Course Code Course Title Assignment No.

Coverage

ASSIGNMENT : MS-07 : Information Systems for Managers : MS-07/SEM-I/2011 : All Blocks

1. Explain the difference between the following:

1. Explain the difference between the following: a. High-Level and Low level languages b. Applications and Utilities c. Shareware, Open source software, Freeware a) High level and low level languages The most basic difference is that the statements in a low level language can be directly mapped to processor instructions, while a single statement in a high level language may execute dozens of instructions. Low level refers to the fact that this is a machine language, binary in form, generally meaning one low level command = one executed instruction. The complexity arises when we need to enable a programmer to designate one high level instruction that performs several or many machine (low level) operations. Low Level Languages: Assembler and Advanced Assembler High Level Languages: RPG, COBOL, any that make machine level programming of a computer easier. a high level language is a language for programming computers which does not require detailed knowledge of a specific computer, as a low-level language does.High-level languages do not have to be written for a particular computer, but must be compiled for the computer they will work with.High-level languages are closer to human language than low-level languages, and include statements like GOTO or FOR which are regular words

On the other hand, a low level language is a computer programming language that is close to machine language.Machine language is at the lowest level, because it is the actual binary code of 1s and 0s that the computer understands.Assembly languages are low- level languages which are translated into machine code by an assembler.Each assembly language instruction corresponds to one machine language instruction, but assembly language is easier notation for the programmer to use than machine code. b) Applications & Utilities In information technology, an application is a computer program designed to help people perform

an activity. An application thus differs from an operating system (which runs a computer), a utility (which performs maintenance or general-purpose chores), and a programming language (with which computer programs are created). Depending on the activity for which it was designed, an application can manipulate text, numbers, graphics, or a combination of these elements. Some application packages offer considerable computing power by focusing on a single task, such as word processing; others, called integrated software, offer somewhat less power but include several applications. User-written software tailors systems to meet the users specific needs. User-written software include spreadsheet templates, word processor macros, scientific simulations, graphics and animation scripts. Even email filters are a kind of user software. Users create this software themselves and often overlook how important it is. The delineation between system software such as operating systems and application software is not exact, however, and is occasionally the object of controversy. For example, one of the key questions in the United States v. Microsoft antitrust trial was whether Microsofts Internet Explorer web browser was part of its Windows operating system or a separable piece of application software. As another example, the GNU/Linux naming controversy is, in part, due to disagreement about the relationship between the Linux kernel and the operating systems built over this kernel. In some types of embedded systems, the application software and the operating system software may be indistinguishable to the user, as in the case of software used to control a VCR, DVD player ormicrowave oven. here are many types of application software: ? An application suite consists of multiple applications bundled together. They usually have related functions, features and user interfaces, and may be able to interact with each other, e.g. open each others files. Business applications often come in suites, e.g. Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, and iWork, which bundle together a word processor, a spreadsheet, etc.; but suites exist for other purposes, e.g. graphics or music. Enterprise software addresses the needs of organization processes and data flow, often in a large distributed environment. (Examples include financial systems, customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) systems, and supply-chain management software). Note that Departmental Software is a sub-type of Enterprise Software with a focus on smaller organizations or groups within a large organization. (Examples include Travel Expense Management, and IT Helpdesk) ? Enterprise infrastructure software provides common capabilities needed to support enterprise software systems. (Examples include databases, email servers, and systems for managing networks and security.) ? Information worker software addresses the needs of individuals to create and manage information, often for individual projects within a department, in contrast to enterprise management. Examples include time management, resource management, documentation tools, analytical, and collaborative. Word processors, spreadsheets, email and blog clients, personal information system, and individual media editors may aid in multiple information worker tasks. ? Content access software is software used primarily to access content without editing, but

may include software that allows for content editing. Such software addresses the needs of individuals and groups to consume digital entertainment and published digital content. (Examples include Media Players, Web Browsers, Help browsers, and Games) ? Educational software is related to content access software, but has the content and/or features adapted for use in by educators or students. For example, it may deliver evaluations (tests), track progress through material, or include collaborative capabilities. ? Simulation software are computer software for simulation of physical or abstract systems for either research, training or entertainment purposes. ? Media development software addresses the needs of individuals who generate print and electronic media for others to consume, most often in a commercial or educational setting. This includes Graphic Art software, Desktop Publishing software, Multimedia Development software, HTML editors, Digital Animation editors, Digital Audio and Video composition, and many others. ? Mobile applications run on hand-held devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, and enterprise digital assistants : seemobile application development. ? Product engineering software is used in developing hardware and software products. This includes computer aided design (CAD), computer aided engineering (CAE), computerlanguage editing and compiling tools, Integrated Development Environments, and Application Programmer Interfaces. YUH ZEIT * A command-driven interface is one in which you type in commands to make the computer do something. You have to know the commands and what they do and they have to be typed correctly. DOS and Unix are examples of command-driven interfaces. ? A graphical user interface (GUI) is one in which you select command choices from various menus, buttons and icons using a mouse. It is a user-friendly interface. The Windows and Mac OS are both graphical user interfaces. Applications can also be classified by computing platform. Where as Utility software is a kind of system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called a utility (abbr. util) or tool. Utility software should be contrasted with application software, which allows users to do things like creating text documents, playing games, listening to music or surfing the web. Rather than providing these kinds of user-oriented or output-oriented functionality, utility software usually focuses on how the computer infrastructure (including the computer hardware, operating system, application software and data storage) operates. Due to this focus, utilities are often rather technical and targeted at people with an advanced level of computer knowledge. Most utilities are highly specialized and designed to perform only a single task or a small range of tasks. However, there are also some utility suites that combine several features in one piece of software. Most major operating systems come with several pre-installed utilities. Utility software categories ? Disk storage utilities

? Disk defragmenters can detect computer files whose contents are broken across several locations on the hard disk, and move the fragments to one location to increase efficiency. ? Disk checkers can scan the contents of a hard disk to find files or areas that are corrupted in some way, or were not correctly saved, and eliminate them for a more efficiently operating hard drive. ? Disk cleaners can find files that are unnecessary to computer operation, or take up considerable amounts of space. Disk cleaner helps the user to decide what to delete when their hard disk is full. ? Disk space analyzers for the visualization of disk space usage by getting the size for each folder (including sub folders) & files in folder or drive. showing the distribution of the used space. ? Disk partitions can divide an individual drive into multiple logical drives, each with its own file system which can be mounted by the operating system and treated as an individual drive. ? Backup utilities can make a copy of all information stored on a disk, and restore either the entire disk (e.g. in an event of disk failure) or selected files (e.g. in an event of accidental deletion). ? Disk compression utilities can transparently compress/uncompress the contents of a disk, increasing the capacity of the disk. ? File managers provide a convenient method of performing routine data management tasks, such as deleting, renaming, cataloging, uncataloging, moving, copying, merging, generating and modifying data sets. ? Archive utilities output a stream or a single file when provided with a directory or a set of files. Archive utilities, unlike archive suites, usually do not include compression or encryption capabilities. Some archive utilities may even have a separate un-archive utility for the reverse operation. ? System profilers provide detailed information about the software installed and hardware attached to the computer. ? Anti-virus utilities scan for computer viruses. ? Hex editors directly modify the text or data of a file. These files could be data or an actual program. ? Data compression utilities output a shorter stream or a smaller file when provided with a stream or file. ? Cryptographic utilities encrypt and decrypt streams and files. ? Launcher applications provide a convenient access point for application software. ? Registry cleaners clean and optimize the Windows registry by removing old registry keys that are no longer in use. ? Network utilities analyze the computers network connectivity, configure network settings, check data transfer or log events. ? Screensavers were desired to prevent phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use. Contemporary screensavers are used primarily for entertainment or security. c) Shareware, Open source software, Freeware

Shareware is demonstration software that you use for a specific evaluation period (usually 30 days) without paying a fee. After the evaluation period expires, the shareware provider may require you to purchase a license for the software or to quit using it. Although its virtually unenforceable, using shareware beyond the evaluation period violates copyright laws. Many companies develop their programs so the features and functions become disabled after 30 days a polite reminder that the evaluation period has expired and you should pay for the program. As the name suggests, freeware is software thats written and distributed freely over the Internet or on disks. Theres no charge to use the software and no trial period. Typically, the author of the software maintains ownership and copyright of the freeware program and grants licenses for its use. A freeware license may, for example, bar users from modifying the software or attempting to sell it to others. Open source software is software thats available in source code form for anyone to use. Although open source software doesnt have licensing restrictions that limit its use, modification, or redistribution, it usually has restrictions that preserve its open source status and control its development. Examples of open source software include the Linux operating system, the Perl scripting language, and the Apache Web server. 2. Discuss the relationship between data and information, information and knowledge. Also explain the concepts of cost and value of information by the help of an example. Solution : The Relationship Between Data And Information The relationship between data and information is an interconnected one. Data is raw facts such as phone numbers or addresses, and information is the organization of these raw facts into a meaningful manner. The information may be well organized on a report or table and yet not always be meaningful to all people. There are different ways to arrange data to make it meaningful for different people. For example, one person might be satisfied with information that shows him or her the towns in which their customers live in to help him or her determine where the largest volume of customers are. A different person might want that information expanded to include those customers street addresses as well so that they may determine a better shipping route. Both of these examples contain the same customers and similar data but the first person would have no use for the street addresses in his search and the second person would not have enough information to create a shipping route from just the towns. The type of data used can also affect the information generated. You can gather a great deal of data on the needs of plants to grow but if you do not put the data in the table correctly or put inaccurate data in you will get information that is basically useless. That is the garbage in/ garbage out theory. It is also a good idea when creating a table to group the like characteristics together to make it easier to gather information from the data. Computers now make it easier to

input data into tables in a meaningful manner to create information that might be useful to someone. It is now easier to manipulate data and examine it in many different ways from many different points of view quickly. It is in mans nature to gather data and group things together according to similar data to generate information that is useful for what they are doing. An example would be similar to one show in the study guide. An employer is looking for an employee that lives in the Trenton area and speaks Spanish. The older way to find this information was to look through each record and look for the pertinent data that they are looking for. Then they went to card readers, which was faster but still time consuming. The employer would input all the employees cards into a reader and set it to look for those with the right criteria. The card reader would then generate information from the data that the employer needs. The computer however is much more efficient. Provided that all information was put into the computer correctly, the employer can now ask the computer to search for this data and tell it to generate a report. The time is significantly shorter than waiting for the card reader to look through all though cards. The relationship between Information & knowledge Information: data that are processed to be useful; provides answers to who, what, where, and when questions Knowledge: application of data and information; answers how questions Information information is data that has been given meaning by way of relational connection. This meaning can be useful, but does not have to be. In computer parlance, a relational database makes information from the data stored within it. Knowledge knowledge is the appropriate collection of information, such that its intent is to be useful. Knowledge is a deterministic process. When someone memorizes information (as lessaspiring test-bound students often do), then they have amassed knowledge. This knowledge has useful meaning to them, but it does not provide for, in and of itself, an integration such as would infer further knowledge. For example, elementary school children memorize, or amass knowledge of, the times table. They can tell you that 2 x 2 = 4 because they have amassed that knowledge (it being included in the times table). But when asked what is 1267 x 300, they can not respond correctly because that entry is not in their times table. To correctly answer such a question requires a true cognitive and analytical ability that is only encompassed in the next level understanding. In computer parlance, most of the applications we use (modeling, simulation, etc.) exercise some type of stored knowledge. Fig: This figure shows the relationship among data, information, knowledge and wisdom The concepts of cost and value of information The decision theory suggests the method of solving the problems of decision making under certainly risk & uncertainly. A decision making situation is of certainly when the decision maker has full knowledge about

the alternatives & its outcomes this is possible when perfect information is available. Therefore the information has a perceived value in term of decision making. The decision makes full more secured when additional information is received in case of decision making under an uncertainly or a risk. The information is called a perfect information if it wipes out uncertainly or risk completely. However perfect information is myth. The decision theory stipulates that the values of the additional information Is the value of the change in the decision behavior resulted by the information less the cost of obtaining the information. If the additional information does not cause any change in the decision behavior then the value of the additional information is zero. The value of the additional information making the exiting information perfect (VPI) is: VPI = ( V2 V1 ) ( C2 C1 ) Where, V is the value of the information, C is the cost of obtaining the information V1 & C1 relate to one set of information and V2 & C2 relate to the new set of information If the VPI is very high then it is beneficial to serve the additional information need. If Manager does not know the perfect information about the decision situation then he is faced with the problem of decision making under uncertainly or risk conditions. Given a set of the possible decisions a decision maker will select one of the bases of the available information causes a change in the decision then the value of the new information is the difference in the value between the outcome of the old decision & that of new information So information has a value only to those who have the background knowledge to use it in a decision. The experienced manager generally uses the information most effectively but he may need less information as experience has already reduced uncertainly for him when compared to a less experienced manager. In MIS the concept of the value of information is used to find out the benefit of perfect information & if the value is significantly high, the system should provide it. If the value if insignificant it would not be worth collecting the additional information. The decisions at the operational & middle management level are such that the value of the additional or new information is low, while at the higher levels of the management the decision being mainly strategic & tactical in nature the value of additional information is very high. Some information has the strength of motivating the manager to think in futuristic terms. Some information has the strength of confirming the beliefs or understanding the business process. Information has a cost for its acquisition & maintenance. Thus before a particular piece of information is acquired decision makes must know its value. In decision theory the value of information is the value of the change in decision behavior because of the information. The

change in the behavior due to new information is measured to determine due to new information is measured to determine the benefits from its use. To arrive at the value of new information the cost incurred to get this information is deducted from the benefits. For Example: If there are two products A & B to be developed with known pay- offs, as shown in figure. A 25 B 35 (a) Decision = B (With existing Information) A 40 B 30 (b) Decision = A (With new Information) Here in matrix (a), the decision maker will select the product which has got the maximum pay-off i.e. Product B However if some additional information is made available to the decision-maker, according to which the pay-off distribution changes as given in matrix (b). Now, the decision maker will opt for Product A. The additional or new information Causes the decision maker to choose product A there by increasing his gain from 30 to 40. Thus the value of additional information is (40-30) =10 units. 3. Explain the major marketing subsystems and enumerate the advantages of the use of computers in such subsystems. Solution : A business information system is the sum of all the tools, techniques, and procedures used by the business to process data Such a system accepts input data about the business and generates required or desired output information. These tools, techniques, and procedures may be carried out manually or by a computer. Most information systems are made up of component subsystems and applications or modules that are designed to process data in specific areas of business activity. Any business information system can be divided into processing systems of narrower scope which accept input data, process it, and interact with each other to produce output information and files of data. Components of an Information System The same fundamental ideas apply to both computer-based systems and to manual systems. Indeed, the component parts of computer-based systems generally parallel those of manual systems since the goals of both are fundamentally the same. It is realistic to view the activities and data of most businesses as falling into four major categories cash inflows and outflows, sales and purchases, financial accounting and budgeting, and manufacturing (cost) accounting. A computer-based information system can then be logically as viewed consisting of four component subsystems that are identifiable and distinguishable, but not isolated from one

another. Each of these subsystems processes data from a certain area of business activity, however, each depends upon the other, and reformation must flow between them for the computer-based system to work. Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual relationships and the logical flow of business information between component subsystems and their application modules. As you examine this figure, consider the following significant points: 1. The entire figure represents a computer-based business reformation system It is composed of four distinct, but interrelated component subsystems which are represented by the large curved shapes. 2. The major components of such an information system are: a. A cash receipts and disbursements system. b. A sales and purchases system. c. A financial accounting/budgeting system. d. A manufacturing system. 3. Each major component, in turn, consists of specific processing applications or modules which are represented by the rectangular figures. It is these application modules that are the basic braiding blocks of an information system. 4. It is important to note that information flow between modules is absolutely necessary in a computer-based information system. The arrows indicating reformation flow which intersect the curved shapes demonstrate that all systems interact with each other through the modules that make up the systems. 5. The conceptual differences between information systems and accounting systems should become clearer after careful study of Figure 1. Accounting systems process only certain kinds of events, called transactions, because of the basic assumptions on which accounting is based Information systems, on the other hand, are capable of processing any information (i e, more than just accounting transactions) that is useful to management or any other user of the system. Interdependence of Components The necessary flow of information between applications makes it unlikely that any individual module, or even any component subsystem, can successfully stand alone or operate independently. Each of these modules provide the necessary environment for the other. Many processing applications use the same basic data as input, but require that the data be organized or accessed differently. By the same token, the output of some applications may be used as input for other applications. This commonality of data needs makes it possible for a business system to create a basic set of data which is available to all processing applications and flexible enough to be referenced by these modules in many different ways. Such a set of data within reach of all processing applications for their use is, of course, a data base Instead of each application organizing and storing all of its own data (which would necessarily result in redundancy and duplication throughout the system), the data base concept extracts data that is common to many application modules and makes it accessible to all. Only with the aid of a computers speed and memory is this possible, thus, implementation of the data base idea in a manual system is generally not feasible.

Important Characteristics of an Information System All processing applications of business reformation systems have some important characteristics in common These fundamental ideas can be summarized as follows. Output reports From each application module some output will be generated to provide information on which decisions can be based or statements to meet the business reporting requirements Although it is conceivable for a package to produce no printed output, this is not likely to occur very often in business processing. The ability of computer-based systems to provide information which is not available from a manual system is one of the primary reasons for their existence. Timely and useful management reports are one of the significant advantages of an information system. Interaction with other packages The transfer of data between applications (sometimes called interface) exists to reduce duplication and redundancy in an reformation system. The capabilities of computer systems make this kind of interchange between modules relatively easy to carry out as compared to manual systems It is unusual to find an individual computer-based module that is not made more efficient by accepting some organized and (at least) partially processed data from another module. By the same token, almost all modules generate some data which can be used by other applications in the system. Using easy to understand figures and discussion, this article provides an overview of the information, data, and transaction flows that occur in a realistic business reformation system. Thus article explains the four major subsystems cash receipts and disbursements, sales and purchases, financial accounting and budgeting, and manufacturing that comprise such a system as well as the individual processing modules or applications that actually carry out the systems activities. The focus of this article is on how the parts of a total system fit together to form a functioning whole A business information system is the sum of all the tools, techniques, and procedures used by the business to process data Such a system accepts input data about the business and generates required or desired output information. These tools, techniques, and procedures may be carried out manually or by a computer. Most information systems are made up of component subsystems and applications or modules that are designed to process data in specific areas of business activity. Any business information system can be divided into processing systems of narrower scope which accept input data, process it, and interact with each other to produce output information and files of data. Components of an Information System The same fundamental ideas apply to both computer-based systems and to manual systems. Indeed, the component parts of computer-based systems generally parallel those of manual systems since the goals of both are fundamentally the same. It is realistic to view the activities and data of most businesses as falling into four major categories cash inflows and outflows, sales and purchases, financial accounting and budgeting, and manufacturing (cost) accounting. A computer-based information system can then be logically as viewed consisting of four component subsystems that are identifiable and distinguishable, but not isolated from one another. Each of these subsystems processes data from a certain area of business activity, however, each depends upon the other, and reformation must flow between them for the

computer-based system to work. Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual relationships and the logical flow of business information between component subsystems and their application modules. As you examine this figure, consider the following significant points: 1. The entire figure represents a computer-based business reformation system It is composed of four distinct, but interrelated component subsystems which are represented by the large curved shapes. 2. The major components of such an information system are: a. A cash receipts and disbursements system. b. A sales and purchases system. c. A financial accounting/budgeting system. d. A manufacturing system. 3. Each major component, in turn, consists of specific processing applications or modules which are represented by the rectangular figures. It is these application modules that are the basic braiding blocks of an information system. 4. It is important to note that information flow between modules is absolutely necessary in a computer-based information system. The arrows indicating reformation flow which intersect the curved shapes demonstrate that all systems interact with each other through the modules that make up the systems. 5. The conceptual differences between information systems and accounting systems should become clearer after careful study of Figure 1. Accounting systems process only certain kinds of events, called transactions, because of the basic assumptions on which accounting is based Information systems, on the other hand, are capable of processing any information (i e, more than just accounting transactions) that is useful to management or any other user of the system. Interdependence of Components The necessary flow of information between applications makes it unlikely that any individual module, or even any component subsystem, can successfully stand alone or operate independently. Each of these modules provide the necessary environment for the other. Many processing applications use the same basic data as input, but require that the data be organized or accessed differently. By the same token, the output of some applications may be used as input for other applications. This commonality of data needs makes it possible for a business system to create a basic set of data which is available to all processing applications and flexible enough to be referenced by these modules in many different ways. Such a set of data within reach of all processing applications for their use is, of course, a data base Instead of each application organizing and storing all of its own data (which would necessarily result in redundancy and duplication throughout the system), the data base concept extracts data that is common to many application modules and makes it accessible to all. Only with the aid of a computers speed and memory is this possible, thus, implementation of the data base idea in a manual system is generally not feasible. Important Characteristics of an Information System All processing applications of business reformation systems have some important characteristics

in common These fundamental ideas can be summarized as follows. Output reports From each application module some output will be generated to provide information on which decisions can be based or statements to meet the business reporting requirements Although it is conceivable for a package to produce no printed output, this is not likely to occur very often in business processing. The ability of computer-based systems to provide information which is not available from a manual system is one of the primary reasons for their existence. Timely and useful management reports are one of the significant advantages of an information system. Interaction with other packages The transfer of data between applications (sometimes called interface) exists to reduce duplication and redundancy in an reformation system. The capabilities of computer systems make this kind of interchange between modules relatively easy to carry out as compared to manual systems It is unusual to find an individual computer-based module that is not made more efficient by accepting some organized and (at least) partially processed data from another module. By the same token, almost all modules generate some data which can be used by other applications in the system. Inquiry and response capability. Given the inherent advantages of speed and memory possessed by computers, much of the benefit of computer-based systems is lost if critical pieces of information are not available on request from the system. The immediate availability of up-to-date information by direct inquiry to the system is one of the most significant advantages of computer systems. Data organization into files. The concepts of file, record, and data-item are essential to every computer-based application. Since the computer does not have intuition, judgment, or reasoning powers, the organization of input data must follow a known logical design. This logical design most often results in each module having access to a permanent master file which is updated with each processing run by a file of current activity. Although other types of files are sometimes necessary, the basic concept of master and transaction files is common to all applications. Data Organization and Input To generate output reports the computer system must have access to certain input data, and this data must be organized so that processing can be done efficiently. The input data to any system can be thought of as falling into three categories. Constant or Report Files. Relatively permanent data may be used over and over as input to a application module, but this data is not altered by the processing that takes place and is changed externally only occasionally. This data may consist of constants, such as tax rates and limits, exemption amounts, deduction percentages, and so on, or headings and titles to be used in output reports such as financial statements. There are two basic approaches to accomplishing this type of constant data input. The simplest approach is to maintain a different computer program for each set of constants or report to be printed, and to make headings, titles, subtotal, and total format a part of the program. This approach does, however, require that the program be changed if a change in permanent data or report format is desired. The other basic approach to handling permanent data makes it possible to change this data almost at will without the necessity for altering the computer programs of a

system. It involves the creation of a permanent input file which specifies the constant data to be used or the headings, titles, subtotal, and total format for each output report. Such a file is often called a constant data or report format file or report writer file. Master Files. Semipermanent data of a cumulative nature may be input, then processed and changed by the processing (this is usually called updating), and then become output to be updated again in later processing. An example of this type of input data are the balances in general ledger accounts. General ledger data is kept in a file and at the end of each period the account balances are updated for all of the transactions (increases and decreases) that occurred during the period. The ending balances in each account would then be stored and become input to the next periods transaction processing. All business processing modules require at least one file of this kind of data. Files of this type are called master files. Transaction Files. Current data pertaining to activity of the present period must be processed and then may or may not be stored in its raw form. This current data represents the basis for the updating of cumulative (master) files. An example, consistent with the master file discussed above, would be the accounting transactions that take place during a time period whose effect must ultimately be reflected in general ledger balances. All business processing involves this type of data input because without current activity no processing would be necessary. Files of current activity data are called current or transaction files. Now that we have an overview of the important characteristics and relationships in a business information system, the remaining sections will discuss the component subsystems that make-up the total system. The Cash Receipts and Disbursements Subsystem The processing applications of this system are probably the best-known computer-based modules. They are usually the first processing applications to be computerized because they are relatively easy to convert and represent highly visible activity areas for most businesses. Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable The cash receipts and disbursements subsystem stands between (in an information flow sense) the other major component subsystems. The accounts receivable and accounts payable applications receive input from the sales and purchases subsystem and provide output to that system. Since accounts receivable are affected by both sales and cash receipts, and accounts payable are affected by purchases and cash disbursements, this interaction is not surprising. In addition, the receivables and payables modules produce essential transaction processing information for inclusion in the general ledger by the financial accounting/budgeting subsystem. Payroll The payroll application is interesting because it represents the closest thing to a stand-alone module in business systems. Payroll applications can and sometimes do exist as the sole computerized area of business activity, since no input from other areas may be necessary for the module to work. However, as business activity becomes more complex and sales or other activity-related variables become important factors in the determination of compensation, data from the sales and purchases subsystem may become either very desirable or absolutely necessary input to the payroll package. The most common example of this type of situation is a company with a large sales payroll where sales pay is based primarily on commissions. Here,

input from a sales analysis module is essential to payroll since, at the very least, a breakdown of sales by salesperson is needed for the payroll calculation. Also, payroll processing does generate output information to be included in the general ledger. The Sales and Purchases Subsystem These modules represent the point of original data entry into the information system for many important transactions and events. As such, there is significant information flow among the individual modules which make up the sales and purchases subsystem as well as between these modules and those of the cash receipts and disbursements and manufacturing subsystems. In addition, there is limited one-way information flow from this system to the financial accounting system. Order Processing and Inventory Management The sales and purchases subsystem interacts significantly with the cash receipts and disbursements subsystem. There is an important pairing of packages between these component systems. Order processing and accounts receivable combine to process data on sales and cash receipts, while inventory management and accounts payable combine to process data on purchases and cash disbursements. For example, sales invoice summary information is passed from order processing, where these invoices are created, to accounts receivable so that the customer master file can be updated. At the same time, information on the status of individual customer accounts can be returned to order, processing to aid in sales order and credit granting decisions. Similarly, accounts payable receives purchase invoice summaries from inventory management, where they are created, in order to update the vendor master file and returns vendor activity breakdowns which aid in making purchasing decisions. Sales Analysis Sales analysis is the only application of the sales and purchases subsystem which directly interacts with the financial accounting/budgeting system. Data from order processing and inventory management are ultimately included in the general ledger, but only after being processed and summarized by the cash receipts and disbursements subsystem. Output from sales analysis, however, is incorporated into the budgeting function directly, so that detailed comparisons of performance by product, territory, salesperson, customer, or other basis can be readily made. Also, this sales analysis output provides a sound basis for the preparation or revision of future financial budgets. Sales analysis by salesperson can also be used in the calculation of payroll where compensation is based on commissions. Because most detailed data on sales and collections is processed and stored in accounts receivable, important information flow also takes place between sales analysis and accounts receivable. Components of a Financial Accounting/Budgeting System In many ways, this is the most basic of the processing systems. It is designed to handle the bookkeeping and accounting cycle events for a business, from recording transactions to the production of period-end external financial statements, and reports on the comparison of actual results to budgeted (expected) figures. General Ledger The cash receipts and disbursements system provides input to the general ledger application of

the financial accounting/budgeting system. This is necessary because the accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll applications provide much of the data necessary for the creation of the cash receipts and cash disbursements journals, as well as the sales and purchases journals. Direct system input (i.e., not from other modules) to the general ledger module would involve those transactions and data that are not handled by the other processing applications. These transactions would usually be those found in the companys general journal. Periodically, a listing is produced of all general ledger accounts and beginning balances, together with a summary of the increase and decrease activity in each account and the resulting ending balances. A trial balance could then be produced and, at the end of each period, the traditional accounting financial statements can be produced according to any format specified by the system user. In addition, detailed listings of all transactions together with posting references can be produced so that an audit trail of all activity through the system in either direction can be established. Control and Budgeting An important part of a financial accounting/budgeting system is the control aspect. Budgeting is an vital part of any control system and can be accomplished as an extension of financial statement preparation. The master budget for a business consists of a projected income statement (sometimes called a profit plan), a statement of projected cash needs (a cash budget), and a projected balance sheet. These pro forma reports constitute a formal statement of expectations for the future as well as the standard or benchmark against which actual results will be compared. The financial accounting system can produce budgeted statements in the same format as actual period-end financial statements so that departures from expected results in any important revenue, expense, or other category can be disclosed by the system and highlighted for management analysis and action. At the same time, information on the status of individual customer accounts can be returned to order, processing to aid in sales order and credit granting decisions. Similarly, accounts payable receives purchase invoice summaries from inventory management, where they are created, in order to update the vendor master file and returns vendor activity breakdowns which aid in making purchasing decisions. Sales Analysis Sales analysis is the only application of the sales and purchases subsystem which directly interacts with the financial accounting/budgeting system. Data from order processing and inventory management are ultimately included in the general ledger, but only after being processed and summarized by the cash receipts and disbursements subsystem. Output from sales analysis, however, is incorporated into the budgeting function directly, so that detailed comparisons of performance by product, territory, salesperson, customer, or other basis can be readily made. Also, this sales analysis output provides a sound basis for the preparation or revision of future financial budgets. Sales analysis by salesperson can also be used in the calculation of payroll where compensation is based on commissions. Because most detailed data on sales and collections is processed and stored in accounts receivable, important information flow also takes place between sales analysis and accounts receivable. Components of a Financial Accounting/Budgeting System In many ways, this is the most basic of the processing systems. It is designed to handle the

bookkeeping and accounting cycle events for a business, from recording transactions to the production of period-end external financial statements, and reports on the comparison of actual results to budgeted (expected) figures. General Ledger The cash receipts and disbursements system provides input to the general ledger application of the financial accounting/budgeting system. This is necessary because the accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll applications provide much of the data necessary for the creation of the cash receipts and cash disbursements journals, as well as the sales and purchases journals. Direct system input (i.e., not from other modules) to the general ledger module would involve those transactions and data that are not handled by the other processing applications. These transactions would usually be those found in the companys general journal. Periodically, a listing is produced of all general ledger accounts and beginning balances, together with a summary of the increase and decrease activity in each account and the resulting ending balances. A trial balance could then be produced and, at the end of each period, the traditional accounting financial statements can be produced according to any format specified by the system user. In addition, detailed listings of all transactions together with posting references can be produced so that an audit trail of all activity through the system in either direction can be established. Control and Budgeting An important part of a financial accounting/budgeting system is the control aspect. Budgeting is an vital part of any control system and can be accomplished as an extension of financial statement preparation. The master budget for a business consists of a projected income statement (sometimes called a profit plan), a statement of projected cash needs (a cash budget), and a projected balance sheet. These pro forma reports constitute a formal statement of expectations for the future as well as the standard or benchmark against which actual results will be compared. The financial accounting system can produce budgeted statements in the same format as actual period-end financial statements so that departures from expected results in any important revenue, expense, or other category can be disclosed by the system and highlighted for management analysis and action. The MRP module produces a master production schedule based on actual sales as accumulated by the order processing module and on forecasted sales from the budgeting module. Based on the bills of material, MRP determines the quantity of materials, subassemblies, and other component items needed to meet the forecasted demand. This calculated amount is then compared to inventory on hand and inventory on order to determine necessary management actions. The MRP module will advise management whether to reorder certain items, cancel orders for items no longer needed, or to make no changes to the ordering plans. The objective of this application is to increase efficiency by improving productivity and customer service, while keeping inventory levels at the minimum necessary to meet demand. Production Monitoring This application assists management in controlling material and labor costs and provides data to update inventory, payroll, and production costing. Data may be entered as activities occur or accumulated and entered in batch format from a display station at a later time. As data are entered, the application categorizes it, for example, as labor data or inventory data.

Employee time and attendance data records are sent to payroll for the processing of paychecks. The inventory data are checked for reasonableness, formatted into output reports and used to update inventory management and production costing. Inventory management receives information on receipts and issues of goods. Summary The component subsystems and application modules discussed have some important characteristics in common. Each subsystem and module we have discussed has exhibited the following attributes: Output reports of varying form, content, and frequency. Interfaces (the exchange of information) with other modules. Inquiry and response (interactive) capability. Data organization into files. Use of terminals (work stations) to input data, initiate processing, and receive output. 4. Describe the significant features of each of Visual Basic, Java, HTML, Excel and COBOL briefly. Solution : Visual Basic Visual Basic (VB) is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. Visual Basic is relatively easy to learn and use. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD)of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. Scripting languages such as VBA and VBScript are syntactically similar to Visual Basic, but perform differently. A programmer can put together an application using the components provided with Visual Basic itself. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, but doing so requires external function declarations. The final release was version 6 in 1998. Microsofts extended support ended in March 2008 and the designated successor was Visual Basic .NET (now known simply as Visual Basic). Characteristics Visual Basic has the following traits which differ from C-derived languages: ? Multiple assignment available in C language is not possible. A = B = C does not imply that the values of A, B and C are equal. The boolean result of Is B = C? is stored in A. The result stored in A would therefore be either false or true. ? Boolean constant True has numeric value ?1. This is because the Boolean data type is stored as a 16-bit signed integer. In this construct ?1 evaluates to 16 binary 1s (the Boolean value True), and 0 as 16 0s (the Boolean value False). This is apparent when performing a Not operation on a 16 bit signed integer value 0 which will return the integer value ?1, in other words True = Not False. This inherent functionality becomes especially useful when performing logical operations on the individual bits of an integer such as And,Or, Xor and Not. This definition of True is also consistent with BASIC since the early 1970s Microsoft BASIC implementation and is

also related to the characteristics of CPU instructions at the time. ? Logical and bitwise operators are unified. This is unlike some C-derived languages (such as Perl), which have separate logical and bitwise operators. This again is a traditional feature of BASIC. ? Variable array base. Arrays are declared by specifying the upper and lower bounds in a way similar to Pascal and Fortran. It is also possible to use the Option Base statement to set the default lower bound. Use of the Option Base statement can lead to confusion when reading Visual Basic code and is best avoided by always explicitly specifying the lower bound of the array. This lower bound is not limited to 0 or 1, because it can also be set by declaration. In this way, both the lower and upper bounds are programmable. In more subscript-limited languages, the lower bound of the array is not variable. This uncommon trait does exist in Visual Basic .NET but not in VBScript. OPTION BASE was introduced by ANSI, with the standard for ANSI Minimal BASIC in the late 1970s. Relatively strong integration with the Windows operating system and the Component Object Model. The native types for strings and arrays are the dedicated COM types, BSTR and SAFEARRAY. Bankers rounding as the default behavior when converting real numbers to integers with the Round function. ? Round(2.5, 0) gives 2, ? Round(3.5, 0) gives 4. Integers are automatically promoted to reals in expressions involving the normal division operator (/) so that division of one integer by another produces the intuitively correct result. There is a specific integer divide operator (\) which does truncate. By default, if a variable has not been declared or if no type declaration character is specified, the variable is of type Variant. However this can be changed with Deftype statements such as DefInt, DefBool, DefVar, DefObj, DefStr. There are 12 Deftypestatements in total offered by Visual Basic 6.0. The default type may be overridden for a specific declaration by using a special suffix character on the variable name (# for Double, ! for Single, & for Long, % for Integer, $ for String, and @ for Currency) or using the key phrase As (type). VB can also be set in a mode that only explicitly declared variables can be used with the command Option Explicit. .. JAVA Java is an object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems in 1990s. Since then, Java has gained enormous popularity as a computer language. Java was chosen as the programming language for network computers. It is a universal front end for enterprise database. Sun Microsystems states that, Java is a simple, object-oriented, distributed, secure, architecture, robust, multi threaded and dynamic language. The program can be written once, and run anywhere. One of the most significant advantages of Java is that, it has the ability to move easily from one computer to another. It also has the ability to run the same program on many different operating systems. With such exemplary benefits, Java is a hot favorite among techies and software professionals.

Java has significant advantages compared to other languages. Java language is easy to use and therefore easy to write, compile, debug. Moreover, it is easier to learn when compared to other programming languages. Since Java is object-oriented, it allows you to create modular programs and reusable codes. Platform-independent, Java is a robust language. The language lays more importance on early checking for errors, since Java compilers can detect many problems during the time of execution of an application. Java is multithreaded, since it has the capability for a program to perform several tasks simultaneously within the same program. Java Development has gained a significant position in the industry with programmers and developers finding it easier and more effective than many other languages. Java applications are designed to be compiled and then interpreted at runtime, unlike the conventional programming languages, which can either compile source code to native code or interpret the source code. The language itself has borrowed the syntax from C and C++. Java considers security as a part of its design. The Java language, its compiler, interpreter, and runtime environment are all developed with security. Writing network programs in Java is similar to sending and receiving data to and from a file. The Java programming language was developed and re-designed for use on the Internet. In the internet domain, Javas popularity has increased tremendously, especially on the server side of the Internet. Nowadays, there are a large number of Java experts who strive for the enhancement and improvement of Java development. For beginners who are interested in learning Java, the numerous Java tutorials available online are good to start with. Java tutorials and Java tips are the best resources for learning and improvising in Java. Java Developmentexperts are trying to enhance their programming skills for writing secure Java applications. In order to write a secure code in Java you need to be aware of various things such as data handling techniques, user authentication rules, access controls etc. JavaScript is a scripting language which shares a similar name and has the same syntax, but is in no way related to the core Java language. Few steps are crucial for a secure Java application development. They are logical software design, proper validation, well planed application development and standardized security test. Java has become the language of choice world over for providing effective and sure-fire Internet solutions. HTML HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the set of markup symbols or codes inserted in a file intended for display on a World Wide Web browserpage. The markup tells the Web browser how to display a Web pages words and images for the user. Each individual markup code is referred to as an element (but many people also refer to it as a tag). Some elements come in pairs that indicate when some display effect is to begin and when it is to end. HTML is a formal Recommendation by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and is generally adhered to by the major browsers, Microsofts Internet Explorer and Netscapes Navigator, which also provide some additional non-standard codes. The current version of HTML is HTML 4.0. However, both Internet Explorer and Netscape implement some features differently and provide

non-standard extensions. Web developers using the more advanced features of HTML 4 may have to design pages for both browsers and send out the appropriate version to a user. Significant features in HTML 4 are sometimes described in general as dynamic HTML. What is sometimes referred to as HTML 5 is an extensible form of HTML called Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) HTMLUI is very easy to use with complete designer integration. The control is very powerful, and rich interfaces can be created with minimal coding. HTMLUI is also suitable for a wide variety of applications that require a flexible user interface. It can be used as a HTML rendering control (example: light-weight HTML browser, embedded HTML viewer, etc.) or a super layout control (example: rich user interface with localization support). IE Independent HTMLUI is completely independent of Internet Explorer. This provides full independence in defining the controls appearance and settings. HTMLUI will not be affected by Internet Explorer related security issues. Programmatic Access HTML elements displayed in the current document are exposed as programmatic elements that can be manipulated from the application code. The elements expose standard events such as Click, MouseMove and MouseDown. The content and appearance of all elements can be changed from within code. Source Code HTMLUI is written in C# and is available with full source code. The source code can be integrated into your development environment for debugging. Samples with source code are provided in C# and VB.NET. Excel Excel is a commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed byMicrosoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications. It has been a very widely applied spreadsheet for these platforms, especially since version 5 in 1993. Excel forms part of Microsoft Office. The current versions are 2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac. Manage your finances with Excel. Create a personal or family budget and track your income and expenses by month or year. Create a spreadsheet that helps you plan and track your savings for retirement, or for your childs college education. Use Excels built-in mathematical functions to automatically calculate routine or complex equations. Create a calendar or schedule with Excel. Whether its a weekly, monthly or yearly calendar for your family; a personal daily appointment planner; or a schedule for managing homework, bill payments, or your favorite sport teams games, Excel makes it easy to organize, filter and search through large amounts of data.

 Plan and manage a project or event with Excel. Whether you are planning a large work project or a wedding or holiday party, use Excel to keep track of multiple tasks and deadlines, and the schedules of other participants or collaboratorsand as a central database of all information and files you need to execute the project or event. Create lists through Excel. Excels convenient tabular layout makes it easy to format many different types of lists. Create checklists to make traveling and packing easier. Create an emergency phone list for your babysitter. Manage your book, wine or DVD collections via lists. Run your household better by using Excel lists to manage your groceries, chores and holiday gift-giving. Create an address book to manage your mailing labels. Excels extensive filter, sort and search functions make it easy to create and manage a large contact database. You will be able to find and sort contacts by city, state, street, last name or birthday, or by whatever other criteria and detail you enter. When you need to create mailing labels to send greeting cards or announcements, use Excels mail-merge feature to quickly format and print out the names and addresses of your contacts. .. COBOL COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) was one of the earliest high-level programming languages. It was developed in 1959 by a group of computer professionals called the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL). Since 1959 it has undergone several modifications and improvements. In an attempt to overcome the problem of incompatibility between different versions of COBOL, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) developed a standard form of the language in 1968. This version was known as American National Standard (ANS) COBOL. In 1974, ANSI published a revised version of (ANS) COBOL, containing a number of features that were not in the 1968 version. In 1985, ANSI published still another revised version that had new features not in the 1974 standard. The language continues to evolve today. Objectoriented COBOL is a subset of COBOL 97, which is the fourth edition in the continuing evolution of ANSI/ISO standard COBOL. COBOL 97 includes conventional improvements as well as object-oriented features. Like the C++ programming language, object-oriented COBOL compilers are available even as the language moves toward standardization. Significant Language Features The language that automated business Allows names to be truly connotative permits both long names (up to 30 characters) and word-connector characters (dashes) Every variable is defined in detail this includes number of decimal digits and the location of the implied decimal point File records are also described with great detail, as are lines to be output to a printer ideal for

printing accounting reports Offers object, visual programming environments Class Libraries Rapid Application Capabilities Integration with the World Wide Web COBOL, long associated with green screens, core dumps, and traditional mainframe connections, may at first glance seem at odds with object technology, push-button graphical interfaces, and interactive development environments. This perceived incongruity, however, is more a reflection of the mainframes ability to keep pace with the innovations of desktop and client-server computing than a flaw in the COBOL language. Areas of Application COBOL is ideally suited for the solution of business problems. For example, if a company wanted to keep track of its employees annual wages, COBOL would be ideal language for implementation. It is interesting to note that COBOL was the first programming language whose use was mandated by the Department of Defense (DoD). Sample Programs Hello world! Accept_Num Salesperson File Hello World Description This program demonstrates the text output function of the COBOL programming language by displaying the message Hello world!. Source Code 000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. 000200 PROGRAM-ID. HELLOWORLD. 000300 000400* 000500 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. 000600 CONFIGURATION SECTION. 000700 SOURCE-COMPUTER. RM-COBOL. 000800 OBJECT-COMPUTER. RM-COBOL. 000900 001000 DATA DIVISION. 001100 FILE SECTION. 001200 100000 PROCEDURE DIVISION. 100100 100200 MAIN-LOGIC SECTION. 100300 BEGIN.

100400 DISPLAY LINE 1 POSITION 1 ERASE EOS. 100500 DISPLAY Hello world! LINE 15 POSITION 10. 100600 STOP RUN. 100700 MAIN-LOGIC-EXIT. 100800 EXIT. Accept Num Description This program accepts two numbers and adds them together. Source Code 000100 ID DIVISION. 000200 PROGRAM-ID. ACCEPT1. 000300 DATA DIVISION. 000400 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 000500 01 WS-FIRST-NUMBER PIC 9(3). 000600 01 WS-SECOND-NUMBER PIC 9(3). 000700 01 WS-TOTAL PIC ZZZ9. 000800* 000900 PROCEDURE DIVISION. 001000 0000-MAINLINE. 001100 DISPLAY ENTER A NUMBER: . 001200 ACCEPT WS-FIRST-NUMBER. 001300* 001400 DISPLAY ANOTHER NUMBER: . 001500 ACCEPT WS-SECOND-NUMBER. 001600* 001700 COMPUTE WS-TOTAL = WS-FIRST-NUMBER + WS-SECOND-NUMBER. 001800 DISPLAY THE TOTAL IS: , WS-TOTAL. 001900 STOP RUN. Sample Run ENTER A NUMBER: 7 ANOTHER NUMBER: 7 THE TOTAL IS: 14 Program Notes This program was tested and run using the RM/1 COBOL compiler. Sales Person file Description

This program takes all input records of salesperson data and writes it to an output file reformatted. Source Code 000100 ID DIVISION. 000200 PROGRAM-ID. SLS02. 000300 FILE-CONTROL. 000400 SELECT SALESPERSON-FILE 000500 ASSIGN TO DISK. 000600 SELECT REPORT-FILE 000700 ASSIGN TO PRINTER. 000800 DATA DIVISION. 000900 FILE SECTION. 001000 FD SALESPERSON-FILE. 001100 01 SALESPERSON-RECORD. 001200 05 FILLER PIC XX. 001300 05 SP-NUMBER PIC X(4). 001400 05 SP-NAME PIC X(18). 001500 05 FILLER PIC X(21). 001600 05 SP-CURRENT-SALES PIC 9(5)V99. 001700 05 SP-CURRENT-RETURNS PIC 9(4)V99. 001800 FD REPORT-FILE. 001900 01 REPORT-RECORD. 002000 05 FILLER PIC X(10). 002100 05 RT-NUMBER PIC X(4). 002200 05 FILLER PIC X(6). 002300 05 RT-NAME PIC X(18). 002400 05 FILLER PIC X(6). 002500 05 RT-CURRENT-SALES PIC ZZ,ZZZ.99. 002600 05 FILLER PIC X(6). 002700 05 RT-CURRENT-RETURNS PIC Z,ZZZ.99. 002800 05 FILLER PIC X(65). 002900 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 003000 01 WS-EOF-FLAG PIC X. 003100* 003200 PROCEDURE DIVISION. 003300* 003400 MAIN-ROUTINE. 003500 OPEN INPUT SALESPERSON-FILE 003600 OUTPUT REPORT-FILE 003700 MOVE N TO WS-EOF-FLAG

003800 READ SALESPERSON-FILE 003900 AT END MOVE Y TO WS-EOF-FLAG 004000 END-READ 004100* 004200 PERFORM UNTIL WS-EOF-FLAG IS EQUAL TO Y 004300 MOVE SPACES TO REPORT-RECORD 004400 MOVE SP-NUMBER TO RT-NUMBER 004500 MOVE SP-NAME TO RT-NAME 004600 MOVE SP-CURRENT-SALES TO RT-CURRENT-SALES 004700 MOVE SP-CURRENT-RETURNS TO RT-CURRENT-RETURNS 004800 WRITE REPORT-RECORD 004900 READ SALESPERSON-FILE 005000 AT END MOVE Y TO WS-EOF-FLAG 005100 END-READ 005200 END-PERFORM 005300* 005400 CLOSE SALESPERSON-FILE, REPORT-FILE 005500 STOP RUN. Sample Run 0005 BENNETT ROBERT 1,600.35 12.50 0016 LOCK ANDREW S 357.72 79.85 0080 PARKER JAMES E 18,200.00 165.00 0401 REDDING OLIVIA 16,123.99 2,301.75 1375 BENTON ALEX J 3,250.00 56.50 1442 ADAMS JUNE R 4,635.21 125.16 1842 COLE ROBERT N 14,285.14 6,385.29 Program Notes This program was tested and run using the RM/ COBOL-85 compiler. 5. Define decision support system in your own words. Also illustrate the concept using your organizational context. Solution : A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-makingactivities. DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance. DSSs include knowledge-based systems. A properly designed DSS is an interactive softwarebased system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems

and make decisions. Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present are: ? inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts), ? comparative sales figures between one period and the next, ? projected revenue figures based on product sales assumptions. Three fundamental components of a DSS architecture are:[5][6][10][11][12] 1. the database (or knowledge base), 2. the model (i.e., the decision context and user criteria), and 3. the user interface. The users themselves are also important components of the architecture Development Frameworks DSS systems are not entirely different from other systems and require a structured approach. Such a framework includes people, technology, and the development approach. DSS technology levels (of hardware and software) may include: 1. The actual application that will be used by the user. This is the part of the application that allows the decision maker to make decisions in a particular problem area. The user can act upon that particular problem. 2. Generator contains Hardware/software environment that allows people to easily develop specific DSS applications. This level makes use of case tools or systems such as Crystal, AIMMS, and iThink. 3. Tools include lower level hardware/software. DSS generators including special languages, function libraries and linking modules An iterative developmental approach allows for the DSS to be changed and redesigned at various intervals. Once the system is designed, it will need to be tested and revised for the desired outcome. Classification There are several ways to classify DSS applications. Not every DSS fits neatly into one category, but may be a mix of two or more architectures. Holsapple and Whinston classify DSS into the following six frameworks: Text-oriented DSS, Database-oriented DSS, Spreadsheet-oriented DSS, Solver-oriented DSS, Rule-oriented DSS, and Compound DSS. A compound DSS is the most popular classification for a DSS. It is a hybrid system that includes two or more of the five basic structures described by Holsapple and Whinston. The support given by DSS can be separated into three distinct, interrelated categories Personal Support, Group Support, and Organizational Support. DSS components may be classified as: 1. Inputs: Factors, numbers, and characteristics to analyze 2. User Knowledge and Expertise: Inputs requiring manual analysis by the user 3. Outputs: Transformed data from which DSS decisions are generated

4. Decisions: Results generated by the DSS based on user criteria DSSs which perform selected cognitive decision-making functions and are based on artificial intelligence or intelligent agents technologies are called Intelligent Decision Support Systems (IDSS). The nascent field of Decision engineering treats the decision itself as an engineered object, and applies engineering principles such asDesign and Quality assurance to an explicit representation of the elements that make up a decision. One example is the clinical decision support system for medical diagnosis. Other examples include a bank loan officer verifying the credit of a loan applicant or an engineering firm that has bids on several projects and wants to know if they can be competitive with their costs. DSS is extensively used in business and management. Executive dashboard and other business performance software allow faster decision making, identification of negative trends, and better allocation of business resources. A growing area of DSS application, concepts, principles, and techniques is in agricultural production, marketing for sustainable development. For example, the DSSAT4 package, developed through financial support of USAID during the 80s and 90s, has allowed rapid assessment of several agricultural production systems around the world to facilitate decisionmaking at the farm and policy levels. There are, however, many constraints to the successful adoption on DSS in agriculture. DSS are also prevalent in forest management where the long planning time frame demands specific requirements. All aspects of Forest management, from log transportation, harvest scheduling to sustainability and ecosystem protection have been addressed by modern DSSs. A comprehensive list and discussion of all available systems in forest management is being compiled under the COST action Forsys A specific example concerns the Canadian National Railway system, which tests its equipment on a regular basis using a decision support system. A problem faced by any railroad is worn-out or defective rails, which can result in hundreds of derailments per year. Under a DSS, CN managed to decrease the incidence of derailments at the same time other companies were experiencing an increase. Benefits 1. Improves personal efficiency 2. Speed up the process of decision making 3. Increases organizational control 4. Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the decision maker 5. Speeds up problem solving in an organization 6. Facilitates interpersonal communication 7. Promotes learning or training 8. Generates new evidence in support of a decision 9. Creates a competitive advantage over competition 10. Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space 11. Helps automate managerial processes