BUSMIS 1060 - Introduction to Information Systems
From Information Systems at Pitt Business
| Introduction to Information Systems | |
| BUSMIS 1060 | |
| Credits: | 3.0 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
Banking, retailing, transportation, manufacturing – no matter what the industry, career and corporate success will depend on your ability to recognize and capitalize on opportunities to use information systems to increase efficiency, improve performance, and support innovation.
Whether you specialize in accounting, marketing, finance, or information systems, performing your job effectively will require you to retrieve data from databases, manipulate it with business intelligence tools, and perform analyses with decision support systems. Accountants and financial analysts rely on data drawn from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems; marketing professionals work extensively with customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
Your firm’s success will depend on you leading efforts that use technology to support introduction of new products, efficient management of supply-chain relationships, and effective management of complex financial activities. Retailers create data warehouses to support both long-range strategic planning and day-to-day purchasing decisions. Financial services firms rely on electronic distribution channels to reach new markets and distribute new products. Consulting firms apply knowledge management systems and collaboration technologies to bring together employees from all over the world to solve clients’ problems. Your ability to recognize opportunities to use information technology to create business value is central to both your success and that of your firm.
However while billions of dollars are spent each year on technology, much of it is wasted because firms fail to account for the complexity of information systems. Managers purchase irrelevant or inadequate software because they cannot clearly specify their needs and lack the knowledge needed to evaluate vendor’s claims. Multi-million dollar enterprise systems are underused because their capabilities are not understood by the business users that they are designed to support. Functional managers miss opportunities to strategically use emerging technologies because they are unable to explain their priorities to technology professionals. Effectively using information systems requires that you bring together people, policies, technology, and data in a timely fashion, while avoiding the pitfalls and risks associated with implementing complex systems.
[edit] Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to:
- Recognize ways to use systems to increase efficiency, improve performance, and support innovation.
- Identify key technologies and vendors
- Locate activities and processes that would benefit from the application of information systems
- Evaluate the fit between business needs and system capabilities
- Craft strategies for successfully applying information systems to create business value
- Make the business case for introducing a new system into an organization
- Identify the challenges that threaten the successful application of information systems
- Determine ways of mitigating the risks associated with system implementation efforts
- Apply information systems in your own work to support more effective analysis, decision-making, and communication.
- Use key personal productivity tools
- Select the proper technology for your personal or departmental use
- Interact effectively with technology professionals and vendors
