Page 28 - Information Management 3rd Edition

Information Management
will develop its own information system to be sufficient to support the operations of the activity. The subsystem within each group will rely not only on information generated within the group, but also on key elements of information provided by the other groups’ information systems. Certain systems that are operated by the support activities will encompass the whole business and will require the input of information from all the activities, for example, the budgetary control system.
2.4 The objectives of a system
The following are some of the objectives for developing and using a system:
• to maximise the efficient use of the business resources,
• to enhance operating efficiency and productivity (this includes saving time
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and money),
• to achieve the objectives of the business,
• to practically manage the important details of the business, and
• to facilitate the operation of all the functions of the business.
These objectives show that there are obvious advantages to using a system. It is
hard to imagine any business functioning in another way. The functions of the
business are coordinated through the system concept – managers know where their
input comes from and who is affected by their output, better control is possible and total efficiency in the business is improved. However, it is important that managers identify any inefficiency in their subsystems and change them to avoid a ripple effect through the system. These changes must be communicated to all those who could possibly be affected.
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2.5 The elements of a system
All systems consist of the following elements:
• In any system there will be an input of some sort. It could be data, information or any other resource. Input also includes the employees executing the tasks as well as the equipment needed for the tasks.
• The input or data gathered must be calculated, analysed, classified, counted, grouped, sorted, compared, evaluated, summarised or prepared as graphs to be useful information. This is the element of processing. It converts the input into an output. One of the basic objectives of the information function is to convert data into information. This runs parallel to the objective of computer information systems, which is to transform data into information.
• Once the data is processed into useful information, it needs to be stored until needed by decision-makers. These days, information is mostly stored electronically.
• Processing is done in a certain manner and produces a specific outcome called the output. The output has to be in the required form and of specified quality to meet the needs of the user (the ultimate destination). Often this output becomes the input of the subsystem (see Figure 2.1).
• There is usually some mechanism in a system to provide feedback. Feedback indicates how the system is performing. Output, for example, could be adjusted,
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