CHAPTER 1 – Overview

Overview

 Organisations use computers and information systems to reduce costs and gain a competitive
advantage.
 Help be more effective and productive.

Computers and information systems in daily life

 Use of computers and MS office

 Used to grade exams and generate reports comparing performance.
 POS point of sale
 UPC universal product codes
 Used in banks, grocery stores etc.
 PDA – personal digital assistant includes: calendar, address book and task listing programs. More
advanced PDAs allow wireless connection and have MP3.
 Internet is used for shopping, desktop connection, social networking, video sharing.
 Anyone can watch videos on YouTube but you must register to upload. Can be used as a
marketing tool e.g. quicksilver ,ford models, university of phoenix online, the home depot and
nikefootball.
 Information systems are broader in scope than information technologies but the two overlap in
many areas. Information technologies improve decision making and add security and privacy.

Computer Literacy and Information Literacy

 Computer literacy
o Is a skill in using productivity software such as, word processors, spreadsheets, data
base management systems and presentation software. And having the knowledge of
hardware software and internet.
 Information literacy
o Understanding the role of information in generating and using business intelligence.
o BI – Business Intelligence – provides historical, current and predictive views of
business operations and environments and gives organizations a competitive
advantage in the market place.
o TPS – transaction processing systems – focus on data collection and processing, the
major reason for using them is cost reduction.
o
Transaction processing systems - TPS
 Applied to structured tasks such as record keeping, clerical operations, and inventory control.
For example: payroll one of the first automated.
 Automation involves less human involvement decreasing personnel costs.
 Management information systems – MIS
 Is an organized integration of hardware and software technologies, data, processes and
human elements designed to produce timely, integrated, relevant, accurate and useful
information for decision making purposes.
 In designing an MIS – define the system objectives, data to be collected and present
information in an acceptable format.
 DSS -Decision support system
 EIS – executive information system

Major components of an information system

 There are four major components of an information system:

Data Database Process Information

 Data consists of raw facts and is a component of the information system.

 A database is a collection of all relevant data organized in a series of integrated files.

 The process generates the most useful type of information for decision making, including
transaction processing reports and models for decision making.

 Information consists of facts that have been analyzed by the process component and is an
output of an information system.

 Data

o The data component in considered the input to the system. The information users need
affect the type of data. Two sources of data are internal which includes sale records,
personnel records etc. and external which include customers, competitors, suppliers,
government, financial institutions, labor and population stats and economic conditions.

o Past data is collected for performance reports.

o Present data is collected for operational reports.

o Future data is predicted for budget and cashflow reports.

o Data can be collected in the form of Aggregated reporting totals or disaggregated

reporting lists.

o Strategic goals must be defined to easily identify what data is needed.

  Database

o Is the heart of an information system, collection of all relevant data organized in a series
of integrated files.

o A comprehensive database is critical for a successful information system.

o To create, organize and manage database a DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (DBMS)

is used like access and filemaker pro for small business and oracle, IBM and DB2 for
large business.

 Process

o The includes transaction processing reports and models of decision analysis that can be
built in or assessed externally.

o Should grow with the organize so that they can redefine and restructure models to
incorporate new information in their analysis.

 Information

o Consists of facts that have been analyzed by the process component and are more
useful to the MIS user.

o The quality of the system is determined by its usefulness and the usefulness determines
the success of the system. To be useful, information must have qualities:

 Timeliness

 Integration with other data and information

 Consistency and accuracy

 Relevance

o Systems user interface must be flexible and easy to use. GUI (graphical user interface)
has features such as menus and buttons and must present information in different
formats including graphs and tables.

 The ultimate goal of an information system is to generate business intelligence.

Using information systems and information technologies

Information systems are designed to collect data, process the collected data and deliver useful
information and to achieve this goal, information systems use different information technologies. For
example: internet for worldwide communication, computer networks, database systems, POS systems
and radio-frequency-identification RFID
The importance of information systems

 Information is the second most important resource in an organization after human resources.

 The four M’s of resources:

o Manpower

o Machinery

o Materials

o Money

 To manage these resources different types of information systems have been developed.

 Major information systems

o PIS – personnel information system

 Or human resource information system (HRIS) helps carry out their tasks. Web
technologies have played a major roles in improving HR departments e.g
intranets SAP

 Supports actions like choosing the best candidate for the job / scheduling and
assigning employees / predict personnel needs / stats on employee
demographics / allocate human and financial resources.

o LIS – logistics information system

 Designed to reduce cost of transporting materials

 Supports – improve routing and delivery schedules / best modes of transport /

improve budget / shipment planning.

o MFIS – Manufacturing information systems

 Used to manage the manufacturing process to reduce costs, increase product

quality and make better investory decisions.

 Supports ordering decisions / product cost calcs / space utilization / evaluation

of vendors and suppliers / analysis of price changes and discounts.

o FIS – financial information systems

 Improve budget allocation / minimize investment risk / cost trends / cashflows /

portfolio structures.
 o MKIS – marketing information systems

 Used to improve marketing decisions

 Supports analyses market share, sales and personnel / sales forecast / price and
cost analysis

Using information technologies for a competitive advantage

 Information technologies can help bottom line and top line strategies.

 Michael porters 3 strategies : overall cost leadership / differentiation / focus.

 Improve efficiency by reducing overall costs and generate revenue top line strategy.

 Supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise

resource planning (ERP) and other software to reduce costs. The goal is to use the information
technologies to create an efficient. Effective link between suppliers and consumers.

Porters Five Forces Model: understanding the business environment

 Analyzing an organization, its position in the market place and how information systems could
be used to make it more competitive

Potential
Potential
Entrants
Entrants

Threat of new entrants

Industry
Industry
competitors
competitors
Suppliers
Suppliers Buyers
Buyers
Rivalry
Rivalry
Threat of substitute
products
Suppliers bargaining Buyers bargaining
power power

Substitutes
Substitutes
  Buyer power is high when customers have many choices, low when they have few choices.
Businesses use the differentiation strategy which limits the buyer making it difficult to switch.
Shops offer club card discounts an example of overall cost leadership strategies. By using the
strategies, organizations aim to combat threats by increasing customer loyalty.

 Supplier power is the opposite of buying power – high when customers have few options and
low when they have more options.

 Threat of substitutes is high when there are many alternatives to the products.

 Threat of new entrants is low when duplicating the product is difficult.

 Rivalry among existing competitors is high when many competitors occupy the same market
place position; it is low when there are few competitors.

The IT job market

 CTO/CIO – Chief technology officer / chief information officer

This person oversees long range planning and keeps an eye on new developments. Also have
CPO chief privacy officer – managing risk and business impact on privacy laws and policies.
 Manager of information systems services
They are responsible for managing all the hardware, software and personnel within the
information systems department.
 Systems analyst
This person is responsible for the design and implementation of information systems. They must
have understanding of computers, information systems, business systems and functional areas.
 Network administrator
This person overseas the company’s internal and external network systems, designing and
implementing network systems. Also responsible for cyber security.
 Database administrator
DBA is responsible for database design and implementation and understand warehouses and
data mining tools.
 Computer programmer
This person writes computer programmers or software segments that allow IS to perform
specific tasks.
 Webmaster
The webmaster designs and maintains the organizations website.

Future outlooks

 Hardware and software costs will decline so processing information will be less expensive

 Technologies will continue to improve and expand which will impact information systems.
  Computer literacy of users will improve

 Networking technology will improve making connectivity easier and sending information faster.

 Internet growth evening the playing fields.

 Protecting information will become more important.

CHAPTER 2 – Computers

Defining a computer

 a computer is a machine that accepts data as input, processes data without human intervention
by using stored instructions and outputs information.

 The instructions also called a “program” is the step-by-step directions for performing a specific
task, written in a language the computer understands.

 A computer only processes RAW data – it cannot correct or change any data that is entered.

 GIGO – garbage in garbage out – if incorrect data is inserted then the computer provides
incorrect data as well.

 To write a program – you need to know what needs to be done – plan a method to achieving the
goal – select the right language.

 Write a program – also referred to as a source code. The source code must be translated into
object code – binary 1’s and 0’s. binary code is a set of instructions used to control the
computer and uses 1’s and 0’s which the computer understands as on or off signals.

 Some have a single processor and some have multiple processors called multiprocessors.

 Multiprocessors use two or more CPU’s in a single computer system. They have better
performance.

 Dual-core processors – uses two processors in one to improve processing power. Common in
PC’s and apple.

 BUS – link between devices connected to the computer. A bus can be parallel or serial, internal
or external. An internal bus enables communication between internal components such as video
card and memory. An external bus is capable of communicating with external devices such as a
USB (universal serial bus) device.

 other factors that affect performance:

 o processor size and operating system (OS)

 BIOS – Basic input output system

 SERIAL PORT – is a communication interface where information is transferred one bit at a time.

 PARALLEL PORT – interface between a computer and print and the computer transfers multiple
bits of information to the printer simultaneously.

Components of a computer system

 A computer consists of hardware and software. Hardware components are physical devices such
as keyboards monitors and processing units. Software components are programs written in
computer languages.

 INPUT DEVICES – keyboards

 OUTPUT DEVICES – monitors, printers

 MAIN MEMORY – where the computer store data and instructions.

 CPU – CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT – the heart of the computer divided into 2:

o ALU – ARITHMETIC LOGIC UNIT – performs arithmetic operations (+,-,*,/) and

comparison or rational operations (<,>,=)

o CONTROL UNIT – tells the computer what to do such as which device to read or send
output to.

 BUS – link between devices connected to the computer

 DISK DRIVE – is a devise for recording, storing and retrieving information.

 CPU CASE - computer chasis or tower. It is the enclosure containing the computers main
components.

 MOTHERBOARD – is the main circuit board containing connectors for attaching additional
boards. It usually contains the CPU, BIOS, memory, storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports,
expansion slots and all controllers for standard peripheral devices – display monitor etc.
 CPU
CONTROL
UNIT
ALU
INPUT DEVICES OUTPUT DEVICES

MAIN MEMORY

History of computer hardware and software

 VLSI – very large scale integration.

 Generation examples:

o First – vacuum tube – ENIAC – machine language

o Second – transistors – IBM7094,1401 – assembly language

o Third – circuits, remote data, telecoms – IBM360,370 – high level language

o Fourth – VLSI, personal – cray XMP, crap ii – fourth generation language

o Fifth – parallel – IBM system z10 – NLP natural language processing

THE POWER OF COMPUTERS

Computers draw their power from 3 factors: speed, accuracy and storage and retrieval capabilities.

 Speed

o Measured as the number of instruction performed during fraction of seconds

 Millesecond – 1/1000

 Microsecond – 1/1 000 000

 Nanosecond – 1/1 000 000 000

 Picoseconds – 1/1 000 000 000 000

 Accuracy
 o Very accurate up to the last decimal.

 Storage and retrieval

o Saving data in computer memory and retrieval is accessing data from memory.

o 8 bits = 1 byte. A byte is the size of a character

o 1 000 bytes = 1 kilobyte

o 1 000 000 bytes (1000*1000) = 1KB – kilobyte

o 1 000 000 000 (1000*1000*1000) = 1GB – gigabyte

o 1 000 000 000 000 (1000*1000*1000*1000) = 1TB – terabyte

o PB - petabyte

o EB Exabyte

 1 represents on and 0 represent off.

 ASCII – American standard code for information interchange. Each character is represented by
a 7 bit binary number up to 128

 Unicode ASCII – capable of representing 256 characters

 Extended ASCII – 8 bit code representing 256 characters.

 IBCDIC– Extended binary coded decimal interchange code - represented by 8 bit binary
number.

 Millipede – allows storage of one trillion bits of data per inch – 20 times more than magnetic
disks. nanotechnology

COMPUTER OPERATIONS

INPUT DEVICES

 Send data and information to the computer. Following are input devices:

o Keyboards – are most widely used devices. Designed to resemble typewriters but
modified to improve use

o Mouse – is a pointing device for moving the cursor on the screen – graphics.
 o Touch screens – work with menus are a combination of input devices. Some touch
screens reply on light detection to determine which menu item has been selected and
others are pressure sensitive.

o Light pens – are connected to the monitor with a cable. When the pen is placed on the
screen the data in this spot is sent to the computer. Easy to use, inexpensive and
accurate. Useful for graphic designed and engineers.

o Trackball – kept in a stationary location but can be rolled on its axis to control the
screen cursor. Track ball occupy less space than a mouse – positioning is better with a
mouse.

o A data tablet – consists of a small pas and a pen. Make selections with a pen. Mostly
used in computer aided design and manufacturing applications.

o Barcode readers – are optical scanners that use lasers to read codes in a bar form.
These devices are fast, accurate and have many applications in inventory, data entry and
tracking systems. Used with UPC in retail stores

o Optical character reader OCR – works same as barcode readers but read text. It must
recognize many special characters, uppercase, lowercase and is more difficult than
barcode reader. Used by united states postal service.

o Magnetic ink character recognition MICR - read character printed in magnetic ink and
are used in banks for reading information at the bottom of checks.

o Optical mark recognition OMR – Sometimes called “mark sensing” because it reads
marks on paper. Often used to grade multiple choice and true/false tests.

OUTPUT DEVICES

 Output displayed on screen is called SOFT COPY. Most common:

o Cathode ray Tube (CRT)

o Plasma display

o Liquid crystal display (LCD)

 The other type is hardcopy and most common is Printer:

o When selecting a printer consider: costs, speed, space and networking.

o Inkjet – produce characters by projecting electrically charged droplets of ink onto paper
that create an image. High quality uses multi colour ink cartridges for near photo copy
output. Suitable for home users and photo printing
 o Laser – use laser based technology that creates electrical charges on a rotating drum to
attract toner. The toner is fused to paper using heat process that creates output. Best
suited for larger office environments, high volumes.

o PLOTTERS – converting computer output to graphics a

o VOICE synthesis for converting computer output to voice.

MEMORY DEVICES

The more memory a computer has, the faster and more efficient is the input/output. Graphics cards
also called video adapters also enhance the computers performance. There are 2 types of memory: main
memory and secondary memory.

 MAIN MEMORY

o The most common type of main memory is semiconductor memory chips made of
silicon. A semiconductor memory device can be volatile and non volatile.

o RAM – Random Access Memory – is the volatile memory and is read/write memory.

o CACHE RAM – resides on the processor. Cache RAM stores recently accessed memory so
that the processor isn’t waiting for memory transfer.

o ROM – Read only Memory – this is a non volatile memory and data CANNOT be written
to. BIOS information and the computers system clock is usually stored here.

 PROM – Programmable read only memory – chip can be programmed however

after it is programmed cannot be erased.

 EPROM – Erasable Programmable read only memory – same as PROM but

contents can be erased.

 SECONDARY MEMORY

o Is non volatile and holds data when the computer is off. Also serves as an archival
storage of large data for long periods. There are 3 main types:

o MAGNETIC DISK – is made of metal and used for random access processing. Data can be
accessed in any order, faster and more expensive

o MAGNETIC TAPE – is made of plastic material, resembles a cassette tape and stores data
in sequence. IRG – interRecordGap – used for storing backups.
 o OPTICAL DISCS – use laser beams to access and store data. Can store vast amount of
data and is durable e.g. CD-ROMS, WORM Discs, DVD’s.

 COMPACT DISC READ ONLY MEMORY(CDROM) – read only medium. Easy to

duplicate and distribute. Used in large permanent databases like the library, real
estate firms and financial institutions.

 DIGITAL VERSATILE DISC read only memory(DVDROM) – larger capacity, now

used in place of CD ROM.

 WRITE ONCE READ MANY (WORM) – also a permanent device. Information can
be recorded once and cannot be altered – it cannot be duplicated. Used to store
information like annual reports. SD Secure digital can store data for 100 years.

 ERASABLE OPTICAL DISC – data can be erased and altered repeatedly. Used for
high volume and updating.

o Other:

 Hard disks

 USB flash drive

 Memory cards

o RAID redundant array of independent disks - is a collection of disk drives used for fault
tolerance and improved performance, in large network systems. Data can be stored in
multiple places so if one disk in the array fails, data is not lost.

 STORAGE AREA NETWORKS AND NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE

o SAN storage area network – high speed network consisting of both hardware and
software used to connect and manage shared storage devices such as disk arrays, tape
libraries and optical storage devices. Makes storage devices available to all servers on a
LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN) – WIDE AREA NETWORK (WAN). Used only in large
enterprises because of cost and installation complexity.

o NETWORK ATTACHED STORAGE (NAS) – is essentially a network-connected computer

dedicating to providing file-based data storage services to other networks.

CLASSES OF COMPUTERS

 Computers are classified based on cost, amount of memory, speed and sophistication.

 Classified as: subnotebooks, notebooks, personal computers, mini computers, mainframe or

super computers.
  Mainframe – has the highest storage capabilities and is more expensive.

SERVER PLATFORMS OVERVIEW

 SERVER – is a computer and all the software managing network resources and offering services
to a network.

 SERVER PLATFORMS

o Application servers – store computer software which users can access from their work
stations.

o Database servers – store and manage a vast amount of data for access from users
computers.

o Disk servers – contain large capacity hard drives and allow users to store files and
applications for retrieving later.

o Fax servers – contains software and hardware that enable users to send and receive
faxes.

o File servers – contains large capacity hard drives for storing and retrieving data files.

o Mail servers – configured for sending, receiving and storing emails.

o Print servers – enable users to send print jobs to network printers.

o RAS Remote access servers – allow offsite users to connect to the network resources.

o Web servers – store web pages for access over the internet.

SOFTWARE

Software is all the programs that run a computer system. It can be classified as system software and
application software. System software works in the background and takes care of housekeeping tasks
like deleting files. Application software is used to perform specialized tasked like excel.

OPERATING SYSTEM SOFTWARE

 OS is a set of programs for controlling and managing computer hardware and software. An OS
provides an interface between the computer and the user and increases computer efficiency
by helping users share resources and perform repetitive tasks. The OS consist of control
programs and supervisor programs.

 Control programs – manage the computer hardware and resources by the following functions:

 Job management – control and prioritize tasks performed by the CPU

  Resource allocation – manage computer resources such as storage and memory. Also used
to assign print jobs.

 Data management – control data integrity by generating checksums to verify that data
hasn’t been corrupted or changed.

 Communication – control the transfer of data among parts of a computer system.

 Supervisor programs – also known as kernel – is responsible for controlling all other programs
in the OS such as compilers, interpreters, assemblers, and special tasks. TIME SHARED OS Also
allow several users to user computer resources simultaneously.

OS APPLICATION SOFTWARE

 A personal computer can perform a variety of tasks by using application software which can
be commercial software or in house software. In house software is usually more expensive
than commercial software but is more customized and fits the user’s needs better.

 WORD PROCESSING SOFTWARE

o Used to generate documents. Includes editing, deleting, inserting, and copying.

Advanced software can include graphics and data management features. E.G.MS word,
corel word perfect, open office.

 SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE

o is a table of rows and columns and is capable of performing numerous tasks with
information on a spreadsheet. You can prepare a budget and perform a “what if”
analysis on the data. E.g. MS excel, IBM lotus 123 and corel Quattro pro.

 DATABASE SOFTWARE

o Database software makes accessing and working with data faster and more efficient.
Users can search information quickly and even tailor searches to meet a specific criteria.
E.g ms access, oracle and filemaker pro.

 PRESENTATION SOFTWARE

o Is used to create and deliver slide shows. Powerpoint is a popular example. You can add
graphs, charts, embed graphics, sound, movie clips, time intervals and capture screens.
  GRAPHICS SOFTWARE

o Designed to present data in a graphical format such as line graphs and pie charts.

 DESKTOP PUBLISHING SOFTWARE

o used to produce professional quality documents without expensive hardware and

software. This software works on a “what you see is what you get”(WYSIWYG wizzy wig)
concept. High quality screen displays gives you an idea of the printed out copy. E.g office
publisher.

 FINANCIAL PLANNING AND ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE

o more powerful than spreadsheet software, is capable of performing many types of

analysis on large amounts of data. Including present value, future value, rate of return,
cashflow, depreciation, retirement planning and budgeting. EG QUICKEN. In addition, it
can perform accounting tasks such as general ledgers, accounts receivable, accounts
payable, payroll, balance sheet, income statement EG quickbooks.

 PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

o Aim is to help project managers to keep time and budget under control by solving
scheduling problems, planning and setting goals and highlighting bottlenecks. You can
study the cost, time and resource impact on schedule changes.

 COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN SOFTWARE (CAD)

o Is used for design and drafting, mostly used in architecture and engineering. Eg AUTO
CAD.

COMPUTER LANGUAGES

 First generation machine language – consists on a series of 0’s and 1’s representing data and
instructions. It depends on the machine which means code for one machine doesn’t work on
another machine and is time consuming

 Second generation Assembly language – higher level than machine but is also machine
dependent. Uses a series of short codes to represent data and instructions.

 Third generation high level language – are machine independent. Examples are C++, JAVA and
VB.NET. it is easier to learn and code.

 Fourth generation languages 4GLs – are the easiest to use. This uses macro codes that take the
place of several lines of programming. Example SQL – structured query language.
  Fifth generation languages 5GLs – use some artificial intelligence technologies such as NLP -
Natural language processing. Codes are automatically generated and designed to make the
computer solve a problem without a programmer or minimum programming effort.

o XSL – extensible stylesheet language

o HTML – hyper text markup language

o XML – extensile markup language

Chapter 3 – Database systems, data warehouse and data marts

Data Bases

 A database is a collection of related data that can be stored in a central or multiple locations.
Like a filing cabinet but a database is faster.

 In a database, a file is a group of related records and a record is a group of related fields.

 DATA HIERARCHY is the structure and organization of data which involves fields, records and
files. (think excel)

47q2894698 Mary Barber

621432384 John New York

FILE
2648327 james broadwat
Recor
d

Field

 In a database system, all files are integrated e.g. you can look up all students in Marys class.

 A database is a critical component of the information systems because any type of analysis is
based on data in the database.

 DBMS – Database Management System is used to make databases more efficient. It is a

software used for creating, storing, maintaining and accessing database files.

 The flat file system was inefficient, duplicated records taking up more space and causing data
redundancy.
  The user requests information, DBMS searches and retrieves from the database and returns
information to the user.

 Advantages of a database:

o More information

o Handle complex requests.

o No data redundancy

o More than one program can use the same data.

o Improved data management.

o Easily maintained

o More security.

o Storage space reduced.

TYPES OF DATA IN A DATABASE

 Database needs to access internal and external data to generate business intelligence.

 Internal data

o Is collected from within the organizations database like customers list.

 External data

o More challenging because it comes from a number of sources. Examples: competitors,

customers and suppliers, distribution networks, economic indicators (CPI), regulation,
labor and population stats, tax records.

METHODS FOR ACCESSING FILES

 SEQUENTIAL FILE STRUCTURE – records in a file are organized and processed in numerical or
sequential order – typically the order in which they were entered. For example, to read record
number 10, records 1 to 9 must be read first. Used for large records that is processed quarterly
or yearly. This structure is used for backup and archive files because they need updating rarely.

 RANDOM ACCESS FILE STRUCTURE – records can be accessed in any order, regardless of their
location. This method is fast and very effective when a small number of records need to be
processed daily or weekly. Stored on magnetic disks.

 DISKS ARE RANDOM ACCESS DEVICES AND TAPES ARE SEQUENTIAL ACCESS DEVICES. Think
about a CD and a cassette tape – how would to change a song on each.
  (ISAM) INDEXED SEQUENTIAL ACCESS METHOD – records can be accessed sequentially or
randomly depending on the number being accessed. For a small number, random access is used
and for a large number sequential access is used.

o uses indexed value and a pointer to the disk location – requires 2 disk accesses to
retrieve a record. Once for the index and once for the actual record.

o Fast – recommended for frequent access.

LOGICAL DATABASE DESIGN

 Two ways information is viewed in a database i.e. physical view and logical view.

 PHYSICAL VIEW – involves how data is stored on and retrieved from storage media such as hard
disks, magnetic tapes or CDS. There is only one physical view.

 LOGICAL VIEW – involves how information appears to users and how it can be organized and
retrieved. There can be more than one logical view depending on the user.

 DATA MODEL – The first step in database design is defining the data model. A data model
determines how data is created, represented, organized and maintained. It contains data
structure, operation and integrity rules.

o DATA STRUCTURE – describes how data is organized and the relationship among
records.

o OPERATIONS – describes methods and calculations that can be performed on data such
as updating and querying data.

o INTEGRITY RULES – defines boundaries of a database such as maximum and minimum

values allowed for a field, constraints and access methods.

 HIERARCHICAL MODEL – the relationship between records form a treelike structure. Records
are called nodes and relationships between records are called branches. The node at the top is
called the root and every other node (called a child) has a parent. Nodes with the same parents
are called twins or siblings.
  NETWORK MODEL – is similar to the hierarchical model but records are organized differently.
Each record can have multiple parent and child records.

HIERARCHICAL MODEL ROOT

A B C SIBLINGS
A1 A2
A11 A21 p
A112 A22
A23 A
R
E
N
T
S

NETWORK MODEL

 THE RELATIONAL MODEL – uses 2 dimensional table of rows and columns of data. Rows are
records called tuples and columns are fields called attributes. Must define each table and the
fields in it which is called the data dictionary. In a relational database, every record must be
uniquely defined by a primary key. CAN HAVE
MULTIPLE PARENT
o Data retrieved in this model uses operations that pick and combine data from one or
AND CHILD
CASH more tables.
CREDIT
RECORDS
o Operations most commonly used.

 SELECT – search data in a table and retrieves records based pm certain criteria
also called conditions. Think of a filter – show members in a particular area.

 PROJECT – pares down a table by eliminating columns/fields according to a

certain criteria. – think hide a column.

 JOIN – combines two tables based on a common field. Think V LOOKUP. Primary
key in one table and foreign key in another table.

 DATA DICTIONARY – stores definitions such as data types for fields, default values and
validation rules for data in each field.

 PRIMARY KEY – uniquely identifies every record in a relational database. Examples are student
IDS, account numbers etc. – think unique field.
  FOREIGN KEY – is a field in a relational table that matches the primary key column in another
table. It can be used to cross reference table – think V LOOKUP. Used to establish relationships
among tables so that data can be linked and retrieved more efficiently.

 NORMALIZATION – improves database efficiency by eliminating redundant data and ensuring

that only related data is stored in a table.

o NF1 – Normal form 1. The process goes up to NF3. NF1 tasks:

 Eliminate duplicate fields from the same table.

 Create separate tables for each group of related data.

 Identify the primary key.

SOFTWARE USED TO MANAGE DATABASES.

COMPONENTS OF A DBMS

 Database engine

 Data definition

 Data manipulation

 Application generation

 Data administration

DATABASE ENGINE

 A database engine is the heart of the DBMS software, that is responsible for data storage,
manipulation and retrieval. It converts logical requests from users into their physical equivalents
like a report, by interacting with other components of the DBMS.

DATA DEFINITION

 This component is used to create and maintain the data dictionary and define the structure of
files in a database. Any changes such as adding or deleting fields, changing data type is made
with this component.

DATA MANIPULATION

 This component is used to add, delete, modify and retrieve records of a database. A query
language is used for this component.
 o SQL – structured query language

 SELECT field FROM table or file WHERE conditions. After the select keyword, list
the fields you want to retrieve. After from list the tables and files the data is
retrieved from and after where list the conditions. (SELECT name, ssn, title,
FROM employee, payroll, WHERE employees=payroll.

o QBE – query by example

 You request data from a database by constructing a statement made of query

forms instead of having to remember keywords.

 AND – means all conditions must be met

 OR – means only one condition must be met

 NOT – don’t meet the criteria.

APPLICATION GENERATION

 Is used to design elements of an application using a database such as data entry screens,
interactive menus and interfaces – think front end system.

DATA ADMINISTRATION

 Used by IT professionals and database administrators for tasks such as backup, recovery,
security and change management. It is also used for permissions – think roles. CRUD – create,
read, update and delete.

DATA BASE ADMINISTRATOR(DBA)

Found in large organizations, design and set up databases, establish security measures, develop
recovery procedures, evaluate database performance and add and fine tune database functions.

TRENDS IN DATABASE DESIGN

 DATA DRIVEN WEBSITES - acts as an interface to a database, retrieving data for users and
allowing users to enter data in the database.

o Without this, designers must edit the HTML code everytime.

o The data driven website changes automatically because it retrieves content from
external data sources.

o Improves access to information and reduces support and overhead needed to maintain
the site.
 o Useful for: commerce sites, news sites, newsletters, needing frequent updates.

 DISTRIBUTED DATABASES – Stores data on multiple servers in an organization.

o Organizations will use this for following reasons:

 Reflects organizations structure better – reduce network traffic.

 Local storage decreases response times but increases computer costs.

 If one server goes down, it does not affect the entire business.

 Number of users are not limited.

 Reduce costs for remote users.

 Not limited to datas physical location.

o THREE APPROACHES TO SEETING UP DDBMS

 Fragmentation – addresses how tables are divided among multiple locations.

Variations include horizontal, vertical and mixed.

 Replication – each site stores a copy of data of the organizations database. This
can increase costs but also increases data availability.

 Allocation – combines fragmentation and replication with each site storing the
data it uses most often.

 Security – poses an issues because of multiple access points but that needs to
be clearly defined and authorised users must be identified.

 CLIENT/SERVER DATABASES – users workstations are linked to a LAN to share the services of a
single server. Think intranet.

o Increases power and reduced costs of computers, client/server databases is widely

used.

 OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASES – both data and their relationships are contained in a single
object. An object consists of attributes and methods that can be performed on the objects data.

o Encapsulation – refers to the grouping into a class of various objects along with their
attributes and methods. Helps more complex data like images and graphs.

o Inheritance – refers to new objects being created faster and more easily by entering
new data in attributes. Example: you can add BMW as another vehicle object by having
in inherit the attributes and methods of the vehicle class.
 object name Class

Car 1: Vehicle

License number

Year

attributes Make

model

Add vehicle

method

DATA WAREHOUSES

 A data warehouse is a collection of data from a variety of sources used to support decision
making applications and generate business intelligence.

 The store multidimensional data so they are sometimes called hypercubes.

 in contrast to a database, a data warehouse has the following characteristics:

o subject orientated – focused on a specific area whereas a database is

transaction/function orientated.

o Integrated – comes from a variety of sources whereas data in a database usually

doesn’t.

o Time variant – categorized based on time such as historic information whereas data in a
database only keeps recent activity in memory.

o Type of data – captures aggregated data whereas data in a database captures raw
transaction data.

o Purpose – used for analytical purposes, but data in a database is used for capturing and
managing transactions.

FOUR MAJOR COMPONENTS OF DATA WAREHOUSE CONFIGURATION

ETL – extraction, transformation, loading – refers to the processes used in a data warehouse. It
includes extracting data from outside sources, transforming it to fit operational needs, and loading it
into the end target – database or data warehouse.

 INPUT – data can come from a variety of sources including databases, transaction files, ERP
enterprise resource planning systems - collects integrates and process data that can be used by
all functional areas. CRM customer relationship management systems – collects and processes
customer data to provide better customer services.

 ETL – EXTRACTION means collecting data from a variety of sources and converting it into a
format that can be used in transformation processing. This process can also parse (divide into
pieces) data to make sure it means structural requirements. TRANSFORMATION processing is
done to make sure data meets the data warehouses needs, its tasks are:

o Selecting columns to load

o Translating coded values

o Performing select, project, and join operations

o Sort and filter

o Aggregate and summarise.

LOADING – is the process of transferring data to the data warehouse. Can overwrite or add
to existing data.

 STORAGE – collected data is organized in a data warehouse as raw data, summary data or
metadata.

o Raw data – is the information in its original form.

o Summary data – gives users subtotals of various categories.

o Metadata – is information about data – its content, quality, condition, origin, and other
characteristics. Tells the users how, when and by whom data was collected and how
data has been formatted and converted to its present form.

 OUTPUT – a database supports OLTP:

o OLTP – OnLine Transaction Processing - Systems are used to facilitate and manage
transaction orientated applications such as point of sale, data entry, and retrieval
transaction processing. They utilize internal data and respond in real time. which
generates:

 Products with highest sales.

  Region with lowest sales.

 Sales person percentage.

Data warehouse used the following:

 OLAP – OnLine Analytical Processing. Generates business intelligence. It uses multiple sources
of information and provides multidimensional analysis such as viewing data based on time,
product and location. Slicing and dicing. Drill up.

 DATA MINING ANALYSIS – is used to discover patterns and relationships. For example: examine
point of sale data to generate reports on customers purchase history. Based on this information
companies can better target marketing promotions to certain customers. Answers the following:

o Which customers are likely to respond to a new product.

o Respond to a new campaign.

o Recommend products based on past buying patterns.

o Vendors include: SAP, business objects, SAS, Cognos and informatica.

 DECISION MAKING REPORTS – examples of what a data warehouse can allow you to do:

o Cross reference – compare between departments.

o Generate complex queries and reports faster and easier.

o Data stored in a variety of sources making generation of reports easier.

o Find patterns and trends that cant be found in a database.

o Analyze large amounts of historic data

o Assist business to make informed decisions.

o Manage high demand of information.

DATA MARTS

A data mart is usually a smaller version of a data warehouse, used by a single department or function.

 Focus on functions for a specific user group like marketing. Following advantages to a
warehouse:

o Access data faster.

 o Easier to create.

o Less expensive.

o Users are targeted better because it is designed for a specific department. But a data
warehouse is designed for the whole organization.

 They have limited scope and consolidating information from different departments is more
difficult.

CHAPTER 4 – PERSONAL, LEGAL. ETHICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES OF INFORMTION SYSTEMS.

Risks associated with information technologies.

 COOKIES – are small text files with unique ID tags that are embedded in a web browser and
saved on the user’s hard drive. They make is possible for web sites to customize pages for users.
They can be considered an invasion on privacy. Cookies provide information about the users
location and computer equipment and this information can be used for unauthorized purposes
such as corporate espionage. You can disable cookies by installing a cookie manager.

 SPYWARE – is software that secretly gathers information about users while they browse the
web. It can interfere with the users control of their computers by installing additional software
and redirecting web browsers. Install antivirus software to protect from spyware.

 ADWARE – is a form of spyware that collects information about the user to display
advertisements in the web browser, based on information it collects from the users browsing
patterns. Install ad blocking feature to protect against this.

 PHISHING – is sending fraudulent emails that seem to come from a legitimate source, such as
banks for the purpose of capturing private information such as bank details and security
numbers.

 KEYLOGGERS – monitor and record keystrokes and can be hardware or software. Can be used
for collecting credit card numbers.

 SNIFFING – is capturing and recording network traffic. It can be used to check network
performance but hackers use it to intercept information.

 SPOOFING – is an attempt to gain access to a network by posing as an authorised user to find

sensitive information such as passwords. It can also be illegitimate programs posing as
legitimate ones.
  COMPUTER FRAUD – is the unauthorized use of computer data for personal gain such as
transferring money from someone elses account.

Computer crimes include: Denial of service attack, Identity theft, Software piracy, Distributing
child pornography, Email spamming, stealing files and sabotage etc.

PRIVACY ISSUES

Information technologies have created concern about privacy in the workplace. Where employers
monitor staffs performance.

There are a number of databases that store and share personal information for marketing purposes.

There are 3 concepts regarding internet and network privacy: acceptable use policies, accountability
and non repudiation.

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICIES – is a set of rules specifying the legal and ethical use of a system and the
consequences of non compliance.

ACCOUNTABILITY – refers to issues involving both users and the organizations responsibility and liability.

NON REPUDIATION – is basically a method for binding all the involved parties into a contract.

 Guideline to eliminate or minimize invasion of privacy:

o Use websites whose privacy policies are accessible.

o Limit access to personal information.

o Organizations must take precautions against misuse of information.

o Any data collection must have a stated purpose and data that is necessary.

o Existence of record keeping must not be kept a secret.

 EMAIL – one issue is junk email or spam (is unsolicited email sent for advertising purposes).
Many organization state that emails are company property and they have right to access them
at any time.

 DATA COLLECTION ON THE INTERNET – hackers are getting access to credit card details via the
internet.

o LOG FILES – This is generated by Web server software, record users actions on a web
site.

o Identity misrepresentation – when users give the incorrect information (dating sites).
 o Data collected on the internet must be used and interpreted with caution.

ETHICAL ISSUES

 Ethics mean doing the right thing and its meaning can vary from person to person to cultures.

 The line between legal and illegal is clear but the line between ethical and unethical is not
always clear.

Legal Illegal

Ethical I ii

Unethical iii iv

 Many companies have developed code of ethics for their members.

CENSORSHIP

 Public information that is information posted by an organization or agency can be censored for
public policy reasons such as not allowing military secrets to be published or if it is offensive to
cultures etc.

 Private information that is information posted y an individual person is not subject to censorship
because they have right to freedom of speech.

 Another type of censorship is restricting access to the internet – think about companies that
block facebook etc. Also for parents who don’t want their children exposed on the internet can
use cyberpatrol, cybersitter, net nanny, safesurf etc.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

 Intellectual property is a legal umbrella covering protections that involve copyrights,

trademarks, trade secrets, and patents for “creations of the mind” developed by people or
businesses.

 Industrial property – inventions, trademarks, logos, industrial designs etc.

 Copyrighted material which covers literary and artistic works. Copyright law protects tangible
material like books and drawings and also cover web pages, HTML code and computer graphics.

 Copyright law gives the creator exclusive rights which means that no one else can reproduce,
distribute, and perform work without permission.
  FAIR USE DOCTRINE – under the copyright law allowing you to use copyrighted material for a
certain purpose like quoting a line from a book.

 TRADEMARKS – protects product names and identifying marks like logos.

 PATENT – protects new processes.

 Organization can benefit from patents by licensing patent to others for revenue, use patent to
attract funding, keep competitors from entering markets etc.

 Software piracy is a concern – you cannot duplicate or use copyrighted programs without
consent.

 CDA – Communication decency act.

 CYBERSQUATTING – is registering, selling and using a domain name to profit someone elses
trademark.

SOCIAL DIVISION AND DIGITAL DIVIDE

 Information technology and the internet have created a digital divide – computers are still not
affordable for many people. The digital divide has implications for education.

 Students who don’t have access to internet or PCs at home are at a disadvantage and often lag
behind in their education.

IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN THE WORKPLACE

 Created many jobs but also eliminated many jobs.

 Reduced production costs and increased purchasing power resulting in a stronger economy.

 “JOB DESKILLING” – this occurs when a skilled labor is eliminated by high technology or when
a job is downgraded from a skilled to a semiskilled or unskilled position. It is usually when a
job is automated or when a complex job is fragmented into sequence.

 “JOB UPGRADING” – when clerical workers use computers for word processing. Can have new
tasks and responsibilities because system is more efficient. – THINK MAIL MERGE

 VIRTUAL ORGANISATION – are when networks of independent companies, suppliers,

customers, and manufacturers connected via information technologies so that they can share
skills and costs and have access to each others markets. Advantages:

o Each company can focus on its strengths, costs are reduced, response to customers’
faster, new inventions introduced quicker, focus on client needs.
IT AND HEALTH ISSUES

 VDT – video display terminals – no proven study that VDT can cause harm.

 The work environment in which computers are used: static electricity, inadequate ventilation,
poor lighting, dry air and few breaks can cause health problems.

 Health issues include, blurred vision, fatigue, back strain, wrist pain etc.

GREEN COMPUTING

ICT – information and communications technology generates 2% of the worlds carbon dioxide. We
need tool that can reduce CO2 omissions.

Green computing involves design, manufacture, use and disposal of computers, servers and computer
devices in such a way that it has minimal impact on the environment.

Use devices that consume less energy and are biodegradable.

CHAPTER 5 – PROTECTING INFORMATION RESOURCES.

COMPUTER AND NETWORK SECURITY

 Hackers use a variety of tools to break into computers and networks.

 A comprehensive security system protects an organizations resources and network equipment.

 EDI – electronic data interchange.

 Three important aspects in network security = CIA also referred to as the “CIA triangle” –
confidentiality, integrity and availability.

CONFIDENTIALITY – means that a system must prevent disclosing information to anyone who isn’t
authorized to access it.

INTEGRITY – refers to the accuracy of information resources within an organization.

AVAILABILITY – means that computers and networks are operating and authorized users can access the
information they need. It also means a quick recovery in the event of a system failure or disaster.

 Committee of National security systems introduced the McCumber Cube. John McCumber
created this framework for evaluating information security. Represented as a three dimensional
cube, it defines NINE characteristics of information security.

o CIA – confidentiality, integrity, availability

o TSP – transmission, storage, processing.

o HPT – human factors, policy, technology.

 In addition, must have three levels:

o Level 1 – email and webservers – all front end.

o Level 2 – back end systems protection.

o Level 3 – network protection against unauthorized access.

 First step is FAULT TOLERANT SYSTEMS – ensure availability in the event of a system failure by
using a combination of hardware and software. Some commonly used methods:

o UPS – uninterruptable power supply – safely shuts down server.

o RAID – redundant array independent disks – stores in multiple places.

o Mirror Disks – uses 2 disks containing that same data.

SECURITY THREATS

 VIRUSES – consists of self propagating program code that’s triggered by a specific time or event.
When the program or operating system containing the virus is used, the virus attached itself to
other files and the cycle continues.

o can be transmitted through a network or through email attachments.

o Symptoms of a virus: reduced space, slow system, screen freezes etc.

 o Protection = anti viruses.

 WORMS – A worm travels from computer to computer in a network, but it doesn’t usually erase
data. Unlike viruses, worms are independent programs that can spread themselves without
having to be attached to a host program.

o it corrupts data ands replicates itself to eat up computer resources.

o Known worms = code red, Melissa, sasser.

 TROJAN PROGRAMS – contains code intended to disrupt a computer, network, or website and it
is usually hidden inside a popular program. Users run the program, unaware that the malicious
program is also running in the background.

o Can erase data BUT don’t replicate themselves.

 LOGIC BOMBS – is a type of Trojan program used to release a virus, worm or other destructive
code. Logic Bombs are triggered at a certain time or by a specific event, such as the user
pressing the enter button or running a certain program.

 BACKDOORS – Also called trapdoors. Is a programming routine built into a system by its
designer or programmer? It enables the designer to bypass system security and sneak back into
the system later to access program files.

 BLENDED THREAT – is a security threat that combines the characteristics of computer viruses,
worms and other codes with vulnerabilities found on public or private networks.

o Targets weak points and send codes on server or via email with worm attachment. Can
launch a DOS attack.

 DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACKS(DOS) – floods the network or server with service requests to
prevent legitimate users to access the system. Difficult to trace.

 SOCIAL ENGINEERING – means people skills – such as being a good listener and assuming a
friendly unthreatening air – to trick others into revealing private information. This attack takes
advantages of the human element of security systems.

o “DUMPSTER DIVING” – search through deleted items and junk mail for personal
information.

o “SHOULDER SURFING” – looking over someones shoulder to observe passwords etc.

SECURITY MEASURES AND ENFORCEMENT

 BIOMETRIC SECURITY MEASURES – use a physiological (physical) element to enhance security
measures. These elements are unique to a person and cannot be stolen, lost, copied, or passed
on to others. It is expensive, complex and users are reluctant to use this.

o Facial recognition – identify by checking unique shape, pattern and facial features.

o Fingerprints – scan prints and verifies against stored prints.

o Hand geometry – compare length of fingers, fingertips and webbing against stored
hands.

o Iris analysis – use a video camera to capture the users iris and compare to stored one.

o Palm prints – palm reader uses near infrared light to capture a users vein patterns which
is unique to each individual. Compared to stored data.

o Retinal scanning – scan the retina using a binocular eye camera and check stored data.

o Signature analysis – check users signature and pen pressure, speed and time.

o Vein Analysis – analyze pattern of veins in the wrist and back of the hand without
making any direct contact with veins.

o Voice recognition – translate words into digital patterns which are recorded and
examined for tone and pitch. It can work over long distances via ordinary phones.

 NON BIOMETRIC MEASURES

o Call back modems – verifies whether a users access is valid by logging the user off after
she attempts to connect to the network and the calling the user back at a
predetermined number.

o Firewall – is a combination of hardware and software that acts as a filter or barrier

between a private and external computers or networks, including the internet. A
network administrator defines rules for access and all other data transmission are
blocked.

 A fire wall decides whether to allow transmission based on users ID,

transmission origin, contents and destination. Information is stored in “packets”
and after examining each packet a firewall decides to: reject, send warning,
send failed message, or allow the packet to enter. Basic firewall:

Outgoing data Income data

Private network Firewall Internet
  Main types are packet filtering firewalls, application filtering firewalls, and proxy
servers

 Packet filtering – control data traffic by configuring a router to examine packets

passing in and out of the network. The router examines IP address and port,
destination IP address and port and protocol used. It informs sender if packets
are rejected. Records are incoming connections but cannot record every action
taking place at the firewall.

 Application filtering – generally more secure and flexible but are more
expensive. Software is stored on a host computer to control use of network
applications such as email, telnet and FTP. It monitors time and filters viruses
and log actions more efficiently than packet. But are slower.

 A Proxy server – acts as an intermediary between two systems – between

network users and the internet. It scans malware and viruses, speeds up
network traffic and can block requests from certain servers.

Internet – firewall – proxy server - LAN

 Hackers use IP Spoofing to trick firewalls into treating packets as coming from a
legitimate address.

 Improve capabilities by identifying why data must be secured, security needs,

costs, vendors reputation. Can build your own firewall but it is expensive.

o INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEMS(IDS) – can protect against both external and internal
access. It usually placed in front of a firewall and can identify attack signatures, trace
patterns, generate alarms for the network administrator and cause routers to terminate
connections with suspicious sources. Can also prevent DOS attacks. Monitors network
traffic, uses the “prevent, detect and react” approach to security.

 PHYSICAL SECURITY MEASURES – primarily control access to computers and networks and
include devices for securing computers and peripherals from theft. Measures include:

o Cable shielding – braided layers around the conductor cable protect it from
electromagnetic interference (EMI).

o Corner Bolts – inexpensive way to secure a computer to a counter.

 o Electronic trackers – secures to a computer at the power outlet. If the power cord is
disconnected, a transmitter sends a message to an alarm that sounds or a camera that
records what happens.

o ID badges - checked against a list of authorized personnel.

o Proximity release door openers – a transmitter is used to detect employees within a

certain distance and radio signal sends them a key number to open the door.

o Room shielding – nonconductive material is sprayed to limit signals transmitted or

confine signal to a room.

o Steel encasements – these fit over the entire computer and can be locked.

 ACCESS CONTROLS – are designed to protect systems from unauthorized access in order to
preserve data integrity.

o Terminal resource security – software that erases the screen and signs the user off
automatically after a specified amount of time.

o Passwords – a password is a combination of numbers, characters and symbols that’s

entered to allow access to the system. Length and complexity determines the
vulnerability of password. Guidelines:

 Change password frequently.

 8 characters or longer.

 Combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special symbols.

 Should not be written down.

 Shouldn’t be common names, such as users first name, or obvious dates or

words that can be found in a dictionary.

 Shouldn’t be increased or decreased sequentially or follow a pattern.

 Terminate inactive employee passwords.

 VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK (VPN) – provides a secure “tunnel” through the internet for
transmitting messages and data via a private network. Also provides security for extranets.

o data is encrypted before it is sent through the tunnel with a protocol, such as layer 2
tunneling protocol.

o ISDN – Integrated services digital network

  DATA ENCRYPTION - transforms data called plaintext or cleartext into a scrambled form called
ciphertext that can’t be read by others.

o the rule for encryption is called “encryption algorithm” determines how simple or
complex the transformation process should be.

o Julius Caesar developed the simple substitution algorithm, in which each letter is
substituted by a letter 3 positions farther.

o Secure sockets layers (SSL) – is a commonly used encryption protocol that manages
transmission security on the internet. (https).

o Transport layer security (TSL) – is a cryptographic protocol that ensures data security
and integrity over public networks such as internet.

o Asymmetric encryption – uses two keys: a public key know to everyone and a private
key or secret key known only to the recipient. A message encrypted with a public key
can be decrypted only with the same algorithm used by the public key and requires the
recipients’ private key too. Anyone intercepting the message cant decrypt it without the
private key. Slow and requires a lot of processing power.

o Symmetric encryption – also called “secret key encryption”, the same key is used to
encrypt and decrypt the message. The sender and receiver must agree on the key and
keep it a secret.

 E-COMMERCE TRANSACTION SECURITY MEASURES

o Confidentiality – how can we ensure only the recipient reads the message?

o Authentication - how can the recipient know it is from an authentic source?.

o Integrity – confirm that the contents have not been changed.

o Non repudiation from origin – the sender can’t deny sending. Digital signatures are
used to bind partners in a transaction.

o Non repudiation of receipt – receiver can’t deny having received it.

 COMPUTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (CERT) – teams that can handle network intrusions
and attacks quickly (think 2000). Handling and preventing incidents.

GUIDELINES FOR A COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY SYSTEM

 Training employees about security awareness and security measures.

  Set up a security committee who are responsible for security policy and procedures, training,
assessment of current security, develop audit procedures for system use, oversee enforcement
of security measures, audit trail of incoming and outgoing data.

 Post security policy where visible, revoke access for terminated employees, lock work stations,
never leave work stations unattended, limit access, investigate billing discrepancies, install
antivirus systems, install only licensed software.

 Test alarms and fire systems ,check humidity and temperature, use physical security measures,
or biometric measures, install fires walls.

 BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLAN – outlines procedures for keeping an organization operation in the
event of a natural disaster or network attack. Prepare for disaster:

o Back up files. And keep it off site.

o Review security and fire standards periodically.

o Make sure staff are aware of the plan. And keep a copy of the plan off site.

o Test the recovery plan.

o Document all hardware and software changes.

o Insurance policy.

o Set up alternative work sites.

o Sprinklers, fire extinguishers and gas systems.

o if disaster strikes, you should get a recovery team to oversee the recovery plan, contact
insurance company, restore phone lines and other communication systems, notify all
affected people, set up help desk, document all actions to review plan later.

CHAPTER 6 – DATA COMMUNICATION: DELIVERING INFORMATION ANYWHERE AND ANYTIME.

DEFINING DATA COMMUNICATION

 Data communication – is the electronic transfer of data from one location to another.
  Information systems effectiveness is measured by how efficiently it delivers information and a
data communication system is what enables an information system to carry out this function.

 Data communication system can improve flexibility of data collection and transmission.

 Not limited by physical boundaries.

 E-collaboration is another main application of data communication. Decision makers can be

located throughout the world but can still collaborate with their collegues.

 WHY MANAGERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DATA COMMUNICATION:

o Data communication applications can enhance decision makers efficiency and

effectiveness.

o Data communication enables you to use emails and electronic file transfer to improve
efficiency and productivity.

o Online training for employees.

o Internet research.

o Boundaries between work and personal life are less clear-cut as data communication is
more available at home.

o Web and video conferencing.

 MANAGERS NEED TO UNDERSTAND:

o The basics of data communication and networking.

o Internet, intranet and extranets.

o Wired and wireless.

o Network security issues and measures.

o Globalization issues, applications of data communication systems, organization and

social effects etc.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF A DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

 BANDWIDTH – is the amount of data that can b transferred from one point to another in a
certain time period, usually one second. It is often expressed in bits per second(bps), kilo bytes
per second (kbps) and megabytes per second(mbps) and gigabytes per second(gbps).
 ATTENUATION – is the loss of power in a signal as it travels from the sending device to the
receiving device.

 BROADBAND – is a data transmission channel, multiple pieces of data are sent simultaneously
to increase the transmission rate.

 NARROWBAND – is a voice grade transmission channel capable of transmitting a maximum of

56000bps, so only a limited amount of information can be transferred in a specific period of
time.

 PROTOCOLS – a communication link between two devices must be synchronized meaning that
they must start and stop communicating at the same point. This synchronization is handled with
PROTOCOLS. They are rules that govern data communication, including error detection,
message length, and transmission speed.

 SENDER AND RECEIVER DEVICES:

o An input/output device or “thin client” is used only for sending or receiving information,
it has NO processing power.

o A smart terminal is an input/output device that can perform certain processing tasks,
BUT IS NOT a full featured computer. Used in factories.

o An intelligent terminal, a workstation, or a personal computer serves as an input/output

device or as a standalone system. It has processing tasks and is a step up from a smart
terminal.

o A netbook computer is low cost, diskless computer used to connect to the internet or a
LAN. It runs software off a server and saves data to a server.

o Other types are: minicomputers, mainframes and supercomputers.

 MODEMS – short for modulator demodulator, is a device that connects a user to the internet.

o Not all internet connections require a modem e.g. wireless users connect via access
points

o DSL – DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER LINE – a common carrier service is a high speed service that
uses ordinary phone lines.

 This requires modems to connect.

 COMMUNICATION MEDIA – or channels, connect sender and receiver devices. They can be
conducted (wired) or radiated(wireless).
  CONDUCTED MEDIA – provide a physical path along which signals are transmitted including
twisted pair, coaxial and fibre optics cable

o TWISTED PAIR – consists of two copper lines twisted around each other and either
shielded or unshielded. It is used in telephone network and communication within
buildings.

o COAXIAL CABLE – are thick cables that can be used for both data and voice
transmissions. Used for long distance telephone transmissions.

o FIBRE-OPTIC CABLE – are glass tubes (thin) surrounded by concentric layers of glass
called cladding to form a light path through wire cables. Have higher capacity, smaller
size, lighter weight, lower attenuation and higher security and highest bandwidth.

 RADIATED MEDIA – use an antenna for transmitting data through air or water.

 Communication medium can use point to point system, only one device at a time uses the
medium or multipoint system, several devices share the same medium.

PROCESSING CONFIGURATIONS

 CENTRALIZED PROCESSING – in this system, all processing is done at one central computer. The
main disadvantage is the lack of responsiveness to users needs.

 DECENTRALIZED PROCESSING – in this system, each user, department, or division has its own
computer “organizational unit”, for performing processing tasks. It is responsive to users needs
however, there is lack of coordination among units, high costs and duplication of efforts.

 DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING – solves two main problems – by maintaining centralized control and
decentralizing operations. Processing power is distributed among several locations. Advantages:

o Accessing unused processing power

o Design allows computers to be added or removed – good for growing business

o Distance and location are not limiting

o Fault tolerance is improved by availability of redundant resources. And shared resources

reduce costs.

o Reliable because system failures are limited to one site. More responsive.

o Disadvantages are: dependence on technology, incompatibility between equipment and

more challenging network management.
  OPEN SYSTEMS INTERCONNECTION MODEL (OSI) – is a seven layer architecture for defining
how data is transmitted from computer to computer in a network, from the physical connection
to the network to the applications that users run. It also standardizes interactions between
network computers exchanging information.

o Application Layer – window through which applications access the network.

o Presentation layer – responsible for formatting message packets.

o Session Layer – establishes a communication session between computers.

o Transport layer – makes sure packets are delivered without error, in sequence and with
no loss or duplication. Control data flow.

o Network later – responsible for routing messages.

o Data link layer – establish and control communication link.

o Physical layer – specifies the electrical connections and physical medium used.
Concerned with transmitting binary data or bits over a communication network.

TYPES OF NETWORKS

All networks interface using a Network Interface Card (NIC) – is a hardware component that enables
computers to communicate over a network

 Local Area Network (LAN) – connects workstations and peripheral devices that are in close
proximity. Limited geographical area such as a building or campus and one company owns it.
Most often used to share resources, integrate services.

o Ethernet and Ethernet cable – Ethernet is a standard communication protocol

embedded in software and hardware devices used for building a LAN. An Ethernet cable
is used to connect computers, hubs, switches, and routers to a network.

 Wide Area Network (WAN) – can span several cities, states or even countries and it is usually
owned by several different parties. Uses coaxial cables, satellite and fibre optics.

 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) – is designed to handle data communication for multiple
organizations in a city and sometimes nearby cities too.

NETWORK TOPOLOGIES
Network topologies represent a networks physical layout including the arrangement of computers
and cables.

 STAR TOPOLOGY – usually consists of a central computer (host computer, often a server) and a
series of nodes (typically workstations or peripheral devices). If the host fails the entire network
goes down. Advantages: easy to modify cables, detecting problems, nodes can be added easily,
handle heavy but short outbursts of traffic. Disadvantages: single point of failure, high costs for
cables.

 RING TOPOLOGY – no host computer is required, because each computer manages its own
connectivity. Computers and devices are arranged in a circle so that each node is connected to
two other nodes: upstream and downstream neighbor. Transmission is in ONE DIRECTION. If any
link between the nodes is severed, the entire network is affected. TOKEN RING – common in ring
topology where it only receives transmission from its immediate neigbour and uses FDDI (fibre
distributed data interface) and capable of bidirectional transmission. Less cables required but
detecting problems are more difficult.

 BUS TOPOLOGY – also called linear bus, connects nodes along a network segment, but the ends
of the cable aren’t connected as they are in a ring topology. A terminator is used at each end of
the cable to absorb the signal. Advantages: easy to extend, reliable, less cable than any
topology, simple wiring, can handle steady traffic. Disadvantages: difficult to detect problems
and can bottleneck in heavy traffic.

 HIERARCHICAL TOPOLOGY - also called a tree topology, combines computers with different
processing strengths in different organization levels. Failure of nodes at the bottom might not
have a big impact on the network performance but the middle and especially the top node
(which controls the entire network) are crucial for network operation. The mainframe computer
is at the top, front-end processing(FEP) make up the next level, controllers and multiplexers are
at the next level and terminals and workstations make up the last level. A controller is a
hardware and software device that controls data transfer from a computer to a peripheral
device and vice versa (monitor, printer, keyboard). A multiplexer is a hardware device that
allows several nodes to share one communication channel. Advantages: network control, low
cost. Disadvantages: network expansion, traffic congestion.

 MESH TOPOLOGY – also called plex/interconnected, every node (which can differ in size and
configuration) is connected to every other node. This is very reliable and failure of other nodes
doesn’t cause a major problem in the network but can be costly and difficult to maintain and
expand.

MAJOR NETWORKING CONCEPTS

Protocols are agreed-on methods and rules that electronic devices use to exchange information.

 TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL/INTERNET PROTOCOL (TCP/IP) – is an industry standard

suite of communication protocols that enables interoperability. In other words, it allows the
linking of devices running on many different platforms.

o two major controls are TCP which operates at the OSI models transport layer and IP
which operates at the OSI models network layer.

o TCP primary functions are establishing a link between hosts, ensuring message integrity,
sequencing and acknowledging packet delivery and regulating data flow between source
and destination nodes.

o IP is responsible for packet forwarding. IP networks combine network and node address
into one IP address, example: 163.202.63.12

 ROUTING – is a process of deciding which path to take on a network. This is determined by the
type of network and the software used to transmit data. Based on the amount of traffic and
availability of the circuit. Two ways:

o Routing table – is generated automatically by software and used to determine the best
possible route. The routing table lists modes on a network and the path to each node,
with alternate paths and speed.

o Centralized routing – one node is in charge if selecting the path for all packets. This
node, considered the network routing manager, stores the routing table and any
changes to the route must be made at this node. Can determine over and under usage.
If the controlling node fails no routing information is available.

o Distributed processing – relies on each node to calculate its own best possible route.
Each node contains its own routing table with current information on the status of
adjacent nodes so that the best possible route can be followed. If one node fails, the
table is updated and the packet is sent along a different path.

o Packet switching – a network communication method that divides data into small
packets and transmits them to an address, where they are reassembled. Can handle
multimedia data.

o A packet – is a collection of binary digits, including message data and control characters
for formatting and transmitting, sent from computer to computer over a network.

 ROUTERS – A router is a network connection device containing software that connects network
systems and controls traffic flow between them. Routers operate at the network layer of the OSI
model and handle routing packets on a network. They can choose the best possible path for
 packets based on distance or costs; routers can prevent network jams that delay packet delivery
and handle packets of different sizes.

o A router can also be used to isolate a portion of the LAN from the rest of the network –
this is called segmenting.

o Static router – requires the network routing manager to give it information about which
addresses are on which network.

o Dynamic router – can build tables that identify addresses on each network.

 CLIENT/SERVER MODEL – software runs on the local computer (the client) and communicates
with the remote server to request information or services. A server is a remote computer on the
network that provides information or services in response to client requests. Steps:

o Run client software to create query

o Client accepts the request and formats it so that the server can understand.

o The client sent the request to the server.

o The server receives and processes query.

o The results are sent to the client.

o The results are formatted and displayed to the user in an understandable format.

o 3 levels of logic

 Presentation logic – the topmost level, is concerned with how data is returned
to the client. GUI.

 Application logic – is the software processing requests for users.

 Data management logic – is responsible for handling data management and

storage operations.

 How to divide the 3 logics between client and server:

o Two-tier architecture – known as the traditional client/server model, a client (tier one)
communicates directly with the server (tier two). Effective for small groups and any
changes require major modifications.

o N-Tier architecture – attempts to balance the workload between client and server by
removing application processing from both the client and server and placing it on a
middle tier server. The 3 tier leave the presentation logic on the client and the data
management logic on the server.
WIRELESS AND MOBILE NETWORKS

Wireless network – is a network that uses wireless instead of wired technologies.

Mobile Network – also called cellular network, is a network operating on a radio frequency (RF),
consisting of radio cells, each served by a fixed transmitter, known as a cell site or base station.

Wireless networks are flexible, easy to install and low costs. However drawbacks include:

 Limited throughout – throughput is similar to bandwidth. It is the amount of data transferred or

processed in a specified time usually one second.

 Limited Range – the distance a signal can travel without losing strength is more limited in
mobile and wireless networks.

 In building penetration problems – wireless signals might not be able to pass through certain
building materials.

 Vulnerability to frequency noise – interference from other signals, usually called noise can
cause transmission problems. Etc. thunderstorms and lightning.

 Security – wireless network traffic can be captured with sniffers.

Wireless LANS have the same features and characteristics’ as wired LAN except they use wireless media
such as infrared.

WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES

In a wireless environment, portable computers use small antennas to communicate with radio towers in
the surrounding areas. They rely on the RF spectrum as the communication medium but differ. They fall
in two groups:

 Wireless (WLAN) - these are becoming more important. WLAN are characterized by having one
owner and covering a limited area. Security is lower.

 Wireless (WWAN) – cover a broader area such as cellular networks, cellular digital packet data
(CDPD), paging networks, personal communication systems (PCS), packet radio networks,
broadband personal communication system (BPCS) etc.

MOBILE NETWORKS

Mobile networks have three part architecture:

 Base stations – send and receive transmissions to and from subscribers.

 Mobile telephone switching offices(MTOS) – transfer calls between national or global phone
networks and base stations.
  Subscribers – users connect base stations by using mobile communication devices.

Mobile devices must register by subscribing to a carrier service provider. Roaming is using a cellular
phone outside of a carriers limited service area..

To improve efficiency and quality, two technologies are used:

 Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA) – divides each channel into six time slots. Each user is
allocated two slots: one for transmission and one for reception. This method increases efficiency
by 300% as it allows carrying 3 calls in 1 channel.

 Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) – transmits multiple encoded messages over a wide
frequency and then decodes them at the receiving end.

WIRELESS SECURITY

There are several techniques for improving the security on a wireless network:

 Service Set Identifier (SSID) – all users trying to access the access point are required to include a
SSID in all of their packets. But it can be picked up by other devices within range.

 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) – a key must be manually entered into the AP and the client
computers. The key encrypts the message before transmission. Time consuming, not suitable for
large networks.

 Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) – EAP keys are dynamically generated based on the
users ID and password. A new key is generated every time the user logs on.

 WiFi Protected Access (WPA) – combined WEP and EAP. Keys are fixed or dynamically changed.
Key is longer and more difficult to break.

 WPA2 – this technique uses EAP to obtain a master key. After the session the master key is
discarded.

CONVERGENCE OF VOICE, VIDEO AND DATA

 Convergence – refer to integrating voice, video and data so that multimedia information can be
used for decision making.

 Common applications – e-commerce, entertainment, video conferencing.

 CHAPTER 7 – INTERNET, INTRANET AND EXTRANETS

THE INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB

 Internet – is a worldwide collection of millions of computers and networks of all sizes. The
internet is a network of networks.

 Advanced research projects agency network(ARPANET) – a project started in 1969 by the US

department of defense, was the beginning of the internet.

 Internet backbone – is a foundation network linked with fibre-optic cables that can support very
high bandwidth. It is made up of many interconnected government, academic, commercial and
other high capacity data routers.

 NAP – Network access points determine how traffic is routed over the internet.

 Hypermedia – documents include embedded references to audio, text, images, video and other
documents. And retrieve information by the click of a button.

 Hypertext – the embedded references in hypermedia documents are called hypertext – they
consist of links users can click to follow a particular thread/topic.

 Domain Name System (DNS) – when information is transferred from one network to another,
domain names are converted to IP addresses by the protocol DNS. Servers using this protocol
maintain lists of computers and websites addresses and their associated IP addresses.

 Uniform resource locators (URL) - also called universal resource locators to identify web page.
A URL is the address of a document or site on the internet.

 http://www.csub.edu/~hbidgoli/books.html

o The domain name is csub.edu. every domain name has a suffix indicating the TLD(top
level domain) it belongs to. In the example, the suffix is .edu. spaces are not allowed

o http – stands for hyper text transfer protocol, the protocol used for accessing most web
sites.

o www.csub.edu – world wide web , the sub domain, is the network consisting of millions
of internet sites that offer text, graphics, sounds, animations and other multimedia
resources. This is the unique website.

o /~hbidgoli – this part is the name of the directory in which the files are stored.

o books.html – this part is the document itself.

  Types of internet connections:

o Symmetric digital subscriber line(SDSL) – has the same data transmission rate as a
telephone line in both directions.

o Asymmetric digital subscriber line(ADSL) – has lower transmission rate upstream.

o Very high-speed digital subscriber line(VDSL) – has both ways 100Mbps rate over short
distances.

o T1 line – uses two pairs of copper wires to carry up to 24 simultaneous

conversations(channels) – more widely used.

o T3 line – is a digital communication link that supports transmission rates of 45Mbps –

672 channels.

NAVIGATIONAL TOOLS, SEARCH ENGINES & DIRECTORIES.

Tools are used to find what you looking for over the internet.

 NAVIGATIONAL TOOLS

o Navigational tools are used to travel from site to site (surf) the internet.

o Examples: Internet Explorer (IE), firefox, google chrome, safari and opera.

o You have the following options with these browsers: menu options to file, edit and help,
view history, bookmarking favourites, navigation buttons to move backward and
forwards.

 SEARCH ENGINES

o A search engine, such as google.com and ask.com, is an information system that enables
users to retrieve data from the Web by searching for information using search terms. All
have a 3 step process:

1. Step one is Crawling the Web – they use software called crawlers, spiders and
bots. These automated modules search the Web continuously for new data.
They find new data, make sure links work and ensure search engine has the
most current information.

2. They use server farms to index data coming in from crawlers by using keywords.
The index entry is linked to the company website, along with all other sites
containing the term searched.
 3. The search process. When you enter a search term, the search engine uses the
index created in Step 2 to look up the term.

 DIRECTORIES

o Directories organize information into categories. The two kinds of directories are:

1. Automated, crawler based directory. The search engine uses and creates
indexes of search terms and collects them using crawlers.

2. The second type is the human powered directory. If you want your web page to
be listed in a search engines results, you have to manually submit keywords to a
human powered directory. It doesn’t use crawlers to collect date, instead it
relies on users to supply the data. Doesn’t have updated content.

INTERNET SERVICES

 SMTP – simple message transfer protocol. POP – Post office protocol.

 EMAIL

o Web based email enables you to access your email account from any computer and in
some cases, store your emails on a Web server. Examples are hotmail and gmail.

o Client based email, which consists of an email program you install on your computer,
email is downloaded to and stored locally on your computer. Examples outlook, apple
mail.

 NEWS AND DISCUSSION GROUPS

o Discussion groups – are usually for exchanging opinions and ideas on a specific topic,
usually technical or scholarly nature. Group members post messages or articles that
others in the group can read.

o Newsgroups – are typically more general in nature and can cover any topic. They allow
people to get together for fun or for business purposes.

 INSTANT MESSAGING (IM)

o Internet Relay Chat(IRC) – enables users in a chat room to exchange text messages with
people in other locations in real time.

o IM – is a service for communicating with others via a private chat room on the internet.
  INTERNET TELEPHONY

o Internet telephony is using the internet rather than the telephone network to exchange
spoken conversations. VoIP – Voice over Internet Protocol – is used for this.
Advantages:

 Don’t experience busy lines.

 Voicemails can be received on the computer.

 Users can screen callers even if the caller ID is blocked.

 Users can have calls forwarded from anywhere in the world.

 Can direct calls and take automated orders.

WEB APPLICATIONS

 TOURISM AND TRAVEL

o Travel and tourism have benefited from e-commerce web applications. In the form of
online brochures, allow booking of plane tickets and rent cars.

 PUBLISHING

o Websites offer descriptions of forthcoming books, post sample chapters, online ordering
and search features for different books. There is also the ebook that can be purchased
and read online.

 HIGHER EDUCATON

o Many universities have websites with information about departments, programs, faculty
and academic resources. Some even have virtual tours of the campus. There are online
degree programs and online classes.

 REAL ESTATE

o Have up to date listings of homes for sale. Buyers can review the neighborhood, schools
and local real estate prices and use these sites to find real estate agents and brokerages.
They also have virtual tours, financing options etc.

 EMPLOYMENT

o Monster.com and careers24 are examples. These sites offer job seekers the following:

 Advice on managing your career

  CV assistance

 Job search tutorials

 Positing and distributing the CV

 Job alerts

 Searches by company, industry, region and category

 Announcement of job fairs.

 Career tests

 Salary calculators.

 FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

o Offering online banking and use email to communicate with customers by sending
account statements and financial reports. Electronic signature and passwords are used
to secure personal information. Banking services include:

 Service emails to customers.

 Viewing current and old transactions

 Online mortgage application

 Interactive tools for designing a savings plan, choose a mortgage or getting

insurance quotes online.

 Finding loan status and credit card information online.

 Paying bills.

 Viewing digital copies of a cheque.

 SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTION

o Many vendors distribute software on the internet as well as drivers and patches. For
example the antivirus updates are available for download. There are challenges for
developing online copyright protection.

 HEALTH CARE

o With patient records stored on the internet, health care workers can order lab tests and
prescriptions, admit patients to hospital and refer patients to other doctors. Also test
results can be directed automatically.
 o PHIS = Personal Health Information System. Can make medical tools available to the
public. Telepresence surgery allows surgeons to operate all over the world without
physically travelling anywhere. A robot performs the surgery based on digitized
information sent by the surgeon via the internet.

 POLITICS

o Make use of web sites for campaigns, publicizing their voting records.

I NTRANETS

INTRANET – An intranet is a network within an organization that uses internet protocols and
technologies (TCP/IP,FTP, SMTP) for collecting, storing, and disseminating useful information that
supports business activities such as sales, customer service, human resources, and marketing.

 Intranets are also called “corporate portals”. The main difference is that the company website is
usually public while an intranet is for internal use by employees.

 Uses a computer network to connect to the intranet. Usually setup behind a firewall.

 INTERNET VERSUS INTRANET

FEATURE INTERNET INTRANET EXTRANET

Users Anybody – public Approved users only – private Closely related to the
network network company

Scope Unlimited Limited to unlimited

Speed Slower than Faster

intranet

Security Minimal More security – user access is

restricted.

 APPLICATIONS OF AN INTRANET

o Human resources management – 401K plans, upcoming events, company’s mission

statement and policies, job postings, medical benefits, orientation materials, online
training sessions and materials, meeting minutes, vacation time.

o Sales and marketing – call tracking, information on competitors, customer information,

order tracking and placement, product information.
 o Production and operations – equipment inventory, facilities management, industry
news, product catalog, project information.

o Accounting and finance – budget planning, expense reports.

EXTRANETS

EXTRANET – An extranet is a secure network that uses the internet and web technologies to connect
to intranets of business partners so that communication between organizations or between
consumers is possible.

 Structure

o DMZ – demilitarized zone, an area of the network that separate from the organizations
LAN, where the extranet server is placed.

o There is a firewall between the organization network and the extranet and the extranet
and the internet.

o Advantages:

 Coordination – improved coordination between business partners such as

suppliers, distributors and customers. Information is made available quicker.

 Feedback – provides instant feedback from customers and other business

partners to an organization and gives customers an opportunity to express
opinions on new developments.

 Customer Satisfaction – link customers to an organization so they can get more

information on products or services. E-commerce.

 Cost reduction – reduces inventory costs by providing information to

participants in a supply network program.

 Expedited communication – improves communication by linking intranets for

access to critical information.

NEW TRENDS

 Web 2.0 – refers to the trend toward web application that are more interactive than traditional
web applications. Collaboration or e-collaboration is one its its key components. Main forcus is
social networking and collaboration.

 Web 3.0 – semantic web, provides personalization that allows users to access the web more
intelligently. Computers, not their users, will perform the tedious work involved in finding,
combining and acting upon information on the web. Main focus is intelligent web applications
using intelligent technologies.
 BLOGS – a blog (short for weblog) is a journal or newsletter that’s updated frequently and
intended for the general public. Blogs reflect their authors personalities and often include
philosophical reflections and opinions on social or political issues.

 WIKIS – A wiki is a type of website that allows users to add, delete, and sometimes modify
content. A best example is Wikipedia. What is unique is that a user can also be an information
provider.

 SOCIAL NETWORKING – refers to a broad class of websites and services that allow users to
connect with friends, family and collegues online as well as meet people with similar interests or
hobbies. Examples are Myspace and facebook. Can also be used for business, advertising etc.

 RSS FEEDS (Really Simple Syndication) – are fast, easy way to distribute web content in
extensible markup language XML format. It is a subscription service you sign up for, and new
content from websites you’ve selected is delivered via a feed reader to one convenient spot.

 PODCASTING – A podcast is an electronic audio file, such as an MP3 file, that’s posted on the
web for users to download on their mobile devices – iphones, ipods and zune for example or
even their computers. Involves multimedia.

 THE INTERNET2 – is a collaborative effort involving more than 200 US universities and
corporations to develop advanced internet technologies and applications for higher education
and academic research.

o GIGAPOP – a gigapop is a local connection point of presence that connects a variety of

high performance networks, and its main function is the exchange of I2 traffic with a
specified bandwidth.

o Applications:

 Learningware – this suite of applications is intended to make education more

accessible, targeting distance learning and self-education. Learn anytime.
Anywhere.

 Digital library – create an electronic repository of educational resources, such

as textbooks and journals.

 Teleimmersion – A teleimmersion system allows people in different locations to

share a virtual environment created on the Web.

 Virtual laboratories – designed for scientific and engineering applications and

they allow a group of researchers applications connected to I2 to work on joint
projects.
 CHAPTER 8 – E-COMMERCE

DEFINING E COMMERCE

 E-Business encompasses all the activities a company performs in selling and buying products
and services using computers and communication technologies.

 E-commerce – is buying and selling goods and services over the internet.

 Common business application that use the internet:

o Buying and selling products

o Collaborating with other companies

o Communicating with business partners

o Gathering information on customers and competitors

o Providing customer service

o Making software updates and patches available

o Offering vendor support

o Publishing and disseminating information

 THE VALUE CHAIN AND E-COMMERCE

o A value chain is a series of activities designed to meet business needs by adding value or
cost in each phase of the e-commerce process.

o MICHAEL PORTERS VALUE CHAIN BELOW:

 Top four components

 Margin represents the value added by supporting primary activities

 Bottom is primary activities.

Organisation infrastructure margin

Human resource management

Technological development

procurement
end products to user
Outbound logistics –
move from suppliers

Marketing and sales

storing and moving
Inbound logistics –

– customer needs
processing into
Operations –
to vendors

service
and sales
products
 o New ways to reduce costs:

 Using email rather than post

 Selling via website

 Online customer service

 E-COMMERCE VS TRADITIONAL COMMERCE

o Click and brick e-commerce – mixes traditional commerce and e-commerce. It

capitalizes on the advantages of online interaction yet retains the benefits of having a
physical store location.

ACTIVITY TRADITIONAL COMMERCE E-COMMERCE

Product information Magazines, flyers Websites, online catalogs

Business communication Regular mail, phone calls Email

Check product available Phone calls, faxes, letters Email, websites and extranets

Order generation Printed forms Email and websites

Product knowledge Phone calls, faxes Email, websites and EDI

Invoice generation Printed forms websites

 ADVANTAGES AND DISDAVANTAGES OF E-COMMERCE

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Create better relations with suppliers, customers Bandwidth capacity problems

and business partners

All market trade at the same price= “price Security issues

transparency”

Operate around the clock globally Accessibility

Gathering more information about customers acceptance

Increasing customer involvement

Improving customer service

Increasing flexibility and ease of shopping

Increasing customers

Increase opportunity for collaboration

Inventory is reduce therefore increase in return on

investment

Offering personalized products

Reduce administrative costs

 E-COMMERCE BUSINESS MODELS

o Companies need a business model governing how they plan to make a profit and sustain
a business for future growth.

o MERCHANT MODEL – the merchant model transfers the old retail model to the e-
commerce world by using the medium of the internet. Example Amazon.com.

o BROKERAGE MODEL – brings sellers and buyers together on the Web and collects
commissions on transactions between these parties. Example eBay.

o ADVERTISING MODEL – is an extension of traditional advertising media, such as radio

and television. Directories such as Yahoo provide content to users for free. By creating
more traffic with free content, they can charge companies for placing banner ads or
leasing spots on their sites. For example google.

o MIXED MODEL – the mixed model refers to generating revenue from more than one
source. For example an auction site generates revenue from commissions collected
from buyers and sellers and from advertising.

o INFORMEDIARY MODEL – e-commerce sites collect information on consumers and

business and then sell this information to other companies for marketing purposes.

o SUBSCRIPTION MODEL – e-commerce sites sell digital products or services to

customers. For example Wall street journal.

MAJOR CATEGORIES OF E-COMMERCE

  BUSINESS TO CONSUMER E-COMMERCE (B2C) – companies such as amazon.com sell directly to
consumers. There is a wide array of products and services sold.

 BUSINESS TO BUSINESS E-COMMERCE (B2B) – involves electronic transactions between

businesses. These are in the form of EDI and EFT. Companies have reported on savings by
increasing transaction speed, reducing errors and eliminating manual tasks. For example
Johnson and Johnson.

 CONSUMER TO CONSUMER E-COMMERCE (C2C) – involves business transactions between users

such as consumers selling to other consumers via the internet. For example e-bay.

 CONSUMER TO BUSINESS E-COMMERCE (C2B) – involves people selling products or services to

businesses such as a service of creating inline surveys for a company to use.

 GOVERNMENT AND NONBUSINESS E-COMMERCE ALSO KNOWN AS E-GOVERNMENT

o Government to citizen (G2C) - tax filing and payments, completing forms, request for
records, online voter registrations.

o Government to business (G2B) – sales of federal assets. License applications and

renewals.

o Government to government (G2G) – disaster assistance and crisis response.

o Government to employee (G2E) - E-training.

o Universities are non-business organizations that use e-commerce applications.

 ORGANIZATIONAL OR INTRABUSINESS E-COMMERCE – involves e-commerce activities that

take place inside an organization, typically via the intranet. These activities include exchange of
goods, services or information among employees. Other examples are conducting training
programs and offering human resources services.

A B2C E-COMMERCE CYCLE:

B2B E-COMMERCE DETAILS
B2B use these additional technologies extensively: intranets, extranets, virtual private networks,
electronic data interchange and electronic funds transfer. B2B e-commerce reduces delivery time,
inventory and prices and it helps business partners share relevant, accurate and timely information.

 MAJOR MODELS OF B2B E-COMMERCE

o SELLER-SIDE MARKET PLACE MODEL – this is the most popular B2B model. In this
model, sellers who cater to specialized markets, such as chemicals, electronics and auto
components, come together to create a common marketplace for buyers – sort of a one
stop shop.

 EPROCUREMENT – is a popular application of this model. It enables employees

in an organization to order and receive supplies and services directly from
suppliers. The main objective of e-procurement is to prevent purchases from
suppliers that are not on the approved list of sellers and to eliminate the
processing costs of purchases.

 BUYER-SIDE MARKETPLACE MODEL – a buyer, or a group of buyers, opens an electronic

marketplace and invites sellers to bid on announced products or requests for quotation. By
participating sellers can do the following:

o Conduct sales transactions

o Automate the order process

o Conduct post sales analysis

o Automate the fulfillment function

o Improve understanding of buyers behavior

o Provide alternative sales channel.

o Reduce order placement and delivery time.

 THIRD-PARTY EXCHANGE MARKET PLACE MODEL – this model isn’t controlled by sellers or
buyers. Instead, its controlled by a third party and the market place generates revenue from the
fees charged for matching buyers and sellers. These market places are usually active in vertical
or horizontal markets.

o Vertical market – concentrates’ on a specific industry or market. Utility companies, the

beef and dairy industries and medical products are few examples of vertical markets.

o Horizontal market – concentrates on a specific function or business process and

automates this function or process for different industries.
  TRADING PARTNER AGREEMENTS – The main objective is to automate the negotiating process
and enforce contracts between businesses. Using this model, business partners can send and
receive bids, contracts and other information needed when offering and purchasing products
and services. Using this model enables customers to submit via the internet, electronic
documents that previously required hardcopies. The digital signature act of 1999 gives digital
signatures the same legal validity as handwritten signatures,

MOBILE AND VOICE BASED E-COMMERCE

 MOBILE COMMERCE (M-COMMERCE) – based on the wireless application protocol (WAP). M

commerce is using handheld devices, such as smart phones or PDA’S to conduct business
transactions such as making stock trades with an online brokerage firm.

 Applications of mobile commerce:

o Wireless area networks, 3G and 4G networks. WiFi, WiMAX, Bluetooth and RFID.

o Microsoft has a version of internet explorer called internet explorer mobile and google
offers features for searching news, maps and Gmail to mobiles.

o Banking, traffic updates, tourism services, shopping and video conferencing.

o Voice based ecommerce - relies on voice recognition and text to speech technologies.
Security features include the following:

 Call recognition so that calls have to be placed from specific mobile devices.

 Voice recognition so that authorizations have to match a specific voice pattern.

 Shipping to a set address that can’t be changed by voice commands.

E-COMMERCE SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGIES

 ELECTRONIC PAYMENT SYSTEM – refers to money or scrip that is exchanged electronically. It

usually involves the use of the internet, other computer networks and digitally stored value
systems. It includes credit cards, debit cards, charge cards, and smart cards.

o SMART CARD – a smart card is about the size of a credit card and contains an embedded
microprocessor chip for storing important financial and personal information. The chip
can be loaded with information and updated periodically.

o E-CASH – a secure and convenient alternative to bills and coins. Complements credit,
debit and charge cards and adds convenience and control to everyday cash transactions.
 E-cash usually works with a smart card, and the amount cash stored on the chip can be
recharged electronically.

o E-CHECK – the electronic version of a paper check, offers high security, speed and
convenience for online transactions.

o E-WALLETS – are available for most handheld devices and offer a secure, convenient,
and portable tool for online shopping. They store personal and financial information,
such as credit card numbers, passwords and PINS. E-wallets can be used for
micropayments and are useful for frequent online shoppers.

o PAYPAL – is a popular online payment system used in many online auction sites. Users
with a valid email address can set up an account and use it for secure payments of
online transactions, using their credit cards or bank accounts.

o MICROPAYMENTS – are used for very small payments on the Web. They began as a
method for advertisers to pay for cost per view or cost per click. Small amounts are
accumulated until they are large enough to offset the transaction fee and then the
account is deducted. The World Wide Web consortium has cancelled the support for
micropayments.

 WEB MARKETING – uses the web and its supporting technologies to promote goods and
services. Understand the list of terms for web marketing:

o Ad impression – one user viewing one ad.

o Banner ads – usually placed on frequently visited websites. By clicking on the banner, it
displays a message and redirects to another websites.

o Click – the opportunity for a user to click a URL or a banner ad and be transferred to
another website. For example each time a keyword used for searching takes a user to a
particular page the site owner (advertiser) pays the search engine a cost per click.

o Cost per mille = thousand (CPM) – advertising is usually priced based on a cost per
thousand ad impressions.

o Cost per click (CPC) – the cost of every click on a ad is charged.

o Click though rate (CTR) - this rate is computed by dividing the number of clicks an ad
gets by the total impressions bought. For example if an advertisers buys 100000
impressions and gets 20000 clicks, the CTR is 20%(20000/100000).

o Cookie - information a web site stores on the user’s hard drive so that it can be
remembered for later visit, such as greeting a visitor by name. record user preference
and browsing habits.
 o Hit – every element of a web page is counted as a hit to a server.

o Meta tag – this HTML tag doesn’t affect how a web page is displayed; it simply provides
information about a web page, such as keywords that represent the page content, the
web designer, and frequency of page updates.

o Page view (PV) – one user viewing one web page.

o Pop up ad – opens a new window to display ads.

o Pop under ad – opens a new window hidden under the active window. Pop down ads
don’t interrupt users as much as pop up ads.

o Splash screen – a web page displayed when the user first visits the site: its designed to
capture the users attention and motivate the users to browse through the site.

o Spot leasing – search engines offer space that companies can purchase for advertising
purposes. Spots have an advantage over banner ads because their placement is
permanent and can be expensive.

 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) – is a method for improving the volume or quality of
traffic to a web site. A higher ranking in a search result should generate more revenue for a
website. It aims at increasing a websites performance on search engines in a natural and free
fashion. It makes it easier for search engines to find and index a site for certain keywords. The
following are recommendations for optimizing a web site:

o Keywords – decide on a few keywords that best describe a website and use them
consistently throughout the sites contents.

o Page title – make sure the page title reflects the site and its contents accurately.

o Inbound links - get people to comment on your website, using one of your top
keywords.
 CHAPTER 10: BUILDING SUCCESSFUL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE OVERVIEW

 Systems development life cycle (SDLC) - also known as “waterfall model”, is a series of well
defined phases performed in sequence that serves as a framework for developing a system or
project.

 PHASE ONE: PLANNING

o During the planning phase, which is one of the most crucial phases of the SDLC model,
the systems designer must understand and define the problem the organization faces,
taking care not to define symptoms rather than the underlying problem.

o After identifying the problem, an analyst or team assesses the current and future needs
of the organization.

o During this phase they need to make sure that the users understand the four Ws:

 Why – why is the system being designed?

 Who – who is going to use the system?

 When – when will the system be operational?

 What – what kind of capabilities will the system provide?

o The end result of this phase should give users and top management a clear view of what
the problem is and how the information system will solve the problem.

o FORMATION OF THE TASK FORCE

 To ensure that the information systems success, users must have input in the
planning, requirements gathering and analysis, design and implementation
phases. For this reason, a task force is formed, consisting of representatives
from different departments. There are 2 types of users to gather information
from:

 Internal users – are employees who will use the system regularly, and
they can offer important feedback on the systems strengths and
weaknesses.

 External users – aren’t employees but do use the system; they include
customers, contractors, suppliers and other business partners. Their
input is essential.
  Joint application design (JAD) – is a collective activity involving users, top
management and IT professionals. It centers around a structured workshop
where users and system people come together to develop an application. It
involves a detailed agenda, visual aids, a leader who moderates the session and
a scribe who records the specifications. It results in a final document containing
definitions for data elements, workflows, screens, reports and general system
specifications. Advantage is varying view points.

o FEASIBILITY STUDY – is a measure of how beneficial or practical an information system

will be to an organization and should be measured continuously throughout the SDLC
process. It usually has 5 major dimensions: economic, technical, operational, scheduling
and legal.

 ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY – assess a systems costs and benefits and opportunity

costs.

 Development costs include:

 hardware and software

 software leases or licenses

 time for programming, testing and prototyping

 maintenance costs for monitoring equipment and software

 personnel costs – salaries

 suppliers and other equipment

 training employees who will be using the system

 operating costs for running the system

 must bear in mind that a system that is feasible on the outset could
become unfeasible later. That is why incorporating feasibility check
points into the SDLC process is important.

 Tangible benefits:

 Monthly savings

 Lesser staff

 Intangible benefits:

 Improved employee morale

  Better customer satisfaction

 More efficient use of human resources

 Increased flexibility

 Improved communication.

 After collecting the information on costs and benefits, a cost

effectiveness analysis must be done. Methods use: payback, net present
value, returns on investment and internal rate of return.

 The final result will be a cost benefit analysis report –CBA.

 TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY – Is concerned with technology to be used in the

system. The team needs to assess whether technology to support the system is
available or feasible to implement.

 “lack of organizational readiness – when the organization lack the

expertise, time or personnel.

 OPERATIONAL FEASIBILITY – is a measure of how well the proposed solution

will work in the organization and how internal and external customers will react
to it.

 SCHEDULING FEASIBILITY – is concerned with whether the new system can be

completed on time.

 LEGAL FEASIBILITY – is concerned with legal issues, including political

repercussions and meeting the requirements of the information privacy act.

 PHASE TWO: REQUIREMENTS GATHERING AND ANALYSIS

o In the requirements gathering and analysis phase, analysts define the problem and
generate alternatives for solving it. During this phase the team attempts to understand
the requirements for the system, analyzes these requirements to determine the main
problem with the current systems or processes and looks for ways to solve problems by
designing the new system.

o The first step of this phase is gathering information. Several techniques include surveys,
observations, interviews and the JAD approach. The intent is to find out what users do,
how they do it, what problems they gave in performing their jobs, how the new system
would address these problems, what users expect from the system, what decisions are
made, what data is needed to make decisions, where data comes from, how data should
be presented and what tools are needed to examine data for the decisions users make.
o All the information above is used to determine what the new system should do (process
analysis) and what data is needed for this process to be performed (data analysis).

o Systems specifications – defining the project scope, including what the system should
and shouldn’t do. The models created during this phase constitute the design
specifications.

o Two major approached for analysis and design of information systems: structured
systems analysis and design (SSAD) and the object orientated approach.

 The SSAD approach treats process and data independently and is a sequential
approach that requires completing the analysis before beginning the design.

 The object orientated approach combines process and data analysis and the line
between analysis and design is so thin that analysis and design seem to be a
single phase instead of two distinct phases as in SSAD.

 Examples of tools used in SSAD models:

Modeling Whats analyzed What its used for

tool

Data flow Process analysis and Helps breakdown a complex process into
diagram(DFD) design simpler, more manageable and more
understandable sub processes; shows how
data needed by each process flows
between processes and what data is stored
in the system; it also helps define the
systems scope.

Flowchart Process analysis Illustrates the logical steps in a process but

doesn’t who data elements and
associations; it can supplement DFD and
help analysts understand and document
how a process works.

Context Process analysis and Shows a process at a more general level

diagram design and is helpful for showing top
management and the task force how a
process works.

Conceptual Data analysis Helps analysts understand the data

data model requirements a system must meet by
defining data elements and showing the
associations between them.
 PHASE 3: DESIGN

o During the design phase, analysts choose the solution that’s the most realistic and offers
the highest payoff for the organization. Details of the proposed solution are outlined,
and the output of this phase is a document with the exact specifications for
implementing the system, including files and database, forms and reports,
documentation, procedures, hardware and software, networking components and
general system specifications.

o The design phase consists of three parts: conceptual design, logical design and physical
design. The conceptual design is an overview of the system and doesn’t include
hardware and software choices. The logical design makes the conceptual design more
specific by indicating hardware and software. The physical design is created for a specific
platform.

o Design tools:

 COMPUTER-AIDED SYSTEMS ENGINERING (CASE) – tools automate parts of the

application development process. These tools are particularly helpful for
investigation and analysis in large scale projects because they automate parts of
the design phase.

 CASE tools support the design phase by helping analysts do the following:

 Keep models consistent with each other

 Document models with explanations

 Ensure that models are created according to specific rules

 Create a single repository of all models related to a single system

 Track and manage changes in the design

 Create multiple versions of the design.

 Case tools are similar to CAD tools including the following:

 Graphic tools such as data flow diagrams

 Dictionary tools designed to record the systems operation in

detail

 Prototyping tools for designing input and output formats, forms

and screens
  Code generators to minimize programming effort

 Project management tools to help control the systems schedule

and budget.

 Case tools include the following output:

 Specification document

 Documentation of the analysis, including models and

explanations.

 Design specifications with related documentation

 Logical and physical design documents based on the conceptual

design

 Code modules that can be incorporated into the system.

 PROTOTYPING – a small scale version of the system is developed, but one that’s
large enough to illustrate the systems benefits and allows users to offer
feedback. Prototypes are used for the following purposes:

 Gathering system requirements – gather additional information and

refine the requirements for the proposed system.

 Helping to determine system requirements – can serve as a valuable tool

for demonstrating the systems functional capabilities and then making a
decision

 Determine a systems technical feasibility – used to show users that a

particular task can be done, that wasn’t feasible. This is also called a
proof of concept prototyping.

 Selling the proposed system to users and management – demonstrates

features and benefits to the business to sell the system. This is also
called selling prototype.

 Prototyping is usually done in four steps:

 Define the initial requirements

 Develop the prototype

 Review and evaluate the prototype

 Revise the prototype.

  Advantages and disadvantages of prototyping:

Advantages Disadvantages

Provide a method for Developing them might require

investigating an environment more support than people are
in which the problem is poorly willing to offer
defined and information is
difficult to gather.

they reduce the need for Might not reflect the systems
training information systems actual operations which can be
users misleading

they reduce the costs because Developing them might lead

building a model is less analysts and designers to forego
expensive than building the comprehensive testing and
complete system. documentation which can be
misleading.

Increase the chance of the

systems success

they are easier to modify

Improve documentation

They improve communication

among users.

 PHASE 4: IMPLEMENTATION

o During the implementation phase, the solution is transferred from paper to action, and
the team configures the system and procures components for it. Tasks that take place in
the implementation phase are:

 Acquiring new equipment

 Hiring new employees

 Training employees

 Planning a designing the systems physical layout

 Coding
  Testing

 Designing security measures and safeguards

 Creating a disaster recovery plan

o When the system is ready to be converted, several options are available:

 Parallel conversion – the old system and the new systems runs simultaneously
for a short time to ensure that the new system works correctly first.

 Phased in phased out conversion – as each module of the new system is

converted, the corresponding part of the old system is retired. The process
continues until the entire system is operational.

 Plunge (direct cutover) conversion – the old system is stopped and the new
system is implemented. This can be risky but can save on costs.

 Pilot conversion – the analyst introduces the system in only a limited area of the
organization, such as a division or department. If the system works correctly, its
implemented in the rest of the organization in stages or all at once.

o REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) – is a written document with detailed specifications

used to request bids for equipment, supplies, or services from vendors. It is usually
prepared during the implementation phase.

 The main advantage – is that all vendors get the same information and
requirements so bids can be evaluated more fairly.

 The main disadvantage – is the time involved in writing and evaluating

proposals.

 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) – is a screening document for gathering

vendor information and narrowing the list of potential vendors. It can help
manage the selection process by focusing on the project requirements that are
crucial to selecting vendors.

o IMPLEMENTATION ALTERNATIVES

 INSOURCING –happens when an organizations team develops the system

internally.

 SELF SOURCING – is when end users develop their own information systems
with little or no formal assistance from the information systems team. These
users might not know how to write programming code but are typically skilled
 enough to use of the shelf software such as spreadsheets and database
packages to produce custom built applications.

 Help reduce the backlog in information systems however there is an

invisible backlog which is applications that are not requested because
the backlog is too long.

 Self sourcing has the following disadvantages:

 Lack of access to crucial data

 Lack of documentation for the applications and systems

 Inadequate security for the application

 Not up to information systems standards

 Lack of support from top management

 Lack of training for prospective users.

 OUTSOURCING – with the outsourcing approach an organization hires an

external vendor who specializes in providing development services.

 Crowdsourcing – is the process of outsourcing tasks that are

traditionally performed by employees or contractors to a large group of
people/crowd through an open call.

 Outsourcing can employ the SDLC approach to develop by using the

following:

 Onshore outsourcing – the organization chooses a company in

the same country

 Nearshore outsouring – chooses a company in a neighboring

country

 Offershore outsourcing – chooses a company in any part of the

world.

 Outsourcing has the advantages of being less expensive, delivery

information systems more quickly and giving the organization the
flexibility to concentrate on its core functions as well as other projects.
But they have the following disadvantages:
  Loss of control – relying on the outsourcing company to control
the information system functions could result in the system not
fully meeting the requirements

 Dependency – if the organization becomes too dependent on

the outsourcing company, change in the outsourcing companys
financial status or managerial structure could have a major
impact on the information system.

 Vulnerability of strategic information – because third parties are

involved in outsourcing, the risk of leaking confidential
information to competitors increases.

 PHASE 5: MAINTENANCE

o MAINTENANCE PHASE – the information system is operating, enhancements and

modifications to the system have been developed and tested and hardware and
software components have been added or replaced. The hteam assesses how the
system is working and takes steps to keep the system running.

 As part of this phase, the team collects performance data and gathers
information on whether the system is meeting it objectives by talking with
users, customers and other people affected by the new system.

NEW TRENDS IN SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN

The SDLC model might not be suitable for the following situation:

 Lack of specifications

 The input-output process can be indentified completely

 The problem is adhoc

 Users needs change constantly meaning that the system will have to undergo many changes.

MORE SUITABLE APPROACHES ARE AVAILABLE:

 SERVICE ORIENTATED ARCHITECTURE (SOA) – is a philosophy and a software and system

development methodology that focuses on the development, use and reuse of small, self
contained blocks of codes (called services) to meet the software need of the organizations. SOA
attempts to solve software development issues by recognizing, accepting and leveraging the
existing services.

o The fundamental principle behind SOA is that the blocks of codes can be reused in a
variety of different applications, allowing new business processes to be created from a
 pool of existing services. This means a reduced application development time, greater
flexibility and an improved return on investment.

 RAPIF APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT (RAD) – concentrates on user involvement and continuous

interaction between users and designers. It combined the planning and an analysis phase into
one phase and develops a prototype of the system. It uses an iterative process (also called
incremental development) that repeats the design, development and testing steps as needed,
based on feedback from users. The shortcoming of this is that it is narrow focused which could
limit future development.

 EXTREME PROGRAMMING (XP) – divides a project into smaller functions, and developers cant
go on to the next phase until the current phase is completed. Each function of the overall
project is developed in a step by step fashion.

o Analysts write down features the proposed system should have called “the story” on
index cards. These cards include the time and effort needed to develop these features,
then the organization decides which features should be implemented and in which
order based on current needs.

o Pair programming – is where two programmers participate in one development effort

at one workstation. Each programmer performs the action the other is not currently
doing. Also know as sharing a keyboard. In this way they can detect and correct
programming mistakes as they go, which is faster than correcting them after the entire
program has been written.

o SDLC develops the entire system at once; XP develops the system in incremental
phases. XP key features are:

 Customer and user satisfaction

 Simplicity

 Incremental process

 Responsiveness to changing requirements and changing technology

 Teamwork

 Continuous communication

 Immediate feedback from users.

 AGILE METHODOLOGY – is similar to XP in focusing on an incremental development process and

timely delivery of working software. However, there is less emphasis on team coding and more
emphasis on limiting the projects scope.
 o it emphasis collaboration between programmers and business experts. Goals of this
step by step approach include responding to changing needs instead of sticking to a set
plan and developing working, high quality software.

o The Agile Alliance has the following principles:

 Satisfy the customer though early and continuous delivery

 Welcome changing requirements

 Have business people and developers work together daily

 Build projects around motivated individuals. Support environment

 Always attend to technical excellence

 Should reflect on how to become more effective, the adjust behavior.

CHAPTER 11 – ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

ENTERPRISE SYSTEM – is an application used in all the functions of a business that supports decision
making throughout the organization.

 SUPPLY CHAIN– is an integrated network consisting of an organization, its suppliers,

transportation companies and brokers used to deliver goods and services to customers.

o SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT (SCM) – is the process of working with suppliers and
other partners in the supply chain to improve procedures for delivering products and
services. An SCM system coordinates the following functions:

 Procuring materials

 Transforming materials into intermediate and finished products or services

 Distributing finished products or services to customers.

 An example in a manufacturing firm: communication will take place in product

flow, information flow and finance flow. The key decisions are location of
manufacturing facilities, inventory order process, production (what and how
much) and transportation of finished goods.

 SCM TECHNOLOGIES:

o Electronic data interchange (EDI) – enables business partners to send and receive
information on business transactions. By using the internet and established web
protocols for electronic exchange of information, companies can improve the efficiency
 and effectiveness of the supply chain process. EDI expedites the delivery of accurate
information in the following processes among others:

Transaction acknowledgement

Financial reporting

Invoice and payment processing

Order status

Purchasing

Shipping and receiving

Inventory management and sales forecasting.

 EDI lowers cost of transmitting documents but also has drawbacks because it is
only beneficial if many companies are on the same EDI network.

o Internet enabled SCM – improves information sharing throughout the supply chain,
which helps reduce costs for information transmission and improves customer service.
Internet enabled SCM can improve the following SCM activities:

 Purchasing/procurement – purchasing and paying for goods online, bargaining

using global procurement strategies

 Inventory management – providing real time stock information, replenish stock

quickly and efficiently track out of stock items

 Transportation – customers use the internet for delivery information

 Order processing – checking orders, returns and improving speed and quality

 Customer service – providing around the clock customer service

 Production scheduling – coordinating just in time inventory programs with

vendors and production schedules and conducting demand analysis.

o E-MARKETPLACES – is a third party exchange (B2B model) that provides a platform for
buyers and sellers to interact with each other and trade more efficiently online. E-
marketplaces can assist in the following ways

 Buyers and sellers can establish new trading partnerships

 Single platform for prices, availability and stock levels

 Solving time constraints problems

  Making it easier to compare prices

 Reducing marketing costs

 Another offer is Maintenance, repair and operations (MRO). A company can

purchase an MRO package that might include services from different vendors
but the e-distributor coordinates them into one package.

o ONLINE AUCTIONS – brings traditional auctions to customers around the globe and
makes it possible to sell far more goods and services than at a traditional auction.

 A reverse auction invites sellers to submit bids for products and services. In
other words, there’s one buyer and many sellers: a one to many relationship.
The buyer can choose the seller that offers the service or product at the lowest
price.

o COLLABORATIVE PLANNING, FORECASTING, AND REPLENISHMENT (CPFR) – is used to

coordinate supply chain members through point of sale data sharing and joint planning.

 CPFR has the advantage of decreasing merchandising, inventory and logistics

costs for all supply chain members.

 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) – consists of the processes a company uses

to track and organize its contacts with customers. It improves services offered to customers and
uses customer contact information for targeted marketing.

o CRM system helps organizations make better use of data, information and knowledge to
understand their customer interactions for sales personnel and customer service
representatives so they can perform their jobs more effectively and efficiently.

o CROSS SELLING – getting a customer to buy additional products.

o UPSELLING – can offer the same product but a different brand which is more expensive.

o with CRM system, an organization can do the following:

 provide products and services that meet customer needs

 offer better customer service through multiple channels

 increase cross selling and up selling to increase revenue

 help sales personnel close deals faster

 retain existing customers and attract new ones.

o The CRM system includes the following activities:

  Sales automation

 Order processing

 Marketing automation

 Customer support

 Knowledge management

 Personalization technology

o CRM APPLICATIONS***

 PERSONALIZATION TECHNOLOGY

 PERSONALIZATION – is the process of satisfying customers needs,

building customer relationships and increasing profits by designing
goods and services that meet customers preferences better. It involves
not only customer requests, but also the interaction between customers
and the company.

 CUSTOMIZATION – allows customers to modify the standard offering,

such as selecting a different home page to be displayed each time you
open your web browser. Think of build a bear workshop where children
design their own bears.

 COLLABORATIVE FILTERING (CF) – is a search for specific information or

patterns, using input from multiple business partners and data sources.
It identifies groups of people based on common interests and
recommends products or services based on what members of the group
purchased or didn’t purchase.

 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT - draws on concepts of organizational learning, culture and best

practices to convert tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, create a knowledge sharing culture
in an organization and eliminate obstacles to sharing knowledge.

o is a know technique used to improve CRM systems by identifying, storing, and

disseminating “know how” facts about how to perform tasks. Know-how can be explicit
knowledge (formal written procedures) or tacit knowledge (personal informal
knowledge).

o Must motivate employees and reward them for sharing knowledge.

o Knowledge management system can help:

 Promote innovation by encouraging exchange of ideas

  Improve service by reducing response times

 Increase revenue by reducing delivery time

 Improve employee retention rates by rewarding employees for their knowledge.

 ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) – is an integrated system that collects and processes
data and manages and coordinates resources, information and functions throughout an
organization. The drawbacks are high costs, difficult installation, training and compatibility
issues.

o A well designed ERP systems offers the following benefits:

 Increased availability and timelines for information

 Increased data accuracy

 Improved customer service

 Improved planning and scheduling

 Improved supplier relationships

 Improved reliability of information

 Reduced inventory costs

 Reduced labor costs

o ERP COMPONENTS

COMPONENTS FUNCTION

Unified database Collects and analyses relevant internal and external data and
information needed by other functions

Inventory management Provides inventory status and forecasts

Supply chain Provides information on supply chain members including

suppliers, manufacturing, distribution and customers

Manufacturing Supplies information on production costs and pricing

Human resources Assessing job candidates. Scheduling and assigning employees

and predicting future personnel needs

CRM Supplies information on customers and their needs

Purchasing Provides information related to purchasing function, e-

 procurement

Accounting Tracks financial information such as budget allocations,

debits, credits

Vendor integration Integrates information for vendors such as offering

automated downloads of data on product pricing,
specifications and availability

E-commerce Provides B2C information related to order status and B2B

information related to suppliers and business partners

Sales Information on sales and marketing.

CHAPTER 12 – MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEMS

TYPES OF DECISIONS IN AN ORGANIZATION

 STRUCTURED DECISIONS – or programmable tasks, can be automated because a well

defined standard operating procedure exists for these types of decisions. For example
recording keeping, payroll.

 SEMISTRUCTURED DECISION – includes a structured aspect that benefits from

information retrieval, analytical models, and information systems technology. For
example budgets.

 UNSTRUCTURED DECISIONS – are typically one time decision, with no standard

operating procedure pertaining to them. The decision makers intuition plays an
important role. For example hiring and firing.

 Organization levels and types of decisions:

Decisions Strategic Tactical Operational

management management management

Unstructured Introduce new Resolving conflict Setting priorities

product

Semi structured Mergers Sales forecast Accounts receivable

Structured Plant location Budget prep Payroll

PHASES OF THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS

  PHASE ONE: THE INTELLIGENCE PHASE – a decision maker examines the organizations
environment for conditions that need decisions. Data is collected from a variety of
sources (internal and external) and processed. From this information, the decision
maker can discover ways to approach the problem. This phase has 3 parts: 1 determine
what the reality is, 2 get a better understanding of the problem by collecting data and
information about it and 3 gather data and information needed to define alternatives
for solving the problem.

 PHASE TWO: THE DESIGN PHASE – the objective is to define criteria for the decision,
generate alternatives for meeting the criteria and define associations between the
criteria and the alternatives. Criteria are goals and objectives that decision makers
establish in order to achieve certain performance.

 PHASE THREE: THE CHOICE PHASE – from the practical alternatives, the best and most
effective course of action is chosen.

 PHASE FOUR: THE IMPLEMENTATION PHASE – the organization devises a plan for
carrying out the alternative selected in the choice phase and obtains the resources to
implement the plan.

DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM (DSS) – is interactive information systems consisting of

hardware, software, data and models (mathematical and statistical) designed to assist
decision makers in an organization. Its three major components are a database, a model
base and a user interface.

 COMPONENTS OF A DSS:

 MODEL BASE – components includes mathematical and statistical models that,

along with a database, enable a DSS to analyze information. A model base
management system (MBMS) performs tasks similar to a DBMS in accessing,
maintaining and updating models in the model base.

 USER INTERFACE – is how users access the DSS, such as when querying the
database or models for help in making decisions. It must be flexible and user
friendly.

 DSS CAPABILITIES INCLUDES:

 What if analysis – this shows the effect of a change in one variable. For example
if the cost is increased how with the final cost be affected.

 Goal seeking – this is the reverse of what if analysis. It asks what has to be done
to achieve a particular goal.
  Sensitivity analysis – this enables you to apply different variables, such as
determining the maximum price you could pay for raw materials and still make a
profit.

 Exception reporting analysis – this monitors the performance of variables that

are outside a defined range such as pinpointing the region that generated the
highest total sales.

 ROLES IN THE DSS ENVIRONMENT

 MANAGERIAL DESIGNER – defines the management issues in designing and

using a DSS. These issues don’t involve the technological aspects of the system;
they are related to management’s goals and needs. This person specifies the
data requirements, what models are needed and how these models might be
used and how users want to view the results.

 TECHNICAL DESIGNER - focuses on how the DSS is implemented and usually

addresses questions about data storage, file structure, user access, response
time, and security measures.

 MODEL BUILDER - is the liaison between users and designers. He is responsible

for supplying information on what the model does, what data inputs its accepts,
how the models output should be interpreted and what assumptions go into
creating and using the model. (project manager).

 COSTS AND BENEFITS OF DSS:

 Increased number of alternatives examined.

 Ability to make good decisions

 New insights and learning

 Improved control over operations

 Cost savings

 Better decisions

 More effective teamwork

 Better use of data resources

 Improving communication – one of the DSS objectives.

 Expediting learning – one of the DSS objectives.

EXECUTIVE INFORMATIO SYSTEM

 EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM (EIS) – branches of DDS’s, are interactive
information systems that gives executives easy access to internal and external data and
typically drill down features and a digital dashboard for examining and analyzing
information.

 DIGITAL DASHBOARD – integrates information from multiple sources and presents it in

a unified, understandable format, often charts and graphs. It offers up to the minute
snap shots of information and assists decision makers in identifying trends and potential
problems.

 IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF AN EIS:

 Tailored to meet managements information needs

 Can extract, compress, filter and track critical data

 Provides online status access, trend analysis and exception reporting

 Offers information in graphical, tabular and text formats

 Includes statistical analysis techniques for summarizing and structuring data

 Retrieves data in a wide range of platforms and data formats

 Contains customized application development tools

 Supports electronic communication such as email and video conferencing.

 REASONS FOR USING EIS:

 Increase managers productivity by providing fast and relevant information

 Convert information into other formats to assist in analyzing different business

scenarios

 Spot trends and report exceptions.

 THE FOLLOWING CAN LEADER TO A FAILED EIS

 The corporate culture is not ready yet – resisting to the project

 Management loses interest

 Objectives and information requirements cant be defined clearly.

 The systems objectives aren’t linked to factors that is critical to the business
success

 Project costs cant be justified

  Developing applications takes too much time

 Vendor support has been discontinued

 Executives busy schedules and frequent travel make long training sessions
difficult.

 Designers must determine what time of information executives need for

designing a system.

 EIS PACKAGES AND TOOLS

 EIS is generally designed with two or three components: an administrative

module for managing data access, a builder model for developers to configure
data mapping and screen sequencing and runtime model for using the system.

 EIS is useful for the following tasks: tracking performance, flagging exceptions,
ranking, comparing, spotting trends, and investigating/exploring.

GROUP SUPPORT SYSTEMS

 GROUP SUPPORT SYSTEMS (GSS) – assist decision makers working in groups. These
systems use computer and communication technologies to formulate, process and
implement decision making task and can be considers a kind of intervention technology
that helps overcome the limitation of group interactions.

 The intervention aspect of a GSS reduces communication barriers and introduces order
and efficiency into situations that are inherently unsystematic and inefficient such as
group meetings.

 Success depends on:

 Matching the GSS level and sophistication to the groups size and scope of task.

 Providing supportive management

 Related technologies: electronic meeting systems (EMS), groupware, computer

mediated communication (CMC), computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) and e-
collaborations.

 GROUPWARE – assists groups in communicating, collaborating, and coordinating their

activities. It is a collection of applications that supports decision makers by providing
access to a shared environment and information. Helps work on the same application
regardless of their location – think SharePoint. Capabilities include:

 Audio and video conferencing

  Automated appointment books

 Brainstorming

 Database access

 Email

 Online chat

 Scheduling

 To do lists

 Workflow automation

 Has speed limitations and security issues.

 ELECTRONIC MEETING SYSTEMS – enables decision makers in different locations to

participate in a group decision making process. They perform the following tasks: real
time computer conferencing, video teleconferencing.

 Advantages and disadvantages of GSS’s

Advantages Disadvantage

Costs and stress levels are reduces Lack of human touch – gestures,
because of less travelings handshakes, eye contact etc.

More time to talk and solve problems Unnecessary meetings – because arranging
a GSS is easy, they can schedule more than
is necessary

Shyness is not an issue Security problems

Increasing collaboration improves the Cost of implementing an GSS are high

effectiveness of decision makers.

GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

 GEOGRPAHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS) – captures, stores, processes and displays

geographic information or information in a geographic context, such as showing the
location of all the city streetlights on a map. Think GOOGLE MAPS.
  Typically a GIS has 3 geographic objects:

o Points – the intersections of lines on a map such as the location of an airport or

a restaurant

o Lines – usually a series of points on a map, a street or a river.

o Areas – usually a section of a map such as a particular zip code.

 GIS CAN PERFORM THE FOLLOWING TASKS:

o Associate spatial attributes such as a manufacturing plants square foot, with

points, lines and polygons on maps.

o Integrate maps and database data with queries

o Show the customers who live with a 5 mile radius to the sort, show driving route
home.

 GIS APPLICATIONS CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS FOLLOWS:

o Education planning – analyzing data toward changing school district boundaries

or deciding where to build a new school.

o Urban planning – tracking changes in ridership on mass-transit systems

o Government – maintaining crime statistics

o Insurance – combining data on community boundaries, street address and zip

codes with search capabilities to find potential hazards such as crime rate
indexes.

o Marketing – pinpointing areas with the greatest concentration or potential

customers, displaying sales statistics in a geographic context.

o Real estate – finding properties that meet buyers preferences and prices ranges.
Can help in establishing selling prices by surveying an entire city.

o Transportation and logistics – managing vehicle fleets, coding delivery address,

creating street networks for predicting driving times etc.

GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING A MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEM:

 Get support from the top – management must support the system.
  Define objectives and benefits clearly – identifying all costs and benefits in order to
present a convincing case to top management.

 Identify executives information needs – examine the decision making process executives
use to find out is the decision are structured, semi structured or unstructured.

 Keep the lines of communication open – make sure key decision makers are involved in
designing the MSS.

 Hide the systems complexity and keep the interface simple – avoid using technical jargon
because managements main concern is getting the information they need in the
simplest possible way

 Keep the look and feel consisting – should use standard layouts, formats, and colors in
windows, menus and dialog boxes for consistency and ease of use

 Design a flexible system – all aspects of MSS change over time because of rapid
developments in technology and changing business needs. A flexible system can take
incorporate these changes quickly.

 Make sure response time is fast – MSS designers must monitor response times as
executives won’t tolerate slow systems.

CHAPTER 13: INTELLIGENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

 WHAT IS ARTIFCIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

o ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – consists of related technologies that try to simulate and

reproduce human thought and behavior, including thinking, speaking, feeling and
reasoning. AI technologies apply computers to areas that require knowledge,
perception, reasoning, understanding and cognitive abilities.

o The computer must be able to

 Understand common sense

 Understand facts and manipulate qualitative data

 Deal with exceptions and discontinuity

 Understand relationship between facts

 Interact with humans in their own language

  Deal with new situation based on previous learning.

 AI TECHNOLOGY SUPPORTING DECISION MAKING

o Decision making anaylsis:

 What is – thus analysis is commonly used in transaction processing systems and

management information systems. For example you enter a customer’s account
number and the system displays the current balance.

 What if – this analysis is used in decision support systems. Decision makers use
it to monitor the effect of a change in one or more variables.

 ROBOTICS

o ROBOTICS – robots and robotics are some of the most successful applications of AI.
They perform well at simple, repetitive tasks and can be used to free workers from
tedious hazardous jobs.

o A robots operation - is controlled by a computer program that includes commands such

as when and how far to reach, which direction to go or turn, when to grasp an object
and how much pressure to apply.

o Examples of programming language used:

 VAL – variable Assembly Language

 FROB – Functional Robotics

 AML – A Manufacturing Language

o Advantages of robots compared to humans:

 They don’t fall in love with coworkers, get insulted or call in sick

 They are consistent

 They can be used in environments that are hazardous to humans

 They don’t spy for competitors.

 Personal robots include: twenty one robot, motorman robot and apriattenda
robot

 .

 EXPERT SYSTEMS
o EXPERT SYSTEMS – mimic human expertise in a particular field to solve a problem in a
well defined area. An expert system consists of programs that mimic human thought
behavior in a specific area that human experts have solved successfully.

o Heuristics data – consist of common sense, rules of thumb, educated guesses, and
instinctive judgment and using heuristic data encourages applying knowledge based on
experience to solve or describe a problem.

o COMPONENTS OF AN EXPERT SYSTEM:

 Knowledge acquisition faculty – is a software package with manual or

automated methods for acquiring and incorporating new rules and facts so that
the expert system is capable of growth. Knowledge is up to date.

 Knowledge base – is similar to a database, nut in addition to storing facts and

figures it keeps tracks of rules and explanations associated with facts. Following
types of knowledge included:

 Factual knowledge – facts related to a specific discipline, subject or

problem. For examples facts related to a kidney problem is the kidney
size.

 Heuristic knowledge – rules related to a problem or discipline. For

example a general rule indicating a kidney problem is severe pain in the
back.

 Meta knowledge – is knowledge about knowledge. Learn from

experience and examine and extract relevant facts to determine the
solution.

 Knowledge base management system (KBMS) – similar to a DBMS, is used to

keep the knowledge base updated, with changes to facts, figures and rules.

 User interface – provides user friendly access to the expert system.

 Explanation facility – performs tasks similar to what a human expert does by

explaining to end users how recommendations are derived.

 Inference engine - is similar to the model base component of a decision support

system. By using different techniques, such as forward and backward chaining, it
manipulates a series of rules.

 Forward chaining – a series of if then else condition pairs is performed.

The if condition is evaluated first then the corresponding then else
action is carried out.
  Backward chaining – the expert system starts with the goal first – the
then part – and backtracks to find the right solution. To achieve this goal
what conditions must be met.

o USES OF EXPERT SYSTEMS:

 Airline industry – used to manage frequent flier transactions.

 Forensics lab work – used to review DNA samples and generate results quickly
and accurately.

 Banking and finance – assess historical trends, new events and buying and
selling factors.

 Education – used to teach maths and evaluate math skills.

 Food industry – capture expertise that a highly specialized, long time employee
had about the business.

 Personnel management – assist in training technicians, reduced training time.

 Security – track credit card holders purchasing trends and report deviations.

 US government – monitor nuclear plants and assist the IRS.

 Agriculture – diagnose pests and diseases in rice crops.

o CRITERIA FOR USING EXPERT SYSTEMS:

 A lot of human expertise is needed but a single expert cant tackle the problem
on his own.

 The knowledge needed can be represented as rules or heuristics; a well defined

algorithm isn’t available.

 The decision or task has already been handled successfully by human experts.

 The decision or task requires consistency and standardization.

 The subject domain is limited.

 The decision or task involves many rules and complex logic.

 The scarcity of experts.

o CRITERIA FOR NOT USING EXPERT SYSTEMS:

 There are very few rules or too many rules.

  Well structured numeric problems are involved.

 Broad range of topics and there are not many rules involved.

 Lot of disagreement among experts.

 The problems require human experts – the five senses.

o ADVANTAGES OF EXPERT SYSTEMS:

 System never becomes distracted, forgetful or tired.

 Duplicated and preserves the expertise of scarce experts.

 Can preserve expertise of employees.

 Creates consistency in decision making and improved decision making.

 CASE BASED RESONING

o CASE BASED REASONING (CBR) – is a problem solving technique that matches a new
case (problem), with a previously solved case and its solution, both stored in a database.
After searching for a match, the CBR systems offers a solution; if no match can be found
even after supplying more information, the human expert must solve the problem.

 INTELLIGENT AGENTS

o INTELLIGENT AGENTS – are an application of artificial intelligence that are becoming

more popular, particularly in e-commerce. They consist of software capable of reasoning
and following rule base processes.

o Characteristics of intelligent agents:

 Adaptability – able to learn from previous knowledge and go beyond

information given previously.

 Autonomy – able to operate with minimum input.

 Collaborative behavior – able to work and cooperate with other agents.

 Humanlike interface – able to interact with users.

 Mobility – able to migrate from one platform to another with minimum human
intervention.

 Reactivity – able to select problems or situations that need attention and act on
them.
 o Categories of agents:

 Shopping or information agents

 Personal agents

 Data mining agents

 Monitoring and surveillance agents.

o Shopping and information agents – helps users navigate through vast resources
available on the Web and provide better results in finding information. These agents can
navigate the Web much faster than humans and gather more consistent, detailed
information. They can serve as search engines, site reminders, or personal surfing
assistants. Example pricescan.

o Personal agents – perform specific tasks for a user, such as remembering information
for filling out web forms or completing email addresses after the first few characters are
typed. They can generate auto responses, forward incoming messages and create email
replies.

o Data mining agents – work with a data warehouse and can detect trend changes and
discover new information and relationship among data items that aren’t readily
apparent.

o Monitoring and surveillance agents – usually track and report on computer equipment
and network systems to predict when a system crash or failure might occur.

 FUZZY LOGIC

o FUZZY LOGIC – allows a smooth, gradual transition between human and computer
vocabularies and deals with variations in linguistic terms by using a degree in
membership. A degree of membership shows how relevant an item or object is to a set.
It is designed to help computers simulate vagueness and uncertainty in common
situations.

o A conventional set – sometimes called a crisp set. Membership is defined in a black or

white fashion. Not grey area. 79.99 is a fail.

o USES OF FUZZY LOGIC:

 Dryers that convert information on load size, fabric type and flow of hot air into
drying times.

 Refrigerators’ that set defrosting and cooling times.

 Shower systems that suppress variations in water temperature

  Tv that adjust screen color and texture for each frame

 Video camcorders that eliminate shakiness in images.

 ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS

o ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS (ANN) – are networks that learn and are capable of
performing tasks that are difficult with conventional computers, such as playing chess,
recognizing patterns in faces and objects and filtering spam email. ANN has an output
payer, an input layer and a middle (hidden) layer where learning takes place.

o ANN is used for tasks below:

 Bankruptcy prediction

 Credit rating

 Investment analysis

 Oil and gas exploration

 Target marketing.

 GENETIC ALGORITHMS

o GENETIC ALGORITHMS (GA) – are mostly used in techniques to find solutions to

optimization and search problems. The following techniques are used:

 Selection or survival of the fittest – gives preference to a higher weight to

better outcomes.

 Crossover – combines good portions of different outcomes to achieve a better

outcome.

 Mutation – tries combinations of different inputs randomly and evaluates the

results.

 NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING

o NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING (NLP) – was developed so that users could

communicate with computers in their own language. Examples are: dragon speech
recognition, nuance communications, espeaking software.

o Can be divided into the following categories:

 Interface to databases

 Machine translations such as translating French to English

  Text scanning and intelligent indexing programs for summarizing large amounts
of text.

 Generating text for automated production documents.

 Speech systems for voice interaction with computers.

o The two types of activities are: interfacing, accepting human language as input, carrying
out the corresponding command and generating the necessary output. The second is
knowledge acquisition: using the computer to read large amounts of text and
understand the information well enough to summarize important point and store
information for future use.

 INTEGRATING AI TECHNOLOGIES INTO DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS.

o AI can improve DSS. They can add explanation capabilities (by integrating expert
systems), and learning capabilities (by integrating ANN systems) and create an interface
that’s easier to use (by integrating an NLP systems). Benefits of integrating the systems
are:

 Adding deductive reasoning to traditional DBMS

 Improving access speed.

 Improving the creation and maintenance of databases

 Adding the capabilities to handle uncertainty and fuzzy logic

 Simplify query operations with heuristic search algorithms

 Make it more user friendly.

CHAPTER 14 – EMERGING TRENDS, TECHNOLOGIES AND APPLICATIONS

 TRENDS IN SOFTWARE AND SERVICE DISTRIBUTION

o PULL TECHNOLOGY – a user stats a need before getting information, as when a URL is
entered in a Web browser so that the user can go to a certain website.

o PUSH TECHNOLOGY – or webcasting, a web server delivers information to users who

have signed up for this service instead of waiting for users to request information be
sent to them. For example an antivirus updates downloaded on employees workstations
automatically. RIM (research in motion) offers a new blackberry push API that alerts
users on news, weather etc.

o APPLICATION SERVICE PROVIDERS (ASP) – provides access to software or services for a

fee.
  Software as a service (SaaS) – or on demand software, is a model for ASP to
deliver software to users for a fee; the software might be for temporary or for
long term use. Examples:

 Office suite packages

 Offer a specific such as credit card processing

 Offering a service in a vertical market.

 Advantages:

 Updated software

 IS personnel development costs are spread over several customers

 Development costs are spread over several customers.

 Guarantees certain level of technical support

 Software costs can be reduced to a predictable monthly fee

 Disadvantages:

 Software customized to customers needs is not offered

 Risk that the applications might not fully meet the organizations needs

 Integration with the customers other applications and systems might be

challenging.

 VIRTUAL REALITY

o VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) – uses computer generated three dimensional images to create
the illusion of interaction in a real world environment. It can be integrated with stereo
sound and tactile sensations to give users the feel of being immersed in a three
dimensional real world. In VR terminology, the everyday physical world is referred to as
an information environment.

o Familiar terms:

 Simulation – giving objects in a VR environment texture and shading for a 3D

appearance.

 Interaction – enabling users to act on objects in a VR environment, as by us9ing

a data glove to pick up an object.
  Immersion – giving users the feeling of being part of an environment using
special hardware and software.

 Telepresence – giving users the sense that they are in another location and can
manipulate objects as though they are really there.

 Full body immersion – allowing users to move around freely by combining

interactive environments with cameras, monitors, and other devices.

 Network communication – allowing users in difference locations to interact and

manipulate the same world at the same time by connecting the two virtual
worlds.

o TYPES OF VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

 Egocentric environment – the user is totally immersed in the VR world.

Technology used here is Head Mounted Display (HMD) and Virtual Retinal
Display (VRD), example is game glasses.

 Exocentric environment – the user is given a window view. Data is still rendered
in 3D, but users can only view it onscreen. They cant interact with objects, as in
an egocentric environment. Example a 3D movie.

o COMPONENTS OF A VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEM

 Visual and aural systems – these components allow users to see and hear the
virtual world.

 Manual control for navigation – this component allows the user to navigate in
the VR environment and control various objects. The most common used device
is the data glove which users can point, grab and manipulate objects. A data
glove can also be used as an input device like a mouse.

 Central coordinating processor and software system – this component

generates and manipulates high quality graphics in real time, so it needs a very
fast processor.

 Walker – this input device captures and records movements of the users feet as
the user walks or turns in different directions.

o CAVE AUTOMATIC VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT (CAVE) – is a virtual environment

consisting of a cube shaped room in which the walls are rear-projection screens. CAVE’s
are holographic devices that create, capture and display images in true 3D form. People
can enter CAVEs in other locations, no matter how far away they are geographically.

o VIRTUAL REALITY APPLICATIONS

  Assistance for the disabled – using HMD a disabled person can get a 360 view of
their surroundings.

 Architectural design – can use the VR system to create blueprints and build
prototypes to show to clients.

 Education – VR systems are used in educational games and simulations such as

VR flash cards for teaching maths.

 Flight simulation – commercial airlines and the military have been using flight
simulators for training pilots to handle new equipment or unusual operating
conditions. It is safer and less expensive.

o OBSTACLES IN USING VR SYSTEMS

 One major obstacle to using VR technology is that not enough fibre optic cables
are currently available to carry the data transmissions needed for a VR
environment capable of recreating a conference.

 The following problems must be solved first before this technologys potential
can be realized:

 Confusion between the VR environment and the real world – the

possibility of users becoming unable to distinguish between reality and
virtual reality is a potential danger. The big risk is from computer games
that allow users to kill others.

 Mobility and other problems with HMD’s – users are limited to an area
while wearing an HMD and cant switch to performing tasks outside the
virtual world without removing the gear.

 Difficulty representing sound – it is difficult to represent sound in a 3D

environment if the sound needs to move such as a plane passing
overhead.

 Need for additional computing power – VR systems require a lot of

memory and speed to manipulate large graphic files and provide instant
response needed to give the impression of a real world.

o VIRTUAL WORLDS – is a simulated environment designed for users to interact via

avatars.

 An avatar is a 2D or 3D graphical representation of a person in the virtual world,

used in chat rooms and online games.
  Most used virtual worlds are: activeworlds, club penguin, EGO, entropia
universe, Habbo, runescape, secondlife.

 RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION

o RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) – tag is a small electronic device consisting

of a small chip and an antenna. This device provides a unique identification for the card
or object carrying the tag. Unlike bar codes and other systems, RFID devices done have
to be in contact with the scanner to be read.

o Passive RFID tags have no internal power supply, they can be very small. They absorb
the signal from the receiver device, convert this signal into energy and use this energy to
respond to the receiver. Passive tags last longer than active tags, 10 years.

o Active RFID tags have an internal power source and are usually more reliable than
passive tags and can broadcast signals over a wider range.

o RFID applications:

 Tracking and identification

 Payment and stored value systems like electronic toll systems.

 Access control – access cards

 Anticounterfeiting – casino tokens

 Health care – tracking medical tools.

 BIOMETRICS: A SECOND LOOK

o APPLICATIONS:

 ATM, credit and debit cards – if users forget their pins they can use biometric
attributes to access their cards.

 Network and computer login security – fingerprint readers.

 Web page security – fingerprint reader again.

 Voting – can be used to ensure people only vote once

 Employee clock cards – can prevent a coworker clocking in for another.

 Member identification in sports clubs – fingerprint scanners are used to allow

members inside.

 Airport security and fast check in – use smart cards to check in.
  Passports and highly secured government ID cards – a biometrically
authenticated passport or ID card can never be copied and used by an
unauthorized person.

 Sporting events – used to protect athletes using finger prints,

 Cellphone and smart cards – used to prevent unauthorized access to phones.

 TRENDS IN NETWORKING

o WIRELESS FIDELITY (WI-FI) – is a broadband wireless technology. Information can be

transmitted over short distances – typically 120 feet indoors and 300 feet outdoors – in
the form of radio waves. Some places have wifi spots which can be accessed for a
certain time.

o WORLDWIDE INTEROPERABILITY FOR MICROWAVE ACCESS (WiMax) – is a broadband

wireless technology based on the IEEE 802.16 standards. Its designed for wireless
metropolitan area networks and usually has a range of about 30 miles for fixed stations
and 3 to 10 miles for mobile stations. Compared with WiFi, Wimax has faster data
transfer rates and longer range. Disadvantages include interference from other wireless
devices, high costs, and interruptions due to weather conditions.

o BLUETOOTH – which can be used to create a personal area network (PAN), is a wireless
technology for transferring data over short distances (usually within 30 feet) for fixed
and mobile devices.

 Bluetooth is used in the following ways:

 Wireless controllers for video games.

 Companies can send short advertisements to Bluetooth enabled

devices.

 A wireless device such as a mouse, keyboard, printer or scanner can be

connected via Bluetooth.

 Contact information, to do lists, appointments and reminders can be

transferred between devices with Bluetooth.

o GRID COMPUTING – involves combining the processing powers of various computers.

With this configuration, users can make use of other computers resources to solve
problems involving large scale, complex calculations, such as circuit analysis or
mechanical design – problems that a single computer isn’t capable of solving in a timely
manner. Each participant in a grid is referred to as a node. Cost saving is a major
advantage. Other advantages:
  Improved reliability – if one node in the grid fails another node can take over.

 Parallel processing – complex tasks can be performed in parallel, which

improves performance.

 Scalability – if needed, more nodes can be added for additional computing

power without affecting the networks operation.

o UTILITY (ON DEMAND) COMPUTING – is similar to the SaaS model and provides IT
services on demand. Users pay for computing or storage resources on an as needed
basis, similar to paying for utilities. Convenience and cost savings are two main
advantages of utility computing but draw backs are privacy and security.

o CLOUD COMPUTING – incorporates, under one platform, many recent technologies,

including the Saas model, web 2.0, grid computing and utility computing; hence a
variety of resources can be provided to users over the internet. Business applications
are accessed via a web browser, and data is stored on the providers’ servers.

 NANOTECHNOLOGY

o NANOTECHNOLOGY – incorporates techniques that involve the structure and

composition of materials on a nanoscale.

o Consider a nanometer is:

 About 1/100000, the thickness of a human hair.

 Almost as wide as a DNA molecule

 Ten times the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

 How much your finger nails grow each second

 Thickness of a drop of water spread over a square meter

o Nanotechnology can play a role in the following areas:

 Energy (reduction of energy consumption, increase in the efficiency of energy

production, more environmentally friendly energy systems)

 Information and communication (larger and faster storage devices, faster and
cheaper computers)

 Heavy industry, aerospace, construction, refineries.

 Nano materials have been added to sports gear, such as tennis and golf and
tennis rackets, to make the more durable and improve their responsiveness;
tennis balls incorporating nanomaterial’s bounce better.