Competency Level 17.

3 : Classifies information systems according to the level of

their usage examining the methods of classification of information systems.
Various criteria used for classification of information systems are stated below.

 According to the level of usage.

 According to the usage
 According to the managerial functions.
There are four types of information systems according to the level of usage.

 Strategic level information systems

 Management level information systems
 Knowledge level information systems
 Operational level information systems

Strategic level information systems

 The information systems that assist top managers of an organization to make strategic decisions
as well as to solve internal and external problems. are known by this.
Ex : Chairman, General Manager, Director Board
 This level managers make decisions which would decide the future path, affect the entire
organization and are of long term existence.
 The internal as well as the external information of the organization are required for it.
 Most of the time the information required by them should be provided in summarized form.

Management level information system

 A type of systems that assist middle level managers to make decisions, monitor and control.
 This systems is used to implement and control the activities accordingly to with the decisions
made by strategic level managers.
 Marketing managers, financial managers, production managers and human resource managers
are some of the managers who use information systems of this level.

Knowledge level information system

 Knowledge employees and data employees are two types of employees at this level.
 The information systems that are used by them are known as knowledge level information
systems.
 These information systems are used for discovering organizing and integrating new knowledge.
 Knowledge level employees are the professionals such as lawyers, accountants’ auditors and
engineers. They are the ones who generate information.
 Data employees are the employees such as clerks and computer operators who engage in
activities like copying the information, distributing and using of the information.
Operational level information system
 The information systems that assist operational managers to make decisions on basic activities
and transactions of the business are known by this.
 Information such as sales, receipt of money, depositing of money, pay sheets, purchasing of
materials and usage of materials etc… are processed through these systems.
  Managerial employees of operational level like supervisors and storekeepers etc…. use these
information systems.

Competency Level 17.4: Classifies information systems according to the usage

Classification of information systems on usage is mentioned below.

 Executive Support Systems (ESS)

 Decisions Support Systems (DSS)
 Management Information Systems (MIS)
 Office Automation Systems (OAS)
 Knowledge Work Systems(TPS)
 Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)
 Business Intelligence Systems (BIS)

Executive Support Systems (ESS)

 These are the information systems operated at strategic level.
 The information systems that have been developed to provide the required information to
top level managers to make decisions are known as Executive Support Systems.
 The strategic level managers often have to make non structured non structured decisions
which do not match with a pre-determined problem solving structures.
 The information systems developed for providing required information to take such
decisions are known as Executive Support Systems.

Decision Support Systems

 These are the information systems that are used at management level.
 These can be introduced as the type of systems with analytical ability that assist middle
managers to make uniform structured and semi-structured decisions which cannot be
determined easily and keep on changing rapidly.
Structured decisions – Calculating of the EOQ according to the formula.
Semi-Structured decisions – Investment evaluating decisions.
These systems are used in various management activities specially at preparing plans,
formulating structures, evaluating alternatives and making decisions etc…

Management Information Systems (MIS)

 These are the information systems that are used at middle management level.
 The information systems that assist middle level managers to make planning decisions,
monitor and control.
 These are the information systems that assist middle level managers to directly reach the
current performance and past reports.
 These systems provide information in the form of reports at a specially required occasion or
periodically in the uniformal way as daily, weekly, monthly and annually.

Ex:- Periodical reports – Daily sales reports

Monthly – Receipts from debtors reports

Special reports – Providing a report regarding a specific debtor when the management insists for it.
Office Automation Systems (OAS)
These are the information systems that facilitate to copy data and information electronically and to
communicate them in the same form.

These are operated in knowledge level.

These are used by the assistant accountants, secretaries and clerks etc.. who engage in the affairs
related to data processing.

Since they engage in distribution as well as in consumption of data, these systems comprise of the
techniques for pasting and communicating the data.

Hence, the goal of the office automation systems is to facilitate E-pasting of data and information as well
as communicating them in the same form.

Ex:- For preparing documents - Word Processing Systems

For communicating information E – mail

Knowledge Works Systems (KWS)

These are the information systems that assist in knowledge employees in generating and integrating
new knowledge of an organization.

These are the information systems that operate at knowledge level.

These are the information systems that generate information required by knowledge employees such as
engineers, doctors, lawyers and researchers etc…. Since these are for persons who generate knowledge,
these systems are not uniform.

Ex:- Computer Aided Designing (CAD)

Transaction Processing Systems (TPS)

The information systems used to process date generated from daily operations of an organization are
known as Transaction Processing Systems.

These are the systems used to process basic data generated through frequently occurring functions of
an organization.

Reporting and necessary updating of the data relevant to daily operations are done using these systems.

There can be several transaction processing systems developed for each department of an organization.
Ex:- Production division - To purchase materials - To order materials.

Marketing division - To receive selling orders

- To price the goods.
Financial/Accounting division - To prepare budgets, Division
- To prepare general leader
- To make cash payments
Human Resource Division - To prepare pay sheets
 - To record employee attendance
- For training and development
Business Intelligence Systems (BIS)
These are the systems that strengthen Executive Support System.

These systems are developed using data and information which are to be used for Decision Support
Systems.

These are systems that comprise of abilities, processes, technological usage and practices.

 Even though the systems are classified on usage in the above manner, there is an inter-
relationship among these systems.
 The relationship among these systems can be depicted through the following diagram.

 Accordingly, the Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) of an organization are the information
systems that provide data for other information systems (DDS, MIS).
 ESS receives data from MIS and DSS.
 There is an inter-relationship among the information systems classified according to the usage
and management levels

Competency Level 17.4: Reveals the benefits of information technology by

inquiring about it.
Acquisition, processing, storing and delivering of verbal, pictorial, alphabetical and numerical
information through telecommunication and computer technology can be stated as information
technology.
The information technology is an integration of various technological fields.

Computing Technology
 The study on the calculations that take place in information systems is known as computing
technology.
 Since the marine equipment that does this calculation is being the computer at present, this is
sometimes called computer technology.
 Accordingly, a person who studies information technology should also study the computer
technology.
 While this field has been improved a lot at present, Computers that has ability of calculating
billion amounts of calculations accurately within a second have been generated at present.

Communication Technology
 This is the communication technology that is sued to deliver the processed data to the relevant
party.
 Even though the information processed manually were handed over by carrying physically under
traditional systems, today the information can be sent in few seconds to anywhere in the world
using internet systems through communication technology.

Information Management Technology

 The process of using information resources efficiently and effectively by managing the computer
and communication technology available in a particular institute is known as information
management technology.
 Even though an institute possesses what so ever advanced computer and communication
facilities, they are useless in the absence of a procedure to process information transmit and the
effective use of it, the information effectively
 There will be various problems in institutes where the information technology is used without
proper knowledge on information management

The importance of information technology

 Ability to make more accurate decisions easily.

 Minimizing the errors in performance and increase in reliability.
 Ability to perform the processes efficiently.
 Ability to perform the processes effectively.
 Upliftment the quality of the products.
  Availability of massive storage capacity for information.
 Decrease in the cost of processing.
 Ability to face competition.
 The process of communication being easy.
 Easy to access to consumers or employees.
 Minimizing the distance between nations and individuals.
 People and consumers get a chance to receive a more efficient service.
 Widening the awareness of the people since the rapid generation and transmission of new
knowledge.
 Expansion of the international trade.

Benefits of information technology

Speed
By obtaining even the complex things at a high speed and by classifying them, they could be
reuse.

Accuracy
That the chances for making any mistakes by individuals are high. But since the number of
people that participate in electronic information operations systems are less, the chances for
making any mistake are very low.

Flexibility
Ability to use for various functions exquisitely and ability to make any changes according to the
relevant function.

Reliability
It is something that is created by accuracy.

Improved quality
This means, the affairs conducted using this technological information also contain high quality.

Management of large quantity of information

While a large amount of information could be obtained using technology, there is the ability of
managing them to make decisions using those information as required.

Less Employment
Employees being minimized because of using technological equipment.

Low Space
Low space being sufficient for the usage of technological equipment.

Low Cost
There is the ability for minimizing the cost by being thrift because of the above factors.