In his immortal book Dune, Frank Herbert painted a universe that was dependent upon the rare spice, melange, which existed on only one planet in the universe. Without this spice, which heightened the senses thereby allowing humans to navigate the vast regions of hyperspace safely, the entire economy of the known galaxy would crumble. Human beings would be reduced to a miserable existence due to a lack of faster than light space travel. Therefore, the rallying cry of many of the characters in Herbert's novel was "The spice must flow!"

Well, in information technology, the data must flow! Information technology concerns the accumulation, storage, retrieval and dissemination of data. Much like a lack of spice in Dune, without the flow of data we would be headed back to the dark ages of the pre-computer era.

To manage the vast amounts of data that modern society and business requires there is a constant need for new management information systems and software to run these systems. The development of robust information systems requires teams of talented individuals, careful planning and a systematic approach to development to produce usable systems.