Information System Business Problem

Information System Business Problem Dimensions

IT/205

May 4th, 2012

1. What are the three dimensions of business problems? Provide examples of each.

A) The three typical dimensions of business problems are organizational dimensions, technology dimensions, and people dimensions. Examples of organizational problems are outdated business processes, inadequate resources, and political conflict. Examples of technology problems include outdated software, inadequate database capacity, and incompatibility of old systems with new technology. A few examples of people related problems are lack of employee support and participation, difficulties of evaluating performance, and lack of employee training. All of these examples are common problems that many businesses may have to deal with during their development.

2. What is the difference between IT and information systems? Describe some functions of information systems.

A) IT or information technology according to Essentials of Management Information Systems, “consists of all the hardware and software that a firm needs to use in order to achieve its business objectives” (Laudon & Laudon, 2011, p. 13). Information systems, according to Essentials of Management Information Systems, “can be defined technically as a set of interrelated components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information to support decision making, coordinating, and control in an organization” (Laudon & Laudon, 2011, p. 13). So, information technology is the actual hardware and software that a business uses to achieve its objectives. Information systems are made up of the information technology along with the people that use the information provided by the information technology. There are three basic functions of an information system, input, processing, and output. The input function collects data from the organization. The processing function converts the input in a meaningful form. The...