Understanding Information

Systems
Information systems are essential for businesses and organizations of all
sizes. This presentation will introduce key concepts and explore the
importance of information systems in today's digital world.

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Defining Information Systems

System Definition Key Components

A system is an interrelated set of These systems consist of work practices,
components that function together to information, people, and information
achieve an outcome. technology, each playing a crucial role in
data processing and communication.

Major Components
Input Information System
Processing An information system is a collection of
Output interconnected components that gather,
process, store, and deliver the information
needed to complete a business task.

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The Need for Information Systems

1 Growing Organizations 2 Computer Capabilities

As organizations expand and competition increases, Computers today can process vast amounts of data with
information systems are essential for managing large incredible speed, making information systems vital for
amounts of data and coordinating operations. analyzing and leveraging this information.

3 Data Explosion 4 Communication Advancements

The exponential growth in data generation requires Rapid data transmission enabled by communication
robust systems to store, manage, and extract meaningful technologies like the internet allows for faster decision-
insights from this information. making and enhanced collaboration.
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Types of Information Systems
Transaction Processing Systems Management Information
(TPS) Systems (MIS)
These systems handle routine MIS provides managers with
business transactions, providing summarized reports and insights
the foundation for other based on data collected by TPS,
information systems by supporting decision-making and
capturing essential data. strategic planning.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) Office Automation Systems

(OAS)
DSS assists decision-makers by
providing interactive tools and OAS streamline general office work by
models to analyze complex facilitating document management,
situations and choose the best communication, and collaboration,
course of action. enhancing productivity and efficiency.

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Types of Information Systems (Cont.)
Expert Systems (ES) Executive Information Systems (EIS)
ES utilize artificial intelligence to perform tasks that would EIS provide senior managers with a comprehensive
typically require human expertise, automating complex overview of organizational performance and external
decision-making processes. factors, enabling strategic decision-making.

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Data Quality and Properties

Quality Accuracy
Data quality refers to the accuracy, Data should be accurate for
validity, and reliability of the the intended use. Variables
information, ensuring it accurately should have consistent, well-
reflects the real-world communicated definitions.
phenomenon.

Timeliness Relevance
Data must be available in a timely Information should be relevant to
manner to be relevant and useful, the specific question or task at
allowing for informed decisions hand, providing meaningful
based on up-to-date information. insights for the intended purpose.
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Data Quality and Properties

Validity Reliability
Data should measure Data should reflect stable and
what is intended to be consistent data collection
measured. methods.

Completeness
Data should be checked for
outliers and missing data.

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Database Systems: Foundation of
Information Systems

1 Definition
A database is a structured collection of related data,
serving as a centralized repository for information
within an organization.

2 Database Management Systems (DBMS)

DBMS are software programs that allow users to
interact with databases, enabling them to store,
modify, and retrieve data efficiently.

3 Evolution of DBMS
DBMS have evolved through different generations,
from navigational databases to relational and
object-oriented systems, with each generation
offering advancements in data management
capabilities. preencoded.png
Evolution of DBMS:

1. Navigational DBMS - records are stored in sort of linked list

2. Relational DBMS - conceptualized by Edgar Codd of IBM- Codd’s
idea was to use “tables” of fixed-length records - includes: tables,
normalization of tables, & linking information using “key”

3. SQL DBMS - Structured Query Language - RDBMS + SQL -

commercialized DBMS

4. Object Oriented Databases - change in how data in databases were

handled along with the rise in object-oriented programming.
- programmers and designers began to treat the data in their
databases as objects. - includes the practice of indexing.

5. Web-based Databases - supported by web languages preencoded.png

Components of a Database System
Data
Data is the core of a database system, encompassing user data,
metadata, and application metadata, each playing a crucial role in
information organization and access.

Hardware
Hardware components, including storage devices and I/O devices,
provide the physical infrastructure for storing and retrieving data
efficiently.

Software
The software component, specifically the DBMS, acts as an
intermediary between users and the database, allowing for data
manipulation and retrieval.

Users
Users interact with the database system to access and
utilize information, performing various tasks based on
their roles and responsibilities within the organization.
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Types of Data:

a. User Data - It consists of a table/s of data called relation/s where

column/s are called fields of attributes &
rows are called records for tables. A relation must be structured
properly.

b. Meta-Data - A description of the structure of the database is known as

Metadata. - “data about data” - Stored in system tables which includes:
Number of tables & table names
Number of fields & field names
Primary key fields

c.
Application Metadata - Store the structure & format of queries, reports
& other application components. preencoded.png
Types of Users:

a. Sophisticated User
Database Administrators (DBA)
Database Designers

b. End Users
b.1 Naïve/Parametric Users - At least computer literate - Not technical
people - Ex.: cashier, teller

b.2 Specialized Users - Non-computer course - Special fields – science,

medicine, engineer - Interact with the database of their respective
fields - Deal with more complex database in terms of contents

c. Application Programmers
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 Features Commonly Offered by DBMS:
1. Query Ability
Querying is the process of requesting attribute information from
various perspectives and combinations
of factors.

2. Back up and Replication

3. Rule Enforcement
Setting of criteria which includes data types and data formats.

4. Security
Limits who can see or change specific attributes or groups of
attributes. preencoded.png
 Features Commonly Offered by DBMS:
5. Computation
Includes counting, summing, averaging, sorting, grouping, cross-referencing

6. Change & Access Logging

This describes who accessed which attributes, what was changed, & when it
was changed, logging services allow this by keeping record of access
occurrences and changes.

7. Automated Optimization
Allows human expert to make the necessary adjustments after reviewing
the statistics collected.

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 Analysis of Data, Forms and Sources
Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and
modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, suggesting
conclusions, and supporting decision-making.

Forms of Data:
Bits and Bytes
Integers
Characters
Picture and Graphic Data
Sound Data/Audio
Video Data

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 Sources of Data:
People

Documents
Source Document - – is one that contains data that is going to be input
into a computer
system.
Turnaround Document – is a machine readable document that has some
information
printed on it by a computer but has more information added to it by a human.
It is then fed back into a computer to transfer this newly added information.
Machine Readable Document

Observations
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 Data Collection

Data is collected from a variety of sources.

Methods of Data Collection:
Manual Input Methods
Automated Input Methods
Ex.Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR),
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Scanners,
Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR),
Bar Coding and Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS),
Smart Cards,
Voice Recognition
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 Data Retention
One solution to data retention is to use what is known as a data
archive. In ordinary usage, an archive
(technically archives) is a place where public records and documents
are kept. A data archive is similar. It
is a place where a record of a certain corporate data is kept.

When writing a data retention policy, you need to determine how to:
Organize information so it can be searched and accessed at a later
date
Dispose of information that is no longer needed

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 Information Backup and Recovery

A catastrophic failure is one where a stable, secondary storage device gets

corrupt. With the storage
device, all the valuable data that is stored inside is lost.

We have different strategies to recover data from such a catastrophic failure:

• Remote backup
• Magnetic tapes and stored at a safer place.

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 Remote Backup
Remote Backup provides a sense of security in case the primary
location where the database is located gets destroyed. Remote
backup can be offline or real-time or online. In case it is offline, it is
maintained manually.

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Suggestions for backups:

Encrypt backups that contain sensitive data

Keep extra backups off-site in a secure location (in case of
property damage)
Verify your backups to make sure files are retrievable
Sanitize or destroy your backups (e.g., tapes, CDs) before
discarding the

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Suggestions for backups:

Encrypt backups that contain sensitive data

Keep extra backups off-site in a secure location (in case of
property damage)
Verify your backups to make sure files are retrievable
Sanitize or destroy your backups (e.g., tapes, CDs) before
discarding them

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 Crash recovery
- refers to the process of restoring the database to a consistent state after a failure or crash.
Failures may occur due to hardware malfunctions, software errors, power outages, or system
crashes.

To see where the problem has occurred, we generalize a failure into various categories:
Transaction Failure
A transaction has to abort when it fails to execute or when it reaches a point from where it can’t
go any further. This is called transaction failure where only a few transactions or processes are
hurt.

Reasons for a transaction failure could be:

Logical Errors − Where a transaction cannot complete because it has some code error or any
internal error condition.
System Errors − Where the database system itself terminates an active transaction because the
DBMS is not able to execute it, or it has to stop because of some system condition. For example,
in case of deadlock or resource unavailability, the system aborts an active transaction. preencoded.png
 Crash recovery
System Crash
There are problems − external to the system − that may cause the system to
stop abruptly and cause the system to crash.

For example, interruptions in power supply may cause the failure of

underlying hardware or software failure.

Examples may include operating system errors.

- Disk Failure

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When a DBMS recovers from a crash, it should maintain the
following:

It should check the states of all the transactions, which were being
executed.
A transaction may be in the middle of some operation; the DBMS
must ensure the atomicity of
the transaction in this case.
It should check whether the transaction can be completed now or it
needs to be rolled back.
No transactions would be allowed to leave the DBMS in an
inconsistent state.
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There are two types of techniques, which can help a
DBMS in recovering as well as maintaining the
atomicity of a transaction:

Maintaining the logs of each transaction, and writing them

onto some stable storage before
actually modifying the database.

Maintaining shadow paging, where the changes are done on

a volatile memory, and later, the
actual database is updated.
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Log-based Recovery
Log is a sequence of records, which maintains the records of
actions performed by a transaction.

The database can be modified using two approaches:

Deferred Database Modification − All logs are written on to the

stable storage and the database is updated when a transaction
commits.
Immediate Database Modification − Each log follows an actual
database modification. That is, the database is modified immediately
after every operation. preencoded.png
Recovery with Concurrent Transactions.
Checkpoint

• The recovery system reads the logs backwards from the end to the last
checkpoint.
• It maintains two lists, an undo-list and a redo-list. preencoded.png