Fundamentals of Information Systems 9th Edition

Book Preface

As organizations and entrepreneurs continue to operate in an increasingly competitive and global marketplace, workers in all business areas including accounting, customer service, distribution, finance, human resources, information systems, logistics, marketing, manufacturing, research and development, and sales must be well prepared to make the significant contributions required for success. Regardless of your future role, even if you are an entrepreneur, you need to understand what information systems can and cannot do and be able to use them to help you achieve personal and organizational goals. You will be expected to discover opportunities to use information systems and to participate in the design and implementation of solutions to business problems employing information systems. To be successful, you must be able to view information systems from the perspective of business and organizational needs. For your solutions to be accepted, you must recognize and address their impact on coworkers, customers, suppliers, and other key business partners. For these reasons, a course in information systems is essential for students in today’s high-tech world.

Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, continues the tradition and approach of previous editions. Our primary objective is to provide the best information systems text and accompanying materials for the first information systems course required for all business students. We want you to learn to use information systems to ensure your personal success in your current or future role and to improve the success of your organization.
Through surveys, questionnaires, focus groups, and feedback that we have received from current and past adopters, as well as others who teach in the field, we have been able to develop the highest-quality set of teaching materials available to help you achieve these goals.

Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, stands proudly at the beginning of the IS curriculum and remains unchallenged in its position as the only IS principles text offering basic IS concepts that every business student must learn to be successful. Instructors of the introductory course faced a dilemma. On one hand, experience in business organizations allows students to grasp the complexities underlying important IS concepts. For this reason, many schools delayed presenting these concepts until students completed a large portion of their core business requirements. On the other hand, delaying the presentation of IS concepts until students have matured within the business curriculum often forces the one or two required introductory IS courses to focus only on personal computing software tools and, at best, merely to introduce computer concepts.

This text has been written specifically for the introductory course in the IS curriculum. Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, addresses the appropriate computer and IS concepts while also providing a strong managerial emphasis on meeting business and organizational needs.

Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, offers the traditional coverage of computer concepts, but places the material within the context of meeting business and organizational needs. Placing information systems concepts within this context and taking a management perspective has always set this text apart from other computer texts, thus making it appealing not only to MIS majors but also to students from other fields of study. The text is not overly technical, but rather deals with the role that information systems play in an organization and the key principles a manager or technology specialist needs to grasp to be successful. The principles of IS are brought together and presented in a way that is understandable, relevant, and interesting. In addition, the text offers an overview of the entire IS discipline, while giving students a solid foundation for further study in more advanced IS courses such as programming, systems analysis and design, project management, database management, data communications, Web site design and development, information system security, big data and analytics, electronic and mobile commerce, and informatics. As such, it serves the needs of both general business managers and those who aspire to become IS,professionals.

The overall vision, framework, and pedagogy that made the previous editions so popular have been retained in the Ninth Edition, offering a number of benefits to students and instructors. While the fundamental vision of this market-leading text remains unchanged, the Ninth Edition more clearly highlights established principles and draws on new ones that have emerged as a result of business, organizational, technological, and societal changes.

IS Principles First, Where They Belong
Exposing students to basic IS principles is an advantage even for those students who take no IS courses beyond the introductory IS course. Since most functional areas of the business rely on information systems, an understanding of IS principles helps students in their other course work. In addition, introducing students to the principles of information systems helps future business managers and entrepreneurs employ information systems successfully and avoid mishaps that often result in unfortunate consequences. Furthermore, presenting IS concepts at the introductory level creates interest among students who may later choose information systems as their field of concentration.

Author Team
Ralph Stair and George Reynolds have decades of academic and industrial experience. Ralph Stair brings years of writing, teaching, and academic experience to this text. He wrote numerous books and a large number of articles while at Florida State University. George Reynolds brings a wealth of information systems and business experience to the project, with more than 30 years of experience working in government, institutional, and commercial IS organizations. He has written numerous IS texts and has taught the introductory IS course at the University of Cincinnati, Mount St. Joseph University, and Strayer University. The Stair and Reynolds team presents a solid conceptual foundation and practical IS experience to students.

Because Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, is written for business majors, we believe that it is important not only to present a realistic perspective on IS in business but also to provide students with the skills they can use to be effective business leaders in their organizations. To that end,
Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, has three main goals:
1. To provide a set of core IS principles that prepare students to function more efficiently and effectively as workers, managers, decision makers, and organizational leaders
2. To provide insights into the challenging and changing role of the IS professional so that students can better appreciate the role of this key individual
3. To show the value of the IS discipline as an attractive field of specialization so that students can evaluate this as a potential career path
IS Principles Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, although comprehensive, cannot cover every aspect of the rapidly changing IS discipline. The authors, having recognized this, provide students with an essential core of guiding IS principles to use as they strive to use IS systems in their academic and work environment. Think of principles as basic truths or rules that remain constant regardless of the situation. As such, they provide strong guidance for tough decision making. A set of IS principles is highlighted at the beginning of each chapter. The use of these principles to solve real-world problems is driven home from the opening examples of cutting edge applications to the dozens of real-world examples of organizations applying these principles interspersed throughout each chapter to the interesting and diverse end-of-chapter material.
The ultimate goal of Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, is to develop effective, thinking, action-oriented students by instilling them with principles to help guide their decision making and actions. Survey of the IS Discipline Fundamentals of Information Systems, Ninth Edition, not only offers the traditional coverage of computer concepts but also provides a broad framework to impart students with a solid grounding in the business uses of technology, the challenges of successful implementation, the necessity for gaining broad adoption of information systems, and the potential ethical and societal issues that may arise. In addition to serving general business students, this book offers an overview of the entire IS discipline and solidly prepares future IS professionals for advanced IS courses and careers in the rapidly changing IS discipline