ISM3003 MIDTERM Ch 1 The Information Age in Which You Live 1 What is MIS management information systems deals with planning for development management and use of information technology tools to help people perform all tasks related to information processing and management 2 What role does MIS play in organizations focus on how people can use technologies to work with and massage information to help an organization achieve its goals 3 What are the three key resources that MIS focuses on people information and information technology way people use information technology to work with information 4 What defines the Information Age 5 What is the difference between data information knowledge and business intelligence Data raw facts that describe a particular phenomenon temp price age Information data that have a particular meaning within a specific content temperature when deciding what to wear Business intelligence BI collective information about your customers competitors business partners competitive environment and your own internal operations that gives you the ability to make effective important and often strategic business decisions All components build on each other 6 How does technology support these things have to know which technology to purchase how to exploit the many benefits of application software and what technology infrastructure is required to get businesses connected to each other 7 What are the key components of Porter s Five Forces 1 Buyer power high when buyers have many choices from whom to buy and low when their choices are few 2 Supplier power high when buyers have few choices from whom to buy and low when their choices are many 3 Threat of substitute products or services high when there are many alternatives to a product or service and low when there are few alternatives to choose 4 Threat of new entrants high when it is easy for new competitors to enter market and low when there are significant entry barriers to entering a market 5 Rivalry among existing competitors high when competition is fierce in a market and low when competition is more complacent 8 Why is it important to understand Porter s Five Forces when making technology decisions Used to assess technology and the competitive advantage it can yield helps business people understand the relative attractiveness of an industry and the industry s competitive pressures in terms of the 5 sources 9 What are Porter s 3 generic strategies to beat the competition 1 Overall cost leadership offering the same or better quality product or service at a price that is less than what any of the competition is able to do Wal Mart 2 Differentiation offering a product or service that is perceived as being unique in the marketplace Apple 3 Focus focusing on offering products and services to a particular market segment or buyer group within a segment of a product line and or to a specific geographic market Restaurants Extended Learning Module A Computer Hardware and Software 1 What is IT and how is it different from MIS Information technology any computer based tool that people use to work with information and support the information and information processing needs of an organization internet spreadsheets video games 2 What is hardware consists of the physical devices that make up a computer for instance keyboard mouse modem flash memory drive printer 3 What are the different categories of hardware 1 Input devices tools used to enter information and commands 2 Output devices tools used to see hear or otherwise recognize the results of your information processing requests 3 Storage devices tools used to store information for use at a later time 4 Central processing unit CPU actual hard drive that interprets and executes the software instructions and coordinates the operation of all other hardware 5 Telecommunication device tool used to send information to and receive it from another person or computer in a network 6 Connecting devices include things such as USB ports into which you would connect a printer and connector cords to connect your printer to the port 4 What is software Set of instructions your hardware executes to carry out a specific task for you such as creating a graph Excel surfing the web Internet Explorer 5 What are the different categories of software Application software software that enables you to solve specific problems or perform specific tasks System software handles tasks specific to technology management and coordinates the interaction of all technology devices Operating system software system software that controls your application software and manages how your hardware devices work together Utility software software that provides additional functionality to your operating system software 6 What are the different sizes of computers Smartphones tablets notebook computers desktop computers mini computers 7 What are these different sizes of computers used for Size is usually related to power and speed and thus price Smartphones are used to be mobile Tablets are used to be handheld Laptops used to be portable 8 What is the difference between a bit vs byte vs kilobyte vs petabyte Bite smallest unit of info that your computer can process Byte group of 8 bits that represent 1 natural language character 9 What is a CPU Central processing unit hardware that interprets and executes the system and application software instructions and coordinates the operation of all other hardware 10 What is the difference between a control unit vs ALU vs cache vs RAM vs clock vs system bus Control unit component of CPU that directs what happens in your computer sends to RAM for instructions and the information it needs Arithmetic logic unit ALU component of CPU that preforms arithmetic as well as comparison and logic operations Cache type of memory on the CPU where instructions called up by the CPU wait until the CPU is ready to use them Random access memory RAM temporary holding area for the information you are working with as well as the system application software instructions that the CPU currently needs Clock a sliver of quartz that beats at regular intervals in response to an electrical charge System bus consists of electrical pathways that move information between basic components of the motherboard including between RAM and the CPU 11 What are the different ways devices attach to computers Device are connected by wired connections USB ports firewire ports by wireless connections Bluetooth WiFi and by expansions