Components of Information System

The six components that must come together in order to produce an information system are:

1. Hardware: The term hardware refers to machinery. This category includes the computer itself, which is often referred to as the central processing unit (CPU), and all of its support equipments. Among the support equipments are input and output devices, storage devices and communications devices.
2. Software: The term software refers to computer programs and the manuals (if any) that support them. Computer programs are machine-readable instructions that direct the circuitry within the hardware parts of the system to function in ways that produce useful information from data. Programs are generally stored on some input / output medium, often a disk or tape.
3. Data: Data are facts that are used by programs to produce useful information. Like programs, data are generally stored in machine-readable form on disk or tape until the computer needs them.
4. Procedures: Procedures are the policies that govern the operation of a computer system. "Procedures are to people what software is to hardware" is a common analogy that is used to illustrate the role of procedures in a system.
5. People: Every system needs people if it is to be useful. Often the most over-looked element of the system are the people, probably the component that most influence the success or failure of information systems. This includes "not only the users, but those who operate and service the computers, those who maintain the data, and those who support the network of computers."
6. Feedback: it is another component of the IS, that defines that an IS may be provided with a feedback (Although this component isn't necessary to function).

Data is the bridge between hardware and people. This means that the data we collect is only data, until we involve people. At that point, data is now information.