Information Systems
Information Systems
Introduction
Several systems have been developed for business use over the years with the intention of helping the businesses fulfill their mandate to both earning profits and provision of goods and services to the customers for value. Among these systems are information systems which help the business executives in making decisions in the organization both at the managerial and operational levels. For every business organization, they develop their own management information system which is meant to fulfill the personal needs of the organization in which it shall be used. An Information system which is designed and developed for one organization is completely useless for another organization as it will not assist the organization to fulfill its requirements/business mandate. Therefore, designing and developing Information Systems requires that a combination of such factors as human intelligence, judgment and perception be integrated to make the information system design a holistic activity as opposed to just a technical activity that is concerned with information system designed in architectural designs. The problem that exists with the current design processes is that they conceptualize information system and its elements as abstract designs without taking into context the organizational environment and culture. This results in information systems that are complex and not easily usable by the organizational staff. To manage the design process, there is need to have better understanding of the interaction of both the human elements and physical artifacts in information system. By addressing these elements in design process, the organization is likely to enjoy more benefits from information system. This paper is a literature review of the design process in information system.
This paper will examine the shortcomings of the traditional methods to the information system design which focuses more on the hardware and software constraints in the development process of organizational information systems. The paper will also create a relationship between human design factors and the overall success of an information system.
Literature review
A system converts the collected data from the routine machine and user interactions into organized information which can later be used by decision makers in the organization to make critical decisions in the organization. An information system is a collective system that organizes all the activities, procedures, technology, methods and people so that people can get related and valuable information from a set of data. An information system is capable of processing data and responding to the end users queries. As such, an information system is an interactive and communicative structure between end users and the machine. The system is also capable of storing the processed information which can be retrieved later by end users for reference during the decision making process. Prior assumptions in the researches have primarily pointed that the system itself is the most important entity in the information system design. This system as described by the developers is a defined and interrelated set of components that allow an end user to accomplish their information processing needs at all levels. While this definition was sufficient at the time when technical complexity was the core problem in which the design tools in information system were needed for problem solving when designing an IS, such a definition is no longer applicable in an era where organizational information systems is not viewed as simply information technology (Peffers, Tuunanen & Rothenberger, 2007).
DeLone & McLean (2003) define information system design as the interface of understanding and creation. In this definition, they suggest that the design practice is a complex process that links the intent and activities of the designer to the results which occur when the resulting system is used in real life business situation. The design needs of an information system are the same as those of physical artifacts. The traditional design approaches in IS were such that they structured the IT system definition into a narrow physical system which consisted of only the hardware and software components. For the purposes of this paper, the assumption is that design is a process of conceptualizing, implementing and abstracting organizational Information System rather than a specific stage in system development life-cycle. Here in this paper, design does not give form to the system software but is viewed as giving form to all the elements of the information system. The abstract elements as discussed here lead to specific deliverables within the organization that is associated to organizational change, suitability of the information system to a group of organizational staff and the ability of the information system to satisfy the needs of organizational employees (Ravichandran, Lertwongsatien & Lertwongsatien, 2005).
In literature, system designers view the activities that are carried out by the information system as a dividing the information system into different integrated subsystems with unique functions that make the whole organizational unit efficient. An effective information system as envisioned by some researchers include one which is capable of planning as well as controlling the defined business activities, and has integrated subsystems which are capable of forward and backward driving of the business. Such an information system should be able to generate reports helpful to all management levels in the organization concerning the control and operations of the business and the managers should be able to retrieve information at any time without much difficulty. These system requirements are what primarily should be taken care of during the preferred design process of the business. The design process should be capable of fulfilling the technical requirements of the information system as well as the user requirements of the system.
Information systems are described as effective and persuasive if they are designed in such a way that they can be used to reinforce change, shape the behaviors of the end users voluntarily without coercion and deception and be able to successfully change the attitudes of the users hence making the business organizations more healthier and environmentally sustainable (Gregor, 2006). Given these goals, system designers need to be fully aware of the human factors in the system development as they play a critical role in making the resulting system viable. The design process should allow the system designers and end users to have alternative course of action when they are stuck anywhere when they are using the system (Meliville, 2010). The organizational concepts of management levels and relationships should be effectively reflected in the design process.
Hypothesis and Conclusion
It is argued that the current design models mainly error in their approach as they focus more on the design as a closed process with only hardware and software requirements as the only constraints in the design procedure at the expense of user requirements and human factors in effective information systems design. The traditional approaches delegitimize other essential activities in the design process such as investigating, formulating and negotiating requirements for an effective information system design (Petter, Straub & Rai, 2007). IS design process primarily should seek to find answers to the five problems of how to employ an effective design model which will make the process of managing labour process more effective, defining the actual role of the designed information system, relating the system requirements and capability to the needs of the organization, understanding the cultural and social contexts of the business in which the IS will be operating in and managing communication and collaboration of various stakeholders in the design process. Future research should focus more on adopting a dual-cycle mode in information system design process which is more of an open design model which incorporates the technical design issues and significant inputs of the users of the Information system. The organizational Information Systems need not be viewed as technical systems but as systems within the businesses which are essentially driven by human activities and which are important in information analysis and dissemination supported by technology. Researchers and information system developers and designers should focus more on the strategic and organizational issues of Information systems that make the IS users more effective in their work domains given their knowledge on the IS.
References
DeLone, W., & McLean, E. (2003). The DeLone and Mclean model of information system success: A ten-year update. Journal of Management Information Systems, 19(4), 9-30.
Gregor, S. (2006). The nature of theory in information systems. MIS quarterly, 611-642.
Meliville, N. (2010). Information systems innovation for environmental sustainability. MIS Quarterly, 34(1), 1-21.
Peffers, K., Tuunanen, T., Rothenberger, M. A., & Chatterjee, S. (2007). A design science research methodology for information systems research. Journal of management information systems, 24(3), 45-77.
Petter, S., Straub, D., & Rai, A. (2007). Specifying formative constructs in information systems research. MIS Quarterly, 31(4), 623-656.
Ravichandran, T., Lertwongsatien, C., & Lertwongsatien, C. (2005). Effect of information systems resources and capabilities on firm performance: A resource-based perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 21(4), 237-276.
