BUS 782 Computer Applications and

Information Systems for Management

David Chao

Technology• A force that advances civilization

– Labor saving– Higher living standard and better life– Convenient and enjoyable

• Example: America West website -- http://www.americawest.com/awa/– Select your seats– Web check-In

• Technology pushes itself to progress.– Problem– Solution– Service

• Example: Clear Pass program

– Competition– Obsolete

• Companies that develop technologies and companies that use technologies.

Select your seats

Faster Airport Security Check-in Process Introduced - For a Price

• At Mineta San Jose International Airport, The Clear Registered Traveler Program, also known as "Clear Pass," began signing up customers.

• Passengers willing to pay an annual $99.95 fee will be able to pre-register. A scan of their hands and fingers, as well as an electronic "read" of their irises will be recorded.

• If the applicant passes scrutiny, a small clear card with an imbedded microchip will be sent to the traveler from Transportation Security Administration allowing him or her to bypass the traditional screening area.

Information Age

• Information Age/society: – the majority of workers are involved in the

creation, distribution, and application of information.

• Knowledge Workers: Workers involved in the creation, distribution, and application of information.

– Businesses depend on information technology to get their work done.

Some Newspaper Titles

• France prepares for first online primary.• Beefy Google profit boots stocks.• Online auction scans soar – complaints nearly double

– Problem: challenge and opportunity• Shoppers can pay for their groceries with the touch of

a finger– Biometric service

• It’s not your imagination — spam is on the rise– Using pictures– Anti-Spam law, Can Spam Act– 80% of all email sent

• Phishing• WeBloggin, RSS

Web 2.0

• Web 2.0 refers to a perceived or proposed second generation of internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. – Wikimedia– MySpace– Web syndication

Web Syndication

• Web syndication is a form of syndication in which a section of a website is made available for other sites to use.

• RSS: Really Simple Syndication

Digital Entrepreneur

• People who develop new technologies.– Search engines, map, browser, etc.

• People who use the technologies innovatively.– Many interesting Internet websites.

• Curriki.org:– Search for computer

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2006

You• For seizing the reins of the global media

– Tila Tequila: The Madonna of MySpace– Leila: ONELYGIRL15, the real lonely girl of YouTube– Smosh: Intertainer– Kamini, French rapper

• For founding and framing the new digital democracy– Lane Hudson, the Washington Whistle-Blogger

• For working for nothing and beating the pros at their own games– Mil-Blogger Captain Lee Kelley: “No one knows what’s

going on better than the soldiers on the front lines.”– Citizen reporter

Examples of E-Commerce

• Amazon Associates:– Amazon.com's affiliate marketing program. By linking to

Amazon products and services you can add compelling content for your site visitors enjoyment and receive up to 8.5% in referral fees for doing so.

– aStore

• eBay Stores:– An eBay Store helps you get more out of eBay's access to

millions of shoppers worldwide. By showcasing all of your merchandise in one central location, an eBay Store creates a central shopping destination where buyers can learn more about you, your products, and your policies.

Why study information systems?

• An end-user perspective– Enhance personal productivity, and the

productivity of their work groups and department.

– Increase your opportunities for success:• be aware of the management problems and

opportunities presented by the information technology.

Why study information systems?

• An enterprise perspective: Information systems play a vital role in the success of an enterprise.– Efficient operations– Effective management– Competitive advantage

Information System is a major functional area of business

• A major part of the resources of an enterprise and its cost of doing business.

• An important factor affecting operational efficiency, employee productivity, customer service, etc.

• A major source of information needed to promote effective decision making.

• An important ingredient in developing competitive products and services that give an organization a strategic advantage in the marketplace.

• A challenge career opportunity.

Business Are Becoming Internetworked Enterprises

• The internet and Internet-like networks (intranets and extranets) have become the primary information technology infrastructure that supports the business operations of many organizations.

• Electronic commerce:– The buying and selling, and marketing and servicing of

products, services, and information over a variety of computer networks.

• Globalization:– Global markets, global production facilities, global partners,

global competitors, global customers.

Techies might finally be able to move into top management

• More Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are reporting directly to CEOs.

• More CIOs are being included on management committees.

• In a recent survey of executives at capital market firms, 89% believed that technology managers would assume greater responsibilities.

Course Introduction• IT – Introduction to information technology

– Computer hardware, software, network

– IT management

• IS – Introduction to information systems– Information system components

– Types of information systems

• PC – personal computing– Advanced spreadsheet techniques in decision support.

– Introduction to database and database application development

– Internet techniques

What is Information Technology?

• A term used to refer to a wide variety of items and abilities used in the creation, storage, and dispersal of data, information and knowledge. – Data: Raw facts, figures, and details.

• Numerical, text, multimedia

– Information: An organized, meaningful, and useful interpretation of data.

– Knowledge: Insight of a subject matter.

• Its three main components are computers, communications networks, and know-how.

Hardware• Input devices

• CPU and primary storage– RAM - temporary storage– Processor

• Control Unit - decoder

• Arithmetic & Logic Unit (ALU)

– Machine cycle:• fetch instruction

• decode instruction

• execute instruction

• place results in memory

Hardware

• Output devices

• Secondary storage

• Communication devices

Computer System Concept

Types of Computer Systems• Microcomputers

– personal computing, workstation,network server.

• Minicomputers– Departmental and workgroup systems, network server,

workstation.

• Mainframes– Enterprisewide systems, transaction processors– Data mining and warehousing

• Supercomputers– Billions to trillions of operations per second (gigaflops and teraflops) – Parallel processing– Scientific calculations

• Networked computer systems– WAN, LAN, PAN

Local Area Network• Peer-to-peer network:

– no dedicated server– allow file sharing with password protection

• Client/Server network– at least one computer as dedicated server– improved security, performance– Network Operating System (NOS)

• Downsizing: replacing mainframes by networked micro/minicomputers.

• Upsizing: replacing PC based systems by networked micro/minicomputers.

• Distributed processing• Client/Server computing

Personal Area Network

• A personal area network (PAN) is a computer network used for communication among computer devices (including telephones and personal digital assistants) close to one person. The devices may or may not belong to the person in question. The reach of a PAN is typically a few meters.

• BlueTooth: It is an industrial specification for wireless PANs. Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras and video game consoles via a short-range radio frequency. – Nokia’s Sensor program

Hardware Trends• CPU: Parallel processor systems.

– Intel’s Dual-Core processors: two processors built into a single chip.”

• Storage:– RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks): Arrays of disk

drives that provides a fault tolerant capability by storing multiple copies of data on several disks.

• RAID hardware/RAID software, Mirroring.– Erasable optical disk.– Terabyte hard drive:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terabyte

– Flash memory: • non-volatile• Camera, PDA

• Input/output: video and multimedia input/output, voice recognition and response, optical and magnetic recognition, biometric scanner.

• Hand-held devices– PDA, Smart phone

Radio Frequency Identification

• RFID is a system for tagging and identifying objects.– Antenna to send and receive signals.

– RFID reader

• Applications:– An alternative to bar code

• Supermarket

– Tracking objects

– Digital watermark to prevent counterfeit

Moore’s Law

• A doubling in the number of transistors per integrated circuit every 18 to 24 months– Originally observed in 1965, it holds true today

• Common corollary of Moore’s Law…– Computing prices will be cut in half every 18 to

24 months– This has been consistently accurate– Applies to cost of storage as well

Software

• System software– Operating system

• Application software– University’s registration system

• Application development software

Operating system functions

– User interface– Resource management (managing hardware)– Task management (managing the

accomplishment of tasks)– File management (managing data and

program files)– Utilities (providing a variety of supporting

services)

Today’s Operating Systems

• Personal computers:– IBM PC compatible:

• Microsoft windows, Unix-like systems such as Linux.

– Apple Macintosh:• Mac OS, Linux

• Mainframe computers:– IBM z/OS, Linux

Linux and Open Source

• A Linux system is sometimes referred to as GNU/Linux.– GNU – free software

• Linux has been more widely ported to different computing platforms than any other operating system.

• Linux is the most prominent example of free software and of open source development. Its underlying source code is available for anyone to use, modify, and redistribute freely, and in some instances the entire operating system consists of free/open source software.

Free Software: GNU.Org• “Free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand

the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”, not as in “free beer”.

• Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0). • The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to

your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).

• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

Operating Systems for Mobile Devices

• Mobile devices:– Pocket PC/PDA– Smartphones– Portable media center

• Operating systems:– Windows Mobile, Windows CE– Palm OS– Symbian OS for Nokia

Application development software

• Low level language

• High level language– third generation– fourth generation

• Word processing, desktop publishing, spreadsheet, database management, graphic presentation, etc.

Compiler

• Translator: Translate the source program to machine executable code.

• Interpreter: Translate one command at a time.– VBScript, JavaScript

Object-oriented development tools

– Graphical user interface– Component programming– Event-driven programming– Code generator/Wizard

• Object example:– Excel’s cell, chart

• Object-oriented tool example:• VB.Net• Java

Portability Java: Write Once Run Anywhere

Java Source Code

Java Byte Code(Intermediate Code)

Java Byte Code

Java Virtual Machine(JVM)

Executable Code

Microsoft’s .Net• Language must compliance with Common

Language Specification, CLS.• Compile the language into Microsoft Intermediate

Language (MSIL) code. • The MSIL code is then executed in the

Common Language Runtime (CLR), which conceptually is same as the JVM, where it is translated into machine code by a compiler.

• Microsoft .Net is a server-side technology. It runs on any servers that implement the .Net system.

Client-Side VS Server-Side

• Client-side technology has the browser compatibility problem.

• Example:• Using FireFox, Tools/Options/Web Features

– Enable Java, Enable JavaScript

• Google Maps: Draggable because of AJAX, which is a JavaScript technique. If we disable JavaScript, it is not draggable.

• Information technology provides the means to rethink/recreate/reengineer conventional business processes.

– Business Processes: Collections of activities, often spanning several departments, that take one or more kinds of input and create a result that is of value to a company’s customers.

– Reengineering: The reshaping of business processes to remove barriers that prohibit an organization from providing better products and services and to help the organization capitalize on its strengths.

IT and Business Process Reengineering