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Infrastructure
Infrastructure, generally, is the set of interconnected
structural elements that provide the framework for
supporting the entire structure. It usually applies only to
structures that are artificial. The term is used
differently in a variety of fields; perhaps the single most
well-known usage is in economics, where it refers
to physical infrastructure such as buildings and roads.
The notion that a structure has an internal framework is popular
especially in business organizations where
a dependency on interconnected information technology systems
has become as prevalent as a city's
dependency on interconnected conveyance systems for power,
people and things. Information
infrastructure consists of the physical facilities services and
management that support all computing
resources in an organization. There are five major components of
infrastructure
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Computer hardware
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General purpose software
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Networks & communication
facilities
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Databases
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Information management
personnel
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Each of these components
is designed in such manner to collectively meet the needs and objectives
of the organization.
The infrastructure will include
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The detailed
configuration of the hardware
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Design of the operating
system,
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Documentation of the
operational and application software, and
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Documentation on how to
technically manage and operate the entire system
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Infrastructure also
includes the integration, operation, documentation, maintenance and management
the components as defined in infrastructure.
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It is guideline to how
specific computing resources are arranged, operated and managed.
9.1 Architecture
Architecture more specifically is related to defining the
information needs and how these will be obtained
through the various application software modules. Architecture
is the “Blueprint” that provides the
conceptual foundation for building information infrastructure
and specific applications. It is a way of
mapping information requirements and resources. Architecture
covers following components:
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The business needs of
the information
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Existing planned
information infrastructure and applications in the organizations.
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9.1.1 Information Architecture
In context of web design Information (Or design for related
media Information). Architecture is defined by
the Information Architecture Institute as
1. The structural design of shared information environments.
2. The art and science of organizing and labeling web sites,
intranets, online communities and software to
support usability.
3. An emerging community of practice focused on bringing
principles of design and architecture to the
digital landscape.
An alternate definition of Information Architecture exists
within the context of information system
design, in which information architecture refers to data
modeling and the analysis and design of the
information in the system, concentrating on entities and their
interdependencies. Data modeling depends
on abstraction; the relationship between the pieces of data is
of more interest than the particulars of
individual records, though cataloging possible values is a
common technique. The usability of humanfacing
systems, and standards compliance of internal ones, is
paramount.
The term information architecture describes a specialized skill
set which relates to the management of
information and employment of informational tools. It has a
significant degree of association with the
sciences. Many schools now teach information
architecture.
9.2 Components/Sub-Systems of CBIS
Following are the components / subsystems of CBIS
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Transaction Processing
System
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Management Information
System
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Support Systems
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Office Automation System
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Decision Support System
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Knowledge System
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Executive Support System
Let’s consider them one by one.
9.3 Transaction Processing System
This system is used to record transactions of routine and
repetitive nature.
For Instance
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Defining eh transaction
recording structure
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Placing customer orders
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Billing customers
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Other basic business
transactions
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Features
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It is a repetitive
number crunching system.
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Today the transaction
processing systems are more sophisticated and complex but spirit is same,
that is to record routine business transactions, irrespective of
their complexity, so as to help in
analysis and report generation at a higher level.
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Help to cater needs for
operational level management.
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Rapid Response
Fast performance with a rapid response time is critical.
Businesses cannot afford to have customers waiting
for a TPS to respond, the turnaround time from the input of the
transaction to the production for the
output must be a few seconds or less.
Reliability
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Many organizations rely
heavily on their TPS; a breakdown will disrupt operations or even stop the
business. For a TPS to be effective its failure rate must be
very low. If a TPS does fail, then quick and
accurate recovery must be possible. This makes well–designed
backup and recovery procedures
essential.
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Inflexibility
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A TPS wants every
transaction to be processed in the same way regardless of the user, the customer
or the time for day. If a TPS were flexible, there would be too
many opportunities for non-standard
operations, for example, a commercial airline needs to
consistently accept airline reservations from a
range of travel agents, accepting different transactions data
from different travel agents would be a
problem.
Controlled processing
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The processing in a TPS
must support an organization's operations. For example if an organisation
allocates roles and responsibilities to particular employees,
then the TPS should enforce and maintain
this requirement.
Data Processing Tasks
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Major data processing
tasks which a TPS is expected to per form are
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Data identification and
Gathering – keying in the data or obtaining it directly from machines by
providing suitable interface
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Data
manipulation/Analysis – refers to transformation of data into information
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Classifying
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Sorting
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Calculating
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Summarizing
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Data storage – data is
kept somewhere in a sequenced manner until when needed.
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Document Preparation –
output for managers as reports or as input to other systems.
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Goals a TPS is supposed
to achieve are predefined and highly structured, for instance
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Checking a customer’s
credit limit every time an order is received
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Checking inventory level
before accepting an order
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Payroll generation on
monthly basis
9.4 Management Information System
MIRS makes information available to relevant users by producing
pre-determined and pre-designed
reports required by the management. Management information
system helps middle level management
planning, controlling and decision making. The data stored can
be used or manipulated to produce
differently defined reports from pre-defined reports. It can be
presented graphically or pictorially. The
reports generated by the MIS are used for analytical decision
making by the management. The
application software can construct projections, build scenarios,
do what if analysis to enable better
decision making.
For Example
MIS will use the TPS data to generate monthly and weekly
summaries as per requirement (product,
customer and salesperson. Major purpose is report generation. We
would discuss major types of reports.
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Periodic reports –
daily, weekly, monthly, annually, format is predefined and structured for
convenience.
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Special – Management by
Exception reports only when a special event occurs which needs to be
monitored. For instance
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Report sequence to
highlight- fast moving & slow moving
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Group the exceptions
together – Aged accounts receivable
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Show variance from the
norm – Sales analysis report |
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