Types of information systems

The 'classic' view of Information systems found in the textbooks^[3] of the 1980s was of a pyramid of systems that reflected the hierarchy of the organization, usually Transaction processing systems at the bottom of the pyramid, followed by Management information systems, Decision support systems and ending with Executive information systems at the top.

However, as new information technologies have been developed, new categories of information systems have emerged, some of which no longer fit easily into the original pyramid model. Some examples of such systems are:

§  Data warehouses

§  Enterprise resource planning

§  Enterprise systems

§  Expert systems

§  Global information system

§  Office Automation

§  Geographic information system

 

Data warehouse is a repository of an organization's electronically stored data. Data warehouses are designed to facilitate reporting and analysis.

A data warehouse houses a standardized, consistent, clean and integrated form of data sourced from various operational systems in use in the organization, structured in a way to specifically address the reporting and analytic requirements.

This definition of the data warehouse focuses on data storage. However, the means to retrieve and analyze data, to extract, transform and load data, and to manage the data dictionary are also considered essential components of a data warehousing system. Many references to data warehousing use this broader context. Thus, an expanded definition for data warehousing includes business intelligence tools, tools to extract, transform, and load data into the repository, and tools to manage and retrieve metadata.

 

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a term usually used in conjunction with ERP software or an ERP system which is intended to manage all the information and functions of a business or company from shared data stores.

An ERP system typically has modular hardware and software units and "services" that communicate on a local area network. The modular design allows a business to add or reconfigure modules (perhaps from different vendors) while preserving data integrity in one shared database that may be centralized or distributed.

 

Enterprise systems (ES) are large-scale, integrated application-software packages that use the computational, data storage, and data transmission power of modern information technology (IT) to support processes, information flows, reporting, and data analytics within and between complex organizations. In short, ES are packaged enterprise application software (PEAS) systems, where all three adjectives, "packaged", "enterprise", and "application", in combination, restrict the set of things that can be called ES. Although some people^[1] have equated the terms "enterprise system" and "Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system", since the term "ERP" now has a reasonably clear meaning it is convenient to use the term "enterprise system" to refer to the larger set of all large organization-wide packaged applications with a process orientation including Enterprise resource planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management(SCM). Enterprise systems are built on, though do not include, software platforms such as SAP's NetWeaver and Oracle's Fusion and, usually, a relational database. In addition, although data warehousing or business intelligence systems are enterprise-wide packaged application software often sold by ES vendors, since they do not directly support execution of business processes, it is often convenient to exclude them from the definition of ES.

 

An expert system is software that attempts to provide an answer to a problem, or clarify uncertainties where normally one or more humanexperts would need to be consulted. Expert systems are most common in a specific problem domain, and is a traditional application and/or subfield of artificial intelligence. A wide variety of methods can be used to simulate the performance of the expert however common to most or all are 1) the creation of a so-called "knowledgebase" which uses some knowledge representation formalism to capture the Subject Matter Expert's (SME) knowledge and 2) a process of gathering that knowledge from the SME and codifying it according to the formalism, which is called knowledge engineering. Expert systems may or may not have learning components but a third common element is that once the system is developed it is proven by being placed in the same real world problem solving situation as the human SME, typically as an aid to human workers or a supplement to some information system.

 

There is a variety of definitions and understandings of a Global Information System (GIS, GLIS), such as

§  A global information system (GLIS) is an information system which is developed and / or used in a global context.^[1]

§  A global information system (GLIS) is any information system which attempts to deliver the totality of measurable data worldwide within a defined context. (USF)

The term Global Information System has the same acronym is the same, the meaning is different from the term Geographic Information Systems.

Common to this class of information systems is that the context is a global setting, either for its use or development process. This means that it highly relates to distributed systems / distributed computing where the distribution is global. The term also incorporates aspects of global software development and there outsourcing (when the outsourcing locations are globally distribtued) and offshoring aspects. A specific aspect of global information systems is the case (domain) of global software development.^[2] A main research aspect in this field concerns the coordination of and collarboation between virtual teams.^[3][4] Further important aspects are the internationalization and language localization of system components.

 

Office automation refers to the varied computer machinery and software used to digitally create, collect, store, manipulate, and relay office information needed for accomplishing basic tasks and goals. Raw data storage, electronic transfer, and the management of electronic business information comprise the basic activities of an office automation system.^[1] Office automation helps in optimizing or automating existing office procedures.

The backbone of office automation is a LAN, which allows users to transmit data, mail and even voice across the network. All office functions, including dictation, typing, filing, copying, fax, Telex, microfilm and records management, telephone and telephone switchboard operations, fall into this category. Office automation was a popular term in the 1970s and 1980s as the desktop computer exploded onto the scene.

 

A geographic information system (GIS), or geographical information system captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that is linked to location. Technically, a GIS is a system which includes mapping software and its application to remote sensing, land surveying,aerial photography, mathematics, photogrammetry, geography, and tools that can be implemented with GIS software. Still, many refer to "geographic information system" as GIS even though it doesn't cover all tools connected to topology.

In the strictest sense, the term describes any information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographicinformation. In a more generic sense, GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries (user created searches), analyzespatial information, edit data, maps, and present the results of all these operations. Geographic information science is the science underlying the geographic concepts, applications and systems, taught in degree and GIS Certificate programs at many universities.