Ch. 13 Intelligent Information Systems

For some reason, I blame it on ET, the term artificial intelligence is oftentimes associated with aliens. Although we may not be dealing with aliens in Chapter 13, it actually is not that far of a stretch to associate artificial intelligence with that of a very human-like being such as ET. This is because of the very definition of artificial intelligence: related technologies that try to simulate and reproduce human thought behavior, including thinking, speaking, feeling, and reasoning. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies apply computers to areas that require knowledge, perception, reasoning, understanding, and cognitive abilities.

To achieve these capabilities, computers must be programmed to:

1)Understand common sense
2)Understand facts and manipulate qualitative data
3)Deal with exceptions and discontinuity
4)Understand relationships between facts
5)Interact with humans in their own language
6)Be able to deal with new situations based on previous learning.

Unlike information systems, AI technology is concerned with generating and displaying knowledge and facts rather than storing, retrieving, and working with data.

The scope of artificially intelligent technologies can come as a surprise to someone such as myself who has not had much exposure to such technologies. Some applications of the technology include:

-Transportation Industry: American Airlines has an expert systems used to schedule the routine maintenance of its airplanes
-Government: The Internal Revenue Service is testing a new software to read tax returns and spot fraud
-Telecommunications: BT Group has a heuristic search used for scheduling application that provides the work schedules for more than 20,000 engineers
-And much more

Robotics

Robots and robotics are some of the most successful applications of artificial intelligence. Robots first started out in factories and performed well at simple, repetitive tasks that freed workers from tedious of hazardous jobs. However, now robots are being more commonly used in the military and aerospace and medical industries as well as for performing services such as delivering mail to employees.

The attraction of robots is the fact that they have some unique advantages in the workplace compared with humans:

1)They don’t fall in love with coworkers, get insulted, or call in sick
2)They’re consistent
3)They can be used in environments that are hazardous
4)They don’t spy for competitors, ask for a raise, or lobby for longer breaks

Personal robots have attracted a lot of attention lately as they are useful at performing helpful tasks such as helping the elderly, bringing breakfast to the table, cooking, opening doors and carrying trays and drinks.

Expert Systems

Expert systems have been one of the most successful AI-related technologies and have been around since the 1960’s. These expert systems mimic human expertise in a field to solve a problem. In order for them to be successful, they must be applied to an activity that human experts have already handled such as tasks in medicine, geology, education, and oil exploration. An example of an expert system found in the book is PortBlue. PortBlue is an expert system that can be applied to various financial applications including examination of complex financial structures, foreign exchange risk management, and more.

Despite all the hype about expert systems and artificial intelligence, certain criteria must still be met before using AI. Although the systems may be good at what they do, sometimes there is no replacement to humans for subjective reasoning such as that using the five senses such as taste or smell. A robot cannot tell you how good a burger tastes or if a new perfume smells better than the old.

Ch.10 Building Successful Information Systems

If you haven’t realized by this point in class, information systems are vital in almost every business in the modern age. Information systems improve the efficiency of a business’ operations in order to achieve higher profitability, are a major tool for firms to create new products and services, they vastly improve the decision making of top managers, they help achieve a competitive advantage over other businesses and have quickly become a necessity of doing business. Information systems are the foundation for conducting business today.

But where do these information systems come from?

Designing a successful information system requires integrating people, software, and hardware. In order to achieve this necessary integration, designers often follow the systems development life cycle (SDLC). This model is a series of well-defined phases performed in sequence that serve as a framework for developing a system or project.

The Phases

Phase 1: Planning

The planning phase is one of the most crucial phases of the SDLC model. The system designer must understand and define the problem the organization faces making sure that they have come up with the absolute problem rather than minor symptoms created by the problem. The problem can be external or internal: from the customers or the suppliers. An example of an internal problem may be management’s concern for the lack of competitive edge in the market while an external problem may be a supplier noting the inefficiency in inventory control. After the problem has been defined, an analyst assesses the current and future needs of the organization by answering these questions:

1)Why is this information system being developed?
2)Who are the systems current and future users?
3)Is the system new or an upgrade or extension of an existing system?
4)Which functional areas/departments will be using the system?

After this, the analysts must get feedback from users. Their job is to make sure user’s understand the four W’s:

1)Why - Why is the system being designed?
2)Who - Who is going to use the system? What department?
3)When – When will the system be operational?
4)What – What kind of capabilities will the system provide?

Another test an information system must past is called the feasibility study. The feasibility study analyzes a proposed solution’s feasibility and determines how best to present the solution to management; it’s dimensions include economic feasibility, technical feasibility, operational feasibility, schedule feasibility and legal feasibility.

Phase 2: Requirements Gathering and Analysis

In this second phase, analysts define the problem and generate alternatives for solving it. They attempt to understand the requirements for the system and analyze them to determine the main problem with the current system. Requirements can be gathered through interviews, surveys, observations, and much more. The intent of the analysts is to:

1)Figure out what users do
2)How they do it
3)What problems they face in performing their jobs
4)How the new system would address these problems
5)What users expect from the system
6)What decisions are made
7)What data is needed to make decisions, where the data comes from, how the data should be presented and what tools are needed to examine date for the decision makers use

The analyst then uses this information to understand the main problems: defining the projects scope, including what it should and shouldn’t do and then create a document called the “system specifications” which is sent to all key users for approval.

Phase 3: Design

During this phase, analysts choose the solution that’s the most realistic and offers the highest pay off for the organization. They outline the details of the proposed solution and create a document with exact specifications for implementing the system including all aspects to be involved in the information system.

This design phase consists of 3 parts: conceptual design, logical design, and physical design. The conceptual design is an overview of the system and doesn’t include hardware or software choices. The logical design makes the conceptual design more specific by indicating hardware and software. The physical design is created for a specific platform such as an example used in the book, Dell laptops running Windows 7 and Internet Explorer.

Prototyping is a major part of the design phase, where a small scale version of the system is developed, but one that’s large enough to illustrate the system’s benefits and allows users to offer feedback.

Phase 4: Implementation

During this phase, the solution is transferred from paper to action, and the team configures the system and procures components for it. New tasks in this phase include:

1)Acquiring new equipment
2)Hiring new employees
3)Training employees
4)Planning and designing the system’s physical layout
5)Coding
6)Testing
7)Designing security measures and safeguards
8)Creating a disaster recovery plan

Once the information system is complete and ready to be converted, designers can use a parallel conversion, a phased-in-phased-out conversion, a plunge conversion or pilot conversion. In a parallel conversion, the old and new systems run simultaneously for a short time to ensure that the new system works correctly. In a phased-in-phased-out conversion, as each module of the new system is converted, the corresponding part of the old system is retired. In the plunge, or direct cutover, conversion the old system is stopped and the new system is implemented. Lastly, in a pilot conversion, the analyst introduces the system in only a limited area of the organization to see if the system works correctly.

Two alternative approaches to the SDLC approach are self-sourcing and out-sourcing. Self-sourcing is when end users have been developing their own information systems with little or no formal assistance from the information systems team. With the outsourcing approach, an organization hires an external vendor or consultant who specializes in providing development services.

Phase 5: Maintenance

In this last phase, the information system is operating, enhancements and modifications to the system have been developed and tested, and hardware and software components have been added or replaced. As part of this phase, the team gathers information on whether the system is meeting its objectives by talking with users, customers, and other people affected by the new system. If the system’s objectives are not being met, they have to take corrective action to fix the problem.

E-Commerce

Shopping in the comfort of your home...

E-commerce is defined in chapter 8 of our book as “the buying and selling of goods and services over the internet.” Some very profitable e-commerce businesses include Amazon and EBay. E-commerce builds on traditional commerce by adding the flexibility that networks offer and the availability of the internet. You do not have to leave the comfort of your home in order to buy almost anything these days. Local grocery store Stop and Shop even offers a program called “Peapod” which is online grocery shopping and delivery. All that you need to do is log onto the peapod website, state whether you are shopping for groceries for your home or groceries for your business, create and fill your shopping cart, pay and then wait for the groceries to be delivered right to your front door. The span of E-commerce these days is unbelievable.

How does it work?

Although E-commerce has the same goal as traditional commerce, to sell products and services to the consumer to generate profit, they do it quite differently. In e-commerce, it is obvious that the internet and telecommunication play a major role. There is more often than not no physical store and the buyer and seller do not see each other. This is most typical in businesses such as Amazon and EBay. The seller puts up something of value for sale and the buyer bids or requests to buy it. The trade of money for the good is often run by the website as to avoid problems, but it is the seller’s duty to package and send the product and the buyer’s duty to make sure the product was received. However, sometimes businesses operate as a mix of traditional commerce and e-commerce; these companies are referred to as click-and-brick e-commerce. They capitalize on the advantages of online interaction with their customers yet retain the benefits of having a physical store. An example of this would be the shopping I do on JCPenney’s website. I can conveniently shop for clothes and other things online while sitting at home and if they arrive and I am not satisfied with them, rather than going through the process of mailing them back to the company I can simply enter the store and return them as if I had purchased them in-store.

The Advantages and Disadvantages

Like traditional commerce, e-commerce does have its advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages of e-commerce include:

1)Creating better relationships with suppliers, customers, and business partners
2)Being able to operate around the clock and around the globe
3)Increasing customer involvement (offering feedback)
4)Improving customer service
5)Increasing flexibility and ease of shopping
6)Increasing the number of customers
7)Increasing return on investment because inventory needs are reduced
8)Reducing administrative and transaction costs

And much more. However, e-commerce does also have its disadvantages. Such disadvantages include bandwidth capacity in certain parts of the world, security issues, accessibility (not everyone in connected to the web yet), and acceptance (not everyone accepts this technology). Although these are the current disadvantages, many believe that they will be eliminated or reduced in the near future.

The Downfalls of Information Systems

It's not all happily ever after ...

Although there are many vast advantages to owning and operating a computer and using information systems, they also come with their downfalls. As discussed in Chapter 4 of the textbook, information technology can be misused to invade user's privacy and commit computer crimes. This can be done through the use of cookies, spyware and adware, phishing , etc. Computers also can be the cause of many privacy issues, especially this day and age with so many social networks and through the use of something called "internet tracking."

Referring to answers.com, internet tracking is "electronic passage through the Internet that leaves a trail can be traced or tracked. Tracking is a process that follows the Internet activity backwards, from the recipient to the user. As well, a user's Internet activity on web sites can also be tracked on the recipient site (i.e., what sites are visited and how often). Sometimes this tracking and tracing ability is used to generate email to the user promoting a product that is related to the sites visited." Tracking is also used extensively by the U.S government to enable authorities to pursue and identify those responsible for malicious Internet activity. For example, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has a tracking program designated Carnivore. The program is capable of scanning thousands of emails to identify those that meet the search criteria.

Cookies

One of the most used tracking tools on the internet is through the use of cookies. Cookies are computer files that are stored on a user's computer during a visit to a website. The cookie is a tracking device, which records the electronic movements made by the user at the site, as well as identifiers such as a username and password. According to the book, "sometimes cookies are useful or innocuous, such as those used by the Web page that welcomes you or those used by a Web site that remembers your personal information for online ordering." Therefore, you should not immediately be alarmed at every cookie found on your computer.


Spyware and Adware

Spyware is a software that secretly gathers information about users while they browse the Web. This software can be particularly malicious to a computer as it can interfere with user's control of their computers by installing additional software and redirecting Web browsers. Some spyware even changes computer settings, resulting in slow Internet connections, changes to user's default home pages, and loss of functions in other programs. Adware is a form of spyware that collects information about the user, without the user's consent, to display advertisements in the web browser based on the information it collects from the user's browsing patterns. THE SOLUTION:Extremely good antivirus software.


Phishing

Phishing is sending fraudulent emails that seem to come from legitimate sources, such as a bank or university, for the purpose of capturing private information, such as bank accoutn numbers or Social Security numbers.


All of this has caused many privacy issues for the Internet...but what about when it's used by an employer?

Although all of the aforementioned examples of invasion of privacy are usually from unknown third parties, information technologies have also created some concerns about privacy in the workplace. Nowadays, a lot of employers search social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, to find background information on applicants, which then influences hiring decisions. Since information posted on these sites in considered public domain, you should really be careful what you're posting on your facebook and on twitter statuses. The book gives an example of a student at Millersville University of Pennsylvania who posted a picture of herself on Myspace wearing a pirate's hat and drinking titled "Drunken Pirate." Even though the student was of legal age to drink, Millersville administrators considered the image unprofessional and refused to grant her an education degree and teaching certificate. Instead, she was given a degree in English. So before you post that status on facebook saying "Going to get wrecked with blah blah and bleh bleh!" make sure you know who you're friends with and who can view your profile.


Computers and the Internet are an essential part of life in today's world. However, they have raised many privacy concerns that did not exist just ten years ago. Remember to use even just the basic protection when surfing the Internet and posting on social networking sites.

Computers and Information Systems

Did You Know?

Before enrolling in this class, I had very limited knowledge on computers and Information Technology (IT) in general. I knew how to use a computer for the Internet, how to type up papers on Microsoft Word, how to hurdle my way through an Excel spreadsheet, and I even dabbled a little in Microsoft Forefront (courtesy of my Comp105 teacher). However, I never thought much further than this, and felt slightly ignorant when I first opened the textbook (MIS- Management Information Systems by Bidgoli) and began really learning about what "Computers" and "Information Systems" really were.

How do Computers and Information Systems Help Us?

When you think about it, computers and information systems are all around us, yet most of us know very little about them. Those of us currently enrolled in this class are utilizing our computers in order to advance our college education: who would have ever imagined being able to attend college completely online and earn a degree! Computers are also used by our teachers to grade our exams, generate perfomance reports, calculate grades, calculate GPAs, and so much more. Computers and information systems are used in grocery and retail stores in their POS systems, they are used by banks in order to generate monthly statements and run ATM machines, they are used by accounants to perform taxes and other duties; I think you get the point.


In Chapter 1 of the textbook, the author states that

In the 21st century, knowledge workers need two types of knowledge to be competitive in the workplace: computer literacy and information literacy." Computer literacy is defined as having skills in using productivity software (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software, etc.) and having a basic knowledge of hardware and software, the Internet, and collaboration tools and technologies. Most of us can easily say that we are computer literate. However, Information literacy is another story. Information literacy is defined as understanding the role of information in generating and using business intelligence. But what is business intelligence to someone such as myself that had never heard the word before taking this course? Business Intelligence provides historical, current, and predictive views of business operations and environments and gives organizations a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Broken down, this means that a knowledge worker should know:

1) Internal and External sources of data
2) How data is collected
3) Why data is collected
4) What type of data should be collected
5) How data is converted to information and eventually to business intelligence
6) How data should be indexed and updated
7) How data and information should be used to gain a competitive advantage.


If I were asked today if I was "information literate" as well as "computer literate" my honest answer would have to be no. I do not yet understand information systems or business intelligence yet I hope by the end of the course I will be able to understand such an important aspect of the business world today.