Introduction to

Information Systems: PART 2

Review

What is an Information System?

What is an Information
System?

A set of interrelated components that collect, manipulate, and

disseminate data and information and provide feedback to
meet an objective.
Include people, procedures, data, software, and hardware,
used to gather and analyze digital information
A network of hardware and software that people and
organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and
distribute data.

Information
Systems:
Logistics

How are Information Systems

managed in a business or
corporation?

Management of Information
Systems

MIS: The function that plans for, develops, implements, and

maintains IT hardware, software, and the portfolio of
applications that people use to support the goals of an
organization.
Often referred to simply as the Information Technology (IT)
department.

Class Exercise

Task:
In groups or together as a class, develop what
you think might be the management level
organizational chart for St. Clairs IT Operations
(functional) area.

President
Class Exercise

Senior V.P College Operations and CIO

Director, IT Services

Manager,
IT Support Services

Manager, IT Systems
(Software Development)

Data,
Knowledge and
Information
Theres a difference

LETS DISCUSS

What do you think the difference is between

data, information and knowledge?

Data

Raw facts.

There are 33 students enrolled in MIT160

Information

Collection of facts organized in such a way that

they have value beyond the facts themselves
Of the 33 students enrolled in the course,
6% are women

Knowledge

Awareness and understanding of a set of

information, on which strategic decisions can be
made
This gender ratio is approximately on par with
national averages.

 Data - raw facts that describe a characteristic

e.g. Student:
Knowledge

name

or

sex

or

age

Information - data converted into a meaningful and useful context

e.g. All the data collected about one student (related information)
e.g. Number of students in the class
e.g. Percentage of students who are female
Knowledge - information that can be enacted upon

e.g. Knowledge of the above information, may be used to

change marketing strategy for recruits

Inventory Tracking Application

Knowledge

Data - raw facts that describe a characteristic

e.g. CHAIR colour or manufacturer

or type

Information - data converted into a meaningful and useful context

e.g. Number of chairs reqd in each class

e.g. Number of chairs needed to be replaced
Knowledge - information that can be enacted upon

e.g. Decision - how often chairs should be replaced / year

- What the chair-replacement BUDGET is per year

Types of Data

e.g. Student Number

w1234567

e.g. Hours Worked

40.0

e.g. Image

your_picture.jpg

JavaScript Data Types

Primary Data Types

The primary (primitive) data types are:

String
Number

Boolean

JavaScript Data Types

STRING

(Primary Data Type)

A string value is a chain of zero or more Unicode characters

(letters, digits, and punctuation marks).

You use the string data type to represent text in JavaScript.

You include string literals in your scripts by enclosing them in
single or double quotation marks.

JavaScript Data Types

Examples of STRINGS
"A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early.
He arrives precisely when he means to. "

"45"
A

JavaScript Data Types

NUMBER

(Primary Data Type)

Integer
Positive whole numbers, negative whole numbers, and 0 (zero).
i.e. 45 277
1024
Floating-Point
Whole numbers with a decimal portion.
i.e. 0.00001
or
5.25
NaN (not a number). This is used when a mathematical operation is performed on inappropriate data, such as
strings or the undefined value.

JavaScript Data Types

BOOLEAN

(Primary Data Type)

Boolean data type can only have two values. They are the literals true and
false.
Comparisons you make in your scripts always have a Boolean outcome.

i.e.

if (x == 2000) {
z = z + 1;
} else {
x = x + 1;
}

Valuable
Information
Characteristics of Valuable Information

LETS DISCUSS

What do you think the makes information

valuable?

Accessible

Accurate

Complete

Economical

Relevant

Reliable

Secure

Simple

Timely

Verifiable

JavaScript Data Types

If an organizations information is not accurate or complete:

People can make poor decisions, costing thousands - or even
millions - of dollars
Depending on the type of data you need:
Some characteristics become more important than others

Class Exercise

Task:
In groups or together as a class
- Ontario Parks recently developed a reservation web site to allow its

customers to reserve a campsite in any park in Ontario, online.

- Goal: Increase Reservations and to provide better customer
service!
- What features information do you think customers would you like to
see on the site?

Class Exercise

Actual Ontario Parks online reservation system

https://reservations.ontarioparks.com/Home.aspx

LETS DISCUSS

Can this web site be improved?

If so, how?