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ISYS104 Tutorial – week 3



Review Questions


1. What are business processes? How are they related to information systems?
Define business processes and describe their relationship to business performance.


A business process is a logically related set of activities that define how specific business tasks are performed. Business processes are the ways in which organizationscoordinate and organize work activities, information, and knowledge to produce their valuable products or services.


How well a business performs depends on how well its business processes are designed and coordinated. Well-designed business processes can be a source of competitive strength for a company if it can use the processes to innovate or perform better than its rivals. Conversely,poorly designed or executed business processes can be a liability if they are based on outdated ways of working and impede responsiveness or efficiency.


Describe the relationship between information systems and business processes.


Information systems automate manual business processes and make an organization more efficient. Data and information are available to a wider range ofdecision makers more quickly when information systems are used to change the flow of information. Tasks can be performed simultaneously rather than sequentially, speeding up the completion of business processes. Information systems can also drive new business models that perhaps wouldn’t be possible without the technology.


2. Why are information systems so essential for running and managing abusiness today?

Describe the characteristics of transaction processing systems (TPS) and the role they play in a business.

Transaction processing systems (TPS) are computerized systems that perform and record daily routine transactions necessary in conducting business; they serve the organization’s operational level. The principal purpose of systems at this level is to answer routinequestions and to track the flow of transactions through the organization.
• At the operational level, tasks, resources, and goals are predefined and highly structured.
• Managers need TPS to monitor the status of internal operations and the firm’s relationship with its external environment.
• TPS are major producers of information for other types of systems.
• Transactionprocessing systems are often so central to a business that TPS failure for a few hours can lead to a firm’s demise and perhaps that of other firms linked to it.

Describe the characteristics of MIS and explain how MIS differ from TPS and from DSS.


Middle management needs systems to help with monitoring, controlling, decision making, and administrative activities.
• MIS providemiddle managers with reports on the organization’s current performance. This information is used to monitor and control the business and predict future performance.
• MIS summarize and report the company’s basic operations using data supplied by TPSs. The basic transaction data from TPS are compressed and usually presented in reports that are produced on a regular schedule.
• MIS servemanagers primarily interested in weekly, monthly, and yearly results, although some MIS enable managers to drill down to see daily or hourly data if required.
• MIS generally provide answers to routine questions that have been specified in advance and have a predefined procedure for answering them.
• MIS systems generally are not flexible and have little analytical capability.
•Most MIS use simple routines, such as summaries and comparisons, as opposed to sophisticated mathematical models or statistical techniques.


MIS differs from TPS in that MIS deals with summarized and compressed data from the TPS.


While MIS have an internal orientation, DSS will often use data from external sources, as well as data from TPS and MIS. DSS supports “what-if” analyses...