The reason why I added this book to Business Analysis blog- Many Business Analysts come from domain or business background and they are required to know the basics of Information Systems. They need to know where to obtain the required knowledge. Read my detailed review about the book before you think of purchasing it.
The book provides comprehensive knowledge about most aspects of Information System, which is required by every business student. This comprehensive knowledge is quite valuable as there is no business or profession today that is untouched by Information system. Therefore, one can't remain aloof from the basic understanding of Information Systems and how it works.
If they know how it works, they will know how best they can make it work for them effectively. It simply means, if they can understand what is needed, they can guide and monitor the entire development of business solution successfully.
Business technology management is big part of business today and is a key to its success. Professionals, who know what are the ‘Business Needs’, what is the suitable Information System required for that, and how to get that, will be able to optimize the business environment that decides the success or failure of any business.
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| Information Systems by Efrem G Mallach |
In the first section, the book covers why Information System matters and the role of Information System within business environment. It also covers general concept of Information Systems.
In the second section, it covers technology part of Information System including hardware, software, database management, and network. This is basically explains what any business student needs to know about building a business solution or application or project.
In the third section, it covers the various Information Systems that is needed in the organization for different departments by different people depending on their role and responsibilities. It also covers the system and it’s usage of connecting with external stakeholders for their interaction with the organization as a customer or a supplier or a regulator…
In the fourth section, the book covers how to select these Information Systems from the various options available i.e. off-the-shelf product, customized product or developing the solution and so on... This is an important factor as it involves an analysis based on many criteria to take a correct decision.
In the last section, it covers the effective managing of the Information Systems after the transition phase.
All the topics are well elaborated with appropriate examples and illustrations. However, It doesn't cover the Strategy Analysis topic of Information System where most business students will be involved either as a stakeholder or a subject matter expert (SME) or as a sponsor in future. This part is extremely significant as it talks about how Information System solution are defined in detail and their role during requirement management to spell out the correct requirements. Otherwise, the business student may not develop the correct thinking process to visualize the Information System to contribute appropriately.
Another part is – author missed out on ‘Change Management’ that can be implemented through pre-defined or ad-hoc process depending on the project size, the complexity and the formality. So, projects don't get cancelled due to changes in requirements at the last moment as they can always be accommodated during next release or sprint.
Finally, requirement engineering has changed significantly and now, it is far more sophisticated compare to what it was a decade ago.
The book could have added a few UML diagrams along with process diagrams mentioned in the book to elaborate the requirements as they are current industry standards and business students (future stakeholders) are expected to know them.
On the flip side, the outdated information such as magnetic disk storage etc. could have avoided or explained in a line or two. Instead, there could have been greater emphasis on the process management or reengineering or others areas of business technology management that were more suitable to the business student.
Overall, the book is very useful as it provides all the required details in one place systematically using business language.
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