SUMMARY
- MIS is important for future business professionals, since we need to be able to assess, evaluate, and apply emerging information technology to business. This course will give you the ultimate in job security - marketable skills - by helping you learn abstraction, systems thinking, collaboration, and experimentation. It is relevant and useful also because many well-paid MIS-related jobs are in high demand.
TOPICS COVERED
- Introduction: Falcon Security
- Companies need someone who can figure out what needs to be done, find solutions, create their own plans, and develop ideas to be analyzed and reworked with coworkers
- Q 1-1: Why is Introduction to MIS the most important class in the business school?
- Information technology is the primary driver of corporate profitability, and they have some of the highest paying jobs because way tech is changing business
- A. The Digital Revolution
- Information Age - period where the primary drivers of the economy are production, distribution, and control of information
- Digital Revolution (1970) - convert from mechanical/analog devices to digital devices; dd could be connected to other dd, share data, and process faster
- Bell's Law - about every decade, a new class of computers/tech forms and establishes a new industry
- New platforms, programming environments, industries, networks, and information systems will be enabled as dd evolves
- If technology changes and a business doesn't, it could go bankrupt
- Example: 1980 PC & small networks > 1990 Internet & cell phones > 2000 network-enabled, social networking, and cloud based services
- Example: human body evolving same rate as dd; in 10.5 years, you will be running 1,024 mph on foot (Bell's Law)
- B. Evolving Capabilities
- Evolution of technology will change what you do & how you do it
- C. Moore's Law
- Moore's Law - (processing power) every 18 months, the number of transistors per square inch doubles on an integrated chip; cost of processing data is dropping to zero
- Implication: computers are getting faster, but cost approaching zero
- D. Metcalfe's Law
- Metcalfe's Law - (interconnectivity of devices) the square number of users connected to a network is equal to its value; more dd connected = network value will increase
- Example: social media uses MAU = # of monthly active users
- Implication: more connectivity between users + increasing value of digital and social networks
- E. Other Forces Pushing Digital Change
- Nielsen's Law - (bandwidth) network connections speeds will increase 50% per year for high-end users
- Implication: new companies, new products, and new platforms will emerge as networks become faster
- Kryder's Law - (storage capacity) there is an exponential increase in storage density on magnetic disks (digital storage on devices)
- Implication: storage capacity may be increasing, but the cost is approaching zero
- F. This Is The Most Important Class in the School of Business
- New technologies can create sustainable competitive advantage
- Business professionals need to have the ability to assess, evaluate, and apply emerging information technology to business
- Q 1-2: How will MIS affect me?
- A. How Can I Attain Job Security?
- Any routine skill can and will be outsourced to the lowest bidder
- Need adapt to changing technology and shifting demand +
- Develop strong, nonroutine cognitive skills:
- Abstract reasoning
- Systems thinking
- Collaboration
- Ability to experiment
- B. How Can Intro to MIS Help You Learn Nonroutine Skills?
- Abstract Reasoning - construct / make / manipulate models or representations
- Systems Thinking - show how inputs and outputs relate to one another after modeling system components
- Collaboration - two or more people working together to develop ideas and plans to achieve a common goal, result, or work product; also give and receive critical feedback (most important skill for effective collaboration)
- Ability to Experiment - create and test new alternatives, with available resources
- Experimentation - ^ + reasoned analysis of an opportunity, envision potential solutions, evaluate possibilities, and develop the promising ones
- Nature of work performed = most significant determinant of employment & salary
- Q 1-3: What is MIS?
- Management Information Systems (MIS) - manage, maintain, develop, adapt, and use IS to help achieve business strategies / need to understand business needs & requirements
- Information System (IS) - assembly of hardware, software, data, procedures, and people that produce information / all interact to produce information
- Information Technology (IT) - products, methods, inventions, and standards that produce info
- IT drives development of new IS
- You can buy IT (hardware, software, data), but not IS (procedures & people)
- Three key elements of MIS
- Management and use
- Information systems
- Strategies
- A. Components of an Information System
- System - the interaction of a group of components to achieve a purpose
- Five-component framework - model of components in an information system that interact to produce information:
- Hardware > Software > Data > Procedures > People
- Hardware = computer, storage disk, keyboard, etc.
- Software = Microsoft Word
- Data = words, sentences, paragraphs typed
- Procedures = how to start program, save, and print file
- People = you
- Computer-based information system - defined IS that includes a computer
- B. Management and Use of Information Systems
- Develop, maintain, and adapt
- Business professionals need to understand IS construction
- Usage entails that you learn to employ the system to accomplish required job tasks
- Ancillary requirements needed = security, backups, etc.
- C. Achieving Strategy
- People within the business > sell, buy, design, produce, finance, market, account, and manage -- the organization isn't alive or does anything, it is people
- People are the ones that execute procedures to employ new IT
- IS exists to help people with above procedures to achieve strategies
- Q 1-4: How can you use the five-component model?
- Hardware & people (outer part) = actors / can take action
- Software & procedure = sets of instructions; for hardware vs. for people
- Data = the bridge between computer side (left) & human side (right)
- Automation moves work from human side to computer side
- More difficult to change from computer side to human side
- A. The Most Important Component - You
- Includes: you, your mind, and your thinking
- Humans are the only ones to produce information*
- Quality of your thinking determines quality of information produced
- Computer hardware & programs manipulate data; humans produce information
- You are wasting time and money if you don't know what to do with data
- B. All Components Must Work
- IS often encounter problems (locating cause of problem) & model can pinpoint the suspect(s) (create effective solutions)
- C. High-Tech Versus Low-Tech Information Systems
- IS differs in the amount of work moved from the human side to the computer side
- D. Understanding the Scope of New Information Systems
- If need for new technology, use five components to assess how big of an investment that new tech represents
- What hardware need / program need to license / databases to create / procedures to develop / etc.
- E. Components Ordered by Difficulty and Disruption
- Five-component model shows an order of ease of change and amount of organizational disruption
- Simple to change or order additional hardware
- Obtaining/developing new software more difficult
- Creating databased/changing structure of existing ones still difficult
- Changing procedures require people work in new ways
- Hiring & terminating employees = very difficult & disruptive to organization
- Q 1-5: What is information?
- Information - data records facts or figures, while information is deriving knowledge from data
- Example: average wage is knowledge derived from data of individual wages
- Presentation of data in a meaningful context
- Example: data = Jeff earns $30; saying less than avg. wage $60 = meaningful
- Data processed by summing, ordering, averaging, grouping, comparing, or other similar options / Difference that make a difference
- A. Where is Information?
- Graph itself is NOT information
- Only if data presented in meaningful context / shows difference that makes a difference
- It is data that you perceive & from that you conceive information
- People perceive different things from the same data
- The data is just data; you add value to the IS from the information you conceive
- Q 1-6: What are necessary data characteristics?
- A. Accurate
- Accurate, correct, and complete data that has been processed correctly
- Business professionals must be able to rely on results of IS
- Inaccurate data = waste of time & money
- B. Timely
- Available in time for its intended use
- Developing systems provide data near real time = more difficult & expensive
- C. Relevant
- Relevant to both context and subject
- D. Just Barely Sufficient
- Needs to be sufficient for purpose
- Filter out what isn't necessary / data to ignore
- E. Worth Its Cost
- Data not free
- Costs for developing IS, cost of operating and maintaining system, and cost of time and salary for reading & processing data system produces
- Relationship must exist between cost of data and its value
- Q 1-7: 2026?
- Business environment is constantly changing so staying up to data with tech can ease the transition & help prepare for successful future
- Smartphone: faster processing power, exabyte storage, battery life month long, etc.
- Bring your own device (BYOD) will be common
- More people will be able to work from home / anywhere & collaborate
- Security Guide: Passwords & Password Etiquette
- Passwords do not contain: dictionary word in any language, your username/real name, or company name
- Different from previous passwords used
- 10+ characters > upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters
- Never: write down password / give your password / ask for anyone else's
- Common professional practice = "do-si-do" move > move away so person can enter their password privately
THREE TAKEAWAYS
The hottest jobs are in tech companies, and some of them are the highest paid. This is because of the way technology is fundamentally changing business. It is important to note Bell's Law, Moore's Law, Metcalfe's Law, Nielsen's Law, and Kryder's Law. Belle's Law states that a new computer class forms approximately every decade, which establishes a new industry. Moore's Law declares the number of transistors per square inch on an integrated chip doubles every 18 months, and this means that computers are performing exponentially faster. Metcalfe's Law claims the value of a network will increase if more digital devices are connected together. Nielsen's Law states network connection speeds for high-end users will increase by 50% per year. Lastly, Kryder's Law says storage density on magnetic disks is increasing at exponential rate. To attain job security, one needs to have strong nonroutine cognitive skills: abstract reasoning, systems thinking, collaboration, and ability to experiment. There is a difference between MIS, information systems, and information technology. The last thing to note from this chapter is the five-component model: computer hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. The most important is us since we perceive data to conceive information. When reading data, it needs to be accurate, timely, relevant, just barely sufficient, and worth its cost.