Glossary Flashcards
10/100/1000 Ethernet
A type of Ethernet that conforms to the IEEE 802.3 protocol and allows for transmission at a rate of 10, 100, or 1,000 Mbps (megabits per second).
Abstract reasoning
The ability to make and manipulate models. One of the four key skills for nonroutine cognitive thinking.
Access
A popular personal and small workgroup DBMS product licensed by Microsoft. Included with some versions of Microsoft Office.
ACID
An acronym standing for atomic, consistent, isolated, and durable. Used to describe the processing of transactions such that all of the transaction is processed or none of it is (atomic), transactions are processed in the same manner (consistent) whether processed alone or in the presence of millions of other transactions (isolated), and that once a transaction is stored it never goes away—even in the presence of failure (durable)
Activity
A business function that receives inputs and produces outputs. An activity can be performed by a human, by a computer system, or by both.
Ad-blocking software
Software that filters out advertising content.
Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)
A sophisticated, possibly long-running, computer hack that is perpetrated by large, well-funded organizations like governments. APTs are a means to engage in cyberwarfare.
Adware
Programs installed on the user’s computer without the user’s knowledge or permission that reside in the background and, unknown to the user, observe the user’s actions and keystrokes, modify computer activity, and report the user’s activities to sponsoring organizations. Most adware is benign in that it does not perform malicious acts or steal data. It does, however, watch user activity and produce pop-up ads.
Agile development
An adaptive project management process based on the principles:
- Expect, even welcome, changes in requirements.
- Frequently deliver working version of the product.
- Work closely with customer for the duration.
- Design as you go.
- Test as you go.
- Team knows best how it’s doing/how to change.
- Can be used for business processes, information systems, and applications development.
Can be used for the management of many types of projects, including processes, information systems, and applications
An adaptive project management process based on the principles listed in Figure 12-20 . Can be used for the management of many types of projects, including processes, information systems, and applications
A mobile operating system that is a version of Linux. Android runs on the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire as well as many other mobile devices
Application
(1) Synonym for application software. (2) A combination of hardware, software, and data that is to be developed for an information system.
Application software
Programs that perform a business function. Some application programs are general purpose, such as Excel or Word. Other application programs are specific to a business function, such as accounts payable
Artificial intelligence (AI)
The ability of a machine to simulate human abilities such as vision, communication, recognition, learning, and decision making.
As-is model
A model that represents the current situation and processes.
Asymmetric encryption
An encryption method whereby different keys are used to encode and to decode the message; one key encodes the message, and the other key decodes the message. Asymmetric encryption is slower and more complicated than symmetric encryption.
Asynchronous communication
Information exchange that occurs when all members of a work team do not meet at the same time, such as those who work different shifts.
Attributes
Characteristics of an entity. Example attributes of Order are OrderNumber, OrderDate, SubTotal, Tax, Total, and so forth. Example attributes of Salesperson are SalespersonName, Email, Phone, and so forth.
Augmented reality (AR)
The altering of reality by overlaying digital information on real world objects.
Authentication
The process whereby an information system verifies (validates) a user.
Baseline WBS
The initial work breakdown structure that shows the planned tasks, dependencies, durations, and resource assignments.
Bell’s Law
A new computer class forms roughly each decade, establishing a new industry.
Best practices
Methods that have been shown to produce successful results in prior implementations.
BI analysis
The process of creating business intelligence. The four fundamental categories of BI analysis are reporting, data mining, Big Data, and knowledge management
BI application
The software component of a BI system.
Big Data
A term used to describe data collections that are characterized by huge volume, rapid velocity, and great variety.
Biometric authentication
The use of personal physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, facial features, and retinal scans, to authenticate users.
BI server
A Web server application that is purpose-built for the publishing of business intelligence.
Bits
The means by which computers represent data; also called binary digits. A bit is either a zero or a one.
BlackBerry OS
One of the most successful early mobile operating systems; was primarily used by business users on BlackBerry devices.
Bluetooth
A common wireless protocol designed for transmitting data over short distances, replacing cables.
Bounce rate
Percent of people who visit your Web site and then immediately leave.
Bring your own device (BYOD) policy
An official organizational policy that states employees’ permissions and responsibilities when using personal mobile devices for organizational business.
Brooks’ Law
The adage that states: Adding more people to a late project makes the project later. Brooks’ Law is true not only because a larger staff requires increased coordination, but also because new people need to be trained. The only people who can train the new employees are the existing team members, who are thus taken off productive tasks. The costs of training new people can overwhelm the benefit of their contributions. Named for Fred Brooks, author of The Mythical Man-Month.
Brute force attack
A password-cracking program that tries every possible combination of characters.
Bullwhip effect
A phenomenon in which the variability in the size and timing of orders increases at each stage up the supply chain, from customer to supplier.
Business analyst
(1) A person who understands business strategies, goals, and objectives and who helps businesses develop and manage business processes and information systems. (2) Someone who is well versed in Porter’s models, organizational strategy, and systems alignment theory, like COBIT, and who also understands technology sufficiently well to communicate with systems analysts and developers. Compare with systems analyst.
Business intelligence (BI)
The processing of operational data, social data, purchased data, and employee knowledge to expose solutions, patterns, relationships, and trends of importance to the organization.
Business intelligence (BI) systems
Information systems that produce business intelligence.
Business process
(1) A network of activities that generate value by transforming inputs into outputs. (2) A network of activities, repositories, roles, resources, and flows that interact to achieve some business function; sometimes called a business system.
Business process management (BPM)
A cyclical process for systematically creating, assessing, and altering business processes.
Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
Standard set of terms and graphical notations for documenting business processes.
Business process reengineering
The activity of altering existing and designing new business processes to take advantage of the capabilities of new information systems technology.
Business-to-business (B2B)
Relationships through which businesses generate new retail leads.
Business-to-consumer (B2C)
Relationships through which businesses market their products to end users.
Bytes
(1) 8-bit chunks of data. (2) Characters of data.
Cable line
Cable television lines that provide high-speed data transmission.
Capital
Resources that are invested with the expectation of future gain.
Carrier
A telecommunications company that provides voice and data transportation services.
Central processing unit (CPU)
The portion of a computer that selects instructions, processes them, performs arithmetic and logical comparisons, and stores results of operations in memory.
Chief information officer (CIO)
The title of the principal manager of the IS department. Other common titles are vice president of information services, director of information services, and, less commonly, director of computer services.
Chief information security officer (CISO)
The title of the person who manages security for the organization’s information systems and information.
Chief security officer (CSO)
The title of the person who manages security for all of the organization’s assets: physical plant and equipment, employees, intellectual property, and digital.
Chief technology officer (CTO)
The title of the head of the technology group. The CTO filters new ideas and products to identify those that are most relevant to the organization. The CTO’s job requires deep knowledge of information technology and the ability to envision how new IT could affect an organization over time.
Client
PCs, tablets, and smartphones that access servers via the cloud.
Client-server architecture
Computing architecture that allows clients (users) to send requests across the Internet to servers, which respond and send data back.
Closed source
Source code that is highly protected and only available to trusted employees and carefully vetted contractors.
Cloud
A term that refers to elastic leasing of pooled computer resources over the Internet.
Cloud computing architecture
Computing architecture that allows employees and customers to access organizational data and applications located in the cloud.
Cluster analysis
Unsupervised data mining using statistical techniques to identify groups of entities that have similar characteristics. A common use for cluster analysis is to find groups of similar customers in data about customer orders and customer demographics.
COBIT (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology)
A set of standard practices, created by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, that are used in the assessment stage of the BPM cycle to determine how well an information system complies with an organization’s strategy.
Collaboration
The activity of two or more people working together to achieve a common goal via a process of feedback and iteration. One of four key skills for nonroutine cognitive thinking.
Collaboration information system
An information system that supports collaboration. See also collaboration system.
Columns
Also called fields, or groups of bytes. A database table has multiple columns that are used to represent the attributes of an entity. Examples are PartNumber, EmployeeName, and SalesDate.
Commerce server
An application program that runs on a server tier computer. A typical commerce server obtains product data from a database, manages items in users’ shopping carts, and coordinates the checkout process
Communication channels
Means of delivering messages.
Communities of practice
Also called communities; groups of people related by a common interest.
Competitive analysis
Process of identifying the strength and weaknesses in competitors’ use of social media.
Competitive strategy
The strategy an organization chooses as the way it will succeed in its industry. According to Porter, there are four fundamental competitive strategies: cost leadership across an industry or within a particular industry segment and product or service differentiation across an industry or within a particular industry segment