledge.
Science needs to be funded by society; a rational society is built on the knowledge of its
citizens. Call me an idealist, call me European, call me naive, but if you charge a kid if it
asks you why Australians don’t fall off the planet, there is something wrong with you.
d. Practical Information
Practical information carries data that supports the process by which we make
decisions. Examples: Political news, parental guides, maps, instruction manuals,
manifests. Practical data is comparable to economic data: It saves you time and nerves
and thus allows you to be more productive.
Political information is a special case, as it doesn’t translate into a personal but a social
benefit, or, as in the case of commercial news, for a particular social group.—If you pay
for commercially created political information, you help influence other people’s
decisions in your political group. Think Fox News. Paid by rich people to recruit poor
people like Joe the Plumber to speak and vote in favor of rich people.
While it’s true that commercial news needs to produce opinion, as opinion is the only
way to attract attention in a world where political facts are free, opinion based reporting
is a slippery slope. Fortunately, commercial brands with a wide range of customers
don’t want to be associated with extreme political positions.
In order to guarantee a balanced discussion and avoid money to hijack political
debates, commercial news needs a democratic counter balance. The BBC or the Swiss
national news model are excellent examples that news cannot only be very close to
politically neutral, but also, that independent news can report on subjects where
commercial news might get in trouble. That’s why most free countries have a
commercially independent news channel. That’s not socialism. It’s called democracy.
e. Entertainment or the Attention Factor
If you want to sell information other than financial data, you have to entertain. Here, in
return, Europeans can learn a lot from US high-culture. Entertainment makes your data
commercially attractive. That doesn’t automatically mean that it becomes trivial (see
HBO).
If you produce information that is both intelligent and entertaining it has high attention
value. The attention you get can be monetized through advertisement, sponsoring,
selling physical goods. If it’s high quality (and by high quality I mean HBO quality), you
might be able to sell the easy direct access to it. Selling entertainment only works for
data that you can access passively (movies, music).
Unfortunately entertainment has a very short half-life. The control over entertaining
data, and thus: the value of entertaining information literally runs like sand through your
hands. You need to monetize quickly. The more entertaining your information, the faster
you need to monetize, because it will easily find its way into the public and be
distributed freely.
4. What is a system?
There are many definitions of a system. Some of these are:
a. A group of interdependent items that interact regularly to perform a task.
b. An established or organized procedure; a method.
c. A computer system refers to the hardware and softwarecomponents that run a
computer or computers.
d. An information system is a system that collects and stores data.
e. On Macintoshes, System is short for System file, an essential program that runs
whenever you start up a Macintosh. The System provides information to all other
applications that run on a Macintosh. The System and Finder programs together make
up the Mac OS.
f. System often simply refers to the operating system.