Department of Business Administration.

Assignment 1

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (891)

Submitted To

Most Respectable,
Prof.Gulam Haider

Submitte
d By

En
gr.Waseem Saeed

Roll AD-
512530

Semester 3’ rd

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 ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN.
Spring 2010

Q. 1 (a) Describe the three vital roles that

Information Systems perform for a business
enterprise? Support your answer with examples.

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 MIS is popularly known as the Management
Information System. MIS is considered as one such
method of generating information which is used by
management of organization for decision Making, control of
activities, operations etc.

During the period 1940 to 1960 computers were

commercially used for census and payroll work. This involved
large amount of data and its processing. Since then the
commercial application exceeded the scientific applications
for which the computer were mainly intended for.
Managers play a key role in any organization. They
are responsible for taking decisions appropriate to the need
of the market. Information systems have become the main
tool used by managers in decision making. Managers
perceive information as the driving force to achieve success
in any business.
MIS is an information System which helps in
providing the management of an organization with
information which is used by management for decision
making.
The major roles of the business applications of a
Management Information System may be represented in the
pyramid form as shown below:

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Three major roles of the business applications of information
systems include:
 Support Business Processes – involves dealing with
information systems that support the business
processes and operations in a business.
 Support Decision Making – help decision makers to
make better decisions and attempt to gain a
competitive advantage.
 Support Competitive Advantage – help decision
makers to gain a strategic advantage over competitors
requires innovative use of information technology.
 Support Business Processes: As a consumer, you

regularly encounter information systems that support

the business processes and operations at the many
retail stores where you shop.

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 Example: Customer purchase record, keep track of
inventory, pay employees, evaluate sales trends etc.
 Support Decision Making: Information systems also

help store managers and other business professionals

make better decisions. Example: Decisions on what
lines of merchandise need to be added or discontinued,
or on what kind of investment they require, are typically
made after an analysis provided by computer based
information systems.
 Support Competitive Advantage: Gaining a strategic

advantage over competitors requires innovative

application on information technologies.
Example: store management might make a decision to
install touch screen kiosks in all of their stores, with
links to their e-commerce website for online shopping.

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Q.1 (b) Define the following and give an
example for each:

i. Batch processing
ii. Online (real-time) Processing
iii. System
iv. Procedures

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 A batch processing system is one where
programs and data are collected together in a batch before
processing starts. Each piece of work for a batch processing
system is called a job.
A job usually consists of a program and the data
to be run. Jobs are stored in job queues until the computer
is ready to process them. There is no interaction between
the user and the computer while the program is being run.
Computers which do batch processing often operate at night.
Example: Payroll - when a company calculates the wages
for its workforce and prints pay slips.
OR
Executing a series of non-interactive jobs all at
one time. The term originated in the days when users
entered programs on punch cards. They would give a batch
of these programmed cards to the system operator, who
would feed them into the computer.

Batch jobs can be stored up during working hours

and then executed during the evening or whenever the
computer is idle. Batch processing is particularly useful for
operations that require the computer or a peripheral
device for an extended period of time.

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 Once a batch job begins, it continues until it is done
or until an error occurs. Note that batch processing implies
that there is no interaction with the user while the program
is being executed.

An example of batch processing is the way that

credit card companies process billing. The customer does not
receive a bill for each separate credit card purchase but one
monthly bill for all of that month’s purchases. The bill is
created through batch processing, where all of the data are
collected and held until the bill is processed as a batch at the
end of the billing cycle.

The opposite of batch processing is transaction

processing or interactive processing. In interactive
processing, the application responds to commands as soon
as you enter them.

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 Real-time operating systems are designed to
respond to an event within a predetermined time. These
types of operating systems are found within environments
where computers are responsible for controlling systems.

For Example: Robotics, manufacturing, special military

applications.
Consider a software system in which the inputs
represent digital data from hardware such as imaging
devices or other software system's and the outputs are
digital data that control external hardware such as displays.
The time between the presentation of a set of inputs and the
appearance of all the associated outputs is called the
response time. A real-time system is one that must
satisfy explicit bounded response time constraints to avoid
failure.
Equivalently, a real-time system is one whose
logical correctness is based both on the correctness of the
outputs and their timeliness. Notice that response time of,
for example, microseconds are not needed to characterize a
real-time system - it simply must have response times that

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are constrained and thus predictable. In fact, the
misconception that real-time systems must be "fast" is
because in most instances, the deadlines are on the order of
microseconds. But the timeliness constraints or deadlines
are generally a reflection of the underlying physical process
being controlled.
For example, in image processing involving screen
update for viewing continuous motion, the deadlines are on
the order of 30 microseconds. In practical situations, the
main difference between real-time and non-real-time
systems is an emphasis on response time prediction and its
reduction.
Upon reflection, one realizes that every system can be made
to conform to the real-time definition simply are setting
deadlines (arbitrary or otherwise).
For example, a one-time image filtration
algorithm for medical imaging, which might not be regarded
as real-time, really is real-time if the procedure is related to
an illness in which diagnosis and treatment have some
realistic deadline. Because all systems can be made to look
as if they were real-time, we refine the definition somewhat
in terms of the system's tolerance to missed deadlines. For
example, hard real-time systems are those where failure
to meet even one deadline results in total system failure.
In firm real-time systems some fixed small
number of deadlines can be missed without total system

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failure. Finally, in soft real-time systems missing
deadlines leads to performance degradation but not failure.
Unless otherwise noted, when we say "real-time" throughout
this tutorial, we mean hard real-time.
Another common misconception is that the study of real-
time processing is really a non-issue because hardware is
always getting faster. By throwing faster hardware at the
problem deadlines can always be met. However, as we just
stated, unless one can predict performance and hence bound
response times, one can never be satisfied that deadlines
are always being achieved.
Moreover, faster hardware is not always available or suitable
for certain applications.
Some feel that real-time performance is easy to
achieve. As we hope to show in this tutorial, that is not
always so, largely because most hardware and programming
languages are not suitable for real-time demands.

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 Set of detailed methods,
procedures, and routines established or formulated to carry
out a specific activity, perform a duty, or solve a problem.

Or

Organized, purposeful structure regarded as a

'whole' consisting of interrelated and interdependent
elements (components, entities, factors, members, parts
etc.). These elements continually influence one another
(directly or indirectly) to maintain their activity and the
existence of the system, in order to achieve the common
purpose the 'goal' of the system.

All systems have

1. Inputs, outputs, and feedback mechanisms,

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2. Maintain an internal steady-state (called homeostasis)
despite a changing external environment,
3. Display properties that are peculiar to the whole (called
emergent properties) but are not possessed by any of
the individual elements, and
4. Have boundaries that are usually defined by the
system observer. Systems underlie every phenomenon,
and are everywhere one looks for them. They are
limited only by the observer’s capacity to comprehend
the complexity of the observed entity, item or
phenomenon.

Every system is a part of a larger system, is

composed of sub-systems, and shares common properties
with other systems that help in transferring understanding
and solutions from one system to another. Systems obey
rules which cannot be understood by breaking them into
parts, and stop functioning (or malfunction) when an
element is removed or altered significantly. Together, they
provide a coherent and unified way of viewing and
interpreting the universe as a meta-system of interlinked
wholes, and of organizing our thoughts about the world.
Although different types of systems (from a cell to the
human body, soap bubbles to galaxies, ant colonies to
nations) look so very different on the surface, they have
remarkable similarities.

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 At the most basic level, the systems are divided into two
categories:

1. Closed systems: theoretical constructs which have

solid boundaries and where only the components within

the system are assumed to exist in a self-sufficient
state. All other influences or variables from outside the
system are considered to be non-existent or
insignificant for the purpose of the system analysis.
2. Open systems: the 'real world' systems that have

permeable boundaries through which they continually

exchange energy, material, and information with their
external environment the larger system in which they
exist. Different systems methodologies (such as
systems dynamics and systems thinking) classify
systems differently.

SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE

System life cycle is an organizational process of

developing and maintaining systems. It helps in establishing
a system project plan, because it gives overall list of
processes and sub-processes required developing a system.

System development life cycle means combination

of various activities. In other words we can say that various
activities put together are referred as system development
life cycle. In the System Analysis and Design terminology,

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the system development life cycle means software
development life cycle. Following are the different phases of
software development cycle:

• System study
• Feasibility study
• System analysis
• System design
• Coding
• Testing
• Implementation
• Maintenance

The different phases of software development life cycle are

shown in Fig.

Fig. Different phases of Software development Life Cycle

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Introduction to Procedures

You can simplify programming tasks by

breaking programs into smaller logical components. These
components called procedures can then become building
blocks that let you enhance and extend Visual Basic.

Procedures are useful for condensing repeated

or shared tasks, such as frequently used calculations, text
and control manipulation, and database operations.

There are two major benefits of programming with

procedures:

• Procedures allow you to break your programs into

discrete logical units, each of which you can debug
more easily than an entire program without procedures.

• Procedures used in one program can act as building

blocks for other programs, usually with little or no
modification.
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There are several types of procedures used in Visual Basic:

• Sub procedures do not return a value.

• Function procedures return a value.

• Property procedures can return and assign values, and

set references to objects.

Q. 2 (a)Read the following scenario and answers the

questions below:
The owner of a chain of five leather goods
stores has decided to install a computerized
information system to support the accounting,
sales, operations, and human resource
functions for the stores. Located in small
suburban shopping centers, these stores carry
an assortment of luggage, briefcases, wallets,
and other leather products as well as travel
accessories and small electronic products. So
far, each store in the chain has operated
independently, with a single personal
computer to support store functions at the
manager’s discretion. Some stores use it to
record transactions; others maintain inventory

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 records on it; still others use it for primitive
payroll systems.
1. Diagnose the situation critically and list the
types of information each store manager
requires.
2. Discuss which information can be part of
computerized information systems?

TYPES OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS

An information system is a collection of

hardware, software, data, people and procedures that are
designed to generate information that supports the day-to-
day, short-range, and long-range activities of users in an
organization. Information systems generally are classified
into five categories: office information systems, transaction
processing systems, management information systems,
decision support systems, and expert systems. The following
sections present each of these information systems.

1. Office Information Systems

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 An office information system supports a range
of business office activities such as creating and distributing
graphics and/or documents, sending messages, scheduling,
and accounting. All levels of users from executive
management to no management employees utilize and
benefit from the features of an OIS.

The software an office information system uses

to support these activities include word processing,
spreadsheets, databases, presentation graphics, e-mail, Web
browsers, Web page authoring, personal information
management, and groupware. Office information systems
use communications technology such as voice mail, facsimile
(fax), videoconferencing, and electronic data interchange
(EDI) for the electronic exchange of text, graphics, audio,
and video.

An office information system also uses a variety

of hardware, including computers equipped with modems,
video cameras, speakers, and microphones; scanners; and
fax machines.

2. Transaction Processing Systems

A transaction processing system (TPS) is

an information system that captures and processes data
generated during an organization’s day-to-day transactions.

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A transaction is a business activity such as a deposit,
payment, order or reservation.

Clerical staff typically performs the activities associated with

transaction processing, which include the following:

a. Recording a business activity such as a student’s

registration, a customer’s order, an employee’s
timecard or a client’s payment.
b. Confirming an action or triggering a response,
such as printing a student’s schedule, sending a
thank-you note to a customer, generating an
employee’s paycheck or issuing a receipt to a
client.
c. Maintaining data, which involves adding new data,
changing existing data, or removing unwanted
data.

3. Management Information Systems

While computers were ideal for routine

transaction processing, managers soon realized that the
computers’ capability of performing rapid calculations and
data comparisons could produce meaningful information for

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management. Management information systems thus
evolved out of transaction processing systems.

A management information system, or MIS

(pronounced em-eye-ess), is an information system that
generates accurate, timely and organized information so
managers and other users can make decisions, solve
problems, supervise activities, and track progress. Because
it generates reports on a regular basis, a management
information system sometimes is called a management
reporting system (MRS). Management information
systems often are integrated with transaction processing
systems. To process a sales order,

4. Decision Support Systems

Transaction processing and management

information systems provide a decision support system
(DSS) is an information system designed to help users reach
a decision when a decision-making situation arises. A
variety of DSS exist to help with a range of decisions. A
decision support system uses data from internal and/or
external sources.

Internal sources of data might include sales,

manufacturing, inventory, or financial data from an
organization’s database. Data from external sources could
include interest rates, population trends, and costs of new

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housing construction or raw material pricing. Users of a DSS,
often managers, can manipulate the data used in the DSS to
help with decisions.

A special type of DSS, called an executive

information system (EIS), is designed to support the
information needs of executive management. Information in
an EIS is presented in charts and tables that show trends,
ratios, and other managerial statistics. Because executives
usually focus on strategic issues, EISs rely on external data
sources such as the Dow Jones News/Retrieval service or the
Internet. These external data sources can provide current
information on interest rates, commodity prices, and other
leading economic indicators.

To store all the necessary decision-making data,

DSSs or EISs often use extremely large databases, called
data warehouses. A data warehouse stores and manages
the data required to analyze historical and current business
circumstances.

5. Expert Systems

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 An expert system is an information system that
captures and stores the knowledge of human experts and
then imitates human reasoning and decision-making
processes for those who have less expertise. Expert systems
are composed of two main components: a knowledge base
and inference rules. A knowledge base is the combined
subject knowledge and experiences of the human experts.
The inference rules are a set of logical judgments applied
to the knowledge base each time a user describes a situation
to the expert system.

Integrated Information Systems

With today’s sophisticated hardware, software and

communications technologies, it often is difficult to classify a
system as belonging uniquely to one of the five information
system types discussed. Much of today’s application
software supports transaction processing and generates
management information. Other applications provide
transaction processing, management information, and
decision support. Although expert systems still operate
primarily as separate systems, organizations increasingly are
consolidating their information needs into a single,
integrated information system.

Process of Generation of Information

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 It involves three activities:

(a) Data Acquisition

Data is initially recorded and later verified for accuracy

and authenticity. This is called data capture.

• Data is captured by punching with keyboard or

scanning with scanning devices, facts from documents
on which they were recorded.
• Data captured is organized in data files. Each file
contains records relating to various data elements
(fields) expressed with the help of different symbols
(characters).

(b) Data Transformation

It is done by performing any of the following operations:

(i) Rearranging: also called sorting of data

(ii) Classifying
(iii) Calculating
(iv) Summarizing

(c) Management of Information

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The processed data maybe either communicated to end user
or maybe stored for future reference.

One decides the report format, appropriate channel of

communication to provide information.

If stored, one decides to store it on some mass storage.

Supply chain management: Integration of supplier,

distributor, and customer logistics requirements into one
cohesive process.

Supply chain: A collection of physical entities, such as

manufacturing plants, distribution centers, conveyances,
retail outlets, people, and information, which are linked
together into processes supplying goods or services from
source through consumption.

To manage the supply chain, a company tries to eliminate

delays and cut the amount of resources tied up along the
way.

Information systems make efficient supply chain

management possible by integrating demand planning,
forecasting, materials requisition, order processing,
inventory allocation, order fulfillment, transportation
services, receiving, invoicing, and payment.

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SUPPLY-CHAIN MANAGEMENT

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Q.2 (b)what is prototyping approach of system
development? Explain the process of
prototyping in detail and discuss the
advantages of using prototyping approach.

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 Prototyping is the process of building a model of a
system. In terms of an information system, prototypes
are employed to help system designers build an
information system that intuitive and easy to
manipulate for end users. Prototyping is an iterative
process that is part of the analysis phase of the
systems development life cycle.
During the requirements determination portion of
the systems analysis phase, system analysts gather
information about the organization's current procedures
and business processes related the proposed
information system. In addition, they study the current
information system, if there is one, and conduct user
interviews and collect documentation. This helps the
analysts develop an initial set of system requirements.
Prototyping can augment this process because it
converts these basic, yet sometimes intangible,
specifications into a tangible but limited working model
of the desired information system. The user feedback
gained from developing a physical system that the
users can touch and see facilitates an evaluative
response that the analyst can employ to modify existing
requirements as well as developing new ones.

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 Prototyping comes in many forms - from low tech
sketches or paper screens(Picture) from which users
and developers can paste controls and objects, to high
tech operational systems using CASE (computer-aided
software engineering) or fourth generation languages
and everywhere in between. Many organizations use
multiple prototyping tools. For example, some will use
paper in the initial analysis to facilitate concrete user
feedback and then later develop an operational
prototype using fourth generation languages, such as
Visual Basic, during the design stage.

Dimensions of prototypes

Horizontal Prototype:

A common term for a user interface prototype is the

horizontal prototype. It provides a broad view of an entire
system or subsystem, focusing on user interaction more than
low-level system functionality, such as database access.
Horizontal prototypes are useful for:

 Confirmation of user interface requirements

and system scope
 Demonstration version of the system to obtain
buy-in from the business

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  Develop preliminary estimates of development
time, cost and effort.

Vertical Prototype:

A vertical prototype is a more complete

elaboration of a single subsystem or function. It is useful for
obtaining detailed requirements for a given function, with
the following benefits:

 Refinement database design

 Obtain information on data volumes and
system interface needs, for network sizing and
performance engineering
 Clarifies complex requirements by drilling down
to actual system functionality

Not exactly the same as Throwaway Prototyping,

but certainly in the same family, is the usage of storyboards,
animators or drawings. These are non-functional
implementations but show how the system will look.

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 Prototyping is the rapid development and testing
of working models, or prototypes, of new applications in an
interactive, iterative process involving both IS specialists and
business professionals.
• Prototyping makes the development process faster and
easier for IS specialists and business professionals.
• Prototyping makes the development process faster and
easier, especially for projects where end user
requirements are hard to define. Thus, prototyping is
sometimes called rapid application design (RAD).
• Prototyping has also opened up the application
development process to end-users because it simplifies
and accelerates systems design. These developments
are changing the roles of end users and information
systems specialists in systems development.

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The Prototyping Process
Prototyping can be used for both large and small
applications.

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 • Typically, large e-business systems still require using
the traditional systems development approach, but
parts of such systems can frequently be prototyped.
• A prototype of a business application needed by an end
user is developed quickly using a variety of application
Development software tools. The prototype system is
then repeatedly refined until it is acceptable.
• Prototyping is an iterative, interactive process that
combines steps of the traditional systems development
cycle, and allows the rapid development and testing of
a working model.

Some Advantages of Prototyping:

Reduces development time.

Reduces development costs.
Requires user involvement.
Developers receive quantifiable user feedback.
Facilitates system implementation since users know what to
expect.
Results in higher user satisfaction.
Exposes developers to potential future system
enhancements.

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Some Disadvantages of Prototyping

Can lead to insufficient analysis.

Users expect the performance of the ultimate system to be
the same as the prototype.
Developers can become too attached to their prototypes
Can cause systems to be left unfinished and/or implemented
before they are ready.
Sometimes leads to incomplete documentation.
If sophisticated software prototypes (4th GL or CASE Tools)
are employed, the time saving benefit of prototyping
can be lost.

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Q. 3 (a) Select any functional area (e.g. finance,
human resources, marketing, etc.) within any
large organization (such as the government or
a bank) and then describe the business
functions and the major processes and
procedures within that functional area. Also
discuss what MIS exist to support these areas.

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 Telecommunication
sector around the world is going through a process of rapid
change due to convergence of Information Technology (IT),
mobile telephony, Internet, e-commerce and value added
services. Needless to say that Telecommunications and
Information Technologies are playing a pivotal role not only
in the economic development of the countries but also in
transforming the entire culture and complexion of societies.

Information system can not be ignored by

mangers because they plan such a critical role in
contemporary organizations. Digital technology is
transforming business organizations. The entire cash flow of
most fortune 500 companies is linked to information system.

MIS can play a very important role in the telecommunication

sector of Pakistan. Information systems are a part of
organizations. Indeed, for some companies, such as
Pakistan telecommunication, without the system there
will be no business. The key elements of the organization are
its peoples, structure and operating procedures, politics and
cultures.

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 There are different interests, specialties, and
levels in an organization, there are different kind of systems.
No single system can provide all information and
organization needs. The organization is dividing into
strategic, management, knowledge and operational level and
then divides into functional areas such as sales and
marketing, manufacturing finance, accounting and human
resource.

Operational Level System:

In this level MIS plays very pivotal role because

present system have some deficiencies. In PTCL they have a
system that can track elementary activities and transactions
of the organization. Like they monitor monthly call of the
user that include local, national and international etc. and on
the other hand they have a centrally computerize system
called FMS (Fault management system). In this they can
track fault and complains. But on the other hand they inside
the organization they don’t have computerize tracking of
receipts, cash, deposits, payroll and store information for
their materials like cables, telephone sets etc. if they
implement MIS in this section then they can know about their
cables, telephone sets information that at which amount sets
are present in store.

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Transaction processing system:

Transaction processing system is the basic

business systems that serve the operational level of
organization. In a PTCL they have a system that performs
records the daily routine faults, necessary to remove to
conduct the business. At the operational level, tasks,
resources and goals are predefined and highly structured.
The decision to grant installment in the bill to customer is
made by lower level supervisors according to predefined
criteria. If they implant MIS in this section then than system
informs about the previous history of the customer if he has
good history to pay bill then system will give credit.

Knowledge work system and office automation

system:

In this section PTCL has implemented partial

OAS. They have they have centrally database. Company has
data of all the Customers by entering telephone number or id
they can access. They are partially using OAS they are using
word processors and desktop publishing. If they implement
fully OAS in their organization then they can improve their
performance.

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 In knowledge work system they have good
system they know at which line land wire telephone goes
high and at which time low that’s the reason that PTCL has
offered free local call after 12:00 am to 6:00 p.m.

Decision Support System:

DSS also serve the management level of the

organization. DSS helps managers make decisions that are
semi-structured, unique, or rapidly changing, and not easily
specified in advance. PTCL they have use TPS and MIS, they
often bring in information from internal sources (calls
incoming and going) and also from external sources such as
other telephone companies are operating now with this
system PTCL is giving free connections and try to remove
local call charges by increase its line rent. But again in this
there is a need to improve the system.

Executive Support System:

If PTCL directors or senior managers use this

system then they can compete with other organization. If
PTCL implements then ESS will address unstructured
decisions and creating a generalize communication
environment. ESS is designed to incorporate data about
external events such as telephone to rural areas of Pakistan
where communication is not present there so with the help
of this system ESS PTCL can improve its efficiency. In PTCL

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ESS will gives the plan of 5-10 years and ESS in the PTCL
employ the most advanced graphics software and can
deliver graphs and it’s easy to take decisions.

Human resource Management system (HRMIS):

PTCL is also focusing on HR Management and

Development, Emerging Technologies, etc. So that why they
are developing HRMIS.Appropriate changes have also been
brought about in HRM such as completion of census and
establishment of Human Resource Management Information
System (HRMIS). Recruitment process and system has been
adequately revamped by adopting appropriate HR practices.
Decisions Support System, thus established, will help
generate desired management reports. Professional
development of employees, especially the middle
management, is being ensured. Training courses for
employees have been redesigned. A special emphasis is
being laid on the inculcation of sense of responsibility and
politeness in the minds of our employees, especially the
lower management and staff.

The National Post Graduate Institute of

Telecom & Informatics (NPGIT&I) is in the process of
revitalization for which Rs.40 (M) has been approved in the
Capex Program for the year 2002-2003. In addition to

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NPGIT&me, other training institutes of PTCL i.e. Telecom
Staff College, Regional Telecom Training Schools and
Divisional telecom Training Centers are also being revamped
to cope up with the changing trends in technical and
managerial training. Our engineers and professionals are
also being continuously sent abroad for various training
courses to keep them abreast with the latest technology and
management skills.

Conclusion:

MIS can play a very important role in the

infrastructure Building of telecommunication of Pakistan they
are using partially different thing but there is a need of lot of
improvement. Like in the ground level or OAS PTCL is
partially OAS they use word processing in a limit, because
PTCL ground level labors are not educated and supervisor
level people are also. So we have to make a technology that
molds towards our employs. If we mold PTCL employs
towards technology then its very time consuming in a such
big organization.

In the managers level they have a system that

track all the transaction of the system like fault every
supervisor have a account and they have records so they
use this record to remove faults and complains. In the
strategic level if they use ESS then they can plan easily and
take decisions.
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 There is a need of improvement in this sector.
For such big organization from ground level to executive
level there is a need to implement MIS.

HR INFORMATION SYSTEM: A GLOBALHUNT

PERSPECTIVE
HRIS is an effort towards speedy, effective and professionally
handling of information on resources for efficient
management of Human Resource function. HRIS is a
computerized system used to acquire, store, analyze and
distribute information regarding an organization's human
services and to provide services in the form of information to
the clients or users of the system.

“A greater sense of organizational bonding can

achieve what traditional HR aimed at for ages - lower
employee turnover, high morale, and effective personalized
training & skill retention.”

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1. Thus the basic needs of HRIS is-

1. Efficiently storing each employee information and

data for reference- personal data management, pay roll
accounting, benefits management and planning.
2. Enabling informed decision making in day-to-day
personnel issues, planning, budgeting, implementing

44
 and monitoring Human Resource function.
3. Providing data / returns to government and other
public
4. Facilitating decision making in areas like promotion,
transfer, nomination, settling employee’s provident
funds, retirement, gratuity, LTC, and earned leave
compensation.
5. Cutting costs.
6. Improving accuracy.

The Human Resource Information System

(HRIS) is a software or online solution for the data
entry, data tracking, and data information needs of the
Human Resources, payroll, management, and
accounting functions within a business. Normally
packaged as a data base, hundreds of companies sell
some form of HRIS and every HRIS has different
capabilities. Pick your HRIS carefully based on the
capabilities you need in your company.

Typically, the better The Human Resource

Information Systems (HRIS) provide overall:
· Management of all employee information.
· Reporting and analysis of employee information.
· Company-related documents such as employee handbooks,

45
emergency evacuation procedures, and safety guidelines.
· Benefits administration including enrolment, status
changes, and personal information updating.
· Complete integration with payroll and other company
financial software and accounting systems.
· Applicant and resume management.
The HRIS that most effectively serves companies tracks:
1. Attendance and PTO use,
2. Pay raises and history,
3. Pay grades and positions held,
4. Performance development plans,
5. Training received,
6. Disciplinary action received,
7. Personal employee information, and occasionally,
8. Management and key employee succession plans,
9. High potential employee identification, and
10. Applicant tracking, interviewing, and selection.

Pick your HRIS carefully based on the capabilities you need

in your company. Typically, the better The Human Resource
Information Systems (HRIS) provide overall:

1. Management of all employee information.

2. Reporting and analysis of employee information.

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 3. Company-related documents such as employee

handbooks, emergency evacuation procedures, and

safety guidelines.
4. Benefits administration including enrollment, status

changes, and personal information updating.

5. Complete integration with payroll and other company
financial software and accounting systems.
6. Applicant tracking and resume management.

The HRIS that most effectively serves companies tracks:

1. attendance and PTO use,

2. pay raises and history,
3. pay grades and positions held,
4. performance development plans,
5. training received,
6. disciplinary action received,
7. personal employee information, and occasionally,
8. management and key employee succession plans,
9. high potential employee identification, and
10. Applicant tracking, interviewing, and selection.

An effective HRIS provides information on

just about anything the company needs to track and analyze
about employees, former employees, and applicants. Your
company will need to select a Human Resources Information
System and customize it to meet your needs.

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 With an appropriate HRIS, Human Resources
staff enables employees to do their own benefits updates
and address changes, thus freeing HR staff for more
strategic functions. Additionally, data necessary for
employee management, knowledge development, career
growth and development, and equal treatment is facilitated.
Finally, managers can access the information they need to
legally, ethically, and effectively support the success of their
reporting employees.

The field of human resources is one that is

often overlooked in enterprise management. This situation is
aided by the fact that an efficient Human Resources
department should function without fanfare. For example,
when a project team successfully launches a product on time
and within budget it is hailed as a great success. When the
HR department manages the administration of the enterprise
successfully it can go virtually unnoticed – after all, the
Human Resources department is simply expected to work;
only attracting attention when there are problems.

Planning process

Human Resource Planning (HRP) process

reviews human resources requirements to ensure that the
organization has the required number of employees, with the

48
necessary skills, to meet its goals, also known as
employment planning. HRP is a proactive process, which
both anticipates and influences an organization’s future by
systematically forecasting the demand for and supply of
employees under changing conditions, and developing plans
and activities to satisfy these needs. Key steps include
forecasting demand for labor considering organizational
strategic and tactical plans, economic conditions, market
and competitive trends, social concerns, demographic
trends, and technological changes.
Recruitment process
Recruitment is the process of searching for and
attracting an adequate number of qualified job candidate,
from whom the organization may select the most
appropriate to field its staff needs. The process begins when
the need to fill a position is identified and it ends with the
receipt of résumés and completed application forms. The
result is a pool of qualified job seekers from which the
individual best matching the job requirements can be
selected. The steps in recruitment process include
identification of job openings, determination of job
requirements, choosing appropriate recruiting sources and
methods, and finally, generating a pool of qualified recruits.
Job openings are identified through human resource planning
or manager request. Next is to determine the job
requirements.

49
This involves reviewing the job description and the job
specification and updating them, if necessary. Appropriate
recruiting sources and methods are chosen because there is
no one, best recruiting technique. Consequently, the most
appropriate for any given position depend on a number of
factors, which include organizational policies and plans, and
job requirements.
Selection process
Selection is the process of choosing individuals
with the relevant qualifications to fill existing or projected
openings. Data and information about applicants regarding
current employees, whether for a transfer or promotion, or
outside candidates for the first time position with the firm
are collected and evaluated. The steps in the selection
process, in ascending order include preliminary reception of
applicants, initial applicant screening, selection testing,
selection interview, background investigation and reference
checking, supervisory interview, realistic job previews,
making the hiring decision, candidate notification, and
evaluating the selection process. However, each step in the
selection process, from preliminary applicant reception and
initial screening to the hiring decision, is performed under
legal, organizational, and environmental constraints that
protect the interests of both applicant and organization.

Orientation, training and development process

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 Employee orientation is the procedure of
providing new employees with basic background information
about the firm and the job. Is more or less, considered as
one component of the employer’s new-employee
socialization process. Socialization process is an ongoing
process of initialing in all employees the prevailing attitudes,
standards, values, and patterns of behavior that are
expected by the organization. Training however is the
process of teaching new or present employees the basic
skills/competencies needed to perform their jobs. Whereas
training focuses on skills and competencies needed to
perform employees’ current jobs, employee and
management development is the training of long-term
nature. The aim is to prepare current employees for future
jobs with the organization or solving an organizational
problem concerning, for example, poor interdepartmental
communication. Training and development processes include
needs analysis, instructional design, validation,
implementation, and evaluation and follow-up.
Career planning and development process
It is the deliberate process through which
persons become aware of personal career related attributes
and the lifelong series of activities that contribute to their
career fulfillment. Individuals, managers, and the
organization have role to play in career development.
Individuals accept responsibility of own career, assess

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interests, skills, and values, seek out career information and
resources, establish goals and career plans, and utilize
development opportunities.
Performance appraisal process
Performance appraisal may be defined as any
procedure that involves setting work standards, assessing
employee’s actual performance relative to these standards,
and providing feedback to the employee with the aim of
motivating the worker to eliminate performance deficiencies
or to continue to perform above par.
Processes in performance appraisal contain three steps:
defining performance expectations, appraising performance,
and providing feedback. First, defining performance
expectation means making sure that job duties and
standards are clear to all.
Second, appraising performance means comparing
employees’ actual performance to the standards that has
been set, which normally involves some type of rating form.
Third, performance appraisal usually requires one or more
feedback sessions to discuss employees’ performance and
progress and making plans for any required development.
Some of the appraisal methods include graphic rating scale,
alternation ranking, paired comparison, forced distribution,
and critical incident methods.

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Employee Compensation and benefits process
Employee compensation involves all forms of
pay or rewards accrued to employees and arising from their
employment. This however consists of two main
components: direct financial payments, and indirect
payments. While direct financial payments are in the form of
wages, salaries, incentives, commissions, and bonuses,
indirect payments are in the form of financial benefits like
employer-paid insurance and vacations. Moreover, legal
considerations in compensation, union influences,
compensation policies, and equity and its impact on pay
rates are the four basic considerations influencing the
formulation of any pay plan.
Occupational health and safety process
Occupational health and safety process aims at
protecting the health and safety of workers by minimizing
work-related accidents and illnesses. Laws and legislations to
ensure and observe general health and safety rules bound
employers. More so, rules for specific industries, for
example, mining and rules related to specific hazards, for
instance, asbestos have to be adhered to. The following
steps are important in this process.
Checking for or removing unsafe conditions by using
checklist to audit a company’s adherence to safety rules that

53
are guarded against hazards, which cannot be removed.
Next, through selection, screening out of employees who
might be accident prone for job in question without
compromising the human right legislation.
More so, establishing a safety policy, this emphasizes on the
importance of practically reducing accidents and injuries.
Setting specific loss control goals by analyzing the number of
accidents and safety incidents and then set specific safety
goals to be achieved. Enforcing safety rules through
discipline and conducting health and safety inspections
regularly by investigating all accidents and near misses, and
by having a system in place for letting employees notify
management about hazardous conditions.

Levels of information requirements

There are three levels of information requirements for
designing an HRIS. They are:
· At the organizational level, information requirements define
an overall structure for the information system and specific
applications and database.
· Application level requirements include social or behavioral
covering work organization objectives, individual roles and
responsibility assumptions, and organizational policies - and
technical, which are based on the information needed for the
job to be performed. A significant part of the technical
requirement is related to outputs, inputs, stored data,
structure and format of data and information processes.

54
· At the user level, database requirements can be classified
as perceived by the user or as required for physical design of
the database.

Q. 3 (b) Differentiate between information technology

(IT) and information systems (IS)

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 Technology is the usage and knowledge of
tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of
organization. The word technology comes from the Greek
technología, an 'art', 'skill' or 'craft' and -logía the study of
something, or the branch of knowledge of a discipline. The
term can either be applied generally or to specific areas:
examples include construction technology, medical
technology, or state-of-the-art technology or high
technology. Technologies can also be exemplified in a
material product, for example an object can be termed state
of the art.

Technologies significantly affect human as well as

other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their
natural environments. The human species' use of technology
began with the conversion of natural resources into simple
tools. The prehistorically discovery of the ability to control
fire increased the available sources of food and the invention
of the wheel helped humans in travelling in and controlling
their environment. Recent technological developments,
including the printing press, the telephone, and the Internet,
have lessened physical barriers to communication and

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allowed humans to interact freely on a global scale.
However, not all technology has been used for peaceful
purposes; the development of weapons of ever-increasing
destructive power has progressed throughout history, from
clubs to nuclear weapons.

Technology has affected society and its

surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies,
technology has helped develop more advanced economies
(including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise
of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce
unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete
natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its
environment. Various implementations of technology
influence the values of a society and new technology often
raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of
the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a
term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge
of traditional norms.

Definition and usage

The use of the term technology has changed

significantly over the last 200 years. Before the 20th
century, the term was uncommon in English, and usually
referred to the description or study of the useful arts.
The term was often connected to technical education, as in
the
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 Today, the term information has ballooned to
encompass many aspects of computing and technology, and
the term has become very recognizable. IT professionals
perform a variety of duties that range from installing
applications to designing complex computer networks and
information databases. A few of the duties that IT
professionals perform may include data management,
networking, engineering computer hardware, database and
software design, as well as the management and
administration of entire systems. Information technology is
starting to spread farther than the conventional personal
computer and network technology, and more into
integrations of other technologies such as the use of cell
phones, televisions, automobiles, and more, which is
increasing the demand for such jobs.

When computer and communications technologies

are combined, the result is information technology,
sometimes called "InfoTech." Information technology is a
general term that describes any technology that helps to
produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or
disseminate information.

Information Technology – A Definition:

Information is a critical resource in the

operation and management of organizations. Timely
availability of relevant information is vital for effective
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performance of managerial functions such as planning,
organizing, leading, and control. An information system in an
organization is like the nervous system in the human body: it
is the link that connects all the organization's components
together and provides for better operation and survival in a
competitive environment. Indeed, today's organizations run
on information.

Information consists of data that have been

processed and are meaningful to a user. A system is a set of
components that operate together to achieve a common
purpose. Thus a management information system collects,
transmits, processes, and stores data on an organization's
resources, programmers, and accomplishments. The system
makes possible the conversion of these data into
management information for use by decision makers within
the organization. A management information system,
therefore, produces information that supports the
management functions of an organization
we use the term information technology or IT
to refer to an entire industry. In actuality, information
technology is the use of computers and software to manage
information. In some companies, this is referred to as
Management Information Services (or MIS) or simply as
Information Services (or IS).

59
 TODAY, information technology (IT) is a
critical organizational resource that must support a firm’s
competitive strategy. The alignment of IT management
strategies with a firm’s competitive strategy has been cited
as a critical management issue for both information systems
(IS) executives and general manager’s .In spite of this, the
extent to which IT management strategies are aligned with a
firm’s business strategies varies widely among firms. This is
often due to the lack of a clear plan.
Previous research has suggested that there are significant
variations among firms in the degree to which IT has been
aligned with their business strategies. These differences are
reflected in three evolutionary roles that IT plays in firms:
1. The traditional role, i.e., IT supports operations but is
not strategy related
2. The evolving role, i.e., IT supports strategy, and
3. The integrated role, i.e., IT is integral to strategy; the
firms’ competitive strategies are also linked to this
evolution.
4. The evolutionary role of IT and the extent to which IT

management strategy can be pursued depends greatly

on a firm’s IT management sophistication. Higher levels
of IT management sophistication or IT Maturity
represent the evolution of a firm’s IS function from the
traditional role of supporting data-processing operations
to that of being strategic to the firm.

60
 The information technology department of a large
company would be responsible for storing information,
protecting information, processing the information,
transmitting the information as necessary, and later
retrieving information as necessary.

Information technology (IT) is "the study,

design, development, implementation, support or
management of computer-based information systems,
particularly software applications and computer hardware",
according to the Information Technology Association of
America (ITAA). IT deals with the use of electronic computers
and computer software to securely convert, store, protect,
process, transmit, input, output, and retrieve information.

Information technology falls under the

information systems umbrella, but has nothing to do with
systems per say. IT deals with the technology involved in the
systems themselves, e.g. an information system like
wiki.answers.com contains many information technologies.
Servers, server operating systems, web-server software (IIS,
Apache, et al), and code written for the web-server software
(PHP, C#, VB, PERL, Ruby, et al). Even your computer and
browser make up part of this information system. Like the

61
pencil and paper example, each one of the mentioned parts
of this information system in itself is an information
technology.

Information Systems is a large umbrella referring to

systems designed to create, store, manipulate, or
disseminate information. Example of an information system
is a pencil and a piece of paper. The two objects themselves
are just tools, but together they create a system for writing
(information). The term Information systems has been
around a lot longer than the computer, or the term
information technology. These days the two are sometimes
thought to be synonymous, but that, in most cases, is a
misconception.

The term information system usually refers to a

computer-based system, one that is designed to support the
operations, management, and decision functions of an
organization. Information systems in organizations thus
provide information support for decision makers. Information
systems encompass transaction processing systems,
management information systems, decision support
systems, and strategic information systems.

Information Systems (IS) is a professional and

academic discipline concerned with the strategic, managerial
and operational activities involved in the gathering,
processing, storing, distributing and use of information, and
its associated technologies, in society and organizations.

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 The history of information systems coincides
with the history of computer science that began long before
the modern discipline of computer science emerged in the
twentieth century. Regarding the circulation of information
and ideas, numerous legacy information systems still exist
today that are continuously updated to promote
ethnographic approaches, to ensure data integrity, and to
improve the social effectiveness & efficiency of the whole
process. In general, information systems are focused upon
processing information within organizations, especially within
business enterprises, and sharing the benefits with modern
society.

Typically, information systems or the more

common legacy information systems include people,
procedures, data, software, and hardware (by degree) that
are used to gather and analyze digital information.
Specifically computer-based information systems are
complementary networks of hardware/software that people
and organizations use to collect, filter, and process, create, &
distribute data (computing). Today, Computer Information
System(s) (CIS) is often a track within the computer science
field studying computers and algorithmic processes,
including their principles, their software & hardware designs,
their applications, and their impact on society. Overall, an IS
discipline emphasizes functionality over design.
The difference between the two is Information

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System Outsourcing refers to the hardware and software
used by a company; whereas Information Technology
Outsourcing refers to the solution that needs to be
developed.

For example IT writes a new program for the

company to use, IS puts the program on the company
servers and creates the connections for employees to use
the program, and then someone from IT and IS will support
and maintain it.
Information System Outsourcing means that a
company contracts with another company to use their
hardware and software system. The company that the work
is being outsourced to own the system and is required to
maintain the system and make sure it is up and running
24/7. Some companies do this because the do not want to or
can’t afford to make the investment in technology or people
to own and maintain their own system. An example would be
a start-up company wanting a full function email and
collaboration solution for their staff, but doesn’t have the
money to buy the exchange server or hire the team to install
and maintain the system so they contract with another
company to provide these services.
Information Technology Outsourcing refers
to the process of contracting with people or companies with
a specific talent to provide technical development or support
services. Usually this is done where a company does not

64
have the technical skill in house or only needs a certain
expertise for a short period of time. An example would be a
trucking business wanting to develop a custom routing
system that will take 6 months to develop. So they hire a
company that specializes in this type of work to develop the
proper solution rather than going through the trouble of
hiring their own employees to do the work.

Differentiating IS from Related Disciplines

Similar to computer science, other disciplines can

be seen as both related disciplines and foundation disciplines
of IS. But, while there may be considerable overlap of the
disciplines at the boundaries, the disciplines are still
differentiated by the focus, purpose and orientation of their
activities.

In a broad scope, the term Information

Systems (IS) is a scientific field of study that addresses the
range of strategic, managerial and operational activities
involved in the gathering, processing, storing, distributing
and use of information, and its associated technologies, in
society and organizations. The term information systems is
also used to describe an organizational function that applies
IS knowledge in industry, government agencies and not-for-
profit organizations. Information Systems often refers to
the interaction between algorithmic processes and
technology. This interaction can occur within or across
65
organizational boundaries. An information system is not only
the technology an organization uses, but also the way in
which the organizations interact with the technology and the
way in which the technology works with the organization’s
business processes. Information systems are distinct from
information technology (IT) in that an information system
has an information technology component that interacts with
the processes components.

Types of information systems

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 A four level pyramid model of different types of
Information Systems based on the different levels of
hierarchy in an organization

The 'classic' view of Information systems found in

the textbooks of the 1980s was of a pyramid of systems that
reflected the hierarchy of the organization, usually
Transaction processing systems at the bottom of the
pyramid, followed by Management information systems,
Decision support systems and ending with Executive
information systems at the top.

67
 Although the pyramid model remains useful, since
it was first formulated a number of new technologies have
been developed and new categories of information systems
have emerged, some of which no longer fit easily into the
original pyramid model.

Some examples of such systems are:

• Data warehouses
• Enterprise resource planning
• Enterprise systems
• Expert systems
• Geographic information system
• Global information system
• Office Automation

Information systems career pathways

Information Systems have a number of different areas of

work:

• Information systems strategy

• Information systems management
• Information systems development
• Information systems security
• Information systems iteration

There are a wide variety of career paths in the information

systems discipline. "Workers with specialized technical

68
knowledge and strong communications skills will have the
best prospects.

Workers with management skills and an

understanding of business practices and principles will have
excellent opportunities, as companies are increasingly
looking to technology to drive their revenue." which is
getting to works

Information systems development

Information technology departments in larger organizations

tend to strongly influence information technology
development, use, and application in the organizations,
which may be a business or corporation. A series of
methodologies and processes can be used in order to
develop and use an information system. Many developers
have turned and used a more engineering approach such as
the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) which is a
systematic procedure of developing an information system
through stages that occur in sequence. An Information
system can be developed in house (within the organization)
or outsourced. This can be accomplished by outsourcing
certain components or the entire system. A specific case is
the geographical distribution of the development team (Off
shoring, Global Information System).

69
A computer based information system, following a definition
of Langefors, is:

• A technologically implemented medium for recording,

storing, and disseminating linguistic expressions,
• As well as for drawing conclusions from such
expressions.

Which can be formulated as a generalized information

systems design mathematical program?

Geographic Information Systems, Land Information

systems and Disaster Information Systems are also some of
the emerging information systems but they can be broadly
considered as Spatial Information Systems. System
development is done in stages which include:

• Problem recognition and specification

• Information gathering
• Requirements specification for the new system
• System design
• System construction
• System implementation
• Review and maintenance

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• An information system (IS) is any combination of
information technology and people's activities using
that technology to support operations, management,
and decision-making. In a very broad sense, the term
information system is frequently used to refer to the
interaction between people, algorithmic processes, data
and technology. In this sense, the term is used to refer
not only to the information and communication
technology (ICT) an organization uses, but also to the
way in which people interact with this technology in
support of business processes.
• Some make a clear distinction between information
systems, ICT, and business processes. Information
systems are distinct from information technology in that
an information system is typically seen as having an ICT
component. Information systems are also different from
business processes. Information systems help to control
the performance of business processes.
• Alter argues for an information system as a special type
of work system. A work system is a system in which
humans and/or machines perform work using resources
(including ICT) to produce specific products and/or
services for customers. An information system is a work
system whose activities are devoted to processing
(capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving,
manipulating and displaying) information.

71
• Part of the difficulty in defining the term information
system is due to vagueness in the definition of related
terms such as system and information. Beynon-Davies
argues for a clearer terminology based in systemic and
semiotics. He defines an information system as an
example of a system concerned with the manipulation
of signs. An information system is a type of socio-
technical system. An information system is a mediating
construct between actions and technology.
• As such, information systems inter-relate with data
systems on the one hand and activity systems on the
other. An information system is a form of
communication system in which data represent and are
processed as a form of social memory.

An information system can also be considered a semi-

formal language which supports human decision
making and action.

• Information systems are the primary focus of study for

the information systems discipline and for
organizational informatics.

72
 Q. 4 Write notes on the followings:
1. Input Technologies
2. Types of Telecommunications
Networks.

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Input is concerned with:
 Recording and entering data into a computer system
 Issuing instructions to the computer
An input device is
” a device that, together with appropriate software,
transforms information from the user into data that a
computer application can process”

A hardware device that sends information to the

computer. Without any input devices a computer would

74
 simply be a display device and not allow users to interact
with it, much like a TV.

Digital Camera

CASIO QV-R62, A 6.0 MEGA PIXEL DIGITAL CAMERA

A type of camera that stores

the pictures or video it takes in electronic format instead of
to film. There are several features that make digital

75
cameras a popular choice when compared to film cameras.
First, the feature often enjoyed the most is the LCD display
on the digital camera. This display allows users to view
photos or video after the picture or video has been taken,
which means if you take a picture and don't like the results,
you can delete it; or if you do like the picture, you can easily
show it to other people. Another nice feature with digital
cameras is the ability to take dozens, sometimes hundreds
of different pictures. To the left is a picture of the Casio QV-
R62, a 6.0 Mega Pixel digital camera used to help illustrate
what a digital camera may look like.

Digital cameras have quickly become the camera solution

for most users today as the quality of picture they take has
greatly improved and as the price has decreased. Many
users however are hesitant in buying a digital camera
because of the inability of getting their pictures developed.
However, there are several solutions in getting your digital
pictures developed. For example, there are numerous
Internet companies capable of developing your pictures and
send you your pictures in the mail. In addition, many of the
places that develop your standard cameras film now have
the ability to develop digital pictures if you bring them your
camera, memory stick, and/or pictures on CD.

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 Joystick

A peripheral input device that looks similar to a

control device you would find on an arcade game at your
local arcades. A computer joystick allows an individual to
easily navigate an object in a game such as navigating a
plane in a flight simulator.

77
 Keyboard

The keyboard is an input device designed to enter

text, characters and other commands into the computer.

Modern computer keyboards were modeled after

and are still very similar to classic typewriter keyboards.

78
Many different layouts are available around the world but
most keyboards are of the QWERTY type.

Keyboards may be wired or wireless but they always

communicate with the computer via PS2 or USB
connections, usually located on the motherboard. Even
though the keyboard sits outside the main computer
housing, it is an essential part of the complete system.

Layouts

79
Microphone

80
 Sometimes abbreviated as mic, a microphone is a
hardware peripheral that allows computer users to input
audio into their computers.
Device for converting sound waves into electric
power that has wave characteristics essentially similar to
those of the sound. By proper design, a microphone may be
given directional characteristics so that it will pick up sound
primarily from a single direction, from two directions, or
more or less uniformly from all directions. In addition to their
use in telephone transmitters, microphones are most widely
applied in hearing aids, sound-recording systems (principally
magnetic and digital tape recorders), and public-address
systems.

Mouse

A mouse is a pointing device used to interact with a

PC. The mouse allows an individual to control a pointer in a
81
graphical user interface (GUI). Utilizing a mouse a user has
the ability to perform various functions such as opening a
program or file and does not require the user to memorize
commands, like those used in a text-based command line
environment such as MS-DOS. To the right is a picture of a
Microsoft IntelliMouse and is an example of what a computer
mouse may look like.

The Mouse was originally referred to as an X-Y

Position Indicator for a Display System. Xerox later
applied the mouse to its revolutionary Alto computer system
in 1973. However, because of Alto's unfortunate success, it
was first widely used in the Apple Lisa computer. Today, the
mouse is now found on virtually every computer.

Types of Computer Mouse

• Cordless
• Foot mouse
• Glide point
• IntelliMouse
• J mouse
• Joystick
• Mechanical
• Optical
• Touchpad
• Trackball
• Track Point
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 • Wheel mouse

How A Mouse May Interface With A Computer

• Bluetooth
• Infrared
• PS/2 Port
• Serial Port
• USB

Scanner

Hardware input device that allows a user to take an

image and/or text and convert it into a digital file, allowing
the computer to read and/or display the scanned object. A

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scanner is commonly connected to a computer USB,
Parallel or SCSI port.

Scanners come in and flatbed types and for

scanning black-and-white only, or color. Very high resolution
scanners are used for scanning for high-resolution printing,
but lower resolution scanners are adequate for capturing
images for computer display. Scanners usually come with
software, such as Adobe's Photoshop product, that lets you
resize and otherwise modify a captured image.

Scanners usually attach to your personal computer

with a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI ). An
application such as PhotoShop uses the TWAIN program to
read in the image.

Web cam

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 A web cam, or web camera, is the loosely used
term for any camera that generates images that can be
accessed by and displayed on the World Wide Web through a
server. A web cam is essentially just a camera that is
connected to a computer, either directly or wirelessly, and
gathers a series of images for remote display elsewhere.
Web cam technology is widely used by all sorts of people for
all sorts of different reasons.
In 1991, the first web cam was up and running at
Cambridge University's Computer Science Department, but
since then, web cams have crept into homes, businesses,
public streets and buildings.

Dedicated buttons

Some computer systems have custom-designed interfaces

with dedicated keys or buttons for specific tasks. These can

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be useful when there is a very limited range of possible
inputs to the system and where the environment is not
suitable for an ordinary keyboard. In-car satellite navigation
systems and game pads for computer games are good
examples.

Pointing Devices

 These can be used to specify a point or a path.

 Pointing devices are usually continuous entry
devices.

Cursor controls
Two dimensional devices which can move a cursor and drag
objects on the screen.

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Mice
Can move around on a flat surface. Mice are not convenient
in limited spaces.
Presentation mice
Handheld devices, usually wireless, do same job as an
ordinary mouse but do not need a surface.
Trackballs
Ball rotates in fixed socket. Some people find this easier to
use than a mouse.
Touchpad’s
Usually found on laptop computers, but can also be used as
separate devices. Work like trackballs but without moving
parts.

Cursor Keys

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Cursor keys can be used to move a cursor, but it is difficult
to accomplish dragging. Using keys can provide precise
control of movement by moving in discrete steps, for
example when moving a selected object in a drawing
program.
Some handheld computers have a single cursor button which
can be pressed in any of four directions.

Touch screens
Touch displays allow the user to input information into the
computer simply by touching an appropriate part of the
screen. This kind of screen is bi-directional – it both receives
input and it outputs information.
Advantages:
• Easy to learn – ideal for an environment where use by a
particular user may only occur once or twice
• Require no extra workspace
• No moving parts (durable)
• Provide very direct interaction

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Disadvantages:
• Lack of precision
• High error rates
• Arm fatigue
• Screen smudging
Touch screens are used mainly for:
• Kiosk devices in public places, for example for tourist
information
• Handheld computers

Pen Input
Touch screens designed to work with pen devices rather
than fingers have become very common in recent years. Pen
input allows more precise control, and, with handwriting
recognition software, also allows text to be input.
Handwriting recognition can work with ordinary handwriting
or with purpose designed alphabets such as Graffiti.
Pen input is used in handheld computers (PDAs) and
specialized devices, and more recently in tablet PCs, which
are similar to notebook computers, running a full version of
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the Windows operating system, but with a pen-sensitive
screen and with operating system and applications modified
to take advantage of the pen input.
Pen input is also used in graphics tablets, which are
designed to provide precise control for computer artists and
graphic designers.

3D input devices

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All the pointing devices described above allow input and
manipulation in two dimensions. Some applications require
input in three dimensions, and specialized input devices
have been developed for these.
3D trackers
3D trackers are often used to interact with Virtual Reality
environments.
 Stationary Controllers (Small range of motion)
 Best for precise 3D element manipulation
 Motion Trackers (Large range of motion)
 Best for 3D region pointing or head tracking
 Virtual Reality Gloves (Data gloves)
 Hand gestures
 Head Mounted Displays - HMDs (Tracker Displays)
 Best for 3D scene navigation/exploration

3D mice
These allow movement in more than two dimensions, and
are often used together with an ordinary mouse. For
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example, this allows a designer to simultaneously pan, zoom
and rotate 3D models or scenes with the controller in one
hand while the other hand selects, inspects or edits with the
mouse.

Speech input
Speech or voice recognition is the ability of a machine or
program to recognize and carry out voice commands or take
dictation. In general, speech recognition involves the ability
to match a voice pattern against a provided or acquired
vocabulary. Usually, a limited vocabulary is provided with a
product and the user can record additional words. More
sophisticated software has the ability to accept natural
speech (meaning speech as we usually speak it rather than
carefully spoken speech).

There are three basis uses of Speech Recognition:

Command & Control

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 • give commands to the system that it will then execute
(e.g., "exit application" or” Take airplane 1000 feet
higher")
• usually speaker independent
Dictation
• dictate to a system, which will transcribe your speech
into written text
• usually speaker-dependent
Speaker Verification
• your voice can be used as a biometric (i.e., to identify
you uniquely)
Speech input is useful in applications where the use of hands
is difficult, either due to the environment or to a user’s
disability. It is not appropriate in environments where noise
is an issue.
Much progress has been made, but we are still a long way
from the image we see in science fiction of humans
conversing naturally with computers.

Astronaut Bowman as he appears in the” eye" of computer HAL 9000 in "2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY"

OPTICAL SCANNING

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Optical scanning devices read text or graphics and
convert them into digital input for a computer. Optical
scanning enables the direct entry of data from source
documents into a computer system. Popular uses of optical
scanning include:
o Scanning pages of text and graphics into your

computer for desktop publishing and web

publishing applications.
o Scan documents into your system and organize

them into folders as part of a document

management library system for easy reference or
retrieval.
There are many types of optical scanners, but they all
employ photoelectric devices to scan the characters being
read. Reflected light patterns of the data are converted into
electronic impulses that are then accepted as input into the
computer system.
Optical scanning technology known as optical character
recognition (OCR) can read special-purpose characters and
codes. OCR scanners are used to read characters and codes
on:
o Merchandise tags
o Product labels
o Credit card receipts
o Utility bills
o Insurance premiums

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 o Airline tickets
o Sort mail
o Score tests
o Process business and government forms
Devices such as handheld optical scanning wands
are used to read OCR coding on merchandise tags and other
media. Many business applications involve reading bar
code, a code that utilizes bars to represent characters. One
common example is the Universal Produce Code (UPC) bar
coding that you see on packages of food items and many
other products.
OTHER INPUT TECHNOLOGIES
Magnetic stripe technology is a familiar form of data entry
that helps computers read credit cards. The dark magnetic
stripe on the back of such cards is the same iron oxide
coating as on magnetic tape.
Smart cards that embed a microprocessor chip and several
kilobytes of memory into debit, credit, and other cards are
popular in Europe, and becoming available in the United
States.
Digital cameras and digital video cameras enable you to
shoot, store, and download still photos or full motion video
with audio into your PC.
Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) is machine
recognition of characters printed with magnetic ink.
Primarily used for check processing by the banking industry.

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 A telecommunications network is a network of
telecommunications links and nodes arranged so that
messages may be passed from one part of the network to
another over multiple links and through various nodes.
Telecommunications network links (including their
endpoints or "nodes") may in turn be built out of hierarchical
transmission systems.
Examples of telecommunications networks are:
 Computer network
 The Public switched telephone network
 The global Telex network
 The aeronautical ACARS network
 The Internet Network- The internet network is a global
‘network of networks’. The internet is connected via an
Internet Service Provider (ISP) and then becomes part
of a network. This network then connects to a larger
corporate network that interconnects with several other
similar networks through Network Access Points (Naps).

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Telecommunication Network Components:
All telecommunication networks are made up of five
basic components that are present in each network
environment regardless of type or use. These basic
components include terminals, telecommunications
processors, telecommunications channels, computers, and
telecommunications control software.
• Terminals are the starting and stopping points in any
telecommunication network environment. Any input or
output device that is used to transmit or receive data can be
classified as a terminal component.
• Telecommunications processors are support data
transmission and reception between terminals and
computers by providing a variety of control and support
functions. (I.e. convert data from digital to analog and back)
• Telecommunications channels are the way by
which data is transmitted and received. Telecommunication
channels are created through a variety of media of which the
most popular include copper wires and coaxial cables.
Fiber-optic cables are increasingly used to bring faster and
more robust connections to businesses and homes.

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• In a telecommunication environment computers
are connected through media to perform their
communication assignments.
• Telecommunications control software is present
on all networked computers and is responsible for controlling
network activities and functionality.
Early networks were built without computers, but
late in the 20th century their switching centers were
computerized or the networks replaced with computer
networks.

Types of Telecommunication Networks:

In its most basic form a network is an
interconnected system of things or people. From a technical
standpoint a network is a data communication system that
interconnects computer systems at different sites, or the
connection of two or more computers using a
communications system.
Most networks can be classified into one of five
different types. These include wide area networks (WAN),
local area networks, (LAN), virtual private networks (VPN),
client/server networks, network computing, and peer-to-peer
networks.

Wide Area Network (WAN)

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 Any network that encompasses a large geographic
area is referred to as a WAN or Wide Area Network. Many
large businesses and government agencies use WANs to
keep their employees and citizens connected as well as
provide a quick and effective way to send and receive
information.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)

A MAN or Metropolitan Area Network is a network
that covers a region, often a metropolitan area that is bigger
than a
Local Area Network and smaller than a Wide Area Network
and consists of several interconnected LANs. This network
often serves regional businesses that have several locations
throughout the region or entire cities. With this
configuration, a MAN often is then connected to larger WAN
networks.

There are three features that differentiate MANs from

LANs or WANs:
1. The area of the network size is between LANs and
WANs.
2. The MAN will have a physical area between 5 and 50
km in diameter.

3. MANs do not generally belong to a single organization.

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 4. The equipment that interconnects the network, the
links, and the MAN itself are often owned by an
association or a network provider that provides or
leases the service to others.

5. A MAN is a means for sharing resources at high speeds

within the network. It often provides connections to
WAN networks for access to resources outside the
scope of the MAN.

Campus Area Network (CAN)

A CAN or Campus Area Network is a network that is
restricted to a small geographic area such as a building
complex or a college campus. It is smaller than a
Metropolitan Area Network but larger than a Local Area
Network. The CAN incorporates several LANs and usually has
connections to a MAN or WAN.
Local Area Network (LAN)
Similar in many ways to WANs; Local Area Networks
or LANs are responsible for connecting computers in a much
smaller limited physical area. A good example of a LAN
would be a hotel's wireless Internet offering which is self-
contained within their own facility.
There are multiple standards for Local Area
Networks.

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Examples include IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi)
or ITU-T G.hn (using existing home wires, such as power
lines, phone lines and coaxial cables).
Personal Area Network (PAN)
A Personal Area Network (PAN) is a network that is
restricted to the area of a person's body. It is much smaller
than Local Area Network. It typically incorporates ad hoc
connections to other PANs or directly to Bluetooth devices.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Virtual Private Networks or VPNs are a type of
network that builds on the concept of a WAN however relies
upon the internet and an encrypted connection mechanism
to establish a secure environment for internal or external
employees or customers.
Client/Server Network
The Client-Server network architecture continues to
be the main architectural choice for most enterprise network
computing. In a client/server environment the client (i.e. PC)
relies on a LAN to connect with a back office network server
that is responsible for the connection, retrieval, and storage
of data and other critical company or personal information.
Network Computing

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 Network computing is a network architecture that
has grown with the Internet and resulting connection speeds.
In a network computing architecture a computer uses its web
browser to connect to another network computer that
actually is running the application. A good example of this
architecture in use is Google Docs or Microsoft Office online.
Both services allow users the ability to login to Google or
Microsoft servers respectively and work similarly to how it
would be performed on their own computing environment.

Peer-to-Peer Network
Peer to peer networks are now beginning to be
realized for the positive benefits they provide and not as only
used for the sharing of copyrighted material. Peer-to-peer
networks can be separated into two major types: Central
Server and Pure.
In a central server environment one host server
maintains all active connections and shared information.
When information is requested the central server informs the
user where they can receive the file and allows the
connection directly to the other PC to download. The best
example of this type was the original Napster file sharing
service.

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 A pure peer-to-peer network type has no central
server to maintain active users rely instead on the individual
computers to seek out all other computers offering the same
information being requested. A good example of this type
would be Bit Torrent software which allows small parts of
information to be pulled from many sources.

Q. 5 Read the following scenario and answer the

questions below:
Bankers Trust believes it has saved up to 50 percent of
potential development time by rewriting its internally
developed global risk management system, using object-
oriented technology rather than basing it on the
relational model.

The investment bank began developing its new system,

based on Objects Design’s Object-store database, in
March and delivered the first phase of the project in
August, when it was rolled out to 25 traders in the firm’s

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offices in London and New York. The second phase,
supporting a further 25 New York traders, is due to follow
by the end of the year. The software will be deployed
across the organization world wide over the next two
years. Thousands of support staff are expected to use it.

Colin Savery, Bankers Trust’s vice president of

technology, said, “We needed a lot of flexibility because
a risk management application is a complex thing. It’s
also a very dynamic industry, so we needed the ability to
extend, change, and evolve over time, and to do it fast.
Object technology is the clear paradigm to meet those
requirements.”

He added that if he had based the object-oriented

application on a relational database, it would have taken
25 percent more programming time to code persistence
into it and 25 percent extra time to test the end result.
This would have added six months to the development.

But the risk involved in choosing an object database led

the organization to develop its application in the C++
language rather than use an object-based fourth-
generation language. “Object-oriented databases are not
employed widely and we weren’t in R&D mode this is a
production systems”, Savery explained. “We felt, we had

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 enough risk with the database, so we went for C++,
which also offered better performance.”
1. Why did Colin Savery reject a relational database
solution? Explain.
2. How did the selection of an object-oriented DBMS
address Bankers Trust’s information needs?
3. What are the advantages and risks of an object
database design?
4. How did Bankers Trust minimize the risks of using an
object DBMS for its new system?

Why did Colin Savery reject a relational database

solution? Explain.
Followings are the reasons:
Relational databases are widely used in many
industries to store financial records, keep track of inventory
and to keep records on employees. In a relational database,
information is stored in tables (often called relations) which
help organize and structure data. Even though they are
widely used, relational databases have some drawbacks.

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Cost
One disadvantage of relational databases is the
expensive of setting up and maintaining the database
system. In order to set up a relational database, you
generally need to purchase special software. If you are not a
programmer, you can use any number of products to set up
a relational database. It does take time to enter in all the
information and set up the program. If your company is large
and you need a more robust database, you will need to hire
a programmer to create a relational database using
Structured Query Language (SQL) and a database
administrator to maintain the database once it is built.
Regardless of what data you use, you will have to either
import it from other data like text files or Excel
spreadsheets, or have the data entered at the keyboard. No
matter the size of your company, if you store legally
confidential or protected information in your database such
as health information, social security numbers or credit card
numbers, you will also have to secure your data against
unauthorized access in order to meet regulatory standards.

Abundance of Information
Advances in the complexity of information cause
another drawback to relational databases. Relational
databases are made for organizing data by common
characteristics. Complex images, numbers, designs and
multimedia products defy easy categorization leading the
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way for a new type of database called object-relational
database management systems. These systems are
designed to handle the more complex applications and have
the ability to be scalable.

Structured Limits
Some relational databases have limits on field
lengths. When you design the database, you have to specify
the amount of data you can fit into a field. Some names or
search queries are shorter than the actual, and this can lead
to data loss.

Isolated Databases
Complex relational database systems can lead to
these databases becoming "islands of information" where
the information cannot be shared easily from one large
system to another. Often, with big firms or institutions, you
find relational databases grew in separate divisions
differently. For example, maybe the hospital billing
department used one database while the hospital personnel
department used a different database. Getting those
databases to "talk" to each other can be a large, and
expensive, undertaking, yet in a complex hospital system, all
the databases need to be involved for good patient and
employee care.
Object Database Advantages over RDBMS

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 • Objects don't require assembly and disassembly saving
coding time and execution time to assemble or
disassemble objects.
• Reduced paging
• Easier navigation
• Better concurrency control - A hierarchy of objects may
be locked.
• Data model is based on the real world.
• Works well for distributed architectures.
• Less code required when applications are object
oriented.
• Object Database Disadvantages compared to RDBMS
• Lower efficiency when data is simple and relationships
are simple.
• Relational tables are simpler.
• Late binding may slow access speed.
• More user tools exist for RDBMS.
• Standards for RDBMS are more stable.
• Support for RDBMS is more certain and change is less
likely to be required.
• ODBMS Standards

Nowadays database management systems are

the most crucial factors in managing and storing the data.
Security enforcement in a database is very important to
assure that the data stored is properly secured. Most of the

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database management systems are occupied with strong
defense mechanisms. In addition to this, many academic
researchers have been proposing solutions and mechanisms
to improve security enforcement in database management
systems. Understanding and Identifying of these new
mechanisms and security features provided by database
systems are very important.

What Is An OODBMS?

In the late 1980′s, the implementers of CAD

(computer-aided design, both electrical and mechanical) and
CASE (computer-aided software engineering) wanted
database management systems, but found that relational
database systems (RDBMS’s) did not serve their needs.
RDMS’s had been developed for business data processing.
They were sold by Oracle, Informix, IBM, and Sybase (and
later Microsoft). They had become a big business with a big
market.

The CAD and CASE practitioners published papers

and had conferences explaining why they needed a whole
new approach to data management, based on object-
oriented technology. Several startup companies were formed
around 1988 to meet these needs. The first object-oriented
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languages that the CAD and CASE community could use had
just emerged and started to gain popularity, particularly C+
+. That made the time ripe to build and sell commercial
OODBMS’s.

Object Design built an OODBMS called Object

Store, which was released in 1989. Object Store focused on
persistence of programming language objects. It would be
easy to learn. It would not make you learn a new language or
reorganize all your data. You could write your program in the
way you were familiar with: as an ordinary C++ program. All
you had to do was change some “new” statements to add a
parameter saying that you wanted the object to be
persistent (and what database or cluster to put it in), and
add transaction boundaries, and voila, your program had
persistence. Rather than being oriented around SQL-style
queries, your program could navigate from object to object
just the way any C++ program does: by following pointers.
We also added collections (sets, lists, etc.) and a simple
query language for them, along with indexes and a simple
query optimizer.

In 1998, database management was in need of

new style databases to solve current database management
problems. Researchers realized that the old trends of
database management were becoming too complex and
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there was a need for automated configuration and
management. . They believed that database management
needed a more modular approach and that there are so
many specifications needs for various users. Since this new
development process of database management we currently
have endless possibilities. Database management is no
longer limited to “monolithic entities”. Many solutions have
developed to satisfy individual needs of users. Development
of numerous database options has created flexible solutions
in database management.

Today there are several ways database

management has affected the technology world as we know
it. Organizations demand for directory services has become
an extreme necessity as organizations grow. Businesses are
now able to use directory services that provided prompt
[5]
searches for their company information . Mobile devices
are not only able to store contact information of users but
have grown to bigger capabilities. Mobile technology is able
to cache large information that is used for computers and is
able to display it on smaller devices. Web searches have
even been affected with database management. Search
engine queries are able to locate data within the World Wide
Web. Retailers have also benefited from the developments
with data warehousing.

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 These companies are able to record customer
transactions made within their business. Online transactions
have become tremendously popular with the e-business
world. Consumers and businesses are able to make
payments securely on company websites. None of these
current developments would have been possible without the
evolution of database management. Even with all the
progress and current trends of database management, there
will always be a need for new development as specifications
and needs grow.

Advanced DBMS: (i.e.) D DBMS: Distributed

Data Base Management System: A distributed database is a
collection of data which belong logically to the same system
but are spread over the sites of the computer network. The
two aspects of a distributed database are:

1. Distribution
2. Logical correlation

Distribution: The fact that the data are not resident at the
same site, so that we can distinguish a distributed database
from a single, centralized database.

Logical Correlation: The fact that the data have some

properties which tie them together, so that we can
distinguish a distributed database from a set of local

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databases or files which are resident at different sites of a
computer network.

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