What are Information Systems?
An Information Systems (IS) is a complementary network of hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filter, process, create, and distribute data.
Any specific information system aims to support operations, management and decision making. In a broad sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology (ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes.
A Computer(-Based) Information System is essentially an IS using computer technology to carry out some or all of its planned tasks. The basic components of computer based information system are:
- Hardware- these are the devices like the monitor, processor, printer and keyboard, storage devices and communications devices, all of which work together to accept, process, show data and information.
- Software- are the programs that allow the hardware to process the data.
- Databases- are the gathering of associated files or tables containing related data.
- Networks- are a connecting system that allows diverse computers to distribute resources.
- Procedures- are the commands for combining the components above to process information and produce the preferred output.
The first four components (hardware, software, database and network) make up what is known as the Information Technology Platform.
Websites can be considered to be information systems as they rely on hardware to be viewed and edited, they require software to allow digital devices to interact with them, some use databases to help catalogue the various tags and information, they utilise the internet (global network) and require procedures for users to create and maintain them.
