Student Name Student Number Information Systems in Organisations DT249/1 Assignment: Information Systems in Practice Date of submission (Nov 2011)
Introduction The objective of this assignment is to look at Management Information Systems to identify the present and leading edge of Management Information Systems in organisations. The three topics I chose to write about are Information System Applications, The Structure Of Organisations and Information System Security, I picked these 3 since these are topics I was most interested in, and also have the most knowledge of from past experience albeit not much. Each topic will be broken down into the key aspects of it and then each aspect will be written on. Types Contents Information System Applications What they are Decision Support Systems (DDS) Executive Information System (EIS) Marketing Information Systems Office Automation Systems (OAS) Organisation Structures Types What Organisation Structures are Functional Structure Divisional Structure Matrix Structure Bureaucratic Structure Informational System Security What s involved? What Information Security is Confidentiality Availability Authenticity Administrative Logical Physical Authentication Cryptography
Information Systems Applications Information systems aid employees when processing information. MIS and business systems are especially useful in the comparison of business data and the production of reports to help decision making. With the assistance of computers, the effectiveness of decision making and the understanding of strategies are greatly improved. MIS systems allow employs to turn huge amounts of data into reports and presentations that are easily understandable; otherwise the data would be useless. MIS systems can run simulations and hypothetical scenarios to answer "what-if" questions to, for example predict sales for the upcoming month. They allow data processors to enter the data digitally quickly, where it used to have to be stored in filing cabinets on paper. This will save an organisation a lot of time and money, since they can in turn make decision on the data sooner Types The majority of MIS systems specialise in a particular sectors, aspects of the enterprise, or management substructure. MIS systems give frequent and fixed reports created from data obtained by the organisations underlying transaction processing systems to middle managers to inform them on decision problems Decision support systems (DSS) Decision support systems (DSS) are computer applications use to compile information to support problem solving and decision. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organisation and assist in decision making, which may changing a lot and not easily specified in advance. Three important parts of DDSs are the databases, the model (decision context) and the user interface; the users are also important components Executive information systems (EIS) An Executive Information System provides support for senior executives by providing them with easy access to the internal and external reports coming from all the companies departments such as accounting, financial, human resources they require to meet the strategic goals of the organisation. Marketing information systems Marketing information systems are MIS made for the single purpose of managing the marketing tasks for the business. Office automation systems (OAS) Office automation systems (OAS) support communication and productivity in the enterprise by using computers/software to create, store and manipulate information, automating work flow and getting rid of bottlenecks. OAS may be implemented at any and all levels of management. They rely heavily on LANs, which allow users to transmit data over the network "Management Information Systems Explained." Best Price Computers. Web. 16th Nov. 2011. <http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/management-information-system.htm>
Organisational structures Organisational structure is regarded as how a company is set up, who is the boss and who is in charge of what. It gives answers to how tasks should be dealt with and by whom. There are many different ways in which a company could structure itself on, but it depends on the goals and objectives the company or organisation wish to achieve. Functional structure Functional structures have employees in an organisation working on specific tasks, for example, the financial department would be staffed by only accountants and bookkeepers. This can break down communication between departments and make organisation slow and inflexible. This structure is more useful for producers of large quantities of goods. Co-ordination and specialisation of tasks are centralised, which makes producing a limited amount of products efficient and predictable. Further efficiencies can be realised as they integrate their activities vertically so that products are sold and distributed quickly and at low cost. For instance, a small business could make components used in production of its products instead of buying them. Image from Organizational Structure «Operations, Processes, and Decisions 21 st Nov 2011 web < http://sameh.wordpress.com/2006/05/13/a7/>
Divisional structure A divisional structure could have separate divisions in two different countries, for example a computer company (such as Dell or HP) might have a division in the US that only deals with selling desktops and laptops, and a division in Europe that only sells accessories like webcams and printers. Each division may have its own department for sales, engineering and marketing. Image from Organizational Structure «Operations, Processes, and Decisions 21 st Nov 2011 web < http://sameh.wordpress.com/2006/05/13/a7/>
Matrix Structure A matrix management is an organisational management which employees with similar skills are joined together to work on a project...for example, all the engineers could be in one engineering department under an engineering manager, but they could also be placed under another manager to work on a separate project, which would then leave the engineers working under several managers on several projects. Employees can be chosen individually depends on the needs of the project, project managers are responsible for finishing the project, on time and on budget. Image from Organizational Structure «Operations, Processes, and Decisions 21 st Nov 2011 web < http://sameh.wordpress.com/2006/05/13/a7/>
Bureaucratic structures Weber (1948, p. 214) gives the analogy that the fully developed bureaucratic mechanism compares with other organisations exactly as does the machine compare with the non-mechanical modes of production. Precision, speed, unambiguity, strict subordination, reduction of friction and of material and personal coststhese are raised to the optimum point in the strictly bureaucratic administration. Bureaucratic structures have a degree of standardisation. They re best suited for more complex or large scale organisations, usually adopting a tall structure. The tension between bureaucratic structures and non-bureaucratic is echoed in Burns and Stalker's distinction between mechanistic and organic structures. Image from Session 2. Structure of an organization web, 21 st Nov 2011 <http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7503e/w7503e04.htm> "Organizational Structures" Wikipedia, Web, 16th Nov 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/organizational_structure Weber M. (1948). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, translated, edited and with an introduction by H. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. "Matrix Management" Wikipedia, Web. 16th Nov 2011 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/matrix_management>
Information System Security Information security is the protecting of information from unauthorised access; it focuses on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. Confidentiality Confidentiality is to prevent information being seen by unauthorised people or system, an example is if a company has an idea for a new product they do not want a competing company to get hold of, they would take action to secure it, they could limit what employees have access to it, and make sure the passwords on the computers storing it are viable. Availability Information must be available to be accessed when its needed meaning that the computer used to store and process the information, the security controls, and anything used to access it must function correctly. Systems providing high availability aim to be available all the time, and stop service disruptions from power cuts, hardware failures and system updates Authenticity In computing, ebusiness and information security, it's vital that the sender and receiver of data and communications, both physical and digit to prove they are who they claim to be, so that any information involved in the transaction can be considered bona fide. When Management chooses to reduce risk, they can implement one or more of three types of controls. Administrative Administrative controls are approved written polices, standards, procedures and guidelines. They create a framework for running the business and managing employees. They tell employees how the business is run, and how day-to-day tasks are done. Examples of administrative control policies are, hiring policies, password policies, and disciplinary policies. Logical Logical controls use computer software to monitor and control access to information and computer systems, for example firewalls, network intrusion detection systems, passwords, access control list and data encryption. An often overlooked principle is the principle of "least privilege", it means you only allow users access to do exactly what they have to do, and not giving them access to irrelevant data that they do not require for their job, an example is giving users an "administrative account" on a computer when a "user account" is sufficient to run their programs, this will stop them making changes and installing malware/viruses on company machines, which can lead to further diminishes in security.
Physical Physical controls monitor and control all workplace facilities, and the access to and from those facilities. Doors, locks, cameras, motion detectors, fences, security guards, alarms (including fire alarms and smoke alarms) all contribute to physically securing premises. An often over looked physical control is separating employee tasks. An application programmer shouldn't be a database or server administrator, each should have its own separate administrator. Authentication Another way to secure a system is having user credentials to log in where a user will need a user name and password, if users have forgotten their password, they can usually retrieve it with a secret question, and these questions are usually ones that only the user will know the answer too, at least within that organisation, such questions include what was the name of your first school teacher or what was your first pets name. Advanced and more expensive methods of authentication are a finger/hand scanner, or iris recognition. Cryptography Information security uses cryptography to turn (encrypt) information into an unusable form so any unauthorised person will not be able to access it. Authorised person will have the cryptographic key and can use it to decrypt it back into usable information. Information Security Wikipedia, Web, 21 st Nov 2011 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/information_security>
Reflexive I started the project on the 16th and done most of my research then up to the 18th, I was unable to view any organisational information system so I relied solely on the internet for research, using Wikipedia and other sites for information, which I have tried to reference and cite everything properly in there related section, and again at the end. Wikipedia contributed a lot of the information for this project, since the majority of results from searches linked to Wikipedia pages directly related to the topic, and the remaining results linked to colleges offering courses on the topic or websites selling books related to the topic. On the 19th, I started the main written section and getting ideas and everything down on paper to construct a plan and layout of the assignment, this including a quick draft of the project so it was easier to pick a layout and ideas. On the 20th and 21st, I began the typing and editing everything making sure it was done according to my plan, checking spellings. During this time there were a few alterations to the original plan which I hope made it a better read. Conclusion I am happy with the topics I picked as I was interested in them, and doing the research for it was like hitting two birds with one stone since I got to study and learn a lot about them, and do an assignment at the same time. I went over the recommended word count quantity but I think it was necessary for adding quality to my project. References "Management Information Systems Explained." Best Price Computers. Web. 16th Nov. 2011. <http://www.bestpricecomputers.co.uk/glossary/management-information-system.htm> Organization structures" Wikipedia, Web, 16th Nov 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/organizational_structure> "Matrix Management" Wikipedia, Web. 16th Nov 2011 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/matrix_management> Information Security Wikipedia, Web, 21 st Nov 2011 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/information_security> Weber, M. (1948). From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, translated, edited and with an introduction by H. H. Gerth and C. W. Mills. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Organizational Structure «Operations, Processes, and Decisions 21 st Nov 2011 web <http://sameh.wordpress.com/2006/05/13/a7/> Image from Session 2. Structure of an organization web, 21 st Nov 2011 <http://www.fao.org/docrep/w7503e/w7503e04.htm>