Digital Portfolio Project: Information System Business Needs Solutions

This digital portfolio project examines the multifaceted role of information systems in addressing diverse business needs. The project begins by underscoring the importance of information systems in solving business challenges, emphasizing how these systems streamline operations across various departments, from data management to stakeholder support. It then delves into critically appraising alternative IT/IS solutions against specific business needs, providing examples of how information systems enhance marketing strategies, aid in long-term planning, and improve employee productivity. A key aspect of the project involves a critical evaluation of the effectiveness of various business requirements, including transactional processing, customer relationship management, and knowledge management systems. The project also highlights the value of critical thinking in information systems, particularly regarding data security and system thinking. Furthermore, it addresses the legal and ethical implications arising from the use of new technologies, focusing on privacy and data security concerns. Finally, the project explores business process modeling and knowledge management practices in the context of current research and emerging trends, offering insights into system integration and third-party vendor utilization. The report provides a comprehensive overview of information systems and their impact on business operations.

Information System Digital
Portfolio Project

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Understanding the importance of information system in solving business needs..................1
Critically appraise alternative IT/IS solutions against business needs...................................2
Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of various business requirements.............................3
Value of critical thinking in Information systems..................................................................5
Legal and ethical implications arising from the use of new technologies in the business.....5
Practices of business process modelling and knowledge management in the context of current
research and emerging trends.................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Information system is a set up that deals with the collection, communication, storage and
organisation of information. It is an organised system or say a study of complementary networks
that people and organisations use to collect process, filter and distribute data. This has become
one of the most essential facilitator of the business activities. It provides various solutions
against the needs of business. Mainly the companies that are in the field of providing IT
solutions needs to have a proper infrastructure of information system. IT has extended its reach
in every industry and helps in the operations of almost every units or departments. From
managing data to taking out information from them at the required time, supporting stakeholders
in their activities (Kwon, Lee and Shin, 2014). It helps in solving basic and complex business
needs which is essential for the growth of any organisation and the users. This report highlights
the featured ways in which the information system provides complex business needs. It also
provides solutions to the situations that arises in operating its functionalities. This report is a kind
of digital portfolio that any organisations and customers’ needs to understand.
Understanding the importance of information system in solving business needs
Information system can be beneficial for managing business. I have seen that in this firm
there are many operations that can be easily conducted with the use of technological means (Abu
Naser and Al Shobaki, 2016). For example when I was travelling in the aircraft previously we
need to go to the air ports to buy our tickets which has become easier by the use of modern
mediums such as mobile phones and as I am manager at the IT services department of the
Airport I found that the work load on the staffs have also reduced as there is a software that has
been installed which helps in automatically booking of the flight tickets. Use of information and
communication systems helps in managing the communication at various levels of the firm so
that company can work in a proper manner. There were manual methods of monitoring the
places decades before but now use of cameras have made the processes easier as the issues
related to the monitoring can be handled by one person only.
When I talk about security issues there are technological sensors that has been used at
these places so that people carrying a goods that is not legal can be detected easily. One of the
other areas where this had resulted positive sense is the managing of information which was not
an easy process previously. These computerised systems have made information available at any
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part of the country to the authoritative bodies. There were internal monitoring that has been done
using these technologies like the use of cameras as well as fire sensors that will immediately
report any kind of mishappenings. These systems are being installed in the ways so that privacy
of the staff members are not being hampered and they can work easily. There are several
effective measures that are taken so that restricted amount of monitoring can be done. Two
papers I have studied in this regard so as to understand the implications that technology use
poses on the business operations. I have provided them in the appendix.
These two links that has been provided so as to understand that in what ways these systems helps
to manage different operations within the firm.
The first link contains the paper that explain the concept related to information system
like what are the things that are present in the information system and how these concepts are
being changed after the research process. Second link explains the use of information system in
the business operations. Like the process of business flow helps in understanding that what are
the needs of the business organisations and how the new trends and researches can be taken
forward using this. In the second link it explains that knowledge management is one of the basic
requirements that has to be fulfilled by the companies so as to grow in the future in a sustainable
manner.
On line chats and conversations through the use of information technology in the
company can help in this regard. These conversations can be done using the webinars as well as
the Webster. Feedbacks from the experts in the regarding field can help in understanding that
what are faults that are associated with our information system arrangements. This can also be
used to take feedbacks from the customers that uses this service. One of the major benefit of this
is that this is highly critical and is highly helpful in organising services at the firm.
Critically appraise alternative IT/IS solutions against business needs
There are various business needs that arises in the firm irrespective of the industry it
belongs to. As per the view point of Laudon and Laudon, (2016) Information system and
information technology is one of those systems that are very effective in providing these
solutions. The problem areas such as managing large chunk of data and evaluating it to provide
informations as per the business needs. For example in marketing, information system helps in
contacting with the clients and making relationship with them so as to advertise the new products
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launches, selling products in the open market, Creating and broad casting advertisements that can
reach to many users at the same time.
According to Romney and Steinbart, (2012) these systems can be used for making
various long term and short term planning strategies for managing day to day operations. They
are used in transactional systems in the form of point of sales or maintenance of ware houses. On
the contrary information system helps in monitoring the entire operations of the business using
cameras. Information system is used for increasing the productivity of employees or changes that
leads to cost effectiveness especially in the production mechanism.
As per the view point of Weske, (2012) middle managers uses it for making tactical
decisions. In order to reach their business objectives they pull out intelligence from the data.
They are highly concerned about improving yearly gains which can be done by monitoring the
growth process of several units at the same time. These systems are very efficient in providing
detailed solution to the strategic challenges which ensures survival of the company in the
competing market. They can also use these systems in managing their status in the stock markets.
In the views of Peltier, (2013) the greatest impact that these systems helps is in decision
making process as it supports the bases on which any plans are constructed. They are generally
of four types in any firm namely systems for transactional processing, knowledge management
as well as customer relationship management.
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sources 1: Business information system, 2017

Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of various business requirements
As stated above these systems are of four types and hence they are very effective in
providing long ranged solutions to several business operations. In the view point of Zikmund,
and et. al., (2013) there are several business requirements that needs to be handled so as to grow
in a sustainable manner. Transactional processing systems are highly beneficial in maintaining
records of the transactions that are made by the firm. Basic function of this system is to collect
data and then produce output. For example in the aviation firms this is used for booking online
tickets and the whole information gets in the data base which makes the whole system of
reservation smoother and faster as it also shows the status of the availabilities and all other
necessary details that is required by the clients before buying a ticket. Manual processes seems to
have been difficult. Da Xu, (2011) says that information system like Customer relationship
management system are usually used for making the processes such as marketing and sales
easier. This system helps in keeping records of consumer activities, product defects, purchasing
trends and customer inquiries. This also allows business partners to communicate with each other
which helps in managing businesses successfully.
While Turban, Sharda and Delen, (2011) states that one of the greatest impact of these
systems is on the business intelligence which is essential for predicting sales pattern for the
company. Financial institutions uses this type of system very well. These business organisations
have need of creating credit risk models and studying the functionalities related to numbers On
the other hand Jenkin Webster and McShane, (2011) states that knowledge management which is
one of the crucial parts of organisations as it assists in innovations , quality management etc. It is
highly helpful in the case of small business enterprises so that these companies can provide quick
response to its consumers.
There are several design and integration techniques that are used by the firms as per their
business needs. System integration is an engineering process of bringing together the
components subsystems or say aggregation of these to achieve and deliver overarching
functionalities. There are various integration methods such as:
 Vertical integration: It is a procedure where sub systems are organised as per the
functionalities by creating functional units which is known by the name silos. Advantage
of this is that integration is quickly performed and includes only necessary vendors which
makes it cheaper in short term.
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 Star or spaghetti integration: Here each system is connected with the other subsystems.
Diagram after aggregation is having the shape of spaghetti and cost remains flexible as
the interfaces that subsystems are exporting.
 Horizontal integration: In this specialised subsystems is dedicated to communicate
between other subsystems. This allows the number of connection to be only one per
subsystem which will directly connect to ESB. It is highly in use due to its extreme
flexibility where one system can be completely replaced by other systems.
As per the view point of Rainer and et. al., (2013) alternative third party vendors or IT/IS
service providers are very useful in meeting business requirements. As they helps company in
designing and maintaining the system as per the demand of the business. They are being hired so
that the company can focus on their primary business and these things do not present obstacle in
any manner.
Value of critical thinking in Information systems
There is need of critically analysing the effects of information system in business process.
As these systems provides solutions to many processes of the organisations so as to make them
easier and efficient. Critical thinking about the implications of these systems on the security of
the business data when the firms start using the concepts such as cloud storage. SO these is an
efficient plan that needs to be constructed that involves all the methods that will handle the
security concerns. System thinking is a part of business intelligence which can only be enhanced
if there is sufficient amount of data being collected through various processes.
Legal and ethical implications arising from the use of new technologies in the business
While implementing various new technologies there are several different kinds of
implications that are associated with it. There are some of the ethical and social implications that
is associated with it which is a primary matter of concern for any organisation. Since the privacy
and piracy are two big issues that are associated with introduction of information technology or
system in the business settings. As per Nudurupati and et. al., (2011) introduction of new
technology starts making edges on the rights of person and may be unethical in breaching their
piracy. Governments and ethically operated firm knows their limitations as they have passed
piracy laws and regulated communication firms. There are several censors that are applied by the
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firms itself as they have to check whether applying these technologies may harm some
individual's personnel information. Some of the ethical issues related with it are as follows:
 Privacy: It is one of those areas that have been determined clearly as a base for unethical
business behaviour by the use of technology. Firms can track usage of internet, buying
habits and personal moments as well as collecting private information about thousands of
consumers or even clients that they aim to make in future (Xu and et. al., 2014). There
are various legislations related to it.
 Security: Firms monitor workers and visitors and accumulate adequate data in the
concern of security. Ethical issues arises due to the continuous monitoring of worker
actions and the recording of security camera images. An unjustified level of workers
surveillance is questionable ethically.
 Communication: It is hard to monitor telephonic conversations due to its analog nature,
text based communication such as emails can easily be monitored. Firms that takes use of
these technologies should ask themselves regarding the ethical implications of these kind
of surveillance, especially if is it conducted without the permission or knowledge of
workers (Hou, 2012).
 Content: There are certain new technologies which allows the easy generation and
dispersion of videos and images both individual workers & firms needed guidelines like
what is acceptable and what not. Without proper guidelines three can be possibility that
the contents can be offensive to some of the staffs and some of the members of the
masses. These kind of restrictions can becomes ethical issue when firm seeks to broaden
them into worker's private lines.
There are some legal implications that are also attached with the introduction of new
technology in the firm operations:
 Security vulnerabilities threatening the privacy of users: The security loopholes of
internet helps the hackers to find flaws and hack the account. This creates the legal
implications for the users if any wrong measures are taken by the hackers.
 Unlawful subservience: If the company intended to make unlawful breaching in the
personal privacy of any worker then they can apply for legal protection as no firms are
allowed to conduct these kind of activities (Prajogo and Olhager, 2012). There are three
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ways that are used for these type of surveillances such as Beacons, social networks or
RFID technology.
 Issues regarding accumulating evidence through these technologies: Companies or
hackers uses two ways of gathering information either by collecting it through NET or
through Social networks. There is no right to the company or any individual to collect
and make use of personal data such as iris information or finger print.
Practices of business process modelling and knowledge management in the context of current
research and emerging trends.
Business process modelling is an activity of representing processes of an firm so that
current processes may be improved are analysed. It is performed by business analyst who are
expert of these matters. It can be accessed or derived directly from the event logs with the use of
process mining tools (Law, Buhalis and Cobanoglu, 2014). On the other hand knowledge
management has become very important so as to grow as a firm because these knowledge helps
in forecasting the growth of organisation as well as its sales figures. In practical senses
management decision to invest in business process modelling is often driven by the need to
document requirements for a project related to IT.
There are several researches that are going on in the direction of use of new technologies
in the field of different business activities. Especially in the field of data storage and
management as well as taking out information from it as and when required. Use of cloud
computing in many of the business processes are increasing and hence it has increased the threat
of getting data to be stolen and increased the case of piracy. Implemented technologies like the
use of software and the concept of bring your own devices has increased the threat of data
getting stolen. Business process modelling helps firm in making a proper flow of their activities
so that they can achieve their activities in a proper way (Business Information Systems overview.
2017). These are effective tools that helps company in making there process much easier as they
help in finding flaws at each step of product design and it can be used for solving the problems
associated with it. New research in innovations is done by checking these flews in which
business process modelling will be used.
There are many emerging trends in technology that can used for making the business
processes easier. These trends are highly innovative in terms of providing business solutions. In
information sector technology gets doubled in every 6 months. This is possible due to rigorous
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research processes. Process modelling helps to understand that which emerging trend will be
suitable for making the business processes easier and need to be implemented.
On the other hand knowledge management helps in deriving the important information
which can be essential for managing operations of the firm. Knowledge management helps in
doing research as per these information so as to provide perfect solutions to the arrived
situations. Knowledge management helps in understanding the needs of the trends that could be
used for making the business processes easier (Xu and et. al., 2014). Not only making it easier
but making it justifiable. Managing knowledge helps us to understand business needs of the short
and long term goals that is to be achieved by the firm in the longer duration.
CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the above based report that information technology or
information system is mandatory for the operations of the firm. It help to reduce complexities of
the firm's operations. In many ways there are several operations that can’t be solved by the
individual itself. In this regard computerised systems can be beneficial for the staffs as well as
the customers that are using the services. There are security and privacy threats that are
associated with use of these new technologies. All these ethical as well as legal implications
needs to be accessed so that company's operations do not hampered. It can also be concluded
from the portfolio that webinars as well as Webster can help in solving the problems related to
the structure of information system and its usefulness at the organisations. Practices such as
business process modelling as well as knowledge management that needs to be handled because
it helps in finding the problems related with business operations. There are several measures that
are taken so that company can grow in a proper manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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APPENDIX
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