INSY4101: Management of

Information Systems and Services

Regular
First Semester, 2023

Instructor: Melaku Girma

1
 First session (Week 1)
• Introduction to the Course
– Objectives
– Layout of topics
– Methodology
– Reading materials
– Assessment

2
 Introduction – Outline
• Learning Outcomes
Upon the successful completion of the course, students
should be able to:
– Understand the principles and theories of Information Systems
Management (ISM) and its impact on organizations.
– Describe IT’s strategic importance in business and the essential
elements of strategic plan development.
– Evaluate strategies for the effective utilization of IS/IT in
organizations.
– Understand contemporary managerial issues in effectively choosing,
deploying, and utilizing IT/IS to gain competitive advantage,
– Describe the various types of computer-based information systems
and how they are used in supporting work for gaining competitive
advantage.
3
 Layout of Topics
• Weeks 1-4:
– Introduction to the strategic issues that are the
responsibility of top IT management executives (CIOs)
 Concepts and theories in ISM
 Evolution of IS function and the CIO's job
 Strategic uses of IT
 IS Strategic planning
• Weeks 5-11:
– Management of the essential information technologies
 Managing Telecommunications
 Managing Corporate information resources
 Managing Computer Operations
 Managing Information Security

4
 Layout of Topics (2)
• Weeks 12-13:
– Management Issues in System Development and
implementation
– Key processes, tools and techniques in IS PM
– Tools, approaches and trends of system development

5
 Means of student performance
assessment
• Test 1 20%
• Test 2 20%
• Group Project & Presentation 15%
• Final exam 45%
– Comprehensive (covers all course materials)

6
 Learning Materials
• Required text:
– Barbara C. McNurlin, et al. Information Systems
Management. Pearson New International Edition, 2014
• Required chapters:
– Chap 1 Information Systems Management in the Global Economy

– Chap 2 Strategic Uses of Information Technology

– Chap 3 Strategic Information Systems Planning
– Chap 5 Managing Telecommunications
– Chap 6 Managing Corporate Information Resources
– Chap 7 Managing Partnership-Based IT Operations
– Chap 9 Management Issues in System Development
– Chap 10 Managing Information Security

7
 First session (Week 1)
• Introduction to the class
– Exchange of backgrounds and experiences

8
 The Importance of
Information Systems Management in the Global
Economy – chapter topics

• Introduction
– Review of Information Systems
• The role of information systems
– IT and business are becoming inextricably interwoven.
– Also inexorably
• The importance of ISM
– The organizational environment
– The Technology environment

• The Organizational Environment

– The External Business Environment
– The Internal Organizational Environment
– Goals of the New Work Environment
9
 Chapter Topics (2)
• The Technology Environment
– Hardware Trends
– Software Trends
– Data Trends
– Communication Trends
• The Mission of IS Organizations
– Authors’ ISM Model
• The technologies
• The Users
• System Development and Delivery
• IS Management 10
 INSY4101 – Focus area
• INSY4101: Management of Information
Systems and Services is about the
management of IT as it is being practiced in
organizations today.
– Coverage across the full spectrum of IT for
managing and operating organizations.
– Guidance on the issues, strategies, and tactics for
managing the use of IT.

11
 Why Management Problems?
• Problems are rarely just "technical"
• Management problems are just as difficult to
resolve
– Generally, IS professionals are very good at
resolving technical problems, not so for
management problems
– Partly because management problems are
sometimes harder than technical ones to define

12
 Industry Trends
• Graduates as Vendors are advised:
– Customers demand complete solutions; not just
hardware or software.
– Businesses want problems solved by IT; they don't
want problems created by IT.
• Graduates as IT professionals are advised:
– Employers want problem solvers; not just
programmers.

13
 Introduction
• Information technology (IT) is a pervasive
element of society today and has
revolutionized and restructured many aspects
of human endeavor, including work.
• Information Systems Management, which was
first known as business data processing and
later as management information systems
(MIS), emphasizes the use of IT in managing
and operating organizations.

14
 Main Themes
• Globalization
– Worldwide expansion of trade and brands and the
emergence of global institutions after World War II
– Developments in the 1940s
• Establishment of WTO
– The Globalization Phenomenon
• Features
• Controversies

15
 Main Themes
• E-enablement
– Leveraging of IT to build relationships with
consumers and other enterprises in general

16
 Main Themes (cont’d)
• Business intelligence through knowledge
sharing and knowledge management
• Transfer of knowledge between people
• Elicit tacit knowledge that people possess

17
 IT vs IS
• IT and IS often considered synonymous
• In reality, IT is a subset of IS
• The perception that they can be used
interchangeably can cause confusion for those
interested in pursuing IT related career
• Although both fields deal with computers, they
have distinct characteristics and specific career
paths

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 IT (ICT) Vs IS

INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY
Hardware
used to build
Software INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
Databases
Networks
Other related
components
 Components of IS
• People Resources
• Hardware Resources (including telecoms)
• Software Resources
• Data and Information Resources
 Management of IS
• Governance of IT
– Who makes which IT decisions now a collaborative
effort between IS, the business and their
constituencies
• The Role of IS
– Shifting focus from application delivery to system
integration and infrastructure development
• Outsourcing
– Major responsibility of IS now Development and
management of relationships with external service
providers

21
 Evolution of IS
Time frame Computer Use Trends Immerging Leading Vendors
Application
1950s Calculator Bookkeeping Texas Inst, IBM

1960s Computer Accounting, Payroll IBM, Univac

1970s Management Information Financial Apps, Digital, IBM, Unisys

Systems Inventory, Production

1980s Decision Support & Portfolio, Project M, IBM, Apple, Oracle,

Applied AI EIS Microsoft

1990s Communicator Office Auto., E-mail IBM, AT&T,

Netscape

2000s Partnership Promoter/ E-com, Supply-Chain, IBM, Oracle, SAP,

Social Enabler Social Media, Microsoft 22
 Evolution of IS
Use of computers elevated every decade
• 1950s: Calculator (First use of computer chips)
– Bookkeeping activities
• Texas Instruments invented first handheld calculator
• 1960s: Mainframe
– First generation of business computers by IBM
– Data-intensive business transactions and
accounting
• IBM mainframe
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 Evolution of IS (2)
• 1970s: Database management systems
– Operational efficiency
• Orgs create departments of MIS
• Structured Query Language (SQL) first developed by IBM
• Oracle and SAP emerged as key players/competitors
– Most successful business software ever (DBMS, MIS)
• 1980s: Personal Computer (PC), decision support
systems
– Office automation (OA) and decision-making
• IBM released first PC with Microsoft MS-DOS operating system;
new era for computers, after 25 yrs, 1 bn pcs

24
 Evolution of IS (3)
• 1990s: Internet and Enterprise Resource Planning
– Global communication and exponential growth in use
of computers for OA and networking
• Office Automation: Microsoft Windows and Office Suite
• Networking: Email, instant messaging, World Wide Web
• 2000s: Internet and Social Fabric; Internet
Economy
– Global coordination and cooperation (strategic
partnerships) within and between businesses
• Web services, e-supply chains
• Social computing for business applications

25
 The Organizational Environment
• External forces that cause IS executives to re-
examine how their firms compete and internal
structural forces that affect how organizations
operate or are managed.
– External business environment
– Internal organizational environment
– Goal of new work environment

26
 The External Business Environment
• Internet economy
– IT underpins old and new ways of doing business
• Physical and electronic marketplace
• Business-to-customer (B2C) retailing and selling over WWW
• At substantially lower costs
– Overwhelming bulk of e-business belongs to business-to-business
(B2B)
• Global Marketplace
– Internet has accelerated firms’ internationalization process
– Allows small firms to have a global reach
– Born global
• Micro-markets
– Internet has created new markets for new kinds of products and services
(Micro-commoditization and micro-consumption)
• Digital microproducts
– iTunes, Amazon short books, Disney short videos
• Business ecosystems
– Relationships and growth that are organic in nature

27
 The External Business Environment (cont’d)
• Decapitalization
– Emphasis on intangible assets
• Faster business cycles
– First-mover advantage
• Instant gratification
– Because of instant access
• Accountability and transparency
– IT’s role in corporate governance
• Rising societal risks of IT
– Job losses due to technology substitution and outsourcing
– Information security: network shutdowns, viruses, identity
thefts, email scams, etc
28
 The Internal Business Environment
• From supply-push to demand-pull
– Customer-centric philosophy
• Value co-creation with customer
– IT allows business to achieve this on a large scale
• Self-service
– Customer empowerment (through customization)
• Customers know what they want best
• Real-time working
– Derive competitive advantage
• Team-based working
– For the duration of projects and tasks

29
The Internal Business Environment cont’d

• Anytime, anyplace information work

– Tele-work, mobile computing
• Outsourcing and strategic alliances
– Use of IT to help manage work across the
extended enterprise
• Demise of hierarchy
– Flatter organization (employee empowerment)
• Use of IT to facilitate information exchange

30
 Business Strategies in the
New Work Environment
• Leverage knowledge globally
– Tap into intellectual capital across the entire enterprise
• McKinsey’s
• Organize for complexity
– Interconnectivity and interdependence of businesses
• Work electronically
– Concept of the workspace
• Handle continuous and discontinuous change
– Built to change (innovation)
• Total quality management (continuous)
• Reengineering (discontinuous)

31
 The Technology Environment
• The technological (IT) environment has a
symbiotic relationship with organizational
structure (co-evolution)
– Hardware Trends
– Software trends
– Data trends
– Communication trends

32
 Hardware Trends
• Movement of central administration to distributed
computing
– 1950s and 1960s (mainframe)
• Mainframe, batch-processing, back-end data centers
– 1970s (minicomputer)
• Some autonomy at the department level
– 1980s and early 1990s (personal computer)
• PCs greatly accelerated process of decentralization
– Client-server model
– Late 1990s and 2000s (Web, networks and
mobile/handheld)
• Centralized computing via networks and the Internet

33
 Software Trends
• Transaction processing application development
– Emphasis on improving productivity of programmers
• Life cycle development methodology
– Focus on rigorous project management techniques
• Purchased software vs. in-house development
– “Programming” shifted to end-users
• Point-and-click applications
• Open systems software vs. proprietary software
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
• Web services—service oriented architecture (SOA)
– Network centric and loosely coupled applications to support
business process requirements

34
 Data Trends
• 1970s: Technical solutions for managing data
– Database management systems (DBMS)
– Centralized environment for first 20 years
• 1990s: Shift toward managing information resources
– Concepts/ideas as a function of raw data
• Voice, video, graphics, animation
– Decentralized environment of information access and exchange
(end-user level)
• Require data warehousing and data mining technologies
• 2000s: Web content management
– Standardize formats of and make interoperable huge amounts
of data on Web sites
• e.g., Extensible Markup Language (XML)

35
 Communications Trends
• 1980s: Enterprise networking
– Local area networks (LAN) within organization site
– Wide area networks (WAN) between organization sites
• Private leased lines
• 1990s onwards: Internet (convergence of
telecommunications and information systems)
– Invention of modulator/demodulator (MODEM)
• Dialup, ISDN and other broadband technologies to solve
problem of last mile
– Internet protocols (TCP/IP) became de facto standard for LANs
and WANs
– Voice over IP
– Wireless technologies
36
 The Mission of IS Organizations
• Transaction processing systems (TPS) in the
early days
– “Paper factories”
• MIS era
– Producing reports for all levels of management
• Today’s context
– Improve the performance and innovativeness of
people in the organization using IT
• Business results as a metric for IS performance

37
 ISM Model
• A model with four principal elements to describe IS
function
1. A set of technologies that represent the IT infrastructure
installed and managed by the IS department
– Web services, mobile applications, integration of multimedia and
consumer electronics
2. A set of users who need to use IT to improve their job
performance
– Support procedure-based activities
– Support knowledge-based activities

38
 ISM Model (2)

3. A delivery mechanism for developing, delivering

and installing applications
• Bridging the gap between technology and users
4. Executive leadership to manage the entire process
of applying the technology to achieve
organizational objectives and goals
• Executive team must work together to govern and
leverage IT well
– C-level executives, divisional and department heads

39
A Better Model (3)

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