Chapter Two

Computer System and Software Technology

Development

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 Outline

 Computers and Information Processing

 System Hardware
 Information System Software
 Management Issues
 Software development process
 Data Resource Management
 Solutions to managing data
 Data warehouse, Data marts and Data centers

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 Computers and Information Processing
 Computer is an electronic device, operating under the control
of instructions stored in its own memory that can accept data
(input), process the data according to specified rules, produce
information (output), and store the information for future use
 Effects of using computer
 Speed of processing & accessing of data increases -timeliness of
information can be met
 Scope of analysis widened - more data can be considered in
analysis
 Effectiveness of information system increases - because timeliness
and accuracy of information is increased.
 More comprehensive information is made available to executives -
covering all aspect of the problem.

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 Computers and Information Processing(cont’d)

PROCESSING
SYSTEM

DATA INFORMATION
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 Types of Computers

 Based on processing capability of computers:

 Supercomputers - the most powerful, fastest, largest and expensive
computer.
• Application: global weather forecasting, military defense systems, astronomy,
microprocessor research and design, etc.
 Mainframes- large, fast, and powerful computer systems
• Application: to handle high transaction in banks, airlines, telecommunication
companies, etc.
 Minicomputers
• Application: for scientific research, engineering analysis, and industrial process
monitoring and control.
 Microcomputers, some times called Personal Computer(PC)
 Integrated Computing
 Along with advances in computers themselves, computing technology is
being integrated into many everyday products. From automobiles to
refrigerators to airplanes.
 Example: Smart House, Self-Driving Car

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 Computer System
 A computer is a system, an interrelated combination
of components that performs the basic system
functions of input, processing, output, storage, and
control, thus providing end users with a powerful
information processing tool
 Components of computer system:
 Hardware – physical element
 Software – is a set of instructions that tells the hardware
what to do

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 Hardware
 Any machinery that assists in the input, processing, storage,
and output activities of an information system
 Hardware Components
 Central processing unit (CPU)
• Athehardware component that performs computing functions utilizing
ALU, control unit, and registers.
 Arithmetic/logic unit (ALU)
» Performs mathematical calculations and makes
logical comparisons
 Control unit
» Sequentially accesses program instructions, decodes
them, coordinates flow of data in/out of ALU,
registers, primary and secondary storage, and various
output devices
 Registers
» High-speed storage areas used to temporarily hold
small units of program instructions and data
immediately before, during, and after execution by
the CPU

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 Hardware(cont’d)
 Primary storage(main memory)
 Holds program instructions and data
 Secondary storage
 Store data and programs permanently. E.g. Hard disk, flash disk,
magnetic tape, etc.
 Input devices
 Provide data and instructions to the system and convert to machine
understandable format. E.g. Keyboard, mouse, scanner, barcode
reader, microphone, etc.
 Output devices
 Presents the result of processing. It converts the result of the only-
machine understandable form to a form understandable by human
beings.
 E.g. Monitor(soft copy output), printer(hard copy output), speaker,
etc.
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 Hardware(cont’d)

Communications
devices

Processing device

Control Arithmetic/
unit logic unit
Input devices Output devices
Register storage area

Memory

Secondary
storage

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 Software
 Two types:
 Application and System software

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 Software(cont’d)
1. Application Software
 subdivided into general-purpose and function-specific
 General-purpose application programs are programs that
perform common information processing jobs for end
users.
– Example: word processing, spreadsheet, database
management, graphics, web browsers
 function-specific application software packages are
available to support specific applications of end users in
business and other fields.
– Example: customer relationship management, enterprise
resource planning, and supply chain management, etc.

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 Software(cont’d)
2. System Software
 System Software enables the application software to
interact with the computer hardware.
 Operating Systems are programs that coordinate computer
resources, provide an interface between users and the
computer; and run applications. E.g. Windows 10, Linux,
etc.
 Utilities perform specific tasks related to managing
computer resources. E.g. Antivirus
 Device drivers are specialized programs designed to allow
particular input or output devices to communicate with the
rest of the computer system

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 Information System Software
 Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP)
 ERP (sometimes just called enterprise software) - collects data
from different firm functions and stores data in single central data
repository to be shared among firm
 Some of the more well-known ERP systems include those from
SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft.
 Benefits:
 Integration
 Mobility
 Flexibility
 Productive
 Collaborate
 Secure

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 Information System Software(cont’d)
 Customer Relationship Management(CRM)
 Provide information to coordinate all of the business processes
that deal with customers in sales, marketing, and service to
optimize revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention.
 E.g. Salesforce.
 Supply Chain Management(SCM)
 manages the interconnection between an organization’s suppliers,
its manufacturing facilities, and the distributors of its products, as
well as the inventory of the products in their various stages of
development.

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 Information System Software(cont’d)
 Cloud service
 Cloud refers to applications, services, and data storage on the Internet.
E.g. Google Drive’s application, Salesforce, etc.
 Advantages:
• No software to install or upgrades to maintain.
• Available from any computer that has access to the Internet.
• Can scale to a large number of users easily.
• New applications can be up and running very quickly.
• Your information is not lost if your hard disk crashes or your laptop is stolen.
• You are not limited by the available memory or disk space on your computer.
 Disadvantages:
• Your information is stored on someone else’s computer – how safe is it?
• You must have Internet access to use it.
• You are relying on a third-party to provide these services.

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 IS Development Process

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 IS Development Process(cont’d)
 The Definition phase is critical: It justifies the
systems development work and defines precisely
what the system must do in sufficient detail for IS
specialists to build the right system.
 Feasibility study: economic, operational, and technical
 In the Construction phase, the IS specialists produce
a working system according to the specifications set
forth in the earlier phase.
 In the Implementation phase, the new system is
installed, becomes operational within the
organization, and is maintained (modified) as needed
so that it continues to reflect the changing needs of
the organization.
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 Management Issues
 Dealing with platform and infrastructure change
 Firms require new policies and procedures for managing
new platforms
 Management and governance
 Each organization will need to arrive at answers based on
its own needs for the following questions:
• who will control and manage the firm’s IT infrastructure?
• should IT infrastructure be centrally controlled and managed?
or should it be by departments and divisions?
• What is the relationship between central information systems
management and business unit information systems
management?
• How will infrastructure costs be allocated among business
units?

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 Management Issues(cont’d)
 Making wise infrastructure investments
 How much should the firm spend on infrastructure?
 Should purchase or rent(cloud) IT infrastructure?
 The actual cost of owning technology resources includes:
• original cost of acquiring and installing hardware and software
• ongoing administration costs for:
– hardware and software upgrades,
– maintenance,
– technical support,
– training, and
– utility and real estate costs for running and housing the
technology
• Total cost of ownership (TCO) model can be used to analyze these direct
and indirect costs
• Hardware and software acquisition costs only about 20 percent of TCO, so
managers must pay close attention to administration costs

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 TOC cost components

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 Data Resource Management
 The data resource consists of the facts and information
an organization gathers while conducting business and
in order to conduct business at all levels of the
organization.
 Data is an organization’s informational asset.
 Data can be an asset only if they are available and understood
when needed and purged when no longer useful
 Difficulties with managing data
 Amount of data is increasing- every 18 months data of an
organization becomes double.
 Data is scattered throughout the organization
 Data quality and security

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 Data Resource Management(cont’d)
 Data management helps companies improve
productivity by ensuring that people can find what
they need without having to conduct a long and
difficult search.
 Goal to transform raw data into usable corporate
information of the highest quality.
 Managers make decisions and service customers based on
the data available to them.
 Managers need rapid access to correct, comprehensive,
and consistent data

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 Solutions to managing data

 Manual Approach
 File Management
 Database Management Systems (DBMS)

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 Manual Approach
 Typing the data on paper and put in a file cabinet
 Works well if the number of items to be stored is
small.
 Limitations
 Prone to error
 Difficult to update, retrieve, integrate
 You have the data but it is difficult to compile the information
 Limited to small size information
 Cross referencing is difficult
 Two computerized approaches evolved to overcome
this limitations
 File based approach  decentralised
 Database approach centralised

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 File-Based Approach
 A collection of application programs that perform
services for the end-users. Each program defines
and manages its own data.
 This approach is to develop a program or a number
of programs for each different application.
 File based systems were an early attempt to
computerize the manual filing system.

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 File-Based Approach(cont’d)
 Limitations
 Data Redundancy (Duplication of data)
• Same data is held by different programs
• Wasted space
 Separation or isolation of data
• Each program maintains its own set of data.
• Users of one program may be unaware of potentially useful
data held by other programs.
 Data Inconsistency and confusion
 E.g. Consider an organization:
•Personnel Department stores details relating to each
member.
• Payroll Department stores salaries of each staff
• There are potentially different values and/or different
formats for the same item
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 File-Based Approach(cont’d)
 Consider the duplication of data between the
payroll and personnel departments . If an employee
moves house and the change of address is
communicated only to personnel and not to payroll,
the person’s pay slip will be sent to the wrong
address.
 A more serious problem occurs if an employee is
promoted to a more senior position with an
associated increase in salary. Again, the change is
notified to personnel but the change does not filter
through payroll. And the employee may be getting
the wrong salary.

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 Database Approach
 A Database is shared collection of logically related
data (and a description of this data), designed to
meet the information needs of an organization.
 Shared collection- can be used simultaneously by many
departments and users
 Logically related data comprises entities, attributes, and
relationships of an organization's information.
 System catalog (data dictionary or metadata) provides the
description of the data.
 Example: Student data base, Inventory database,
hotel reservation data base, online book data
base, etc

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 The Database Approach to Data Management

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 Advantages
 Data can be shared
 two or more users can access and use same data instead of
storing data in redundant manner for each user.
 Improved accessibility of data
 by using structured query languages, the users can easily
access data without programming experience.
 Redundancy can be reduced
 isolated data is integrated in database to decrease the
redundant data stored at different applications.
 Quality data can be maintained
 the different integrity constraints in the database approach
will maintain the quality leading to better decision making

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 Advantages(cont’d)
 Transaction support can be provided
 basic demands of any transaction support systems are
implanted in a full scale DBMS.
 Improved decision support
 the database will provide information useful for decision
making.
 Centralized information control
 Since relevant data in the organization will be stored at
one repository, it can be controlled and managed at the
central level.

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 Managing Data Resources
 To make sure that the data for your business remain
accurate, reliable, and readily available to those
who need it, your business will need special policies
and procedures for data management
 Establishing an information policy
 specifies the organization’s rules for sharing,
disseminating, acquiring, standardizing, classifying, and
inventorying information.
• which users and organizational units can share information,
where information can be distributed, and who is responsible
for updating and maintaining the information.
• Example: only human resource department would have the
right to change employee’s salary.
 Ensuring data quality

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 Who Manages Data?
 Managed assets - finance, personnel, equipment,
and facilities. Today, data must be added to this list
of managed assets
 Who manages data?
 Business manager - manages organizational data
 Database administrator - provides overall organizational
leadership in the data management function
 Chief knowledge officer(for some organizations) -
knowledge management functions.

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 Data Warehouses, Data Marts, and Data Centers
 A data warehouse is a subject-oriented(such as customer,
product, sales), integrated(multiple, heterogeneous data
sources), time-variant, and nonvolatile(a physically separate
store of data transformed from the operational environment)
collection of data in support of management’s decision-making
process.—W. H. Inmon
 Is a database that is maintained separately from the
organization’s operational database for the purpose of decision
support.
 It is a repository of multiple heterogeneous data sources
organized under a unified schema at a single site in order to
facilitate management decision making
 Data warehousing:
 The process of constructing and using data warehouses
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 Data warehouse
 Data warehousing is most appropriate when
 Large amount of data to be accessed
 The operational data is stored in different systems
 Large number of users (AT&T)
 Extensive end-user computing

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 Data marts
 A data mart is a small warehouse designed for a
department
 Contains a subset of the organization-wide data that
is of value to a small group of users, e.g., marketing
or customer service.

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 Data Center
 An organizational unit that uses centralized
computing resources to perform information
processing activities for an organization. Also known
as a computer center.

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Thank you !!!!

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