FREE online courses on Information Technology - Chapter 2 FRAMEWORKS FOR IT
- A FRAMEWORK BASED ON IT
The purpose of employing any technology is to obtain an
advantage over old ways of doing business. The frameworks above were developed
around early information systems that made use first of computer, and then
communications technology. These early frameworks can be improved by taking into
account the explosion of world-wide computer networking. Individuals and
organizations have shown tremendous initiative in finding ways to apply
information technology to improve their operations, gain a competitive
advantage, provide personal productivity tools for employees and even change the
very structure of the organization.
Today, most transactions processing systems operate on-line,
and a number of computer vendors compete for the business of providing hardware
and software for on-line transactions
processing (OLTP) systems. Whenever a customer in a store uses a credit card
for a purchase above a certain amount, the merchant places the card in a reader
that sends data recorded on the magnetic strip on the back of the credit card to
a central transaction processing computer. The merchant enters the amount of the
purchase, and the computer looks up the customer's record to determine if a
purchase of that amount is authorized. If so, the computer sends back an
authorization number to the merchant. No matter what happens is between the
credit card company and the customer, the merchant is assured of receiving
payment from the credit card company after following the authorization process.
Transactions processing systems handle vast amount of data,
much of which convey little interesting information to a manager. However,
summaries of transactions data are often useful. For example, a summary of sales
by product and territory from a sales database could be very valuable for a
marketing executive or brand manager. Transactions systems, then, are the
backbone of many information systems in firms.
