f

• System


  a group of components that interact to achieve some purpose
• Information System


  -a group of components that interact to produce information

  -system of hardware, software, data, procedures and people to product info
• 5 Components of Information Systems

  hardware, software, data, procedures, people
• Management Information Systems (MIS)


  the development and use of information systems that help organizations achieve their goals
• MIS in use: Mabel's Label social media usage


  Mabel's Labels has a bunch of social media channels that help the company connect with customers, increasing size of network
• Information Technology (IT)


  -represents raw technology components of IS (hardware, software, data)

  -refers to methods, inventions, standards, products
• True or False: IT alone can help an organization achieve goals.

  False. IT must be embedded into an IS to help accomplish

  objectives (tech must be combined with people and procedure)
• Difference between IS and IT?

  IT is just hardware, software and data. IS includes IT as well as people and procedure.
• What is the ICT sector?

  Information and Communications Technology sector
• What type of companies are involved in ICT sector? (4)

  -software and computer services

  -communications services

  -ICT Manufacturing

  -ICT Wholesaling
• Moore's Law


  Law stated that the density of circuits on an integrated chip was doubling approximately every two years, and had been generally accurate for almost 5 decades
• network effects/externalities


  increases in the value of a product to each user, including existing users, as the total number of users rises
• What did Hal Varian suggest in regards to IS and IT?

  Business is changing due to advances in IS and IT, mobility devices will change what it means to go to work
• What did David Ticoll suggest would happen within the next decade in regards to IS and IT?

  -unlimited storage will be almost free

  -analytical software will reveal hidden info

  -WAN will become cheap, reliable and available

  -tech trends will enable performance-enhancing innovations in almost every industry
• MIS in use: Google

  -Gmail launched 10 years ago, supported entirely by advertising

  -when email is sent/received, fresh column of ads appear
• Model


  representation of reality that retains only selected details
• Entity Relationship Diagram (model)

  a technique for visualizing the entities and relationships in a database environment
• Entity


  represents a discrete object (i.e. student, course, program at Western)
• True or False: Entities are shown as rectangles, and their titles are capitalized

  True
• Relationship


  Association between entities, represented by lines and written in lowercase
• Attributes


  describe characteristics of the entity
• Primary Key


  field that uniquely identifies instance of each entity (i.e. SIN, student number), underlined on E-R diagram
• Instances


  actual data entered in attributes of an entity
• Cardinality


  relationship description - either one or many, represented by vertical line or three lines branching out respectively
• participation level


  relationship description - either optional or mandatory, represented by circle or vertical line respectively
• Professor can be chair of one department, department can only have one chair. this is an example of ____ type of relationship.

  1:1
• Student registered in one faculty, faculty can have many student registered. this is an example of _____ type of relationship

  1:N
• student is taking many courses, a course can be taken by many students. this is an example of a _____ type of relationship.

  N:M
• If relationship is 1:1 and both sides are either mandatory or optional, which entity gets the foreign key?

  doesn't matter lol
• If relationship is 1:1 and one side is mandatory and the other is optional, which entity gets the foreign key?

  the mandatory entity must receive the foreign key
• If relationship is 1:N, which entity get the foreign key?

  The ONE entity must receive the foreign key
• If relationship is N:M, where do the foreign keys go?


  In a connector entity named after the relationship, written in lowercase, connected by a 1:N connection on either side
• What does 'nullable' indicate on DIA?

  if the field can be blank

  -checked/yes means it can be left blank

  -unchecked/no means it must be filled
• What does 'unique' indicate on DIA?

  if field can have same data as another

  -checked/yes means data cannot be duplicated

  -unchecked/no means data can appear in other records
• Normalization


  The process of applying rules to a database design to ensure that information is divided into the appropriate tables, eliminates data duplication
• Business process (aka business system)

  a series of activities (system) that are designed to carry out some task in a business (i.e. sales, purchasing, inventory management)
• 4 components of a business process

  Activities, Resources, Facilities, Information
• Activities


  transform resource and info of one type into another type
• Facilities


  Structures used within the business process (i.e. factories, equipment)
• Resources


  items of value, can be external to organization (i.e. cash, workers)