
Information Systems , Types and Specifications
Information Systems
Generally, organizations have six
information systems with each supporting a specific organizational level. These
systems include transaction processing systems at the operational level, office
automation systems, knowledge work systems at the knowledge level, management
information systems, and decision support Systems at the management level and
the executive support systems at the strategic level. In this information age,
it is vital to have access to information and its proper management and usage.
This is where an information system comes in. This piece covers the most
popular information system types and their applicability. An information
system is a bundle of various information resources, like hardware, software,
etc., aimed to gather information, followed by its processing, storing, and
distribution. While you are going through this article itself, you are putting
some examples of information systems to use, like your laptop or mobile, or
computer. Businesses and other organisations depend on these systems to
communicate with their suppliers and customers and compete with their rivals.
Even the smooth running of a company’s supply chain depends on an information
system. Apart from these broad classes of information systems, organizations
also use specific information systems for some special tasks like executive
information system, enterprise (wide) resource planning systems, customer
relationship management systems, and supply chain management systems. These
systems also fall under the above broad classification.
Office
Automation Systems
This type of information system aids
in automating office tasks. They have a limited role in decision-making and are
more useful for operational level people. The information coming out of this
kind of system can be used for rule-based decision-making for managers at the
operational level. These systems however play an important role in automating
several functions of an office and thus help in creating paperless offices.
These kinds of systems help in increasing the productivity and efficiency of
the office workforce by automating simple tasks. These systems mostly deal with
operational data. More and more modern businesses are opting for this paperless
office environment as this brings in the following unique advantages for the
business:
- Office work becomes faster and process driven.
2.
All
basic-level data is digitized and stored for future action.
An example of office automation
system is the office suite of software that helps in automating simple office
tasks like presentations and documentation. Sometimes we also come across a
class of systems called the operations support system (OSS). OSS also work with
the lowest levl31of management is ensuring that the operations of the firm are
performed smoothly. OSS can be very different from Office Automation System
even though they both help bottom-level managers, in terms of the information
complexity involved.
Transaction
Processing System
This type of system is critical to
the smooth functioning of an organization. The objective of this kind of system
is to capture all transaction related data between the organization and its
external and internal customers. Typically, these transaction-level data are stored
in a pre-formatted manner in a relational database for
further action in the future. TPS is the most widely used form of information
system as they provide the management with the flexibility of storing data in
a structured manner and retrieving it at a later date using a query facility.
The system also helps in aggregating and summarizing the data for creating of
management reports. These reports are further improved by using visualization
tools that help the management in understanding situations and scenarios
better. These systems deal with tactical data from within the organization.
An example of TPS would be the sales
management system with a relational database
management system at the server side back end and a customized front
end to interact with the users.
Decision
Support Systems
Decision support systems help senior
management to take strategic decisions. Contrary to the other systems, decision
support systems are developed with the objective of providing the users (top
management personnel) with unstructured information. These systems help the
management to develop ‘what if analysis’ so that different scenarios can be
developed for decision-making. Decision support systems deal with both internal
and external data. Such systems are custom-built with features like a business
dashboard and scenario panel.
Such systems are complex with
working models (internal) on the data to provide the senior managers with
decision support. Unlike transaction processing systems, these systems are not
query dependent only. Their main role is to access data from a data repository
and then pass that data through a model (mathematical, heuristic, statistical,
econometric, operations research, and combinatorial), so that the senior
management can take better decisions by doing either ‘what if analysis’ and scenario
building or by doing ‘predictive analysis’ to get some insight into a business
issue. Such systems are very costly to build and require advanced analytics
tools.
Executive
Support System
The executive support system is also
known as the executive information (support) system. It began to gain
acceptance in the mid-eighties in large corporations and is now used even is
smaller corporations. In functionality, it is nearer to decision support
systems than management information systems. Its main objectives are to provide
a macro-organization-wide view for senior executives, by providing a very
user-friendly user-interface so that proactive steps may be taken to beat the competition. It provides timely and proactive organization tracking and
control. It is able to perform these tasks by providing fast access to all types
of data and by filtering and tracking critical data and information. It helps
to identify problems and opportunities and thus, helps senior executives to
troubleshoot problems and take advantage of opportunities.
Business
Expert System
Some business scenarios are so
complex that they require the help of advanced systems that can provide expert
solutions. These systems use artificial intelligence and neutral networks to
reach the performance level of a human expert thereby helping the organization.
These systems are different from any other information system as they are
capable of decision-making by themselves without human intervention. Actually,
these systems are loaded with the knowledge of experts and these systems simply
simulate the expert knowledge to arrive at decisions.
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