IMIS Business Information Systems

Theme: Management of Information Systems
Course: Diploma
Module Title: Business Information Systems
Module Code: D25
Resources:

• Software: Accounting Package (SAGE, Pastel orequivalent), Spreadsheet Package, and CAD/CAM Package

Assessment: By a single 3-hour externally set
examination paper
CATS Equivalent: 200 Notional Hours:

• 80 Hours Structured,
• 120 Hours Directed Self-Study

SPECIFIC COURSE AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Identify the information needed to support decision making at all levels within business organisations.
• Describe information systems and work flows that support the functional areas of business at the operational level, and explain how information may be used for planning, decision making and control.
• Demonstrate the communication and problem solving skills required by Information Systems (IS) professionals in the workplace.

MODULE AIMS:

To provide students with:

• An understanding of information, systems, information systems (IS) and their relationship with business systems and information technologies. (A1)
• The ability to relate information systems to the functional areas of a business and to decision making at various levels of the organisation. (A2)
• Knowledge of how information systems relate to developing technologies and modern business methods.(A3)
• An awareness of the security issues relating to information systems in business. (A4)
• An appreciation of the organisation of the IS function in business along with career paths and aspects of professionalism required by IS staff in the workplace. (A5)

MODULE LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Students should be able to:

A1:

• Describe the characteristics of information, systems and different types of information systems in business. (LO1)
• Identify the relationship between information systems and the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and relate developments in IT with developments in business and information systems. (LO2)
• Describe business processes and corresponding information systems. (LO3)

A2:

• Explain how information systems can support the functional areas of an organisation. (LO4)
• Describe how information systems can support business decision making in relation to the organisational hierarchy. (LO5)

A3:

• Recognise internet-based developments and their impact on business and information systems. (LO6)
• Describe the use of information systems for the implementation of Supply Chain (SC) management. (LO7) 26

A4:

• Describe security issues that relate to business information systems. (LO8)

A5:

• Describe the organisation of the IS function in business and the pattern of careers in information systems. (LO9)
• Demonstrate professional skills in relation to information systems. (LO10)

DETAILED MODULE CONTENT:

LO1: Information, Systems, and Information Systems

• The field of information systems.
• Definition of a system.
• System components.
• Definition of data and information.
• How data becomes information.
• Characteristics of information.

LO2: Relationship Between IS and IT

• Information systems in relation to Information Technology (IT).
• The IT infrastructure for business and IS.

LO3: Business Processes and Information Systems

• The structure of business by level and function.
• Management reporting systems.
• Introduction to decision making in business: structured and unstructured decisions.
• Types of information systems, decision making and levels of support.
• Introduction to Information systems for strategic business advantage.
• Opportunities and challenges of information systems.
• Transaction processing (TP).
• Information systems for transaction processing.
• Making operational decisions with TP systems.
• Batch processing.

LO4: IS Support for Business Functions

• Information systems by functional area:
• production and operations management
• logistics and material management
• planning production and operations
• manufacturing
• Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer- Aided Engineering (CAE), Computer-Aided
• Manufacturing (CAM), Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)
• introduction to agile manufacturing and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) marketing
• customer service
• telemarketing and on-line shopping
• marketing management
• Point-of-Sale systems (POS)
• finance and accounting
• financial planning and budgeting
• financial and economic forecasting
• managing financial transactions
• inventory management
• control and auditing
• Human Resource Management (HRM)
• recruitment
• development
• planning and management.
• Introduction to Customer Relationship
• Management (CRM).
• Cross-functional coordination.

LO5: IS Support in Decision Making

• Information systems for decision making at levels in the business hierarchy.
• An introduction to Management Information Systems (MIS), Decision Support Systems (DSS), Group DSS (GDSS), Executive Information Systems (EIS), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Expert Systems (ES).

LO6: The Impact of Internet-Based Developments

• Internet, intranets, extranets in business.
• Information retrieval and communications tools for the internet; the World-Wide Web (
• Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) and information systems.
• Models of e-commerce.
• Effective e-commerce, difficulties and costs.
• Global commerce and country-by-country developments.

LO7: Supply Chain Management

• Introduction to Supply Chain (SC) management.
• SC components.
• Upstream, internal and downstream SC.
• SC and the value chain.
• SC problems and solutions.

LO8: Security Issues

• Information systems security.
• Why information systems are vulnerable.
• Types of security breach.
• Security controls.
• Disaster recovery planning.

LO9: The IS Department

• The IS department and careers in information systems.

LO10: Professional Issues

• Professional issues in information systems.