Lecture Management information systems: Solving business problems with information technology – Chapter 2

In this chapter you will learn: What types of computers are needed for business applications? What are the basic objects that computers process? What are the main components of a computer? Why is the operating system so important? How does the Internet change the role of computers? What are the main software applications used in business?.

Introduction to MIS

Chapter 2 Information Technology Foundations

Personal Productivity

 Cases: Entrepreneurial Business

 Appendix: Displaying Data

Technology Trends

Brief History of Computing

 1642 Pascal's mechanical adding machine

 1694 Leibnitz' calculator

 1750 Industrial Revolution in England

 1834 Babbage's analytical engine

 1880 Hollerith's punched-card system

 1942 Atanasoff Berry Computer

 1946 ENIAC electronic digital computer

 1949 EDSAC stored program computer

 1951 UNIVAC I: U.S Bureau of Census

 1954 IBM 650: popular 1st generation

 1965 IBM System/360: 3rd generation

 1965 DEC PDP-8: 1st minicomputer

Computing History

 1975 MITS Altair 8800: micro kit

 1976 Cray I shipped supercomputer

 1978 TRS-80/I, Apple II introduced

 1988 32 bit microprocessors (I486 & M 68040)

 1989 RISC processors, LANs

000001000 000001001 000010100 …

pitch or

00101010111 11010101010 01010101010 11110100011 00101011011

Data Types

8 9 0 5 …

00101010111 11010101010 01010101010 11110100011 00101011011

00101010111 11010101010 01010101010 11110100011 00101011011 00101010111

11010101010 01010101010

00101010111 11010101010 01010101010

Numbers Precision, scale Total, calculate, compare.

Text Typeface, size, bold, italic, etc Search, format, spell­check.

5.563 0.354 + 6.864 12.781

5.56 0.35 + 6.86 12.77

Precision Round off Round off

before add after add

Is the display precision the same as the computation

Spreadsheet:

=Round(5.563,2)

Application Objects: Text

300 dpi scan Sample Bitmap: Bryce Canyon

Sample Vector Image

Stored internally as mathematical objects:

LinesPointsRectanglesCircles

WMF: Windows Meta File12,430 bytes

Bitmap Images: Adobe Photoshop

Hundreds of tools and options

You can add and delete items from photographs

Professional editing is hard to detect

Audio: Cakewalk MIDI

MIDI editors provide

complex editing tools for music.You can assign instruments, set musical features, even edit individual notes

Entire piece (1:39): 17,441 bytes

Audio capture: Cakewalk

When you capture audio, you can edit it

Detailed options exist

to match conventional audio studio facilities

Or you can edit individual samples

CD quality audio (44.1 KHz, stereo): 150 KB/sec or 9 MB/min (6 MB/min compressed)

Video: Adobe Premiere

Size Complications

Video presents the most problems:

Full screen (640 x 480), 24-bit color

Requires hardware compression/decompression (codec)

Capturing full-screen video requires ultra-fast computer

Older drive systems cannot transfer data fast enough

Full-screen video with compression fills up 2 GB in 10 minutes

Workers at LISITT (Laboratorio Integrado de Sistemas Inteligentes y Tecnologias

de la informacion en Trafico) have developed a virtual reality driving simulator

(SIRCA) to evaluate driver learning and road safety

Virtual Reality Photo

Input Process Output

Secondary storage

Intel Microprocessor Speeds

Intel iCom p2 Rating

Intel Processor Speeds by Year

Intel Processor Performance

386DX- 25

33

486DX-486 DX2-66

P/MMX-200 P/II-300 P/II-450 P/III-550 P/III-1G P/4/2.0

Speed and Cost

1990 1995

1998

Micro Midrange

Super 0

10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000

Approximate Cost per MegaFLOPS

 There are multiple processors.

 Task can be split into as many parts as there are processors.

 Coordinating results does not take more time than

processing.

23 xx+54 +92

xx yyy

Some Computer Companies

RAM Costs

Cost of RAM

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

www.memory-man.com

Cache Memory

Processor

Disk Drive

File

Processor is faster than disk drive.

Reads ahead and stores several pieces

of the file into cache memory.

Pulls data from cache as needed.

Especially fast for small sets of data used repeatedly.

Fast

Slow

Needed Might need Read ahead

Cache Memory

There have been increasing complaints about injuries “caused” by repetitive typing tasks Several manufacturers have experimented with new keyboard designs (like this one from Microsoft) that are claimed to relieve physical stress.

Input: Keyboards

 Optical Character Recognition

OCR “reads”

pixels and converts

to letters and words

But mistakes arise

I read letter

I wed better

Output: Video Displays

Output: Printers

 Impact v non Impact

 Quality (resolution: dots per inch)

 Speed (pages per minute)

 Cost

Printer Initial Cost

(dollars) Cost Per Page(cents) (dots/inch)Quality (pages/min.)SpeedLaser: B&W 400 – 70,000 0.6 – 3 300 – 1200 4 – 8 – 17 – 100+

Ink jet: B&W 100 – 500 5 – 50 300 – 600 0.25 – 7

Ink jet: Color 200 - 2000 25 - 150 300 – 720 0.1 - 4

Error reading file

 Operating system tasks.

Operating Systems: User Interface

Multitasking & Components

 Processor nanoseconds

 Input seconds or milliseconds

 Output seconds or milliseconds

 Secondary Storage milliseconds

 1 ns / 1 sec == 31.7 years

 1 micro / 1 sec == 11.6 days

 1 ms / 1 sec == 16:40 min:sec

Single Tasking

Multitasking

Multitasking

Early Computer Languages

 MOV AX,[011E] get value at 011E

 ADD AX,[0100] add value at 0100

 MOV [0FEB],AX put result in 0FEB

 SQL: select net+taxes from sales;

 Artificial Intelligence

 Natural Language

 Example: What were gross sales last month?

Small businesses are beginning to rely on microcomputers and

turnkey minicomputer applications because of their low costs and

off-the-shelf software applications Photo courtesy of Armatron.

Cases: Entrepreneurial Business

Cases: Amazon.com

Peapod

www.amazon.com

www.peapod.com

What is the company’s current status?

What is the Internet strategy?

How does the company use information technology?

What are the prospects for the industry?

Appendix: Displaying Data

 Goal: Convey information

 Avoid: Unnecessary decoration

Column or Bar Chart

Rolling Thunder Bicycle Sales by Model

Pie Chart

 Purpose Compare categories to total (percent)

Rolling Thunder Bicycle Sales by Model

8%

22%

36%

19%

14% 1%

Hybrid

Mountain

Race

Road

Tour

Track

Line Chart

 Purpose Compare categories over time

Bicycle Sales by Type for Each Month

Scatter Chart

 Purpose Compare two non-categorical series Often used to

look for correlations.

Price and Build Time