Isys 363 terms

Alpha and Beta testing

Alpha testing: Testing an incomplete or early version of the system. Beta testing: testing a complete and stable system by end users.

Prototyping

An interactive approach to the systems development process in which at each iteration requirements and alternative solutions to a problem are identified and analyzed, new solutions to a problem are identified and analyzed.

Management Information Systems (MIS)

An organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases and devices that provides routine information to managers and decision makers. MIS focuses on operation efficiency. MIS usually provides standard reports generated with data and information form Transaction Processing System.

Circuit Switched Network (vs. packet switched)

Circuirt switching is a methodology of implementing a telecommunications network in which two network nodes establish a dedicated communications channel (circuit) through the network before the nodes may communicate.

Business process reengineering vs. continuous improvement

Continuous improvement attempts to understand and measure the current process and make performance improvements, where as BPR is the analysis and redesign of workflow within and between enterprises.

Graphical user interface (GUI)

Displays pictures and menus that people use to send commands to the computer system. Anticipate user's needs and provide easy to recognize options.

Digital Rights Management

Downloaded music may include digital rights management (DRM) technology that prevents or limits the user's ability to make copies or to play the music on multiple players.

Data mining

Finds hidden patterns in customer data for one-to-one marketing campaigns or for identifying profitable customers

IP Address

IPv6 has 128 bit address where as IPv4 has 32 bit addresses they both provide numerical IP addresses

Porter's Five Forces Model

In the middle: Rivalry among existing customers: The power of competitors Perimeter Buyer power: the power of customers to drive down prices Threat of new entrants: the power of competitors to enter a market Supplier power: the power of suppliers to drive up prices of materials Threat of substitutes: the power of customers to purchase alternatives

Server

Network computer that contains resources that are shared with other computers within the network.

Cloud Computing

Offers new ways to store, access, process and analyze information and connect people and resources from any location in the world where an internet connection is available

Primary key

One field in each table, cannot be duplicated, provides unique identifier for all information in any row

Internet backbone

One of the internet's high speed long distance communication links. Combined hardware (such as cables, routers, switching towers, communication towers, satellites that make up networks) - these combined the hardware over which internet traffic flows with other network service providers.

E-Retailing (etailer)

Online versions of retail stores. Provide access to many products that may be unavailable in local stores.

Pert and Gantt chart

PERT = "Program evaluation and review technique" creates 3 time estimates for an activity: shortest, most likely and longest. Gantt = graphical tool used for planning, monitoring and coordinating projects.

Mission critical systems

Pg. 550 systems that play a pivotal role in an organization's continued opertaions and goal attainment. Without it few organizations could continue daily activities and they clearly would not meet set goals.

System development lifecycle

Planning: establishes a high-level plan of the intended project and determines project goals. Analysis: firm analyzes its end-user business requirements and refines project goals into defined functions and operations of the intended system. Design: establishes descriptions of the desired features and operations of the system, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams, pseudo code, and other documentation. Development: takes all the detailed design documents from the design phase and transforms them into the actual system. Testing: brings all the project pieces together into a special testing environment to eliminate errors and bugs. Implementation: the organization places the system into production

Dynamic pricing

Pricing strategy in which businesses set highly flexible prices for products or services based on current market demands. Business are able to stay competitive by changing prices based on algorithms that take into account competitor pricing, supply and demand and other external factors.

Drill-down report capabilities

Provide increasingly detailed data about a situation. Analysts can see data at a high level first(sales for entire company), then at a more detailed level(sales for one department), and then a very detailed level (such as sales for one sales representative). Companies and organizations of all sizes and types use drill-down reports.

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification is a technology that employs a microchip with an antenna to broadcast its unique identifier and location receivers.

Project management tools

Schedule: a detailed description of what is to be done. Each project activity, the use of personnel and other resources, and expected completion. Milestones: Critical date for completion of major parts of the project. Deadlines: The date the entire project is to be completed. Critical path: Activities that, if delayed, would delay the entire project. These activites have zero slick time.

Information System

Set of interrelated components that collect, manipulate, store and desseminate data and information and provide feedback mechanism to meet an objective. In feedback mechanism it helps organizations achieve their goals such as increasing profit or improving customer services.

Competitive Advantage

Significant and ideally long-term benefit to a company over its competition.

Java

Simple platform-independent object-oriented programming language used for writing applets that a downloaded from the www.

Java Applets

Small application written in Java and delivered to users in the form of byte code.

Executive Support systems(ESS)

Specialized DSS that includes all the hardware, software, data, procedures and people used to assist senior-level executives within the organization.

Structured and unstructured decisions

Structured is a routine decision Unstructured requires judgement, evaluation, and insight

Input

Tangible such as a dirty car entering a car wash

Business Strategy

Three generic strategies: 1. broad cost leadership 2. broad differentiation 3. focused strategy

Networking protocols

Transmission control protocol internet protocol common worldwide standard basis for the internet

Entity relationship diagram (ERD)

Used to clarify table relationships in relational database

Computer based information systems(CBIS)

Uses computers to collect, process, store, analyze and distribute information for a specific purpose, such as meeting a business objective. Main components: hardware, software, data, procedures and peopel

Data mart vs. data warehouse

Warehouse: logical collection of information - gathered from many different operational databases - that supports business analysis activities and decision-making tasks. Data marts are a subset of the warehaouse usually oriented to a specific business line or team. Warehouse --> enterprise-wide Mart --> pertains to a single dept.

License

When you purchase software, you are purchasing a license to use it.

Database record

a collection of related data elements. Each record in an entity occupies one row in its respective table

Source socket layer (SSL)

a communications protocol used to secure sensitive data during e-commerce to help prevent identity theft.

Request for Proposal

a detailed list of questions submitted to vendor of software to see how well the software meets the needs of the organization

Value chain

add a margin of value to a firms products or services where information systems can best be applied to achieve a competitive advantage

Transaction Processing system (TPS)

an organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases, and devices used to perform and record business transactions. Its a computerized information systerm that processes daily, routine business transactions at the operational level of companies

Knowledge

awareness and understanding of a set of information and the ways that information can be made useful to support a specific task or reach a decision

Organizational change

deals with how for profit and nonprofit organiations plan for, implement and handle change. Also occurs when two or more organizations merge. When organizations merge, integrating their information systems can be critical to future success.

Bug

defects in the code of an information system

Enterprise systems

integrated enterprise wide information systems that coordinate key internal processes of the firm

MySQL

is the worlds most widely used open source relational database it runs as a server providing multiple users access to a number of databases

Software as a Service (SaaS)

licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as "on-demand software."

Database

maintains information about various types of objects(inventory), events (transactions), people (employees), and places (warehouses).

CSS

"Cascading Style Sheets" the visual design of a Web page or group of pages.

HTML

"Hypertext Markup Language" the standard page description language for Web page.

Bit/byte

A bit is the smallest unit of information that can be sorted or manipulated on a computer, it consists of either zero or one. 8 bits equal a "byte"

Total cost of ownership

The sum of all costs over the life of an information system.

Predictive Analysis

A form of data mining that combines historical data with assumptions about future conditions to predict outcomes of events, such as future product sales or the probability that a customer with default on a loan.

Business Intelligence (BI)

A set of theories, methodologies, architecture, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information for business purposes.

Domain name system (DNS)

A system of servers maintaining a database enabling the conversion of domain names o their numeric IP addresses.

Rapid application development (RAD)

A systems development approach that employs tools, techniques and methodologies designed to speed application development. Ex: incremental changes to apps

Rich Internet Application (RIA)

A web delivered aplpication combines hardware resources of the web server and the PC to deliver valuable software services through a web browser interface. Can reside on the computer's hard disk before it is brought into the computer's memory and run. Application software can also be stored on CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives.

Feasibility Analysis

Assesses technical, economic, legal, operational and schedule feasibility.

Offshoring

Business is done in foreign coutry

Corporate change

Deals with how profit and nonprofit organizations plan for, implement and handle change. Change can be caused by internal or external factors.

Documentation (software)

Describes the program functions to help the user operate the computer system. Some documentation is given on-screen or online, while other forms appear in external resources, such as printed manuals. Software is a growing and dynamic industry.

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is the implementation of the disaster plan. Disaster planning often focuses primarily on two issues: maintaining the integrity of corporate information and keeping the information system running until normal operations can be resumed.

Creative Analysis

Involves investigating new approaches to existing problems. By looking at problems in a new or different ways and by introducing innovative methods to solve them, many firms have gained a competitive advantage. Typically, these new solutions are inspired by people and events not directly related to the problem.

Critical Analysis

Involves the following actions: 1. Questioning statements and assumptions 2. Identifying and resolving objectives and orientations that conflict

Linux

Is an operating system that is an open source off-shoot of UNIX and can run on many different hardware platforms and is free or at a low cost

Computer Networks

Local area network (LAN): office building, school, or home Wide area network (WAN): larger geographic area, state, province, or country. Metropolitan area network (MAN): large computer network usually spanning a city

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

Markup language designed to transport and store data on the Web. Rather than using predefined tags like HTML, XML allows that coder to create custom tags that define data.

Disintermediation

The elimination of intermediate organizations between the producer and the consumer.

Corporate culture

The establishment and adherence to well-defined rules and policies to help organizations to create an ethical corporate culture

Decision-making stages

The first part of problem solving, including three stages: intelligence, design, and choice. Intelligence: The first stage of decision making in which you identify and define potential problems or opportunities. Design: The second stage of decision making in which you develop alternative solutions to the problem and evaluate their feasibility. Choice: The third stage, which requires selecting a course of action.

Domain expert

The person or group with the expertise or knowledge the expert system is trying to capture.

Customer Relationship Management

a means of managing all aspects of a customer's relationship with an organization to increase customer loyalty and retention and an organization's profitability.

Database table

a relational database model stores information in the form of logically related two-dimensional tables.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

a secure connection between two points across the internet to transmit corporate data. Provides a low cost alternative to a private network.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software

a set of integrated programs that help manage a company's vital business operations for an entire multise, global organization.

Cookie

a small file deposited on a hard drive by a website containing information about customers and their browsing activities.

Long-term evolution (LTE)

a standard for wireless communications for high speed connections on mobile phones based on packet switching = different from circuit-switching approach in the 3G telecommunications networks.

Output

clean car

Client/Server Architecture

client/server architecture is a computing model in which the server hosts, delivers, and manages most of the resources and services to be consumed by the client

Computer Programs

collection of instructions that performs a specific task when executed by a computer. A computer requires programs to function, typically executes the program's instructions in a central processing unit (CPU).

Hardware

computer equipment used to perform input, processing, storage, and output activities. Input devices including keyboard, mouse, and other pointing devices.

Kernel

computer program that manages input/output requests from software, and translates them into data processing instructions for the central processing unit and other electronic components of a computer.

Outsourcing

contracting with outside professional services to meet specific business needs.

Critical Success Factors

crucial steps companies perform to achieve theirs goals and objectives and implement their strategies

Encryption

data files used to establish the identity of users and electronic assets for protection of online transactions

Data

facts and statistics, collected together for reference or analysis

Artificial Intelligence

human-like intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is also an academic field or study neural network: is a computer system that can act like or simulate the functioning of a human brain. natural language processing: allows a computer to understand and react to statements and commands made in a "natural" language such as English.

Data Flow Diagram

illustrates the movement of information between external entities and to processes and data stores within the system.

Supply chain management

information systems that automates the flow of information between firm and supplier

Packet switching

method of slicing digital messages into packets and sending packets along different communication paths as they become available

Extranet

network that links selected sources of an intranet of a company with its customers, suppliers, and other business partners. Users: business partners NEED user/ID/password.

On-demand computing

pays for only the amount they use

Knowledge workers

people who create, use and disseminate knowledge. They are usually professions in science, engineering or business.

Intranet

powerful and inexpensive alternative form of internal business communication including conventional computer networks.

Green computing

practices for producing, using and disposing of computers and associated devices to minimize impact on environment

Database entity

stores information about a person, place, thing, transaction or event.

SQL

structured query language that asks users to write lines of code to answer questions against databases.

Social engineering

pretending to be legitimate members of the company and asking other employees for info or passwords

Batch processing vs. real-time

real-time processing is the processing of a transaction immediately after the transaction occurs. Batch processing occurs when transactions are received but are not processed immediately; instead, the transactions are grouped together and processed all at once.

Chief Information Officer (CIO)

senior management in charge of information systems of a firm

Content Delivery Network

system of distributed servers (network) that deliver webpages and other Web content to a user based on the geographic locations of the user, the origin of the webpage and a content delivery server.

Scalability

the ability of a computer or product to expand to serve a large number of users without breaking down

Software piracy

the act of unauthorized copying, downloading, sharing, selling or installing of copyrighted software.

Database attribute

the data elements associated with an entity

Best practices (ERP software)

the most successful solutions of problem-solving methods have been developed by a specific organization or industry.

Electronic business/e-Commerce

the process of buying and selling goods and services online

Conversion approaches

the process of transferring information from a legacy system to a new system. or % of potential customers who visit a site and actually buy something

Database field

the smallest or basic unit of information

Processing

the time, energy, skill to clean the car

Computer Security

to protect against hackers and natural disasters and what not