Chapter 4 ITA questions

INFORMATION SYSTEMS – Declan Woods

Pg 150 

1) * Equipment (software and hardware)

* Data to be manipulated

* Personnel to oversee the running of the system

* Procedures to ensure that data is manipulated in an efficient manner 

2) Transaction processing systems

Office automation systems

Management information systems 

Decision support systems

Expert systems 

3) The common purpose can be expressed as a set of goals.

4) To function and in the correct manner

5) Utility software refers to specific programs used to diagnose problems, check for viruses and scan defragment disks 

6) RAM is temporary storage on the motherboard. It consists of microchips that can be read from, and written to, the processor. 

7) Flexibility

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">8) A programming language is a set of words (codes) that communicate instructions to a computer 

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">9) The main hardware components personnel computer are the CPU system unit, the hard disk, the monitor, the keyboard and the mouse 

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">10) Sends packets of information to the world wide web and it also receives information that you have requested.

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">11) It is a number, therefore and interger.

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">12) managers, technicians, customers, annalists, engineers 

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">13 )To ensure all the work is done in the correct manner and in the correct steps. 

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">14) 'Types of information systems.

===Transaction processing system (TPS): === ''A TPS collects and stores information about transactions, and controls some aspects of transactions. A transaction is an event of interest to the organisation. e.g. a sale at a store.''

''A TPS is a basic business system. It:''


 * serves the most elementary day*to*day activities of an organisation;


 * supports the operational level of the business;


 * supplies data for higher*level management decisions. 


 * is often critical to survival of the organisation


 * mostly for predefined, structured tasks


 * can have strategic consequences (eg airline reservation system)


 * usually has high volumes of input and output


 * provides data which is summarised into information by systems used by higher levels of management


 * need to be fault*tolerant.

On*line transaction processing: A transaction processing mode in which transactions entered on*line are immediately processed by the CPU.

Sub*species of TPS:

''Manufacturing and production systems: Systems that supply data to operate, monitor and control the production process. e.g. purchasing, receiving, shipping, process control, robotics, inventory systems, scheduling, engineering, operations, quality control, resource management etc.''

e.g. A system in a factory that:


 * gets information from measuring samples of products


 * does statistical analysis of samples


 * shows when operators should take corrective action

Sales and Marketing systems: Systems that support the sales and marketing function by facilitating the movement of goods and services from producers to customers.

Examples: 


 * sales support * keep customer records, follow*up


 * telemarketing * use phone for selling 


 * order processing * process orders, produce invoices, supply data for sales analysis and inventory control


 * point*of*sale * capture sales data at cash register often by scanner


 * customer credit authorisation * advise on credit to be allowed to customer.

A Store's Sales System would:
 * Example:


 * automatically record and total purchase transactions and prints out a packing list


 * improve customer service


 * maintain customer data

''Finance & Accounting Systems: Systems that maintain records concerning the flow of funds in the firm and produce financial statements, such as balance sheets and income statements.e.g. for Budgeting; General Ledger; Billing: Cost Accounting, Accounts Receivable / Payable; Funds Management Systems, Payroll. They were among the earliest systems to be computerised.''

Examples of financial systems: cash management, loan management, check processing, securities trading. Example: Visa's Credit Card payment system.

''Human Resources System: Systems that deal with recruitment, placement, performance evaluation, compensation, and career development of the firm's employees. ''

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">Examples: personnel record keeping, applicant tracking, positions, training and skills, benefits.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">''Groupware system: helps teams work together by providing access to team data, structuring communication, and making it easier to schedule meetings. For sharing information, controlling work flows, communication/integration of work.''

===Management information system (MIS) : === <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt">''converts TPS data into information for monitoring performance and managing an organisation. Transactions recorded in a TPS are analysed and reported by an MIS. ''

''They have large quantities of input data and they produce summary reports as output. Used by middle managers. An example is an annual budgeting system. ''

Expert Systems 

Expert system (noun): ''"a computer system or program that uses artificial intelligence techniques to solve problems that ordinarily require a knowledgeable human. The method used to construct such systems, knowledge engineering, extracts a set of rules and data from an expert or experts through extensive questioning. This material is then organized in a format suitable for representation in a computer and a set of tools for inquiry, manipulation, and response is applied. While such systems do not often replace the human experts, they can serve as useful adjuncts or assistants. Among some of the successful expert systems developed are INTERNIST, a medical diagnosis tool that contains nearly 100,000 relationships between symptoms and diseases, and PROSPECTOR, an aid to geologists in interpreting mineral data." (http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/04322.html)

''Expert systems imitate human experts in many different fields of expertise. Such systems contain rules (such as decision tables) that help a human answer expert questions.''

''This is a classic example of how deskilling can affect people: imagine you are an expert rock identifier and people from around the world treat you like a living national treasure because of your brilliant ability to identify rocks. One day, a system is built that contains all the rules you intuitively use to make your rock identification decisions. By answering a few simple questions presented by the expert system, a human can identify a rock just as well as you can. ''

''Expert systems are built with decision*making rules, and they can ask humans a series of questions to narrow down the correct answer. One early and influential expert system was MYCIN, a disease diagnosis system.''

Advantages of expert systems:


 * The computer can store far more information than a human. 


 * The computer does not 'forget', make silly mistakes or get drunk when it is most needed. 


 * Data can be kept up*to*date. 


 * The expert system is always available 24 hours a day and will never 'retire'.'

''The system can be used at a distance over a network. Expert systems are computer application programs that take the knowledge of one or more human experts in a field and computerize it so that it is readily available for use. The human experts do not need to be physically present to accomplish a specialized project or task. Expert systems are only designed to be “expert” in a very narrow and specific task or subject field. They contain the acquired expert knowledge and try to imitate the expert’s evaluation processes to offer a conclusion. An advantage of an expert system is that it may include the knowledge of many experts in one specific field.''

''Expert systems usually contain two components: a knowledge base and an inference engine program, enabling it to suggest conclusions. The knowledge base is programmed in an IF ... THEN logical rules structure. Such a structure is a series of IF conditions that, if met, THEN a specific result may be concluded. An example would be:''

IF the animal is a bird

it does not fly

it swims

it is black and white

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto">THEN it is a penguin'

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">15) 

<p style="text-indent: 6pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt">16 )