ICT in organisations Flashcards
1
Q
Expert Systems
A
- Components: knowledge based, rules based, user interface, search engine
- Where is it use: medical diagnosis, chess (strategy games), financial advice
- Disadvantages: no common sense, can be difficult to use - if wrong question asked => advice can be very wrong
2
Q
Manufacturing applications
A
- They are robotic arms, strong, controlled by microprocessors. Used to manufacture cars and chips
- Advantages:
+ perform repetitve task at a higher speed => increases productivity, workers do not get bored
+ perform delicate tasks, no human errors
+ work 24/7 - Disadvantages:
+ can break down and maintenance = expensive
+ replace humans => unemployment
+ initial cost is expensive
3
Q
Communication
A
- Emails
- Video conferencing
+ Requirements: Video camera, monitor, microphone, loudspeakers, internet connection
+ Advantages: No travel costs, no time wasted travelling to other cities / countries, can organise meetings at short notice
+ Disad: less personal than face-to-face meetings, documents (e.g. contracts) cannot be signed - VOIP: use Internet connection to send and receive phone calls
+ Advantages: no telephone line is required, call costs are very low, especially for long-distance calls,can include video
+ Disadvantages: call quality depends on Internet connection, some special hardware is required - Fax: low quality - images are especially poor, slow to send (compared to e-mail)
- Mobile telephones
+ Advantages:
~Make and receive telephone calls
~Send a receive SMS (short message service) messages
~Send and receive e-mail
~Send and receive files such as images, text documents
+ Disad: mobiles are easy to lose, and often contain a lot of personal and/or business information
4
Q
Modes of computer use
A
- Batch processing: prepare the data into a set or ‘batch’ and hand it over to the computer to be processed in one go. No user input is required
+ Advantages: the processing can occur when the computer is not being used for anything (automatic) - Real-time processing: data must be processed immediately, and the result is ready before the next input data is accepted
- Online processing: user is directly interacting with the computer. Data is entered and then processed
5
Q
Booking systems
A
- Real time processing: prevents double booking
- Input: booking requests
- Process: involves checking if bookings are possible, and if so making the bookings
- Outputs: booking confirmations/rejections
- Example: booking flights:
+ Input: Please reserve seat 38C
+ Process: Has seat 38C already been booked? No… so book it/ Yes, has been booked
+ Output: Booking confirmed for seat 38C/ booking rejected
6
Q
Payroll Process
A
- Batch processing
- Once a month/a week
- Inputs: bank details, rate of pay, hours worked, tax code, bonus
- Process: gross pay (rate of pay x hours worked, before tax), net pay (after tax), no user input
- Outputs: Printed payslips or money into back account
- If an error occurs => an exception report is produced => payroll assistant checks and makes manual adjustments => print payslips and payment to bank
- To calculate hrs worked: swipe cards. bar codes which read when the employee enters and leaves each day
7
Q
Stock control
A
- Real time processing
- A database contains fields:
+ Description
+ Item price
Stock level
+ Minimum stock level (when stock falls below this, it needs to be reordered)
+ Reorder quantity - Inputs: barcode scanned
- Process: products found in database => amount decrease by 1. Check if current stock level = minimum
- Output: orders go to suppliers when minimum stick level reached. Order arrives
8
Q
Utilities (electricity, internet, water, telephones)
A
- Batch processing
- Once a quarter/month
- Inputs: customer details, payment details, amount used, cost per each unit used
- Process: amount used x cost per unit = total cost
- Output: printed/online bill
9
Q
School management systems
A
- Based on a complex relational database
- Manage many different sets of data:
+ Pupil information (name, contact details, etc.)
+ Staff information (name, bank details for pay, etc.)
+ Timetable (rooms, times, subject, staff, classes, etc.)
+ Pupil attainment (marks, grades, comments, etc.)
+ Pupil behaviour (dates, incidents, notes, etc.)
+ Administration data (letters, forms, etc.)
+ Financial records (wages, fees, etc.)
+ Exam entries (times, dates, pupils, results, etc.) - Connected by primary keys from one table that are used in another table (foreign key) to create a relationship.
10
Q
Library systems
A
3 databases: book database, borrower database, loans database - Book database: \+ Book ID (number / text) \+ Title (text) Author (text) \+ Publisher (text) \+ ISBN (number) \+ Fiction / non-fiction (boolean) \+ Genre / category (text) \+ Cost (number) \+ Date of purchase (date) - Borrower database: \+ Borrower ID (number / text) \+ Name (text) \+ Phone number (text) \+ Address (text) \+ E-mail address (text) \+ Date of birth (date) - Borrowers usually have a library card that as the ID => easily identified (primary key) => quick and easy data input when borrowing books - Loans database: \+ Book ID (number / text) \+ Borrower ID (number / text) \+ Date of loan (date) \+ Due date (date)
11
Q
Medical and Hospital
A
- Sensors: \+ Pulse rate \+ Temperature \+ Breathing rate \+ Blood oxygen levels \+ Blood pressure - Sensors feed back to computers which processes: \+ Data is checked for any problems \+ Data is logged so that it can be checked later - Outputs: \+ A large display / monitor shows graphs of pulse, breathing, etc. \+ A loud buzzer / alarm can be sounded if there is a problem to attract the attention of a nurse/doctor \+ A small printer can produce a hard-copy of the data - Patients databases include fields: \+ Patient ID (number or text) \+ Name (text) \+ Date-of-birth (date) \+ Gender (boolean) \+ Blood group (text) \+ Allergies (text) \+ Current symptoms (text) \+ Current diagnosis (text) \+ Current treatment (text) \+ Current medication (text)
12
Q
Retail and Selling - Handling Electronic Payments (EFTPOS)
A
- Customer gives the bank card to the cashier
- The cashier runs the card through a card reader (the customer may have to enter a PIN). The cashier enters the value of the purchase
- The store’s system then connects to the bank computer and sends a message (can 12345 afford $50)
- The bank computer uses the account number to access the customer’s record and checks the balance
- The bank computer sends back a confirmation or rejection message to the store’s system
- The cashier now confirms the purchase and an EFT message is sent to the bank (message = Transfer $50 from 12345 to store’s account)
- The bank then subtract the amount of money from the customer’s acc to the store acc
13
Q
Retail and Selling - Chip and PIN
A
- The customer inserts the bankcard into a smart card reader
- Types in a PIN to confirm that they are the true owner of the card => verified => remove the card
- Smart cards are more secure (since the data is encrypted) and more reliable than magnetic strip cards.
14
Q
Internet shopping
A
- Advantages (for customers):
+ The convenience of being able to browse goods from your home
+ Stores are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year
+ The wider range of choice - can access stores all over the world
+ Easy if you have limited mobility (due to a disability, or old age) - Advantages (for businesses):
+ Lower costs since no expensive retail stores and less staff
+ Many more potential customers - Disadvantages:
+ You cannot try items before purchasing (e.g. clothes)
+ You may have to wait several days before receiving your goods
+ Returning goods or getting help can be difficult
+ There is a security risk using credit cards online. The card details may be stolen and used to commit fraud.
15
Q
Ways data is misused
A
- Data can be misused in many ways:
+ Data could be deleted (e.g. your bank balance could be wiped out)
+ Data could be changed (e.g. you could end up with a criminal record, for something you didn’t do)
+ Data could be used for blackmail (e.g. your school record might contain information that you are embarrassed about, and someone might threaten to reveal it to the press!)
+ Data could be used to help someone impersonate you This is known as Identity Theft
