Information Systems | Essay

Information Systems

Introduction
Information systems have become critical components for the modern business such that at
the core of the operational infrastructure of any business is its business information system. The age
of Information Technology has heralded the era of data, where businesses gather a lot of data about
clients, suppliers, the market, and other stakeholders and use this data to gain valuable insights and
develop suitable strategies that maximizes on the collected data. As per the hierarchy of data
proposed by Russel Ackoff, this paper discusses the concept of information systems with respect to
data and its hierarchy and shows how a well designed information system is beneficial to business
operations, and confers competitive advantages. The paper evaluates business requirements and
proposes solutions that have been testes and verified to solve contemporary business challenges and
also develops suitable strategies that can address complex business needs relating to their
information systems.
Discussions
Business leaders do not give the business architecture because they either appear too focused
on technology or are too complex and in the process failing to maximize on the benefits that a well
designed architecture have for any business. The challenge is in creating a balanced business
architecture that caters for technology and business needs. Separating a business from its enterprise
architecture is not the solution as it significantly diminishes the value and fundamental purpose of
the enterprise architecture (EA). An information system (IS) refers to a group of artificial objects or
devices or even an organization that form a network designed for the distribution of a service, for
example a computer or telephone system. These activities (systems) are developed b successful
businesses even if they are EA’s (Guetat and Dakhli, 2015). In the modern business environment,
business activities increasingly use data in, and documentation of business processes as a way of
increasing efficiency, creating clear responsibilities and role identities, and integrate activities
across departments. The norm is to mimic the information technology system or the business
architecture in creating the system, with the goal of aiding businesses to automate activities and
handle large data volumes in a meaningful and secure manner.
Often, there is a conflict of interpretation; technology people assume people in operations
have no understanding of technology and as such, cannot develop a comprehensive technical
architecture or system to describe technology services. On the other hand, people in operations have
the belief that the business architecture is the blue print that should guide the enterprise and often
assume, wrongly, that this is the business architecture. This divergence in opinion demonstrates the
challenge of developing a suitable EA for a business. EA is neither the system architecture
(technical) nor the business architecture (operational)- the EA, rather, refers to both these

architectures developed in an integrated manner created using standardized design methods, with
innovative data hierarchies and architectures so that they can be used by both the technology and
operations people (Cavallari and Tornieri, 2018). The goal of EA in developing IS is to establish the
methods, policies, and tooling to achieve these objectives. EA is a carefully designed business
structure or entrepreneurial economy activities that include processes, people, and systems working
harmoniously to generate important business outcomes. The structures entail operational processes
that provide value, organizational design, and systems utilized by people as they execute their
various roles and missions. The business prescribed operational results (end-states) are used by
enterprise architects as a blue print to guide the EA to meet the business needs. The end states
usually include goals, visions, capabilities, and objectives. As such, the overall architecture must
integrate technology with business processes.
Data Hierarchy
Organizations, especially medium to large scale ones, use information technology to handle their
needs for data solution and storage needs. The IT architecture is akin to a document that explains
the IT (Information Technology) and other IT elements of the organization works to achieve and
implement its objectives and goals. System architecture specifically addresses data sets, business
processes, software, technology, and information applications for an organization. The EA helps the
organization define the way technology changes can be implemented in the context of the business
goals (Soomro, Shah and Ahmed, 2016). The EA of an organization forms an integral part of its
strategic planning and overall business architecture and is as such a technical blue print for an
organization that should be aligned with business components. It is important tool that helps the
organization share relevant data and information across board and is also a useful tool for
collaboration and also aids an organization to respond better to changes in the technology and
business environment quickly while helping in cutting costs and improving organization
competitiveness. It is therefore prudent to develop a suitable technical architecture and then align it
with the business architecture. The broad structures of a system are defined by the system
development and the business architecture. The EA consists of sub units that include technology
architecture, business architecture, and information systems architecture (Cavallari and Tornieri,
2018).