IS 130: Management Information Systems

Course PacketSpring 2011

Professor SASAN RAHMATIAN

Table of ContentsPage T O P I C

3 Syllabus/Schedule

20 Why study MIS?

26 Systems thinkingo 26: Systems conceptso 51: Controlo 54: Hierarchy of objectiveso 68: Systems thinking as a framework for MIS

76 Information Systems

110 Strategic information systems

138 Management reporting systems

196 Decision support systems

209 Knowledge management systems

251 Expert systems

271 Operational systems

285 Automated systems

312 Transaction processing systems (TPS)

325 Integrated TPS (ERP/CRM/SCM)

343 Internet-based TPS (E-Business)

367 Database management systems

376 Collaborative support systems

396 Systems development

IS 130: Management Information Systems California State University, Fresno

Spring 2011

COURSENumber of units: 3Location: PB 134Class Times:

Monday 6:00 – 8:45 pm (schedule number: 31815) Tuesday/Thursday 2:00 - 3:15 pm (schedule number: 31813)

INSTRUCTORSasan Rahmatian, Ph.D. (sa-sanʹ ra-maʹ-ti-yan)Peters Building 247 Phone: 278.4376 Fax: 278.4911 E-mail: sasanr@csufresno.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday: 3:15-4:00 pmIf you want to visit me in my office, please notify me in advance by email.

DESCRIPTION Welcome to the fascinating world of Management Information Systems! Most managers are informationally overfed but undernourished. While they are bombarded with tons of irrelevant data, they seldom get the right information of the right type in the right form at the right time. They don’t receive the right information to set goals for the organizational unit under their control, to find out if they are meeting those goals and – if they are not – to understand why not, and what to do about it. Sometimes they are not even sure what information they want. To make it worse, the information they say they want may actually not be the information they really need!

This course presents the following challenges to you as a (future) manager, administrator, or executive, and gives you the concepts/theories/tools to deal with them constructively: Are your information systems strategically oriented? (Strategic Information Systems) Do you have systems in place that tell you whether/how well you are meeting your goals, highlight poor

performance areas and help you drill down all the way to details that reveal the real trouble spots? (Management Reporting Systems)

Do you systematically feed information about your actual performance levels back to your operational staff so the necessary operational adjustments/improvements may be made?

Do you have systems that support you in making complex decisions? (Decision Support Systems)

Do you have systems in place for capturing the experience of your operational staff and making it available to others so they don’t end up making the same mistakes? (Knowledge-Based Systems, Expert Systems)

Do you have clearly structured, flowchartable operations? (Operational Systems)

Are your operations at the appropriate level of automation? (Automated Systems) Do you run your operations with proper support from web-based technologies? (E- Business

Systems) Do your day-to-day operations capture and record the right data for later reporting/analysis?

(Transaction Processing Systems) Are these data stored and organized the right way? (Database Management Systems) Do you provide the right communication media for each type of collaborative work? (Collaborative

Support Systems) What are the basic phases you need to go through in developing new information systems, and what

alternative approaches can you take? (Systems Development Life Cycle)

We will not address the above as unrelated issues; rather, we will integrate them within a powerful framework known as the systems approach. After studying the systems approach, we will derive from it the various application domains of information systems listed above: Transaction Processing Systems, Database Management Systems, Management Reporting Systems, Decision Support Systems, Knowledge-based Systems, Expert Systems, Automated Systems and Collaborative Support Systems. Each application domain will be explored in some detail. Next, we will use the concept of systems development life cycle to examine how information systems are developed and implemented. Finally, we look at security issues.

All this will be done by inviting you to read a number of interesting articles, discuss a number of exciting real-world cases, and apply the majority of ideas learned to a familiar corporate application.

Upon completing this course, you should:1) Understand the systems approach to problem solving, and the supporting role played by information

systems.2) Be able to identify strategic opportunities offered by information systems stemming from both

interfunctional integration of a digital firm as well as IS-driven market globalization.3) Be able to identify and apply the various application domains of information systems (transaction

processing systems, decision support systems, expert systems, etc.).4) Appreciate the role played by data as an organizational resource that needs to be collected, stored,

controlled, and processed into useful information.5) Understand the role of information in managerial decision making and specifically its contribution to

the quality of business decisions.6) Be familiar with the various phases and issues involved in systems development.7) Acquire information systems vocabulary and understanding of technical concepts at the level sufficient

to articulate their functional information requirements while working with system analysts at various stages of information system development cycle.

PREREQUISITES IS 52 or demonstration of computer literacy; upper-division standing; BA 105W or ENGL 160W (may be taken concurrently)

 

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION 75% Tests (3@25%) Required for each test: Scantron 882 25% Assignments

TEXTCourse Packet (Copy Center, Kennel Bookstore)

ASSIGNMENTSEach assignment may, or may not, be based on any readings. It presents you with a real-world scenario and then asks you to perform a challenging mental activity associated with it. At times you may feel frustrated that you are asked to do such assignments before you are given the proper tools/techniques for doing them. If so, please keep two things in mind:

1. Strictly speaking, you do not need any specialized knowledge to do these assignments, as they build on your intuition and (business) common sense.

2. They will be used in each class session as vehicles for bringing out the important concepts and principles in this course. Without your prior exposure to – and your struggle with – them, the theory portion of this course will be too abstract to be comprehensible.

Policy on Class Attendance Attendance is mandatory and will be taken at all classes, and you are expected to attend each and every class. You are entitled to one unjustified cut for the section meeting Mondays and two unjustified cuts for the section meeting Tuesdays/Thursdays. Beyond that, you will lose three percentage points for every cut, unless the absence is for a legitimate reason, and is fully documented and turned in. Please make every effort to attend all classes, as student participation is crucial to the success of this course.

Minimum Required Preparation Outside of Class

General Rules Pertaining to Assignments Type each assignment in Times New Roman 12 font, single-

spaced, with no cover page. Each assignment should be done on a maximum of one page. On the top right hand corner write your name (first, last), class

period (such as “Monday” or “Tuesday/Thursday”), assignment title, and date.

Turn in each assignment on a separate sheet. Do not staple two assignments together.

The assignments will be graded on a pass/fail basis. Since there is an element of subjectivity involved in this, you are urged to err on the side of caution and put your best foot

Members of the CSU Fresno academic community adhere to principles of academic integrity and mutual respect while engaged in university work and related activities. You should:

understand or seek clarification about expectations for academic integrity in this course (including no cheating,

According to University policy, for every hour of class meeting, you are expected to spend at least two hours of preparation per week outside of class. Hence, for this course, you are expected to spend at least six hours of preparation per week outside of class.

Email Policy: All emails to the instructor must have a subject beginning with “IS 130”, followed by your full name

(unless your full name appears in the From column) The above will make it unnecessary to start an email with a clarification such as “I am in the

Tuesday/ Thursday section of your IS 130 class”. When sending me an e-mail, take the time to write it well and type it correctly. Your e-mail to me is

a formal means of communication and should be distinguished from the informal, casual text messages you may send your friends in which you punctuate informally, write “u” for “you”, etc. The fact that e-mail messages are sent easily through an electronic medium should not be construed as grounds for sending sloppy messages containing typographical and/or grammatical errors. Email messages that are written in an unprofessional manner – i.e., tone, grammar, spelling, punctuation, inappropriate case usage, containing non-business standard abbreviations, no subject, etc. may not be answered.

Disruptive Classroom BehaviorThe classroom is a special environment in which students and faculty come together to promote learning and growth. It is essential to this learning environment that respect for the rights of others seeking to learn, respect for the professionalism of the instructor, and the general goals of academic freedom are maintained. Differences of viewpoint or concerns should be expressed in terms which are supportive of the learning process, creating an environment in which students and faculty may learn to reason with clarity and compassion, to share of themselves without losing their identities, and to develop an understanding of the community in which they live. Student conduct which disrupts the learning process shall not be tolerated and may lead to disciplinary action and/or removal from class.

Policy on Academic MisconductCheating is the actual/attempted practice of fraudulent/deceptive acts for the purpose of improving one's grade or obtaining course credit; such acts also include assisting another student to do so. Typically, such acts occur in relation to examinations. However, it is the intent of this definition that the term 'cheating' not be limited to examination situations only, but that it include any and all actions by a student that are intended to gain an unearned academic advantage by fraudulent or deceptive means. Plagiarism is a specific form of cheating which consists of the misuse of the published and/or unpublished works of others by misrepresenting the material (i.e., their intellectual property) so used as one's own work. Penalties for cheating and plagiarism range from a 0 or F on a particular assignment, through an F for the course, to expulsion from the University.

The policy on academic misconduct is stated in the university catalog. The “Instructor’s Report of Cheating/Plagiarism” form can be found at the very end of this packet.

Please become familiar with the above information, and also with the University Honor Code:

Members of the CSU Fresno academic community adhere to principles of academic integrity and mutual respect while engaged in university work and related activities. You should:

understand or seek clarification about expectations for academic integrity in this course (including no cheating,

Recommended Approach for Preparing for Examinations 1. No “study guides” will be provided for you later on. Please do not ask for one. Therefore, it is

important that you pay attention in class and take notes. 2. Study in groups. This way you can compare notes and conceptions. Maybe one person heard

something that another did not, and vice versa.3. If you need help, ask for it. If you have doubt about any detail of the material covered in class, use

my office hours to ask questions. But remember to set an appointment first. I am always ready and willing to help you.

Miscellaneous Rules Arriving late or leaving early can be very disruptive. Please arrive on time and do not leave

early. Be courteous to those around you. Do not carry on personal conversations or goof off during class. Both are very disruptive to

students sitting around you as well as to your professor. Do not work on other assignments during lectures. Extra-credit assignments are usually irrelevant and counterproductive. You are encouraged to base your

performance on the mastery of the mainstream material covered in class. INCOMPLETE grades will be given only under the most extenuating circumstances, which ought to be

fully documented. If you miss a test, you will be allowed to make up only if you have a legitimate, documented reason for

having missed that class. If you do not contact me within 24 hours of the time the class took their test to make arrangements for taking a make-up test, you will automatically receive a grade of zero for that test.

Should you have a disability which may interfere with your performance in this class, please identify yourself to me as well as to the University so that reasonable accommodations for learning and evaluation can be made.

Turn off all mobile communication devices before entering class. These include beepers, pagers, and cell phones. Do not engage in texting while in class. If due to some emergency you need to be accessible in a particular class, please bring this fact to my attention before the class begins.

You are welcome to bring your laptop to class and use it for academic purposes. You should not use it, under any circumstances, for non-class related activities, such as web surfing, emailing, etc. At times when your undivided attention is required, you will be asked to close your laptop.

All email messages will be sent to your official CSUF email address. It is important that you keep that account in good shape on a regular basis by deleting spam and other undesired message, so that it does not go “over quota”, and will keep receiving valid messages.

This syllabus is subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances. If you are absent from class, it is your responsibility to check on announcements made while you were absent.

If you drop this course, please let me know at your earliest convenience.

N o t e You may communicate with me through multiple channels.

My first preference is e-mail, either for me to answer your questions or for us to set up a time when your questions can be discussed in person.

My second preference is meeting in person. This is for issues too complex to be resolvable through email.

My third preference is the phone. If you call my office and need to leave a message, please speak slowly and clearly.

You will have a better chance of getting an immediate reply with e-mail than with phone messages.

When sending me an e-mail, please take the time to write it well and type it correctly. Your e-mail to me is a formal means of communication to your professor and should be distinguished from the informal, casual messages you may send your friends in which you punctuate informally, write “u” for “you”, etc. The fact that e-mail messages are sent easily through an electronic medium should not be construed as grounds for sending sloppy messages containing typographical and/or grammatical errors.

Please make full use of announced office hours to ask follow-up questions or to talk about any professional/personal matter of interest to you. If the announced office hours are not convenient for you, I will try to meet with you at times that are. Please stop by my office and give me the opportunity of knowing you better as a person.

If you are coming to my office during office hours to ask course-related questions, please drop me an e-mail in advance just in case other students have already made appointments for that same time slot. Your time is too valuable to wait for me.

Finally …

I hope you will enjoy the material selected for you and the way they unfold during the sessions we spend together. If there is anything I can do to make this a more enjoyable educational experience for you, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Course Schedule

All hand-written page numbers refer to pages in this course packet. Certain pages from the course packet have deliberately not been referenced, but will be discussed in class.

Some assignments are based on readings; others are standalone, relying on your common sense, business sense, past experience, and sense of logic.

You are expected to do all the readings assigned to each session prior to that session in sufficient detail to have a clear sense of what they are about and to be able to answer questions about them when called upon in class. Use the concepts/issues listed below under each class as your guide to navigate thru the reading material; they tell you what to look for. These concepts/issues will act as your study guide in preparing for tests. No separate “study guide” will be sent out later.

1. January 24/January 20Why study MIS?

Issues: What are the 4 levels at which information systems can/must be understood, and how are they related? What are 3 ways of understanding MIS, depending on which component of “MIS” is emphasized?

2. January 24/January 25Systems thinking I: General concepts, Structure

Required reading: Systems Thinking 101: The Magic of Systems Thinking A Systems Approach to Business Programmed Decisions Automated Decision Making

Concepts: system, element, relationship, emergence, purpose, complexity, dynamic systems, open systems, self-correction, programmed (=structured) decisions, automated decision making

Issues: How do business firms fit the definition of a system, i.e. act like systems? What are 4 reasons why a company may get fragmented into components rather than act as a whole? What are the 3 levels of structure (structuredness) in systems? What is automated decision making and what are some business examples of it?

Assignments for a class may run on from one page to the next. Make sure you always continue reading on to the following page. If you don’t, and thus miss

some assignments, your excuse will not be accepted.

3. January 31/January 27Systems thinking II: Control ; Hierarchy of objectives

Assignment: Am I Blind?

Required reading: The Hierarchy of Ends The Hierarchy of Objectives

Concepts: control, feedback, positive/negative feedback, hierarchy of systems, hierarchy of objectives (ends/means chain)

Issues: What are the components of a control system? How does a control system work? What are the levels of feedback? What are the advantages of thinking in terms of the hierarchy of objectives? How did Ford benefit from the use of a hierarchy of objectives?

4. January 31/February 1Systems thinking III: Systems thinking as a framework for MIS

Assignment: I am Quitting Boss!

Issues:What are the issues/questions embodied in the systems cycle of solving any problem, and how do they relate to one another (i.e., the logical flow among them)?

5. February 7/February 3Information systems I

Assignment: The General/Logical and the Specific/Physical

Required reading: Data Rich, Information Poor Telemedicine may bridge gap in Valley specialists Information Concepts

Concepts: raw data, data, information, components of information systems, logical (essential)/physical conceptions of an information system, types of data

Issues:

How are data and information relative concepts? What is the very essence of data/information that sets it apart from physical/material objects? How does telemedicine help bridge gap in Valley specialists? How does the logical/physical distinction provide two levels of understanding an information system? How could data rich organizations suffer from information poverty?

6. February 7/February 8Information systems II

Required reading: Sniffing out Crime Airline group says 30 million bags briefly lost What is source data automation?

Issues: How do data/process viewed statically/dynamically provide four angles from which any information

system can be described? What are the information flows in a typical retail transaction involving the use of credit cards? What are the functions performed by information technology? What is source data automation?

7. February 14/February 10Strategic information systems I

Assignment: Purchasing Questions

Required reading: Porter’s Five Forces Model Value for One The Value Chain Revenue Management Peoplexpress Airlines

Concepts:Porter Five Forces Model, value, value added, value chain, value equation, revenue (yield) management

Issue: Why did Peoplexpress Airlines go out of business?

8. February 14/February 15Strategic information systems II

Assignment:

Select any one of the 12 stages of the Customer-Service Life Cycle (in a reading by the same name assigned to this class; see below), an industry other than the hospitality organization, and give an example of an information systems application that has played a strategic role in that phase of that industry. Fully explain the industry, the selected stage, the information systems application and the benefits gained.

Required reading: The Customer-Service Life Cycle Technology and the Rise of Wal-Mart Measures of Philanthropic Success

Concepts:The Customer-Service Life Cycle

Issues: What is the point of the Customer-Service Life Cycle? In what specific ways did information systems/technologies contribute to Wal-Mart’s performance? Why did Warren Buffett pledge billions in philanthropic giving to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

rather than start one under his own name? What is so special about the way the Gates Foundation operates?

What are two examples of how the Gates Foundation made decisions based on data/information?

February 17 NO CLASS

9. February 28/February 22Management reporting systems I

Assignment: Coping with Shrinkage

Required reading: You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure Key Performance Indicators Building a Unified Business Scales of Measurement How to Use Benchmarking in Business Hawthorne Effect The Hawthorne Works The Jury Room Is No Place for TV Data Warehouse

Concepts:KPI (Key Performance Indicator), 4 scales of measurement, benchmark/standard, Hawthorne Effect, data warehouse

Issues: Why is measurement (establishing KPI) important in management?

Why is benchmarking important in management? What is the Hawthorne Effect and how does it impact management reporting? What is data warehousing and what flaws in using operational databases for producing management

reports gave rise to it?

10. February 28/February 24Management reporting systems II

Required reading: Symptoms/Pre-symptoms How Verizon Flies by Wire On-Line Analytical Processing

Concepts:Dashboard, symptom, pre-symptom, drill down, OLAP (definition, cube, slicing, dicing, rotating, dimensions, categories, measures)

Issues: How did Verizon use dashboards?T E S T 1 (at the end of this period)

11. March 7/March 1Decision support systems I

Assignment: Hybrid Car Payoff

Required reading: Defining a Decision Support System Revenge of the Nerds

Concepts:Decision support (vs. automation) systems, mathematical model, independent variable, dependent variable, parameter, what-if analysis, sensitivity analysis, goal seek analysis, optimization

12. March 7/March 3Decision support systems II

Required reading: The Business Intelligence Toolkit Schwarzenegger Camp Mines Consumer Data to Target Supporters Drug Industry Mines Physicians’ Data to Boost Sales

Concept: data mining

Issues: How did the Schwarzenegger camp mine consumer data to target supporters?

How did the drug industry mine physicians’ data to boost sales?

13. March 14/March 8Knowledge management systems

Assignment: Slow Printer

Required reading: Knowledge Management Julia Child Lessons Learned on the Trail2Knowledge at Boeing Canoga Park Knowledge Management at Northrop Grumman

Concepts:definition, codifying knowledge, tacit knowledge, various sources for capturing knowledge + brief definition of each

Issue: What has Julia Child got to do with knowledge management?! How did knowledge management work at Boeing? How did knowledge management work at Northrop Grumman?

14. March 14/March 10Expert systems

Assignment: Investment Expert

Required reading: Fundamentals of Expert Systems Years After Hype, Expert Systems Paying Off For Some Gate Delays at Airports

Concepts:definition, domain specificity, general form of knowledge, levels/components, why we need them, benefits, forward/backward chaining, natural language user interface, explanation facility, knowledge engineer, symbolic reasoning

Issues: How were expert systems helped solve the problem of airport gate delays?

15. March 21/March 15Operational systems I

Assignment: Write, in plain English, a narrative of the auto repair process, as found on page ____

Required reading: A Brief Intro to the Process Flow Mapping of Operations Swimlane Process Mapping 101 – Building a Process

Concepts: (swimlane) diagram

Issues: Why is it important to map business processes? What are the components of a swimlane diagram?

16. March 21/March 17Operational systems II

Assignment: Draw a diagram (any type of diagram, as long as it is meaningful, clear, and accurate) of Ford’s A/P system, as explained on page _____. Do the same for Mazda’s A/P system.

Required reading: Re-engineering Ford vs. Mazda

Concepts: (Business Process) Re-engineering

Issues: How is re-engineering different from automation? How did re-engineering explain 500 employees in Ford’s A/P Department while only 5 at Mazda’s? How did re-engineering help the TVA?

17. March 28/March 22Automated systems

Assignment: Read InstyMeds and1. summarize it in your own words2. identify and discuss 3 benefits of this system3. identify and discuss 3 limitations of this system

Required reading: Automation Design: Its Human Problems Making Automation Work Computer scientists fear robots might one day outsmart us

Concepts:definition, 4 components, payback period

Issues: Is every system that is called automated/automatic really so? If not, what are some examples? What are the benefits and limitations of automation?

What is payback period, and how is it calculated? What are some examples of robots outsmarting humans?

18. March 28/March 24Transaction processing systems I

Assignment: Car Rental

Required reading: Transaction Processing Systems

Concepts:definition of transaction, operational/managerial relevance, 3 clarifications, ripple effect

Issues: What is the significance/implication of when “what happened” and “what was recorded” do not match? What are the general characteristics of TPS? What are the generic components of a business TPS and the flows among them? What is the strategic significance of TPS?

19. April 4/March 29Transaction processing systems II

20. April 4/April 5Integrated TPS: ERP/CRM/SCM

Required reading: Harrah’s Solid Gold CRM for the Service Sector What is ERP? Introduction to CRM Giving Voice to Customer-Centricity What is Supply Chain Management?

Concepts: definitions and benefits of ERP, CRM, SCM

Issues: How did Barclays and Harrah’s utilize CRM beneficially? How did Wal-Mart utilize SCM beneficially?

T E S T 2 (at the end of this period)

21. April 11/April 7Internet-based TPS: Internet concepts

Required reading:Go to Wikipedia and read an article on each of the concepts listed below. Do not read the entire article. Read only enough to be able to grasp, and re-produce in a couple of sentences, the basic definition of each term.

Concepts:Protocol, TCP/IP, packet, packet-switching, router, Internet, client-server, World Wide Web, HTTP, URL, hypertext, hyperlink, browser

To think about (nothing is to be turned in):As part of learning the above material, please reflect on the following very puzzling question: The Internet was invented in 1969. E-Business (conducting business on the Internet) did not take off until the early/mid 1990s. What explains the time lag? None of the following is the correct explanation:

Because during the 1970s and 1980s … people did not have personal computers computers were expensive, slow and had little memory transmission speeds were too slow people did not trust online transactions merchants were unwilling to sell online

22. April 11/April 12Internet-based TPS: E-Business I

Assignment: The Batesville Brand

Required reading: The Collapse of Webvan Introduction to e-Business and e-Commerce Richness and Reach

Concepts:e-commerce, e-business, business model, B2B/B2C/C2B/C2C/G2C/C2G/…, Webvan, dot-com bubble, clicks-and-mortar, reach/richness (their tradeoff, and the impact of WWW), web personalization, 1-click, marketplace channel structures, disintermediation, online intermediaries, reintermediation

Issues: Why did Webvan collapse?

23. April 25/April 14Internet-based TPS: E-Business II

24. April 25/April 26Database management systems I

Assignment:

Separating Apples from Oranges

Required reading: Data, Information, and Knowledge

Concepts:data hierarchy [bit/byte (character)/field/record/file(table)/database], redundancy, primary key, foreign key, entity-relationship diagram

Issues: Why is redundancy in database design undesirable? What are the steps involved in properly designing a database?

25. May 2/April 28Database management systems II

26. May 2/May 3Collaborative support systems

Assignment: Printed or Online

Required reading: Don’t “cell” out! Cell phones are becoming a crutch for late arrivals The age of interruption The plugged-in taxi driver E-Mail Makes Everything More Efficient – Unfortunately! Protocols Make E-Mail More Effective – Fortunately

Issues: What are the 3 dimensions of communication? What are the advantages/disadvantages of synchronous/asynchronous communication? How is medium richness related to communication structure? What is the meaning of “the medium is the message”?

27. May 9/May 5Systems development I: The life cycle

Assignment: Airport Matters

Required reading: Systems Development Life Cycle

Concepts:

Systems Development Life Cycle, planning, analysis, design, implementation, maintenance

28. May 9/May 10Systems development II: alternative approaches

Required reading: Selecting a development approach (read only with a view of grasping the essential meaning of each of

the following concepts)

Concepts:Waterfall, Prototyping, and Rapid Application Development methodologies

Issues:For each of the above three methodologies, what are the Basic Principles Strengths/Weaknesses Situations where most/least appropriate

T E S T 3 (at the end of this period)