Components of an Information System

The purpose of the report is to provide solutions regarding information systems to Cougar Couriers, a company that makes deliveries to nearby locations using cyclists. A couple Anjal and Asmita run the company along with Anjal’s cousin Bridget. Anjal acts as the chief financial officer (CFO) of the company; Asmita is the chief executive officer (CEO) and in charge of dispatching the cyclists and Bridget is designated as the chief information officer (CIO). The clients of the company place orders via phone or online by filling up a form in their website. The company assigns those orders to recruited cyclists who are near to the ordered location. Anjal is looking for ways to enhance the carrying capacity of the cyclists to five packages each. The company is known to be the fastest and second cheapest delivery agent within five kilometres of delivery circle but is slow beyond five kilometres compared to the companies that use motor cycles and vans for the purpose of delivery. Anjal wants to increase the reputation of the company by using motor cycles and vans as means of transport for delivering orders beyond five kilometres. The company is concerned with the increase in the number of competitors and the simultaneous growth of cyber crime that can hamper its growth and seeks answer to some questions related to these issues.

The process of conversion of data to information by integrating and co-ordinating different network of components is called information system. An information system comprises of five components, namely the hardware and software involved in the process, the database and network information and the people involved. These components combine together to provide input, process, output, feedback and last but not the least control (Stair and Reynolds 2013). This book provides relevant details on the components of an information system that will help to solve the first question provided in the assignment.

The primary component required for the development of an information system is hardware. Hardware includes input and output devices, processor, operating system and media device. Software is the second essential component that is required in information system. Software includes various programs and tools that are required to work on or maintain an information system. Database manages the data that are required for the organisation of an information system. Network components comprises of communication media, hubs and network devices. Finally, the last component of a successful information system structure is the individuals who are assigned the role of system specialist, device operators or network administrators (Stair and Reynolds 2013).

Competitive Strategies

Walker, G and Madsen, T.L. 2016, Modern competitive strategy, McGraw-Hill Education.

Competitive strategy refers to the adoption of one or more strategy by an organisation to compete with other rival companies in achieving greater strategic advantage in the market. This book discusses the competitive strategies that a company can undertake to gain strategic advantage over other rival companies and helps solve the second query of the company in this assignment as well. Adopting a competitive strategy helps in creating a healthy customer relationship, gain competitive advantage over competitors through deep analysis of the rival companies. The basic competitive strategies are as follows.

Cost leadership – Companies that adopt this strategy try to lower the cost of expenditure related to the service provided by the company. The reduction of cost of service provided by the company than its competitors helps the company to get hold on a large market share (Walker and Madsen 2016).

Differentiation – The companies adopting this competitive strategy tries to provide unique service to its client that is not facilitated by other companies dealing in the same competency. The type of unique service provided by a company depends on the service the company provides.

Cougar Couriers, being a courier service company faces many challenges from its competitors. Therefore, the strategies referred above can help to solve the problem of the company in this matter.

Rothaermel, F.T. 2015, Strategic management, McGraw-Hill Education.

The book referred above in the report discusses benefits of adopting cost leadership by a company to gain competitive advantage against its competitors. It also specifies some information systems that can be used to adopt cost leadership. Information systems can be used to attain the lowest possible operational cost or the cost of service provided by the company. A goods delivery service or a courier service company like Cougar Couriers can implement an efficient customer response system to connect client behaviour directly to the delivery centres, which will help in lowering distribution costs, thus achieving low-cost leadership over its competitors.

The book also shows the use of information system in incorporating decision support. It also provides examples of information system that incorporate technologies like cloud and big data. Therefore, this book is helpful in solving the third query of the owner of Cougar Couriers. In this report, a particular information system that helps decision support system is taken into consideration. This information system is known as Group Decision Support System (GDSS). This type of system consists of interactive software like video conferencing tools or mailing software that permits a group to interact and take decisions together on a certain issue (Rothaermel 2015). For example, a company like Cougar Couriers requires to take a decision regarding increasing the carrying capacity of its cyclist transporters to minimum five parcels at once. The decision-making gets easier if the executives and managers of the company initiate a video conference with all the transporters and place their idea and the reason for taking up such idea in front of them. Views are exchanged between the worker and the executives and the decision is clearly taken. This helps the company to maintain a healthy relationship among its various levels of employees and workers, which in turn helps to boost a good environment within the company.

Use of Group Decision Support System (GDSS)

The GDSS system also uses mailing tools like Gmail that uses cloud service to store mails online. A company like Cougar Couriers can send mail to its entire worker regarding any announcements that is required to be viewed by all of its workers. It is expected that not all the workers will be able to view the mail at once due to varied reasons. Therefore, the mail needs to be stored somewhere for the workers to view it easily from anywhere and anytime. That is why mailing tools like Gmail uses cloud storage services for storing the mails, which can be viewed irrespective of place and time. This boosts the communicative relation of the company with its workers and even clients thereby helping in the overall growth of the company (Rothaermel 2015).

The GDSS is an important information system that is required to be incorporated in every company. This is because; communication plays an essential role in the relationship of the employer and employee or business and client. A gap in communication can result in various unpleasant consequences. A misunderstanding among company and client can even lead to huge loss in business to the company.

Colson, G and De Bruyn, C eds 2014, Models and methods in multiple criteria decision making (Vol. 23), Elsevier.

The book talks about the various information systems that provides aid in decision making for an organisation. It also discusses the feasibility of implementing the information systems like the Group Decision Support System (GDSS) in organisations. The components required to implement such systems is also discussed here. Clear communication is necessary in any organisation; be it among its employees or with its customers. A broken or unclear communication can lead to various discrepancies. It even hampers decision-making and can even lead to potential loss to the business of an organisation. A company that requires making a decision, which will help in furthering the growth of the company, needs to produce it before all the concerned members of the organisation prior to its implementation. Now it becomes difficult if the workers or employees of the company are not present at one place at a time. In such situations, the GDSS model proves beneficial. In order to reach all of its concerned recipients the company can use interactive tools like video conferencing or online mailing services (Colson and De Bruyn 2014). Either the company invites the employees to join a video conference, which can be attended by the employees irrespective of place or time or the company can send mails to its employees. In both the cases, a company will require certain components to implement a GDSS model. Hardware devices like computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phones that have internet capability needs to be implemented for a successful GDSS model. Software related to online interaction like Skype, Hangout and such for video conferencing and Gmail, Hotmail and such for mail conversations is required for establishing GDSS system in a company. It is mandatory to use softwares that provide protection from hackers and eavesdroppers as well in order to achieve secure communication procedure. Availability of internet is also mandatory for the same purpose. Maintenance of a database is not required for the GDSS model as the software tools that is used for the implementation of the GDSS is already incorporated with relevant cloud storage services. The company needs to recruit personnel such as communications manager and system administrator who can manage and maintain the GDSS infrastructure (Colson and De Bruyn 2014). Therefore, the book solves the fourth query of Cougar Couriers.

Security and Ethical Issues

Chatterjee, S, Sarker, S and Valacich, J.S 2015, ‘The behavioral roots of information systems security: Exploring key factors related to unethical IT use’, Journal of Management Information Systems, 31(4), pp.49-87.

The journal deals with the various security and ethical issues that are faced in different information security systems. Many companies and organisations have earned huge profit by adopting information systems. However, improper use of the technology can lead to loss of business. A company adopting Group Decision Support System (GDSS) may face certain security and ethical issues. Security issues related to GDSS can be one of the following. The hardware used can be corrupted or compromised if proper antivirus, anti malware, anti spyware or firewall is not implemented. Use of insecure public network for communication purpose or sending unencrypted message online can encourage cyber criminals like trackers, snoopers and eavesdroppers to retrieve crucial data from such transmissions. Data loss may occur due to improper management of data storage system or during the time of natural calamities (Chatterjee, Sarker and Valacich 2015). This can lead to great loss in business. The ethical risks a company can face after implementing GDSS model are as follows. During sending message through mailing tools, it is required to maintain ethics in language and terms used. Use of improper terms and language that may hurt or insult the feelings of one or more recipient can harm the reputation of the company. During any kind of interaction among the employees of the company or between the company and its client, using any means of online communication, it is necessary to avoid using words that insults or hurts the interest of any individual or organisation. At the time of conveying any decision, the organisation should remember not to hurt the ethics of any employee related to caste, religion, region and such other aspects. Using logos, symbols or phrases in messages, without taking the permission of the company that has copyright on the same, may lead to violation of copyright act. Therefore, it is better to avoid using them in order to prevent ethical risks (Chatterjee, Sarker and Valacich 2015). The fifth problem of Cougar Couriers can be solved by referring the book.

Bin-Abbas, H and Bakry, S.H 2014, ‘Assessment of IT governance in organizations: A simple integrated approach’, Computers in Human Behavior, 32, pp.261-267.

The article talks about the various COBIT IT governance plans. Some of the codes formulated in the governance plan are as tabulated below: 

Process ID	Process Name	Purpose
DS1	Define and Manage Service Levels	To satisfy the business requirements of determining the alignment of key IT services with the business needs.
DS2	Managing Third-Party Services	To satisfy the business requirement of providing satisfactory third-party services while being transparent regarding risks, benefits and costs.
DS3	Manage performance and capacity	Satisfy the business need of optimising the performance of IT capabilities, infrastructure and resources in response to business.
DS4	Ensure continuous service	Satisfy the business requirement of ensuring minimal business impact in the event of an IT service interruption.

Figure 1: Codes of COBIT IT Governance Plan

Source: (Bin-Abbas and Bakry 2014)