An Information System is an integrated set of tasks, people, roles, and Technology for collecting, storing, and processing data. Similarly, providing information is another main task of IS.
Different business organizations rely on information systems to carry out daily tasks and manage operations. Interaction with customers and suppliers is another function of the Information System, which helps to create good relationships in the market. IS allow inter-organizational supply chains providing rational data to the vendors and the customers.
Many of the major enterprises work based on information systems — for example, eBay, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. The government also depends upon Information systems so that they can get data of the citizen and process it into useful information. Likewise, IS allows the corporate world to administer thoroughly.
IS in use by
Individuals do rely on the Information System for their different daily tasks. For example, students need information about their course study, so they surf the internet to find filtered information they need. Similarly, different social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. also depend upon the Information system. When individuals use such social media, their information acts as data to some other organizations for different use.
Components of IS
In 1995 (Silver et al.) provided two views on Information System, which includes hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. Similarly, Zheng provided a different view of the information system, which adds essential system elements such as environment, purpose, and interactions.
Some basic components of the IS followed worldwide:
Hardware
The basic components of a computer system are hardware devices. Because without the hardware devices, software and operating system will not have any platform to operate. Hardware provides the base for Information System as well as Computer System Management.
Software
Software falls into two divisions that are system software and application software. The system software is the operating system (for example, Windows, Linux). The system software manages the hardware components and other system resources. The System Software provides the user to control the computer via a graphical user interface (GUI). While Application Software is the program to operate and perform different tasks.
Data
Many information systems work for the transmission of data stored in databases. Where a database is a collection of interrelated data. For example, employee records, attendance records, product catalogs, etc. However, databases support the daily operations and management functions of an organization.
Data is the primary need for Information systems as, without data, no information recites. Simply the place to store data is called data warehouse. IS processes the data and converts it to the information which is available to the users
Process/Procedure
As we already talked about data, the process or procedure component serves as the filtering component of the Information System. This component of the System does all the gathered data analysis. Different methods involve data processing, and one of them is Data Mining. However, this process is not the end of the system, as the information is still in the system.
People
People are generally the end Users of the Information System. Users can view the information provided to them but cannot change without any authorization. All the above process is for the people sot that they can see the generated information. The user can be anyone, including admin, manager, or operator.
Why Information System?
The career path in the information systems discipline is massive. With specialized technical knowledge and strong communication skills, an individual can make most out of the IS. Similarly, with management skills and an understanding of business policies and principles one can have a better future in IS because different companies are increasingly looking to drive their revenue based on Information systems and Technology.
Some advantages of Information System
- The user can get filtered information about what they seek.
- Information System helps the big enterprise in the decision making the process.
- The government can get detail information about the scenario of the country through digital media.
- A decrease in the cost of ownership.
- Vast and entertaining field of Study for technology students.
- Time-saving, as individual data gathering and processing, is no longer required. Everything is automated.
- Integrates with the Internet of Things.
Some d-merits of Information System
- Privacy is an issue for big enterprises.
- Hackers might infiltrate in weak companies’ systems.
- High installation cost. Not all can afford the Information System.