Information system

Information system, an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, and processing data
and for providing information, knowledge, and digital products. Business firms and other
organizations rely on information systems to carry out and manage their operations, interact with
their customers and suppliers, and compete in the marketplace.

Information systems (IS) are formal, sociotechnical, organizational systems designed to collect,
process, store, and distribute information. In a sociotechnical perspective, information systems
are composed by four components: task, people, structure (or roles), and technology

Components of information systems

The main components of information systems are computer hardware and software,
telecommunications, databases and data warehouses, human resources, and procedures.

Components of the information system are as follows:

1. Computer Hardware:
Physical equipment used for input, output and processing. What hardware to use it
depends upon the type and size of the organisation. It consists of input, an output
device, operating system, processor, and media devices. This also includes computer
peripheral devices.

2. Computer Software:
The programs/ application program used to control and coordinate the hardware
components. It is used for analysing and processing of the data. These programs
include a set of instruction used for processing information.
Software is further classified into 2 types:
1. System Software
2. Application Software

3. Databases:
Data are the raw facts and figures that are unorganised that are and later processed to
generate information. Softwares are used for organising and serving data to the user,
managing physical storage of media and virtual resources. As the hardware can’t work
without software the same as software needs data for processing. Data are managed
using Database management system.
Database software is used for efficient access for required data, and to manage
knowledge bases.

4. Network:
• Networks resources refer to the telecommunication networks like the intranet,
extranet and the internet.
• These resources facilitate the flow of information in the organisation.
• Networks consists of both the physicals devises such as networks cards,
routers, hubs and cables and software such as operating systems, web
servers, data servers and application servers.
• Telecommunications networks consist of computers, communications
processors, and other devices interconnected by communications media and
controlled by software.
• Networks include communication media, and Network Support.

5. Human Resources:
It is associated with the manpower required to run and manage the system. People are
the end user of the information system, end-user use information produced for their
own purpose, the main purpose of the information system is to benefit the end user.
The end user can be accountants, engineers, salespersons, customers, clerks, or
managers etc. People are also responsible to develop and operate information
systems. They include systems analysts, computer operators, programmers, and other
clerical IS personnel, and managerial techniques.

Types of information systems:

Following are the DIMENSIONS of information system:
1.ORGANIZATIONAL DIMENSION : Information system are part of organization.
Information system will have the standard operating procedure and culture of an organization
embedded within them. This involves:
a)Functional specialties b)Business processes c)Culture d)Political interest groups
2.MANAGEMENT DIMENSION : Managers perceive business challenges in the
environment. Information systems supply tools and information needed by the managers to
allocate,coordinate and monitor their work, make decision,create new products and services
and make long range strategic decision.
3.TECHNOLOGY DIMENSION : Management uses technology to carry out their functions.
It consists of – computer hardware/software, data management technology,
networking/telecom technology.Its one of the many tools managers use to cope with the
change.

Information Systems are classified by organisational levels, mode of data, processing, system
objectives and type of support provided. Following are the TYPE of information system:

Types of Information Systems:

1. Transaction Processing System (TPS):
 Transaction Processing System are information system that processes data resulting from
the occurrences of business transactions
 Their objectives are to provide transaction in order to update records and generate reports
i.e to perform store keeping function
 The transaction is performed in two ways: Batching processing and Online transaction
processing.
 Example: Bill system, payroll system, Stock control system.

2. Management Information System (MIS):

 Management Information System is designed to take relatively raw data available through a
Transaction Processing System and convert them into a summarized and aggregated form
for the manager, usually in a report format. It reports tending to be used by middle
management and operational supervisors.
 Many different types of report are produced in MIS. Some of the reports are a summary
report, on-demand report, ad-hoc reports and an exception report.
 Example: Sales management systems, Human resource management system.

3. Decision Support System (DSS):

 Decision Support System is an interactive information system that provides information,
models and data manipulation tools to help in making the decision in a semi-structured and
unstructured situation.
 Decision Support System comprises tools and techniques to help in gathering relevant
information and analyze the options and alternatives, the end user is more involved in
creating DSS than an MIS.
 Example: Financial planning systems, Bank loan management systems.

4. Experts System:
 Experts systems include expertise in order to aid managers in diagnosing problems or in
problem-solving. These systems are based on the principles of artificial intelligence
research.
 Experts Systems is a knowledge-based information system. It uses its knowledge about a
specify are to act as an expert consultant to users.
 Knowledgebase and software modules are the components of an expert system. These
modules perform inference on the knowledge and offer answers to a user’s question
Information gathering, requirement and feasibility analysis:
Information Gathering:

Information Gathering Strategies

The strategy consists of identifying information sources, evolving a method of obtaining information
from the identified sources and using an information flow model of organization.

Information Sources
The main sources of information are users of the system, forms and documents used in the organization,
procedure manuals, rule books etc, reports used by the organization and existing computer programs(If
Any).

Feasibility Analysis
Feasibility analysis is used to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a proposed project and give
directions of activities that shall improve a project and achieve desired results.

Requirements Determination Sub-activities :

1. Requirements Anticipation. The systems analyst hypothesizes that particular requirements are
relevant based on his or her previous experience with other similar systems and knowledge about the
problem domain.

2. Requirements Elicitation. The systems analyst uses this activity to gather the essential requirements
from the user employing a variety of techniques, such as interviews, questionnaires, group
brainstorming meetings, and voice and e mail.

3. Requirements Assurance. The systems analyst uses the activity of requirements assurance to validate
and verify the requirements with the user as being the real and essential requirements. A user walk
through in which the systems analyst and the user together review documented requirements in detail
is one assurance technique.

4. Requirements Specification. This is the activity that the systems analyst uses to explicitly catalog and
document the requirements either during or after the elicitation and assurance activities.

Methods Used To Gather An Information System’s Requirements

 Interviews involve at least one systems analyst and at least one user conversing about the
information system’s requirements.
Interviewing for requirements is similar to your interviewing for a job position or a television
talk show host interviewing a guest.
 Observation is the act of the systems analyst going to a specific location to observe the activities
of the people and machinery involved in the problem domain of interest.
 Questionnaires are feedback forms designed to gather information from large groups of people.
 Creating a prototype of the information system can be done on an individual level or in a group
setting. The idea is to explore system alternatives by developing small working models of the
proposed system so that user reactions can be gathered.
Systems Development Life CycleL
An effective System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) should result in a high quality system that meets
customer expectations, reaches completion within time and cost evaluations, and works effectively and
efficiently in the current and planned Information Technology infrastructure.

System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model which includes policies and procedures for
developing or altering systems throughout their life cycles.

SDLC is used by analysts to develop an information system. SDLC includes the following activities

• Requirements
• Design
• Implementation
• Testing
• Deployment
• Operations
• Maintenance

Phases of SDLC

Systems Development Life Cycle is a systematic approach which explicitly breaks

down the work into phases that are required to implement either new or modified
Information System.
Data flow diagrams
A data flow diagram (DFD) is a visualization that maps out the sequence of information, actors, and
steps within a process or system. It uses a set of defined symbols that each represent the people and
processes needed to correctly transmit data within a system.

Data flow diagrams are most often used to visually represent the flow of data within a business
information system. These diagrams illustrate how data enters a system, how a system processes it, and
finally, where it goes. This makes it different from a workflow diagram or flowchart, which is a broader
type of visualization that can represent any other process or system within a company.

Symbols Used in DFD

Square Box: A square box defines source or destination of the system. It is also called entity. It is
represented by rectangle.
Arrow or Line: An arrow identifies the data flow i.e. it gives information to the data that is in motion.
Circle or bubble chart: It represents as a process that gives us information. It is also called processing
box.
Open Rectangle: An open rectangle is a data store. In this data is store either temporary or
permanently.

Levels of DFD
DFD uses hierarchy to maintain transparency thus multilevel DFD’s can be created. Levels of DFD are
as follows:
 0-level DFD: It represents the entire system as a single bubble and provides an overall picture of
the system.
 1-level DFD: It represents the main functions of the system and how they interact with each
other.
 2-level DFD: It represents the processes within each function of the system and how they interact
with each other.
 3-level DFD: It represents the data flow within each process and how the data is transformed and
stored.
Advantages of DFD
 It helps us to understand the functioning and the limits of a system.
 It is a graphical representation which is very easy to understand as it helps visualize contents.
 Data Flow Diagram represent detailed and well explained diagram of system components.
 It is used as the part of system documentation file.
 Data Flow Diagrams can be understood by both technical or nontechnical person because they are
very easy to understand.

Disadvantages of DFD
 At times DFD can confuse the programmers regarding the system.
 Data Flow Diagram takes long time to be generated, and many times due to this reasons analysts
are denied permission to work on it.

Input/Output Design: (Design Phases)

 Architectural design: Identify sub-systems.
 Abstract specification: Specify sub-systems.
 Interface design: Describe sub-system interfaces
 Component design: Decompose sub-systems into components.
 Data structure design: Design data structures to hold problem data.
 Algorithm design: Design algorithms fol problem functions

Software Life Cycle Models

The software life cycle is a general model of the software development process, including all the
activities and work products required to develop a software system. A software life cycle model is a
particular abstraction representing a software life cycle.

Such a model may be:

 activity-centered focusing on the activities of software development
 entity-centered-focusing on the work products created by these activities

Waterfall Model
The classical waterfall model is the basic software development life cycle model. It is very simple but
idealistic. Earlier this model was very popular but nowadays it is not used. However, it is very important
because all the other software development life cycle models are based on the classical waterfall model.

This prescribes a sequential execution of a set of development and management processes, with no
return to an earlier activity once it is completed. Some variants of the waterfall model allow revisiting
the immediately preceding activity ("feedback loops") if inconsistencies or new problems are
encountered during the current activity.

Phases of SDLC Waterfall Model –

The Waterfall Model has six phases which are:
1. Requirements: The first phase involves gathering requirements from stakeholders and
analyzing them to understand the scope and objectives of the project.
2. Design: Once the requirements are understood, the design phase begins. This involves
creating a detailed design document that outlines the software architecture, user interface, and
system components.
3. Development: The Development phase include implementation involves coding the
software based on the design specifications. This phase also includes unit testing to ensure that
each component of the software is working as expected.
4. Testing: In the testing phase, the software is tested as a whole to ensure that it meets the
requirements and is free from defects.
5. Deployment: Once the software has been tested and approved, it is deployed to the
production environment.
6. Maintenance: The final phase of the Waterfall Model is maintenance, which involves fixing
any issues that arise after the software has been deployed and ensuring that it continues to meet
the requirements over time.

V-Model
Another variant of the waterfall model-the V-model-associates each development activity with a
test or validation at the same level of abstraction. Each development activity builds a more detailed
model of the system than the one before it, and each validation tests a higher abstraction than its
predecessor

Spiral Model
The Spiral Model is a risk-driven model, meaning that the focus is on managing risk through
multiple iterations of the software development process. It consists of the following phases:

1. Planning
The first phase of the Spiral Model is the planning phase, where the scope of the project is
determined and a plan is created for the next iteration of the spiral.
2. Risk Analysis
In the risk analysis phase, the risks associated with the project are identified and evaluated.
3. Engineering
In the engineering phase, the software is developed based on the requirements gathered in the
previous iteration.
4. Evaluation
In the evaluation phase, the software is evaluated to determine if it meets the customer’s
requirements and if it is of high quality.
5. Planning
The next iteration of the spiral begins with a new planning phase, based on the results of the
evaluation.

Spiral model addresses the weakness of the waterfall model, spiral model focuses on addressing risks
incrementally by repeating the waterfall model in a series of cycles or rounds :
 Concept of Operation
 Software Requirements
 Software Product Design
 Detailed Design
 Code
 Unit Test
 Integration Test
 Acceptance Test
 Implementation

Project:
A project is a unique, transient endeavour, undertaken to achieve planned objectives,
which could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes or benefits. A project is usually
deemed to be a success if it achieves the objectives according to their acceptance
criteria, within an agreed timescale and budget. Time, cost and quality are the
building blocks of every project.
Time: scheduling is a collection of techniques used to develop and present schedules that show when
work will be performed.

Cost: how are necessary funds acquired and finances managed?

Quality: how will fitness for purpose of the deliverables and management processes be
assured?

The core components of project management are:

• defining the reason why a project is necessary;
• capturing project requirements, specifying quality of the deliverables, estimating
resources and timescales;
• preparing a business case to justify the investment;
• securing corporate agreement and funding;
• developing and implementing a management plan for the project;
• leading and motivating the project delivery team;
• managing the risks, issues and changes on the project;
• monitoring progress against plan;
• managing the project budget;
• maintaining communications with stakeholders and the project organisation;
• provider management;
• closing the project in a controlled fashion when appropriate

Process life cycle:

The project life cycle consists of five main phases:
 Project Initiation: Define project goals, evaluate feasibility, and establish purpose and
stakeholders.
 Project Planning: Create a comprehensive project blueprint outlining tasks, timelines,
and resource allocation.
 Project Execution: Put the project plan into action, ensuring effective communication
and coordination among team members.
 Project Monitoring & Controlling: Monitor progress, manage risks, and make necessary
adjustments.
 Project Closure: Finalize and close the project.