
8 ◾ Information Systems: What Every Business Student Needs to Know
An information system is a system whose purpose is to process information. Processing
information includes the ve activities shown in Figure 1.3:
1. Entering data into the system.
2. Processing that data. Processing usually involves calculating and comparing.
3. Storing data, whether processed or not, for future use.
4. Sending that data, usually after processing, from the system to people or to other
systems.
5. Extracting information from the system (output) to use in ways that benet the
business.
In a well-designed system, each of these activities is performed by ...