Importance Of Reflection And Foundations Of Information Systems

Date

Learning Activity

Impact

Evidence

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· Defining and explaining the scope of the IS (Information System).

· Researching and brainstorming along with searching and synthesising information over technology.

· Anticipating needs and demands of the current market.

Understanding of the IS and its scope has enabled me to look at the organisations and their operations with different perspective. I now spent a portion of my time in researching on different organisations and how they are using and advancing in IS. One of the prime findings from my research is the advancements that Tesla has made with its IS. The firm is using in-house IS which is the primary cause for the advancements of nerdy electric cars to cool cars (Cheng et al., 2016). One of the primary example is “single integrated computer system” that Tesla is using in its cars which offer great assistance to the car owners. Similarly, multiple other firms have been identified because of the knowledge that I gained from the course. Apart from the knowledge about the IS and the research skills I also gathered some anticipating capability which I am using for the predicting the performance of the market based on the IS system. Though there is lots of improvement that I need to do in the anticipation field but it has enabled me to understand the moves that the firms are making and how they are aiming to attain high level of productivity.

The lecture slides and the notes made by me are the evidence for the claims made by me. Furthermore, the example of Tesla supports the claim of researching and understanding of the skills.

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· Got an insight into the importance of data in organisations.

· Got an insight into the process of collection, collation, distilling and using of the organisational knowledge.

The first and one of the most crucial understanding that I got from the module understood of the difference between data and information. “Data with an enriched meaning is information” will assist me the information related situations that I will be engaged in. Another crucial learning from the study was that information is even one of the most crucial component of the decision life cycle. Furthermore, the understanding regarding the different level of data and its upgradation was one of the crucial identification. The Ackoff’s Hierarchy of Data enabled me to understand the data and its evolution into the wisdom. The middle layers include information, knowledge and understanding. The understanding of the data and its pyramid will help me to make decisions based on the understanding or higher levels in future rather than making decisions based on the “data” which is the lowest tier of the pyramid. Additionally, the importance of the data hierarchy is crucial because of the abundance of data that is being collected by the firms every day. One of the prime example of data collection is that Google processes 40,000 searches everyday while Walmart is engaged with 1 million transactions data every hour (Albers et al., 2017). Similarly other firms are also detailing with huge size of data every minute, to be accurate the digital universe have over 2.7 Zeta bytes of data. Hence, conversion of data into information, then into knowledge and all the way to wisdom is crucial.

Another crucial learning that I got from undertaking the discussed course is the importance of using knowledge rather than storing it. However, the pre-step before utilising is the knowledge management. Knowledge management is critical to safe keep the knowledge as it not only contributes to the decision making but also in the long term is one of the key factors for the development and progress of the firm. As part of the knowledge management, the first step would be to store it properly. The properly storing of the knowledge extends from safekeeping of the knowledge but even includes filtering and organisation of the knowledge. The sharing of knowledge is also a lesson learnt and will surely be utilised by me in both my personal and professional life.

The discussion over the lesson learnt that has been presented along with the notes and slides made by me are the prime evidence of the learning. Furthermore, my use of the learning in real world can also be an evidence. Now, instead of just collecting data from online sources, I convert them to at least the knowledge level before consuming them. As part of the process, I filter the data, evaluate it and finally consume the most relevant ones only. The examples used by me for stating the lessons learnt by me is also an evidence to my claims.

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· Understanding of the role that IS is capable of playing in the organisations.

· The learning also enabled me to understand the concept of synthesising knowledge using thematic analysis and use it for practical applications such as risk analysis, risk mitigation plan and others.

· I also learnt to present my view regarding the IS to enterprises verbally and even in the diagrammatic form.

The lessons that were learnt by me regarding the basics of IS, Information and other relevant topics were useless they were put in application. In the third module, I put that knowledge into application. The module provided me an insight into the business information system and the role that it is capable of playing within a firm. The understanding of the system was not limited to a generalised sense but I gained an insight into different modes of IS that includes human resource management, accounting systems and several other depending upon the use of IS in different departments. I also understood the need for an interactive or more suitable integrated IS system so that the firm can operate efficiently.

As part of the learning, I understood that even though the independent systems such as transaction system, accounts and finance system, Human resource management system and others are doing their job with efficiency and accuracy but still there is need for an integrated system (Tenhiälä et al., 2018). The reason for the need of integrated system could be supported by the fact that it will mitigate the duplicity of data that will assist in keeping limited but useful data, interaction between different systems will assist in mitigating the chances of errors. The mitigation of error could be understood by the fact that the HRM manages the attendance of the employee and accounts and finance system generates the payroll while the transaction system makes the payment; All of the three systems if not integrated will store individual data which develops the chances of duplicity when the transaction is to be done. One customer’s name may be repeated and he may be paid extra which will develop error in the organisational ledger and will influence the strategic plan. However, with a single system, a single data will be maintained instead of three and further a direct channel between the systems will assist in development of a continuous invoice based on the attendance of the employee. Hence, an enterprise resource management system is crucial, however, it is not the limit for the need of IS in a business.

I have stated the need for an integrated system instead of multiple independent system for the management of the organisational resources. Different systems such as HRM for management of human resources, accounts and finance management system for managing capital resources and so on. Together they are part of the ERP. However, ERP can be considered as a sub-system of Enterprise System (ES), which depicts the system that extends from management of resources to other contexts. The other contexts here refer to the customer management, supply chain management, sales and marketing along with several external operations of an enterprise. I understood different contexts of the system and what roles it is capable of playing in a broader aspect. Learning all the above discussed IS professional and I will utilise these skills to have sustainable career in the IS world. Furthermore, I am now able to synthesis knowledge and abstract from it.  

The discussion over the lesson learnt that has been presented along with the notes and slides made by me are the prime evidence of the learning. The discussion and examples used by me for stating the lessons learnt by me is also an evidence to my claims. The assignments that I presented as part of the module also reflects the knowledge I gained in context with the subject. Furthermore, my discussion style could be taken into evidence to state the fact that I synthesised the knowledge that I earned and have presented the reflection in my own format.

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· As part of the fourth module, I was able to learn about the extensive capability of internet in the businesses and how it is capable of transforming the businesses. Some of the impact were also understood by me that included the understanding of the e-commerce and other e-business activities.

· I even gained an insight in to the need of information for the managers at real-time basis along with detailing the decision-making models.

· One of the most crucial learning was the contextualising of the history and forecasting the future.

The learnings from the module enabled me to understand the gain an insight into the e-commerce and e-businesses and how it is supported by the internet. The discussed learning was beneficial for me in terms of professional and academic life but assisted me more as in my personal life. I am now able to use the internet for different uses. One of the most crucial use that I had made of the internet in my personal life is that I had spent a lot of my time in looking into different organisational IS and other factors and accordingly make predictions. One of the predictions that I made was for Tesla’s model 3 customer service issue. I gained an insight into Tesla’s IS which is an in-built system. The in-build system of Tesla is one of the most advanced and innovative system but is not developed for managing an overload.

My forecast was not a formal but I made it during an informal discussion with my friends. The reason for the prediction I made was based on the fact that Tesla had suddenly increased its production number from 5000 to 50000, which was a major surge. However, Tesla had built its Gigafactory to support the production but it did not upgraded its capacity for managing the workload (Matousek, 2018). However, I would like to inform that I have no evidence to justify the claim of mine and the reasons for the claim made by me are the only evidence. I have mentioned this prediction of mine without evidence because after my claims became reality it provided me with confidence and now I am ready to make formal predictions based on the IS capability of an organisation through the knowledge collection, analysis and the I gained.

Another impact that is evident from the learning is that I am now able to understand the e-commerce and e-business. Since, gaining the understanding of the e-businesses and e-commerce, I did some research and identified that mobile applications are more preferable choices for the customers rather than the websites and other similar means. A survey by Adobe states that the users of e-commerce prefer mobile applications 40% to traditional e-commerce means (Turban et al., 2018). The reason for this preference mostly involves ease of use, comfort and mobility benefit along with several others. Furthermore, the mobile applications as part of the e-commerce and e-business is not just beneficial for the customer but also is beneficial for the organisation as they can increase their customer base through introduction of the customer loyalty bonuses and other felicitation options. One of the prime example of the growth is the Google Pay which is taking the market storm because of the financial bonuses it offer on every transaction above a limit and for every invite. Therefore, the impact of the learning from the discussed module assisted me more personally as I was able to learn more about the subjects that are relevant to me and make some predictions based on my knowledge and expertise.

The discussion over the lesson learnt that has been presented along with the notes and slides made by me are the prime evidence of the learning. The discussion and examples used by me for stating the lessons learnt by me is also an evidence to my claims. My summary over the e-commerce and growth of mobile banking is also acting as an evidence for the made claims. The discussion is not just acting as an evidence for the discussed module but is also reflecting on the knowledge of research, synthesising, discussion and others that were learned as part of the previous modules.

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· Importance of Information security is the most prominent learning of the final module.

· Other details about the information security along with the threat posed by social engineering.

The most prominent lesson I learnt was regarding the information security and apart from other learnings I inducted this learning very deeply in my life and it had a major impact. I adopted the learning and implemented in the online applications and tools that I use. I adopted two-step authentication for my different accounts, I restrained myself from sharing my credentials, I restrain myself from accessing attractive but malicious links and similar other measures that may be a threat to my digital life. I also researched a little and understood that the main motive of the hackers are  financial. Other motive includes fulfilling of personal vendetta or notorious means. A YouTube channel called The Infographics Show also supported my motive (The Infographics Show, 2018). I also looked into different  cases of hacking and identified that encryption is one of the crucial solution for information protection. However, the data that are used for external affairs of the enterprises such as the communication between supply chain, customers and other should not be encrypted because it will reduce the speed and is not preferable by the customers. Therefore, I would like to state that the module offered me an in-depth about the information security and I will use it for future assessments but I have also adopted the learning in my current life.

The discussion over the lesson learnt that has been presented along with the notes and slides made by me are the prime evidence of the learning. The discussion and examples used by me for stating the lessons learnt by me is also an evidence to my claims. My real life implications of the learnings are also evidence to my learning.