Lecture1 (is342) (office automationsystems)

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Office Automation

System Concept(IS 342)

Taibah University

Department Information Systems

College of Computer Science & Engineering

Lecture 1

Reference: Barbara C. McNurlin, and Ralph H. Sprague (2003): Information Systems Management in Practice 6th edition,

Prentice Hall.)

Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, Faculty of Computer Science & Engineering, Taibah University2

Course Objectives

� To understand the need and importance of Office Automation Systems

� To understand the benefits of paperless Office

� To know about the components of Office Automation

� To study the concept of Office Information System

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Session Objective

� Understanding office automation

� Knowing the changing office concept

� Understanding the organisational status of office automation


Office Automation

� An automation system is a precisely planned change in a

physical or administrative task utilising a new process,

method, or machine that increases productivity, quality,

and profit while providing methodological control and

analysis.

� The value of system automation is in its ability to

improve efficiency; reduce wasted resources associated

with rejects or errors; increase consistency, quality, and

customer satisfaction; and maximise profit.

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Office Automation (cont…)

� Definition:

�Office automation refers to the varied computer machinery and software used to digitally create, collect, store, manipulate, and relay office information needed for accomplishing basic tasks and goals.

�Raw data storage, electronic transfer, and the management of electronic business information comprise the basic activities of an office automation system.

�Office automation helps in optimising or automating existing office procedures.



�The backbone of office automation is LAN, which allows users to transmit data, mail and even voice across the network.

�All office functions, including dictation, typing, filing, copying, fax, Telex, microfilm and records management, telephone and telephone switchboard operations, fall into this category.

�Office automation was a popular term in the 1970s and 1980s as the desktop computer exploded onto the scene.

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� The automation of everyday office tasks is one of the key results of the electronic revolution

� No modern office can hope to survive without many of them

� IT as the technological innovations that have transformed the way we work in the late twentieth century

� Integrated into a smoothly working business system, office automation tools can vastly improve office productivity


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About Office Automation Systems (OAS)

� The use of computer systems to execute a variety of office operations, such as word processing, accounting, and e-mail.

� Office automation almost always implies a network of computers with a variety of available programs.

� Includes a wide range of applications of computer, communication and information technologies in office environments.


� Automation has altered not only our work environment, but our very concept of work

� Automation as a continual state of flux, the size of the market is huge, with annual investments measured in billions of dollars

� Office automation is the basic requirements of any office or department within an organisation.

� Office automation aims to organise the functions in such a way that they do not have to be carried out on a variety of equipment.

About OAS (cont…)

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About OAS (cont…)

� Office automation seems to proceeding more rapidly and penetrate economic activities more thoroughly than have other waves of automation

� World economy is driven by the incessant demand for information as it is by the continuing necessity of converting raw materials into finished products

� Office work is rapidly being “automated, ” or computerised


About OAS (cont…)

� The office as the primary workplace for many industries, such as banking, insurance, and real estate

� Handling information as the main activity it requires a system

� Use of information for the purpose of tracking, monitoring, recording, directing, and supporting complex human activities

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Towards OAS trend

� A continuing strong movement towards microcomputers

and towards distributed data access and data handling,

usually superimposed on rather than superseding

centralised automatic data processing;

� More powerful, easier to use, software;

� A strong trend towards linking and networking of

microcomputers, minicomputers, mainframes, and

peripheral and supporting systems;

� Increasing choice among technological options for

accomplishing information handling objectives;


Towards OAS trend (cont…)

� More and more capture of data at the point of origin, decreasing the need for repeated keyboarding and centralised data entry;

� Growing capability for communication, between devices, between organisations, and between locations.

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What "Office Automation“ means? (cont…)

� Considering that company organisations requires increased communication, today, office automation is no longer limited to simply capturing handwritten notes:

� Exchange of information

� Management of administrative documents

� Handling of numerical data

� Meeting planning and management of work schedules


What is next?

� Here is required a system to coordinate the automation and make an environment of things which can work together for a purpose.

� It is System thinking which comes up next

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Why OA as a system?

� A system is an arrangement of parts which interact with each other within the system's boundaries (form, structure, organisation) to function as a whole

� A "system" is a dynamic and complex whole, interacting as a structured functional unit


The Systems thinking (cont…)

� A system is a group of interacting, interrelated, and interdependent components that form a complex and unified whole

� Systems Thinking value lies in the way that it enables one to design smart, enduring solutions to problems

� Systems Thinking gives you a more accurate picture of reality, so that you can work with a system's natural forces in order to achieve the results you desire

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The Systems thinking

The approach incorporates several tenets� Interdependence of objects and their attributes -

independent elements can never constitute a system

� Holism - emergent properties not possible to detect by analysis should be possible to define by a holistic approach

� Goal seeking - systemic interaction must result in some goal or final state

� Inputs and Outputs - in a closed system inputs are determined once and constant; in an open system additional inputs are admitted from the environment

� Transformation of inputs into outputs - this is the process by which the goals are obtained


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Integrating the system

� Office automation tools can vastly improve office productivity.

�However, the very richness and diversity of these tools is the source of some of our most serious office problems.

�There thousands of programs running on dozens of different kinds of computers and operating systems, often linked together by a variety of networks, the potential for

incompatibilities is great.


Hierarchy of Office Automation Systems, (Chorafas, 1982)

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Data storage and manipulation

� Storage of information would be the computer or a computer like system

� Data storage includes office records and other primary office forms and documents

� Data applications involve the capture and editing of files, images, or spreadsheets

� Example 1: Word processing and desktop presentation packages accommodate raw textual and graphical data

� Example 2: Spreadsheet applications provide users with the capacity to engage in the easy manipulation and output of numbers

� Example 3: Image applications allow the capture and editing of visual images.

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The effect of office automation

� Office automation reduces the number of clerical

� Large firms no longer have to employ typists

� Office employees become more flexible

� Receptionists can spend more time with clients

� Managers need not necessarily delegate typing, to include more Public Relations work


� Within each basic activity of an office, hardware and software combine to fulfill basic functions that are needed to successfully accomplish the goals for a specific business.

� There are three basic activities of an office automation system:

� Storage of information, data exchange, and data management.

� Within each broad application area, hardware and software combine to fulfill basic functions that are needed to successfully accomplish the goals for a specific business.

� Storage of information would be the computer or a computer like system.

� Data Exchange would be a fax, phone, or some type of communication hardware.

� Data management would be using specific software tools to organise and maintain data.

Office Automation Focus (cont…)

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Data storage and manipulation (cont…)

� Text handling software and systems cover the whole

field of word processing and desktop publishing

� Word processing, the most basic and common office

automation activity, is the inputting (usually via keyboard)

and manipulation of text on a computer

� One important features of word processing packages are

their preformatted document templates

� Desktop publishing adds another dimension to text

manipulation


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Data Exchange

� While data storage and manipulation is one component of an office automation systems

�Exchange of that information is an important component of office activity

�Electronic transfer is a general application area that highlights the exchange of information between more than one user or participant

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Data Exchange (cont…)

� Systems that allow instantaneous or "real time" transfer of information (i.e. online conversations via computer or audio exchange with video capture) are considered electronic sharing systems

� Electronic mail, voice mail, and facsimile are examples of electronic transfer applications

� Other examples would be a fax, phone, or some type of communication hardware


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Data Exchange and Manipulation (cont…)

� Office automation systems that include the ability to electronically share information between more than one user simultaneously are sometimes referred to as groupware systems

� One type of groupware is an electronic meeting system

� Electronic meeting systems allow geographically dispersed participants to exchange information in real time

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Data management

� Office automation systems are also often used to track

both short-term and long-term data in the realms of

financial plans, workforce allocation plans, marketing

expenditures, inventory purchases, and other aspects of

business

� Task management or scheduling systems monitor and

control various projects and activities within the office

� Electronic management systems monitor and control

office activities and tasks through timelines, resource

equations, and electronic scheduling.


Discussion Questions

1. What is Office Automation Systems?2. Why we need technology for office automation?3. Look at the difference between manual and

computerised office system; comparison of manual and computerised system

4. Advantage and disadvantage of manual system5. Advantage and disadvantage of computerised

system

6. How an organisation can:

� Exchange information

� Manage administrative documents

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Reference

� Barbara C. McNurlin and Ralph H. Sprague (2003):

Information Systems Management in Practice 6th

edition, Prentice Hall.

� Barbara C. McNurlin and Ralph H. Sprague: Information

Systems Management in Practice 6th edition, 2003

� Gavriel Salvndy, Handbook of Industrial Engineering,

“Section Computer and Information Processing”.

� Abdisalam Issa-Salwe, Taibah University Lecture Notes,

2010.

� James Bailey, James Gerlach, R Preston McAfee,

Andrew B. Winston. Office Automation, Chapter 12.7

Lecture1 (is342) (office automationsystems)

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