Tech guide 2 questions

1. What are main differences/distinction between system software and application software?
Systems software is a set of instructions that serves primarily as an intermediary between computer hardware and application programmes. It provides important self-regulatory functions for computer systems, such as loading itself when the computer is first turned one and providing commonly used sets of instructions for all applications, whereas application software is a set of computer instructions that provide more specific functionality to a user.2.

What are the two main types of system software?
Systems control programmes:
Functions of the operating system
Types of operating system
System support programmes:
Systems utilities
System performance monitors.

3. What is the difference between proprietary and open source software?
What considerations should be made when a business selects either software. Proprietary software is software that has been developed by a company and has restrictions on its use, copying and modification. On the other hand open-source software is software who’s source code is available at no cost to developers or users. This software is copyrighted and distributed with license terms ensuring that the source code will always be available. If a business does not have time to train users or does not have in-house technical experts the open-source software become more complex and difficult as they may have to buy maintenance support contracts. Though if the business is capable of the complexity then open-source software is low cost and extremely efficient.
4. What are some of the legal issues involved in acquiring and using software in most businesses/organizations?
The legal issues’ surrounding acquiring and using software in most businesses comes down to software licensing. Copying software is illegal and if the correct licensees for the use of the software are not purchased by the organisation the business can be charged with fraud, which results in high legal costs.

5. What is meant by SaaS? Name some examples of this software.
(Saas) is Software-as-a-Service. This is a method of delivering software in which a vendor hosts the applications. Customers access these applications over a network, typically the internet. Customers do not own the software but pay for using it.
o Google
o Amazon

Tech guide 1 questions

Tech Guide 1 questions

What is computer hardware and what are the major hardware components? Hardware refers to the physical equipment used for the input, processing, output and storage activities of a computer system. The components are:
Central processing unit (CPU).
Primary storage.
Secondary storage.
Input technologies.
Output technologies.
Communication technologies.

What is Moore's Law/what does it mean in relation to computers.
Moore’s Law refers to Gordon Moore’s prediction that the microprocessor complexity would double approximately every two years. As his predictions have been mostly accurate it means that computers are increasing in technology and speed and as an information processing tool they are getting better and better.

In basic terms, describe how a microprocessor functions.
A microprocessor has different parts which perform different functions:
-The Control Unit: sequentially accesses programme instructions, decodes them and controls the flow of data to and from the ALU (arithmetic-logic unit), the registers, caches, primary and secondary storage and various output devices.
-The Arithmetic-logic Unit: performs the mathematic calculations and makes logical comparisons.

What factors determine the speed of the microprocessor?
The clock speed: the preset speed of the clock that times all chip activities in megahertz and gigahertz.
Word length: is the number of binary units (bits) that the CPU can process in one machine cycle.
Bus width: is the size of the physical paths down which the data and instructions travel as electrical impulses.
Line width: is the distance between transistors.

What are the four main types of primary storage?
Registers.
Random Access Memory (RAM).
Cache Memory.
Read-only Memory.

What are the main types of secondary storage?
Magnetic Media (Magnetic tape, Sequential access, Magnetic disks).
Optical Storage Devices (Compact disk, Digital video disk, Holographic memory.
Flash Memory Devices (Memory cards, thumb drive)

How does primary storage differ from secondary storage in terms of speed cost and capacity? Primary storage stores small amounts of data and information that will be used immediately by the CPU. In Primary storage the data has to travel a shorter distance to that of secondary which means it can be processed faster. Primary storage is more expensive then secondary.

What are enterprise storage systems?
The Enterprise storage system is a independent, external system that includes two or more storage devices. They provide large amounts of storage, high performance data transfer, a high degree of availability, protection against data loss and sophisticated management tools.
Distinguish between human data input devices and source data automation. Human data input devices such and a keyboarded or mouse require a certain amount of human effort to input data. Source data automation devices input data with minimal human intervention. Eg. barcode readers.

What is one new technology that will change how we do things?
many types of security technology will be harnessed in the future and make today’s current paperwork somewhat redundant, birth certificates drivers licence etc. this will be in the form of data RID.

Chapter 7,8

Chapter 7
1. Identify common wireless devices and their application to business:
pagers e-mail handhelds, personal digital assistants (PDA’s) and cellular telephones.

2. Describe the various types and general characteristics of wireless transmission media/technologies- microwave, satellite inferred and radio waves: Microwave transmission a wireless system that uses 226 microwaves for high volume, long distance point-to-point communication. Satellite transmission, a wireless transmission system that uses satellites for broadcast communications. Infrared, a type of wireless transmission that uses red light not commonly visible to the human eye. Radio Waves: system that uses radio-wave frequencies to send data directly between transmitters and receivers.

3. What is Bluetooth/how is it used?
Bluetooth chip technology that enables short-range connection between wireless services. It is an industry specification used to create small personal area networks.

4. What are WLAN’S, Wi-Fi, WWAN’s and WiMax? WLAN:
is a computer network in a limited geographical area that uses wireless transmission for communication. Wi-Fi: A set of standards for wireless local area networks based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. WiMax: Worldwide interoperability for Microwave access, popularly known as WiMax . WiMax has a wireless access range of up to 31 miles.

5. What are the drivers of mobile computing and mobile commerce?
Mobile computing was designed for workers who travel outside the boundaries of their organisations or for anyone traveling outside his or her home. M-commerce can be transacted via the internet, private communication lines, smart cards and other infrastructures.

6. Explain the nature of RFID:
RFID is radio frequency identification technology, a wireless technology that allows manufactures to attach tags with antennas and computer chips on goods and then track their movement through radio signals.

7. Identify the 4 main security treats that arise from the use of mobile technologies?
The four major treats to wireless networks are rouge access points, war driving, eavesdropping and radio frequency jamming. A rouge access point is an unauthorized access point to a wireless network; war driving is the act of locating WLAN’s while driving around a city or elsewhere; and eavesdropping refers to efforts by unauthorized users to access data that are traveling over other wireless networks. Radio frequency jamming occurs when a person or a device intentionally or unintentionally interferes with wireless network transmission.

Chapter 8

1. What is a Transactional Processing and the role of TP systems. State the key objective of TP/TPSs.
Transaction processing systems monitor collect store and process data generated from all business transactions. These data are inputs into the business database. TPSs have to handle high volume and large variations in volume efficiently, avoid errors and downtime, record results accurately and securely and also to maintain privacy and security.



1. What is a functional area information system? List its major characteristics. FAISs provide information mainly to lower- and middle level managers in the functional areas. They use this information to help them plan, organize and control operations. The information is provided in a variety of reports routine reports, ad-hoc reports and exception reports.

2. How does an FAIS support management by exception? How does it support on-demand reports? To implement management by exception, management first creates performance standards. The company then sets up systems to monitor performance, compare actual performance to the standards, and identify predefined expectations. Managers are alerted to the exceptions via exception reports.

1. Define ERP and describe its functionalities.
ERP is a systems software that integrates the planning management and use of all resources in the entire enterprise. The major objectives of ERP systems are to tightly integrate the functional areas of the organization and to enable information to flow seamlessly across the functional areas.

2. List some drawbacks of ERP software. They can be extremely complex, expensive, and time consuming to implement. Companies may need to change existing business processes to fit the predefined business process of the software. The company must purchase the entire software package even if they only require a few modules.

Section 8.5 - Before You Go On…

1. Define a supply chain and supply chain management (SCM).
The supply chain refers to the flow of materials, information, money and services from raw material suppliers, through factories and warehouses to the end customers. SCM is to pan organize and optimize the supply chains activities. SCM utilizes information systems

2. List the major components of supply chains.
A supply chain involves three segments upstream, internal and downstream. It also includes tiers of suppliers, and the flow of the supply chain.

3. What is the bullwhip effect?
Refers to erratic shifts in orders up and down the supply chain

4. What are some solutions to supply chain problems?
Vertical integration, Using inventories to solve supply chain problems and information sharing.



1. Define EDI and list its major benefits and limitations.
EDI electronic data interchange (EDI) is a communication standard that enables business partners to exchange routine documents, such as purchasing orders electronically. Benefits: it minimizes data entry errors because each entry is checked by the computer, the length of the message can be shorter and the messages are secured. EDI also reduces cycle time, increases productivity, enhances customer service and minimizes paper usage and storage. Limitations: implementing an EDI system involves a significant initial investment, the ongoing operation costs are high due to the use of expensive, private VANs. It is difficult to make quick changes, EDIs also require a long start up period.