1.4 Syllabus Information systems concepts: Information and data. Capture
of data, storage, processing and display. Information systems in
organisations, the digital economy. Introduction to systems ideas and their
application to information handling activities. The sociotechnical character
of information systems.
Information systems within organisations: The roles and
functions of information systems within organisations including providing
management information, supporting e-commerce, supporting knowledge
work and undertaking transaction processing. Use of information by
various types of people and as applied to various types of task. New
models of organising. Information systems management roles and
structures. Students are expected to undertake small investigative case
studies of information systems within local organisations as part of their
study.
Information and communications technologies: Introduction
to computer hardware and software. Communications technologies and
networks, the internet. Data storage systems, files and databases. Cloud
computing. Operating software, applications packages and user written
programs. Open source software. Social networking. (Note: this does
not entail any particular knowledge of electronics, rather it is concerned
with the major components and the logical structures of a computer as
exemplified in popular personal computers and networks including the
internet.)
Systems development: Information systems development approaches;
life cycle, prototyping, incremental models. Systems analysis tasks,
methodologies, modelling and agile methods. Data modelling. Systems
implementation. Professional roles in systems development. Criteria for
IS1060 Introduction to information systems
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successful applications development. Systems implementation and the
management of change.
