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Business Information Systems - List of Terms & Definitions

Terms in this set (40)

Application software
Consists of programs that direct computers to perform specific processing activities for end users.
Batch processing
Transactions that are accumulated and processed later as a group or in a batch.
Bridge
Telecommunication device that connects one local area network to another one that uses the same telecommunications protocol.
Bus line
Physical wiring that enables the connection between computer hardware components.
Business Processing Re-Engineering (BPR)
Fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvement in cost, quality, speed, and service.
Chatting
Live, interactive, conversations over a public network.
Competitive advantage
A substantial and long-term strategic benefit an organisation can obtain over competitive forces in the market place.
Computer virus
A hidden program that inserts itself into a computer's systems.
CPU
Can be compared with the human brain. It obtains instructions from memory, interprets them and notifies the other components to perform them.
Data
Raw facts that occur in the physical environment or organisation.
DBMS
System software that helps the user in the creation, controlling development, usage and maintenance of the databases of computer systems.
Electronic data interchange:
An inter-company communication of documents electronically in a standard format to increase speed, accuracy, integrity, dependability and timeliness of data.
Feedback:
Output that is used to make changes to input or processing.
Gateway:
Telecommunication device that serves as an entrance to another network.
GDSS
A computerised collaborative system that helps managers to cooperate in solving their problems (for instance through teleconferencing technologies).
Hardware
Physical devices for data/ information processing. Is essentially the computer equipment used to perform input, processing, output and feedback.
Information
Data that is shaped into a meaningful manner and is used in decision-making.
Information System
A set of interrelated components (systems) that collect (inputs), process, and store, circulate and distribute (outputs) data and information and knowledge to support management in an organisation.
Input devices
Hardware components, also called peripherals that transfer data and instructions into the computer's memory for processing.
Local Area Network
A network that is limited in physical area, such as an office, that cannot extend beyond the boundaries of a building.
Main memory
Stores program instructions and data that are waiting to be processed in the CPU of the computer.
Network topology
The geometric arrangement of different network components.
On-line/ real-time transaction processing (OLTP)
Data is processed immediately after being captured.
Operating system
A set of programs controlling the computer hardware and acting as an interface with the application programs.
Optical technology
Involves the use of laser beams of light. Laser beams are used to read data stored on optical disks.
Organisation
A formal collection of people and other resources assembled together in order to establish a set of goals.
Organisational structure
Refers to organisational subunits and the way they relate to the overall organisation.
Output devices
Hardware components that enable a computer system to communicate information to humans or other machines so that it can be used.
Processing
Converting/ transforming of data into useful outputs.
Programming
Involves translating what a user wants to accomplish into a code that the computer can understand and execute.
Protocol
A standard set of rules and procedures for the control of communications in a network.
Registers
High-speed storage areas used to temporarily hold small units of program instructions and data immediately before, during and after execution by the CPU.
Router
Telecommunication device that forwards data packets across two or more distinct networks toward their destinations, through a process known as routing.
Secondary storage
Media that is used to store program instructions and data on a more permanent basis.
Software
Consists of the programs for data/ information processing.
Switch
Telecommunication device that uses the physical device address in each incoming message on the network to determine to which output port it should forward the message to reach another device on the same network.
Tele-communications
The electronic transmission of signals for communications, which enable organisations to carry out their processes and tasks through effective computer networks.
Teleconferencing
The ability to confer with a group of people simultaneously using telephone or e-mail group communication software.
Value chain
Series of activities that include inbounds logistics, warehouse and storage, production, finished product storage, outbound logistics that focus on supply relationship and customer relationship.
WAN
A network that crosses metropolitan, regional or national boundaries.
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