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Information Process Technology

Project Work
Understanding The Problem Understanding the problem is the first stage in the system development cycle (SDC). The nature of the problem is determined and then a decision is made as to whether the problem can be solved. It involves investigating the problem early and writing a report on it. Preliminary Investigation is a stage that determines whether a quick fix is needed for an existing system or a new system is needed. Problems in a system need to be understood so all things to do with the problem can be taken into account like the needs and concerns of the participants. A Requirement Report is all the requirements needed for a new system. It outlines the goals of a new system and whether it will help the organization succeed. Prototypes are a working model of an information system. They are built to better understand the needs of the system by getting participants to test it for errors and quote of good and bad things in the design of the system. The advantages of a prototype can be anything form examining, more accurately, the needs of a system as well as participants having the opportunity to be involved earlier in the development of a system and the new systems being easier to create from a prototype because it doesnt have to be started from scratch. Disadvantages of a prototype can be the impact Social and Ethical Design Machine centred systems and designed to simplify its actions to the participant. It is usually the participants fault if error occurs. Human centred systems are simplified to make the participants workload as satisfying as possible. It allows people to work without wasting time and effort User-friendly systems are systems that do not make a system complicated to an inexperienced computer user and not to easy for an expert user. It is productive and not repetitive, not using technical terms, not using precise commands, similar structures throughout the system, logical structure and allows work to be accessed easily. Work Environment Ergonomics is the relationship between the people and the surrounding environment. It includes factors like furniture placement, the information technology itself and environmental factors. Nature of Work New systems will change a participants work habits. It can impact the use of skills of the employee as well as the understanding of the work they are doing as a new system can create a new atmosphere. The nature of the workplace can also change Systems and Ethics

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Ethics is a set of beliefs that decide what is right and what is wrong. It can include everything form environmental damage to plagiarism and copyright. Equity concerns equal rights for all people working within a company. In an information technology perspective is mean that everybody as equal access to all things including education, employment, medical treatment etc. Gender equity is a concern to issues in women in the IT working environment. It is an argument that women are not interested in IT in the same way as men. Images in society sow that computers are more technical and therefore more suited to men. Advertising and so on are other causes of less women in the IT environment though this does not mean the success rate of Women in the IT Industry is any different. Making Decisions Making decisions is the stage in system development that happens after the data is gathered in the preliminary investigation. A Constraint is a thing is the system that affects the performance and prevents it from functioning properly. The constraints can differ from financial constraints to, technical, personal or environmental constraints. Feasibility Study is a short report that analyses probable solutions to known constraints within a system and making a recommendation for that system. It holds no detailed solution but estimates all kinds of problem suggested in constraints. Economic Feasibility compares the costs of developing a new system and the benefits that can come out of it. Technical Feasibility determines the IT requirements of a new system and the demands that will be placed on a new system Schedule Feasibility determines the time available to create and install a new system Organisational Feasibility determines whether the new system will meet the goals of the organization. It also determines whether the system will have enough participants to keep the system going. Analysis Report An Analysis report is an in-depth investigation of an existing system to make sure all operations and problems are looked into. It requires interviews, survey and observations and measurements of the functions of the system. It contains design specifications for the next stage of development and gives you specifications for the general hardware configuration and new designs of input and output. Designing Solutions Designing a solution is the change of the set specifications to the hardware, software and the information process. It involves buying new hardware and software and drawing out the information processes that make the system work. A Top Down is an approach in the making of a solution where it separates the different finds of programs form each other and making it smaller so it is easier to fix the problems.

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Participant Development Participant Development is when people inside the information system develop a solution. They develop their own solutions for m the IT resources available that can then be incorporated into a developing Information System. In understanding the problem the user identifies the problem then decisions (making decisions) are made to how to fix the problem. The user then designs a solution while using guided software applications where it is then implemented by starting to use the system where it is then tested, evaluated and maintained by the users and they are totally responsible for these processes and determining changes if they are needed. Design Tools Design tools assist in the development of a new system Context Diagrams are an image-based method of showing how a system uses its processes in a simple form. It uses three symbols for, the process, the data flow and the external entities. Data Flow Diagrams are a little more complex than Context diagrams in they show the inputs, outputs and storage as well as the data flow, process and external entities

Decision Trees and Decision Tables A Decision Tree is a diagrammatic way of showing all combinations of decisions and actions to that decision. A decision table is a table that shows all the condition and actions available in an information system Data Dictionary A data dictionary describes what each thing in a system is. It provides info on all aspects of the system form data types, names, descriptions etc. they are often used to manage IT resources and to help in the design stage of the system development and the physical look of the system itself. A system flowchart is another image-based method of showing how an information systems process work and the data flow. It uses more symbols than the context diagrams and the data flow diagram though it uses the symbol from them. System flowcharts are used to show a more intricate and decision making side to the data flow. Implementation The implementation stage gives the new system to the users so the solution to solve the problems with it can be found and fixed. It can cause major change into the way the system functions and must be carefully planned.

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Participant Training Training ensures that the participants can adapt and grow to get used to the new system and comprehend the benefits of the new system. Technical Support Staff are the most important people to assist on the system on an as-need basis and have to know the system inside out in order to help other with it. Conversion Method The method of conversion is a way the information processes perform on the old system and how they will be transferred to the new system without causing errors in the process. It takes a lot of time and careful planning. Direct conversion is the immediate change form one system to a new one on a specific date. Parallel Conversion is the old system and new system working together until the participants can compare the differences between the two systems and find any problems in it that can be fixed before changing straight to the new system. Phased Conversion is the gradual conversion to a new system. Some parts of the new system are introduced to the old one gradually until the participants have adapted it and the whole new system comes together. System Testing System Testing is part of the implementation of a system. It thoroughly tests the system so it can function properly and problem can be detected. The hardware is tested using diagnostic software and through general operation where as software is tested using data structured to examine the decisions made by the computer. The information process itself is constantly tested during the period of implementation and minor changes are always fixed immediately. Testing, Evaluating and Maintaining Computer operators help maintain the equipment in an IT environment and monitor all performance that happens within a system. The Mangers are responsible for the effective use of the system by the participants. Testing and Evaluating Evaluation is when the system determines whether it is working or not and if changes are need to make it function more efficient. Testing is seeing that a solution works. Maintenance is the care and modification of the system by making small changes and improvements when the time comes along. An operation manual draws out, in detail, the policies and procedures and how to follow them in using a new system. A manual will include a user friendly format, clear instructions, steps in point form, simplified ways of doing the tasks, appropriate instructions for file management and screen example when possible.

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Information Systems Information Systems involve many processes, which involve the participants, the information and data presented and the information technology used. The processes are shown in the acronym DPCOAST. D Display P - Processing C - Collecting - Organizing A - Analysing S Storage and Retrieval T Transmitting and Receiving The characteristics of an Information system are the organization of data into information and the analysis of information to give knowledge. The organization of data into information involves data to be organized before it can be stored. Organizing the data includes, categorizing, summarizing and sorting the relevant information. Such organization of data can be done through putting them into a data dictionary. The analysis of data is the information to give knowledge. Accessing information then processing is what information systems are all about. People make decisions on what they receive form an information system. Types and Purposes of Information Systems. Transaction Processing System to collect, store, modify and retrieve for an organization. The lowest system (a checkout in a store) in the ranks. Used on a daily Basis Decision Support System Daily Management of a system and assists in making decisions by providing the user with calculation and analysis tools. Is used in stock markets etc. Expert System is used for forward planning. It is used to solve problems and provides information to the user of solutions to problem that originally only a professional technician could figure out, Management Information System provides information about organizations managers. It uses basis facts to the user about the performance of the system and its statistics. Office Automation System tools to enable the completion of admin tasks. Covers all the other info system types and provides people with effective ways to complete tasks within an organization

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Example of a Database Information System Most Info systems store data in a database; these databases are called Database information Systems. e.g Civic Video Purpose: hire videos and sell associated products Information Processes Scan video/card Search database Save database Update database Transfer data Display information

Participants: Manager and Staff Data/Information: member data, video data, barcodes and receipt Information Technology: personal computer, a barcode reader and a database. Operation Methods Organizing is the process of formatting, arranging and representing data to a user. There are many types of organization methods in databasing, both non-computer and computer based. Non-computer databases include paper filing systems, which are usually best as there is a hard copy of the information and computer skills, are not needed. Computer based databases however are being used a lot more to organize and store data. The advantages of an electronic database include, easy storage, large storage space, fast retrieval and options on how the data can be displayed to the user, introducing issues of privacy to the data being read. Flat File Databases A flat file database is a database that organizes data in a single table. It uses data structures like fields, characters and records to define the data within the table. \Keys are fields that are used in the processes of sorting and retrieving informati0n. They commonly hold of unique item that applies to that one table. A single key is an item, which is unique within a database. E.g. a family name A compound key is a key, which is related to one or more fields within a database. A primary key is a key that must have a value inside it. In other words they have to be filled.
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A secondary key is a field within a database with information of value within it. Relational databases Organizes data into a set or related tables where relationships between the tables are created through primary keys. Schema is a data definition for relational database. It has an organized plan of the database and the flexibility between the tables. An entity is the specific piece of data being collected A relationship is the way the different tables in a database are connected whether it is by a one to one relationship, a one to many relationships, or a many to many relationship. A foreign key is a field in a table that is a primary key to another table making the database relational. Data Modelling DM is the process of identifying relationships between the attributes of a database and the data within it. Data Dictionaries give the participant a description of the type of data to be used for specific fields. E.g. A name would be a text file where as a postcode would be a number type. Metadata is simply the information about the data within a table. Redundancy of data within a database means the data is uselessly repeated or incorrect wasting space within a database and produces incorrect information when queries are made. It affects the integrity of the data. Normalization is a process that organizes data into tables to try and prevent data redundancy. Hypermedia Is a way to navigate between electronic combinations of media? Hypertext is the same a hyperlinks that link text form one to the other within a database. A common form of this is a web page. A URL (uniform resource locator) is the address of a file over the web and is written with no spaces. URL has many main features which include: protocols which is the way of transferring data, the domain name which is the address of the specific website which the URL is at, and the file path. HTML (hyper text mark-up language) is the instructions and programming behind a website. Storage and Retrieval

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DBMSs is a software program that manages databases. It generates, queries, forms and reports on both flat file and relational databases. Methods Of Accessing Data Sequential access is when data is accessed in a sequence where data is distributed one by one or in a row. Examples of such methods can be seen when using magnetic tape storage. Direct Access is when data is accessed without having to access previous data within the database. It is usually indexed. Like using a cd. Distributed Databases A distributed database is a database that is located in more than one spot whether it is over a LAN connection or a WAN connection or even over the web. A two-phase commit is part of a DBMS that is used to maintain consistency in a distributed database. Storage Media Storage of data can be either offline or online. Online storage is storage that is under direct control of the user and accessible at any time. Offline storage is storage of data that is not under the direct control of the user, like a database or removable devices like backups. Hard disks are direct access storage for transmitting and receiving. Uses a magnetic disk to transfer information An optical disk (CDs and DVDs). Uses a reflective layer or grooves to transfer data. Uses lasers to read the data. Removable cartridges, is a hard disk that is removable. Flash disks are also a type of removable cartridge. They are good for backups in worse case scenarios. Magnetic tape is a sequential type of storage and I used mainly for backup purposes. It can store large quantities of data Encryption Encryption is a process of encoding data for security and privacy in communication. Decryption is the process of decoding the data that has already been encoded at the end user. Asymmetric encryption uses a key for encryption and a key for decryption. Public key encryption is one of these types of encryption, which encrypts the message before it is sent. Private key encryption being the other, which is used to decrypt the message one it is received.

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Backup Security Backup is another copy of an existing system to ensure lost data can be retrieved. Data Security is a series of safeguards to protect the accuracy of Data. The first line of defence is the authorization of access were further lines of access include access rights, encryption and firewalls. A firewall is used to verify and authenticate access and create barriers to outside users across the net and across a network of any kind. Searching Querying is a search in a database for specific data in the tables for reports. Query by example (QBE) is searching for a criteria against a field. Relational operators (=,<>,<,>.<=,=>) Wildcard Characters are one or more unknown characters. (*, ?) Logical Operators (AND, OR, NOT)

Structured Query Language (SQL) SQL is a language used to access and manipulate data in a relational database. SQL statements have a SELECT, FROM, WHERE and ORDER BY statements. Data Source The source of the data is the participants of the organization of the data and the information in the database itself. Accuracy of Data Accuracy of data is the extent and which data can be free of errors. Data Validation is to check the accuracy of the data. Data Integrity is the reliability of data. All to do with the errors and data redundancy within a database. Privacy Privacy is the ability of an individual to control and store the data within a database Access to Data Access of the data depends on the accessibility allowed to the user whether they are administrators or employees. Ownership of the data is an ethical issues to do with copyright laws, plagiarism and the individual who control the flow of data. Data Warehousing and Data Mining

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Data mining is a process that searches for patterns and relationships within different databases. It can be used to analyse sales in a business. etc.

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Communication Systems
Characteristics of Communication Systems Communication systems enable humans to send and receive messages over long distances. The data source produces the data to be sent. The transmitter transmits the data in digital or analogue form. The receiver decodes the signal to the person getting the message and it arrives at the required definition. Protocols are a set of rules that govern the way data is transmitted and received and how the errors within the transmission are detected. Handshaking is the transfer of signals between two computers on agreement on which protocol to connect with. Hardware flow control is a dedicated connection like by cable where the connections are direct and close. Software flow control uses a code sent with the data during handshaking. The speed of transmission depends of the bandwidth of the cable used. The speed of transfer can be measured by: BPS which is the number of bits passing appoint in a second Baud rate, which is the largest number of data or signals that, can be transmitted in one second. Error Checking Parity checking is a method of checking data by using and odd even method of adding op the data screen. It sets it to either odd or even by adding and extra bit then checking it again at the receiving end. Checksum adds up all the bits in the sent package then checks it again at receiving Cyclic redundancy checking uses polynomial division to find a unique remainder; it then checks that remainder at the receiving end. This is 98% successful. Communication Settings Bits per second is the speed of transmission Data bits, is the number of bits in each group of data. Parity is whether a data stream carries a parity bit for error detection Stop/start bits are the bits placed on the front and end of a data stream in asynchronous transmission. Flow control is a handshaking protocol.

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Teleconferencing Audio conferencing is a conference over the phone. Video conferencing is a meeting over visual communication. Is effective as movement and expression cane be seen and also cost effective as well as time effective. Messaging Systems Messaging systems is used to send messages. To communicate with one another over distances. Traditional systems include the telephone by voice, the fax by text. Voice mail allows communication with other people when calls are misses with the telephone. Messages are digitally stored in a message bank where they can be directly accessed by the user E-mail allows communication through text over the Internet. Personal accounts are set up for the user with a single ISP or email address, which enables them to send and receive email through firewalls and encryption. Emails contain many parts. These include functions like carbon copy, which sends the same message to other people apart from the main recipient. Blind Carbon Copys which sends a copy to people without revealing that other people got the message. Transmitting and Receiving Parallel transmission is the transmission of data simultaneously using different channels Serial transmission is the transmission of data one after the other. Asynchronous transmission is sending the data bye reading each byte with a start and stop bit. Synchronous transmission requires all the data at the same time and rate. This type of transmission is faster and more efficient than asynchronous transmission. Simplex mode allows transmission in one direction. Only form sender to receiver. Duplex mode allows transmission in both directions but only one at a time. Full duplex mode allows transmission in both directions at the same time. Protocols include, TCP/IP, IPX, FTP, HTTP, POP, MIME etc LANs are a network over a small area and separate from the Internet though it may be connected to it. It shares hard drive space as well as application software and communication among others on the network. WANs connect computers over hundreds of miles. It has a mainframe computer called the host and terminals leading off it to all the other computers on the WAN. They use private leased lines to communicate and send data through packet switching. Network topologies include star topologies, which have a central computer that all the other computers are connected to. If the central computer fails they all fail. Bus topologies
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have all the computers lined up and connected off one line. There is no host computer. If one computer fails the network can still operate. Ring topologies have all the computers set up in a ring. All the signal run in one direction so the data goes through every machine until it gets to its destination. Network access methods are Ethernet, which allows data to be transmitted simultaneously to all the computers on the network and recognize and received individual data packets. Token ring is an LAN protocol, based on the ring topology. Data is sent to a free token and attached to the data along with the addressing information. Any other computers cannot use the data. A router is a device that determines where to send the data packet between at least two networks. It maintains a table and sorts the data packets onto the right route at which to send the package. A switch is what directs the packets between paths A bridge is a combination of hardware and software to link similar networks. Often connects LANs with the same protocols. A gateway is a combination of hardware and software that are connected by an LAN but the protocols are different. Transmission media includes wire transmission like coaxial cable which has a bandwidth of 10Mbps over small distances, twisted pair, which is used the slowest medium but has less interference. Has a bandwidth of 60kbps. Or fiber optic cable, which uses lasers to transmit data and gets no interference. Has a bandwidth of 400Mbps. Wireless transmission is through microwavessatalite, wireless LANs and mobile phones. Encoding and Decoding Encoding, involves converting data into one form from another Decoding is converting data from an encoded state back to its real form. Analog Data is represented by physical electric voltage pulses Digital Data is represented in digits and numbers Analog data to analog signal the electronic pulses is encoded into a signal. Digital data to analog signal is a series of 0s and 1s encoded into electronic pulses. Digital data to digital signal the series of 0s and 1s is transmitted by sending a series of on and off pulses to the receiver Analog data to digital signal - the electronic signal is encoded into a series of 0s and 1s. Client Server architecture is the software relationship with the user and server. Issues Related to Communication Systems Messaging Systems Social Context ideas that messages appear less forceful or caring than intended Danger of Misinterpretation - ideas that tone and expression in a text message may not be fully understood.

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Power relationships messaging systems have changed the relationships are created social and in the work place. Privacy and confidentiality messages can be intercepted. They are stored on servers and hackers could get at the messages. Electronic junk mail unwanted mail is spammed out to random email addresses. Wastes time and frustrates the user. Information overload users have to absorb huge amounts of information over email or voice mail. Can cause stress and heavy workloads.

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