Lecturer: Mr. Tri Djoko Wahjono, Ir, M.Sc.
By: Veronica Ong (1701317660) of class 01PCT
Task: Chapter Review of Chapter 14 from the Textbook Discovering Computers.
1. What are the
special information requirements of an enterprise-sized corporation?
The term, enterprise, commonly describes a business or
venture of any size. In this chapter, the term enterprise refers to large
multinational corporations, universities, hospitals, research laboratories, and
government organizations. Enterprise computing involves the use of computers in
networks, such as LANs and WANs, or a series of interconnected networks that
encompass a variety of different operating systems, protocols, and network
architectures.
Enterprises produce and gather enormous volumes of information
about customer, supplier, and employee activity. The information flows among an
assortment of entities both inside and outside of the enterprise, and users
consume the information during a number of activities. Customers, suppliers,
and employees interact with the enterprise in a number of ways, and computers track
each interaction. Each sale of a product, purchase of a piece of equipment, or
paycheck generates activity involving information systems. A small- and
medium-sized business (SMB) is smaller in size than an enterprise and typically
does not have an international presence. Such entities, however, use many of
the same technologies and procedures as enterprises, but on a smaller scale.
2. What information
systems and software are used in the functional units of an enterprise?
Accounting software manages everyday transactions, such as
sales and payments to suppliers. Billing software helps the company reconcile
purchases with customer payments. Financial soft ware helps managers budget,
forecast, and analyze. These types of software include comprehensive and
flexible reporting tools to assist managers in making decisions, provide
historical documentation, and meet regulatory requirements. A human resources
information system (HRIS) manages one or more human resources functions. A
human resources information system and its associated software help a company
such as Walmart maintain records on its more than 2 million employees.
Professional workers, such as engineers, require specialized software and
systems to perform their tasks. Computer-aided design (CAD) uses a computer and
special software to aid in engineering, drafting, and design. CAD offers
several advantages over traditional manual drafting methods. CAD software, for
example, allows engineers to view single or multiple layers of an airplane’s
design. Manufacturing information systems not only assist in the actual
assembly process, but also assist in scheduling and managing the inventory of
parts and products. A quality control system helps an organization maintain or
improve the quality of its products or services. A quality control system
usually includes quality control software. Quality control software typically
requires a great deal of continuous data gathering from the organization’s
ongoing processes. A marketing information system serves as a central
repository for the tasks of the marketing functional unit. One type of
marketing information system is a market research system, which stores and
analyzes data gathered from demographics and surveys. Sales force automation
(SFA) software equips traveling salespeople with the electronic tools they need
to be more productive. SFA software helps salespeople manage customer contacts,
schedule customer meetings, log customer interactions, manage product
information, and take orders from customers. Distribution systems provide
forecasting for inventory control, manage and track shipping of products, and
provide information and analysis on inventory in warehouses. Customer
interaction management (CIM) software
manages the day-to-day interactions with customers, such as telephone
calls, e-mail interactions, Web interactions, and instant messaging sessions.
The information technology (IT) department makes technology decisions for the
enterprise, such as a decision whether to build or buy new information systems
or when a computer or information system has outlived its useful life.
3. What information
systems are used throughout an enterprise?
Some general purpose information systems, called
enterprise-wide systems, are used throughout an enterprise. An office information
system (OIS) enables employees to perform tasks using computers and other
electronic devices. A transaction processing system (TPS) captures and
processes data from dayto- day business activities. A management information
system (MIS) generates accurate, timely, and organized information, so that
users can make decisions, solve problems, supervise activities, and track
progress. A decision support system (DSS) helps users analyze data and make
decisions. An expert system captures and stores the knowledge of human experts
and then imitates human reasoning and decision making. Customer relationship
management (CRM) systems manage information about customers. Enterprise
resource planning (ERP) provides centralized, integrated software to help manage
and coordinate the ongoing activities of an enterprise. A content management
system (CMS) is a combination of databases, software, and procedures that
organizes and allows access to various forms of documents and files.
4. What are types of
technologies used throughout an enterprise?
Technologies used throughout an enterprise include the
following items. A portal is a collection of links, content, and services
presented on a Web page and designed to guide users to related to their jobs. A
data warehouse is a huge database that stores and manages the data required to
analyze historical and current transactions. An enterprise’s information
communications infrastructure consists of hardware (such as wired and wireless
network connections and devices, routers, fi rewalls, and servers), software
(such as e-mail, instant messaging, VoIP, and server management), and
procedures for using and managing hardware and software. An extranet allows
customers or suppliers to access part of an enterprise’s intranet. Web services
allow businesses to create products and B2B interactions over the Internet.
Many enterprises employ a service oriented architecture (SOA) to allow better
communications and services between diverse information systems. A document
management system (DMS) allows for storage and management of a company’s
documents. A workflow application assists in the management and tracking of the
activities in a business process from start to finish. A virtual private
network (VPN) provides users with a secure connection to a company’s network
server.
5. What are
virtualization, cloud computing, and grid computing?
Due to the often dynamic nature
of enterprise computing needs, IT administrators often use virtualization to
adapt quickly to the change. Virtualization is the practice of sharing or
pooling computing resources, such as servers and storage devices. Server
virtualization provides the capability to divide a physical server logically
into many virtual servers. From the end user’s point of view, a virtual server
behaves just like a physical server. The advantages of server virtualization
are that a virtual server can be created and configured quickly, does not
require a new physical server, and is easier to manage. increases, companies
may find that using outside computing resources is more economical than
building new computing capacity internally. Cloud and grid computing are two
new technologies that provide flexible and massive online computing power.
Cloud computing is an Internet service that provides computing needs to
computer users. For example, an employee working during the day in California
could use computing power in a Paris network system located in an office that
is closed for the evening. When the company uses the computing resources, they
pay a fee based on the amount of computing time and other resources that they
consume, much in the way that consumers pay utility companies, such as the
electric company, based on how much electricity they use. Cloud computing
allows a company to diversify its network and server infrastructure. Some cloud
computing services automatically add more network and server capacity to a
company’s Web site as demand for services of the Web site increases. The
network and server capacity may be duplicated around the world so that, for
example, an outage of a single server does not affect the company’s operations.
Grid computing combines many servers and/or personal computers on a network,
such as the Internet, to act as one large computer. As with cloud computing, a
company may pay for the use of a grid based on the amount of processing time
that it needs. Grid computing often is used in research environments, such as
climate research and life science problems. For example, the SETI@home project
uses a grid of millions of personal computers around the world to search radio
signals for signs of extraterrestrial life.
6. What are the
computer hardware needs and solutions for an enterprise?
Enterprise hardware allows large organizations to manage and
store information and data using devices geared for heavy use, maximum
availability, and maximum efficiency. To meet these needs, enterprise hardware
often includes levels of redundancy, which means that if one piece of the
hardware breaks, another part can assume its tasks. Enterprises often rely on
legacy systems. A legacy system is an information system that has existed
within the organization for an extended length of time and is relied upon
heavily. Enterprises often struggle with the decision to replace legacy systems
with newer technology. A group of two or more integrated hard disks is called a
RAID (redundant array of independent disks). Although quite expensive for large
computers, RAID is more reliable than traditional hard disks. Networks and
Internet servers often use RAID. RAID duplicates data, instructions, and
information to improve data reliability. RAID implements this duplication in
different ways, depending on the storage design, or level, being used.
7. What are high
availability, scalability, and interoperability?
A high-availability system continues running and performing
tasks for at least 99 percent of the time. Some users demand that
high-availability systems be available for 99.9 percent or 99.99 percent of the
time. Uptime is a measurement of availability. A system that has an uptime of
99.99 percent is nonfunctional for less than one hour per year. That one hour,
called downtime, includes any time that the computer crashes, needs repairs, or
requires installation of replacement or upgrade parts. A system with 99.9
percent availability is said to have three nines of availability, and a system
with 99.99 percent availability is said to have four nines of availability. As
an enterprise grows, its information systems either must grow with it or must
be replaced. Scalability is a measure of how well computer hardware, software,
or an information system can grow to meet increasing performance demands. A
system that is designed, built, or purchased when the company is small may be
inadequate when the company doubles in size. When making decisions for
computing solutions, managers must be careful to consider the growth plans of
the company. Enterprises typically build and buy a diverse set of information
systems. An information system often must share information, or have
interoperability, with other information systems within the enterprise.
Information systems that more easily share information with other information
systems are said to be open. Information systems that are more difficult to
interoperate with other information systems are said to be closed, or
proprietary. Recent open systems employ XML and Web services to allow a greater
level of interoperability.
8. Why is computer
backup important, and how is it accomplished?
Business and home users can perform four types of backup:
full, differential, incremental, or selective. A fifth type, continuous data
protection, typically is used only by large enterprises. A full backup,
sometimes called an archival backup, copies all of the files in the computer. A
full backup provides the best protection against data loss because it copies
all program and data files. Performing a full backup can be time-consuming.
Users often combine full backups with differential and incremental backups. A
differential backup copies only the files that have changed since the last full
backup. An incremental backup copies only the files that have changed since the
last full or last incremental backup. A selective backup, sometimes called a
partial backup, allows the user to choose specific files to back up, regardless
of whether or not the files have changed since the last incremental backup.
With incremental backups, you have the full backup and one or more incremental
backups. The first incremental backup contains changes since the last full
backup. Each subsequent incremental backup contains changes only since the
previous incremental backup. Continuous data protection (CDP), or continuous
backup, is a backup plan in which all data is backed up whenever a change is
made. Because CDP is costly, few organizations have implemented continuous data
protection, but its popularity is growing quickly as the cost for the
technology falls. CDP requires little or no maintenance when compared to other
backup methods. Many experts believe that CDP will replace all other types of
backups in the future. Backup procedures specify a regular plan of copying and
storing important data and program files. Generally, users should perform a
full backup at regular intervals, such as at the end of each week and at the
end of the month. Between full backups, you can perform differential or
incremental backups. Whatever backup procedures a company adopts, they should
be stated clearly, documented in writing, and followed consistently.
9. What are the steps
in a disaster recovery plan?
A disaster recovery plan is a written plan describing the
steps a company would take to restore computer operations in the event of a disaster.
Every company and each department or division within an enterprise usually has
its own disaster recovery plans. A disaster recovery plan contains four major
components: the emergency plan, the backup plan, the recovery plan, and the test
plan. An emergency plan specifies the steps to be taken immediately after a
disaster strikes. The emergency plan usually is organized by type of disaster,
such as fire, flood, or earthquake. Depending on the nature and extent of the
disaster, the procedures that are followed in an emergency will differ. Once
the procedures in the emergency plan have been executed, the next step is to
follow the backup plan. The backup plan specifies how an organization uses
backup files and equipment to resume information processing. The backup plan
should specify the location of an alternate computer facility in the event the
organization’s normal location is destroyed or unusable. The recovery plan
specifies the actions to be taken to restore full information processing
operations. As with the emergency plan, the recovery plan differs for each type
of disaster. To prepare for disaster recovery, an organization should establish
planning committees, with each one responsible for different forms of recovery.
To provide assurance that the disaster plan is complete, it should be tested. A
disaster recovery test plan contains information for simulating various levels
of disasters and recording an organization’s ability to recover. In a
simulation, all personnel follow the steps in the disaster recovery plan. Any
needed recovery actions that are not specified in the plan should be added. Although
simulations can be scheduled, the best test of the plan is to simulate a
disaster without advance notice.
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