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Q7-3 How Do Information Systems Eliminate the Problems of Information Silos?

processed. Reserving a seat on an airline is done automatically; all of the reservation activity is done
by an information system. (Except, of course, the passenger’s activities: When making a reservation,
you must choose the seat from available locations, but your time is free to the airline.)
Augmenting a Human Performing an Activity

A second way that information systems can improve process quality is by augmenting the actions
of a human who is performing that activity. Consider the process of managing patient appoint-
ments. To schedule an appointment, patients call the doctor’s office and talk with a receptionist
who uses an appointment information system. That information system augments the appoint-
ment creation activity.

Controlling Data Quality Process Flow

A third way that information systems can improve process quality is by controlling data quality
and process flow.
One of the major benefits of information systems is to control data quality. The IS can not
only ensure that correct data values are being input, it can also ensure that data are complete
before continuing process activities. The cheapest way to correct for data errors is at the source,
and it avoids the problems that develop when process activities are begun with incomplete data.
Information systems also have a role in controlling process flow. Consider the order approval
process in Figure 7-1. If this process is controlled manually, then someone, say, a salesperson, will
obtain the order data from the customer and take whatever actions are needed to push that order
through the three steps in the order process. If the salesperson gets busy or is distracted or away
from work for a few days, or if there are unexpected delays in one of the activities, it is possible for
an order to be lost or the approval unnecessarily delayed.
If, however, an information system is controlling the order approval process, then it can
ensure that steps are performed in accordance with an established schedule. The information
system can also be relied upon to make correct process-routing decisions for processes that are
more complicated than that in Figure 7-1. SharePoint workflows, discussed in the context of
collaboration in Chapter 2, can be used to automate structured processes.

Q7-3 How Do Information Systems Eliminate

the Problems of Information Silos?

An information silo is the condition that exists when data are isolated in separated information
systems. For example, consider the six workgroups and their information systems in Figure 7-3.
Reflect on these information systems for a moment, and you’ll realize that each one processes cus-
tomer, sales, product, and other data, but each uses that data for its own purposes and will likely
store slightly different data. Sales, for example, will store contact data for customers’ purchasing
agents, while Accounting will store contact data for customers’ accounts payable personnel.
It’s completely natural for workgroups to develop information systems solely for their own
needs, but, over time, the existence of these separate systems will result in information silos that
cause numerous problems.

What Are the Problems of Information Silos?

Figure 7-5 lists the major problems caused by information silos at the workgroup level, in this
case, between the Sales and Marketing department and the Accounting department. First, data
are duplicated. Sales and Marketing and Accounting applications maintain separate databases
that store some of the same customer data. As you know, data storage is cheap, so the problem