Management Information Systems

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Module IV(16 hours)

Information systems planning - critical success factor - business system planning - ends/means analysis organizing the information systems plan - systems analysis and design - alternative application development approaches - organization of data processing - security and ethical issues of information systems

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Focus of the chapter Information system planning Analysis Design Managers need to think about how IS will support their business plans The familiarity with planning methods will result in better understanding of how IS can be used to provide feedback on overall business performance

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Information systems planningInformation Systems Strategic Planning Why plan? to obtain resources Financial Facilities Capacity planning Staff To align I/S with the business To identify needed applications To establish goals, schedules, and milestones in order to track progress To provide an opportunity for communication with top management and user management Outcomes vs. process? Reactive vs. proactive? Planning vs. forecasting? Forecasting is predicting the future Planning is being prepared for that future4

Information Systems Strategic PlanningEstablish a mission statement Assess the environment Set goals and objectives Derive strategies and policies

Develop long-, medium-, and short-range plansImplement plans and monitor results

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Information Systems Strategic PlanningEstablish a mission statement These are the services that you are responsible for; it is your place in the organization

It is not what you are supposed to achieve, it is who you are and what you do in the company

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Information Systems Strategic PlanningAssess the environment(s) . . . 1. The capabilities of the IT department 2. The readiness of the company to use IT 3. The status of our customers, our industry 4. The status of the economy, government regulations, environment, society, etc. 5. Technology This is similar to a SWOT analysis Strengths and Weakness items no. 1 & 2;

andOpportunities and Threats items no. 3, 4, & 5

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Information Systems Strategic PlanningGoals and Objectives Set goals what do you want to achieve? Set objectives what are your specific, measurable targets?

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Information Systems Strategic PlanningDerive strategies and policies Strategies for Technology focus Personnel and career development Aligning with the company Others . . .

Policies for Funding criteria; how much to spend on IT? Allocation criteria; priority setting Organizational arrangements Use of outside IT services, outsourcing Selling IT services to outside organizations Others . . .9

Information Systems Strategic PlanningShort-, medium-, and long-range plans Short-range the next year, the next budget period: - developing and operating current systems Medium-range committing to development efforts for applications that will take more than one year to complete; meeting managements current information needs, projected into the future for as many years as needed to complete them. This is what most organizations call Long-Range Planning. Long-range planning preparing for managements future information needs. These are not application specific; they are investments in infrastructure; it is creating an information architecture.

And finally, implement plans and monitor results!

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critical success factorsCritical success factor (CSF) method , devceloped by John Rockart of MIT, addresses the information needs of senior management. A more effective way of spotting problems is to develop key indicators of the health of the business and to focus on significant deviations from planned performance. The first step in CSF method is for the manager to identify his or her goals. The next question the manager must answer is, what are the critical success factors underlying these goals. A critical success factor defines what has to go right to achieve a business goal.

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critical success factorsAn example of goals and critical success factors for three profit making organisation appear as followsSeminar company Mailing list size and quality Identificatin of relevant topics Effective spears Goals Earning per share Market share New product success

Life insurance company Effective training of agency management New product development Productivity of clerical operations

Frozen Food Corporation Advertising effectiveness Effective distribution Product innovation

Even though the business goals of these three organizations are the same, the strategies that must be implemented effectively to achieve these goals vary12

Critical success factorsThe critical success factors help managers define their information needs. Information that is valuable to the manager should support achievement of these critical success factors by providing measures of how well they are being achieved An advantage of the CSF method is that it enables managers to determine their own critical success factors and develop good measures of these factors.

The CSF method accommodates changes in competitive strategy, business environment, and organizational structure. In a dynamic business environment the information needs of the managers change.The main limitation of the CSF method is that it focuses on managerspecific information needs, rather than on organisation wide information requirements. The CSF method does not try to recommend a data architecture planning strategy to accompany the analysis of managerial information needs, and it does not address the MIS management responsibilities associated with implementing these system projects13

Business system planningThe business system planning (BSP) method assist a business in developing an information systems plan that supports both short-term and long-term information needs. This method provides a formal, objective way for management to establish information systems priorities that support business needs. In the process of participating in BSP study, top management should improve its relationships with information systems professionals and make a commitment to the development of high-return information system projects. One of the underlying objectives of BSP is to develop a data architecture that supports information systems development activities.

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BSP study activitiesThe major activities that are involved in a BSP study are as follows: Make a commitment Prepare for study Hold a kickoff meeting Define business processes Define data classes Determine executive perspective Assess business problem Define an information architecture Determine priorities Review information systems management Develop recommendation and action plan Report results

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The study teamA study team is organised to participate in gathering data. The study team consists of managers from different functional areas to do the required interviewing. The first step is to identify the major business processes of the organisation.

A business process is an activity needed to manage the resources of the business

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Methods of analysisProcess/organisation matrix

Relates the activities of the organisation to people responsible for these activitiesData class/process matrix To identify data classes that support business processes

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Process/Organisation matrixProcessBusiness plan Receipt Plan review Order servicing Processing Tracking Tracking Sales Selling

Plan admin

OrganisationGeneral manager Sales manager Marketing manager Purchasing manager Service manager Mfg. opns. manager

+

+ + + + + + + + + + + +

+ + +

+ + +

+ + +

+ + +

+18

Admin

Entry

Edit

Data class/Process matricsParts master

Data classFinancial Planning Product

ProcessBusiness planning Organisation analysis Review & control Financial planning Capital acquisition Forecasting

C U U C

U

U U C U

U

U19

Work-in-process

Bill of materials

RM inventory

Fin. Goods inv.

Vendor

Facilities

Assessment of business problemsOnce the business system relationships are established, the BSP study team undertakes in-depth interviews with managers throughout the organisation to determine problems and priorities. Managers are asked to identify their problems, possible solutions, value statements, process impacted, and the processes causing the problem. For example: What major problem have you encountered that has made your job difficult? What is needed to solve this problem? What would be the value to your function or to the overall business if the problems were solved. How satisfied are you with the current level of information system support What additional information do you need to help you do your job What would its value be?

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BSP interviewMajor problem Lack of ability to identify qualified peopleBetter information nn personnel resources

Problem solution

Value statement

Retain good people, improve moraleSkills inventory system Human resources

Information needs Affected processes

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Determining prioritiesThe analysis helps identify a number of systems development projects. These projects need to be prioritized according their benefit, impact, success and demand. Benefit is measured in terms of the expected financial return Impact of a project means the number of people affected

Success refers to the probability of the project being implemented successfully.Demand measures the need for and the value of the proposed system Each of the proposed information systems projects is rated using these four factors and an overall ranking of then project is developed.

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Information system managementReview the capability of the existing IS organisation to develop the proposed information systems. The IS team may require to develop integrated database serving multiple applications. This would involve introduction of new technology, new personnel and new procedures

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The action planThe final step of BSP is to develop an action plan in which the first subsystem project is scheduled for development, appropriate MIS personnel are assigned and the project justification is completed. Once this project is underway, longer range plans for designing the information architecture of the firm can be developed

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Ends/means E/M analysisThe purpose of E/M analysis is to determine effectiveness criteria for outputs and to specify efficiency criteria for processes used to generate outputs The first question in E/M analysis is : What is the end or goods or service provided by the business process? As can be seen from the figure in the next slide, the end might be to fill customer orders.

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Ends/means E/M analysisEndsFill customer orders

EffectiveCustomer orders delivered when expected, and as soon as or sooner that the competitions Promptly provide credit to qualified customers Quick response to and reduction of customer complaints

InformationSummary and exception reports on customer deliveries, comparative statistics on delivery service vs competitions Customer credit status and payment history Report of number and type of complaints by customers and average time to resolve complaint

Provide customer service

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Ends/means E/M analysisThe next question is What makes these goods or services effective to the recipients or customers? The effectiveness criteria is that these orders be delivered when expected, and, if possible, as soon as or sooner than the competition

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Ends/means E/M analysisThe final question is What information is needed to evaluate the effectiveness? In this case information about customer deliveries and comparative statistics on delivery service versus the competition's will provide the feedback management needs to determine how effectively they have achieved their result

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Ends/means E/M analysisIn the part of E/M analysis, the manager needs to specify efficiency criteria for processes used to generate outputs. The analysis asks three questions:What are the key means or processes used to generate or provide goods or services? E.g. Process orders What constitutes efficiency in providing these goods or services? E.g. lowering transaction costs for orders or minimising shipping costs What information is needed to evaluate that efficiency? E.g cost per transaction, cost per credit transaction and shipment costs E/M analysis seeks to determine information requirements using a simple, straightforward approach

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Ends/means E/M analysisMeansProcess orders

EfficiencyLow transaction cost

InformationCost per transaction with historical trendsCost per transaction with historical trends

Process credit request Make shipment

Low transaction cost

Minimise shipping costs Shipping cost categorised by ` order, customer, and region

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Technology planningScheins theory of technology assimilationOrganisation must learn to manage many diverse technologies, for example, video conferencing, fiber optics, distributed databases, local area networks, mainframe-based administrative information systems, and multimedia. Some technologies are older and well understood, whereas others are new and unfamiliar. In Scheins view technology assimilation occurs in four phases and each of which creates different management challenges.

Phase 1: Technology identification and investment Phase 2: Technological learning Phase3: Rationalisation/management control Phase4: Maturity/wide-spread technology transfer31

Organising the information systems planThe strategic planning process for information system enables senior management to determine what information technology opportunities will support competitive strategy, what applications will bring about the highest return and what patterns of organisations are most effective. Once these initiatives are defined, MIS managers must develop tactical plans that organise application development, technology and organisational resources to achieve these objectives

Application development New technology Organisation and management of information processing The changing role of the information officer

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System analysisThe process of system analysis involves the following:

1. Define the problem2. Develop an understanding of the system

3. Identify and evaluate the alternatives that can be used to achieve the organisations objectives4. Select and implement one of the alternatives 5. Evaluate the impact the changes have made

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Systems Development Life CycleThe Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC), or Software Development Life Cycle is the process of creating or altering systems. The concept generally refers to computer or information systems. In software engineering the SDLC concept underpins many kinds of software development methodologies. These methodologies form the framework for planning and controlling the creation of an information system

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SDLC phasesProject planning, feasibility study: Establishes a high-level view of the intended project and determines its goals.

Systems analysis, requirements definition: Defines project goals into defined functions and operation of the intended application. Analyzes end-user information needs.Systems design: Describes desired features and operations in detail, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudocode and other documentation. Implementation: The real code is written here. Integration and testing: Brings all the pieces together into a special testing environment, then checks for errors, bugs and interoperability.

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SDLC phasesAcceptance, installation, deployment: The final stage of initial development, where the software is put into production and runs actual business. Maintenance: What happens during the rest of the software's life: changes, correction, additions, moves to a different computing platform and more. This, the least glamorous and perhaps most important step of all, goes on seemingly forever. In the following example (see picture in the next slide) these stage of the Systems Development Life Cycle are divided in ten steps from definition to creation and modification of IT work products:

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Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology Need to plan and organise link to life cycle

Help communicate ideasGet processes (functions) right Data flow modelling

Get data right Entity modellingCross reference the two checks built-in

Can be automated

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Data Flow ModellingDescribe the current physical system

Show processes together with data flows between themShow data stores

Use these to discuss problems with users and help identify requirements for new system.

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Customer Order

Stock level Check stock availability Product

Order

Copy order

Order

Order

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X-Ray ExampleI have a problem X-Ray Request

PatientMeet Appt

GP

Whats the result?Appt Request

Appt

Report

X-Ray/History

X-Ray Dept

ConsultantSystem Boundary

Report

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X-Ray L1 DFDAppointment1 X-Ray Dept

PatientAppt Request

Appt Card

Take X-Ray

Report

X-Ray/History2 Consultant

Produce Report

Report

GP

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ScenarioPatient Mark TwainVisits the GP with a pain in the middle finger, left hand. (Lives at 14 Sheffield Road, Deepvale) Makes a hospital appointment, (16th December) and attends the hospital appointment. Revisits the GP to gets the results.

Records Clerk Chaka Khan

Takes the X-Ray Request and uses this to find old, historical X-Rays and Reports for that Patient. Appends new X-Rays to the historical records and sends them, together with the copy of the X-Ray Request, to the Consultant. Files away the historical records and the new Report from the Consultant.

Receptionist Mae Pang

GP Stig McNasty

Office Assistant Bart Simpson

Fills in an X-Ray Request form for the Patient. (Area to investigate is Index finger, left hand) On receipt of the Report from the hospital they request the Patient to make a follow up visit to get the results.

Takes the X-Ray Request, finds the patient number from the Patients Record Card file and adds it to the X-Ray Request then files the X-Ray Request away. Takes the Appointment Card, finds the patient number and uses this to retrieve the X-Ray Request. Makes a copy of the X-Ray Request and passes one copy to the Radiographer and the other to the Records Clerk.

Completes an Appointment Card for the patient at the Radiology clinic and makes an appointment in the Diary. (16th December). Passes the X-Ray Request to the Office Assistant. When the Patient attends the appointment the Appointment Card is taken and checked in the Diary. The Patient is sent to the waiting room while the Appointment Card is passed to the Office Assistant.

Consultant Don Waters

Radiographer Gaynor Glow

Examines the new X-Rays, checks the X-Ray history and dictates the new Report diagnosing the findings. One copy of the Report goes back to the X-Ray Department with the historical records and one copy goes to the GP.

Collects the next X-Ray Request from the pending file, calls the Patient from the waiting room and takes the X-Ray. Passes the X-Ray to the Records Clerk.

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X-Ray L2 DFD ConsultantX-Ray Dept X-Ray/History Put in In Tray Out TrayView & Dictate Diagnosis

In Tray

History Report History Send to X-Ray Dept

Write Report

ReportReport Copy Report Send to GP

GP Report

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Entity Modelling Things the system needs to store data about Physical cars, products People customers, employees Abstractions order, invoice, booking Each entity has a unique identifier key attribute/field. Entities linked via relationships.

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One to One 1:1

Woman

Is the husband of Is married to

Man

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One to Many 1:N

Tutor

Has Is allocated to

Student

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Many to Many M:N

Actor

Actor

Has

Appears in

Role

Film

Film

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Entity Attributes

Employee

Employee number Name Address Tax code NI number Pay to date Tax to date Key field

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An Example Hire Car BookingCustomer#, Name, Address, Tel

Customer

Booking

Customer#, Date, Car reg, Duration

Car

Car reg, Make, Model, Type, Seats, Cost Date, Mileage, Description, Mechanic

Service

Mechanic

Name, Qualifications

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Entity Life Histories

Describes the entity over time. Check to see there are no missing processes. Are there processes to create, update and delete the entity? Produce diagram that serves as an initial program design.

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ELH For Appointment Entity

Appt

Make Appt

Change Appt

*

Visit

New Year

*

= Alternative = Repetition

Where in the DFD is there a process to change an appointment?

Has Appt

No Appt

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Alternative applicationi development approaches

The need to develop business application more rapidly without going through the SDLC (traditional life cycle/ waterfall model) has given rise to some contemporary application development approaches.

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New approaches Incremental or Progressive development: This involves building systems in stages or releases rather than being delivered in its entirety in one implementation. The usual practice is to deliver the basic system architecture in the first release whilst subsequent releases expand the system in terms of functionality, range of users or usage location. Iterative development Involves building the system in iterations or increments, with feedback occurring after each increment to facilitate any necessary adjustment of project plans and software development products.Note: Difference between Incremental & Iteration is that iteration development send feedback after each increment.54

Iterative development has the following variants: Evolutionary development: Prototyping is used to build a working model that is used to elicit/verify requirements and explore design issues. Eventually, the prototype is hardened, so it can be implemented into production, or perhaps the system is recoded based on learning from the prototype. Spiral development: A series of prototypes is used to develop a solution, to the point of detailed design, build and test. It spills out of the initial limited prototype to become more expansive and detailed. Agile development: The project is broken down into relatively short, time-boxed iterations.55

Agile development

Agile development refers to a family of similar development processes that adopts a nontraditional (SDLC) way of developing complex systems. Agile in the sense that processes are designed to flexibly handle changes to the system being developed or the project that is performing the development

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Prototyping Prototyping (also known as Heuristic or Evolutionary Development) is the process of developing a system through the rapid development and testing of code. This process uses controlled trial and error procedures to reduce the level of risks in developing the system. In general, prototyping reduces the time required to deploy applications through iterative development and testing. The developers create high-level code (mostly 4G languages) based on the design requirements and then provide them to the end users for review and testing. The end users can then see a high-level view of the system (generally screens and reports) and provide input on changes or gaps between the code and requirements.

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Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Rapid application development (RAD) is used to develop strategically important systems faster, reduce development costs, and still maintain high quality. This is achieved by using a series of proven application development techniques within a well-defined methodology. These techniques include the use of the followings:

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RAD includes the use of Small, well-trained development teams Evolutionary prototypes Integrated power tools that support modeling, prototyping, and component reusability A central repository Interactive requirements and design workshops Rigid limits on development time frames

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Rapid Application Development RAD has four major stages: Concept definition stage: defines the business function and data subject areas that the system will support and determine system scope; Functional design stage: uses workshop to model the systems data and processes and build a working prototype of critical system components; Development stage: completes the construction of physical database and application system, build the conversion system, and develop user aids and deployment work plans. Deployment stage: User acceptance testing, training, data conversion and implementation of the system Note: RAD uses prototyping as its core development tool irrespective of the underlying technology60

Alternative development methodsWe have different techniques of understanding, designing and constructing a software system. Selected method will be driven by considerations such as organizational policy, developer knowledge and preference and the technology used. Note: The selection of any method is generally independent of the selection of a project organization model.

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Alternative development methods

Data Oriented System Development (DOSD) Object Oriented System Development (OOSD) Component Based Development (CBD) Web Based Application Development (WBAD) Reengineering Reverse Reengineering

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Data Oriented System Development This is a method of representing software requirements by focusing on data and their structure. We have institutions that provide time-dependent data to their subscribers (e.g. airline to their travel agencies) in pre-known or pre-specified formats. User organisation then develop its own application to use the data directly. The major advantage of this data oriented system development approach is that it eliminates data transformation errors such as porting, conversion, transcription and transposition. It is generally combined with another development technique that considers processing issues to develop a suitable business application.63

OBJECT ORIENTED SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

This is the process of solution specification and modeling where data and procedures (A set sequence of steps) can be grouped into an entity known as an object. An objects data are referred to as its attributes (characteristic of an entity), and its functionality is referred to as its method.

OOSD is unlike SDLC approach that considers data separately from the procedures that act on them

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OOSD contd OOSD is a programming technique and not a software development methodology itself. One can do OOSD while following any of the widely diverse set of software methodologies: waterfall, iterative, agile, prototype etc Use of a particular programming technique, does not imply or require use of a particular software development methodology

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Advantages of OOSD The ability to manage an unrestricted variety of data types. Provision of a means to model complex relationships The capacity to meet the demands of a changing environments. Examples of applications using object-oriented technology are: web applications, E-business applications, AI, CASE for software development.

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Component based development This is the assemblage of applications from cooperating packages of executable software that make their services available through defined interfaces it enables pieces of programs, called objects, to communicate with one another regardless of what programming language they were written in or what operating system they are running.

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Component based development contd Component-based software development (CBSD) focuses on building large software systems by integrating previously-existing software components. By enhancing the flexibility and maintainability of systems, this approach can potentially be used to reduce software development costs, assemble systems rapidly, and reduce the spiraling maintenance burden associated with the support and upgrade of large systems.

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Component based development contd At the foundation of this approach is the assumption that certain parts of large software systems reappear with sufficient regularity that common parts should be written once, rather than many times, and that common systems should be assembled through reuse rather than rewritten over and over. CBSD embodies the "buy, don't build" philosophy. Modularity: small units that can easily be removed & repaired and make up a bigger program

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Merits of component based developmentComponents play an important role in web-based applications. Reduces development time Improves quality. Using prewritten components means a significant percentage of the system code has been tested already Allows developers to focus more strongly on business functionality Promote modularity: develop in modules Simplifies reuse Reduces development cost Support multiple development environment Allows a happy compromise between build & buy option70

Web based application development This is a development method that aims at further facilitating and standardizing code module and program integration Historically, software written in one language on a particular platform uses a dedicated API (Application Programming Interface). The use of specialized APIs has caused difficulties in integrating software modules across platforms Web based application development and associated XML (Extensible Markup Language) (also known as Simple Object Access Protocol SOAP) technologies are recent developments designed to further facilitate and standardize code module and program integration.71

Web Based Application Development contd In the past, technologies, such as CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and COM (Component Object Model) that use RPCs were developed to allow real-time integration of code across platforms. Using RPC (remote procedure call) approach for different APIs still remained complex Now, with Web based application development, an XML language, known as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is used to define APIs SOAP will work with any operating system and programming language that understands XML SOAP is simpler than using an RPC based approach.72

organization of data processingCentralised data processing data processing facilities located in a centralised place that can be accessed by other users All data processing operations and calculations are executed by the central computer. The different departments have terminals, linked to the central computer. Data is stored in a centralized data storage under the control of the central computer. The system administrator is the only one responsible for the data processing system. The system administrator authorizes user access, supports the normal operation and protection of the system. Hardware and software are controlled by the computer center staff. Other departments do not have computer specialists.73

Decentralised data processingAn arrangement comprising a data-processing center for each division or location of a single organization. Local control of hardware, software and data Better access to local data Effective user-managers understand their information system requirements and are capable of managing local hardware and data. Increases the responsibilities of user managers to manage the computing environments besides their functional responsibilities

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Distributed data processingArrangement of networked computers in which data processing capabilities are spread across the network. In DDP, specific jobs are performed by specialized computers which may be far removed from the user and/or from other such computers. This arrangement is in contrast to 'centralized' computing in which several client computers share the same server (usually a mini or mainframe computer) or a cluster of servers. DDP provides greater scalability, but also requires more network administration resources.

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Security and ethical issues of information systems The basic objectives of information system security are: To control the loss of assets To ensure the integrity and reliability of data To improve the efficiency/effectiveness of information system applications

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Risks, threats and vulnerabilitiesThe various dangers to information systems and the people, hardware, software, data and other assets with which they are associated necessitates security controls. These dangers include: Natural disasters Thieves Industrial spies Disgruntled employees Computer viruses Accidents Poorly trained and naive employees

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Common controls

Physical controls Electronic controls

Software controls Management controls

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Common threatsA number of threats are common to computer systems and deserve the careful attention of managers. These threats include: Natural disasters Employee errors Computer crime, fraud and abuse Industrial espionage Hacking Toll fraud Computer viruses Hardware theft and vandalism Software piracy Privacy violations Program bugs

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Protecting information systemsSecuring information system facilities Examples of some of the controls include: Alarm system for doors and windows Keyboard locks Password protection Insurance coverage Storage of original software disks in a locked cabinet Plastic covers for the systems to protect from dust and water Installation of deadbolt locks on all doors Installation of tie-down cables to lock the desktop computers to the desks Training the consultants on using the system80

Securing communication systemsEncryption encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information (in cryptography, referred to as cipher text). Electronic commerce safety The electronic vendors provide security, that the online shoppers and bankers demand, through encryption of order information including credit card numbers Firewalls Firewall protection systems monitor all internet or external communications activity at a site closing all connection attempts from unauthorized users Network auditing software Activity logs and network scanning81

Securing database information systemsDatabase security concerns the use of a broad range of information security controls to protect databases (potentially including the data, the database applications or stored functions, the database systems, the database servers and the associated network links) against compromises of their confidentiality, integrity and availability. It involves various types or categories of controls, such as technical, procedural/administrative and physical. Database security is a specialist topic within the broader area of computer security, information security and risk management.

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Securing information systems applicationsAdequate Security Security commensurate with the risk and the magnitude of harm resulting from the loss, misuse, or unauthorized access to or modification of information. Application Security Encompasses measures taken throughout the application's lifecycle to prevent exceptions in the security policy of an application or the underlying system (vulnerabilities) through flaws in the design, development, deployment, upgrade, or maintenance of the application. Design and implementation assurance addresses whether the features of a system, application, or component meets security requirements and specifications and whether they are well designed and well built.

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Securing information systems applicationsMeasures taken to ensure the function(s) of the information system continue without, or survive through, the loss, misuse, or unauthorized access to or modification of information. Can it be broken? Can it survive the breaking? Can we recover/repair/replace the information and/or the components? Applications & Operating Systems are different, yet have similar needs - Patching/maintenance cycles, documentation, interactions with other components

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Ethical issues and Information SystemsSocial and ethical issues arise from the processing of data into information. They may be legal issues but they may also be moral issues and the dangers to society from the misuse of the information. It refers to a range of issues which are covered: Acknowledgment of data sources The freedom of information act Privacy principles Accuracy of data and the reliability of data sources Access to data, ownership and control of data New trends in the organisation, processing, storage and retrieval of data such as data warehousing and data-mining

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