MIS information system

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Cache: A buffer between the processor and a slower device such as a printer, disk drive, or memory chips. The cache generally consists of high-speed memory. Data is transferred in bulk to the cache. It is then pulled out as it is needed, freeing up the processor to work on other jobs instead of waiting for the slower device to finish.
Barriers to entry: Anything that makes it more difficult for new firms to enter an industry. Several possibilities would violate antitrust laws. An acceptable barrier is the increased use of information systems, which raises the cost of entering an industry because a rival would have to spend additional money on information technology.
Change agents: Objects or people who cause or facilitate changes. Sometimes the change agent might be a new employee who brings fresh ideas, other times change can be mandated by top-level management. Sometimes an outside event such as a competitor or a hurricane forces an organization to change.
Backbone: A high-speed communication line that links multiple subnetworks. It is usually a fiber optic line.
Bulletin board system (BBS): Similar to a typical bulletin board, except that people access it from computers. The BBS enables users to store comments, pictures, and files for other people to retrieve. Bulletin boards are usually organized by topics and can be searched for specific phrases or comments. They are a useful way to disseminate information that is of interest to many different people.
Broadcasts: A technique of transmitting messages using radio, micro, or infared waves. Broadcast messages are sent to all devices in a certain area. Others in the vicinity can also receive the messages.
Circular reference: In a spreadsheet, a set of cells that eventually refer to each other. In the simplest example, cell A1 would use values stored in cell A2, but cell A2 uses the value stored in A1. This technique is sometimes used to create an iterative solution to a model.
Bus: Most computers have special slots called a bus to provide high-speed connections to other devices. Various manufacturers make boards that fit into these slots. The processor can exchange data with these other devices, but performance is sometimes constrained by the design of the bus.
Antitrust laws: A variety of laws that make it illegal to use monopoly power. Some basic (economic) actions to achieve a competitive advantage are illegal. Strategic plans must be evaluated carefully to avoid violating these laws.
Change drivers: Concepts or products that have altered the way businesses operate. Classic examples include: bar-code scanners in retail stores, handheld miniterminals or notebooks by delivery firms and salespeople, and reservation systems by travel and entertainment industries.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI): An organization responsible for defining many standards, including several useful information technology standards.
Bitmap: A method of storing images. The picture is converted to individual dots that are stored as bits. Once a picture is stored in bitmap form, it is difficult to resize. However, bitmaps are good for displaying photographic images with subtle color shading.
Agent: An object-oriented program designed for networks that is written to perform specific tasks in response to user requests. Agents are designed to automatically communicate with other agents to search for data and make decisions.
Access speed: A measure of disk drive speed. Loosely, the time it takes a disk drive to move to a particular piece of data.
Brainstorming: A group technique in which each individual is asked to come up with possible suggestions to a problem. Any ideas are useful, regardless of how wild they are. Even fanciful ideas could stimulate someone else to improve it or to explore a related area.
Browser: A software tool that converts World Wide Web data into a graphical page with hypertext links. Using standard (HTML) commands, companies can offer data and additional links to users. Users simply click on individual words and pictures to retrieve additional data and move to other network sites.
Activity-based costing (ABC): ABC allocates costs by examining a detailed breakdown of the production activities. The cost of each process is computed for each different product. The detail provides a better picture of the production cost for each item.
Chief information officer (CIO): The person who is in charge of the MIS organization within a firm, charged with overseeing operations, setting MIS priorities, and being a top-level advocate for MIS. Also develops and supports strategy for the firm.
Chart of accounts: A listing of all of the accounts and subaccounts in the general ledger. It must be defined ahead of time for each business.
Artificial intelligence (AI): An attempt to build machines that can think like humans. Techniques evolved from this research help solve more complex problems. Useful techniques include expert systems, neural networks, massively parallel computers, and robotics.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM): A packet-based network system that uses high-speed transmission lines (150 megabits and over) and routers to maximize network efficiency and throughput.
Binary data: A collection of ones and zeros called bits. Computer processors operate only on binary data. All data forms are first converted to binary.
CD-ROM: Compact disk-read only memory. Data is stored and retrieved with a laser. A special machine is required to create data on a CD-ROM. Used to hold data that does not change very often. Useful for multimedia applications because a disk can hold about 650 megabytes of data. The format used to store music CDs.
Board of directors: A group of people paid to oversee and evaluate the decisions of the company. Technically the CEO reports to the board of directors, but they are charged more with reviewing the CEO's decisions. Most boards have the authority to remove a CEO, but many board members are selected by the CEO.
Advocacy role: Someone in MIS, usually the chief information officer, who bears responsibility for exploring and presenting new applications and uses of MIS within the company.
Audit trail: The ability to trace any transaction back to its source. In accounting, transaction values are accumulated on the general ledger and used to create reports. An audit trail is a set of marks or records to point back to the original transaction.
10Base-T: A system of connecting computers on a LAN using twisted-pair cable. The method relies on compression to increase raw transfer rates to 10 megabits per second.
Charge-back system: A scheme for charging other internal departments for services. For example, some firms charge departments a fee based on how often they use the central computer. The goal was to ration a limited resource by avoiding free use.
Biometrics: A field of study that is trying to determine how to identify people based on biological characteristics. The most common devices are fingerprint and handprint readers.
C: A powerful programming language that is flexible and creates efficient code. A language commonly used to build complex applications, and to create commercial software products.
Centralization: A business scheme for performing most operations and making management decisions from one location in an organization. MIS organization can be examined in four areas: hardware, software, data, and personnel. See also Decentralization.
Attributes: Descriptions of an object or entity. For example, a customer object would at least have attributes for name, phone number, and address.
Authentication: The ability to verify the source of a message. Dual-key systems are a useful technique. The sender uses a private key to encrypt the message. The recipient applies the sender's public key. If the decrypted message is readable, it had to have come from the alleged sender, because the keys always work in pairs.
Cable modem: An Internet connection device that translates local area network protocols to run over a television cable line. It can provide transmission speeds around 3 Mpbs. But the communication line is shared with other users.
Chief executive officer (CEO): The head of a company. The person ultimately responsible for setting the direction and policies of the firm. Usually the CEO is also the chairperson of the board of directors.
Accounting journal: Raw financial transaction data are collected by the accounting department and stored in a journal. Modern accounting requires the use of a double-entry system to ensure accurate data.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII): American standard code for information interchange. A common method of numbering characters so they can be processed. For instance, the letter A is number 65. It is slowly being replaced by the ANSI character set table and the use of international code pages that can display foreign characters
Assumptions: Models are simplifications of real life, so they require assumptions about various events or conditions.
Boolean search: Searching for data by using the logic operators AND, OR, and NOT conditions in a WHERE statement, for example, find a list of customers where city = "Detroit" and age > 50 and do not own a car
C++: An object-oriented extension of the C programming language. It is commonly used to build commercial software. It produces efficient code and supports the development of reusable objects.
Backward chaining: In an expert system, the user enters a "conclusion" and asks to see whether the rules support that conclusion.
Benchmark: A set of routines or actions used to evaluate computer performance. By performing the same basic tasks on several machines, you can compare their relative speeds. Benchmarks are especially useful when the machines use different processors and different input and output devices
Case-based reasoning: An expert system approach that records information in the form of situations and cases. Users search for cases similar to their current problem and adapt the original solution.
Carrier-Sense, Multiple-Access/ Collision Detection (CSMA/CD): A communications protocol that determines how computers will behave on a shared-medium network. Ethernet protocols rely on CSMA/CD. Other alternatives are Token Ring and packet switching.
Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (Basic): An early computer programming language designed to be easy to program and to teach. Visual Basic is a current version for Windows programming
Bottom-up development: An approach to designing and building systems in which workers build system components to solve each problem as it arises. Eventually the pieces are combined to create an integrated system. The method relies on standards and controls to facilitate cooperation and integration. See also Top-down development.
Bit: The smallest unit of data in a computer. All data is converted to bits or binary data. Each bit can be in one of two states: on or off. Bits are generally aggregated into collections called a byte.
Classes: Base descriptions of objects. Technically, classes describe generic attributes and methods. Objects are a specific instance of a class.
Byte: A collection of bits. Traditionally, 8 bits make up one byte. From binary arithmetic, an 8-bit byte can hold 2 to the 8th power, or 256, possible numbers. In many systems a byte is used to hold one character.
Bus network: A network organizing scheme in which each computer is attached to a common transmission medium. Protocols are needed to determine when a machine can transmit and to recover from collisions

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