Nova IMS Information Systems Course - Unit 1

Nova IMS Information Systems Course

• Course taught by Manuela Aparicio, PhD
• Course dates: 2024/2025
• Learning Unit 1 covers features and components of information systems in today's global environment.

Learning Unit 1 Content

• Features and Components of an IS: This section will define and explore the features and fundamental components of information systems.
• Role of Information Systems in Today's Business: This segment will examine the critical function of information systems in modern business operations.
• Perspectives of Information Systems: This section will cover different perspectives on information systems, encompassing the technical, organizational, managerial, and so on.

Historical Figures and Systems

• Charles Babbage's Difference Engine (1832): An early mechanical calculating machine.
• Ada Lovelace (1848): Considered the first computer programmer for her work with Babbage's Analytical Engine.
• Alan Turing (1912-1954): Pioneering computer scientist, key figure in codebreaking during World War II, and considered the father of computer science and artificial intelligence.
• Grace Hopper (1906-1992): A pioneering computer scientist and admiral in the US Navy. Key figure in early computer programming and debugging.
• Katherine Johnson (1918-2020): A significant mathematician whose calculations were crucial to the success of early US spaceflights, notably concerning orbital mechanics.
• Margaret Hamilton: Computer scientist who led the development of on-board software for NASA's Apollo program.

Evolution of Computers

• Vacuum tubes (1st generation): Early electronic components used in computers.
• Transistors (2nd generation): More efficient and smaller electronic components used in computers.
• Integrated circuits (3rd generation): Combining multiple transistors on a single chip, leading to more powerful computers.
• Microprocessors (4th generation): Central processing unit on a single chip.

Evolution of Computer Systems

• 1950s-2010s: This spans various notable computing innovations such as the introduction of silicon transistors, TTL quad gates, 8-bit microprocessors, 32-bit microprocessors, 64-bit microprocessors, and GPU technology, each advancement representing increases in processing power and capabilities in computers.

Technology Drivers of Infrastructure Evolution

• Moore's Law: Describes the exponential increase in the number of transistors per chip over time.

1.1 Features and components of an IS

• Information Technology / Hardware and Software: The necessary technology for businesses to achieve goals.
• Information System Components: Describes interrelated components that manage information, supporting decision-making and control, and facilitating analysis, visualization, and content creation (graphics, data, etc).
• Data and Information: Distinguishes raw data from processed information (data shaped for use).

Data Storage Timeline

• Various models and types of storage devices, from 8-inch floppy disks to USB drives, micro SD cards, and cloud storage, are described. 

How Information Systems Are Transforming Business

• Business Growth: Statistics highlighting the growth of businesses utilizing dot-com internet sites (over 160 million) and social media's global user base (exceeding two billion monthly visitors).
• Transformative Roles: Discussion on how information systems (IS) enhance communication among employees, customers, and managers within a business environment.

Information Technology Capital Investment

• IT Investment (trends): Charts illustrate the trends of IT capital investment from 1999-2017.
• Percentage Increases: Provides precise percentages of IT investment increase.
• Significance: Emphasizes the substantial and growing importance of investment in information technology.

Contemporary Approaches to Information Systems

• Technical Approach: Focuses on mathematically based models and uses computer science, management science, and operations research
• Behavioral Approach: Addresses behavioral issues, such as strategic business integrations and implementation; emphasizes psychology, economics, and sociology

Sociotechnical Systems Approach

• Combined Models: Highlights the integration and practical application of technical and behavioral models, involving information's interaction with a company's internal and external components.
• Four Actors: Describes critical interactions: suppliers of hardware/software, business firms, managers, and employees.
• Contextual Environment: Focuses on the impact of the legal, social, and cultural environment on firms

1.2 The role of information systems in today's business

• Transformative Roles: Highlights the flattening of hierarchies and the prevalence of decentralized structures in contemporary organizations.
• Globalization and Costs: Explores how globalization, facilitated by the internet, dramatically reduces costs at a global scale.
• Impact on Ways of Working: Explores how information systems have changed the ways businesses operate, interact with customers, suppliers and employees, and how these changes create wealth.
• Competitive Advantage: Discusses and illustrates various business strategies for gaining competitive advantage leveraging modern ways of working and utilizing information management systems.

1.3 Perspectives of Information Systems

• Data and Information: Explores the difference between raw and processed data and the conversion to meaningful information.
• Activities in Info Systems: Describes and defines basic activities within information systems, including input, processing, output, and feedback.
• Dimensions of Info Systems: Explores various perspectives (organizations, management, technology) and highlights their importance to information systems. 
• Core Activities of an IS: Provides the fundamental actions in an information system: input, processing, and output as well as feedback from the system concerning operations quality.
• Model of Info Systems: Offers a model demonstrating the structure of information systems, emphasizing interactions between stakeholders within the system including suppliers, regulatory agencies, stockholders, competitors, and customers.