ASSIGNMENT

Submitted to: Dr. Madhvendra Mishra

Submitted by: Harshita Jaiswal

HIERARCHY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The field of information systems (IS) has evolved along with the development
of information technology and applications over the past twenty years. Even
though IS research is often defined as an interdisciplinary field of study that
stretches across computer science, management science, and organizational
science, the field has become more mature and demands to be a reference
discipline for other business areas.

An information system (IS) is any combination of information technology and

people's activities using that technology to support operations, management, and
decision-making. In a very broad sense, the term information system is
frequently used to refer to the interaction between people, algorithmic
processes, data and technology. In this sense, the term is used to refer not only
to the information and communication technology (ICT) an organization uses,
but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of
business processes.

Information systems are distinct from information technology in that an

information system is typically seen as having an ICT component. Information
systems are also different from business processes. Information systems help to
control the performance of business processes.

Information systems are implemented within an organization for the purpose of

improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. Capabilities of
the information system and characteristics of the organization, its work systems,
its people, and its development and implementation methodologies together
determine the extent to which that purpose is achieved.

There are various types of information systems, for example: transaction

processing systems, office systems, decision support systems, knowledge
management systems, database management systems, and office information
systems. Critical to most information systems are information technologies,
which are typically designed to enable humans to perform tasks for which the
human brain is not well suited, such as: handling large amounts of information,
performing complex calculations, and controlling many simultaneous processes.
Hierarchial level of information system

This pyramid reflects the classical view of information systems. Nowadays

many other forms of advanced information systems have emerged which do not
fit into this model because they cannot be restricted to specific domain. Some of
those information systems are as follows:

 Data warehouses
 Enterprise resource planning
 Enterprise systems
 Expert systems
 Geographic information system
  Global information system
 Office Automation

As we can easily infer from the above chart that the information system at the
lower level would be the simpler one because it is being used by the workers
who are not capable of making complex decisions. Thus TRANSACTION
PROCESSING SYSTEM mainly used for electronic data processing (EDP),
purposes such as transactions processing, record-keeping and accounting. EDP
is often defined as the use of computers in recording, classifying, manipulating,
and summarizing data. These process data resulting from business produce
business documents.
Examples: sales and inventory processing and accounting systems.

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM IS focused on providing business

applications that provided managerial end users with predefined management
reports that would give managers the information they needed for decision-
making purposes. It provides information in the form of prespecified reports and
displays to support business decision making.
Examples: sales analysis, production performance and cost trend reporting
systems.

Similarly, DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS provide interactive ad hoc support

for the decision-making processes of managers and other business professionals.
Examples: product pricing, profitability forecasting and risk analysis
systems.

EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS provide critical information from

MIS, DSS and other sources, tailored to the information needs of executives.
Examples: systems for easy access to analysis of business performance,
actions of all competitors, and economic developments to support strategic
planning.

With advancement in artificial intelligence, expert systems and knowledge

systems came to the use of the higher authorities in the organization so as to
make their decision making capability more precise and backed up with large
amount of efficient and important data.

EXPERT SYSTEMS knowledge-based systems that provide expert advice and

act as expert consultants to users.
Examples: credit application advisor, process monitor, and diagnostic
maintenance systems.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS knowledge-based systems that

support the creation, organization and dissemination of business knowledge
within the enterprise.
Examples: intranet access to best business practices, sales proposal
strategies and customer problem resolution system.

Apart from these there are some information systems which add value to the
information systems discussed above. These are as follows:

 DATAWAREHOUSE
 DATAMINING
 GLOBAL INFORMATION SYSTEM
 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM