MIS 2000

Class 2: Basic Concepts

Updated January 2014

Outline
Data, Knowledge, Information

Data, Knowledge, Information in Organizations

Information System (IS) IS User

Information Technologies
Summary

Basic Concepts

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Information
Is this information:

Treuliodd y rhif cwsmer bron i dri chant o ddoleri mewn un pryniant - gwerthiant mwyaf y mis diwethaf!
- Why yes/no? Is this information: The customer number 18 spent nearly three hundred dollars in one purchase -- the largest sales last month!

- Why yes/no?

Data
Symbols created by people for communication purposes (voices, letters, numbers, pictures). Data are organized at different levels: letters words text report Data can be recorded in electronic form or some other (paper etc.). Information systems help to organize and transform data (sorted text, tabulated numbers, structured report).

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Information
We will define information from the process perspective taken in this course* in this way: Information is a result of interpreting data by using knowledge. Or, information refers to data that are understood by a person.

DATA

KNOWLEDGE

INFORMATION

Understanding data refers to grasping a meaning of data, which happens in human brains. So, information can also be defined as the meaning of data.

Information
Information to occur takes a whole process, process of informing. An example:

MANAGER KNOWS: - Language, to read text, numbers, graphs, sales report - Concepts of customer, purchase, time, salesperson, how these relate to each other

3. KNOWLEDGE interprets DATA 1. DATA organized into a SALES REPORT

MANAGER UNDERSTANDS: Customer number 18 spent about 234 dollars in one purchase, which is the largest sale in the month!

Process of informing

4. INFORMATION is understood (Manager gets it.)

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Information (more)
The term information is overused today.* People get lazy and dont use their brain instead of naming the content that is being talked about or communicated, the word information is stamped upon everything. Everybody and almost every technology is information provider. If all this is information, what is not? Why do we have the term data? How is information different from data? Better than calling anything information, try to name a given content by what it is about (e.g., customer address or record, explanation, instruction, response, report, text, figures)** Every MIS 2000 student who can replace the word information with an appropriate term gets a participation credit!

Basic Concepts

Knowledge
Complex structures in human memory. Knowledge implies understanding What something is (concepts, relationships, taxonomies) Why something is (cause-effect relationships between concepts) How to do something (procedures, experience) Knowledge can be represented in talk, books, information systems, and other forms.*

Basic Concepts

Knowledge, Data, & Information

Knowledge uses data to create information, i.e., enables interpreting of data to grasp the meaning of it New information advances knowledge, adds to it, changes it.

Basic Concepts

Data, Information, Knowledge in Organizations

Most of work in modern organizations is about data, knowledge and information Occupational groups: Managers, Professionals, Clerks

Manipulate data

Clerks
Professionals

Interpret data in reports and elsewhere to get informed for managing.

Managers

Use knowledge to analyze & resolve professional problems & advance knowledge.

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Systems and Information Systems (IS)

Any system is a set of related parts with a common purpose to produce some output from inputs.* (see Note) Systems are differentiated on the purpose the outputs they produce. Purpose of educational system is to produce graduated students.* Purpose of IS is to organize and/or transform data for systems users.

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Information System (IS)

Definition: An IS is a system that provides transformed and organized data.

A computer-based IS is a whole that consists of (1) data, (2) computer hardware and software (information technologies), and (3) procedures applied to data, software & hardware.*
data storage; processors for transforming data running software
PROCESSING part

Data

keyboard, mouse hardware

INPUT part

screen, printer hardware

OUTPUT part

Transformed & Organized Data

ENVIRONMENT Data are the heart of IS. Inputted data are different than outputted data.

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IS and Information
Outputted data are often called information, but human informing does not happen unless data are received and understood.

Why it is important to differentiate between data and information: If the system designer assumes that any output from system is information, but the user really dos not understand the output (fully or partially), then the system fails to support the user and business. The test if information is communicated is on the users side, in his/her understanding of the system output. IS is not called so because it outputs information but because it transforms and organizes data so that data can become information for the IS user.

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Information System User

IS User is a person that uses an IS by manipulating it or by interpreting its output. Primary User: direct use, manipulates data & IT Secondary User: indirect use, interprets outputted data

Data

Information System

Transformed & Organized Data

Many higher level managers are (still) secondary users of IS.

IS for Management

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Information Technologies (IT)

Electronic IT are machines and devices for managing data.*

In a computer-based IS, each part (input, central unit, output) is made from particular kinds of IT:
hardware parts (monitor, motherboard with main circuitry, keyboard)

software
Application Software (Application) supports users work; e.g.: MS Access, Excel, a Web browser. Systems Software - operates hardware so that application software can run; e.g.: operating system like MS Windows combinations of software and hardware in the computer.

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Summary 1/2
Data are symbols created by people for communication purposes (voices, letter, numbers, pictures). Data can be recorded in various ways. Knowledge is complex structures in human memory that make a person understand what something is, why something is, and how to do something. Knowledge is in human brain and it can be represented in complex data structures. Information is the data that are understood by people, or the meaning of data. There is no understanding of data without knowledge. Information is created in human brain, although people often assume that external data is already "information." In organizations, clerks mostly deal with data, managers with information, and professionals with knowledge.

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Summary 2/2
Any system is a whole made of related parts with a common purpose to produce some output from inputs. Systems are differentiated on outputs, that is, purpose. The purpose of information system is to store, organize and transform input data. A computer-based IS is a whole that consists of data, computer hardware and software (information technologies), and procedures applied to data, software & hardware. Data are the heart of IS. System procedures are often work procedures (the way tasks and job are done).

The IS user can be primary or secondary user. Most managers are secondary users.
Electronic information technologies are machines (computer, smart phone) and devices (computer storage, keyboard) for managing data.
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