Business Information Systems 6th Edition Chapter 3 - Hardware and Software PDF

Business Information Systems Technology, Development and Management for the Modern Business 6th edition Chapter 3 Hardware and software Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights...

Business Information Systems Technology, Development and Management for the Modern Business 6th edition Chapter 3 Hardware and software Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Learning objectives Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Management issues From a managerial perspective, this chapter addresses the following areas: – Learning the characteristics of input, output and storage devices will allow managers to select the correct equipment for a given application. – An increased understanding of computers will help managers to see how technology can be used to improve existing business processes and identify potential applications. – All major organizations make use of common applications, such as word processing and spreadsheet software. An understanding of the factors involved with selecting these applications is required by all managers. – An understanding of the range of software applications available will help managers to see potential applications relevant to a given organization or industry. – An understanding of recent developments in the software industry, such as the emergence of XML, will help managers to develop long-term plans for the organization’s use of technology. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Key concepts Computer system: Interrelated components including hardware and software that work together with the aim of converting data into information. Hardware: The physical components of a computer system: input devices, memory, central processing unit, output devices and storage devices. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Figure 3.1 Basic hardware components of a computer system Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Hardware components Input device: Hardware used to enter data, information or instructions into a computer-based information system. – A bank statement, for example, contains text and numbers that are relatively easy for a human to understand. – Input devices convert data into a form that makes them machine-sensible Central processing unit (CPU): The processor found in a computer system that controls all of the computer’s main functions and enables users to execute programs or process data. – In a personal computer, the CPU is usually housed within the tower (or base unit)_to which the mouse, keyboard and monitor are attached. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Hardware components Memory: A temporary means of storing data awaiting processing, instructions used to process data or control the computer system, and data or information that has been processed. Storage devices: A permanent means of storing data and programs until they are required. Output devices: Translate the results of processing – output – into a human readable form. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  The client/server concept Client/server: The client/server architecture consists of client computers such as PCs sharing resources such as a database stored on a more powerful server computer. Give examples: – In the office or university – Within a company with multiple sites – In the context of the Internet. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Main Mini Micro Computer Frame Computer (Client) e.g. (Server) desktop, portable Processing Speed Efficiency Cost Accessibility to the general public Usability Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Cost-efficient forms of PC Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Figure 3.2 Input devices in context Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Input devices Optical character recognition (OCR): Software that attempts to recognise individual characters. Optical mark recognition (OMR): Detection and recognition of simple marks made on a document. Bar code reader: Measures the intensity of a light beam reflected from a printed bar code to identify the digits making up a unique identification number. Touch screen: A transparent, pressure-sensitive covering that is attached to the screen of the monitor. Users make selections and control programs by pressing onto the screen. Voice recognition: The facility to control a computer program or carry out data entry through spoken commands via a microphone connected to a sound card. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Selecting input devices – key issues It is important to select an appropriate means of data entry in order to ensure that any computerized system works as efficiently as possible. Volume – large volumes of data e.g. electricity company use of manual data entry methods to record payments Speed – large volumes of data e.g. use OCR or barcode reader to capture Accuracy – important in most business applications e.g. engineering (bridge example) Cost Data complexity Frequency of data entry. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Figure 3.4 Output devices in context Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Output devices (1 of 2) Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Output devices (2 of 2) Interlaced display: Each complete image shown on a monitor’s display is drawn in two steps. Non-interlaced display: The monitor refreshes the display in a single pass. Video projector: A computer system can be connected directly to a projector so that the output is directed to a projection screen. Plotter: A plotter uses a number of different coloured pens to draw lines upon the paper as it moves through the machine. – Now we have printers MIDI (musical instrument digital interface): MIDI connections allow users to control musical instruments or synthesise any sounds or effects required in order to play the music. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Selecting output devices – key issues Appropriateness – plotter for technical diagrams but not print business letter Permanence – then e.g. print Response time Speed Cost Data complexity Frequency of data entry. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printers Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Selecting printers – key issues Purchase cost Printing cost – consumables e.g. ink, paper, toner, cartridge, drum etc Print quality Paper handling – cards, envelopes etc Volume Speed. Colour printing Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Figure 3.5 Storage devices in context Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Storage devices Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Measuring storage capacity Bit: A single binary digit representing a 0 (zero) or a 1. Byte: Made up of eight bits and represents the amount of space required to hold a single character. Kilobyte (kb): Approximately 1000 bytes, or the equivalent of 1000 characters. Megabyte (Mb): Approximately 1000 kb, or the equivalent of one million characters. Gigabyte (Gb): Approximately 1000 Mb, or the equivalent of one billion characters. Terabyte (TB): Approximately 1000 Gb. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved The list below puts these numbers in context: 1. One character such as ‘a’? A byte 2. A typewritten page? 2 kilobytes (kilobyte = 1000 bytes) 3. A low-resolution photograph? 100 kb (kilobyte = 1000 bytes) 4. The complete works of Shakespeare? 5 megabytes (megabyte = 1,000,000 bytes) 5. A standard CD-ROM? 700 megabytes (megabyte = 1,000,000 bytes) 6. A pickup truck filled with documents? 1 gigabyte (gigabyte = 1,000,000,000 bytes) 7. The works of Beethoven in digital audio format? 50 gigabytes Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Optical secondary storage Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Primary storage – memory Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Figure 3.6 The processor in context Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Processors Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Multi-core processors Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Virtual computing Virtual computing involves simulating a complete computer system in software. The virtual machine (VM) behaves exactly the same as a physical computer system and can be used in the same way. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Figure 3.8 Categories of computer software Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Categories of software Software: A series of detailed instructions that control the operation of a computer system. Software exists as programs that are developed by computer programmers. Systems software: This form of software manages and controls the operation of the computer system as it performs tasks on behalf of the user. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Systems software Operating system (OS): Software that interacts with the hardware of the computer in order to manage and direct the computer’s resources. Command line interpreter (CLI): Passes instructions from a user to a computer program in the form of brief statements entered via the keyboard. Graphical user interface (GUI): Provides a means for a user to control a computer program using a mouse to issue instructions using menus and icons. Network operating system (NOS): This describes the software needed to operate and manage a network system. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Applications software – Applications software: A set of programs that enable users to perform specific information-processing activities that may be general-purpose or application-specific. General-purpose applications: This is also known as productivity software and describes a category of computer software that aims to support users in performing a variety of common tasks (e.g. word processor, spreadsheet, database). Application-specific software: This is intended to serve a specific purpose, for example, software used in the marketing and accounting functions (see Chapter 6 for more details). Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Spreadsheet applications Modelling: Modelling involves creating a numerical representation of an existing situation or set of circumstances, whilst simulation involves predicting new situations or circumstances. What if? analysis: This describes the ability to see the predicted effect of a change made to a numerical model. Goal seeking: In a spreadsheet, goal seeking describes a way of automatically changing the values in a formula until a desired result is achieved. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Internet concepts Internet: A global network system made up of many smaller systems. World Wide Web (WWW): Interlinked documents on the Internet made up of pages containing text, graphics and other elements. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): WWW pages are mainly created by producing documents containing HTML commands that are special tags (or codes) to control how the WWW page will appear when displayed in a web browser. Web browser program: Enables users to navigate through the information available and display any pages of interest. Hypertext: Hypertext is a document containing highlighted words or phrases that represent links to other documents activated by clicking the mouse. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  E-mail issues Storage on servers Staff time-wasting SPAM Security. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Creating web pages and applications HTML (hypertext markup language): HTML is the language used to create web pages and documents. The HTML code used to construct pages has codes or tags such as to indicate to the browser what is displayed. Java: Java can be used to create small applications that run when users display a WWW page or activate a control shown on the screen. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  HTML example tag Denotes an HTML document. tag The header part of an HTML document containing titles, meta tags and scripts. tag The text that appears in the browser title bar. tag The main part of an HTML document containing content. Comment tag Used to document code; text does not appear in browser. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Web 2.0 The term Web 2.0 describes a new generation of applications and services that allows Internet users to communicate, share information and do business in new ways. Some of the principles behind Web 2.0 have been associated with particular forms of technology, for example, rich Internet applications (RIAs). RIAs are web applications that combine enhanced user interfaces with the power and functionality of desktop programs. Web 2.0 emphasises what is sometimes called the social Internet, a range of applications that encourage greater collaboration and interaction among Internet users. Applications commonly associated with Web 2.0 include blogs (web logs) which can be thought of as an online journal or diary. Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved  Software distribution models Alternative models of software distribution include open source and application service providers. Open source is a generic term used to describe software that is supplied to users completely free of charge and without restrictions limiting how it is used, modified or redistributed. In general, the source code for the program is freely available and users can modify it as they see fit. An application service provider (ASP) supplies software and services to a client organization over a network, usually the Internet. Users access software and data via a web browser. This type of approach is often described as on-demand software or Software as a Service (SaaS). Copyright © 2019, 2015, 2008 Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved