Information systems have the purpose of providing a desired output which is needed by certain members of a specific organization. In order to function well, the system must be composed of subsystems that must operate all together in order to achieve its objectives. Objectives of the system must be evident in its outputs (“Chapter 2: Fundamental Concepts of Information Systems”, n.d.).
There are five components that comprised the subsystems of an information system. These five components include the hardware, software and procedures, data, network, and resources of people. The component Hardware is comprised of the physical computer equipment, devices, and machines. It is commonly referred to as the machinery. This component includes the computer which acts as the central processing unit or CPU along with all the computer equipment. Devices can be classified as either input or output devices and storage or communication devices. In large organizations or corporations, they tend to acquire distributed computer systems which are powered by parallel-processing servers (Fuad, 2011).
Software, on the other hand, is mainly about programs and the procedures needed by the computer system. This component refers to programs or manuals that support the hardware system. These programs are embedded with instructions which are readable by the machine which directs the functions of the hardware in order to come up with useful information from the data which has been feed into the system. Software can further be classified as system or application software (Zwass, n.d.). System software includes the operating system which is the main proponent in managing incoming data, program files, as well as the hardware. Application software includes program which are specifically designed to perform a certain task. Procedures used by software are important to the end user. It mainly directs the tasks needed to be done by the computer system.
Data includes the facts needed by the computer system in order to produce reliable information. This component is synthesized by programs and is usually stored in tapes or disk which is readable by the machine. In order to build a more organize data storage, databases were formulated (Fuad, 2011). Database acts a group of data records which can be easily retrieved whenever needed. The component Network is mainly used for data transfer and network support. Telecommunications is important for creating network connections between computer systems which makes data more accessible to other system components. Connections can be established in several ways such as wireless or wired media.
Lastly, people resources such as the users, programmers, data administrators, and system analysts utilize the aforementioned components in order to come up with significant outputs. For the other computer system components to be useful, people is significant in order to perform the tasks lined up (Zwass, n.d.). This component is important since it influence the probability of success of the information system. Aside from the five main components needed by the information system, another component which can help in improving the information system is feedback. Consequently, the information system can continue functioning without this component.
Importance of Five-Component Model in an Information System
The five-component model, composed of hardware, software and procedures, data, network, and people, is interrelated with each other. The actors in this model are hardware and the people. Moreover, the instructions come from the software and procedures. Data and networks acts as a bridge between the actors and instructions. Automation leads the way from the human side to the computer side (Kroenke, 2014). The procedures created by humans are automated by the software and hardware in order to come up with reliable information. The purpose of this five-component model is to further understand the importance of information system. As information moves from the hardware to the people, the degree of difficulty of change increases. Among the five components, the most important one is the person. Quality of thinking improves due to assessment of humans. Thus, human resources lead the further understanding of new information system.
References
“Chapter 2: Fundamental Concepts of Information Systems.” Retrieved from http://www.umsl.edu/~joshik/msis480/chapt02.htm
Fuad, S. (2011). “Information Systems: Definition and Components.” Retrieved from http://www.uotechnology.edu.iq/ce/Lectures/SarmadFuad-MIS/MIS_Lecture_3.pdf
Kroenke, D. (2014). “Chapter 1: The Importance of MIS.” Pearson Education. Retrieved from www.kean.edu/~rmelworm/3040/kroenke_umis6e_inppt_01.pptx
Zwass, V. (n.d.). “Information System.” Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/topic/information-system
