Unit VIII Research paper 2 pages not including title page or reference page MUST BE IN APA FORMAT

Unit 1: Scholarly Activity

Unit 1: Scholarly Activity

Catherine Richardson

Columbia Southern University

In this paper, I will speak about each of the different components of an information system. I will also touch basis on and explain how I can use the five-component model to guide my learning and thinking when it comes to dealing with information systems.

“A system is a group of components that interact to achieve some purpose. As you might guess, an information system (IS) is a group of components that interact to produce information” (Kroenke, 2014). There are five components of an information system. They are hardware, software, data, procedures, and people. These particular components will be in any information system whether it is small, simple, big, or complex. As stated in our textbook, “For example, when you use a computer to write a class report, you are using hardware (the computer, storage disk, keyboard, and monitor), software (Word, WordPerfect, or some other word-processing program), data (the words, sentences, and paragraphs in your report), procedures (the methods you use to start the program, enter your report, print it, and save and back up your file), and people (you)” (Kroenke, 2015). However, all information systems do not include computers such as calendars used for scheduling and those that do include computers are known as a computer-based information system. Nowadays will a lot of computers and people evolving with technology everything is usually done on the computer so I will be discussing more about computer-based information system in this paper.

All five components of an information system are important and key to the information system working properly. The hardware contains several computers that are connected by telecommunications hardware including hand-held devices that are usually used during the picking, packing, and shipping process. The software contains a variety of hundreds of programs that work with communications among the computers as well as other programs that communicate with other things such as warehouses and shipping companies. The information system stores an endless amount of data in regards to customer information, product information, orders, shipments, and many other kinds of facts. They are hundreds of various procedures that are followed by employees of warehouses and shipping companies, and customers. In an information system, it includes people of course and not just those who use the system, but also those who work with and service the computers as well as those who uphold and sustain the data, and provide support to the networks of the computers.

Information obtained from customers, employees, and business partners is made up of data which is then processed in some form of way to provide necessary and meaningful insight to the person using the particular information system. As mentioned in our study guide, “information can also be defined as data that is meaningful within a context” (Study guide unit 1, 2017). Information systems will help you no matter what field or profession you are in. The five-component model will help you in the present day and in the future because these five components are symmetric. As stated in our textbook, “The outermost components, hardware and people, are both actors; they can take actions. The software and procedure components are both sets of instructions: Software is instructions for hardware, and procedures are instructions for people. Finally, data is the bridge between the computer side on the left and the human side on the right. Now, when we automate a business task, we take work that people are doing by following procedures and move it so that computers will do that work, following instructions in software. Thus, the process of automation is a process of moving work from the right side of Figure 1-5 to the left” (Kroenke, 2015).

Eller, A. (2017, January 28). Retrieved from https://mis.eller.arizona.edu/what-is-mis

Beekman, G., & Beekman, B. (2009). Tomorrow’s technology and you (9th ed.). Columbus, OH: Prentice Hall. Kroenke, D. (2015). Using MIS 2014 (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary (11th ed.). (2003). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.

Study guide Unit 1