...lessons, we will study each component in more detail. Many people have tried to classify computing systems in different ways, always with difficulty. We will look at some of the terminology used to describe different types of computing systems, from the ubiquitous micro to the extremely powerful supercomputer. Common terms, such as hardware and software, will be discussed. Different methods of processing data and information will be explained. After this brief survey, we will come back, in later lessons, and explore in greater detail the topics introduced here. Data and information processing have been previously defined as the transformation of unorganised raw material or data into useful information. This processing may be done manually or with the help of mechanical and electronic devices. It is common to refer to the collection of personnel, equipment, software, and procedures that perform the data and information processing functions as an information processing system. Very often, when a computer is used, the system is referred to as a computer system. We will use the term computer system to refer to the hardware and software exclusively, and reserve the term information processing system to include the people and procedures. In the early days of computing, when the computer was used simply to replace manual operations such as payroll, the term that was used was EDP, or electronic data...
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...Infrastructure of Champions HP success story One of the largest food companies in the world, General Mills has one of the lowest IT spends per revenue dollar in the consumer packaged goods manufacturing industry. The company, which has long pursued a strategy of IT standardization and consolidation, operates its entire global enterprise on HP systems — from the HP Integrity servers that run its SAP ERP and Business Information Warehouse, to the HP iPAQ Pocket PCs used by its retail salesforce. In addition to cost savings, the simplified infrastructure has enabled quick response to business change — most notably when General Mills acquired Pillsbury, a company of near equal size, and integrated it into its infrastructure in just 16 months. General Mills markets 100 of the world’s best-loved food brands, including Betty Crocker, Haagen-Dazs, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Wheaties and Cheerios. It holds the No.1 or No.2 market position in virtually every category in which it competes. It also relies on a single vendor for its IT systems worldwide: HP. “We think that we’re extremely different in the way that we manage information systems at General Mills,” says Vandy Johnson, senior director of I.S. Operations, who oversees the $12.3 billion - dollar company’s business warehouse, data management, telecom, network, I.S. security, data center, and server and web infrastructure operations. General Mills operates the core of its business — supply chain, product lifecycle management...
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...levelled off, and orders for Q1 2010 looked just like those for Q1 2009. New competitors, low entry barriers, and a plateau in the affiliate market meant few opportunities for growth across the industry. Despite those conditions, the company's owners had set aggressive revenue targets for 2010 to 2012. The general manager was responsible for growing RevenueWire’s network by helping affiliates increase sales and make more money. She was also charged with building merchant business: that meant signing on new merchants and convincing merchants to use RevenueWire as an end-to-end solution from finding affiliates to delivering an effective shopping cart and payment experience. In order to increase revenue leach identified two approaches: 1) More of the same : continue to concentrate on the “pay per sale” model of the affiliate network provider. Growth in this area would mean signing on more affiliates and representing a broader range of products from more merchants. 2)Platform as a service: Market its proprietary SafeCart as a standalone product and end new investment in the affiliate’s network business. Each approach meant a different level of investment, effort and return. The general manager was responsible for growing RevenueWire’s network by helping affiliates increase sales and make more money. The...
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...Subject: Company Profile The company I am researching will be EA Games and its implementation of a $10 fee charged to gamers. EA develops, publishes, and distributes software for a variety of consoles that range from computer games to mobile software . EA was founded in 1982 and holds popular titles under its name such as Madden, FIFA, The Sims, and Battlefield, among others. EA has held a favorable market share over a 15-year period, and in an industry where software companies frequently enter and exit because of growing competition that can come from amateur developers to other well financed companies, only shows that this market share position is evidence of the popularity and quality of their products. Since the early 2000’s the internet has emerged and is becoming integrated with everything we use, as an industry software companies, including EA, have evolved multiplayer gaming into online entities that carry their own experiences past the story line assigned with each game. The Issue Originally games were simple and once played to the end, there was little left. Since the introduction of online multiplayer features, software companies have found ways to market new products. EA and many other developers found that by users would pay for virtual perks and advantages and that these virtual purchases created significant revenue for their company . EA however, took it a step further and charged users a $10 fee to access the games online features if the user was not the...
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...Federal Financial Management System Requirements Property Management Systems Requirements JFMIP-SR-00-4 October 2000 What is JFMIP? The Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) is a joint undertaking of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Personnel Management, working in cooperation with each other and other agencies to improve financial managemen t practices in Government. The Program was given statutory authorization in the Budget and Accountin g Procedures Act of 1950 (31 USC 65 as amended). Leadership and program guidance are provided by the four Principals of the JFMIP – Comptroller General of the United States, Secretary of the Treasury, and the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of Personnel Management. Each Principal designates a representative to serve on the JFMIP Steering Committee, which is responsible for the general direc tion of the Program. The JFMIP Executive Director and a program agency representative (who serves for 2 years) are also on the Steering Committee. The Program promotes strategies and guides financial management improvement across Government, revi ews and coordinates central agencies’ activities and policy promulgations, and acts as a catalyst and clearinghouse for sharing and disseminating information about good financial management practices. This information sharing is done through conferences and other...
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...Survey of Open Source Integrated Library System in Thai University Libraries in Bangkok and Pathumthani by Pranee Kiriyanant The Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Kyoto University 2012 Survey of Open Source Integrated Library System in Thai University Libraries in Bangkok and Pathumthani by Pranee Kiriyanant Survey of Open Source Integrated Library System in Thai University Libraries in Bangkok and Pathumthani / Pranee Kiriyanant. Kyoto : The Library of Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 2012 CSEAS Bibliographical Series No. 10 ISBN 978-4-906332-07-6 Published by The Center for Southeast Asian Studies Library Kyoto University 46 Shimoadachi-cho, Yoshida Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan Copyright © 2012 Pranee Kiriyanant Contents Acknowledgments Abstract Abstract (in Thai language) Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Literature Review Open source software Integrated library system History of open source software Origin of open source software Adoption of open source software in libraries Open source software use in Thailand Descriptions of open source software Brief descriptions of integrated library system products Advantages and Disadvantages of open source software Chapter 3 Research method Chapter 4 Results Chapter 5 Conclusion References Appendix Appendix A: Request letter for participation (in Thai language) Appendix B: Request letter for participation (translation copy in English) Appendix...
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...Air Canada to overhaul maintenance software 1 Comment Greg Meckbach @itworldca Published: April 17th, 2008 The airline has signed a contract with Mxi Technologies of Ottawa to install Maintenix software, which will be hosted by a third party. Among other things, the software allows Air Canada to ensure qualified technicians are available before they schedule maintenance. Find out how it integrates with PeopleSoft When Air Canada technicians work on airplanes, they use several different legacy software packages that have been installed over the last 15 years. The systems don’t always talk to each other or the finance and inventory systems, so the Montreal-based airline has hired Mxi Technologies Ltd. of Ottawa to replace it. The companies announced this week Air Canada is scheduled to start installing Mxi’s Maintenix software next year. The companies did not disclose the total cost, though the contract is worth “multi millions of dollars,” said Hans Downer, Mxi’s executive vice-president for sales and support. Maintenix is designed to let maintenance, engineering and finance divisions share information, and Mxi claims this reduces repetitive tasks. “One of the benefits of the Mxi product is, all of this is integrated into a single system, gives us a single view and a single planning mechanism for our entire fleet,” said Steve Bogie, Air Canada’s program director for the software implementation. “It gets us off that legacy platform and puts us on to a Web platform...
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...countermeasures can be a complex procedure, even more so when protecting hundreds of systems from internal and external threats. Many tools exist to assist in implementing and scaling security operations. There are many assets that represent risks to businesses ranging from information systems to the data which is stored on them and therefore almost as many existing threats (Smith, 2013). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) describes 11 types of assets; people, organizations, systems, software, databases, networks, services, data, computing devices, circuits, and websites (Halberdier, Waltermire, and Wunder, 2011). This list is more extensive than the categories discussed, for the sake of brevity, but it might be helpful to enterprise employees seeking to identify different assets. Hardware represents a large investment for businesses. Servers, network devices, cables, workstations, and mobile devices can cost enterprise businesses millions of dollars up front. Because information systems are such an integral part of modern business, companies cannot afford to be without access to file and print servers or internet access. This means that the loss of hardware would represent setbacks in productivity, potential negative impacts to the organization’s reputation, and necessary additional expenditures. (Smith, 2013) Data can encompass a broad range of assets from employee and customer personally identifiable information (PII) to trade secrets or financial...
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...third store in 2003 in Encinitas, California. Since its inception in 1998, KFF has proven to be a successful company with continued growth. Resulting from this growth, the need has arisen to evaluate KFF’s current accounting operations as well as how computer systems could be more integrated into the day to day business operations of KFF. As a member of the accounting firm retained by KFF, I will use this brief to assess your current systems, discuss possible technology options, and evaluate potential threats related to your current business model. Business and Accounting Needs of KFF In looking at the business and accounting needs of KFF, I determined you currently use a comprehensive Retail Enterprise Management System (REMS) that has the following financial modules: • General Ledger – Used for financial reporting, budgeting and chart of accounts • Accounts Payable – Used for check printing, cash purchases and tax and freight allocations • Point of Sale (POS) – Captures and reports all retail sales • Bank Reconciliation – Reconciles checks, account deposits, and account balances The REMS has imbedded security features such as passwords, dollar limits, and limited access features and any disbursements over $1,000 must be approved by either the CFO or President while disbursements over $5,000 must be approved by both. Additionally, KFF installed auxiliary generators at each store and the company headquarters to protect against...
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...Computer software From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Software" redirects here. For other uses, see Software (disambiguation). Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it. In other words, software is a conceptual entity which is a set of computer programs, procedures, and associated documentation concerned with the operation of a data processing system. We can also say software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purposes. In other words software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation. Program software performs the function of the program it implements, either by directly providing instructions to the computer hardware or by serving as input to another piece of software. The term was coined to contrast to the old term hardware (meaning physical devices). In contrast to hardware, software is intangible, meaning it "cannot be touched".[1] Software is also sometimes used in a more narrow sense, meaning application software only. Sometimes the term includes data that has not traditionally been associated with computers, such as film, tapes, and records.[2] Examples of computer software include: * Application software includes end-user applications of computers such as word processors or video games, and ERP software for groups of...
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...February 2009 pp. 63–76 Assessing Information Technology General Control Risk: An Instructional Case Carolyn Strand Norman, Mark D. Payne, and Valaria P. Vendrzyk ABSTRACT: Information Technology General Controls (ITGCs), a fundamental category of internal controls, provide an overall foundation for reliance on any information produced by a system. Since the relation between ITGCs and the information produced by an organization’s various application programs is indirect, understanding how ITGCs interact and affect an auditor’s risk assessment is often challenging for students. This case helps students assess overall ITGC risk within an organization’s information systems. Students identify specific strengths and weaknesses within five ITGC areas, provide a risk assessment for each area, and then evaluate an organization’s overall level of ITGC risk within the context of an integrated audit. Keywords: internal controls; general control; ITGC; risk assessment. INTRODUCTION he Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX 2002) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Auditing Standard No. 5 (PCAOB 2007) require that the organization’s chief executive officer (CEO) and chief financial officer (CFO) include an assessment of the operating effectiveness of their internal control structure over financial reporting when issuing the annual report. External auditors must review management’s internal control assessment as part of an annual integrated audit of an organization’s internal controls over financial...
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...SYSTEMS SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 9.1 Since most organizations make extensive use of computer-based systems in processing accounting data, it is essential that computer expertise be available in the organization's audit group. Such expertise should include: * Extensive knowledge of computer hardware, software, and accounting applications * A detailed understanding of appropriate control policies and procedures in computer systems * An ability to read and understand system documentation * Experience in planning computer audits and in using modern computer auditing techniques. All internal auditors may not possess expertise in all of these areas. However, there is certainly some minimum level of computer expertise that is appropriate for all auditors. This would include: * An understanding of computer hardware, software, accounting applications, and controls. * The ability to examine all elements of the computerized AIS * The ability to use the computer as a tool to accomplish these auditing objectives. 9.2 Many authorities have suggested in...
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...company reported that her time to process electronic deliverables from laboratories decreased from 30 minutes to 5 minutes per file after they implemented and enforced a data transfer standard and a closed-loop reference file system so that the laboratories delivered clean data. Since the data administrator was handling about 300 files a year, this translates to 125 hours per year saved, for cost savings of almost $6,000 per year just for that one task. Additional savings were realized in increased efficiency in selecting and reporting data. Another client told Geotech that using Enviro Data for his reporting saves him 4-6 hours per day. He spends about half of his time doing data reporting, and bills at the rate of $80 per hour, so the software is saving him 650 hours per year, or $52,000 of project cost. A second type of cost saving occurs...
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...responsibility to secure all borders and points from illegal entry. During 2004 the immigration debate was heating up in America and DHS had advocates wanting the border fence to be extended another 1300 miles and some were calling for it to be removed completely. As a fully integrated, intelligence-driven agency, CBP has established programs and built a layered strategy designed to transform border security and other mission critical functions. CBP’s focus is to put enhanced security tools into the hands of its officers and agents so they can accomplish their missions better (Schied, 2009). The Secure Border Initiative Network (SBInet) program was originally intended to facilitate the construction of an integrated border surveillance system comprised of cameras,...
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...manageability. The result is best-in-class products throughout an integrated stack of hardware and software, with every layer designed and engineered to work together according to open industry standards. Fusion Tomo's complete, open, and integrated solutions offer extreme performance at the lowest cost—all from a single vendor. Integrated, industry-specific solutions are engineered to address complex business processes across a wide range of industries. We are the world’s largest provider of enterprise software and a leading provider of computer hardware products and services that are engineered to work together in the cloud and in the data center. Our offerings include Fusion Tomo database and middleware software, application software, cloud infrastructure, hardware systems—including computer server, storage and networking products—and related services. We develop and maintain our products and services to be enterprise-grade, reliable, secure and interoperable while offering customers a choice in deployment models that best meet their information technology (IT) needs. Our customers can subscribe to use many Fusion Tomo software and hardware products through our Fusion Tomo Cloud offerings, or purchase our software and hardware products and related services to build their own internal clouds or on premise IT environments. Cloud computing IT environments, including those offered through our Fusion Tomo Cloud Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service...
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