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Introduction to Business Information Systems, Canadian Edition

by Huber, Mark W., The University of Georgia; Piercy, Craig A., The University of Georgia; McKeown, Patrick G., The University of Georgia; Norrie, James, Ryerson University

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd.

Publishing Date: 2009/11/13

eText ISBN-10

0-470-16149-3

eText ISBN-13

978-0-470-16149-4

Print ISBN-10

0-470-84030-7

Print ISBN-13

978-0-470-84030-6

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Introduction to Business Information Systems, Canadian Edition

by Huber, Mark W., The University of Georgia; Piercy, Craig A., The University of Georgia; McKeown, Patrick G., The University of Georgia; Norrie, James, Ryerson University

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Table of Contents

About the Authors, vi

Part One. The Individual ...

Part Two. The Organizatio...

Part Three. The Business ...

Tech Guides, 400

Chapter Map, 543

Photo Credits, 564

Table of Contents

About the Authors, vi

What Are Data, Information, and Technology?, 1

The Data-Information-Knowledge Continuum, 1

Defining Competitive Advantage, 3

So What Do I Really Need to Know?, 4

Our Spiral Model, 5

Part One. The Individual Perspective, 9

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Business Context, 10

Business Organizations and the Business Environment, 12

The Changing Organization Form, 13

Globalization, 14

The Internet, 14

Becoming a Knowledge-Enabled Professional, 17

Lifelong Knowledge Creation, 18

What Is an Information System?, 21

Types of IS, 23

IS Components and Types, 23

IS Security, 23

Chapter 2. Fundamentals of Information Technology, 36

The Components of IT, 40

Processing Hardware, 43

Input Hardware, 45

Output Hardware, 48

Storage Hardware, 49

Communications Hardware, 50

System Software, 53

Application Software, 56

Connecting over Networks, 57

Network Categories, 58

Network Hardware, 59

Network Software, 61

How Networks Benefit the IT-Literate Knowledge-Enabled Professional, 61

The Internet, 62

What Makes the Internet Possible?, 63

Accessing the Internet, 63

The World Wide Web, 65

Chapter 3. Doing Knowledge Work to Create Business Value, 74

Knowledge Work Activities, 77

Discovery: Finding Data, Information, or Knowledge, 77

Analysis: Investigating and Examining the Available Data, Information, and Knowledge, 80

Transformation: Organizing Discovery Results, 81

Synthesis: The Sum of the Parts, 82

Communication: Sharing Analysis with Others, 84

Summary of Knowledge Work Activities, 86

Making Decisions, 88

Classifying Decisions by Type, 91

Using Information in Decision Making, 91

How to Make More Informed Decisions, 93

The Decision-Making Process, 93

Problem Solving, 95

Investigate, 96

Putting It All Together: The Relationships Between Knowledge Work, Decision Making, and Problem Solving, 102

Part Two. The Organizational Perspective, 113

Chapter 4. Business Fundamentals and IT Strategy, 114

Businesses as Open Systems, 117

Stakeholders and Boundaries in the Business Environment, 117

Business Process, 121

How Businesses Organize to Create Value, 123

The Value Chain, 127

Building an Understanding of the Value Chain, 127

The IT-Enabled Value Chain, 129

Applying IT to Create Business Value, 131

Automating to Do Things Faster, 131

Informating to Do Things Better, 132

Transforming to Gain Competitive Advantage, 135

Strategically Fitting IT to the Organization: A Business Example, 139

Chapter 5. IT for the Organization, 148

The Technology Infrastructure of an Organization, 151

Organizational Hardware—From Supercomputers to PDAs, 151

Organizational Networks—Data Communications in Organizations, 153

Organizational Software, 156

Databases: The Primary Data Storage for Organizations, 157

The Data Hierarchy, 158

Using File Processing to Manage Data, 159

Database Systems, 160

Relational Data Model, 161

Storing and Accessing Data, Information, and Knowledge, 164

Data Warehouses, 164

Management Information and Document Management Systems, 168

Knowledge Management, 169

The IS Integration Challenge, 173

Middleware, 173

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), 175

Information Systems that Support Business Activities, 177

Transaction Processing Systems, 178

Functional Information Systems, 181

Workflow Management Systems, 181

Business Intelligence, 184

Using IT to Support Business Intelligence, 184

Decision Support Systems, 186

Chapter 6. Creating IS Solutions, 196

The “Big Four” IS Development Questions, 200

Is There a Need for an IS?, 200

Is the Project Feasible?, 200

Build or Buy/Lease?, 203

In-House or Outsource?, 205

The Stages and Activities of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), 207

IS Development Teams, 211

The IS Project Team, 211

Importance of Stakeholders, 214

Standard IS Methodology, 216

Why Do Organizations Need an IS Methodology?, 216

The Traditional IS Methodology: The Waterfall Model, 217

Modern IS Methodologies, 218

IS Modelling, 220

Managing the IS Project, 225

Overview of Project Management Tasks, 226

Project Time Management, 230

Risk Management, 232

IT Tools for IS Development, 235

Project Management Software, 236

IS Development Tools, 237

Part Three. The Business Partner Perspective, 249

Chapter 7. E-Commerce for Consumers and Organizations, 250

E-Commerce Defined, 253

Expanding the Basic Definition, 254

E-Commerce and Products: Physical and Digital, 254

The E-Commerce Advantage, 257

The Global Reach of E-Commerce, 257

E-Commerce Difference in Competition, 260

E-Commerce and Business Strategy, 264

E-Commerce for Consumers, 268

Benefits and Limitations of E-Commerce for Consumers and Businesses, 268

E-Commerce Business Models, 272

Website Purpose, 272

E-Commerce Between Organizations, 275

Doing Business with Other Organizations, 275

B2B Transactions and Business Models, 277

Services in B2B E-Commerce, 279

Using B2B E-Commerce to Improve Supply Chain Efficiency, 280

Chapter 8. E-Commerce Technologies, 292

The Evolution of E-Commerce Technologies, 295

First Generations E-Commerce Technologies: Establishing a Web Presence, 298

Client/Server Networks, 299

Web Browsers, 300

HTTP—Hypertext Transfer Protocol, 301

HTML—Hypertext Markup Language, 302

Second-Generation E-Commerce Technologies: Providing Interaction, 304

Getting Input Data, 304

Storing Data on the Client Side, 305

Storing Data on the Server Side, 308

Executing Programming Instructions, 309

The n-Tier Infrastructure, 313

Third-Generation E-Commerce Technologies: Supporting Transactions, 317

Search Technologies, 317

Order and Payment Systems, 319

Fourth-Generation E-Commerce Technologies: Transforming Processes, 326

Extensible Mark-up Language (XML), 327

Web Services, 328

Beyond Fourth-Generation E-Commerce Technologies, 333

Chapter 9. The Connected Enterprise: Business Partnering and Protecting, 342

Corporate and IT Governance, 346

The CIO: Managing IT Governance, 347

Roles of IT Governance and Leadership in Creating Business Value, 348

A Global Perspective, 350

What Is a Global Perspective?, 351

A Global Perspective on Partnerships, 352

Global Sourcing, 354

Multinational and Transnational Companies, 358

Global IS/IT, 359

Linking Global IT to Global Business Strategy, 361

Information Technology Platforms, 361

International Data Sharing, 363

Cultural Environment, 363

Enterprise Risk Management, 365

Risk-Reduction Methods, 367

Control and Controls, 371

Enterprise Information Security, 376

People-Policy-Technology Enterprise Information Security Framework, 378

The PPT Enterprise Information Security Framework, 381

The Spiral Model Context, 391

What’s in IT for Me?, 391

Why Technology Matters so Much, 393

Future Trends, 393

Bell Canada Press Release: Unprecedented Teamwork and Technological Innovation Contribute to Canadian Idol Success, 394

Final Thoughts, 399

Tech Guides, 400

Tech Guide A: The Details of IT Hardware, 400

Evaluating Hardware Devices, 401

The Electronics of Hardware, 401

How Transistors Work, 402

Binary Data, 402

Character Encoding, 403

Machine Instructions, 405

Processing Hardware, 407

CPU Performance Characteristics, 409

Internal Memory, 410

RAM Performance, 411

Input Hardware Devices, 413

The Keyboard, 413

Pointing Devices, 414

Scanning Devices, 417

Other Input Devices, 421

Output Hardware Devices, 422

Display Devices, 422

Printed Output Devices, 425

Storage Hardware, 427

Magnetic Disks, 428

Optical Disks, 430

Chip-Based Storage, 430

Storage Performance, 431

Tech Guide B: The Details of Software, 434

Overview of the Operating System, 435

Comparison of Operating Systems, 435

How the Operating System Works, 436

What Does the Operating System Do?, 438

Starting the Computer, 438

Managing Hardware, 440

Controlling Access, 440

Providing an Interface, 441

Efficient Use of CPU, 442

Providing Services to Application Software, 443

Overview of Application Software, 448

Commercially Developed Application Software, 448

Developing Customized Software, 456

Open-Source Software, 458

Tech Guide C: The Details of Networking, 462

Network Architecture, 463

Client/Server Architecture, 463

Three-Tiered Architecture, 465

Using Client/Servers to Increase Knowledge Work Efficiency, 465

Peer-to-Peer Networks, 467

Network Layer Model, 468

Application Software Layer, 469

Network Connection Layer, 469

Data Component Layer, 471

Local Area Networks, 476

Wireless LANs, 477

Bluetooth and PANs, 478

The Internet: A Network of Networks, 479

How Does the Internet Work?, 480

Using the Internet to Perform Knowledge Work Activities, 482

The World Wide Web, 488

Using Browsers to Access the Web, 488

Wireless Connectivity to the Web and Internet, 492

Tech Guide D: The Details of SQL, Logical Modelling, and XML, 496

Using SQL to Query Relational Databases, 497

Relational Database Example, 497

Querying a Single-Table Database, 498

Using SQL to Display Specific Information, 498

Using the LIKE Operator, 500

Inserting or Deleting Records, 501

Changing Values with SQL, 502

Using Aggregate Functions in SQL, 502

Using Logical Modelling to Create a Relational Database, 503

Entity-Relationship Diagramming, 504

The Relational Data Model, 506

Querying Multitable Databases, 508

The Join Operation, 508

Creating Views, 510

Using XML for Data Transfer, 510

XML vs. HTML, 511

Setting up an XML Document, 512

Tech Guide E: The Technology of Teams, 516

Why Do Organizations Use Teams?, 517

The Business Case for Using Teams, 517

Teams vs. Work Groups, 518

Types of Teams, 520

How People Work in Teams, 521

Team Roles, 523

The What and How of Teams, 525

How Teams Develop, 526

Performing, 529

Adjourning, 529

Hallmarks of Highly Effective Teams, 531

Commitment, 532

Communication, 533

Involvement, 534

Bringing It All Together, 536

Codes of Conduct, 536

Collaborative Technologies, 538

Conclusion, 539

Chapter Map, 543

Photo Credits, 564

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