What happens when you press Buy
You press Buy on a pair of trainers. In a second the shop saves your order, takes one pair out of its stock count, and sends you an email.
One press, four jobs. An information system does these jobs again and again, for thousands of people at once.
Key words
| Word | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Keeping data safe so it is still there later. | Saving an order |
| Manipulation | Changing or calculating with data. | Adding up a basket |
| Retrieval | Getting stored data back when you need it. | Finding last month's orders |
| Export | To send data out of a system in a file that another system can read. | Saving orders as a CSV file |
| CSV | A plain text file where each line is a row and commas split the columns. | bun,4,2 |
| Function | A job that a system does. | Working out a price |
| Information system | People, software and data working together to store and use information. | A shop till system |
| Inventory management | Keeping track of how much stock there is and when to order more. | Warn me when milk is low |
| CRM | A system that keeps customer details and the history of contact with them. | A loyalty list |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can name the four features of an information system and say what five common types of system do.
Starter: systems you know
Have a go
Starter: systems you know
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Your answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Four features of every system
Every information system has four features.
- Storage: it keeps data.
- Manipulation: it changes or calculates with data.
- Retrieval: it gets data back. It can also export it, so another system can use it.
- Applications: the programs people use, such as a shop page or a booking screen.
Five types of system
| Type | Feature | Function |
|---|---|---|
| Online purchasing | Public-facing, shows products and prices | Records orders, works out prices, suggests items |
| Booking and scheduling | Time and date slots, availability | Manages resources, takes payment, sends email confirmation |
| Inventory management | Logs stock levels, can order automatically | Stock control, current levels, email alerts |
| CRM | Leads, customers and sales | Manages customer lists and contact |
| Social media | Public-facing, used by many kinds of organisation | Manages content that users make |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Try it: store, change, retrieve
-- Retrieval: ask for the items running low.
select item, amount
from stock
where amount < 5
order by item;
-- Try it: change 5 to 2 and press Run.