Introduction to

Business
Computing
Skills

Dr. Huynh Tan Quoc

BUSINESS COMPUTING SKILLS- BA120IU 1

 Huynh Tan Quoc, PhD
Current Position: Full-time Lecturer
School: Electrical Engineering

Instructor’s Information

E-mail: htquoc@hcmiu.edu.vn / quochuynhtan@gmail.com

Lecture Hour: Friday afternoon (03 periods 13:05 – 15:30/each)

Lecture Location: Room A1.302

Office Location: Room A2.206 – School of Electrical Engineering (SEE)

Office Hours: Wednesday 08:00 – 10:30

➢Grading Policy
▪ Attendance, in-class exercises, and Pop-Quizes (30%)
▪ Mid-term exam (30%)
▪ Final Exam (40%)

➢ Classroom Policy
▪ No Talking
▪ No Cell Phone during class
▪ No Chat or browsing the web during class
▪ At 13:20, class room will be closed
▪ Quizzes will given without notice
▪ Attendance is required

Students missing 3 classes will get 0 in this class

Course Information

This course aims to provide thorough instructions on up-to-date coverage of the essential
role of Information Technologies (IT) in providing a platform for business, commerce, and
collaboration processes among all business stakeholders in today’s networked enterprises and
global markets.
In addition, the course uses commercial software to understand the business functions of
computers and develop personal competency in practical application of computers in business.
Also, this course provides specific knowledge and advanced capabilities in various skills
necessary for effective performance in business classes and the business world with an
introduction to a minimum of two software packages used in an office.
Course Contents

MS Excel MS Access

Information Systems
in Business
Operations ?

Computer
Structure ?
MS Word
(optional)
Course Goals

After completing the course, students should be able to:

Understand about the Information Technology (IT) (in particular, computer terminology,
hardware, and software related to the business environment)

Apply business productivity software applications and professional behavior in computing to

develop technical computer based skills needed to prepare documents, presentations, and
spreadsheets using Microsoft’s Office Suite Software (focusing on MS Access and MS Excel),

Use filing and schedule management skills to support management and supervisors.
 Course Schedule (Summer Semester) – 6 weeks

1. Introduction to Information Systems 1 day

2. Introduction to Computer Structure 1 day
3. MS Access 5 days
4. Midterm Exam (excluded) 1 day
5. MS Excel 7 days
6. Final Exam (excluded) 1 day
 Email
• How to write a good email message:

1. Subjects
Give the message a subject/title. Keep the subject short, specific, and clear but avoid such headings as:
‘Good News’, ‘Hello’,

2. Greetings
Start the message with a greeting so as to help create a friendly but business-like tone. The choice of using
the other name versus the surname will depend on who you are writing to (friend or professor). It would be
safer to use the person’s surname/family name together with a title,
e.g. Dear Mr Smithson, Dear Dr. Stringer,

3. Purpose
Start with a clear indication of what the message is about in the first paragraph.
e.g. I would like have a recommendation from you.

4. Action
Any action that you want the reader to do should be clearly described, using politeness phrases. Subordinates
should use expressions such as 'Could you...' or ' I would be grateful if...'. Superior staff should also use polite
phrases, for example, 'Please...'.
 Email
• How to write a good email message:

5. Attachment
Give the message a subject/title. Keep the subject short, specific, and clear but avoid such headings as:
‘Good News’, ‘Hello’,

6. Endings
End the message in a polite way. Common endings are:
Yours sincerely, Best regards, Best wishes, Regards,

Best wishes,
Dr. Quoc Huynh

7. Name
Include your name at the end of the message. It is most annoying to receive an email which does not include the
name of the sender. The problem is that often the email address of the sender does not indicate exactly who it is
from, e.g. 0385915d@HCMIU.edu.vn
 Email
• How to write a good email message:

5.Attachments
Make sure you refer, in the main message, to any attachments you are adding and of course make extra sure that you remember to include
the attachment(s). e.g. 'message.doc' is bad, but 'QA Report 2009.doc' is good.

6.Endings
End the message in a polite way. Common endings are:
Yours sincerely, Best regards, Best wishes, Regards,

Best wishes,
Dr. Quoc Huynh

5.Names
Include your name at the end of the message. It is most annoying to receive an email which does not include the name of the sender. The
problem is that often the email address of the sender does not indicate exactly who it is from, e.g. 0385915d@HCMIU.edu.vn
Introduction to
Information
Systems &
Computer System

Lecture 1
Dr. Huynh Tan Quoc
12
INFS – 215
Why study information systems?

Why do businesses need information systems?

What do you need to understand about both the

use and management of information technologies in
business?

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Have you ever surfed the internet for searching
information or used the projector for a presentation?

Have you ever used an ATM to withdraw money or

to buy goods at a large supermarket?

In both cases, you are directly or indirectly using the

facilities offered by an information system.

Every activity in our daily life today requires people

to get involved in the use of information systems.

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INTRODUCTION (cont’)
What is a system?

A system is defined as a set of interrelated components, with a

clearly defined boundary, working together to achieve a
common set of objectives by accepting inputs and producing
outputs in an organized transformation process.

What is an information system?

An information system (IS) that is a system, can be any

organized combination of people, hardware, software,
communications networks, data resources, and policies and
procedures that stores, retrieves, transforms, and disseminates
information in an organization.

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Communication Systems

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 Communication Systems
In the past….

Drum
Torch Smoke

Pigeon
Hand-written
Tower using mirrors letter
11/25/2022 17
In the present….

11/25/2022 18
In the present….

DIGITAL MODEM MODEM DIGITAL

19
 Communication System Examples

RADIO
STATION FREE SPACE
AAAIR

3G/4G/5G

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Communication System Examples

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The Fundamental Roles of IS in Business
Why Information Systems are Important?
An understanding of the effective and responsible use and management of
information systems and technologies is important for managers, business
professionals, and other knowledge workers in today’s internet-worked
enterprises.
The Fundamental Roles of IS in Business
Why Information Systems are Important?

Information systems play a vital role in the e-business and e-commerce operations,
enterprise collaboration and management, and strategic success of businesses that must
operate in an internet-worked global environment.
Thus, the field of information systems has become a major functional area of business
administration.
The Fundamental Roles of IS in Business
Tree vital roles:
❖Support of Strategies for Competitive Advantage
❖Support of Business Decision Making
❖Support of Business Processes and Operations
 Introduction Computer System

1. Basic Computing Concepts

2. Networking Principles

3. Computer Hardware

4. Computer Software

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 By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. Define the common terminologies in a computer

system;

2. Know the needed components and how to connect

to the Internet;

3. Basic knowledge of hardware and software.

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 Basic Computing Concepts

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 WHAT IS A COMPUTER ?

DEFINITION? A computer is an electronic device that

manipulates information, or “data”. It has the ability
to store, retrieve, and process data.

USAGE? You can use a computer to type documents, send

email, and surf the Internet. You can also use it to handle
spreadsheets, accounting, financing, database management,
presentations, play games, and more.
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 COMPUTER SIMPLIFIED

All types of computers consist of two basic

parts:

Hardware is any part of your computer that

has a physical structure, such as the
computer monitor or keyboard. Inside a Computer - Part of the
Computer Motherboard

Software is any set of instructions that tells

the hardware what to do. It is what guides
the hardware and tells it how to accomplish
each task. Some examples of software are
web browsers, games, and word processors.

The first electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC),
was developed in 1946. It measured 18 feet by 80 feet and weighed 30 tons.
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 TYPES OF COMPUTER

Desktop Computers
- The term desktop actually refers to the casing, or
the tower. Once you add a monitor, mouse, and a
keyboard, you have what is typically known as a
desktop computer.
- Most desktop computers are easy to upgrade and
expand, or add new parts.
- Cost reduction.
- The term desktop computer originated when the
computer case was wide and flat, and was
designed specifically to fit on your desktop with the
monitor on top.
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 TYPES OF COMPUTER…

Laptop Computers
- Battery or AC-powered personal computers.
- Can be easily carried and used in a variety of
locations.
- Difficult to expand or upgrade. While the
desktop computer case is relatively easy to
open and access internal components, the
small laptop case makes this more difficult in
comparison.
- A laptop computer is sometimes called
a notebook computer because of its size.

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 TYPES OF COMPUTER…
Others
o Workstations are similar to desktop computers, but are more powerful and are
usually connected to a network.
o Servers are specialized computers that store and deliver, or “serve up”, information
to other computers on a network (file/database/web/… servers).
o Mainframes computers are powerful computers used mainly by large organizations
for critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as census, industry and
consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.
o Supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity,
particularly speed of calculation.

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 OPERATING SYSTEMS
DEFINE?
- The most important software that runs on a computer (Software is any set of instructions
that performs some task on a computer.)

PURPOSE?
- Performs many essential tasks for your computer.
- Controls the memory needed for computer processes, manages disk space, controls
peripheral devices, and allows you to communicate with the computer without knowing exactly
how a computer works.
- Without an operating system, a computer is useless.

ILLUSTRATION: Booting process

TYPES:

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 OPERATING SYSTEMS: TYPES

WINDOWS MACOS LINUX

proprietary software of Proprietary software of Apple open source or free
Microsoft
various versions
mid-1980s started in 1984 started in the 1990s
extend to mobile market circulate in Apple products only extremely popular in businesses
(SERVERS)
over 80% of computer users 12% of the operating systems 8% of the market share for
market as of March 2015 home users

Latest version: Windows 11 Latest version of MacOS: Two popular distributions:

Monterey Ubuntu and Red Hat

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 COMPUTER HARDWARE

Hardware components include:

1. Central Processing Unit (CPU)
2. Primary storage
3. Secondary storage
4. Input device
5. Output device
6. Communication device

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 BASIC PARTS OF A COMPUTER

- All of the basic parts of a desktop computer are considered hardware.

- Inside the computer case: main board + RAM + CPU + SDD + Power
supply unit [+VGA/Sound/… Cards]
- and monitor, keyboard, mouse, and power cord, Optical/Blu-ray
disks are considered as peripherals

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MotherBoard

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 BASIC PARTS OF A COMPUTER…
PORTS
PS/2 Port
These ports are called PS/2 ports and are used for the
mouse and keyboard.
Ethernet Port
This port looks a lot like the modem or telephone port but it is
actually wider.
Audio In/Audio Out
Every computer has a bank of audio ports where you can
connect various devices, including speakers, microphones,
headsets, and more.
VGA Port
Your monitor is connected to this port.
USB Port
The Universal Serial Bus let you attach a variety of
devices such as mice, printers, keyboards, web cameras,
43 USB/flash drives, and digital cameras to your computer quickly.
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 BASIC PARTS OF A COMPUTER…

Parallel Port
One of the two original ports on the first personal computer
(commonly known as the printer port)
Serial Port
The serial port is the other original port on the first personal
computer. Serial ports can be used to plug in devices such as dial-
up modems and other devices.
Expansion Slots
These empty slots are where expansion cards are added to
computers. For example, if your computer did not come with a
video card, you could purchase one and insert it here.
FireWire Port
FireWire is actually the Apple brand name for the IEEE 1394 port.
It is the standard port used with digital video cameras and high-
resolution scanners.
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 CPU

CPU/Processor (Central Processing Unit)

- The brain of the computer, or the computer's engine.
- Carry out commands. Whenever you press a key, click the mouse, or
start an application, you're sending instructions to the CPU.
- The processor determines how fast a computer can execute instructions.

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 Computer Processing Speeds

⚫ MIPS – million instructions per second

– trillions of floating point operations per second

⚫ Teraflops
(Supercomputer)

⚫ Clock speed of the computer:

⚫ Megahertz (MHz) – millions of cycles per second

⚫ Gigahertz (GHz) – billions of cycles per second

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 Storage
⚫ Hard Disk Drive (HDD)- is an electro-mechanical data storage device
that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage.

⚫ Solid-State Drive (SSD)- is a solid-state storage device that

uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically
using flash memory

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 Random Access Memory (RAM)
⚫Random access memory (RAM) - the computer’s primary
working memory, in which program instructions and data are stored
so that they can be accessed directly by the CPU via the processor’s
high-speed external data bus

⚫ Volatility: do not retain its contents when the power is switched off

⚫ Save work frequently

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 R ea d O n l y Mem o ry ( R O M)
⚫ ROM: read only memory

⚫ The portion of a computer’s primary storage that

does not lose its contents when one switches off
the power → Permanent storage
⚫ Can be read but cannot be overwritten

⚫ Store start-up program frequently used programs

burnt into chips during manufacturing (called
firmware)

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 Flash drive

⚫ New type of permanent storage

⚫ A special type of rewritable ROM that is compact and

portable

⚫ Uses semiconductor memory

➢ Also called jump drives, USB flash drives, thumb

drives, USB disk etc.

➢ Memory card, memory stick

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 Peripherals

⚫Peripheral is generic name for all input, output, and

secondary storage devices that are part of the computer

system but are not part of the system unit (i.e. CPU &

primary storage)

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 Input Devices
⚫ Input device - equipment used to capture
information and commands

⚫ Manual input devices

⚫ Joystick
⚫ Keyboard
⚫ Microphone
⚫ Automated input devices
⚫ Bar code scanner
⚫ Digital camera
⚫ Magnetic ink character reader
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 Popular input devices

⚫Keyboard

⚫ most widely-used

⚫ provides a set of alphabetic, numeric, punctuation, symbol and control keys.

⚫Mouse

⚫ One or more control buttons housed in a palm size case and designed so that one
can move it on the table.

⚫ Point & click

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 Pointing Devices

⚫ Touchpad – Small rectangular touch-sensitive

surface
➢ Moves the cursor in the direction of finger
moves on the pad.

⚫ Touch Screen – use computer by touching

screen
➢ Videodisplay screen that emits a grid of infrared
beams, sound waves, or a slight electric current.
➢ Grid is broken when the screen is touched.

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 Automated Input Devices

• Bar code scanner: point of sales, inventory

• Magnetic strip: Can hold about kilobytes of information (Debit, credit)
• Digital cameras: captures still images or video as a series of 0s and 1s
• Automatic teller machine (ATM) devices: special I/O devices, a terminal of
most bank customers

• Radio-frequency identification (RFID): library, uses active or passive tags in

the form of chips or smart label that can store unique identifier and relay this
information to electronic readers.

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 Output Technologies
⚫ Video displays
⚫ Cathode ray tube (CRT) like a television
⚫ Most desktop PC screens
⚫ Liquid crystal displays (LCDs)
⚫ Laptop and PDAs, some PCs

⚫ Printed Output
⚫ Inkjet printer
⚫ Spray ink on page

⚫ Laser printer
⚫ Electrostatic process like photocopying machine

⚫ Voice response systems

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 Computer Storage Fundamentals

⚫ Binary representation
⚫ Data are processed and stored in computer system through the presence or
absence of signals

⚫ Either ON or OFF

⚫ ON = number 1

⚫ OFF = number 0

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 Bit and Byte
⚫ Bit (short for binary digit) ⚫ Kilobyte (KB)
⚫ Smallest element of data ⚫ A kilobyte is 1,024 bytes.

⚫ Either zero or one ⚫ Megabyte (MB)

⚫ Byte ⚫ A Megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes.

⚫ Group of eight bits which operate as a ⚫ Gigabyte (GB)

single unit
⚫ A gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes.
⚫ Represents one character or number
⚫ Terabyte (GB)
⚫ A terabyte is 1,024 gigabytes.
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 Computers use binary system to calculate

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 Representing characters in bytes
(using coding scheme)

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 Computer Software

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 Ty p e s o f s o f t w a r e

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 Software types

Application software

Performs information processing tasks for end users

System software

Manages and supports operations of computer

systems and networks

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 Application software
General purpose
 Programs that perform common information processing
jobs for end users
 e.g., word processing, spreadsheet, etc.
 also called productivity packages
Application-specific
 Programs that support specific applications of end users
 e.g., Business–Accounting, electronic commerce,
customer relationship management, science and
Engineering Education, Entertainment, etc.
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 Software classifications

 Classify based on how it was developed

 Custom software
 Software applications that are developed within an organization for
use by that organization
 COTS software
 Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS)
 Software developed with the intention of selling the software in
multiple copies
 Why would you choose Custom over COTS?
 Why would you choose COTS over Custom?

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 Software Suites

 Software suites integrate software packages

 Advantages

 Cost less than buying individual packages

 All have a similar GUI

 Work together well

 Disadvantages

 Features not used by all users

 Take a lot of disk space

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 Software Suites

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 I n t e g ra t e d Pa c ka g e s

 Integrated packages

 Combine the functions of several programs into one

package

 e.g., Microsoft Works, AppleWorks

Advantages

 Many functions for lower price and smaller disk space

Disadvantages

 Limited functionality
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 We b B r o w s e r

 Software applications that support navigation through the

point-and-click resources of the Web

 Surfing the web

 Becoming a universal software platform for Internet-based

applications

 MicrosoftExplorer, Netscape Navigator, Firefox, Opera,

Google Chrome or Mozilla

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 E-mail, Instant Messaging and Weblogs

 E-mail
 Software to communicate by sending and receiving messages
and attachments via the Internet, intranet or extranet

 Instant messaging (IM)

 Receive electronic messages instantly

 Weblog or blog
 A personal website in dated log format

 Updated with new information about a subject or range of

subjects

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 Word processing and Desktop publishing

 Word processing
 Create, edit, revise and print documents
 E.g., Microsoft Word, Lotus WordPro and Corel
WordPerfect

 Desktop Publishing
 Produce printed materials that look professionally
published
 E.g., Adobe PageMaker, Microsoft Publisher and
QuarkXPress

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 Electronic Spreadsheets and Presentation Graphics

 Electronic Spreadsheets
 Worksheet of rows and columns
 Used for calculations and charts
 E.g., Lotus 1-2-3, Microsoft Excel, Corel QuatroPro
 Presentation Graphics
 Convert numeric data into graphics displays
 Prepare multimedia presentations including
graphics, photos, animation, and video clips
 E.g.,Microsoft PowerPoint, Lotus Freelance, Corel
Presentations
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 Software: for sale/free/rent

 Commercial software

 Proprietary software or package software

 Copyright: exclusive legal right
 Software license: the right to use
 You don’t buy software: you buy a license to use the software
under the terms of the licensing agreement
 Licensed to protect the vendor’s property right
 Public-domain software

 Not protected by copyright

 E.g., open source software
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 Software: for sale, for free or for rent ?

 Shareware
 Distributed
free of charge but requires users to
make a monetary contribution to continue using it
 Freeware
 Copyright software that is distributed free of
charge
 Rental-ware
 The users lease software
 Pirated software # counterfeit software

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 System software

 Software that manages and supports a computer

system
 System management programs
 Programs that manage hardware, software, network, and
data resources
 E.g., operating systems, network management programs,
database management systems, systems utilities
 Systems development programs
 Programs that help users develop information system
programs

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 Networking principles

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 COMPUTER NETWORK
DEFINE: A network is a group of two or more computer systems linked
together. There are many types of computer networks, including:
• Local-Area Networks (LANs): The computers are geographically close
together (that is, in the same building).
• Wide-Area Networks (WANs): The computers are farther apart and are
connected by telephone lines or radio waves.
• Campus-Area Networks (CANs): The computers are within a limited
geographic area, such as a campus or military base.
• Metropolitan-Area Networks (MANs): A data network designed for a town
or a city.
• Home-Area Networks (HANs): A network contained within a user's home
that connects a person's digital devices.
78  Computers on a network are sometimes called nodes.
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 INTERNET
A global network connecting millions of
computers. More than 100 countries are linked into
exchanges of data, news and opinions.
Unlike online services, which are centrally
controlled, the Internet is decentralized by design.
Each Internet computer, called a host, is
independent.
Its operators can choose which Internet services
to use and which local services to make available
to the global Internet community.
There are a variety of ways to access the
Internet. It is also possible to gain access through a
commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP)
The Internet is not synonymous with World Wide
79 Web. 1-79
 HOW TO CONNECT TO I NTERNET?
REQUIREMENTS: An Internet Service Provider (ISP), a modem, and an Internet browser.
TYPES OF INTERNET ACCESS:
o Dial-up access: usually the least expensive way to access the Internet; however,
slowest. A phone line and PC modem are required. Can't use the phone and computer at
the same time.
o DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, provides high-speed, Internet access through a phone
line. Can talk on the telephone and access the Internet at the same time. A DSL
modem and an Ethernet card are required for installation. A splitter may also be required
to filter the DSL signal from the low frequency voice signal.
o Cable access: is provided through local TV cable. Like DSL access, it is considered
broadband, high-speed Internet access.
o Satellite access: used in locations where there is no broadband cable or DSL Internet
available, most expensive. Satellite access is available across the world and can provide
you with a broadband connection.
o Mobile access: via cellular network (GSM/CDMA): very portable but higher cost than
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 REQUIRED HARDWARE

Modem
a device or program that enables a computer to transmit data over, for example, telephone or
cable lines. Computer information is stored digitally, whereas information transmitted over
telephone lines is transmitted in the form of analog waves. A modem converts between these
two forms.
The type of Internet access will determine what type of modem: Dial-up access uses
a telephone modem, which may come installed on your computer, DSL service uses a DSL
modem, Cable access uses a cable modem, and Satellite service uses a satellite adapter.
Network Card
− A network card is a piece of hardware that allows computers to communicate over a computer
network. Most newer computers have a network card built into the motherboard.
Router
− A router is a hardware device that allows you to use several computers on a single Internet
connection from your ISP.
− With a router, all the computers in your home can connect to the Internet and all you pay for is
one account with an ISP and one IP address. Additionally, cable, DSL, and satellite users can use a
81 router as a hardware firewall.
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