Chapt 2

What major features of a business are important for understanding the role of information systems?

• Define a business and describe the major business functions.
• Define business processes and describe the role they play in organizations.
• Identify and describe the different levels in a business firm and their information needs.
• Explain why environments are important for understanding a business.

How do systems serve different management groups in a business?

• Define business intelligence systems.
• Describe the characteristics of transaction processing systems (TPS) and role they play in a business.
• Describe the characteristics of management information systems (MIS), decision support systems (DSS), and executive support systems (ESS) and explain how each type of system helps managers make decisions.

How do systems that link the enterprise improve organizational performance?

• Explain how enterprise applications improve organizational performance.
• Define enterprise systems, supply chain management systems, customer relationship management systems, and knowledge management systems and describe their business benefits.
• Explain how intranets and extranets help firms improve business performance.

Why are systems for collaboration and teamwork so important and what technologies do they use?

• Define collaboration and teamwork and explain why they have become so important in business today.
• List and describe the business benefits of collaboration.
• Describe a supportive organizational culture for collaboration.
• List and describe the various types of collaboration and communication systems.

What is the role of the information systems function in a business?

• Describe how the information systems function supports a business.
• Compare the roles played by programmers, systems analysts, information systems managers, the chief information officer (CIO), chief security officer (CSO), and chief knowledge officer (CKO).