IGNOU CONVERGENCE SCHEME IILM INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION LODHI ROAD,NEW DELHI PI CODE:IIL1203

SEMESTER I ASSIGNMENT

SUBJECT: MS 7

SUBMITTED BY:DRAKSHAN TABASSUM IGNOU ENROLLMENT NO: 119014538

Questn 1)

Explain the difference between the following: Answer)

y High-Level and Low level languages: The most basic difference is that the statements in a low level language can be directly mapped to processor instructions, while a single statement in a high level language may execute dozens of experiments Low level refers to the fact that this is a machine language, binary in form, generally meaning one low level command = one executed instruction. The complexity arises when we need to enable a programmer to designate one high level instruction that performs several or many machine (low level) operations. Low Level Languages: Assembler and Advanced Assembler High Level Languages: RPG, COBOL, any that make machine level programming of a computer easier. A high level language is a language for programming computers which does not require detailed knowledge of a specific computer, as a low-level language does. High-level languages do not have to be written for a particular computer, but must be compiled for the computer they will work with. High-level languages are closer to human language than low-level languages, and include statements like GOTO or FOR which are regular words On the other hand, a low level language is a computer programming language that is close to machine language. Machine language is at the lowest level, because it is the actual binary code of 1s and 0s that the computer understands. Assembly languages are low- level languages which are translated into machine code by an assembler. Each assembly language instruction corresponds to one machine language instruction, but assembly language is easier notation for the programmer to use than machine code. y Applications & Utilities In information technology, an application is a computer program designed to help people perform an activity. An application thus differs from an operating system (which runs a computer), a utility (which performs maintenance or general-purpose chores), and a programming language (with which computer programs are created). Depending on the activity for which it was designed, an application can manipulate text, numbers, graphics, or a combination of these elements. Some application packages offer considerable computing power by focusing on a single task, such as word processing; others, called integrated software, offer somewhat less power but include several applications. User-written software tailors systems to meet the user's specific needs. User-written software include spreadsheet templates, word processor macros, scientific simulations, graphics and animation scripts. Even email filters are a kind of user software. Users create this software themselves and often overlook how important it is. The delineation between system software such as operating systems and application software is not exact, however, and is occasionally the object of controversy. For example, one of the key questions in the United States v. Microsoft antitrust trial was whether Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser was part of its Windows operating system or a separable piece of application software. As another example, the GNU/Linux naming controversy is, in part, due to disagreement about the relationship between the Linux kernel and the operating systems built over this kernel. In some types of embedded systems, the application software and the operating system software may be indistinguishable to the user, as in the case of software used to control a VCR, DVD player or microwave oven. Applications can also be classified by computing platform,where as Utility software is a kindof system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called a utility (abbr. util) or tool. Utility software should be contrasted with application software, which allows users to do things like creating text documents, playing games, listening to music or surfing the web. Rather than providing these kinds of user-oriented or output-oriented functionality, utility software usually focuses on how the computer infrastructure (including the computer hardware, operating system, application

software and data storage) operates. Due to this focus, utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level of computer knowledge. Most utilities are highly specialized and designed to perform only a single task or a small range of tasks. However, there are also some utility suites that combine several features in one piece of software. Most major operating systems come with several pre-installed utilities. y Shareware, Open source software, Freeware Shareware is demonstration software that you use for a specific evaluation period (usually 30 days) without paying a fee. After the evaluation period expires, the shareware provider may require you to purchase a license for the software or to quit using it. Although it's virtually unenforceable, using shareware beyond the evaluation period violates copyright laws. Many companies develop their programs so the features and functions become disabled after 30 days As the name suggests, freeware is software that's written and distributed freely over the Internet or on disks. There's no charge to use the software and no trial period. Typically, the author of the software maintains ownership and copyright of the freeware program and grants licenses for its use. A freeware license may, for example, bar users from modifying the software or attempting to sell it to other. Open source software is software that's available in source code form for anyone to use. Although open source software doesn't have licensing restrictions that limit its use, modification, or redistribution, it usually has restrictions that preserve its open source status and control its development. Examples of open source software include the Linux operating system, the Perl scripting language, and the Apache Web server. Questn 2). Discuss the relationship between data and information, information and knowledge. Also explain the concepts of cost and value of information by the help of an example. Answer)The relationship between data and information is an interconnected one. Data is raw facts such as phone numbers or addresses, and information is the organization of these raw facts into a meaningful manner. The information may be well organized on a report or table and yet not always be meaningful to all people. There are different ways to arrange data to make it meaningful for different people. For example, one person might be satisfied with information that shows him or her the towns in which their customers live in to help him or her determine where the largest volume of customers are. A different person might want that information expanded to include those customers street addresses as well so that they may determine a better shipping route. Both of these examples contain the same customers and similar data but the first person would have no use for the street addresses in his search and the second person would not have enough information to create a shipping route from just the towns. The relationship between Information & knowledge Information... information is data that has been given meaning by way of relational connection..This "meaning" can be useful, but does not have to be. In computer parlance, a relational database makes information from the data stored within it. Knowledge... knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, such that it's intent is to be useful. Knowledge is a deterministic process. When someone "memorizes" information (as lessaspiring test-bound students often do), then they have amassed knowledge. This knowledge has useful meaning to them, but it does not provide for, in and of itself, an integration such as would infer further knowledge. The concepts of cost and value of information suggests that: y The decision theory suggests the method of solving the problems of decision making under certainly risk & uncertainly.

y y y

A decision making situation is of certainly when the decision maker has full knowledge about the alternatives & its outcomes this is possible when perfect information is available. Therefore the information has a perceived value in term of decision making. The decision makes full more secured when additional information is received in case of decision making under an uncertainly or a risk. The information is called a perfect information if it wipes out uncertainly or risk completely. However perfect information is myth. The decision theory stipulates that the values of the additional information Is the value of the change in the decision behavior resulted by the information less the cost of obtaining the information. If the additional information does not cause any change in the decision behavior then the value of the additional information is zero. The value of the additional information making the exiting information perfect (VPI) is: VPI = ( V2 - V1 ) ( C2 - C1 ) Where, V is the value of the information,C is the cost of obtaining the information V1 & C1 relate to one set of information and V2 & C2 relate to the new set of information

y y y

y y

y y

If the VPI is very high then it is beneficial to serve the additional information need. If Manager does not know the perfect information about the decision situation then he is faced with the problem of decision making under uncertainly or risk conditions. Given a set of the possible decisions a decision maker will select one of the bases of the available information causes a change in the decision then the value of the new information is the difference in the value between the outcome of the old decision & that of new information So information has a value only to those who have the background knowledge to use it in a decision. The experienced manager generally uses the information most effectively but he may need less information as experience has already reduced uncertainly for him when compared to a less experienced manager. In MIS the concept of the value of information is used to find out the benefit of perfect information & if the value is significantly high, the system should provide it. If the value if insignificant it would not be worth collecting the additional information. The decisions at the operational & middle management level are such that the value of the additional or new information is low, while at the higher levels of the management the decision being mainly strategic & tactical in nature the value of additional information is very high. Some information has the strength of motivating the manager to think in futuristic terms. Some information has the strength of confirming the beliefs or understanding the business process.

For Example: If there are two products A & B to be developed with known pay- offs, as shown in figure. A B 25 35

(a) Decision = B (With existing Information)

A B

40 30

(b) Decision = A (With new Information)

Here in matrix (a), the decision maker will select the product which has got the maximum pay-off i.e. Product B y y y However if some additional information is made available to the decision-maker, according to which the pay-off distribution changes as given in matrix (b). Now, the decision maker will opt for Product A. The additional or new information Causes the decision maker to choose product A there by increasing his gain from 30 to 40. Thus the value of additional information is (40-30) =10 units

Questn 3) Explain the major marketing subsystems and enumerate the advantages of the use of computers in such subsystems. Answer) A business information system is the sum of all the tools, techniques, and procedures used by the business to process data Such a system accepts input data about the business and generates required or desired output information. These tools, techniques, and procedures may be carried out manually or by a computer. Most information systems are made up of component subsystems and applications or modules that are designed to process data in specific areas of business activity. Any business information system can be divided into processing systems of narrower scope which accept input data, process it, and interact with each other to produce output information and files of data. Important Characteristics of an Information System All processing applications of business reformation systems have some important characteristics in common These fundamental ideas can be summarized as follows. Output reports From each application module some output will be generated to provide information on which decisions can be based or statements to meet the business' reporting requirements Although it is conceivable for a package to produce no printed output, this is not likely to occur very often in business processing. The ability of computer-based systems to provide information which is not available from a manual system is one of the primary reasons for their existence. Timely and useful management reports are one of the significant advantages of an information system. Interaction with other packages The transfer of data between applications (sometimes called interface) exists to reduce duplication and redundancy in an reformation system. The capabilities of computer systems make this kind of interchange between modules relatively easy to carry out as compared to manual systems It is unusual to find an individual computer-based module that is not made more efficient by accepting some organized and (at least) partially processed data from another module. By the same token, almost all modules generate some data which can be used by other applications in the system. Components of an Information System The same fundamental ideas apply to both computer-based systems and to manual systems. Indeed, the component parts of computer-based systems generally parallel those of manual systems since the goals of both are fundamentally the same. It is realistic to view the activities and data of most businesses as falling into four major categories cash inflows and outflows, sales and purchases, financial accounting and budgeting, and manufacturing (cost) accounting. A computer-based information system can then be

logically as viewed consisting of four component subsystems that are identifiable and distinguishable, but not isolated from one another. Each of these subsystems processes data from a certain area of business activity, however, each depends upon the other, and reformation must flow between them for the computer-based system to work. The major components of such an information system are: a. A cash receipts and disbursements system. b. A sales and purchases system. c. A financial accounting/budgeting system. d. A manufacturing system. Interdependence of Components The necessary flow of information between applications makes it unlikely that any individual module, or even any component subsystem, can successfully stand alone or operate independently. Each of these modules provide the necessary "environment" for the other. Many processing applications use the same basic data as input, but require that the data be organized or accessed differently. By the same token, the output of some applications may be used as input for other applications.This commonality of data needs makes it possible for a business system to create a basic set of data which is available to all processing applications and flexible enough to be referenced by these modules in many different ways. Such a set of data within reach of all processing applications for their use is, of course, a data base Instead of each application organizing and storing all of its own data (which would necessarily result in redundancy and duplication throughout the system), the data base concept extracts data that is common to many application modules and makes it accessible to all. Only with the aid of a computer's speed and memory is this possible, thus, implementation of the data base idea in a manual system is generally not feasible. Summary The component subsystems and application modules discussed have some important characteristics in common. Each subsystem and module we have discussed has exhibited the following attributes: y Output reports of varying form, content, and frequency. y Interfaces (the exchange of information) with other modules. y Inquiry and response (interactive) capability. y Data organization into files. y Use of terminals (work stations) to input data, initiate processing, and receive output Questn 4) Describe the significant features of each of Visual Basic, Java, HTML, Excel and COBOL briefly. Answer) Visual Basic (VB) is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. Visual Basic is relatively easy to learn and use. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD)of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. Scripting languages such as VBA and VBScript are syntactically similar to Visual Basic, but perform differently. A programmer can put together an application using the components provided with Visual Basic itself. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, but doing so requires external function declarations. The final release was version 6 in 1998. Microsoft's extended support ended in March 2008 and the designated successor was Visual Basic .NET (now known simply as Visual Basic) JAVA is an object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems in 1990s. Since then, Java has gained enormous popularity as a computer language. Java was chosen as the programming language for network computers. It is a universal front end for enterprise database. Sun Microsystems states that, Java is a simple, object-oriented, distributed, secure, architecture, robust, multi threaded and dynamic language. The program can be written once, and run anywhere. One of the most significant advantages of Java is that, it has the ability to move easily from one computer to

another. It also has the ability to run the same program on many different operating systems. With such exemplary benefits, Java is a hot favourite among techies and software professionals. Java has significant advantages compared to other languages. Java language is easy to use and therefore easy to write, compile, debug. Moreover, it is easier to learn when compared to other programming languages. Since Java is object-oriented, it allows you to create modular programs and reusable codes. Platform-independent, Java is a robust language. The language lays more importance on early checking for errors, since Java compilers can detect many problems during the time of execution of an application. Java is multithreaded, since it has the capability for a program to perform several tasks simultaneously within the same program. Java Development has gained a significant position in the industry with programmers and developers finding it easier and more effective than many other languages. HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) is the set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web browser page. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web page's words and images for the user. Each individual markup code is referred to as an element (but many people also refer to it as a tag). Some elements come in pairs that indicate when some display effect is to begin and when it is to end. HTML is a formal Recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and is generally adhered to by the major browsers, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator, which also provide some additional non-standard codes. The current version of HTML is HTML 4.0. However, both Internet Explorer and Netscape implement some features differently and provide non-standard extensions. Web developers using the more advanced features of HTML 4 may have to design pages for both browsers and send out the appropriate version to a user. Significant features in HTML 4 are sometimes described in general as dynamic HTML. What is sometimes referred to as HTML 5 is an extensible form of HTML called Extensible Hypertext Mark up Language (XHTML). COBOL(Common Business Oriented Language) was one of the earliest high-level programming languages. It was developed in 1959 by a group of computer professionals called the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL). Since 1959 it has undergone several modifications and improvements. In an attempt to overcome the problem of incompatibility between different versions of COBOL, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developed a standard form of the language in 1968. This version was known as American National Standard (ANS) COBOL. In 1974, ANSI published a revised version of (ANS) COBOL, containing a number of features that were not in the 1968 version. In 1985, ANSI published still another revised version that had new features not in the 1974 standard. The language continues to evolve today. Object-oriented COBOL is a subset of COBOL 97, which is the fourth edition in the continuing evolution of ANSI/ISO standard COBOL. COBOL 97 includes conventional improvements as well as object-oriented features. Like the C++ programming language, object-oriented COBOL compilers are available even as the language moves toward standardization. Significant Language Features The language that automated business Allows names to be truly connotative - permits both long names (up to 30 characters) and wordconnector characters (dashes) Every variable is defined in detail - this includes number of decimal digits and the location of the implied decimal point File records are also described with great detail, as are lines to be output to a printer - ideal for printing accounting reports Offers object, visual programming environments Class Libraries Rapid Application Capabilities Integration with the World Wide Web COBOL, long associated with green screens, core dumps, and traditional mainframe connections, may at first glance seem at odds with object technology, push-button graphical interfaces, and interactive development environments. This perceived incongruity, however, is more a reflection of the

y y y y y y y y

mainframes ability to keep pace with the innovations of desktop and client-server computing than a flaw in the COBOL language. Areas of Application COBOL is ideally suited for the solution of business problems. For example, if a company wanted to keep track of its employees annual wages, COBOL would be ideal language for implementation. It is interesting to note that COBOL was the first programming language whose use was mandated by the Department of Defense (DoD). Questn 5) Define decision support system in your own words. Also illustrate the concept using your organizational context. Answer) A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-makingactivities. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance. DSSs include knowledge-based systems. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions. Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present are: y inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts), y comparative sales figures between one period and the next, y projected revenue figures based on product sales assumptions. Three fundamental components of a DSS architecture are:1. the database (or knowledge base), 2. the model (i.e., the decision context and user criteria), and 3. the user interface Development Frameworks DSS systems are not entirely different from other systems and require a structured approach. Such a framework includes people, technology, and the development approach. DSS technology levels (of hardware and software) may include: 1. The actual application that will be used by the user. This is the part of the application that allows the decision maker to make decisions in a particular problem area. The user can act upon that particular problem. 2. Generator contains Hardware/software environment that allows people to easily develop specific DSS applications. This level makes use of case tools or systems such as Crystal, AIMMS, and iThink. 3. Tools include lower level hardware/software. DSS generators including special languages, function libraries and linking modules. DSS components may be classified as: y Inputs: Factors, numbers, and characteristics to analyze y User Knowledge and Expertise: Inputs requiring manual analysis by the user y Outputs: Transformed data from which DSS "decisions" are generated y Decisions: Results generated by the DSS based on user criteria.

BENEFITS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Improves personal efficiency Speed up the process of decision making Increases organizational control Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the decision maker Speeds up problem solving in an organization Facilitates interpersonal communication Promotes learning or training Generates new evidence in support of a decision Creates a competitive advantage over competition Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space Helps automate managerial processes