1. FEATURES OF AN Unit 2
Information
INFORMATION SYSTEM Systems

2. INFORMATION SYSTEMS
 Information Systems are in place to manage and support the day -
to-day running of an organisation and its management
 There are several key elements that affect the systems that are
in place:
 DATA
 PEOPLE
 HARDWARE
 SOFTWARE

3. DATA
 An information system is
 only as good as the data that is input
 Poor data will lead to poor results being output
 Incomplete or inaccurate information means output information will be
incomplete or inaccurate
 There fore the system becomes useless
 For the data that is output to be accurate or complete the source
data needs to be of good quality.
 Data is generated by all parts of an organisation
 Data can also be received from outside the organisation
 Sales orders

4. PEOPLE
 People are involved in the capture, processing and the inputting
of data in a organisation.
 People can affect the quality of information and the information
system because if the data to be input is captured in the wrong
format or input incorrectly it can make the information become
useless.
 This means that the system is only as good as the expert it has
been collected from
 Training is important to get people who capture and input the
data to work efficiently

5. SOFTWARE
 Software should be able to handle data quickly and efficiently,
and that it can be easily searched though when needed.
 The simplest MIS can be built using run of the mill software.
 Most MIS’s use specialised software
 The cheaper the MIS = the less features it has.
 The more expensive the MIS = the more features it will have.
 The hardware and software need to work well together

6. HARDWARE
 The hardware should be flexible enough to cope with stress and
strain put on it throughout the whole organisation.
 Should be able to store data in large volumes.
 In large organisations the MIS is normally run on a server so that
the whole organisation can use it, however in smaller companies
the system may be run on a stand alone computer in the
directors office.