Information Systems or Information Services (IS)

Last Updated: October 24, 2011

Definition - What does Information Systems or Information Services (IS) mean?

Information systems (IS) is an integrated set of components used for gathering, processing, storing and communicating multiple types of information for improved societal and organizational efficiency.

Information system components cover academic and professional disciplines spanning the fields of business and computer science. Typical information systems include data about people, software, hardware and procedures. Collected digital data is used for study and analysis.

In many organizations, IS is known as information services (IS).

Techopedia explains Information Systems or Information Services (IS)

Information systems include the following interactions:

Between technology and algorithmic processes within the boundaries of an enterprise
Organizational interaction with technology and vice versa
Between society and technology

The history of information systems predates the emergence of modern computer science in the 20th century. A number of legacy information systems still exist and are continually updated to ensure data security and longevity, promote ethnographic approaches and improve the social effectiveness and efficiency of information processing.

Types of information systems include:

Transaction Process Systems (TPS)
Office and office automation
Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS)
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Expert Systems
Global Information Systems (GIS)
Management Information Systems (MIS)
Decision Support Systems (DSS)
Data Warehouses (DW)
Executive Support Systems (ESS)

Many of these systems are designed to accomplish tasks that are more advanced than most human brain capabilities, such as storing large quantities of data and executing complex calculations and simultaneous processes.

Emerging information systems include those used for geographic areas and disasters, which are broadly classified as spatial information systems.

The IS development approach varies according to requirements. For example, an organization may use an engineering approach, in which a systematic process utilizes sequential development stages. This occurs inside an organization, by outsourcing or outsourcing only certain IS components.

IS development stages include:

Recognizing issues, problems or required specifications
Collecting information
Determining new system specifications
Designing the system
Constructing the system
Implementing the system
Evaluating and maintaining the system

Like records and information management, ISs have evolved for over 30 years. Foundations were set by the manual organization of data and information in physical formats, such as paper, microfilm, photographs, negatives, and audio/video recordings.

However, IS research continues to be the subject of scholarly debate. The Association for Information Systems (AIS) is an international organization of IS researchers that has published several relevant journals.