SystemTypes (1)

I N F O R M A T I O N S Y S T E M S

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What is a system?

What exactly is a system? What makes up a system? What is data and information? How is information used in decision making? What is an information system? What are the different types of information systems used today? How can we build information systems? Understand the benefits of learning information systems. This chapter provides the answers.

hat is a system? A system can be described as a combination of parts or components that are organised to achieve a goal or perform a task. Considering this description, we can define many things to be systems. Let us consider some examples.

A bicycle contains many parts such as wheels, chain, pedal, seat and handle. These parts are combined together to create a bicycle. A bicycle is used by people to travel (performs a task).

Wheels

Seat Handle

PaddleChain

Chapter

4

W I C O N K E Y

Valuable information

Test your knowledge

Workbook review

Bicycle

considered as a

system Bicycle can be considered as a system which contains many parts and is used to by persons to travel

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Class Activity

Can you think of other examples of systems? Identify their tasks and parts. What function does each part play in the systems task?

A radio can be considered as a system. Radio has many parts such as antenna, speakers, volume controller and tuner. A radio is used to listen to radio transmissions (performs a task).

Each part of the system carries out a part of the systems task. For instance, the handle of the bicycle is used to control the direction the bicycle is travelling; the antenna of the radio is used to receive radio signals.

Certain systems are complex and contain many complex parts or components. These parts/components are sometimes referred to as subsystems. Each subsystem itself can be considered as a system.

We can even consider living beings as natural systems. A good example is a human. Humans have a very complex system: the human body. The human body contains

many subsystems such as respiratory subsystem, digestive subsystem, circulatory subsystem, and others. The respiratory subsystem contains many components such as nose, nasal passage, wind pipe and lungs. These components function together to provide oxygen to the body. Similarly, the digestive subsystem contains the mouth, food passage, stomach, intestines and other organs which together digest food to produce energy for the body to function.

Radio as an

example of a

system Radio is used to list to music and news (i.e. performs a task) and consist of many part such as speakers, antenna, etc.

Human body

viewed as a

complex natural

system Human body is a complex natural system that contains many subsystems providing many functions.

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Class Activity

Consider organizations that you know of as systems. Identify their components and goals.

Input Output Processing SYSTEM

Organisations as Systems

Until now, our study of systems has been limited to tools such as bicycles and natural systems such as the human body. We can even consider organisations as systems. Let us consider a school which is an important organisation in our community.

A school has many components, such as students, teachers, principal, classrooms, laboratories, desks, chairs, blackboards, playground etc. All these components make up a school. School also has a goal - provide education to children.

Similarly, we can consider other organisations as systems. Complete your class exercise and it will help you understand systems better!

Elements of a System A system exists in and interacts with its surroundings (also known as the environment). The boundary of a system separates the system from its environment. A

systems boundary tells us what is inside and what is outside the system.

In our example of the school, we can consider community as the environment. The components inside the school include students, teachers, classrooms, principal, and playground. The environment of the school includes parents of students, Department of Education, and other elements in the community which interact with the school.

A system receives input from the environment, processes these input and produces an output.

School viewed as

system School has many components such as students, teachers, classrooms, playground and provide education to students (goal).

Input, Processing and

Output of a System A system consumes inputs from its environment, processes and produces outputs.

School viewed as

system School has many components such as students, teachers, classrooms, playground and provide education to students (goal).

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Class Activity

Consider organizations that you know of. Identify their goals, inputs, processing and outputs.

65 45 66

REPORT Year 9E

Name: A.P. Weerasinghe Position: 1st

Subject Grade Mathematics A Science B+ English A Religion A

Considering the school example, a school receives input, which includes, funds to pay teachers salaries, children who require education, materials (such as chalk and blackboards) for classrooms and activities.

A school produces output which is students who have gained an education. Students completing school education have gained knowledge and skills that help them live in and contribute to society.

There is processing that occurs to produce the output. In the school example, there is teaching by teachers and learning by students that occurs to produce its output and achieve its goal.

Viewing organizations as systems helps us better learn and understand the organization. This can helps us to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.

Data, Information and Decision Making

You have learnt what data is in previous chapters. We will revisit these concepts in this section and see how information assists in decision making.

Data are raw facts. Data is processed to produce information.

Let us consider an example. The Mathematics teacher evaluates the mathematics answer scripts of students and produces the marks for each

student. The marks by themselves can be considered as data. The class teacher collects all marks for all subjects and creates the student report. The student report contains information. That is,

S C H O O L V I E W E D A S A S Y S T E M

System School

Goal Education of students

Inputs Children, teachers, funds

Processing Teaching and learning

Output Educated students

School example Identification of goals, input, processing and output.

Example of

Data Raw marks of students is an example of data

Example of Information Subject marks are processed to produce information in the student report.

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REPORT

Subject Grade

Mathematics F

Do I need tuition?

marks for each subject are processed to compute the grades and position of the student in the class.

We can use a computer to process data to produce information (which is referred to as computer-based information system) or process data manually (which is referred to as manual information system). In our school example, the teacher prepares the reports manually. In certain situations, using a computer-based information system is advantageous as we will see later.

Why do we need information?

Information helps us make decisions!!! Let us consider the students report. The students report contains the grades for each subject and position in the class. If a student obtains a failure grade for Mathematics, then the student knows that his/her performance is poor in Mathematics. This information is useful for the student to make decisions. The student may decide to study harder and solve more problems in Mathematics, refer additional books on Mathematics or attend tuition classes in Mathematics to improve his/her performance on Mathematics. This is a decision taken by the student based on the information in the student report.

Similarly, the Mathematics teacher might consider average marks across different questions. This provides the teacher with information such as areas where students are weak (for instance, geometry). This information may lead to the teacher to decide to give extra homework exercises on geometry and also revise the geometry lesson in class.

Information

used by a

teacher in

decision making Average marks for each area in Mathematics paper assist the teacher to make decisions

Information helps

to make

decisions

0

20

40

60

80

Algebra Arithmetic Geometry

Average Marks Across Questions

Revisit Geometry Lesson!

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Class Activity

Consider organisations that you know of. Think of data collected and information used by these organisations. Who uses this information? What types of decisions are made based on the information?

Similarly, the principal of the school may consider average marks across subjects within a particular grade to identify strong and weak subjects. This information assists the principal to make decisions.

It is evident that information plays an important role in decision making.

Every person in an organisation makes decisions. Decision making is a part of the role of every person in an organisation. Let us consider the school example.

SCHOOL

ROLE INFORMATION SOURCE

DECISIONS MADE

Student Timetable Timetable informs the student on the subjects for each day. This information helps the students to decide to prepare and complete homework for the appropriate subject.

Teacher Timetable Timetable information helps the teacher to decide on subjects to prepare for teaching the next day.

Principal Attendance Register & Timetable

Provides information that helps the principal to decide whether to allocate a replacement teacher for an absent teacher.

Department of Education

Report on number of teachers, students and resources in school

This information helps the Department of Education to decide on amount of resources to allocate for the school (such as funds for teachers salaries, budget for school maintenance).

Similar to a school, in any organisation, information is critical for decision making.

Complete your class activity to gain a better understanding of how information is used by organisations in decision-making.

Decision making in organisations

Decision

Making in

a school

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For information to be useful in our decision making process, this information should contain certain properties as described below:

Accurate: Information must be accurate or correct. Incorrect information may results in disastrous decisions to be made. This is one of the most important qualities of information.

For instance, consider our school example. If a student obtains an A grade for Mathematics and however, by mistake an F grade is printed on the report, then this is an example of inaccurate information. Inaccurate information can result in invalid decisions to be made.

Complete: Information must be complete. Complete information contains all the important facts. For example, if

some grades for subjects are missing in the student report, then this is an example of incomplete information.

Relevant: The information must be important to the decision maker for it to be relevant.

For instance, the mathematics marks obtained by students are important for the Mathematics teacher and not the marks obtained for Science

Qualities of Good Information

Example of inaccurate

information The student report contains incorrect information of students grades by mistake. An example of inaccurate information

Example of irrelevant information The science marks are not relevant for decision making for the mathematics teacher: An example of irrelevant information.

Example of incomplete

information The student report is missing grades of certain subjects: an example of incomplete information

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Timely: Information is delivered when it is needed is called timely.

For instance, if the students report in Grade 6 is given to the student when he/she is in Grade 10 is not timely.

Understandable: Information presented must be understandable by the decision maker.

For instance, if the students report in presented in a language not understood by the student, then the information is not useful.

Accessible: Information must be easily accessible by the authorised persons.

For instance, in a bank customer wants to see his/her bank balance. If this information is not provided, then the information is not accessible.

It is evident that good quality information is critical for valid or correct decision making. Frequently, use of computer-based information systems for information processing within organisations can enable us to obtain good quality information.

Example of information provided in a

untimely manner Students Grade 6 report is provided when he/she is in Grade 10. This is a example of information which is not provided in a timely manner.

Example of information which is not

understandable Information in the report is in binary format which is not understandable by the user.

Example of manual data processing The teacher processes the student marks and generates the reports manually. This is an example of a manual information system.

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Manual vs. Computer based Information Systems

(CBIS)

As discussed in previous section, data are processed to obtain information. We could process the information manually or using computers.

For instance, in our school example, if the class teacher collects marks of all subjects, computes the grades and writes the report herself, then this is an example of a manual information system.

If the different subject teachers enter the marks of each subject to a computer, which has a program that automatically computes the grades, and allows the class teacher to print the reports, then this is an example of a computer-based information system

If computers are used for a major part of information processing in an organisation, then it is called a computer based information system.

Computer-based information systems can be effectively used to gain many benefits as we will see in the next section.

Using a computer in an organisation does not necessarily mean that the organisation is using a computer-based information system effectively. For instance, if the teacher collects the marks from each subject teacher, compute the grades manually and then use a computer to enter the grades and take a printout of the report. This is not an

effective use of a computer-based information system. In this instance, the teacher is doing most of the data processing manually and using a computer only for printing purposes. In this instance, the use of a computer-based information system may be not beneficial when compared to a manual information system. As we will learn in the following sections, an information system must be designed and built to be effectively used in an organisation.

Example of manual data processing The teacher processes the student marks and generates the reports manually. This is an example of a manual information system.

Example of data processing using the

computer The teacher enters students marks into the program which computes the grades for each subject and prints the student report. In this instance, most of the data processing is performed using computers. This is an example of a computer-based information system.

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From the previous discussions, it is evident that in any type of organisation, people make decisions at all levels for their day-to-day activities. Data is collected and processed to gain information which is used in decision making. The information processing can be done manually or with the use of computers. The organisation of people, processes, data for information processing and decision making in an organisation to support their day-to-day activities is called an information system.

As is evident from the discussion in previous sections, computers can be used for many data processing tasks in an organisation. Use of computers for data processing can be advantageous over manual processing due to their capabilities.

Fast: Computers can perform programmed operations extremely fast when compared to a human.

Accurate: Computers, if programmed correctly, are highly accurate in data processing. Humans can make mistakes (known as human errors).

Store and retrieve large amounts of data:Computers can store and retrieve large amounts of information. In a manual system, paper-based storage is used. Usually, large amounts of files and filing cabinets are used which takes space and require time to retrieve.

Information Systems

Capabilities of Computers

Speed: Computer Vs. Human A computer can perform programmed operations fast. For instance, a computer may be programmed to complete add 100,000 numbers per minute on average. A human can add 25 numbers per minutes on average

Manual Vs.

Computer A computer can store information of 3000 students in a single hard disk and if organized properly can retrieve a single students grade in less than a second. In a manual system, we need a large file of cabinets and retrieving a student grade takes 15 minutes on average with a person.

A-D

E-H

I-L

M-Q

R-U

V-Z

2000

2001

2002

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SHIFT: 8 HOURS

SHIFT: 24 HOURS

Communicate efficiently over networks: Computers can send data efficiently over long distances over a network to remote computers. In a manual system, data are recorded in paper (such as files and books) and require sending them physically which is inefficient.

Work for long periods of time: Computers can work for a long period of time (as long as the necessary environment exists such as electricity and air conditioning etc.). Usually, humans get tired and require a break.

Adaptable and pre-programmed for different tasks: CBISs are adaptable and easily programmed. For instance, we can easily add and/or change a report generated by a CBIS to reflect additional information as required. However, changing a report in manual information system may not always be easy.

Data transfer between

computers in a CBIS Computers send data from Colombo to Anuradhapura in less than 1 minute over the network

Transfer of data in a

Manual Information

System In a manual system, to send a file of records from Colombo to Anuradhapura takes 6 hours.

Working Hours: Human vs. Computer Human gets tired over a period of time and requires a rest. For instance, a typical human works for 8 hours a day. On the other hand, computers do not get tired and can work continuously for 24 hours a day.

Example of a

change in

report Example of a change in a report required in an organisation

Network

Computer at Colombo Branch

Computer at Anuradhapura

Branch

Colombo Branch

AnuradhapuraBranch

OLD REPORT YEAR AVERAGE

MARKS 2000 58.2 2001 66.4

NEW REPORT YEAR AVERAGE MIN. MAX.

MARKS MARKS MARKS 2000 58.2 22.3 78.2 2001 66.4 21.4 88.3

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ATM

Printer

Computer

For instance, in a school, let us assume that we maintain a record of files containing student marks. If we need to obtain average marks obtained by students for A/L Pure Mathematics paper for the last five years requires a manual procedure consuming a long time to obtain this information. In a CBIS, if the data is stored in an organised manner in the computer, generating this report could be easily performed. Later, if we need to change this report to contain maximum and minimum marks scored for Pure Mathematics paper for each year for the last five years requires rescanning all student files manually. In a CBIS, the report can be easily adapted to reflect this change.

Due to these capabilities of computers, they can be used effectively in organisations for their information processing needs. In the next section, well learn elements of a computer-based information system and see how it is effectively used in a banking environment.

Elements and effective use of a Computer based

Information System

A computer-based information system (CBIS in abbreviated form) can be described as a single set of hardware, software, databases, telecommunications, people and procedures that are configured to collect, manipulate, store, and process data into information. In Sri Lanka, we can see in many instances, banking organisations using computer based information systems effectively.

Hardware consists of all computer equipment. A banks computer based information system contains a lot of equipment including monitors, keyboards, ATM machines and others.

Software includes all the computer programs that control and performs tasks using the hardware. There are two main types of computer programs:

1. System software which controls the basic computer operations such displaying words in the screen, starting-up the computer etc. These programs include the Operating System.

2. Application software are programs developed to perform certain tasks. For example, Word Processing software enables us to create documents letters and books.

Hardware used in

a bank Examples of hardware devices used in a bank

Example of

software used in a

bank Examples of software packages used in a bank devices used in a bank.

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ACCOUNT AccNo Balance Type 123240 12002.20 Savings 324214 4532.42 Savings

TRANSACTION TID Date Amount Type 1002 12/03/06 12000.00 Debit 1003 12/03/06 2344.43 Credit

CUSTOMER CID Name Tel 1232 K.R.Sampath 232312 1233 A.J. Fernando 455323

Network

Colombo Branch

Kandy Branch

Customer deposits at Colombo branch

Customer withdraws at Kandy branch

Transaction information is accessed via the network

A bank uses many software packages including system software such as Operating Systems that control the hardware devices and also application software which includes banking packages to perform many different tasks bank account management, loan processing and others.

A database is an organised collection of data and information.

A banks CBIS contains a large database of all account information, transaction information, loan information and other relevant information for the bank. This database is frequently accessed by many persons including customers and bank

employees for their day-to-day activities. By using a computer-based information system, all relevant persons can have efficient, timely access to this information.

Telecommunications include the computer networks that enable computers from different locations to send/receive data. Networks connect computers and computer equipment in different locations (i.e. places) and enable electronic communications.

In a bank, the banks CBIS connects the different branches of the bank which are located in remote places. Now customers and bank employees can efficiently access

the bank information from

different branches and locations.

Computers from around the world are connected to the Internet (which is the worlds largest computer network). Some banks allow access to the banks CBIS from the Internet (popularly known as Internet Banking). This allows bank customers to access his/her account information from anywhere in the world!

Database in a bank A banks database contains an organised collection of data and information including customer information, transaction information and other related banking information

Use of networks in

a bank Information of transactions are accessed from different branches in a bank via a network

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REPORT DATE: 06-02-06 TID TIME AMOUNT TYPE 123 9:01 am 12000.00 Deposit 124 9:02 pm 2500.00 Withdrawal

TOTAL DEPOSITS 1200212.50 TOTAL WITHDRAWALS 520042.25

People include users of the system, persons who maintain, manage and program the CBIS. In the banks CBIS, users include customers who access the CBIS, employees of the bank who use the CBIS. There also exists a group of persons (sometimes

referred to as system administrator and system engineers) who maintain the CBIS performing tasks such as backing up, upgrading the system and program it.

Procedures include the strategies, policies, methods, and rules for using a computer-based information system. Procedures may include methods such as how to perform a task by executing a particular program? or

policies such as who can have access to the database and what data?

For instance, in our bank example, a policy might be that the branch manager must approve a withdrawal amounting to over Rs. 1 million. There is set of steps (procedure) to be followed by the manager to provide the approval in the CBIS.

Use of computer-based information system effectively in a bank has results in good quality information available for day-to-day activities:

Accuracy: The banks CBIS is programmed correctly and data entered is verified and provides highly accurate information.

Complete: All data is stored in a database and the banks CBIS can be programmed to obtained information in a complete manner.

For instance, at the end of each day, the branch manager may need a report of consisting of all transactions performed during the day and total amount withdrawn and deposited to the branch. The banks CBIS can be programmed to produce this report to the manger at the end of each day.

Understandable: The banks CBIS can be programmed to provide all necessary information in an easy-to-understand manner.

At the head office of the bank, the senior management needs a report on the days performance by each branch in a graphical manner. The banks CBIS can be programmed to access the database and provide the days performance in a graphical manner for the management

Customer using

the banks ATM Customers access the banks CBISs services using an ATM.

Example of a report generated

by the banks CBIS Example of a report needed by the branch manager containing all transactions for the day. The banks CBIS can be programmed to generate reports needed by employees of the bank.

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Anuradhapura

Colombo

KandyGalle

05

101520253035

Amo

un

t in

M

illio

ns

AnuradhapuraBranches

Total Deposits of Branch

Timely: The report which is discussed above can be provided to the senior management is a timely

manner due to fact that this report can be generated from the banks CBIS at a click of a button. Also, since the report is generate by accessing the database of the bank which keeps accurate and up-to-date data, the generated report contains accurate, complete and up-to-date information.

Accessible: Due to the fact that the banks CBIS are connected through networks, the information is easily accessible by bank employees and customers from any branch.

Some other major advantages of using a CBIS are that most of the tasks can be automated or handled by the computers. For instance, due to the fact that computers do not need a break unlike humans, they can be kept switched on. This allows customers to use the bank services even when the bank is closed! Customers connect to the banks CBIS from Internet and banks services are made available to customers 24 hours a day and 365 days a year via the Internet (Internet Banking).

However, a CBIS does not come without its disadvantages. There is a high initial cost in setting up a CBIS in an organisation. . In a computer-based information system, there is a high cost for hardware, software, and computer networks (also called technology infrastructure) in addition to training people, revising and developing procedures for effective use of a CBIS. In a manual system, the initial cost is lower since this technology infrastructure is not required.

Also, sometimes, there is a fear among employees to change to a CBIS from a manual information system as they fear that their jobs may be automated and make them redundant. This culture barrier and resistance to change also may affect the speed of adoption of a new CBIS to an organisation. When introducing a CBIS to an organisation, these factors need to be considered. Appropriate training and proper guidance and supervision allow for smooth transition to CBISs and provide higher productive and gain to an organisation.

In todays competitive business environments, many organisations believe that advantages of computer-based information systems far outweigh manual information systems and are required for an organisations survival. With the cost of hardware

Example of a report

generated by the banks

CBIS in an easy-to-

understand manner Example of a report generated by the banks CBIS is an easy-to-understand manner for the senior management.

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Class Activity

Consider an organisation that you are aware of. Describe how a computer-based information system can be effectively used in the organization. Describe the elements of the CBIS. Compare and illustrate advantages/ disadvantages of using CBIS vs. a manual information system.

Class Activity

Discuss with the teacher the various processes in the school that qualify for batch processing.

reducing with the advancement of technology, computer-based information systems are affordable to many organisations. Hence many organisations try to leverage the advantages of using computerised information systems in their daily operations to gain a competitive advantage. Thus learning computer-based information systems has become a necessity and a fruitful endeavour for students today. Hence, in the rest of this chapter, we will focus on computer-based information systems and we will use the term information system to refer to computer-based information system.

At a supermarket checkout counter you need to know the price of each item as the counter person keys-in items. You do not want to know it a day or two later. On the other hand you do not need to know how much it costs each time you switch on a bulb at home or each time you open the water tap. You like to have such information at the end of a period (eg. every house that has electricity needs to receive a bill at the end of a period).

Batch Processing

So, when we use computer systems to process large number of such events, and when processing is simple and always the same we can process such events in defined intervals. We refer this mode of processing as batch processing. A batch processing system is one where computer programs and data are collected together in a batch before processing starts.

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Class Activity Make a list of processes that you find suitable for batch mode processing.

Class Activity Discuss with your teacher other examples given below.

Batch processing usually follows below steps:

Accumulate transactions (e.g. electricity meter reading of each house) into batches of suitable size, and keep a count of batches

The batches are then input to the computer system: 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.

The stored batches are processed when computer systems idle (usually in the night). Jobs are stored in job queues until the computer is ready to process them.

To ensure all batches and all transactions in a batch are processed, various totals (eg. number of batches, number of transactions in a batch) are used. These totals are compared with computer generated totals to verify the accuracy.

In this mode of processing, there is no interaction between the user and the computer while programs run.

Outputs of the process could be anything, such as; Bill Report Updated file(s)

Online Real-Time Processing

As we saw, some events do not need critical time dependence. However, there are other events that have critical time dependence. As opposed to Batch Processing, the Online Real-Time processes events as and when it occurs. For example, airline reservation, credit card payments, pre-paid mobile phone usage, playing a game on the computer, and the like very much depend on time. Lets take a closer look on two of the examples.

Airline reservations: imagine you book a seat in an airline at 9.00 am today. If the computer system does not reserve that seat for you immediately, there is a possibility that the same seat could be given to another person by the airline ticketing agent.

Playing a car race computer game: moment you see a bend on the screen, you need to instruct computer to turn the car to that direction, if not the car will crash.

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Class Activity

List the ways you use information at home and in your school?

Class Activity

Find some processes that require online real-time processing, at your school.

Class Activity Discuss with your teacher the importance of online real time processing, in todays world.

Online Batch Immediate results Outcome is not time dependent Information is available on demand Ideal for utility bill preparation and

employee payments Can make quick decisions Can use idle computer time effectively Economical when large amounts to be

processed that are similar

Types of Information Systems

In Unit 1 you saw the difference between data & information, in this section, you will learn about how information is used in organizations. In doing so, the section will take you through fundamental concepts that help to understand and answer questions stated above.

Information is every where. Do you agree with this sentence? Let us see the various sources of information available to us in current day life. For example, today we have number of newspapers, radio & TV channels compared with few years back. In addition to these, use of many other technology tools such as home computers, mobile computers, mobile phones, and access to Internet (World Wide Web of computer networks) are on the rise. All these provide one common thing to all of us that is, Information.

This means we all have opportunities to access information in various means and forms. And then, information is used by us for various purposes such as add new knowledge, verify and compare current understanding, make better choices, and share it with others.

As much as we use information in our personal lives, so do organizations. Organizations not only use information, but they create information by various means, and then store it for future use too. To understand various roles played by information in organizations, let us see how information is used by different functions of an organization.

Compare online Systems Vs Batch Systems:

141

Class Activity

Search Internet to find a definition to OAS.

Class Activity

Discuss with your teacher similar activities in school.

Office Automation System

In a typical office, people perform many tasks that support the different functions of an organization. Let us see some of these key tasks: Prepare and edit reports

Communicate with internal and external parties

Schedule and prioritize work

Assign work to staff

Maintain information about events of the organization

Answer telephone calls

Order and maintain an adequate inventory of supplies

Hire, train, supervise, and evaluate staff

Thus all organizations carry out many common activities, such as:

Writing letters, memos and receiving responses to them

Perform calculations, comparisons & analysis

Communicate ideas, outcomes and plans

Capture and record events

Create and implement plans, and many more

Since such tasks can be numerous, let us generalize (categorize) these tasks into meaningful categories:

Document creation

Communications

Coordination, collaboration, scheduling

Prioritization

Maintain and store information

Monitor

Automation

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The next question is how do organizations carry out these numerous tasks? Organizations can use two types of information systems to perform different tasks.

Organized systems based on manual methods

Computer-based Automation Systems

They can perform these tasks in several ways: One way is to do it just using people (human ability). Let us assume that a supervisor in a garment production organization wants to do following:

Assign work to production workers such as writing down steps to perform (work sheet), and communicate them to workers. (See Fig 4.3.1)

Monitor work progress (observe work)

Make a report at the end day (collect days work sheets and summarize it to another sheet).

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Now, think of an organization that has ten thousand production workers producing one hundred different types of garments that can change frequently. Even if the organization employs many supervisors, it would be humanly impossible for them to perform all required tasks by only using manual work methods.

Another way to perform these activities is to use computer based office automation systems (OAS) that assist the supervisor. Lets see how each of these tasks can be supported by computer based systems.

Instruction

card

Sewing instruction card, 1958 Maidenform Co., NewYork, New York. Printed ink on paper.

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Class Activity

What are the advantages and disadvantages among manual systems vs OAS

Assign work to production workers

Supervisor can record (key-in) all worksheets into the computer. This can be done by using Word Processing software or Spread Sheet software. Supervisor needs to record this information in the computer only once. Thereafter, supervisor can change, re-produce and print them at any time.

Similar to above, the supervisor can collect each production workers daily work output and record them into the computer. To do this supervisor can use either Word Processing software, Spread Sheet software or simple Database software.

As you learned in earlier units, if you record data inside the computer using an information system, you can view or further processes such recorded data later. This helps produce a report that contains various information that you like to know.

Assign work to production

workers A supervisor can use word processes, spreadsheet software to record worksheets into computer.

Monitor work progress

Make a report at the end of the day

Monitor work progress Word processing spreadsheet or simple database software can be used to monitor.

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Class Activity

Discuss with your teacher the processes in your school that can be done by manual methods & using OAS.

Class Activity

Identify 3 organizations and list 3 transactions for each of these organizations.

Fund Transfer

Balance Inquiry

Withdrawal

Mini Statement

Cancel

Deposit

WELCOME TO YOUR BANKS ATM!

Press your choice!

Transaction Processing Systems

Organizations are of many types, ie. Government, NGOs, Commercial Enterprises, Educational Institutions etc,. All organizations have one thing common, meaning they all create events. These events are very important for any organization to carry out its operations. For example these events could be:

Super market check-out counter scans (enters) items in your basket or trolley, into a small computer

Bank accepts deposits and allows you to withdraw money

Educational institution accepts student application

Pay for your electricity, water & telephone bills

Did you notice below, in these events?

They happen routinely

They are repetitive in nature

Without them an organization cannot operate

In other words without these events no organization can survive. Let us call these events as transactions. As you already know computers are very good in handling routine and repetitive tasks. If these events are so important, we can use computers to carry them out. So, how do computers do that? Fortunately there are number of software systems that specialize in processing transactions in organizations, for example:

- Small computer at the check-out counter in a super-market

- Bank ATM (Automatic Teller Machine)

Interface of an

ATM An ATM can be used to perform a variety of banking operations.

146

Class Activity

Discuss with your teacher various transactions that routinely take place in your school.

- Payment acceptance system when making payments for electricity, water & telephone bills

- Salary/wages processing system

When a computer-based information system handles all these transactions, we call that information system, a Transaction Processing System (TPS). The key function of a TPS is to keep track of goods & services provided by organizations.

Therefore, all the TPSs have below components:

Collect business transactions (Input sub-system)

Process business transactions (Process sub-system)

Perform calculations

Modify already stored data

Check validity of transactions (Validation sub-system)

Display transaction (Output sub-system)

Store data about transactions (Storage sub-system)

Transaction

Processing

System A typical TPS has input, process, output, storage and validate sub systems.

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Class Activity List 3 key decisions you made in your life? Identify one major decision your school made/will make during this year.

Write down steps you followed to make that decision

Class Activity

When did you make a decision last? What was the problem or opportunity?

Management Information System

In many organizations people play different roles. One such role is management, and people who carry out management function are called managers. So, what functions managers do in an organization? Essentially managers are responsible to use organizational resources (money, plant and machinery, people, land and buildings) to achieve organizations goals.

The next thing we should know is how do managers do that? Well, there are several ways. However, the most commonly used approach has five steps to follow;

Planning

Organizing

Staffing

Leading

Controlling

In this unit, we will see one common task for all of above steps performed by managers that is making decisions. We all make decisions, whether in an organization or in our personal lives. Simply, a decision is what you choose from various alternatives.

In our daily lives we face different situations. For example some situations are problems, some are choices and some others are opportunities. So when we face a problem we naturally want to solve it, and based on our solution we make decisions.

We make decisions at home, at school, at play, or perhaps at the grocery store. Common examples include shopping, deciding what to eat, and deciding whom or what to vote for in an election or referendum.

Interestingly, some of these problems and decisions are very challenging, and some may even change our lives dramatically. So, making decision may need lot of thought,

Introduction to Management

Decision Making Process

148

Class

Activity

Write down steps you followed to make above decision.

emotion, and research. As you may have noticed, either you followed your heart or perhaps a set of formal steps to make the decision.

Lets see a simple guideline that can help you make decisions:

Step 1: See whether you can define the problem, in terms of what you know about the problem situation, how it affects you, why you identify the situation as a problem

Step 2: All problems have solutions, but which one is right? To find an answer for this question you need to generate several options or alternative courses of action.

Step 3: Think about how does each solution affect the situation? What are my feelings, fears about each option?

Step 4: Check whether your decision affects others feelings, emotions, or values.

Step 5: After weighing all above, choose the best one.

Step 6: Create a plan of action to implement the chosen decision.

Step 7: Continuously assess your decision.

Making decisions as an individual and as a community is different, and even so for an organization. So, how do organizations make decisions?

Organizations can use a formal approach to make decisions.

Understand the situation (collect and analyze data)

Gather information

Identify solutions

Select most suitable solution

Implement the solution

Decision Making Process in Organizations

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Step 1: Understand the Situation

State the situation in broad terms since the exact situation may not be obvious. To do this you need lot of information or else you can confuse symptoms of a problem with underlying causes. Information gathering occurs in all steps -from recognition of the situation to implementation of its solution. New information may force you to redefine a problem in the situation.

Step 2: Gather Information

In this step organization collect information from its stakeholders (individuals, groups that are affected by the problem or its solution). You may also seek facts & data from research, results from experimentation, studies, interviews of experts, and observed events, past or present data.

Step 3: Identify Solutions

In this step organizations see the problem in different ways, in a new perspective that you have not thought of before. Once you have listed or mapped alternatives, be open to their possibilities, such as;

Need more information Can be combined or eliminated Will meet opposition Seem promising or exciting

Step 4: Select most suitable solution

After listing possible alternatives, evaluate them without prejudice, no matter how appealing or distasteful they are. Consider all criteria; while a suitable solution may solve the problem, it may not work if resources are not available, if people won't accept it, or if it causes new problems.

Step 5: Implement the solution

Until the solution is acted on, a decision is only a good intention. So, you need to develop a plan for implementation. This would follow a step-by-step process as follows;

A way to communicate all affected stakeholders Resource identification/allocation Timeline for implementation

150

Class Activity

Identify 3 MISs in your school or in a known organization to you, and show how they differ from TPSs.

Class Activity

Discuss with your teacher the process your school uses to make decisions.

As much as implementing the solution, it is equally important to monitor it, the effects of it on resources and stakeholders, your timeline, and your progress. As you monitor your progress, if results are not what you expect, review your options and alternatives. Whether or not you achieved your goals, it is important to consider what you have learned from your experience.

Now, let us see how Computer Systems can help in decision making process. In fact, Computer Systems play a key role in organizational decision making process. As you saw, managers use large amount of data to make decisions. In other words they need lots of information to make decisions. One such example of a computer system that helps organization make decisions is Management Information System.

Information does not come automatically, whether it is from a manual systems or a computer based system. In a computer based environment, you can derive management information from Transaction Processing Systems. So, how do we do that?

Management Information Systems usually generate information that helps managers monitor, coordinate, direct, and obtain summary of organizations events. For example, in a super-market if a manager gets list of sales for entire week that would not be much useful. However, if the same information is summarized into per item, per check-out counter, per each hour of a day would provide useful information that

helps a manager to carry out his or her duties effectively. But as you saw there are different levels of managers in organizations.

Therefore, we have special types of systems to generate MIS, such as;

MISs that support all managers (eg. systems that help to carry out basic management functions)

MISs that support functional managers (eg. sales and marketing MIS, management accounting MIS, production planning MIS)

Management Information System

151

Class Activity

Discuss Discuss how different levels of staff at your school make use of information

MISs that support different levels of managers (operational management, middle level, top management)

Process Control System

A process is generally a defined way of doing an activity. For example, to make a cake you would follow the steps given in a recipe. But, in large scale operations there can be many thousands of people carrying out many tasks to full-fill a particular task.

Let us take the process of making hoppers that you probably may have seen at home. At times you may think the manual process is very cumbersome, and subject to many issues leading to poor quality hopper.

However, if we use a process control systems, such as shown in below diagram, the process becomes easy and possibly improve the quality of hoppers.

Process

control

system The figure shows the whole process which consists of sub processes such as recipe

Many thousands

of people

carrying out

many tasks These people work according to a well defined Set of activities (processes)

152

Class Activity

Find 3 areas known to you that use processes control systems.

The above figure shows that the whole process should consist of several sub-processes, such as;

Recipe entry function

Process start/stop function

Indication function with graphic screen on equipment

Failure monitoring function

In addition, by automating this manual process, we can reap several other advantages;

Can feed multiple types of raw materials (flour, rice, etc.).

Seasoning can be done with a recipe screen.

Accommodate taste variations that can change traditional taste.

Create new products.

As you can think, if we apply such automated systems on other processes (eg. from making a nail to making a car), it would bring many advantages. For example, we can make things faster, accurately, and economically. However, there can be disadvantageous too. For example, loss of jobs, health hazards, and environment pollution are some of the major disadvantages.

Intelligent Information System

Whats really an intelligent system? Essentially intelligent systems make computers behave like humans. Intelligent systems use some kind of intelligence, and we call it artificial intelligence. Hence, all intelligent systems need artificial intelligence help.

Think how you come to school today. Did you follow a routine process?

Wash yourself

Change Clothes

Have Breakfast

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Travel (Bus, Train, Car, Van)

How do you feel, preparing your breakfast by an intelligent computer system, ironing your clothes by an intelligent computer (robot)?

So we can say an intelligent system is also a system. It should learn during its existence based on situations it faces.

As you can see from the figure, the intelligent system is fundamentally a type of response system. It takes inputs through the senses. The brain extracts information from this and represents it as a situation. Next, the intelligent system selects a response rule, appropriate to the situation, and performs the response part of this rule. Performing the response permits the system to get nearer to the situation that is its objective. The intelligent system makes its selection of response rules from those that it finds stored in its memory. In this memory, the intelligent system has accumulated response rules that it has generated from earlier experiences and from generalizations based on previously used response rules.

To do all these intelligent systems use two distinct processes.

Human thought process

Represent those thought processes in machines

Studying these processes beyond the scope of this book, and you would one day learn more about it.

Structure of the

Functioning Of an

Intelligent System An intelligent system is a type of response system. It should learn during its existence based on situations it faces.

154

Class Activity

Are there any systems in your school that are suitable for intelligent systems? Give reasons for your answer.

Today the world uses many computer based intelligent systems, such as;

Play games such as chess and checkers

Medical clinics use artificial intelligence systems help doctors diagnose diseases based on symptoms, to organize bed schedules, make a staff rotation, and to provide medical information.

Understand natural human languages. You could simply walk up to a computer and talk to it.

Simulate intelligence by attempting to reproduce the types of physical connections that occur in animal brains.

Financial institutions have long used such systems to detect charges or claims outside of the norm, flagging these for human investigation.

Robots are given jobs that are considered dangerous to humans. Robots have also proven effective in jobs that are very repetitive which may lead to mistakes or accidents due to a lapse in concentration, and other jobs which humans may find degrading.

Japan is the leader in using robots in the world. In 1995, 700,000 robots were in use worldwide; over 500,000 of which were from Japan.

Garry Kasparov

vs. Deep Blue

Robots are given jobs

that are considered

dangerous to humans

155

Class

Activity Can you come up with requirements for developing an information system for a sports club in your school?

Developing an Information System

How to develop an Information System? There are many ways that can be adopted to build an information system, but they are all based on the steps discussed below. To learn about building an information system, lets take your school for an example. Assume that your school does not have any automatic information system built, and all the activities are done manually. When a new student registers to your school, the registrar office opens a new file for the student and stores all his details for example, personal details and birth certificate in that file. Once he promotes from grade to grade all the details relevant to the student is updated on his file. If any one wants to refer to students past data, they take his file and get the details.

Step 1: Requirements analysis (What

to build?) The first step in developing an information system is to decide on what to build. This involves analyzing the requirement and the necessity to build an information system. This is a very important part in the development of an Information System and involves looking at an organization or system (such as a school) and finding out how information is being handled at the moment.

For the example of your school discussed above, if we analyze the requirements we can clearly see a necessity of developing an information system for the school to manage student data. The reasons for justifying the development of the information system are

Difficulty in updating data manually In the manual system of recording student data, it is very difficult to update the data if any change occurs.

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Probability of loss of data What will happen if the student detail file gets misplaced, stolen or damaged? All the details regarding the student are lost!! There is no way of recovering the data unless you have a backup file in a safe location with all the data updated.

Difficulty in retrieving data With the manual system searching for the required data is also difficult.

No central location Another disadvantage of the manual system is that there is no central repository to keep the data. There might be many files, many drawers, and many cupboards in many buildings. If any one wants to access all students data, he will surely have to spend more than one day to collect the data!!

There are many more drawbacks and disadvantages in the manual student data recording system which are not listed here and through developing an information system we can overcome most if not all of the drawbacks mentioned above.

Data updating With a computer based information system, updating the student data will take only a few minutes and the data updated will be reflected in all the records for that student.

Oh..! My god. This manual process is a headache

This is a mess

Difficulty in updating data

For example, if the address of a student is changed, it has to be updated in several books manually and some times the changed data might not be reflected in some books

Difficulty in retrieving data

If the class teacher wants to refer an early record of one of his students, He might have to go through several files, contacting many people, searching from cupboard to cupboard and still might not find the exact data what he wants!! The manual student recording system needs more time and more resources to retrieve the required data.

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Loss of data Loss of data can be completely overcome by taking backups periodically and storing them in a separate place or sending them to the relevant authorities.

Retrieving data Data retrieval might need only a mouse click. You can get details about the one student, class of students or even the data of all the students in the school.

Central location An information system gives you the advantage of centrally located data. All these reasons and many more justify the development of an information system to store student details for your school.

Step 2: Feasibility Study (Can we build it?) A feasibility study is a preliminary study undertaken before the real work of a project starts to ascertain the likelihood of the project's success. It is an analysis of possible solutions to a problem and a recommendation on the best solution to use. At the end of the feasibility study a decision is taken whether to proceed or not with the development of the system.

Feasibility Study An analysis of possible solutions to a problem and a recommendation on the best solution to use

Central location

For example, all the data about all the students are located in one place, may be on a database or a file system or any other storage, but the users can access, search and retrieve from a single location

158

Class Activity Do a feasibility study for the information system for the sports club in your school. Come up with a cost estimate and required technical expertise.

Class Activity Design one module of the information system for the sports club. Identify the inputs, outputs, storage structure and other data necessary for the design.

Lets take the same example discussed above. Through the feasibility study we have to find answers to similar questions given below.

Do we have enough funds for the project? Here we have to do a rough cost estimate covering the costs for hardware, software and other tools to develop the information system. Then we check whether we have sufficient funds in school to cover the above estimated cost.

If not, are there any ways to find funds? If the school does not have enough money to cover the cost, can we find ways to find funds, such as from parents, through dramas/exhibitions, from education ministry or from other donors.

Do we have the expertise? To build the information system, you need to have a team of software engineers, system administrators and others. First you check within the school whether you have the experts to build such a team, if not you can think of giving a contract to a software company to build the student details management information system. Here you have to go to the related companies, give them your requirements and ask them to come up with a plan. If you can find a company which can undertake the building of the system according to your requirements at the cost you estimated you can handover the development of the system to that company. If you have answered YES to the questions above and similar questions related to building the information system, you can decide to proceed with the development.

Step 3: Design (How to build it?) In this step, we analyze how to build an information system which performs according to the requirements we identified in step 1. The real time requirements of the system will be transformed to modules in this step and these modules will be implemented in order to build the information system. For the student details management information system, to store and manage student details, first the requirements will be break down into modules. For example, the requirement to store student details will be one module and to design this module we will be considering the following details.

159

Class

Activity Design one module of the information system for the sports club. Identify the inputs, outputs, storage structure and other data necessary for the design.

Inputs Some of the inputs for this module will be student registration number, registration year, name, address, birth date, telephone number and birth certificate number.

Outputs One of the outputs of this module will be the details of a student when you search for a given registration number.

File structure To store the details of the students, we should decide on the data structure. The data structure can be a file system or a database having tables of data. If the amount of data is less and if there wont be any major expansion, then we can go for a file system, otherwise to store a large amount of data we can design tables in a database.

Depending on the above and other details we design the modules of the student details management information system. These designs should be reviewed by all the parties involved with the development of the system and should take the feed back of the users of the system.

Reg. Number Name Address Phone Number Birth date 000167 Alwis K.D. 32, Kahantota Road,

Malabe 0112418297 03/04/1991

Inputs When deciding on inputs, think about what information you are going to store in the system. For example, for the student detail management system, we have to store the data about the student, but you have to decide whether the data you are going to store is a required data for the system. Only required data should be taken as inputs. For example, the data about students neighbors is not required for the school, so that data is not an input to the system.

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Step 4: Development (Building the system) Once the design is reviewed and agreed upon by the parties involved, the next step will be the development based on the design. In this step we decide on the software and hardware for the implementation of the modules designed in step 3. There are many ways an information system can be built. Stand alone applications which are installed on separate computers and web based systems which can be accessed from any computer are two popular ways of building information systems. For the student detail management system discussed above, we can develop it as a stand along application, assuming that the system will be installed at the school premises and only the school staff and students who are authorized will be using the information system. The system can be developed using VB.NET. Assuming that your school has more than 2000 students and will be expanded in the future, we can store data in a SQL data base called MySchool. This database will have many tables including the student table and the grade table.

Development

This is an example of a form developed through VB.NET.

161

Class

Activity How would you develop the information system for the sports club? What are the software you are going to use? Will you use any databases? Justify your answer.

Step 5: Testing (Is it working correctly)

Any new system needs to be thoroughly tested before being introduced to the users. Testing is done through out the development life cycle in various phases.

Unit testing

Unit testing is the testing of different units or modules of a system in isolation. For example, once the store student details module is completed, which is described in step 3, it should be tested and if the testing ensures that the modules are working as required. The user inputs the required values - student registration number, registration year, name, address, birth date, telephone number and birth certificate number through the developed module and then checks whether these values are updated in the student table of the MySchool database.

Student Table The student table will store the personal details of the student. This figure shows the data as columns in the table Student.

162

Class

Activity Come up with a detailed test plan to test the modules in the information system for the sports club.

Integration testing

After all the modules of a system have been coded and unit tested, integration of modules starts. The full product takes shape only after all the modules have been integrated. The integration testing consists of a number of steps. During each integration step, some modules are added to the previously partially integrated system and the system is tested again.

In the student details management system, there can be several modules in which several teams work in. Some of them are store student details, search student details, update student details and delete student details modules. As these modules are developed by separate teams, they have to be integrated and tested. The integration is done step wise; first the store student details and search student details modules are integrated and then tested to see if these two modules are performing as required. Once the two modules are tested, update student details module is added and all the three modules are tested again. In this manner, the modules will be integrated one by one and the system is tested in order to ensure that there are no errors during the integration.

System testing

Once all the modules have been integrated and tested, system testing can start. During system testing the fully integrated system is tested against the requirements of the system as recorded in requirements analysis in step 1. System testing will ensure that the student details management system works according to the requirements we identified in our requirements analysis. For example, if there was a requirement that only the staff members are allowed to view student performance rating, in system testing, when a

Testing The figure shows the testing pyramid. Stating from the lowest level, the modules are separately tested (unit testing) then modules are tested together (integration testing) and lastly the whole system is tested on the requirements.

163

Class Activity How would you deploy your information system for the sports club? If you are going to link your sports club application to the student details management application, what are the things you should consider?

user logs in as a student he should not be able to view his performance ratings.

In order to carry out proper testing of the system, a test plan should be designed before testing commences. Part of a test plan for the student details management system is as follows.

Part of system tested

Purpose Expected result Actual result

store student details

Add new student

A student is added to the current student list.

New student appears in the student list.

Members File Remove a member

Member not on membership list

Member deleted from list

Step 6: Deployment (Using the Information System) After implementing and testing of an information system, its ready to be introduced for the users. The introduction or the deployment of the system involves many tasks such as installing the application in computers, configuring the application and training the users. Training users is first done offshore, meaning that the users are trained not with the real system, but a sample system installed at some other location. The users are given a user guide which covers how to run the system, how to enter data, how to modify data and how to save and print reports. In addition, the guide should include a list of error messages and advice on what to do if something goes wrong. Implementing or introducing a new system can be done in two ways:

Direct Implementation With this method of implementation the users stop using the manual system and start using the computer system from a given date. The advantage of this method is that it is less costly in effort and time than any other method of implementation. The disadvantage of this method is that if problems occur the users do not have any alternative apart from returning to a manual system which may prove difficult if it has been discontinued.

Parallel Running With parallel running, the new system is introduced alongside the existing system. With parallel running both systems (manual and computer, or old computer and new computer system) will be in operation at the

Part of a test plan

164

same time. This has the advantage that the results from the new system can be compared with those of the old system. However, it has the major disadvantage that each job is done twice and therefore it means a lot of extra work for the users. The method of deployment will depend on the users requirements. For the student details management system we have been discussing so far, direct implementation will be easier to be used, as in school holidays, we can stop the manual system and then deploy the new system. Before deploying the system, the potential users (teachers, clerks and students) of the system will be given training and after deployment they can use the system at school.

Step 7: Maintenance (Any update needed?)

It is impossible to produce systems of any size, which do not need to be changed. Over the lifetime of a system, its original requirements will be modified to reflect changing user and customer needs. The system's environment will change as new hardware is introduced. Errors, undiscovered during system validation, may emerge and require repair.

The process of changing a system after it has been delivered and is in use is called software maintenance. The changes may involve simple changes to correct coding errors, more extensive changes to correct design errors or significant enhancements to correct specification errors or accommodate new requirements. Maintenance therefore, in this context, really means evolution. It is the process of changing a system to maintain its ability to survive. The maintenance process is triggered by a set of change requests from system users, management or customers. The cost and impact of these changes are assessed. If the proposed changes are accepted, a new release of the system is planned. This release will usual1y involve elements of adaptive, corrective and perfective maintenance. The changes are implemented and validated and a new version of the system is released. The process then iterates with a new set of changes proposed for the new release. Suppose after installing the student details management system, education ministry sets a rule that all the student registration numbers should follow a standard

Deployment The deployment of your system can be in one computer or several computers. In case of several computers, the computers can be networked where the deployment can be done in one computer but can be accessed from the other connected computers.

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format. The format of the registration number will be __. For example a student who was born on 02/02/1991 with birth certificate number of 468 registers with your school in year 2000, will have a registration number of 2000_02021991_468. As this was not the format of the registration number you have used in your system, the system has to be updated to reflect the changes. The developers who build the system will update your system with a new version which updates the system with the new change.