Introduction to information systems T. Cornford, M. Shaikh is1 060 2013

3.3.1 Information systems
Reading activity
Read Sections 1.1 and 1.2, Chapter 1 of Laudon and Laudon (2013). 
You are also recommended to read Chapter 1 of Avgerou and Cornford (1998).
Information systems are purposive systems. They are established for 
reasons and have objectives or goals, designed or established to achieve 
some stated end. In the case of computer-based information systems, the 
stated end will generally be to satisfy the information requirements of 
particular people or classes of people – for example, bank managers or 
bank customers. At a higher level we could say that information systems 
are established to serve the overall strategy of an organisation – to help it 
do what it wants or chooses to do.
Activity
Review the distinction made in Avgerou and Cornford (1998) Chapter 1 and Laudon and 
Laudon (2013) between a formal information system and an informal information system. 
Are informal information systems purposive?
In the example of the Bloomsbury Branch of Multinational Bank, the 
computer system was described as an information system, and it can be 
seen to satisfy the general requirements of a system:
• It is made up of a number of interconnected components. 
• It is an open system, with inputs coming in the form of cheques to pay, 
deposits to credit and requests for information. 
• The information is stored and processed within the system. 
• Outputs will include various forms of report for customers and 
managers. 
• Control will be exercised within the system by a combination of the 
logic of the computer programs and the actions of the bank staff. 
If I write a cheque for £10 more than my overdraft allowance, the 
computer alone may decide to let it through. If I write a cheque for 
£1,000,000 I do not really expect to get away with it, and the programs 
running on the computer should trap the transaction and probably pass 
it to a bank official for a decision (to suspend my account I imagine).
This last point is important. An information system is more than computers 
and their programs – that is just a computer system. Information systems 
include people, and when information systems are studied or designed, 

---

Chapter 3: Core concepts: information, data and systems
43
people, the organisations they belong to and the jobs they do are as central 
as the technology. Commercial businesses and other forms of organisation, 
such as government ministries or hospitals, are made up of and operated 
by people, so it is vital to remember from the outset that people are a part 
of any information system. We can then say that information systems are 
social systems (supported by technology). In this way, we again speak of 
our approach as being sociotechnical.