The Mission of Informtion Systems

Initially, IS were simply designed to automate or quickly perform routine tasks. As the mission of early IS were concerned with reliability, efficiency, and system availability. Thus the mission of early IS were primarily at the system level. 

For example Transaction Processing Systems acted as paperwork factories to pay employees, bill customers, ship products and so on. During that era the performance of the IS organizations was defined by efficiency (or productivity) measures such as the percentage of uptime for computer, throughput.

Starting in the 1970s, the mission of an IS were extended to include providing users with needed information. Thus, the notion that information systems should include objectives related to the users’ views and the need to satisfy users was introduced. The focus of IS shifted to producing reports “get the right information to the right person at the right time” for example summary reports for all levels of management. In this era, IS was judged on effectiveness measure.

More recently, the mission of information systems have expanded to include all levels of the organization. Computers no longer simply provide the backbone of information processing for organizations. Computers are changing the fundamental ways that organizations operate. Modern IS are capable of providing numerous organizational benefits including strategic and competitive advantages for the organization (To improve the performance and innovativeness of people in organizations through the use of IT). Aligning IS solutions with business goals and needs as well as building the infrastructure for technology integration are becoming the top priorities for IS activities. Thus, the objectives of information systems are no longer restricted to system and user level, but usually include organizational and strategic level goals as well. 

Ref: Journal of Information Technology Management