Information systems are a critical component of business success today. Unfortunately, many companies do not truly understand what an information system is; where, when, and how it should be implemented; or the effects of integrating it into the organization. As such, we continue to see implementation horror stories of projects run amuck--going over time and over budget--or information systems that never get fully implemented, requiring "work-arounds" by employees in order to get things done. Why is this the case? Are information systems so poorly developed, or is it more a case of companies not understanding what information systems are and how to integrate them into their business processes? The premise of this book is that it is the latter. If decision makers better understood what information systems are, how they worked, and, most importantly, what constitutes a successful information system; then implementations would be smoother, and benefits from information systems would be greater and last longer. The intent of this book is to help organizations better utilize their information systems by understanding the fundamental purpose of these systems within the business organization. This book will help readers analyze business processes with an eye toward how data is created, transferred, analyzed, and used within the organization. From this understanding, the user can then design, build, and implement information systems that accurately reflect the flow of the business processes, adjust quickly to support critical functions, and provide efficient and effective value-added services to employees to maximize the profitability of the company