Many Types of Systems
Several key types of systems are briefly described below:i
- Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) - These are
systems designed to process large amounts of data that humans
would find tedious to process by hand (inventory systems are
a good example). Although input is still often done by humans,
the processing is greatly speeded up.
- Office Automation Systems (OAS) - These are systems
that support workers and allow them to transform data without
creating new knowledge. Word processing, spreadsheets and
e-mail are common types of OAS systems.
- Management Information Systems (MIS) - Management
information systems work in conjunction with OAS and other
systems. MIS systems are mainly database systems that allow
users to perform decision analysis by analyzing data. A sales
reporting system (which provides information about the sales
of company products) is an example of an MIS system.
- Expert Systems and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems
- The basic goal of AI is to develop systems that display
intelligence as opposed to just raw computing power. This
usually involves understanding natural language and the ability
to reason out a solution to a problem...just as human beings
do. Expert systems attempt to emulate the body of knowledge
contained in a human expert (such as a doctor). They are used
in place of a human expert to obtain advice on solving a problem
that the human expert would normally handle. Several famous
expert system programs attempt to do medical diagnosis based
on symptoms entered into the computer.
Systems developed today tend to be relatively large projects.
Most small projects have already been accomplished or can be
easily accomplished by using office automation tools. For instance,
creating a company mailing list for marketing promotions can
be easily accomplished with an Access database (assuming it
isn't too large) by using the "Wizards" contained in MS Access.
There is no need to form a team to develop the database. However,
developing a sales system to sell products via the Internet
that also interfaces with a company's inventory and fulfillment
systems is not a one-hour cruise through an Microsoft Office
wizard! To effectively organize and manage large-scale projects,
a systematic approach must be followed.
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