4041isys tcm4-124380

Information Systems
Information Organisation
Higher
4041
Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 1

Autumn 1998
HIGHER STILL
Information Systems
Information Organisation Higher
Support Materials

This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part for educational purposes provided that no profit is
derived from the reproduction and that, if reproduced in part, the source is acknowledged.
First published 1998
Higher Still Development Unit

PO Box 12754
Ladywell House
Ladywell Road
Edinburgh
EH12 7YH
Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher)

CONTENTS
Section 1 Teacher/Lecturer Notes
Section 2 Students Notes
Section 3 Study Materials

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher)
Section 1 Teacher/Lecturer
Notes

HIGHER STILL: INFORMATION SYSTEMS
INFORMATION ORGANISATION (HIGHER)
Aim
This unit allows students to develop an appreciation of the value of information to
individuals and organisations together with awareness of the sources of information
and practice in accessing these sources.
Status of this Teaching and Learning Pack

These materials are for guidance only. The mandatory content of this unit is detailed
in the unit specification of the Arrangements document.
Target audience
Students should have some knowledge, understanding and skills related to the subject
matter. These might have been obtained through appropriate experience, or
attainment of the Information Systems course at Intermediate 2 level, or Standard
Grade in Computing Studies (Grade 1 or 2).
Progression
Within Information Systems, the unit provides background knowledge and skills to
enable student to tackle Information Systems Higher level.
Hardware and software resources

To be finalised after completion of materials
Learning and teaching approaches

The pack concentrates on what the student should know and understand. It is
designed to indicate the level of treatment of the unit topics; it is not a collection of
worksheets, although there are a number of student activities included to aid
understanding.
Where activities are included you will need to support such activities with direct
teaching, and exemplification.
The pathway through the unit recommended in the pack follows the order of the
outcomes in the unit arrangements. It works through the outcomes as follows:
Outcome 1: Explain the value of information
Outcome 2: Describe the characteristics and sources of information

Outcome 3: Investigate the organisation of contemporary information systems
Outcome 4: Explain the social, ethical and legal implications of information systems
This order allows students to:

understand what information is, its origins, forms and uses
gain detailed knowledge of the characteristics and sources of information whilst

offering in addition the opportunity to discuss the various media used for
transmission of information
have the opportunity to investigate the technical make-up of current information

systems, and the uses, navigation and structure of them
consider the ethical and social implications of information technology whilst

additionally examining the legislation relating to these uses.
The pack is divided into sections, one for each outcome. Sections one and two within
the Student Guide should be completed in that order. Sections three and four are
discrete. If you wish to go through the unit in any alternative order, simply reorder
the sections and remove the linkage sentence between section one and two.
The performance criteria and range for each outcome are all covered though not
necessarily in the order stated in the Arrangements. To aid usage the
Teacher/Lecturer Guide will indicate the matching of material to PCs and range.
Pathway through the unit

The concepts, terms and skills covered in a section are listed at the top of the student
notes for that section and therefore not repeated here.
The suggested number of hours for each section includes time for an introduction to
the topic, discussion and exemplification of concepts, use of resources and where
appropriate assessment.
Title of Section Page No Hours Assessed
1 Explain the value of information 5
2 Describe the characteristics and sources of 10

information
3 Investigate the organisation of 20
contemporary information systems
4 Explain the social, ethical and legal 5
implications of information systems

References
Books
Managing Information - Working Smarter Not Harder Hugh Garai
Gower Publishing - ISBN 0-566-07740-X
Management Information Systems 7th Edition Terry Lucey 1995
DP Publications Ltd - ISBN 1-85805-106-1
The Information Society - Issues and Illusions David Lyon
Polity Press ISBN 0-7546-0369-6
Local Area Networks and their Application Brendan Tangney and Donal OMahony
Management Information Systems Charles Parker and Thomas Case
Managing Information Network for Competitive Advantage Stephen R Ives
Information Systems for Managers George Reynolds
Business Data Communications David A Stamper
Data Communications, Computer Networks and Open Systems Fred Halsall
Novells Guide to Creating IntranetWare Intranets Karanjit Siyan
Magazine articles
Caught Looking by Angus Hamilton PC Pro March 1998
PC Policy by Angus Hamilton PC Pro April 1998
Internet Resources
http://www.internethics.org/charter.htm
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1984/1984035.htm http://www.dpr.gov.uk/
http://www.strath.ac.uk/Department/Law/student/PERSONAL/R_BATTOCK/crime2.
htm
http://194.128.65.3/acts/summary/01990018.htm
http://www.twobirds.com/template/archives/news.24-020-98-1.htm
http://www.eeng.brad.ac.uk/help/.regulations/.cma90.htm
http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVL Pages/QltyPages/QltyEtiq.html
http://www.csi.uottowa.ca/~dduchier/misc/infohighway1.html
Section 2
Students Guide

INFORMATION ORGANISATION (HIGHER)
The purpose of the material following is to help you gain the knowledge needed to
achieve the unit Information Organisation at Higher level.
You should already have:

Intermediate 2 Information Systems
or
Standard Grade Computing
Studies or relevant experience in
computing
You will find a mixture of notes and activities in each section to be studied. As well
as these notes your teacher/lecturer will be covering a number of topics of
background information and leading discussion groups on the material. In addition
you may be asked to do some extension activities in your own time - this will be
made clear by your Teacher/Lecturer at the right time during your learning.
You should complete all attached materials and additional work outlined by your
Teacher/Lecturer.
You will then be able to:

explain the value of information
describe the characteristics and sources of information
investigate the organisation of contemporary information systems
explain the social, ethical and legal implications of information systems.
Section 3 Study
Materials

SECTION 1 - EXPLAIN THE VALUE OF INFORMATION
This section of notes and activities will help you:

understand the difference between data and information
see how information is used
classify information as useful for day-to-day, mid-term, or long-term purposes
create a list of your own information needs for current and future plans and
decisions.
DEFINITIONS OF DATA AND INFORMATION
Data are facts, events, transactions and so on which have been recorded. They are
the input raw materials from which information is produced
Terry Lucey 1995
Management Information Systems 7th Edition
Information is a resource and as such it is not, it becomes. What does this mean? It
means information only becomes a resource when its of value to you. It ceases to be
a resource as soon as you dont need it.
David Lyon 1997
The Information Society Issues and Illusions
Data are the facts and figures that record, on a day-to-day basis, the performance
within organisations. All activities within organisations function by making use of
processed data.
Information is the final product created from the raw material of data. Information is
one of the main resources used by organisations and should be valued in the same
way as property, stock or skilled workers.
Data within organisations is collected in various forms, for example, transactions in a

bank. The data are the details relating to the actions carried out on accounts during a
specific time period. The transactions for each account could include:
all uses of cash/switch cards
all direct debits
all standing orders
all deposits and transfers
all cheques issued

all bank charges applied
The information produced would be a bank statement showing transactions and end of
period account balance.
Information within organisations would be the summaries of actions carried out as

required by subsequent activities within the organisation.
Once data is processed it creates a resource for individuals to use in day-to-day life
and work in organisations.

WHAT IS DATA? WHAT IS INFORMATION?
Facts and figures which on their own Organised facts collected together in a form
are not useful or valuable to you relevant to your needs conveying a message
Example
Example
0 3 0990 50 30 20
1 (Disney Holiday Video phoneline).
8 5 9
4 5
ONLY WHEN DATA IS PRESENTED IN A USEFUL FORM DOES IT

BECOME INFORMATION
Advertisement appearing in a localAdvertisement appearing in a local

newspaper newspaper two months ago:today:
You can get a 25% discount in anyYou can get a 10% discount in any
SuperMusic
SuperMusic Store on any CD orStore on any CD or Video on presentation of Video
on presentation of thisthis advertisement and proof of residence in
advertisement and proof of residencethat area until the end of this
month.
in that area until the end of this
month.
This is data which has no relevanceThis is information. It is now

useful (that is if to your needs todayyou want CDs or Videos at a discount
price).
SO INFORMATION HAS TO BE RELEVANT AND

OF VALUE TO YOU!
Activity
Below are samples of data. For each you should complete the gap in the information
section of the table with the actions required to turn the data into what would be
information to you

DATA INFORMATION
A total of three hundred and forty one Assume you are the returning officer for the
thousand nine hundred and twenty two byelection. The information you require is the
votes were cast in the local by-election by votes cast for each candidate.
close of poll stations at 10.00 p.m. last
night
The current BT meter reading for your Assume that you are the person responsible for
home phone currently shows 1203 units paying the bills from BT. The information you
used need is the bill to be paid.
The current entry requirements for your Assume you wish to apply for entry to a particular
local university ranges from two to four course next year. You need to know what the
Highers specific entry requirements are for the course that
you wish to enter.
After completion of the table, you should check against the responses shown
DATA INFORMATION

A total of three hundred and forty one Assume you are the returning officer for the
thousand nine hundred and twenty two byelection. The information you require is the
votes were cast in the local by-election by votes cast for each candidate.
close of poll stations at 10.00 p.m. last
night An individual tally has to be made of the votes
cast for each candidate Or
the data has to be organised into sets of votes for

each candidate and then totaled.
The current BT meter reading for your Assume that you are the person responsible for
home phone currently shows 1203 units paying the bills from BT. The information your
used need is the bill to be paid.
The number of units has to be divided into types of

calls that were made and then the call charges for
each have to be calculated. The call charges are
added to the rental charge for the line, any
additional charges for special services such as call
barring and then the total has to have VAT added
so that the final bill charge is reached.
The current entry requirements for your Assume you wish to apply for entry to a particular
local university ranges from two to four course next year. You need to know what the
Highers specific entry requirements are for the course that
you wish to enter.
The information has to be sorted into course, the

courses of interest are extracted and then sorted
according to order of preference by institute.
Remember though - information to you may be data to someone else!

Data can also be known as unprocessed information.

Data becoming information for a power consumer
DATA PROCESS INFORMATION
Electricity bill with

amount due.
Electricity meter reading
Current reading - Previous
reading = Usage
Name and Address
Usage X Charge = Amount due
Customer = Name and Address

Extension Activity
List three examples of:

Data Processes carried out on the data The information which results
Make each example relevant to a need you have Suggestions:
Information required for a social event
Information about possible career paths
Information for organising a tour of your home area for a visitor

DATA PROCESS INFORMATION
Information is a major resource in our day-to-day lives and in running a

business. Very little activity can take place without the appropriate information
being available.
USES OF INFORMATION WITHIN ORGANISATIONS
What is information used for within an organisation?

Planning
Decision- making
Control
Education
Planning
Planning involves actions carried out leading to the forming of a set of aims to be
achieved.
These actions are the steps to be taken in the future to get where you have decided
you are going.
Having decided on a goal an organisation must know the actions to be carried out to
achieve it - the activity of setting down the actions is known as planning.
Where are we going?
How will we get there?
Two methods used are forecasting and modelling each of which is based on the usage
of raw data.
Decision-making
Decision-making is the ability to examine information related to any situation
alternative actions available, probable results of actions available - and to identify the
next action(s) to be taken.
In order to make suitable decisions all information related to a situation should be

available. An informed person or group should carry out decision-making
Control
Control is the monitoring or checking of current performance against expected results.
Control allows organisations to see if everything is progressing according to plans.
Control identifies where there is a variance from the expected results. Adjustments
can take place to return to the expected performance rates.
Education
Without full knowledge of developments in a field of activities, an organisation will
be unable to function to its best ability. Ongoing education in relation to current
developments within industry and management techniques will allow an organisation
to carry out its activities to the optimum level.
information about advancements in production techniques

information about the latest available machines for production

information collected about the customers of the business
information on the latest training methods for staff
All of these are educational information for an organisation to keep up-to-date. If an

organisation fails to use information to educate the staff and enhance the knowledge
base available it will be much more difficult for them to continue let alone grow and
improve.

PLANNING, DECISION MAKING, CONTROL AND EDUCATION
EXAMPLES
ORGANISATIONAL USES
Planning Without a plan a business will not

achieve it aims.
For example, if we wish to increase our

market share we should plan activities
that would allow us to make this happen
within a specified time scale.
Decision-making Without making decisions a business

would not continue to exist. For example,
- What business are we in?
Only when that decision is made will a

business progress.
Control Without checking against targets a

business will not know its progress. For
example, in a plan to increase our
market share we have to know what our
share is to start with. We also have to
know what we want to increase market
share to, otherwise we will not know
whether the target improvement has
been achieved.
Education Without keeping up-to-date in current

technological developments a business
could not survive. Without knowledge of
relevant legislation an organisation will
be unable to function within the bounds
of the law.
PERSONAL USES OF INFORMATION
Many personal uses are the same as organisational uses. It is possible to identify
Planning, Decision-making, Control and Education within personal life.

Planning Without a plan it will be more difficult to
achieve what you want. For example I
want to gain a degree in computing. I
have to plan what units and grades I have
to achieve.
Decision-making
Without making decisions we would not
get very much done in day-to-day life.
For example -
What will I wear to go out today?
What will I have for breakfast? Without
deciding about subsequent activities we
would not progress towards anything.
Control Without checking against targets you will

be unable to check true levels of
achievement.
For example - Have I got all the entrance
requirements to take the degree course in
computing?
Have I got enough money to go on a
night out?
In each of these cases there will be a
standard to measure against and possible
actions available where the standard is
not being reached.
Education Without gaining appropriate information

regarding the availability of degree level
computing courses it will be difficult to
carry out any of the other activities.
THE NATURE OF INFORMATION
Within organisations information will be used for decision-making, planning, control

and education at many levels.
What do levels mean?

An organisation can be regarded as being like a pyramid structure made up of a
number of levels. The standard names used for the levels of organisations are:
Strategic
Tactical
Operational
Strategic
Tactical
Operational
Each of these will have different information requirements.
Information requirements for organisations
Operational
This is the bottom level of management within an organisation. For example,

Section Supervisors. This is the level where day-to-day decisions are made.
This level will implement decisions made by tactical management.
Information required at this level would be termed operational information.

Tactical
This is middle level management within an organisation. For example,

Departmental managers. This level makes mid-term decisions that are from
one to three years. This level will be implementing the strategic decisions
made by the level above. Information required at this level would be termed
tactical information.
Strategic
This is top level management within an organisation. For example,

Directors/Board of Management. This level makes long term decisions for the
future plans and development of the organisation. Information required at this
level would be termed strategic information.
Each of the levels within an organisation requires using information for

decisionmaking, planning, control and education.
Information used within organisations may be classified as:

Strategic
Tactical
Operational
Examine the list of sample information below and the classification as related to its
uses in levels of an organisation.
The example organisation is a confectionery manufacturer.
SAMPLE INFORMATION
USE WITHIN
ORGANISATION

STRATEGIC Broad based information from both internal and external
sources is required. Examples of external information
may be: What are other confectionery manufacturers
currently doing? Are they launching new products,
revamping or re-launching existing products? What is the
share of the market that each competitor holds? What is
the general trend of confectionery sales? (are sales
increasing or decreasing or even staying still?) Are there
any government - local or national policies or legislation
which may effect confectionery sales?
Examples of internal information of a strategic nature
might be: Is the factory working to full capacity? Are all
functional areas (that is departments) performing to
expected levels?
TACTICAL Mainly internal information but some external. Internal

information would tend to be functional area related. For
example: Production: production schedules, downtime
(time lost on the production line due to changes in
product or faults in production line), costs of production.
Personnel: absenteeism rates, staff skill levels, staff
training programs, trade union agreements, and sources of
new staff.
External information too relates to specific functional

areas. For example: Sales and Marketing: market
research, competitor actions, customer background,
demographic trends (population details and make up).
Purchasing: sources of raw material, materials prices,
prices of packaging.
OPERATIONAL Largely internal information examples of which might be:

staff holidays, raw materials on order, current customer
orders, customer credit status, how much raw material is
in stock
Again it is possible to draw a parallel between organisational and personal this time in
the nature of information requirements.
Personal information too may be classified as Strategic, Tactical and Operational

Creating a list of personal requirements

To help you define personal information as strategic, tactical and operational you
should complete the tables that follow.
Read the instructions carefully before you start.
Instructions
For each classification of information (strategic, tactical and operational)
1. Enter a decision which would fall into that classification.
2. Note the information requirements for this.
3. Enter planning you would have to carry out in that classification.
5. Enter controls you might have to apply in that classification.
7. Enter education you might require in that classification.
TABLE 1 - YOUR STRATEGIC INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
STRATEGIC
(long term, 3+ years)
Decision
Information required
Planning

Control
Education
TABLE 2 - YOUR TACTICAL INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
TACTICAL
(mid-term, 1 to 3 years)
Decision

Planning
Control
Education
TABLE 3 - YOUR OPERATIONAL INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS
OPERATIONAL
(Day-to-day)
Decision

Planning
Control
Education
SUMMARY
After completion of the work in this section you should be able to
tell the difference between data and information and explain it.
describe the uses of information i.e. for planning, decision making, control and
education.

classify information as Strategic, Tactical or Operational for organisational and
personal uses.
produce a list of your own information requirements.
Information should have value to the user. In Section 2 you will examine what makes
information valuable to the user.

SECTION 2 - DESCRIBE THE CHARACTERISTICS AND SOURCES OF
INFORMATION
This section of notes and activities will help you describe correctly:
the characteristics of information
the sources of information
the types of media for transmitting information
What should information be like to be relevant?

In the section that follows you will examine:
WHAT INFORMATION SHOULD BE LIKE
this will be examined in the section on characteristics
WHERE INFORMATION IS FOUND
this will be examined in the section on sources
Characteristics
Aspects of information which, when present, ensure that the information is usable by
the recipient.
Sources
The location where information is found. These can be either internal or external to
the organisation. Information may be available on different media in both internal
and external sources.
Media: paper documentation, broadcast, and digital. These will be looked at in depth
later on in this section.
CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMATION
You require information to allow you to make a decision on whether to purchase a
sound system you have seen in a local shop. You have also obtained advertising
literature about this particular sound system.
Examine the table that follows and answer the questions in the spaces provided.
Mark YES or NO beside each according to what you think would be the case.
You require information to make this decision but what should it be like?

Below is a set of questions regarding the information you may require for this
decision
Should the information be available later?
Should the information be easy to find or get?
How much will it cost to get this information?
Can the information you require be legally obtained?

(Including consideration of copyright.)
Should the information found be of value?
Should the information contain all that you need to

know?
Should the information you find be in an efficient form

short enough to assimilate easily?
Should the information available be correct?
Should the information be relevant for your needs?
Should it be easy to find the main points in the

information?
Should the information be pleasing in presentation - in

an aesthetically appealing format?
After completion of the tables you should check against the responses shown - a short
justification has been supplied against each characteristic being considered to aid your
understanding.
Should the information be
available later? NO
This is Timeliness.
Information should be available now or
it will not be available in time to make a
good decision.

Should the information be easy to
find or get? YES
This is Accessibility
If information is not easy to find it may
take too much time and then be of no
use for making the decision.
Should it cost a lot to get this

information? NO
This is Cost.
Information which costs too much
reduces any benefits gained.
Can the information you require YES

be legally obtained? This is Legality.
(Including consideration of If information is not acquired legally
copyright.) then you are liable to prosecution.
Should the information found be of YES

value? This is Value.
If not of value then whatever was
obtained even if it was legal would not
be information.
Should the information contain all YES

that you need to know? This is Completeness.
If information is incomplete then it is of
little or no value.
Should the information you find be

in an efficient form - short enough YES
to read and absorb easily? This is Conciseness.
If not concise the information might
take too long to interpret and a decision
delayed until too late.
Should the information available

be correct? YES
This is Accuracy.
If information is not correct then the
wrong decision could be made.

Should the information be relevant
for your needs? YES
This is Appropriateness.
If information is irrelevant then even if
accurate and on time it would not be
useful in making the decision.
Should it be easy to find the main

points in the information? YES
This is Structure.
If information has no structure then by
the time appropriate factors have been
extracted it might be too late to make
the decision.
Should the information be pleasing

in presentation - in an YES
aesthetically appealing format? This is Presentation.
If information is not presented suitably
then users may find it of little value.
Each word in bold is a characteristic of information. Further details of these

characteristics related to organisational information for decision making follows.
Accessibility
Information should be easy to obtain or access. For example, if a Building
Society keeps all details of mortgage accounts on a kardex system (a set of
boxes each containing identically sized cards indexed, usually alphabetically
or perhaps by account number), this is not particularly easy to access.
Accuracy
Information should be correct. If not, then decisions based on it can be
incorrect. For example, if government statistics based on the last census
wrongly show an increase in births within an area, plans may be made to build
schools and construction companies may invest in new housing developments.
In these cases any investment may not be recouped.
Appropriateness
Information should be relevant to the purpose for which it is required. It must
be suitable. For example, an organisation needs to upgrade their current
Management Information system and the consultant has recommended a new
system that costs three times more than the original. The information
regarding the new system loses relevance.

Completeness
Information should contain all details required by the user otherwise, if used
as the basis for a decision, then the results could at best not meet expectations.
For example, if an organisation is supplied with information regarding the
costs of supplying a fleet of cars for the sales force, and service and
maintenance costs are not included, then costings based on the information
will be considerably underestimated.
Conciseness
Information should be in a form that is short enough to allow for its
examination and use. For example, a personnel manager for a pharmaceutical
manufacturer has been given one week to upgrade the factory area to match
new legislation relating to safety measures. The information is contained in
three volumes. It may not be possible to extract relevant details in time to alter
procedures. The information may be complete, available now, have cost little,
been obtained legally but it is not concise enough to make changes in time.
Cost
Information should be available within set cost levels that may vary dependent
on situation. If costs are too high to obtain information an organisation may
decide to seek slightly less comprehensive information elsewhere. For
example, an organisation wants to commission a market survey on a new
product. The survey could cost more than the forecasted initial profit from the
product. The organisation would probably decide that a less costly source of
information should be used, which may give inferior information.
Legality
Information should be obtained within the limits of the law. Legislation
covering this in Britain would include the Data Protection Act 1984 and the
Copyright Act. Uses of information should also be within the law. For
example, customers of an organisation have to agree before being put on a
mailing list for other products. Their name and address may legally be passed
on to another organisation. However, information held on their income may
not be.
Presentation
The presentation of information is important to the user. Information can be
more easily assimilated if it is aesthetically pleasing. For example, a
marketing report that includes graphs of statistics will be more concise as well
as aesthetically pleasing to the users within the organisation.
Structure
Information in an organised, structured form is easier to use. By nature,
structured information is concise. This type of information has sections,

tables, headings and summaries to allow the user to extract their requirements
in less time. The information is easier to search through in a short time.
Timeliness
Information must be on time for the purpose for which it is required.
Information received too late will be irrelevant. For example, a company
requires information about trade fairs to allow it to display and demonstrate a
new product line. The information arrives two days after the last booking date
to be included in the fairs. The information is too late to be of use.
Value
The relative importance of information for decision making can increase or
decrease its value to an organisation. For example, an organisation requires
information on a competitors performance that is critical to their decision on
whether to invest in new machinery for their factory. The value of this
information would be high. Always keep in mind that information should be
available on time, within cost constraints and be legally obtained.
Sources of Information
Information can be obtained from a number of sources both internal and external to
the organisation.
Internal - from within the organisation.
External - from a sources outwith the organisation.
Internal
Organisations have many internal sources of information. All paper
documentation, procedure manuals and intranets (based on local-area
networks) are internal sources of information.
Paper Documentation.
All organisations have a wide variety of paper documentation however a
number of documents are commonly used by organisations. Below is a list
which, although not exhaustive, should give you an understanding of the
variety of documents used. You could use your own background or research
to extend this list.
Order Form
Invoice
Credit Note
Budget
Production Schedule

Time Sheet
Clock Card
Sales Report
Requisition
Personnel Record
Holiday Request
Price List
Obviously these documents are hard copy but what information can be gained from
them and to what use can it be put?
Order Form
Contains all details required to allow a customer to order a delivery of goods
from the organisation. Uses: to allow completion and subsequent dispatch of
goods required by customer; to use as input to the creation of an invoice. This
document consists usually of customer name, address, customer number, and
goods being requested including a stock reference, description and quantity
required. In some companies this document is part of a multi-part set which
also includes Delivery Note and Invoice.
Can you think of another use to which the information contained in this
document could be put?
Invoice
A document that details customer name and address; customer number; date
of invoice and goods dispatched. This document is in effect a bill to the
customer for goods supplied. Use for the information may be - credit control
(that is to see how long it takes a customer to settle and outstanding account).
Credit Note
A document used in organisations to issue to customers the details of the
goods being credited, the reason for the credit being authorised and the
amount. The amount can be credited to the customer account, in which case
the credit note is information for the customer. If the goods have been faulty
or damaged, the customer may be issued with a document telling the customer
that he/she can obtain other goods from the organisation to the value of the
original purchase.
Budget
A document that states the targets of expenditure or achievement for a
particular section or department within an organisation. For example, a
budget might show the projected expenditure on stationery, maintenance,
software upgrade, consumables and personnel costs for an information
technology section within an organisation. This term can also be used to

indicate the targets salespersons have to achieve in a given time period. The
first is the more commonly held meaning for this document.
Production Schedule
A document that outlines the projected performance of a production line either
by goods or time period. These documents are usually based on projected
sales of good to be produced or required to fill customer orders currently
outstanding. Sometimes information regarding staffing and maintenance
requirements will also be found in this type of document.
Time Sheet
A document that indicates the breakdown of personnel time related to job or
activity carried out within an identified period of time.
Clock Card
A document used in conjunction with a device that is capable of recording the
time of insertion of the card into the device. These tend to be used for the
calculation of gross payment for individual workers within a section of the
organisation. (Often used for factory workers or any other category paid on
an hourly basis.)
Sales Report
A document that reflects the performance levels either of sales representatives
or products within an organisation. Frequently used in conjunction with
production schedules.
Requisition
This is generally a document that is internal to the organisation and identifies
the component parts that are required to be taken out of store to complete a
particular task.
Personnel Record
A document outlining employee details. Areas of inclusion could be:
employee name and address, National Insurance number, start date, absence
record, qualifications held, development and training details.
Holiday Request
A document that is completed to allow an employee to request an allocation of
time off.
Price list
A document that includes lists of stock item numbers, description and selling
prices.

Procedure Manuals
A manual by definition is a set of instructions on how to carry out given
activities/tasks. A procedure is a set of related activities. A Procedure Manual is a
document that list sequences of instructions to be followed in order to carry out sets
of activities in accordance with an organisations standards. This type of manual sets
out standards for departments, sections and individuals to follow. This ensures that,
whatever the activities to be performed, everyone in the organisation is performing
them the same way.
The procedure manual ensures that from section to section within an organisation and
from department to department there is standardisation. This means that no matter
where in the organisation you look, things are being done the same way.
Examples of Procedure Manuals could include :

Procedures for production of all internal documents including naming details,
paper size, paper type, layout used (including font, margins, tab positions and
spacing), proforma, specific inclusions (such as contact extension number of
originator).
Procedures for completion of organisational forms such as orders and stock

requisitions.
Procedures for runs of computer programs.
Procedures for staff grievances.
Procedures for security with a computer installation.
In fact, where a set of activities has to be performed the same way each time for
safety, security and standardisation, it is beneficial to have a procedure manual
covering these requirements.
Procedure manuals are used for staff induction, staff training and as sources of
information for studying the way an organisation runs.

An example in use would be a procedures manual used by an organisation for fire
evacuation procedures.
List below five sets of activities that might be included in this type of Procedure
manual
ACTIVITIES FOR BENEFIT AGENCY PROCEDURE MANUAL
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Examine the activities noted in the table below.

Examine the list of Procedure Manuals also listed below.
Write beside each set of activities the manual in which they should be included. (Use
the list of Procedure Manuals given.)
Procedure Manuals
Computer Installation Security Measures
Sales Techniques
Customer Liaison
Recruitment and Selection Procedures
Grievance Procedures
ACTIVITIES PROCEDURE MANUAL
Cold calling - introduction, services

available, leaving the door open
Interview Techniques
Completion of the Sales contract
Equal opportunities policy
Backup procedures
Design of Job and person specifications
Care of the workstation
Faulty goods procedures
Complaints - completion of Credit Notes,

refunding to credit cards
Design of Training Programmes

Intranets
The Intranet was designed to overcome the security issues of the Internet and allow
companies to publish their own web pages for internal use. The Intranet uses the same
technology as the Internet (see section on Internet) a web server for storing and
distributing the multimedia documents in hypertext format and web browsers to
convert the HTLM documents back into multimedia files.
Intranets are used to publish internal information such as:
employee lists
internal telephone numbers
weekly bulletins
company manuals
corporate newsletters
holiday arrangements
health and safety documents internal job applications
internal electronic mail.
In fact, any internal document could be published on a companys Intranet.
If your school or college had its own Intranet, what kind of documents would you
expect to be published on it?
There are many benefits to be gained by a company installing an Intranet. These

include:
Cost savings - electronically published documents reduce paper and reproduction
costs
Timing changes made to electronic documents become immediately available to

all users of the Intranet
Accuracy having one central document that is accessible by everyone means that
all users have the latest version of the document. This ensure consistency across
the entire organisation.
The Intranet is normally part of a local area network that is not connected to the
outside world (the Internet). Once the Intranet is joined onto the Internet extra
security precautions have to be made in order to stop unwanted intrusions from the
outside. This usually takes the form of a firewall, a piece of software which filters
out traffic coming from the Internet but allows internal traffic to pass out onto the
Internet.

SERVER
RUNNING
EMAIL, WEB FIREWALL
AND ALLOWS
FIREWALL TRAFFIC FROM
SOFTWARE INTRANET OUT
Case Study Central College of Commerce Intranet

The traditional way of contacting students and disseminating information is to use
notice boards spread around the college. Notice boards are used to display
information such as timetables, results, forthcoming events, job advertisements and
information regarding the courses. With so many courses within the computing
section at the college the notice boards were becoming overcrowded and students
were having difficulty trying to find information.
As all of the computers within the department were networked onto several Novell
NetWare 4 servers, a decision was taken to install the Novell web server on one of the
servers and use this to publish the information normally kept on the students notice
board.
Soon the department began to see further uses that could be made of the web server.
Course frameworks, unit and module descriptors, course materials and assessments
are now being put onto the server reducing the amount of paper used by the
department. The students are seeing the benefits of Intranet technology. They can now
get instant access to their results making them more aware of their course progress.

EXTERNAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
These sources can include:
published documentation
broadcast
the Internet
Published Documentation
Any documentation relating to a subject area produced as a summary or
detailed report by an agency outwith an organisation. This type of
information is obtainable from for example - government agencies, private
information providers
Examples of published documentation might be:

census figures
judgments on court cases
legislation, for example the Data Protection Act
trade journals
professional publications
industry standards
telephone directories
computer users yearbook
gallup polls
national opinion polls
ordinance survey maps
the Internet
The list could be endless, however, information provided can be used as:
a research basis for adoption of policies within organisations
background information for development of new procedures in

organisations
necessary information to formulate policies and plans for

organisations
Information is available and transferable in a number of different forms/media. Trends

are moving towards broadcast and digital information. In society today time is at a
premium for organisations, their management and staff.

Broadcast
Television
Most homes in Britain have at least one television. Many of these televisions are
equipped to receive teletext. The information contained in the teletext pages is
integrated into the normal television signal.
The information comes in the form of pages of text with limited graphics. Each page
has an associated page number that can be used to call up the page when needed.
Teletext has no search facilities. We cannot scan through the pages looking for
keywords or phrases. Instead we use an index page to locate information. If we are
looking for information on a specific topic such as todays television listings for
BBC1, we can key in the number of the index page on our television remote control.
Once this page is displayed we can find the relevant page number of the programme
listings and key that into the remote control. The pages of text usually have links to
other relevant pages or to pages which contain a continuation of the first page (you
cant get a lot of detail onto a single page).
Teletext uses a simplex form of communication, that is, information flows in one
direction only. Since a television set has no means of transmitting, it cannot request
that the page be sent immediately. Instead the transmission of the pages cycles
around. The hardware in the television waits for the specified page arriving. When the
page arrives, a frame grabber holds the page in memory allowing it to be read. Some
of the newer televisions have SmartText which store the next couple of pages as
well as the one requested as we usually read the next page anyway. This speeds up the
process of viewing consecutive pages.
There are several drawbacks to using teletext as a means of delivering information.
It is difficult to update pages in teletext. Unlike the Internet where almost anyone
can put information onto the network for a relatively low cost, teletext companies
like the BBCs CEEFAX service have to create and update the pages information
providers.
There are a limited number of pages available. If too many pages were in use it
would take too long to cycle around to the page that you need. This would make
the response time for teletext unacceptable.
The non-interactive nature of teletext means that customers cannot order your
companys products if you were using it to advertise. They would still have to rely
on more traditional methods of ordering such as telephone and mail.
Despite its drawbacks in terms of speed of access and limited content, teletext is still a
very popular method of delivering information to a wide audience.

Currently trials are underway both here and in the United States on interactive
television. A simple handset similar to a television remote controller can be used to
send back information from the viewer to the television station. The user can take part
in live voting sessions, order videos (video on demand) and even control the view that
they see from live sports programmes. Traditional broadcast systems such as
television transmitters and satellite systems cannot be easily used for this kind of
technology. There is no direct connection between the viewer and the television
station. A communications network such as offered by the telephone and cable TV
companies has to be employed. Cable television offers a cheap and easy solution as
the complete network infrastructure required is already in place.
Take a look at a teletext television and answer the following questions.
a. Do all television companies support teletext services?
b. Who are the main teletext providers?
c. Is the information on all the teletext services the same? If not, why do you think
this is?
Video Conferencing
Research in the United States found that 75% of the time allocated for meetings was
spent travelling to and from these meetings. Video conferencing was developed to
allow large corporations to hold meeting using video broadcasts. Instead of travelling
long distances to attend a meeting that may only last a few hours, attendees could join
in on the main meeting via a satellite link.
Originally video conferencing was a tool available only to large corporation due to the
large costs involved. Each end of the link has to have the equivalent of a television
studio with a transmitter capable of satellite communications. Over and above this
cost was the cost of the satellite uplink itself (this can cost several thousands of
pounds per hour).
With advances in technology, especially video compression techniques, video

conferencing can be now done over the public telephone network. The relatively low

cost of the hardware and software has made this technology more available. It is even
possible to videoconference with up to 4 other people using the telephone network.
Suggest two uses that you could make of video conferencing in your school or
college?

Multicasting
The latest technology to be used on the Internet is multicasting. Presently we usually

send a data stream such as audio and video combined to a single user (unicasting).
Multicasting gives us the ability to employ video conferencing on the Internet. If we
want to send this same stream to say 1000 users we have to send the same stream
1000 times choking the already overloaded Internet. With multicasting we can send a
single broadcast across the Internet to reach multiple users simultaneously. The
system uses a series of smart or intelligent routers. Routers are devices used by
networks to channel data around the network. A vendor sends out only one copy of
the information. The routers duplicate the information and pass it on to where it is
needed.
Some big companies such as Smith Barney and BankBoston are using multicasts for
sending live video and financial information to users across the Internet.
Can you think of any home uses for multicasting?

Electronic Data interchange (EDI)
Electronic Data Interchange or EDI allows computers to exchange business

documents in a digital form. The data from an application such as a purchase order
system can be transmitted to a supplier without the need for generating paper
documents and using traditional communication means such as post or fax.
The data to be exchanged is converted into EDI format by a program known as an

EDI Enabler. The translated data can then be transmitted to the recipient via a network
such as the telephone network. At the recipients end the data is converted back into a
form useable by their application. The EDI Enabler software converts the data from
the application into a standard EDI format and from EDI format back into a form
useable by the application. Since the EDI Enabler is written specifically for each end
of the link, the applications need not be the same, indeed the computers and operating
systems at each end may be different.
There are several standards for EDI. In order to exchange business documents, both
the sender and receiver must both agree to use the same standard. Once the standard
has been agreed, the business documents such as purchase orders, invoices and
shipping details are converted into EDI format by a process known as construction.
The EDI data is then transmitted via a point-to-point link, such as a leased line or
ISDN telephone connection, or over a network such as the Internet.
There are many benefits of EDI.
Reduced costs no paper or postage bills
Time saved no retyping of data
Improved accuracy elimination of retyping reduces the number of errors
Improved response times transactions can be made immediately
End-to-end audit trails allows more tracking of goods in transit

EDI Case Study Thomas Tunnock Ltd. Glasgow
Thomas Tunnock Ltd. was established in 1890. The company has an annual turnover
of around 30M, has customers in over 30 countries and employs over 700 people. It
has over 1000 customers and produces a range of over 300 products.
Until recently the company had little or no computing to aid administration. In 1990
the company changed all this by implementing a total financial, sales, production and
materials management system. Not long after that customers began asking about EDI
as a means of ordering products. Tunnock commissioned Kewill-Xetal, a computer
company in the Kewill Systems PLC group to help them integrate EDI into their
business.
Joe Hailey of Tunnock said We did not want to re-key the orders; that would defeat
the object as one of the major benefits is automatic collection of data. The more
information we could automatically gain, the greater the benefits. The Tunnock
database could be updated automatically and management information produced as
an automatic bi-product.
Kewill developed the interface between the main business system and the EDI
software. Tunnock now trades electronically with ASDA, TESCO, SAINSBURY,
ICELAND, SAFEWAY, and CWS with other companies coming on stream.
The benefits are enormous says Joe Hailey, the orders come in electronically and
are fed directly to the Sales Order Processing System without re-entry of data through
a keyboard. The details are processed and packing lists produced within minutes or
receiving the order. The goods are picked, packed and ready for dispatch to the
customer and can be on the shelves within hours, thus ensuring quality service,
quality merchandise and customer satisfaction. Our sales manager can have sales
statistics produced from the same data, production can be more accurately forecast,
dispatch notes, goods received notes and invoices are produced automatically all
from electronic data interchange without any keyboard entry. This process has also
led to reduction in errors, quicker deliveries, less disputes with customers and
therefore prompter payments.
Is your school or college using Electronic Data Interchange at present? If yes, what
are they using it for?
Internet
The Internet began in the late 1960s when the Defense Advanced Research Project
Agency (DAPRA) began connecting different military installations and research sites
together in order to collaborate on research and development efforts.
This very quickly ran into a problem different institutions had different types of
computers and used different communications systems. What they lacked was
interoperability, the ability to communicate and work with other computer systems.

To solve this problem a common set of communication protocols called TCP/IP
(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) was developed and is still in use
today. Communication protocols are sets of rules that define how information is
passed between computers. If two or more users agree to use the same set of these
rules then they can form a network and communicate freely with each other.
In 1969 the University of California San Diego (UCSD), the University of California
Barbara (UCSB), the University of Utah and SRI International connected themselves
together using this protocol. They called themselves the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA) and the network was known as ARPAnet. The success of the new
protocol persuaded many other academic and research establishments to join
ARPAnet. By the 1980s most major universities, the military network (MILLNET)
and research centers had joined the network. When commercial concerns started using
the network and it no longer became the domain of the academic world, its name was
changed to the Internet.
Initially the Internet was used to:

log into remote computers using the Telnet protocol
send electronic mail using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
transfer files using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
By the late 1980s the traditional protocols were no longer sufficient to cover the needs
of the Internet community. The new multimedia documents could not be transported
across the Internet. A new protocol had to be devised to achieve this.
In 1989 a research scientist at the European Particle Physics Laboratory (CERN)

called Tim Burners-Lea developed a protocol called the HyperText Transfer Protocol
(HTTP). This protocol allowed documents containing multimedia elements such as
text, picture, sound, animation and hypertext links to be transmitted across the
Internet. This was the birth of the World Wide Web.
The use of hypertext links allows the user to navigate around inside large or multi
paged documents and to fetch other documents from the same or different servers on
the Internet.
The standard for creating these hypertext files is called the Hypertext Markup
Language or HTML. Using this standard, files can be transferred to other, different
types of computers. The receiving computer requires a piece of software called a web
browser that will take the HTML file and convert it back into text, graphics, sound
and hypertext links.
There are many such browsers available today. The most popular at the time of going
to print are Netscapes Navigator and Microsofts Internet Explorer. These have risen

to prominence due to the browser wars which are raging today. This is a testament
to the commercial value of the Internet. There are browsers available for most popular
operating systems such as Windows, Unix, NT, DOS, and Apples Macintosh OS.
Data transferred Data transferred

using HTTP protocol using HTTP protocol
Web
Page Web Compuer
Computer
on Running
Running
Server Web Browser
Server The Internet Web Broswer
Disk
Navigating Using Hypertext Links
HTML documents contain multimedia elements such as text, graphics, sound, video
and animation. They also include hypertext links. These links, when the user clicks
the mouse button on them on the screen, cause other HTML documents or files to be
loaded. The link usually looks like a part of the hypertext document and can be a
graphic or text describing to where and what the link is connected. Underneath the
onscreen link, in HyperText Markup Language, is the actual address, more properly
called the universal resource location (URL). The URL is made up of two parts. The
first part describes the type of protocol required to transfer the information, and the
second part is the location of the file itself. The following examples show the most
popular protocols in use today. They all assume that there is site on the Internet called
www.mysite.com.
ftp://www.mysite.com/upgrades/version5.exe transfer a file called version5.exe

using the file transfer protocol
http://www.mysite.com/next.html fetch the HTML document called

next.html
mailto://admin@www.mysite.com sends an email to user admin
Most web browsers keep track of which documents you have viewed in a history list.
You can select documents from this list to enable you to backtrack and try a different
route when you are searching for information. The browser program usually has
buttons that allows you to quickly navigate forwards and backwards through this list.
To speed up navigating forwards and backwards through documents that have

previously been downloaded across the Internet, the browser stores these recently
downloaded pages on the local machine (your PC). This is called caching. It is far
quicker to read the files from your local disk than it is to transfer them again from a
web server on the other side of the world.

Suppose a web server had its documents and links arranged as shown in the diagram.
We started our search for information in document A and we used one of its links to
find document C. From C we moved onto document F but found that the information
contained in F was not what we were looking for. We had gone down the wrong path.
We could use the history list or the browsers back button to return to document C and
try another route, possibly to document E or G.
As a document can contain links to many other documents, the structure of the pages
on a web server can become very complex. Deleting a page from the web server may
result in broken hypertext links or pages that become unreachable. In the previous
example, if the administrator of the web server deleted document C there would be no
link to document F, it would be unreachable, and the link from D to C would be
broken. Careful management of the web server is required to ensure that links are not
broken and documents do not become separated. There are tools available that will
help the web administrator manage and check the web site.
Because of the vast size of the Internet and the ability for almost anyone to become a
web publisher, the accuracy and timeliness of the information published may be
questionable. We cannot assume because a web page is published on the Internet that
all the copyright laws have been adhered to. Indeed, the very international nature of
the Internet makes copyright a serious issue. What is considered copyright in one
country may not apply in another. The onus is on the user of the information to ensure
that they are abiding by the law.
Good web page design dictates that web pages should not be of any great length. If
the page is too long it may contain information that is overlooked. Long pages may
also result in a significant delay in receiving the pages from the web server making
viewing and reading a tedious chore. Web pages should be short and to the point. If
there is too much information to be displayed on one page then that page should be
broken down into several smaller pages with links to maintain the continuity of the
information.

The Internet is growing at an exponential rate and consequently the network
infrastructure that was put in place several decades ago cannot cope with the stress of
the traffic attempting to flow around it. At times the Internet visibly slows down. This
usually occurs around 2.00 p.m. in this country which is when the West Coast of
America, where the majority of the Internet users live, wakes up. As a result of this
we cannot guarantee the time it takes to send or receive information on the Internet.
Due to the openness of the Internet it is not a good place for storing confidential or
sensitive information. Web sites that are protected by passwords and other security
measures become magnets to network hackers whose only aim in life is to break into
these sites. To overcome this problem and to enable companies to use web server
technology to publish their own internal documents the Intranet was developed.

SUMMARY
After completion of the work in this section you should be able to:
identify information sources and be able to describe and classify each as internal or
external.
describe the media on which information is available; paper, broadcast or digital.
use examples of information and describe the characteristics of each.

SECTION 3- INVESTIGATE THE ORGANISATION OF CONTEMPORARY
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
This section of notes and activities will help you:

correctly describe the characteristics of the information system
correctly describe the technical components of a system
correctly describe the applications of an information system
correctly describe the navigation and searching facilities
correctly describe the structure of an information system
carry out the investigation efficiently and outline the effective use of a system.

TECHNICAL COMPONENTS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
NETWORKS
A network is defined as
an interconnected collection of autonomous computers
Andrew S Tanenbaum
Computers are considered to be interconnected if they are capable of exchanging

information. Autonomous in this sense means that no computer on the network can
start, stop or control another.
Networks can be broken down into two basic types:

Local Area Network
Wide Area Network
Before we look at ways of implementing networks we should consider the benefits of

installing a network within an organisation or company.
Why do Organisations Use Networks?
Device Sharing
Devices like printers can be connected to a network and be accessed by all network
users. This cuts down on the need to have large, expensive printers on each persons
desk saving on purchase costs, office space and maintenance costs.
Sharing devices is not limited to printers. Almost any device can be attached onto a
network and shared by users. These include: faxes, modems, plotters, CD-ROMs,
scanners etc. Not everyone logged onto the network has access to these devices. The
Network Operating System (NOS), through the use of access controls, can prevent
unauthorised users from using these devices. The network administrator whose role is
to manage the network and its resources normally sets up the access controls.
Software Sharing
Instead of everyone having a copy of applications software on his or her local
workstations, the software can be stored centrally on the network. As with devices,
access controls limit who can use this software. The advantages of using software
sharing are as follows:
upgrades to software can be quickly implemented. Only one copy of the software
needs to be changed before all users have access to the updates. Contrast this with

the situation where a technician has to upgrade the software on each machine in the
organisation.
reduced costs. Suppose we have an application that is run by everyone in the

organisation and there are 100 computers in the organisation. Further suppose that
this application is not to be run all the time. In fact, there are no more than 40 users
running this application at any one time. Without software sharing and a network
we would have to purchase 100 copies of the software. Putting the software onto
the network means that we can purchase a license to cover the maximum number
of concurrent users reducing the cost of the software by 60%. In order to comply
with the software license agreement we need to include some form of software
metering which will monitor the number of concurrent copies of the software
running and prevent the license count being exceeded.
standardisation. Since all users on the network are sharing the same applications
software it means that compatibility of data files is ensured across the organisation.
If every user is using the same spreadsheet program there should be no problem
with users swapping data files. Using different software, or even different version
of the same software, can result in data files that are incompatible. The data files
have to be translated before they can be used. This sometimes results in loss of
information.
Data Sharing
As well as sharing program files, data files can be shared by users on the network.
Word processing documents, spreadsheets, database tables etc. can be accessed by
authorised users. The benefits of data sharing include the following:
all users have access to the latest version of the data file;
standardisation. Sharing templates for word processing documents and

spreadsheets means that it is easier to impose a corporate style for all printed
documents.
The downside of data sharing is that we need an operating system capable of handling
multiple users attempting to update a document simultaneously. Suppose two users
opened the same document at the same time. The first person to finish editing the
document will save his/her changes in the new file. When the second user is finished
with the document that they are working on, the changes made by the first user will
be overwritten when the second user saves the amended file. In order to stop this from
happening the network operating system will put a lock onto the file after the first
person has opened it for editing. Anyone else trying to access the file will only be able
to view the original file and be prevented from making any changes to it. Once the

first user has finished editing the file, the operating system will automatically remove
the lock allowing others to edit it now.
Communication
Connecting workstations to a network not only gives us the ability to share data and
software, we can also communicate with other network users using the network. The
growth of email over the past five years is a direct result of computers being linked to
networks and networks internetworked together. Now messages can be sent not only
to other users within the organisation but across the world. Customers can now
communicate directly and quickly with your organisation.
Types of Network Server Architecture
Application Server
With an application server, the application (database management system,
spreadsheet, word processor etc.) and all the data required by the application reside on
the server. When a user wants access to this data the appropriate application is run on
the server and the data extracted. All that the user requires on his/her desktop is a
dumb terminal capable of sending keystrokes to the server and receiving screen
updates from the server. All the processing takes place on the server. The advantage
of this architecture is that the user requires a simple terminal. In a network with many
users this can amount to a large saving in hardware costs. The downside to this
architecture is that the server requires a lot of power in terms of processor and
memory requirements.

File/Server
In this type of architecture applications programs and data reside on the file server as
before. When a user wants to access the data, the application required to process the
data and the data are transferred across the network to the users workstations. From
here the application is run and the data extracted. If changes are made to the data then
they must be written back to the server when the application finishes.
This type of architecture does not require a powerful processor on the server as little
or no processing takes place on the server. Instead, the power required to process the
data is transferred to the workstation. For small organisations this setup is adequate
for their data processing requirements. This system stops being cost effective when
many workstations are required.
One of the main drawbacks to the File/Server architecture is that other users cannot
use the data whilst it is being processed by a user. If more than one copy of the data
was in use it would quickly get out-of-date as users applied changes then saved the
data back to the server overwriting the recent changes made by other users.

Client-Server
This architecture is a hybrid of the application server and the file/server architecture.
Here servers dedicated to special functions such as database management or
communications are placed in the network. The client, a computer on the network,
sends a message to the servers requesting a service. The appropriate server picks up
this message and the resulting data is transferred back to the client across the network
for example, a database query from a client to extract order information from the
orders and parts table to make up an invoice. The client would possibly use SQL the
standard query language to form the message to be sent. The SQL message would
look like this:
SELECT PARTNO, QTY, UNITPRICE, DESCRIPTION FROM

ORDERS, PARTS WHERE ORDERNO = 1234
The database server would pick up this message. It would translate the message into a
request to extract the data from the database.
3125, 1, 52.60, Motherboard

1826, 4, 23.50, 16 Mbyte SIMMs

4180, 1, 286.00, Quantum Fireball 4.3 Gbyte Disk
The extracted, raw data is then sent back across the network to the client workstation.
Here, the raw data would be formatted into the invoice.
The client-server architecture splits the processing between the server and the clients
workstation. The server gathers the data required by the client and passes this data
back where further processing is performed on the data to turn it into meaningful
information.
INVOICE
1 Motherboard 52.60
4 16 Mbyte SIMM 73.60
1 Quantum Drive 160.00
TOTAL 286.20
LOCAL AREA NETWORKS
With the number of computers used for information processing increasing daily, the
local area network has become an important part of any information system.
A local area network is usually confined to a single building or campus. In a local area
network all the workstations and servers (nodes) are directly connected to each other
using a common cabling system. Once the network exceeds the physical limits
imposed by the wiring system (usually around 10 kilometres) it becomes a wide area
network.
Local Area Networks Topologies

The geometrical arrangement of the wiring schemes used in local area networks is
called the topology. Devices like workstations, routers, printers etc. connected to the
network are called nodes. There are three main topologies:
Star
Bus
Ring

Star Topology
In the star topology one node acts as a switching circuit accepting a message from a
sender and forwarding it on to the destination node. All the complexity of this type of
topology lies in the central switching node.
The star topology is very popular in mainframe and mini computer systems where the
central processing unit acts as the central switch.
Advantages of the Star Topology

It makes for shorter paths between any two nodes with a maximum of 2 links to
cross.
As all the network messages must flow through the central switch, it simplifies the
tasks of monitoring and auditing the network.
Fault finding is a relatively simple task. Since there is a one-to-one relationship

between a node and the switch, any cable faults can be quickly found.
Simple access protocols. Since only one node is connected to the switch by each
cable, we do not need the sophisticated protocols that other topologies require
where many users are contending to use the same network cable.
Easy expansion. To add another node to the network simply plug that node into the
central switch and configure the switch to recognise the new node (see
disadvantages below).

STAR TOPOLOGY
Disadvantages of the Star Topology

Routing all the messages through a central switch introduces a single point of
failure to your network. If the central switch fails we effectively lose the network.
As each node has a single connection to the central switch we require many cables
to make up the star network.
Although we said earlier that it was simple to expand the network, it can also be
very costly to achieve the same result. If we run out of ports on the central switch
we have to install a second switch or replace the existing switch with one which
supports a greater number of ports.
Greater initial costs. When installing a star network we have to purchase the
switching hardware that will be required for the final size of the network.
Central switching units like hubs are now becoming very sophisticated and reliable
making the star layout a popular choice for todays local area networks.

Bus Topology
The bus layout consists of a single cable to which nodes are attached. Signals sent out
by the host are distributed in both directions along the cable making them instantly
available to all nodes on the network. Ethernet is an example of the bus topology.
Advantages of the Bus Topology

Simple wiring layout since there is only one cable connecting all nodes.
Easy to extend. Additional nodes can be connected to an existing network at any

point along its length. The signal get weaker as it passes along the cable. This is
called attenuation. This attenuation factor puts a physical limit on the length of the
cable (around 100 metres). A repeater can be used to add another cable segment to
the network and boost the signal if the length of the cable exceeds the physical
limit.
Disadvantages of the Bus Topology

Fault diagnosis is difficult. Unlike the star layout where each node has its own
cable, each node on the bus shares a common network cable. This makes tracing
cable faults difficult.

Faults in the network cable will stop all traffic along the cable segment where the
fault occurs.
More sophisticated protocols are required to handle many users wishing to send
messages on the single cable.
More sophisticated hardware is required on each node to handle multiple access to

the network.
As there is no single point on the network where all the traffic flows through as
there is in the star topology, monitoring and auditing the network becomes more
complicated.
The Ring Topology

In the ring layout each node is connected to its two neighbouring nodes. Data is sent
around the ring in one direction only. Each node passes the data onto the next one in
the ring. When the data returns back to the originator it is removed from the network.
It is important to note that each node reads the data and resends it onto the next node.
In this way the signal is amplified or boosted. Thus the ring network does not suffer
from the attenuation problem which affects the bus topology.

Advantages of the Ring
Suitable for fibre optic cables. Since the data travels around the network in one
direction only this topology is ideally suited for fibre optics where the light is used
as the medium for carrying the signal. This makes high transmission speeds
possible.
The boosting of the signal at each node eliminates the attenuation problems
experienced in bus networks.
Disadvantages of the Ring

Node failure will cause network failure as each node relies on the previous node
for its data. The faulty node will have to be taken out of the ring or bypassed
before traffic can flow around the ring again.
Difficult to diagnose faults. Since failure of any node causes network failure it is
difficult to determine where on the network the failure has occurred.

Extension of the network is impossible without bring the rest of the network down.
Unlike the bus or star topologies, the ring cannot be extended without breaking the
ring. Additions to the ring can only be made when there are no users using the
network.
Hybrid Topology
The three main topologies can be combined into a hybrid format to gain the best
characteristics of each topology. For example, it is quite common to have a bus
backbone with hubs feeding star networks.
WIDE AREA NETWORKS

Wide area networks can be broken down into two main categories:
Enterprise Networks connects local area networks of a single organisation or
company. For example, large corporations like General Motors which have many
site located around the world.
Global Networks a network that spans the globe linking networks from different
organisations. The classic example of a global network is the Internet that links
academic institutions, government department and industry and commerce.
Wide area networks use existing networks to communicate. An example of an existing

network would the telephone network supplied by a telecommunications provider
such as British Telecom, AT&T, Atlantic Telecom or Mercury.

If a lot of information is being passed around from site to site then dedicated leased
lines are usually used. These lines are expensive but they are better quality than the
standard telephone connections and give a greater data transfer rate. Where small
amounts of information are being passed, the leased line is not cost effective. A better
solution is to use the normal telephone network to dial and connect when information
needs to be passed. In this way the company is only paying for the actual time
connected.
The new digital network ISDN (Integrated Standard Digital Network) can connect
very rapidly, pass the information at 64 kilobits per second and then disconnect. This
is called ISDN Spoofing and greatly reduces the cost of connection as you are only
paying for actual time the data is being transmitted.
Where wide area networks cross international boundaries, great care must be taken to
ensure that telecommunications carriers in other countries with a different
telecommunications system can pass on the information sent to them. To ensure this
compatibility the international committee on telecommunications, the Consultative
Committee on International Telephone and Telegraph (CCITT) devised a standard

called X.25. X.25 defines the interface between the host, called a Data Terminal
Equipment (DTE) and the carriers equipment, called a Data Carrier Equipment
(DCE). As long as all telecommunications carriers abide by this standard, wide area
networks can span the globe.
Wide area networks are used in many situations:

Banks - use wide area networks to connect branches to the head office and to
connect automatic teller machines to a central computer.
Credit card sales electronic cash registers are used to send credit card details to
computers which can verify the credit card is not stolen and that sufficient credit
is available in that account to pay for the transaction.
Airline reservations ticket offices in airports and travel agencies are linked to
computers that hold details of flight details and availability of seats.
Can you think of any other areas where wide area networks are used to connect
terminals to central computers?
Hardware Used in Wide Area Networks

The public telephone networks were initially design to carry speech. Speech consists
of sounds at different frequencies and different levels. Signals that contain different
levels and frequencies are called analogue signals. Signals used by computers are
binary, they are either on or off. The two are incompatible. In order to connect to
external networks, the data that passes around the internal network in binary format
has to be converted to an analogue signal so that it can be carried on the public
networks.
In order to create wide area networks extra hardware is required.
Modem
A modem (MODualtor/DEModualtor) is a device for taking binary data (digital
signals) used by computers and converting them into a form that can be sent over
normal telecommunication links (analogue signals). This process is known as
modulation. It is also capable of taking the analogue signals and converting it back
into binary data - demodulation.
Because of the physical limitations of analogue telephone lines which were designed
to carry speech and not computer data, the maximum reliable data transmission rate
that can be sent over a telephone line is 9600 baud (bits per second). With clever
encoding techniques this transmission rate can be increase to 56K baud.

Binary Data Analogue Signal Binary Data
Modem Communications Modem
link
Modulation Demodulation
Multiplexer
A multiplexer is a device that allows a single communications channel to be shared by
many devices. For instance, a single telephone line may be connected to several
modems. This reduces the number of telecommunication lines needed. The
multiplexer has equal input and output rates. If four devices are connected via a
multiplexer to a single communications line, the devices will operate at one quarter of
the multiplexers input speed.
9600 bps
Modem 1
9600 bps
38 ,400 bps
Modem 2
Multiplexer 9600 bps

Modem 3
9600 bps
Modem 4
Concentrator
The concentrator is a device similar to the multiplexer but with one main difference.
In a multiplexer, it is assumed that all devices require access to the shared
communications channel at all times and hence the output from the multiplexer is
divided equally between each channel. The concentrator on the other hand allows a
device to use the full input speed if no other devices are using the communications
channel.
Comparison between Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks

A local area network can be distinguished from a wide area network in several
respects:
The physical distance between nodes is limited. Because of the limitations of
cabling technology the maximum distance a LAN can cover is approximately 10
kilometers. There is no limit on the distances a wide area network may span.

The maximum data transmission speed in a wide area network is approximately 1
megabit per second. Local area networks usually work between 8 and 100
megabits per second. This figure can be improved further with the use of fibre
optic cables.
Errors in transmissions are significantly lower in local area networks.
Local area networks are usually confined to a building or campus. Wide area
networks can span entire continents.
INVESTIGATION
In this section we are going to investigate an actual information system. We will look
at the hardware and software required in obtaining the information and at the
characteristics of the information.
A question that is frequently asked is What was the name of the character X played
in the film Y? For example, Who did Michael J Fox play in Mars Attacks? To find
out the answer to this question we will be looking in the Internet Movie Database, a
large collection of facts and figures about films.
Hardware
To connect onto the Internet, we will require a personal computer with a modem
attached. We can use Apple Macintosh, IBM PC compatible, Amiga, Archimedes or
just about any other personal computer. Since most web pages include a large amount
of graphics, a fast modem is required. These range from 28,800 Baud to the newer
56,000-Baud modems.
Communications
In order to use the Internet, we will need a connection to it. Internet Service Providers
such as RM Net, BT Internet, American On-line and CompuServe will supply us with
a connection for a charge. They will provide us with a local telephone number that is
connected to a bank of modems. These modems are connected to routers that pass the
information to and from the Internet.
Software
Apart from the operating system for the personal computer, we will require a web
browser that is compatible with the PCs operating system. The most common
browsers in use at the time of writing are Microsofts Internet Explorer and
Netscapes Navigator.
Finding the Information

After connecting to your Internet Service Provider and starting your web browser, you
have to type in the URL (uniform resource location), the Internet address of the web

page you require. Remember that the URL is made up of two parts: a) the protocol
used to send the information and b) the address of the web server and file name.
The URL of the Internet Movie Database is http://www.imdb.com.
Notice in this case that we only gave the network address in the URL. If we do not
specify a filename, the web server will send the default or index page.
The web browser takes our request for a page and converts it into a Hyper Text
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request. HTTP is the protocol used on the Internet to send
and receive HTML pages.
As you can see from the above figure, the hypertext links are underlined and in a
different colour from the rest of the text. Moving the mouse pointer over one of the
links and clicking the left button will instruct the web server send the page to which
the link is pointing.
Since we are searching for information, we will click on the SEARCH link. The
web server will send us a page containing a form that we can use for our query.
We can search for information based in several criteria:

By title of film/movie

By cast/crew
By character name
By quote
The form also allows us to restrict the search by allowing us to add a sub-query to the
search. For example, when searching by title we can restrict the search to either
movies or television series. This should speed up the search and give us a more
concise answer.
In the movie title field on the form we will type in Mars Attacks. It does not matter
whether we type in the film name in upper, lower or a mixture of cases. The search
engine will convert all requests into upper case. Information in a database is usually
stored in upper case characters. This reduces the number of possible mismatches
when performing a search. For example, even a common name like John Smith has
many permutations if are allowed to mix the case of the letters. We could have John
Smith, John SMITH, JOHN SMITH and so on.
The computer does not understand the information it is processing. It can only handle
numbers. Each letter has a unique numerical code. When searching for a match, the
computer compares the numerical value of the letters in the search string against the
numerical value of the letters that makes up the data in the database. If they do not
match exactly then the computer will declare them to be a mismatch. For example, it
will see a letter A as having a value of 65 and the letter a as 97.
To speed up the search we will click on the Movies radio button to restrict our
search to movie films only.

When we fill out the form and click on the Search button, the web browser will:
take the information we typed onto the form, our query; convert it into a form used by
the web server; and send this request off to the web server as a HTTP request.
If you look in the Location box on the browser you will see the request that is sent
off to the web server. In this case the URL is:
http://us.imdb.com/M/title-substring?title=mars+attacks&tv=movies
The web server will break apart the URL into three components:
us.imdb.com the name of the web server
/M/title-substring the location of the file on the server

title=mars+attacks&tv=off the data from the form. On the form we filled out
two fields. The first, called title contains the name of the movie mars
attacks. Notice how we cannot send a space in a URL. The web browser
converts the space to a + character. The web server software at the other end
will convert the + back into a space. The second field, separated from the
first by the & character is a radio button called tv that has the TV series
value set to off.

When the HTTP request is received at the web server end, a CGI program (Common
Gateway Interface) will extract the query data from the third part of the URL and use
this to search the database. The data found is converted into HTML code by the
program and returned to our web browser so that it can display the search results.
In this case the search revealed two matches, Mars Attacks! (1996) and Mars
Attacks the World (1938). Both of these matches are hypertext links to further
information in the database. Since we have not yet found what we are looking for
(What part did Michael J Fox play in Mars Attacks) we have to search further.
Clicking on the MarsAttacks! (1996) link takes us to the page where we can finally
get the information we are looking for (plus a lot more beside).
Michael J Fox played Jason Stone in the film.

We saw in section 2 that we have to examine the characteristics of any information we
receive in order to determine whether it is of any value to us. The following table lists
the characteristics of the information we just retrieved:
Characteristic Result
Timeliness Yes, the information is available now
Accessibility It was reasonably easy to navigate our way to the

information. We could repeat the exercise without too much
effort
Cost It did not take long to search for this information so the
connection cost was minimal
Legality The information was legally obtained. We did not hack into
a computer to get the information. It was retrieved from a
recognised public access source
Completeness We found all of the information for which we were looking

Conciseness The information was concise. We did not have to read
through a long description of the parts each actor played.
The part played was opposite the actors name in a simple
list.
Accuracy The information was accurate
Appropriateness The information found was relevant to our query on the

part played by Michael J Fox in the movie
Structure The information was displayed in a page in a simple list

making it easy to read
Presentation The information was laid out in a well presented web page
Exercise
There are many information systems in schools, colleges, libraries, businesses and
industry. There are also many more areas of the WWW to explore. You have to
choose an information system to investigate. Organise you investigation and report
writing under the following headings and sub-headings:
hardware
workstations
networks
topology
server architecture
software
communications
type of communication link
speed of communication link
information
applications
searching and navigation
structure
timeliness
accessibility
cost
legality
completeness
conciseness
accuracy
appropriateness

structure
presentation
SECTION 4 - EXPLAIN THE SOCIAL, ETHICAL AND LEGAL

IMPLICATIONS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
This section of notes and activities will help you explain accurately:
the social implications of information technology
the ethical implications of information technology
the legal requirements relating to information technology
the extent and limitations of current legislation
Throughout this section there will be areas for you to discuss either in small groups of
2 - 4 or as larger class groups. You could even arrange a debate on some of the issues
covered.
The age of information technology - IT as we call it here - has arrived. I

know of no other technological advantage which has brought together so
many area of rapid and exciting development. Computers and
telecommunications are converging very rapidly, huge investments are being
made, and the impact of information technology will be felt at every level in
our society; in industry, in commerce, in our offices and our homes.
Kenneth Baker 1982
Social implications of Information Technology

What impact has information technology had on society?
Like Alice in Wonderland - we have to run faster and faster in order to keep up with
ourselves.
Information Technology is increasingly widely used and its use continues to widen at
an almost alarming rate. Miniaturisation and technological advances leading to faster
more efficient processors means that the time taken to process information has
lessened and the amount which can be handled has increased.
What of those who handle information?

Organisational theorists and writers of today indicate that industrialisation is
decreasing whilst the sector of the workforce handling information (information
workers - those who spend their work time immersed in information handling) is
steadily increasing. Alongside these technological and communications advances is
telecommuting, that is home information workers (a cottage industry). The

telecommuter works at home by using telecommunications rather than travelling to a
workplace. The time and effort involved in travelling to and from work is eliminated
leaving the worker to schedule work activities around home requirements and family
timetables.
Is society moving towards the inclusion of an information sector? Is the paperless

society being brought about by the advancements in technology and
communications? Could it be that technological advancements will ultimately change
the whole structure of the workforce?
There is a potential reduction in job availability. Previously labour intensive

procedures have become automated; from factories to service industries the nature of
the workforce is changing. Labour saving electronic data processing is increasing in
use, reducing the manpower requirements by many organisations. It may be possible
that, while existing organisational roles will be eliminated, there will be a
corresponding expansion in information-based jobs.
If you examine the role of information technology in the early 1970s and early 1980s
you will find the role of network administrator does not exist. Help-desk personnel
are relatively few in numbers. Programmer analysts are just starting to emerge. The
changes are numerous in jobs directly related to computing and the probability is that
in the very near future there will be information handling jobs which have not been
heard of yet.
Organisations are recognising the change in the workforce makeup. Staff are now
being employed on a more flexible basis. Through flexi-time for information
handlers, many organisations are encouraging telecommuter working. After all, when
does the computer rest? It can be used as a resource at any hour of the day or night - it
never tires. The organisation gains by encouraging alternative employment modes.
Additionally international trade must benefit as time differences almost cease to
matter.
What effect do these trends towards a more diverse workforce have on society apart
form changing the location of the workbase? What of family life? Will it change
accordingly? There could be advantages - the telecommuter is available as a support
to the family, being present in the home during working hours. Children can benefit
by the parent(s) being present during formative years. Education of children can be
enhanced as work resources in the form of equipment used can also be used to
increase breadth of learning. Less time is wasted by pointless travel.
Communications and meetings can be easily arranged and take place given the
appropriate equipment from the home base.
What is the other side of the coin?

These developments may bring about insular family units that centre on the home
environment - work, education, social contact. Would this kind of development in
working practices lead to alienation, a loss of social skills and the creation of closed
communities? Has this already started - are there family units where social skills
have been reduced by many hours being spent communing with computers whether
for business or pleasure instead of communing with people? What of those who have
little or no access to computer equipment for work or pleasure activity. Will this lead
to yet another type of social deprivation in the forming of groups of information rich
and information poor?
Can predictions be made on the basis of current trends or will there be further
technological advances in this areas? Take for example virtual reality; will this give us
a new dimension in which to work and play?
Research into current evidence and trends and discussion are the only way to reach
any conclusions regarding the social impact of Information Technology.
Areas for Research and Discussion
Consider
What percentage of the working population requires information technology
skills in their work environment?
To assist you - research into the information technology content in education

courses for different areas of work or professions. Find information regarding
purchase of information technology equipment by organisations.
Discuss
The computer is as common as the television in homes today, and access to the
Internet is fast becoming the research and communication mechanism for
people.
Ethical implications of Information Technology
This is considering the way that Information Technology is used including:
on-line conduct netiquette
censorship
uses/privacy of information
There is a whole host of information available on the Internet regarding the ethics of
its use, including articles about ethics. There is also socially unacceptable material in

many forms on Internet sites and you should consider the ease of access to such
materials.
The Internet is almost impossible to regulate: it spans international borders. Users

having access to the appropriate services and the correct equipment can gain access to
anything available; so too can contributors. Greater consideration has to be given to
the ethics involved in its contents and uses as the Internet grows.
Netiquette
This is a users guide to the polite way to conduct yourself when using the
Internet or an Intranet. It comes in the form of advice on overall conduct, e-
mail usage and newsgroup usage.
Some general points are :

Treat others the way you wish to be treated yourself.
Make sure you do not contravene legislation regarding use of computers

and Information Technology.
Use accurate details when referring to other Internet resources or sites.
Ensure that you are not wasteful of others resources when sending e-mails
or in the design of your web page.
Try and contribute to the network in your area of expertise.
Adhere to Internet standards for production of e-mail correspondence and

web pages.
Always identify yourself when joining in newsgroups and try not to
interject irrelevancies.
Users of the Internet or Intranets, if they intend to be frequent users, should ensure
that they adhere to the rules of polite conduct. For example, did you know that all
capital letters in an e-mail message is considered the same as SHOUTING at a
person?
Censorship
There is already current legislation to deal with unacceptable material, whether
written or visual, as far as censorship is concerned. Control of what is shown in an
organisations premises is already in force. However, there are ongoing discussions on
the possible control and censorship measures that could be applied to the Internet as
its uses grow. These controls could hinder freedom of speech.

There are socially unacceptable sites on the Internet in varying degrees of
unacceptability dependent on perception. For example, you may have arachnophobia
and find a web site on exotic spiders wholly offensive.
Can you visit these web pages by accident? Sometimes fairly innocuous searches
through the Internet can produce a list of available sites with links to unusual and
apparently unrelated sites. In such instances, however, it is very clear from the
summary or titles what the contents of these sites should include. If you visited these
sites that would be deemed to be a deliberate action and you would be accountable for
using the information you viewed. Sometimes the description of the site bears no
resemblance to the actual contents, in which case you could plead ignorance.
Another consideration is the use of unsolicited e-mail. This is becoming a major

problem on the Internet caused by Spammers, people who send out mass mailings of
junk e-mail. Your software can dispose of some of this junk by applying filtering rules
but the spammers are getting more devious in their quest to ensure that your mailbox
is bombarded with junk mail. There have already been several recent successful
prosecutions of junk e-mailers in America but can this be regarded as a form of
censorship? Should these people have the right to send e-mail to anyone they wish?
Regulating the content of the Internet

Conscious access should have been made before offensive or unacceptable material
is displayed. If there is concern that users of computer equipment in organisations
will access this type of information, software can be installed which will monitor
what accesses are made from which terminals, when and by whom. Internal
organisational procedures should deal with this type of situation.
The Internet is no different from other media available and any of these can
contravene legislation on sensitive matters. There have been successful libel cases
taken out against bulletin board operators for the materials that were published on
their boards. Still the question will arise, is current legislation enough? Presumably
only time will tell. Future governments and public opinion will influence new
legislation.
Consider:
1984 - George Orwells book on a society where information is not freely
available to the public. The information, which is available, is filtered and
tailored to the point where actual fact disappears.
Discuss:

More than a decade on from George Orwells 1984, how freely is information
available to members of society. Should there be restrictions on information
available and who has access to it?
Discuss:
Many have striven throughout history to attain freedom of speech. Would
control of the content on the Internet cause us to lose a privilege for which
many have fought?
Is there freedom of speech anywhere, or do we always have to monitor and

control what is said in order to lead a peaceful life?

Legal Requirements related to Information Technology
What contemporary legislation is there on uses and communication of information?
The main Acts are:
The Data Protection Act (1984)
Computer Misuse Act 1990
Copyright, Design and Patents Act (1988)
Computer systems must conform to all of these areas of legislation designed to

monitor and control uses of information in automated systems to ensure that no
abuse of privilege can take place.
The Data Protection Act

The act became law on 12 July 1984. It was designed to allow people to access the
personal data being held about them on computer systems. Additionally, it ensured
that no damage to the trading interests of Britain is brought about by other countries
in Europe unwilling to transfer data to countries lacking suitable control on data
systems. Details of the Act can be found on the Internet. You can also view the
Register of Data Users on the Internet.
The Act concerns:

Data Users:
Persons or organisations holding, using or intending to use personal data on
individuals within an automated system. The data user must register personal
data fields, the purpose for which the data will be used and the sources of the
data.
Personal Data:
This includes information about a living person, including any opinions about
that individual.
Computer Bureau:
A person or organisation that either processes or allows to be processed
personal data on their equipment.
Data Subject:
The person about whom personal data is related.

Data Users, that is persons or organisations holding and using personal data on
individuals within an automated system, must adhere to the main principles of the
Act.
A broad outline of the principles is:

The collection and processing of data must be fair and lawful.
Data must only be held for specified lawful, registered purposes.
The use of data must only be for registered purposes and only disclosed to
registered recipients.
Data should not be excessive to the purpose for which it is held but must
be adequate and relevant.
Data must be accurate and maintained in an up-to-date form.
Data must only be held for as long as is necessary for its stated purpose
A data subject is entitled to be informed by the data user that data is being
held on them and should have access to the data at reasonable intervals
and where appropriate is entitled to have data held corrected or erased.
Appropriate security measures must be taken to protect data held.
Can an individual do anything regarding contravention of the Act?

Contravention related to loss, destruction or unauthorised disclosure may lead an
individual to:
Seek compensation for damage and distress
Apply for correction or removal of inaccurate data
Gain access to data of which he/she is the subject
Are there any exemptions from the Act?

If you are a data user it is safe to assume in the first instance that there are no
exemptions from the Act. However, there are some special cases which are noted
below:
Unconditional Exemptions, these include:
data related to national security

data which by law has to be made public
personal management such as household or recreational data
Conditional Exemptions, these include:
some standard book-keeping and accounting data
data used for payroll
Disclosure is restricted for example to auditors
Access provisions have some exceptions including cases involving criminal

records, solving crime and some areas where the Secretary of State can
override access rights
Offences under the Act

For offences the Data Registrar has the power to serve
Enforcement Notices
Transfer Prohibition Notices
De-registration Notices
Possible offences:
Holding personal data without having either applied for registration or
being registered.
Holding data, using data, obtaining or disclosing data or transferring data

knowingly or recklessly.
Operating as a Computer Bureau recklessly without proper registration in

respect of personal data.
Registered address not being kept up-to-date
Supplying the Registrar with false or misleading information, knowingly

or recklessly, on either registration or change of particulars
Knowing or reckless disclosure without authority.

Intentional obstruction of a person executing a warrant.
Failure to comply with a Transfer Prohibition Notice or an Enforcement

Notice.
Failure without reasonable excuse to give reasonable assistance in the

execution of a warrant.
Consider:
As part of the legislation governing information technology the Data
Protection Act has been in force since 1984. What effect has it had on
organisations?
Use the Internet or library facilities to find prosecutions under the

Act. Identify the range of sentences that have been given.
(As an alternative your teacher/lecturer will issue you with a number of

articles regarding appropriate cases to consider.)
Discuss:
Do you feel the Act has been successful in monitoring and controlling the use
of personal data?
Consider:
How severe are the possible sentences for contravention of the terms of the
Act?

Computer Misuse Act 1990
The long title of this Act is:
An Act to make provision for securing computer material against

unauthorised access or modification; and for connected purposes.
The Act consists of three sections:
Section 1
This is concerned with unauthorised access to computer material
A person is guilty of contravening the Act if they knowingly attempt

unauthorised access to any computer.
If convicted a sentence of up to six months imprisonment or a fine or both can

be given.
Section 2
This is concerned with unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate
commission of further offences.
A person is guilty if an offence under Section 1 is committed with intent to

commit an offence or assist someone else to commit an offence.
The offence does not have to be committed at the same time as the
unauthorised access.
A person guilty of this offence is liable to a fine or up to six months

imprisonment or both. This is for a summary conviction. For indictment the
term of imprisonment can rise to five years.
Section 3
This is concerned with unauthorised modification of computer material.
A person is guilty if any act that causes an unauthorised modification of the

contents of any computer is carried out with intent. The person should have
the knowledge that this is unauthorised .
An action leading to impaired operation whether temporary or permanent is

considered the same.
The jurisdiction of this section regards the person or the computer or both as
being in the home country.

A person can also be prosecuted for conspiracy and incitement to commit this
type of offence under the Act.
Proceedings under the Act may be started up to six months after the procurator fiscal
has sufficient evidence to warrant prosecution. No proceedings can be commenced
more than three years after the offence was committed.
In Section 17 of the Act clarification is given on the terms used to assist in

interpretation of the legislation.:
Securing Access the person causes the alteration or erasure of program or
data the person copies or moves program or data within storage
medium the person executes or outputs the program
Unauthorised Access
Where the person is not specifically allowed, or has not been given permission
to use the computer.
Programs or Data
This includes any programs or data on media currently in the computer.
Modification
This includes alteration or erasure of data or programs, also any additions of
program or data.
Authorisation to do so should be specifically given to the person or consent

given from another authorised person. Otherwise this would be unauthorised
modification.
The Act has been criticised as having a number of loopholes and few
prosecutions have been made since the date it became active. Could this be the
Act working to deter computer misuse? Prosecutions have tended to be
largely internal unauthorised access though some have included prosecution
against spread of viruses.
Problems with the Act
In cases of prosecution being brought it should be considered that judges and juries
might not regard offences under the Act as being sufficiently serious to be punished.
It may be that differentiation between levels of seriousness within the Act could be
improved. Production of evidence may cause difficulty. For example, proving who

accessed a computer system and whether or not authorisation had been given, might
not be perused vigerously if it was felt that security measures were lax or inefficient.
There is also a question of whether computer generated evidence regarding recording

of access to systems should be acceptable in the courts.
Copyright, Design and Patents Act (1988)
An extensive act which encompasses legal protection for many areas including
software. The text of the Act as many others is available through HMSO
publications.
Parts of the Act:
Part I Copyright
Part II Rights in Performance
Part III Design Right
Part IV Registered Designs
Part V Patent Agents and Trademark Agents
Part VI Patents
Part VII Miscellaneous and General
Copyright issues
It is best in the first instance to regard any copies of software as illegal unless
specific permission from the copyright holder has been given.
Prior to this Act, when software was mainly used in business environments,
legislation in the areas of contract and trade secrecy contributed to protect
designers, writers and producers of software. As a direct link or agreement
was being made between the supplier and the users of software, conditions of
use could be stated concisely on a single relationship basis. It is more difficult
nowadays to regulate with wider use of software across networks. The
contract is encompassed in tacit user agreement to the licensing conditions
accompanying off-the-shelf software.
Within the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 a computer program is regarded
as it applies in relation to a literary work (that is to all intents and purposes it is
treated the same as a literary work). The Act allows not only for protection regarding
copying of a work but also has controls over programs and translation to other
languages.
Programs are protected for fifty years from the end of the year the program was made.

Educational software is not exempt. However many software producers will allow
educational establishments either to use restricted versions of their software or allow
purchase of educational licenses.
Control on software duplication and unlicensed use is also regulated by the Federation
Against Software Theft (FAST) who are able to take offenders to court.
On conviction for contravention of the act sentencing can range from extensive fines
to imprisonment or both.
Research and Discussion areas
Discuss:
The time taken to develop software has lessened since the 1988 Act. Therefore
the crime of unlicensed copy taking of software should not be frowned upon
too much as software companies make a big profit anyway.
Discuss:
Considering the amount of time and investment in software it is only right that
the unlicensed copying of software should carry a much harder punishment
than current legislation allows.
Discuss:
We have enough legislation related to Information Technology and any more
would only cloud issues.

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Information Systems

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 1

First published 1998

Higher Still Development Unit

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher)

Section 1 Teacher/Lecturer Notes

Section 2 Students Notes

Section 3 Study Materials

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 1

INFORMATION ORGANISATION (HIGHER)

Status of this Teaching and Learning Pack

Hardware and software resources

Learning and teaching approaches

Outcome 2: Describe the characteristics and sources of information

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 2

This order allows students to:

gain detailed knowledge of the characteristics and sources of information whilst

have the opportunity to investigate the technical make-up of current information

consider the ethical and social implications of information technology whilst

Pathway through the unit

2 Describe the characteristics and sources of 10

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 3

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 4

You should already have:

You will then be able to:

describe the characteristics and sources of information

investigate the organisation of contemporary information systems

explain the social, ethical and legal implications of information systems.

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 5

This section of notes and activities will help you:

see how information is used

classify information as useful for day-to-day, mid-term, or long-term purposes

DEFINITIONS OF DATA AND INFORMATION

Data within organisations is collected in various forms, for example, transactions in a

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 6

Information within organisations would be the summaries of actions carried out as

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 7

ONLY WHEN DATA IS PRESENTED IN A USEFUL FORM DOES IT

Advertisement appearing in a localAdvertisement appearing in a local

This is data which has no relevanceThis is information. It is now

SO INFORMATION HAS TO BE RELEVANT AND

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 8

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 9

the data has to be organised into sets of votes for

The number of units has to be divided into types of

The information has to be sorted into course, the

Remember though - information to you may be data to someone else!

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 10

DATA PROCESS INFORMATION

Electricity bill with

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 11

List three examples of:

Make each example relevant to a need you have Suggestions:

Information required for a social event

Information about possible career paths

Information for organising a tour of your home area for a visitor

Information is a major resource in our day-to-day lives and in running a

What is information used for within an organisation?

Information Support Materials: Information Organisation (Higher) 12

Where are we going?

How will we get there?

In order to make suitable decisions all information related to a situation should be

information about advancements in production techniques