Economic Informatics. Economic information. Economic informatics lecture The subject of economic informatics is technology, methods of automating information processes using economic data

04.01.2024

1. What is economic informatics? What place does learning play in it?

Computer science is the science of information, methods of collecting, storing, processing and presenting it using computer technology. The object of computer science is both computers and information systems.
Economic informatics is the science of information systems used to prepare and make decisions in management, economics and business. The object of economic informatics is information systems that provide solutions to business and organizational problems that arise in economic systems (economic objects).
An information system is a set of software and hardware, methods and people that provide collection, storage, processing and delivery of information to ensure preparation and decision-making.
The objective of the discipline is to study the theoretical foundations of computer science and acquire skills in using applied systems for processing economic data and programming systems for personal computers and local computer networks.
The subject of the discipline is methods of automating information processes using economic data.

Training occupies the most important place in economic informatics, because This science does not stand still and new technologies are constantly emerging that require special knowledge. Continuous training is required. There is the possibility of distance learning.

2. What is information technology? What do they consist of and how do they relate to the information being processed?

Computer Science and Information Technology

Discussions about the qualitative change in the role that information began to play both in the life of society as a whole and in the lives of individuals can be found on the pages of scientific, journalistic and even fiction literature. Let us try to summarize in a concise form how these changes were most clearly expressed:
Firstly, over the past decades there has been a constant acceleration in the growth rate of the volume of information. This situation was briefly and succinctly formulated in the form of a thesis: “Information is the only non-decreasing resource of society.”

The consequence of this state of affairs has become a quantitative barrier in information processing processes: roughly speaking, sometimes there is no point in collecting and storing information, since there are still no possibilities for its processing and rational use;
secondly, the share of communication problems has increased (distortion and loss of information during the transmission process);

thirdly, serious difficulties are caused by the presence of interlingual, geographical, administrative, terminological and other barriers;
fourthly, the practical application of information often becomes impossible due to its chaotic dispersion among various sources (the so-called dispersion of information).

Work to solve these problems ultimately led to the establishment of an independent scientific discipline - computer science, the subject of which was the properties of information, its behavior in man-made, social and biological systems, as well as methods and technologies focused on collection, processing, storage, transmission and distribution information, or, for short, information technology (IT).
This formulation of the subject of computer science is not the only one. A fairly popular definition is that “Computer science is the science of description, representation, interpretation, formalization and application of knowledge accumulated with the help of computer technology in order to obtain new knowledge.” Additionally, we point out that the very use of the term “computer science” to designate the corresponding field of scientific knowledge is not generally accepted. In particular, in the USA, the term “computer science” (or less often “computing”) is much more often used to name this field.

A feature of IT compared to traditional technologies is a qualitatively different scope of their application. First of all, this is due to their universal Character. The downside of this “universalism” is the difficulties that arise when creating formal descriptions of information technologies. Such attempts were not always successful. Traditionally, there are several levels of IT representation: conceptual, at the level of information flows, at the level of tools and some others.
The general diagram of the information process cycle, which should be covered by appropriate technologies, is shown in Fig. 1.1.

Internal

Day off

Regulatory and reference

Primary

Rice. 1.1. General block diagram of the information process cycle
The result of IT development has been the processes of global informatization of society. The latter means that an increasing part of its members find themselves drawn into professional activities within the information sectors of the economy, the proportion of which is steadily increasing. Over the past ten to fifteen years, there have been significant shifts in the structure of the computing software and hardware market. It is largely transforming from a market of products and services into a market of technologies.

Information Technology

Technology is understood as a set of methods of processing, manufacturing, changing the state, properties, form of raw materials, materials or semi-finished products carried out during the production process. This is the highest ability to do something. When people talk about information technology, the material used is information. As a product - also information. But this is qualitatively new information about the state of an object, process or phenomenon. The technology is represented by methods and methods of working with information from personnel and technical devices.

Information technology is a set of methods, production processes and software and hardware, combined into a technological chain that ensures the collection, processing, storage, distribution and display of information in order to reduce the labor intensity of the processes of using an information resource, increasing their reliability and efficiency, rational organization of this or that another fairly frequently repeated information process. This achieves savings in labor, energy or material resources necessary to implement this process.

Information technology, like any other, must meet the following requirements:

1. ensure a high degree of division of the entire information processing process into stages (phases), operations, actions;

2. include the entire set of elements necessary to achieve the goal;

3. be of a regular nature, i.e. stages, actions, operations of the technological process can be standardized and unified, which allows for more efficient targeted management of information processes.

The main properties of information technologies that are of strategic importance for the development of modern society

Among the distinctive properties of information technologies that are of strategic importance for the development of society, it seems appropriate to highlight the following seven most important:

1. Information technologies make it possible to activate and effectively use the information resources of society, which today are the most important strategic factor in its development. Activation, dissemination and effective use of information resources (scientific knowledge, discoveries, inventions, technologies, best practices) make it possible to obtain significant savings in other types of resources - raw materials, energy, minerals, materials and equipment, human resources and social time.

2. Information technologies make it possible to optimize and, in many cases, automate information processes, which in recent years have occupied an increasingly important place in the life of human society. It is well known that the development of civilization is moving towards the formation of an information society, in which the objects and results of the labor of the majority of the employed population are no longer material values, but mainly information and scientific knowledge. Currently, in most developed countries, a large part of the employed population in their activities is in one way or another connected with the processes of preparation, storage, processing and transmission of information and therefore is forced to master and practically use information technologies corresponding to these processes.

3. Information processes are important elements of other more complex production or social processes. Therefore, very often information technologies act as components of corresponding production or social technologies. At the same time, they, as a rule, implement the most important, “intelligent” functions of these technologies. Typical examples are computer-aided design systems for industrial products, flexible automated and robotic production, automated process control systems, etc.

4. Information technologies today play an extremely important role in ensuring information interaction between people, as well as in systems for the preparation and dissemination of mass information. In addition to the already traditional means of communication (such as telephone, telegraph, radio and television), electronic communications systems, e-mail, fax transmission of information and other types of telematic communications are increasingly used in the social sphere. These means are quickly assimilated by the culture of our society, since they not only create convenience, but also remove many production, social and everyday problems caused by the processes of globalization and integration of the world community, the expansion of domestic and international economic and cultural relations, migration of the population and its increasingly dynamic moving around the planet.

5. Information technologies today occupy a central place in the process of intellectualization of society, the development of its educational system and culture. In almost all developed and many developing countries, computer and television equipment, educational programs on optical disks such as CD-ROM and multimedia (technologies are becoming familiar attributes not only of higher educational institutions, but also of ordinary schools of primary and secondary education. The use of educational information technology has proven to be a very effective method for systems of self-education, continuing education, as well as for systems of advanced training and retraining of personnel.

Multimedia technologies have become the technical basis of a rapidly developing new direction in art - screen art. Tens of thousands of optical computer disks such as CD-ROM have already been created and industrially replicated, popularizing masterpieces of world culture, which were previously available for viewing only through direct visits to museums, palaces, art galleries, and art exhibitions. At the same time, it is possible to combine in a general thematic plan not only colorful and fairly detailed images of works of architecture, sculpture and painting, but also to accompany these images with multifaceted background text information, as well as musical works corresponding to a particular topic, television and animated films. All this creates a fairly strong emotional impact on the viewer, develops his artistic taste and at the same time makes it possible to obtain the necessary knowledge in the field of culture, art, and human history.

The possibilities of this direction of development of information technology are so promising that it is quite reasonable to talk about the emergence of a whole new direction in the field of culture - screen culture.

6. Information technologies currently play a key role in the processes of obtaining and accumulating new knowledge. At the same time, traditional methods of information support for scientific research through the accumulation, classification and dissemination of scientific and technical information are being replaced by new methods based on the use of newly opened opportunities for information support of fundamental and applied sciences, which are provided by modern information technologies.

First of all, there are methods of information modeling of processes and phenomena studied by science, which allow a scientist to conduct a kind of “computational experiment.” In this case, the experimental conditions can be chosen such that often cannot be practically implemented under the conditions of a full-scale experiment due to their great complexity, high cost or danger for the experimenter. This direction, actively developed by RAS Academician A.A. Samarsky, has already received well-deserved recognition not only from domestic but also from foreign scientists.

The second promising direction is represented by artificial intelligence methods that make it possible to find solutions to poorly formalized problems, as well as problems with incomplete information and unclear initial data. At the same time, the logic of automated search for solutions to the class of problems described above begins to approach those procedures that are used by the human brain.

The third promising direction is represented by the methods of so-called cognitive computer graphics. Using these methods, which make it possible to figuratively represent various mathematical formulas and patterns, it has already been possible to prove several very complex theorems in number theory. In addition, their use, apparently, opens up new opportunities for a person to understand himself, the principles of the functioning of his consciousness - this most complex and hidden secret of the universe.

specialty "Vocational Education". Quantity

lecture hours – 16. Number of lectures – 8.
Lecture 1. Theoretical foundations of economic informatics

1.1 Object, subject, methods and tasks of economic informatics

There are many definitions of computer science. Computer science is the science of information, methods of collecting, storing, processing and presenting it using computer technology. Computer science is an applied discipline that studies the structure and general properties of scientific information, etc. Computer science consists of three interrelated components: computer science as a fundamental science, as an applied discipline and as a branch of production.

The main objects of computer science are:

Information;

General theoretical foundations of computer science:

Information;

Number systems;

Coding;

Algorithms.

Structure of modern computer science:

1. Theoretical computer science.

2. Computer technology.

3. Programming.

4. Information systems.

5. Artificial intelligence.

Economic informatics is the science of information systems used to prepare and make decisions in management, economics and business.

Object of economic informatics are information systems that provide solutions to business and organizational problems that arise in economic systems (economic objects). That is, the object of economic informatics is economic information systems, the ultimate goal of which is the effective management of the economic system.

Information system is a set of software and hardware, methods and people that provide collection, storage, processing and delivery of information to ensure preparation and decision-making. The main components of information systems used in economics include: hardware and software, business applications and information systems management. The purpose of information systems is to create a modern information infrastructure for company management.

Subject of discipline– technologies, ways to automate information processes using economic data.

The task of the discipline– studying the theoretical foundations of computer science and acquiring skills in using applied systems for processing economic data and programming systems for personal computers and computer networks.

Basic concepts of data, information, knowledge.
The basic concepts used in economic informatics include: data, information and knowledge. These concepts are often used interchangeably, but there are fundamental differences between these concepts.

The term data comes from the word data - fact, and information (informatio) means explanation, presentation, i.e. information or message.

Data is a collection of information recorded on a specific medium in a form suitable for permanent storage, transmission and processing. Transformation and processing of data allows you to obtain information.

Information is the result of data transformation and analysis. The difference between information and data is that data is fixed information about events and phenomena that is stored on certain media, and information appears as a result of data processing when solving specific problems. For example, various data are stored in databases, and upon a certain request, the database management system provides the required information.

There are other definitions of information, for example, information is information about objects and phenomena of the environment, their parameters, properties and state, which reduce the degree of uncertainty and incomplete knowledge about them.

Knowledge– this is recorded and practice-tested processed information that has been used and can be repeatedly used for decision-making.

Knowledge is a type of information that is stored in a knowledge base and reflects the knowledge of a specialist in a specific subject area. Knowledge is intellectual capital.

Formal knowledge can be in the form of documents (standards, regulations) regulating decision-making or textbooks, instructions describing how to solve problems. Informal knowledge is the knowledge and experience of specialists in a certain subject area.

It should be noted that there are no universal definitions of these concepts (data, information, knowledge), they are interpreted differently. Decisions are made based on the information received and existing knowledge.

Making decisions- this is the choice of the best, in a certain sense, solution option from a set of acceptable ones based on the available information. The relationship between data, information and knowledge in the decision-making process is presented in the figure.

Commercial bank" href="/text/category/kommercheskij_bank/" rel="bookmark">commercial banks, government agencies, etc.

So, the object of economic informatics is economic information systems, the ultimate goal of which is the effective management of the economic system. Thus, the main purpose of the information system is to create a modern infrastructure for managing an enterprise, organization, or institution.

The variety of problems solved with the help of information systems has led to the emergence of many different types of systems, differing in the principles of construction and the rules for processing information embedded in them. Information systems can be classify for a number of different characteristics.

Classification of information systems based on the structure of tasks.

There are three types of tasks for which information systems are created:

Structured (formalized);

Unstructured (unformalized);

Partially structured.

A structured (formalized) task is a task where all its elements and the relationships between them are known.

An unstructured (unformalizable) task is a task in which it is impossible to identify elements and establish connections between them.

Information systems for semi-structured tasks. Information systems used to solve semi-structured problems are divided into two types: those that create management reports and those that are primarily focused on data processing; developing possible solution alternatives.

Classification of the information systems market by system scale:

Local systems (1C, BEST, Info - Accountant, etc.)

Small integrated systems (Skala, Parus, Galaktika and others)

Medium integrated systems (MFG-PRO and others)

Large integrated systems (SAP/R3 others)

Classification of systems, which is based on the classification of business problems.

Principles of classification of management information systems:

1. Level of strategic management (3 – 5 years)

2. Level of medium-term management (1 – 1.5 years)

3. Level of operational management (month – quarter – half year)

2. Business applications (application programs):

Local information systems (1C: Accounting, Infin, Parus, etc.);

Small information systems (1C: Enterprise, Parus, Galaxy, etc.);

Medium information systems (PEOPLE SOFT, BAAN, SCALA, etc.);

Integrated management systems (ERP).

3. Information systems management is intended to manage and support enterprise information processes (personnel management, development, quality, safety, operational management, etc.)

Thus, information systems that are considered in economic informatics consist of three main components:

Information technology (computer hardware and software, telecommunications, data);

Functional subsystems (production, accounting and finance, sales, marketing, personnel) and business applications (application programs for solving business problems);

Information systems management (personnel, users, IS development, finance)

Currently, the most appropriate way to build an economic information system is to use ready-made solutions, which are implemented in the form of ready-made application programs.

Lecture 3

Introduction to the economics of information technology.

Organization- a stable, formal social structure that receives resources from the surrounding world and processes them into products of its activities.

The objectives of the information system are to support the decision-making process.

Information– information about the surrounding world that reduces the existing degree of uncertainty.

The information is separate from the user and may or may not be accepted by the user. Information is transmitted through channels. Organizations exist in the information field.

Properties of the information society:

Openness

Democratic

Culture

Availability

Economic information– a set of information about socio-economic processes that serve to manage the house. processes.

Characteristics of economic information:

Amount of information

Information integrity

Cyclicality

Specific weight of values

Enterprise information resources– individual documents or arrays about information systems.

Information technology– a system of methods and methods for collecting, accumulating, processing, transmitting, and storing information.

Information technologies support human activities. Automated information technologies presuppose the existence of technical means, the implementation of information processes, and a technical process management system.

The purpose of information technology is to obtain, process, and transmit new information to the user. Its task is to improve the methods of processing, receiving and transmitting information.

Characteristics of information technology

Methodology	Signs	Result
Improve the information processing method (algorithm)		New communication technology
Improvement of the complete technological system	Changing functions of users (specialists)	New information processing technology
Improved interface and information storage	Increased flow of information environment	New technological solutions

Information system from the point of view of a managed information system (information system as a management object)

Control object	Operational level	Tactical level	Strategic level
Information Systems	Department Manager and Functional Manager	Project Managers	Directors, top managers

Functions of information systems

In finance and accounting:

Formation of the company budget (1C)

Financial plan

Financial forecasts

Analysis and control

In marketing:

Sales management

Logistics (Delivery)

Analysis, control

Market research

In Information System Manufacturing:(ERM)

Quality control

Production volume planning

Production technology

External control

Strategic management

Information technology products

1. Information (data, knowledge, software)

2. Communication, means of communication, transmission

3. User-oriented product (specific information conveyed to the user)

Consumers of the information technology market:

Legal

Divided by type of system (direction of activity)

Social division (segmentation)

Information threshold (critical)

Changes in production volumes, supplies

Changing the enterprise cost structure

Changes in enterprise performance indicators

The accumulation of critical mass is the basis for changing the information system.

Evolution of information systems

Concepts	Types of information systems
Formation of paperless document flow	Information systems for document processing for accounting machines, electromechanical accounting machines	Increasing the speed of document flow
Calculation functions and machines began to support the goals of companies (economic planning). Calculation of cash flow discounts.	Control systems	Acceleration of reporting systems (economic)
Management control	Decision support systems (prototype expert system), since there were no networks yet. Users are focused on the goals of senior management.	Development of rational solutions
The era of computer technology (Intranet, ExtraNet). Formation of information fields	Strategic Information Systems	Ensuring competitiveness

Classification of computer technologies

Types of information processed

Knowledge (oral)

Types of information technologies

Text editors

GPUs

Medium integrated systems

Large integrated systems

1C (accounting systems)

Scale economic component of the company and the production system of small enterprises

Galaxy\Sail

ORACLE Application

Decision-making system is an interactive, automated system that uses decision-making rules and matching the model with the database, as well as an interactive computer modeling process that supports the adoption of independent and non-structural decisions (i.e., simple ones) by individual decision-makers to obtain specific implementable solutions to problems. .

Class I decision-making system – carries out the largest number of functional decisions of the enterprise (electronic turnover).

II systems for individual use. Structural decisions are made by a small group of people.

III Calculated for a specific performer, for example, Excel

Differences between expert systems and decision making systems.

	DDS decision making system	Expert system
	Decision support	Imitation of an expert's work
Who makes the decisions	Managers
Orientation	Making decisions	Transfer of information, replication to user groups
Support objects	Consumer groups	Consumer groups
Information used	Numerical representation	Symbols (representation by symbols)
Task type	Unique challenges	Repetitive information
	Actual	Procedural (discrete values)

Example of creating and defining capabilities

Economic information– characterizes production relations in society (economic information about resources, management processes, financial processes). Properties: alpha-digital signs, variable volume and post signs; discreteness, heterogeneity, persistence, reusability, long shelf life, change)

Economic informatics is the science of information systems used to prepare and make decisions in management, economics and business.

Object economic informatics are information systems that provide solutions to business and organizational problems that arise in economic systems (economic objects). That is, the object of economic informatics is economic information systems, the ultimate goal of which is the effective management of the economic system.

Item: technology and stages of development of systems for automated processing of economic information and justification of the feasibility of such processing, functional analysis of the subject area, algorithmic representation of the problem and its software implementation.

Peculiarities: presentation and reflection in the form of primary and summary documents, repetition of stages of processing information, the predominance of arithms and log operations in the processing process

Analysis and design of business processes. Functional modeling, which describes the sequence of operations of a business process, as well as modeling the data used in it.

Analysis and design of enterprise information systems architecture. Here the modeling apparatus is somewhat broader, along with modeling functions and data, it includes engineering methods for analyzing and predicting IS performance, statistical tools, economic analysis, etc.

Improving IP management is solved by methods of management theory, including methods of operations research, organization theory, logistics, etc. Project management methods and models are of great importance.

Analysis and improvement of economic efficiency of IP A variety of economic analysis methods are used. Currently we are talking about neoclassical tools, new institutional economic theory and management theory.

15.Technology. Information Technology. Information processes.

Technology- a set of methods, processes and materials used in any branch of activity, as well as a scientific description of methods of technical production.

Information Technology (information technology, IT)– a wide class of disciplines and areas of activity related to technologies for managing and processing data using computer technology.

Information process - the process of receiving, creating, collecting, processing, accumulating, storing, searching, distributing, and using information.

Encoding (recording to a medium), transmitting a signal over a communication channel, decoding (converting to a receiving code), code processing.

The characteristic features of modern IT are:

Less processing labor, more quality;

the interactive nature of information processing, a wide range of users and the collective nature of working with information and computing resources;

ensuring a unified IT information space, collective work with information and computing resources based on computer networks and telecommunications systems;

support for multimedia (multimedia) IT, paperless technology.

Information technologies can be divided into classes:

1. General purpose IT (working with text documents, calculations in spreadsheets, maintaining databases, working with computer graphics, etc.).

2. Method-oriented IT, ensuring the use of special models and algorithms for solving problems (mathematical apparatus, statistics, project management, etc.).

3. Problem-oriented IT, taking into account the specifics of the subject area and information needs of users.

Information technologies are developing in the following directions: computer technology; means of communication and communications; software; methodology for organizing design work to create IP.

IT development is related to:

progress in the field of data processing hardware (computers, storage media, communications and communication tools, etc.), industrial technologies for the production of computer components;

development of methods and tools for software development, methods of storing and retrieving data on computer media;

16. Information society. Informatization of society at present. The concept of the information society emerged at the end of the 20th century; it is closely related to the concept of post-industrial society, a new phase in the development of our entire civilization. Distinctive features of the information society: Information/knowledge is the main product of production; increase in employment in the IT, communications and service sectors; complete informatization (Internet, TV), globalization of the information space; growing role of the individual in the management of social and environmental relations, development of digital markets, electronic democracy/state

Project "Information Society" of the Russian Federation: e-government, improving the quality of life of citizens, overcoming the digital divide, security, digital content for museums and archives, development of the ICT market

Informatization is a complex social process associated with significant changes in the lifestyle of the population. It requires serious efforts in many areas, including eliminating computer illiteracy, creating a culture of using new information technologies, etc.

The driving force behind the development of society should be the production of informational, rather than material, products. In the information society, not only production changes, but also the entire way of life, the value system, and the importance of cultural leisure in relation to material values increases. In the information society, intelligence and knowledge are produced and consumed, which leads to an increase in the share of mental labor. A person will need the ability to be creative, and the demand for knowledge is increasing. The material and technological base of society's information will be various types of systems based on computer equipment and computer networks, information technology, and telecommunications.

Informatization of society- organized socio-economic and scientific-technical process of creating optimal conditions for meeting information needs and realizing the rights of citizens, government bodies, local governments, organizations, public associations based on the formation and use of information resources.

The goal of informatization is to improve the quality of life of people by increasing productivity and facilitating their working conditions.

The main criteria for the development of the information society are the following:

Availability of computers; level of development of computer networks Possession of information culture, i.e. knowledge and skills in the field of information technology

What is the information economy?

What is a network economy?

What is economic informatics?

Let's look at these basic concepts.

The transition of humanity to the information society is characterized by a change from the industrial technological basis to the information one; raw materials and energy are replaced by information technology - the technological basis of the information industry, the most important resource of which is information and knowledge.

In the information industry, creative work is dominant in the production of goods. Human intellect becomes the main productive force, thanks to which an intellectual product is created, i.e. the product of creative labor is an informational, not a material product.

The role and place of man in the economy is changing radically. A creative (creative) person becomes the main productive force, because only he is capable of producing new knowledge and information - the main resource of the information economy. Thus, the industrial economy is being replaced by an information economy, i.e. a new economy based on information and knowledge is coming.

According to the glossary (//www.glossary.ru/), the information economy is an economy in which the majority of the gross domestic product is provided by the activities of production, processing, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge, and more than half of the employed are involved in these activities.

One of the areas of information economics is the network economy or Internet economy (virtual economy). The development of information and telecommunication technologies has created an environment for economic activity on the Internet, and the commercialization of the Internet has led to changes in the way business is done and the emergence of an electronic market based on the principles of the network economy.

Network economy is economic activity carried out using electronic networks (digital telecommunications). Technologically, the network economy is an environment in which legal entities and individuals can contact each other regarding joint activities.

The network economy is an economic activity based on horizontal (direct) long-term connections between all participants in joint activities in the information and communication environment of the Internet.

This is a new form of management, which differs from the market and centralized form of management of economic activity. The network economy can only exist in computer networks. It is the basis for e-business, and e-commerce is the main component of this network business.

To effectively conduct electronic business and e-commerce on the Internet, it is necessary to arm yourself with knowledge in the discipline “Economic Informatics”.

Economic informatics is the science of information systems used to prepare and make decisions in management, economics and business. Economic informatics uses such basic concepts as data, information and knowledge.

Economic informatics is a discipline that forms basic knowledge in the field of computer science and computerization of management processes. Economic informatics consists of three content modules: introduction to economic informatics; office application software; computer networks. This academic discipline opens the cycle of computer science disciplines studied by students of economic specialties during their studies at the university.

For some economic specialties, instead of the discipline Economic Informatics, two courses of lectures are given:

Informatics and computer technology;
Computer networks and telecommunications.

The free distance learning course "Economic Informatics" is posted on the page Object, subject, methods and tasks of economic informatics and is intended for students of economic specialties, as well as for Internet users to improve their skills.

Economic informatics(computer science from French. information- information and automatique- automatic; literally “the science of automation of information processing”) - the science of information systems used to prepare and make decisions in management, economics and business, as well as the economics of these systems.

Economic informatics is a new discipline that emerged in the second half of the 20th century in connection with the rapid development of computer technology and the growth of its application in economics. In Anglo-Saxon countries, computer science is called computer science (literally “the science of computers”), and economic information science is called information systems (literally “information systems”). Modern economic informatics is, first of all, an applied discipline that systematizes the principles of development and operation of information systems (hereinafter referred to as IS) designed to solve various economic problems. Thus, it is at the intersection of computer science itself and the subject area of organization management for which the specialized systems being created were intended. Even in Anglo-Saxon countries, such specialized applied knowledge is in some cases called “computer science”, in particular, there are bioinformatics and military informatics.

Economic computer science also has a common area with economic theory. This general field is the economics of information, a discipline that studies the economic patterns of information creation and dissemination in markets and organizations. In economic computer science, it allows us to describe the value of information and the impact of markets for information goods on the value of IP.

Object and subject of economic informatics

The core of economic informatics includes, first of all, applied knowledge necessary for building IS in the economy and management of organizations in any field - business, non-profit structures and government bodies. In economic informatics, IP is understood as a system designed for collecting, transmitting, processing, storing and issuing information to consumers using computing and communications equipment, software and service personnel.

Influence information systems on the economics of organizations that implement and use them, is described in terms business processes. Implementation information systems creates new IT services, which, in turn, change parameters business processes organizations, their productivity, quality and sustainability. As a result, if implementation is successful, the organization's current profitability and/or long-term competitiveness increases. Therefore, studying business processes commercial and non-profit organizations is one of the main areas of research in economic informatics. These studies include studying the components business process, its quantitative and qualitative characteristics, the IT services it uses, the connection of the business process and its results with the structure of the organization, etc. As a result of these studies, several problems are solved at once:

Along with business processes, economic informatics studies the components of the IS itself: information technology, applications and management. Information technology - technological infrastructure that ensures implementation information processes. It includes all types of computer and telecommunications equipment, system software that controls the operation of the latter, and instrumental environments that support the operation of applications. Information technologies are considered in economic informatics as a means of improving business processes and overcoming their limitations. At the same time, the introduction of information technology does not automatically lead to improvement of business processes; for this it must be combined with the implementation of applications, changes in business processes themselves, advanced training of enterprise employees and improved management information systems. An important part of information technology is platforms - software systems that allow the development of applications.

Applications are specialized programs that directly support certain IT services as part of business processes. Applications can be separate products (business applications) or be part of certain integrated management systems (functional subsystems). Applications have now been developed for all areas of enterprise operations and management - procurement, production, marketing and sales, maintenance, human resources, technological development, finance, accounting, etc. The diversity and complexity of modern applications has made it difficult for them to work together within the same enterprise.

For a long time, this problem was solved by creating large monolithic application packages that included the above applications as functional subsystems. Nowadays, the development of integration tools based primarily on the SOA architecture has led to the opposite trend, the development of more narrowly focused applications focused on specific subject areas.

For example, SAP, the world's largest manufacturer of business software, currently releases a package of applications SAP Business Suite, which includes the ERP system SAP ERP, CRM system SAP CRM, product lifecycle management system SAP PLM, supply chain management system SAP SCM and supplier relationship management system SAP SRM. It should be emphasized that all of the above are different applications integrated through SOA services. To support SOA services, SAP has created its own integration platform, SAP NetWeaver. Other market leaders have integration platforms similar in purpose - Oracle Fusion Middleware from Oracle, IBM WebSphere from IBM, etc. Each of these platforms can work not only with the manufacturer's applications, but also with applications from other companies, which increases the flexibility of the created systems.

Finally, information systems management ensures coordination among all other IS components, as well as coordination of the development of information systems with business requirements. Enterprise information systems management includes personnel, user, quality, financial and security management, as well as operational management and IS development management. Thus, management turns out to be an extremely important component of the IS, and its improvement, corresponding to the improvement of applications and their technological foundation, is a condition for the balanced development of the system as a whole. According to modern ideas, IS management is, first of all, IT service management.

A separate task is the analysis and design of the architecture of enterprise information systems. Here the modeling apparatus is somewhat broader, along with modeling functions and data, it includes engineering methods for analyzing and predicting IS performance, statistical tools, economic analysis, etc. A special problem is the integration of IS architecture with business architecture and organizational architecture, which is solved by methods of management theory.

The problem of improving IS management is solved by methods of management theory, including methods of operations research, organizational theory, logistics, etc. Project management methods and models are of great importance. Recently, the role of project control methods that ensure the achievement of the planned economic effect during the implementation of IS has been growing.

To solve the problem of analyzing and improving the economic efficiency of information systems, various methods of economic analysis are used. Currently we are talking about neoclassical tools, new institutional economic theory and management theory. Each approach uses a variety of techniques, described in the category Economic theory. These same classes of methods are used in the economic analysis of information and markets for information goods.

Short story

Although the prehistory of computer science dates back to at least the 19th century, the history of the use of computers in economics began only in the 50s. 20th century. From this moment we will count the history of economic informatics.

In the initial period, in the 50s and 60s, the computer was a rare and expensive resource. Therefore, the first task of economic informatics was to increase the efficiency of computer use. The first steps on this path were the creation of an operating system - a software package that organizes and maintains the computing process on a computer, and high-level programming languages, as well as compilers from these languages. Already at this stage it became clear that economic problems, unlike, for example, scientific problems, require much simpler computational algorithms, but require means of processing large volumes of data with a complex structure. As a result, the COBOL language was developed, supporting complex hierarchical data structures. A further development of this approach was the development of specialized platforms that made it possible to create and maintain increasingly complex databases. These platforms are called database management systems (DBMS).

In the 70s and 80s, the next period in the history of economic informatics began, characterized by the growing penetration of computers into business. At the same time, the computers themselves and their infrastructure became more complex and diverse. New classes of computers have appeared - mini-computers and personal computers (PCs), local and global computer networks, new classes of software. As a result, computers no longer automated individual labor-intensive tasks, but entire functions of the enterprise, including such important ones as production and purchasing planning, accounting and management accounting, design work, etc. For these purposes, new classes of applications were developed - MRP and , later, MRP II, the first integrated production management systems, project management systems, etc. This, in turn, required a means of documenting the relevant business functions and describing the data used in them. The result was the first standards of the IDEF family, including the IDEF 0 function description standard, the IDEF 1X data modeling standard, and several others.

During these same years, economic computer science first encountered the so-called “productivity paradox.” It was that while business and government investments in IT were growing, there were no signs of productivity growth associated with these investments. Nobel laureate R. Solow expressed this problem in clear form: “We see the computer age everywhere except productivity statistics.” Despite the challenge of R. Solow, in the 80s. There was no evidence of a positive impact of IT investment on productivity.

The sharply more complex computing environment of an enterprise, in particular, the explosive growth in the use of personal computers, has caused an accelerated increase in costs for IP. As a result, IT management has increased its focus on cost control. To solve this problem, the Gartner Group developed a TCO model that made it possible to take into account the entire total cost of using IP throughout the entire life cycle of the latter. Although this model was a significant advance in IT cost accounting, it had a number of shortcomings, as a result of which its widespread use in some cases led to incorrect conclusions. The largest of these mistakes was the initiative to develop a network computer specifically designed to reduce the TCO of corporate IP. A number of major PC manufacturers have launched their networked computers onto the market without any success. Interestingly, later, in the 2000s. The ideas of a network computer were again in demand, and this time with much greater success. However, in the 80s. the project turned out to be premature.

90s were marked by two major technical innovations - the transition to the so-called. client-server architecture and the widespread use of the Internet. The new IS architecture meant a transition to distributed applications, one part of which carried out data processing as such and was located on computers specially dedicated for this (servers), and the other ensured the transmission of requests to servers, receiving responses from the latter and presenting the results of requests to the end user (client). It was according to this scheme that e-mail, work with databases, and provision of Internet access were organized.

The Internet became another, even more significant revolution of the 90s. It should be noted that the Internet infrastructure in the form of data networks and global computer networks was created much earlier (the first segments of the ARPAnet network, the predecessor of the Internet, were created back in 1969), the massive use of the Internet by individual users and corporations occurred precisely in the 90s gg. This was due to the emergence of the “World Wide Web” WWW - a network of hyperlinks that connected arrays of information (“pages”) located both on the same server and on different servers. At the same time, search engines appeared, allowing Internet users to quickly find the necessary information. The new technology was quickly commercialized, first for advertising, then for actual transactions. Already in 1994, the bookselling site Amazon.com appeared, and in 1995, the online auction Ebay. At the same time, in the 90s, the payment and logistics infrastructure for Internet transactions took shape. As a result, a large number of businesses have emerged that exist exclusively on the Internet - the so-called. dot-com. Inflated expectations for such businesses gave rise to the so-called “dot-com bubble” - an unjustified increase in stock prices of Internet companies. This “bubble” ended with the crash of 2000.

The rapid development of technology has posed new challenges for economic informatics. First, the pervasive nature of IT has created a need for an integrated description of the role of IT in business. This description is based on the concepts of business process and value chains. This provided a holistic view of the business process, especially important when changing the latter.

Secondly, a whole series of new classes of applications have emerged that solve newly emerging business management problems. These were, first of all, ERP systems, which became a further development of MRP II systems. In addition to them, customer relationship management (CRM), supplier relationship management (SRM) and supply chain management (SCM) systems were created.

Increased computing power, as well as data storage capacity, have made it possible to create specialized analytical systems that process data in real time (OLAP). Finally, the emergence of electronic business gave rise to a new broad class of systems that mediate electronic transactions - B2B, B2C, etc.

Thirdly, there has been a further complication of the tasks of IT services in enterprises. A standard model of IT service business processes, containing the main tasks of the latter and well-proven approaches to solving them, could provide important assistance in these conditions. Such a model was the ITIL model, the first version of which appeared at the turn of the 80s - 90s. Wide recognition of the model in business and government agencies led to the rapid improvement of the library, and at the turn of the 90s - 2000s. its second version was released, and in 2007 the third. Currently, the ITIL library has become the de facto standard for IP management in Europe. Another response to the increasing complexity of IT service tasks has been IS outsourcing - the transfer of all or part of IS maintenance functions to an external supplier. Outsourcing became a popular solution to IT service problems in the 90s.

Finally, in the 90s. The IT productivity paradox has been resolved. A number of researchers have shown that in the presence of complementary changes in business processes firms' IP investment has a significant positive impact on productivity. At the same time, a significant contribution of investments in IP to the capitalization of the company on the stock market was discovered.

The current stage of IP development has brought new achievements. One of the most important was the SOA business application integration technology, which for the first time made it possible to ensure stable and effective interaction of applications from different suppliers. Perhaps an even more important advancement was the so-called. “cloud computing”, which is the provision of IT services over the Internet, in which the details of the IT infrastructure are hidden from the end users of the service. This eliminates most application compatibility and integration issues. Cloud computing eliminates the specific requirements that a number of IT services place on a customer's IT infrastructure, making IT services as easy to access as power from an electrical outlet. An important factor in the development of IT has also been the widespread use of open source software, which represents not so much a technical innovation as an alternative model of copyright.

In parallel with the development of technology, IP management and economic analysis of the latter developed. In management, the main direction of development has been the deepening of outsourcing, the transition from outsourcing of individual IS support functions to outsourcing of business processes as a whole. Outsourcing also influenced the development of the ITIL model, which in its third version is focused not so much on enterprise IT services, as before, but on outsourcing service providers.

In the economics of IP, one of the most important areas has become the economics of copyright. The development of the market for information goods, on the one hand, sharply expanded the volume of consumption of the latter, on the other hand, it limited the rights of users to consume the latter. The severe restrictions placed on users of information goods have given rise to widespread discussion of the economics of copyright in terms of the balance between incentives for innovation and monopoly rights of producers. This has deepened understanding of the institution of copyright, but has not yet led to practical recommendations in this area.

Open source software has become a real alternative to the institution of copyright in the field of software. The GPL license provides the user with four freedoms: freedom to use the software, freedom to study the software and change the source code, freedom to distribute copies of the software, and freedom to distribute modified software. The main limitation imposed by the GPL is that software obtained under the GPL must continue to be distributed under the terms of the GPL.

Economic informatics developed along a special path in the USSR. The planned economy, on the one hand, created a number of incentives for the introduction of information technologies and systems into the national economy, on the other, it imposed extremely strict restrictions on their use. As a result, the introduction of information technologies and systems into the national economy of the USSR was limited and inconsistent, although it led to a number of major successes.

The first success was the very creation of the computer technology industry in the USSR, which for several decades remained at the level of advanced Western countries. Among the creators of Soviet computer technology, S.A. should be mentioned first of all. Lebedeva, I.S. Bruka, B.I. Rameeva, V.M. Glushkov and G.P. Lopato, who created independent design schools for the development of computers and established their mass production.

The development of computer production has raised the question of their use in the national economy. Already in 1959 A.I. Berg, A.I. Kitov and A.A. Lyapunov in his report “On the possibilities of automating the management of the national economy” raised the question of the use of computers in managing the national economy. However, the technical capabilities of computers at that time did not allow the large-scale use of computers in planning - the main function of managing the national economy at that time. Serious attempts at such automation were made only in the 70s. in the form of an attempt to create an ACS system (automated control systems) with OGAS (National Automated System for collecting, storing and processing information) at the top level.

Large-scale investments in automated control systems have not brought the expected returns. The use of automated control systems encountered problems with the quality of information and turned out to be incompatible with the real economic mechanisms operating in a socialist economy. In the context of shock economic reforms of the 1990s. ACS developers were unable to adapt them to new economic conditions, as a result of which ACS quickly faded away. In modern Russia, economic informatics has not received significant development, and the existing works are fragmentary.

Structure of economic informatics

In modern economic informatics, the following main directions can be distinguished.

First of all, this is the analysis and modeling of business processes. This is a complex and large-scale activity, taking into account the specifics of industries and countries. An important part of it is the description and analysis of newly emerged business processes and business models. Today, such models are based on the increasing use of IT. A feature of recent decades has been end-to-end business processes, covering a number of interconnected enterprises, united, first of all, through IP.

The complexity and, at the same time, dynamism of modern IS require special attention to the problems of IS architecture. It is the timely and accurate solution of architectural problems that allows us to ensure high quality IT services even in the face of large-scale changes. Economic informatics creates a theoretical and methodological basis for such decisions. Today, several trends can be identified in IS architecture:

Ensuring integration of IT architecture and business and organizational architecture;

Building an organization’s IT architecture based on a network of interconnected service providers that outsource business processes;

Corporate data finds itself at the center of modern IT architecture, especially in conditions of developed outsourcing;

Increasing the flexibility of IT services and ease of access to them by end users, primarily based on cloud computing.

A separate area of economic informatics is the development of IP management. Today, the ITIL model dominates in this area, but the question of the boundaries of its application remains unresolved. An important area of research is also the study of outsourcing, the criteria for its success and ways to achieve it. Finally, in modern conditions, measuring and ensuring the economic efficiency of IP is of particular importance, which we will discuss in more detail below.

Although the “productivity paradox” has long been resolved, research into the cost-effectiveness of IS is still an important part of economic computer science. Today, the main directions for increasing the efficiency of information systems have already been outlined, these are solving real business problems using IT, changing business processes aimed at unlocking the potential of IT, and improving staff qualifications. Along with this, IP allows you to change the company's portfolio of products and services, making it more flexible and diversified.

Finally, the increasing focus on purchased IS components and purchased services increases the importance of the market for information goods. The study of this market using economic informatics methods is increasingly important for this science.

Unresolved problems and priority areas

Despite a number of successes, a number of unsolved problems remain in economic informatics today. Here are the most important of them:

What determines the success of IS in an organization? Despite developed recommendations for the development and implementation of information systems, projects for the development and implementation of information systems end in failure in 30-50% of cases, according to various estimates.
How to evaluate the effectiveness of IS in specific situations? Research into the effectiveness of IS has not yet led to the development of practically valuable methods that allow assessing the effectiveness of specific projects in this area.
Are best practices always best practices? A number of studies show that the organizations observed today belong to several different types (in the original author's terminology, configurations). Probably different configurations require different ICs and various approaches to their implementation.
How reasonable is today's copyright law? The restrictions imposed by modern copyright on end users are seen as increasingly onerous, and reasonable alternatives are emerging.