ICT158 Introduction to Information Systems

Workshop 6 – Types of Information Systems: Traditional IS

This week’s workshop has some exercises relating to the material in Topic 6: Types of
Information Systems: traditional IS.

The exercises are to be handed in as part of your e-Portfolio submission 2. Answer the
questions in the exercises, and include a section for your reflection on how they fit into the
week’s topic and your learning.

Students can work in pairs or small groups to discuss the exercises, but you should write up
the work individually.

At the completion of this tutorial you should have gained practice in:

 Identifying traditional information systems within an organisational context

 Describing the components of dashboards
 Analysing the advantages and disadvantages of enterprise applications within
different organisational contexts
 Defining other information systems within the organisation (eg Geographic
Information Systems).

TO DO:

Exercise 1: Types of information systems in an organisation

 Choose an organisation (either from the examples provided in previous tutorials, or a

‘new’ one) and give an example of:
 An information system that addresses a functional area within the organisation
 A TPS
 An MIS
 A DSS
 An EIS.
You may be able to identify information systems directly from the website, or you may
have to make educated assumptions based on what you have learned about traditional
information systems. Explain your reason for the classification in each case.

Report (3-4 paragraphs total only) on how each of these separate systems addresses the
business objectives of the organisation.

 Locate an example of a dashboard that applies to the industry of your organisation.

What components does it include? What information systems could provide those
components?

1
 As of 2007, SAP is the world's largest business software company, with a focus on
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems across a number of industries. Without
copy/pasting from the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_SE), write a
brief proposal on how SAP could benefit your organisation.
Hint: You should refer back to the lecture slides to identify which enterprise-wide
information systems could be applicable to your organisation. Does a SAP solution
support any of these? If so how?

Exercise 2: GIS within an organisation

[this is an extension to the topic and looks at a different type of information system ]

The government of in Orlandia (a hypothetical country in the southern hemisphere), has

announced that it will be using the latest Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in order to
locate new regional (ie not in a capital city) public hospital. The Working Party established to
do this asks you to evaluate how a GIS could help the government choose a site. You will
need to provide the following information:
1. What are the features of a GIS?
2. What type of information (eg transport routes) would help in the decision making
process?
3. Assume your GIS has analytical and mapping capabilities – how could they be used?
An interactive map of Australia is available at
http://www.ga.gov.au/search/index.html#/showMap
4. You might also like to visit
http://spp.dsdip.esriaustraliaonline.com.au/geoviewer/map/da and view the
infrastructure tab to explore how an interactive map can help you answer these
queries. Click on the basemap link on the navigation bar for different views of the
map.

COMPLETING THE WORKSHOP

Complete this workshop by writing up your findings to exercise 1 and 2 as an ePortfolio

report. Your ePortfolio should answer the questions asked in the exercise, and summarise
your findings. It should also include a section for reflection on what you have learned,
particularly in relating the exercise to
 the week’s topic
 the unit in general
 your own experience.

An example of an e-Portfolio report (from a different unit) is available on Learning

Management System (LMS).