Information Systems for Managers

Prof. Sudarshan IBS Gurgaon 2

Information Systems in Business

Course content of this chapter Business in a networked environment, Basic concepts of networks, Network architecture (client server, 3-tier), work group technologies, Intranet, extranet, internet, world wide web, Search engines.

Information System Development

Information System Development in Large organization is an evolutionary process describing the purpose, processes and constraints. Adopt a strategic IS to address Michael Porters 5T strategy Threat of new entrants. Bargaining power of customers. Threat of substitute products or services. Bargaining power of suppliers. Rivalry among existing firms.

Why IS/IT is so important today?

Because Information System in alignment with Business system is a competitive strategy in todays scenario. Human resources are expensive. Also hidden thing is it is sometime easier to master upon a machine than a man mainly in routine processes.

Business Planning
Current Business Target Business
Constraints
Output
Development Project

Current IT Systems

Target IT Systems

Business Information Value Chain

Supply Chain Management
Enterprise Management Customer Management Knowledge Management

Data Collection And Storage

Transformation into Business Systems

Firm Profitability
Dissemination

and Strategic Position

Planning

Coordinating

Controlling

Decision Making

Network
A group of computers and other devices connected in some ways so as to be able to exchange data. Each of the devices on the network can be thought of as a node with a unique address. Addresses are numeric quantities that are easy for computers to work. Example: 204.160.241.98 Internet uses names that humans can more easily remember than numbers. Example: www.javasoft.com

Addressing
NIC Network Interface Card (Controller) connects each computer to network bus. NIC Internet address: Consists of 4 bytes. Example: 136.102.233.49 Address ranges corresponding to networks. Criteria considered: Geographical area (country) Organization, enterprise Department Host Domain Name System (DNS) Mnemonic textual addresses are provided to facilitate the manipulation of internet addresses. DNS servers are responsible for translating mnemonic textual Internet addresses into numeric Internet addresses.

Ports
An IP address identifies a host machine on the Internet. An IP port number will identify a specific application running on an Internet host machine.
Application HTTP FTP Gopher SMTP (e-mail) POP3 (e-mail) Telnet Finger Dedicated Port 80 20 & 21 70 25 110 23 79 Hyper Text Transfer Protocol from WWW. File Transfer Protocol similar to HTTP or SMTP for large file download and upload using TCP/IP. Program for managing Internet server files. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, for sending e-mail messages using SMTP to send messages from one server to another. E-mail messages can be retrieved with an e-mail client using either Post Office Protocol or IMAP (Internet Messaging Access Protocol. A terminal program for TCP/IP networks such as theInternet. UNIX based program to get email id details.

Types of Networks
WANs Cover cities, countries, and continents. Examples: Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) LANs Cover buildings or a set of closely related buildings. Examples: Ethernet, Token Ring, and Fibber Distributed Data Interconnect (FDDI). Ethernet LANs: based on a bus topology and broadcast communication Token ring LANs: based on ring topology FDDI LANs: use optical fibbers and an improved token ring mechanism based on two rings flowing in opposite directions. MANs

Network Topologies (Physical and Logical)

Topology Type
Star Topology

Description
All devices are connected to a central hub. Nodes communicate across the network by passing data through the hub. All devices are connected to a central cable, called the bus or backbone. All devices are connected to one another in the shape of a closed loop, so that each device is connected directly to two other devices, one on either side of it.

Bus Topology

Ring Topology

Tree Topology

A hybrid topology. Groups of star-configured networks are connected to a linear bus backbone.

Mesh Topology

Devices are connected with many redundant interconnections between network nodes. In a true mesh topology every node has a connection to every other node

Protocol Layers
The OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Data Model
ISO standard for computer networks design and functioning involves at least 7 layers, each playing a specific role when applications are communicating over the net.
During the sending process, each layer (from top to down) will add a specific header to the raw data. At the reception, headers are eliminated conversely until the data arrived to the receiving application.

OSI Layers
Physical layer: Defines the physical characteristics of the network. Topologies of Ethernet, Arpanet and Token Ring. Data-link layer: Provides safe communication of data over the physical network [Routers] using IP [Internet Protocol]. Network layer: Handles IP encapsulation with data packet and mapping to physical address by higher layers. Transport layer: Provides end-to-end errors detection and correction using TCP [Transmission control protocol] and UDP [User datagram Protocol]. Session layer: Manages sessions among applications. Presentation layer: Provides standard data representations for applications. Application layer: Applications connected to the network using HTTP, FTP, SMTP.

Characteristics of LAN
Every computer can communicate with any other computers of the network Inexpensive medium of data transmission High data transmission rate Advantages The reliability of network is high because the failure of one computer in the network does not effect the functioning for other computers. Addition of new computer to network is easy. High rate of data transmission is possible. Peripheral devices like magnetic disk and printer can be shared. Disadvantages If the communication line fails, the entire network system breaks down. Use of LAN File transfers and Access Word and text processing Electronic message handling Remote database access Digital voice transmission and storage

Characteristics of WAN
Communication Facility: Long distance phone calls, Computer conferencing. Remote Data Entry Centralized Information Examples of WAN Ethernet: Ethernet developed by Xerox. Aparnet: First network from Advanced Research Projects Agency of U. S. Department.

Network Architecture
There a role to play for Business Analysts and System analysts working as a team and suggesting a best network architecture for an organization depending on Number of users Database size Daily transaction and operational data Business Operations local or global Telecommunication requirement

Different Architectures
Option Mainframes Transaction Volume High volume transaction processing Medium volume transactions. Low Low to Medium Varied Database Large Number of Users Large

Miniframes

Medium to large

Moderate Number One at a time Multiple Multiple

Workstations LANs Client- Server (2 Tier and 3 Tier)

Medium to small Medium to small Small to large

Workgroup Technologies
When a group is suggested to follow similar tools and rules for their day to day activities.
Helps in sharing the information in a team. Coordination Helps in distributed teams. Diversity is maintained Helps in resolving conflicts on the choice of tools Helps in resolving cultural issues Overall team goal performance improves

GDSS
Group Decision Support System
MS Project Conference Room Booking VOIP Telnet SharePoint Team viewer Visual Source Safe Group Ware

TCP/IP Based Networks

Intranet is shared content accessed by members within a single organization. Extranet is shared content accessed by groups through cross-enterprise boundaries. Internet is global communication accessed through the Web.

Internet/ Intranet/ Extranet

Internet This is the world-wide network of computers accessible to anyone using a name such as http://www.ibsindia.org. Before this named computer can be accessed, the name needs to be resolved (translated) into an IP address. To do this your browser (for example Netscape or Internet Explorer) will access a Domain Name Server (DNS) computer to lookup the name and return an IP address - or issue an error message. Once your browser has the IP address it can access the remote computer. The actual server (the computer that serves up the web pages) does not reside behind a firewall - if it did, it would be an Extranet. It may implement security at a directory level so that access is via a username and password, Intranet Extranet This is a network that is not An Extranet is actually an available to the world outside of Intranet that is partially the Intranet. accessible to authorized If the Intranet network is outsiders. The actual server (the computer connected to the Internet, the Intranet will reside behind a that serves up the web pages) firewall and, if it allows access will reside behind a firewall. The from the Internet, will be an firewall helps to control access Extranet. between the Intranet and The firewall helps to control Internet permitting access to the access between the Intranet and Intranet only to people who are Internet to permit access to the suitably authorized. Intranet only to people who are The level of access can be set to members of the same company different levels for individuals or or organization. groups of outside users. For example, consider an office The access can be based on a with a few PCs and a few printers username and password or an IP all networked together. The address (a unique set of numbers network would not be connected such as 209.33.27.100 that to the outside world. On one of defines the computer that the the drives of one of the PCs there user is on). would be a directory of web pages that comprise the Intranet. Other PCs on the network could access this Intranet by pointing their browser to this directory -