ITEC70 Principles of Systems Thinking Lecture Notes PDF

ITEC70 Principles of Systems Thinking INTRODUCTION TO ICT What ICT stands for? Information - Data that is specific and organized for a purpose. Communication - It is a process of transferring information from sender to receiver. Technology -It is the making, usage and...

ITEC70 Principles of Systems Thinking INTRODUCTION TO ICT What ICT stands for? Information - Data that is specific and organized for a purpose. Communication - It is a process of transferring information from sender to receiver. Technology -It is the making, usage and knowledge of tools, techniques in order to solve problem or serve some purpose WHAT IS ICT? Use of technology for input, process, storage and transfer of data and the output of information WHAT IS A Any activity that involves SYSTEM? input, processing and output. E.g. Digestive system  WHAT IS AN ICT SYSTEM? A system that uses any form of digital technology, the output goes directly to a human being or into another systems. A system that uses any form of digital technology to input and process data and out put the information which goes directly to a human or into another system. E.g. Online booking system INPUT Entering data into the computer or other device Examples: PIN number Barcode Phone numbers on a mobile phone PROCESS Manipulating (calculating, querying, searching) the input data into information that is understandable to the user. Example: Identifying customer account and balance in relation to PIN Counting the number of items purchased and adding up the amount of money owed Searching the contacts in your mobile phone, identifying the correct entry and activating a call OUTPUT Presenting the information to the user, it must have a context. It could be printed, displayed, heard or in another form. Example: Onscreen presentation of available balance or printed output Receipt printed for items purchased, showing individual item costs and total price Dialing tone initiated INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT Input is capturing the data, process is converting the data into information and output is the information produced. Feedback might then be used to affect another input (into the same system or a different system) IPO diagrams can be drawn to illustrate this process in a system What are the 6 components of an ICT System? An example of an ICT System is an Management Information System (MIS). Large organizations use these systems at a strategic level (Principles, Managing Directors, Leaders of a business) They use them to help collate and analyse data from other systems e.g. HR Systems, Transaction Processing Systems 6 Components of an ICT System 1. Data 2. Information 3. Hardware 4. Software 5. Procedures 6. People What is Data? Data is raw facts and figures or a set of values, data has no meaning. Examination Results (DATA) : 3312, 2, 35, 3, 64, 4421, 2, 48, 3, 56 What is Information? Information is data that has been processed and put into context to give it meaning Examination Results (DATA) : 3312, 2, 35, 3, 64, 4421, 2, 48, 3, 56 The candidate number has been processed, the student found. The course code has been processed and matched to the student, the score for each course assigned to that student. This information can then be output in the form of a report or graph. What is Hardware? Physical components of an ICT system e.g. Printer, scanner, monitor, server, switches In many systems data is transmitted from one computer to another. What is Software? Computer Programs that make the hardware do something useful What are Procedures? A series of actions or operations intended to achieve a result ICT Systems usually involve a number of procedures that have to be undertaken to make sure that the system can run smoothly.  What are Procedures? Examples: A code of practice (guidelines and regulations set out by the company) Legal procedures (DPA, Computer Misuse Act) Backup procedures Security procedures Procedure to archive data Specific tasks generate procedures also People Testing of a system Sales Purchasing Finance Operations Internal and External personnel