Managing Information

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1 Introduction

Information systems are vital for companies. They help with managing production, sales and marketing, communicating both internally and externally, improve efficiency, and provide information to help with decision making.

2 Costs and benefits of information systems

Although there are many benefits for companies of having management information, there are costs involved of delivering it. It is clearly important that companies ensure that the benefits do exceed the costs, and you should be able to give examples of the sorts of costs and benefits involved.

2.1 Cost examples

• Hardware costs

• Software costs

• Training

• Testing

• Maintenance

• Staff disruption and resistance

2.2 Benefit examples

• Improved efficiency

• Cost reduction

• Customer satisfaction

• Better and faster decision making

3 Terminology

• Internet

• Intranet

• Wireless technology

• Networks

4 Controls over information systems

It is of vital importance that adequate controls are in place in order to help ensure that information in the system is accurate and that controls exist to maintain the security of confidential information. You should be aware of the following examples of controls that should exist:

• Data verification

• Data validation

  • Consistency checks

  • Format checks

  • Range checks

  • Lookup tables

  • Check digits

• Direct data capture

• Physical access controls

• Passwords

• Firewalls

• Anti-virus software

• Encryption