Organisational Information Systems

Organisational Information Systems

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to outline the role and gaining of the IS for the super television for its senior and line management. The report will contain sections such as system thinking concepts, data flow diagrams, internet shopping etc.

Task 1

Information system

The world is made up of systems and sub systems. Humans are a complex and organized systems. Within humans there are various sub systems like the brain and the blood circulation system and the body temperature system and many others.

Characteristics of Systems Theory

The three main types of system are;

• Natural systems, e.g. climate or the seasons

• Man-made systems, e.g. transportation and telecommunication, and

• Social systems, e.g. the economic or legal systems.

(Global Information Systems, Geoffrey Elliot 2004: p49)

A system is a set of parts, arranged into an organised whole. This is known as holism. These systems are arranged in a way that they are systematic, and they all fall into a plan. (Global Information Systems, Geoffrey Elliot 2004: p49)

The objectives of using IS in firms is to collect, analyse and process information to communicate inside the organisation to individuals and groups to help in the process of decision making.

Super TV will be known as a man-made system. Super TV can benefit from IS in many ways, which could be increased output/productivity, improved communication, better services, better working environment, and so on. There can be some downfalls to IS. Some off the bad things about IS can be that it could cost a lot of money to develop and install. Some off the users might not like change in the current system that is in place etc.

Flow of information

Every system has at least three parts, inputs, process and output. There are other parts as well such as goals and objectives of the system. A system will also have boundaries for it to work inside of as well as having an environment. It may also have a part that handles feedback and control.

(OIS, Lecture 2)

As we can see from the above diagram which is a level 0. This shows different departments linking together. The box shows single process for the entire system, external entities and the data flows that pass between the external entities and the system. The purpose of it is to identify and examine the interfaces between the external entities and the system.

In a level 1 diagram (below), it can be seen that this is a more detailed diagram. It shows how data enters the system, how these data items are transformed by the processes and how they leave the system. Level 1 diagram has the same number of inputs and outputs as its context diagram. The major data stores and all external entities are shown. The flows are connected to and from the actual processes which create, receive or change them

(OIS, Lecture 6)

We can also look at a level 1 diagram of the accounting department (below). We can see that when a customer places an order the sales team will send the details to the accounting department where they will break the process down into smaller process like taking the payment details and then entering them onto the system. This will then create a customer file, which they will precede onto making a payment file and storing that information to use it again if the customer wish’s to make another order in the future.

(OIS, Lecture 6)

Systems thinking and information flow

The whole system is broken down into subsystems it is linked with one another in such ways that in some cases the output of one system might be the input of another.

(Global Information Systems, Geoffrey Elliot 2004: p67)

When a purchase is made the information at super TV the information will go to the accounting