Common names for computer-based information systems are transaction processing

Ambient intelligence environment architecture

The main constructs of the research model represent the ambient intelligence environment. The general architecture of the AIECD is shown in Figure 2.5.

Various sensors and actuators connect the environment to the middleware level. Data and knowledge are transferred to applications and services that are accessed by end users on mobile devices or client-server-type information systems.

A computer-based information system is a technologically implemented medium for recording, storing, and disseminating linguistic expressions, and for drawing conclusions from such expressions (Langefors, 1973). These systems are designed to store and process information within organizations and usually consist of interrelated components that work together to collect, process, store, and disseminate information. Such information supports decision making, coordination, control, analysis, and visualization within the organization. The high level functions of an information system can be seen in Figure 2.6.

The input function deals with the capture or collection of raw data from within the organization or from its external environment for processing in a computer-based information system. The output function distributes processed information to the people who will use it or to the activities for which it will be used. The processing function deals with the conversion, manipulation, and analysis of raw input into a form that is more meaningful to humans. The feedback function is an output that is returned to the appropriate members of the organization to help them evaluate or correct input.

Computer-based information systems are based on two scientific paradigms including behavioural science, which develops and verifies theories that explain or predict human or organizational behaviour, and design science, which extends the boundaries of human and organizational capabilities by creating new and innovative artefacts (Hevner et al., 2004). March and Smith (1995) proposed a framework for research within information technology including outputs of the research (research outputs) and activities to carry out this research (research activities). They identified research outputs as follows:

constructs, which are concepts that form the vocabulary of a domain; they constitute a conceptualization used to describe problems within the domain and to specify their solutions

a model, which is a set of propositions or statements expressing relationships among constructs

a method, which is a set of steps (an algorithm or guideline) used to perform a task; methods are based on a set of underlying constructs and a model of the solution space

an instantiation, which is the realization of an artefact in its environment.

Research activities include:

building an artefact to perform a specific task

evaluating the artefact to determine if any progress has been achieved

determining why and how an artefact whose performance has been evaluated worked or did not work within its environment, therefore theorizing and justifying theories about IT artefacts.

A three-tier model has been adopted for developing the prototype of the BLIS, in which the queries are sent to an intermediate level (also called application server), which returns the SQL request to the database server. The database server processes the request and sends the result to the middle tier, which forwards it to the user. Java technology – JavaServer Pages (JSP) – was developed using Apache Tomcat with JavaServer Faces technology. Implementation is free and provides a set of graphical reusable components and a good separation between the presentation tier and the logic tier, being an event oriented system.

Database management uses MySQL, one of the simplest and most popular database servers, which has proved its stability and reliability. MySQL allows the connection of multiple clients, simultaneously, and clients can use multiple databases simultaneously. One can get access on MySQL interactively using several interfaces that allow users to enter queries and view the results in command-line clients, web browsers, or XWindow system clients. MySQL can be fully used in networks and databases are accessible from anywhere on the Internet; the user can share data with anyone, anywhere, protected by access control options.

The core of the AIECD is the BLIS (Kadar et al., 2013), which is developed on three tier architecture as presented in Figure 2.7. The BLIS has a system identification number and password for authentication parameters. After authentication the BLIS opens a menu offering the student the possibility of choosing the questionnaire (see Figure 2.8).

In order to complete the questionnaires and to receive the results, each student must create an account. Student registration requires the following information: identification number, study program, study year, sex, age, and password. The developed system allows the access of each student to his specific resources, depending on the identity and access rights. Authentication is achieved by using an identification number and a password to access system resources.

The questionnaire fill module contains two questionnaires: a right-brain–left-brain quiz and a brain dominance and thinking styles inventory test (see figures 2.9 and 2.10). To complete the answer to BLIS questions it is necessary to select the modify option: the Modify check box. The answer column will become editable then and will allow completing the response 0 (for No) or 1 (for Yes) for the first questionnaire, and will also allow completing the 1, 2, 3 and 4 responses (where 1 is the least preferred response and 4 the most preferred one) for the second questionnaire.

The result print module consists of four web pages which contain the results obtained by the logged student after filling the questionnaires. Figure 2.11 presents the results obtained by the student with ID_1, based on the left-brain–right-brain correspondence between categories and questions presented in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1. Left-brain–right-brain correspondence of categories and questions

Left brainRight brainCategoryQuestion IDCorrespondent categoryQuestion IDSequential1, 11, 14, 22Random4, 6, 12, 25Linear24, 26Holistic20, 27Symbolic10Concrete8Logic3, 15, 16Intuitive13, 21, 28Verbal2, 23Non-verbal7, 19Reality oriented5, 18Imagination oriented9, 17

Respondent ID_1 has the left brain hemisphere as the dominant hemisphere, as disclosed in the second report generated (see Figure 2.12).

I Major Types of Computer-based Information Systems and Psychology

The general term, computer-based information systems (CBIS), is a constellation of a variety of information systems, such as office automation systems (OAS), transaction processing systems (TPS), management information systems (MIS), and management support systems (MSS). Management support systems consist of decision support systems (DSS), expert systems (ES), artificial neural networks (ANN), and executive information systems (EIS) /executive support systems (ESS). Executive support systems are executive information systems with added decision support capabilities. The types of CBIS are based on the levels of management, ranging from nonmanagement level (secretaries, clerical workers, etc.), operational level management, and middle level management, to top level (senior) management.

Since the purpose of this article is to explain the relationship between psychology and CBIS, one useful method of looking at various types of information systems is to observe the degree of human/computer interactions to achieve the systems' intended objectives, but more specifically, the roles of the user in accomplishing those desired goals. We now examine each type of information system from this perspective of the degree of human/computer interaction. Several systems (OAS, TPS, MIS) require no or little human judgments and/or mental processes (cognitive processes, reasoning, learning, etc.) to interpret and use outputs from each system. (The primary function of MIS aggregates transaction is data compiled by the TPS in order to produce information on an organization's performance between two points in time and historical records.) Management information systems also include structured decision-making tools, such as calculating economic order quantity and reorder points using deterministic inventory management models.

The three systems from the top of the organizational pyramid are labeled as MSS, which are comprised of expert systems, DSS, and EIS/ESS. All these systems necessitate the use of the human mind and cognitive processes to process and use information. Expert systems in general embed human experiences and judgments in the form of rules, frame, and semantic networks as a part of the systems. Therefore, most ES outputs do not require human input to execute the decisions, although some expert systems are used as intelligent support systems.

The other two remaining systems (DSS and ESS) are the systems to which psychology has played a critical role in its design, implementation, and use. As Fig. 1 exhibits, the DSS/ESS area has borrowed theories/concepts from various reference disciplines to establish itself as an academic field. The focus of this section is placed on the role of psychology to the design, development, implementation, and use of DSS/ESS.

Despite psychology being a field with many diverse branches, including the aforementioned, all branches are concerned with studying the forces of environment, genetics, mental processes, and free will on the human mind. Of these numerous branches of psychology, cognitive psychology and social psychology are found to be the two most influential fields that have affected the establishment of DSS/ESS as an academic discipline.

Executive information systems

There is a further computer-based information system worth mentioning here: executive information systems. These are often mentioned in the literature on information management in the business and financial sectors. In the business environment a distinction is made between management information systems, which provide routine feedback on current policies, and executive information systems, which provide less structured, irregular information to help senior management to formulate new policy. Executive information systems answer such questions as: ‘What are our competitors doing?’ and ‘What should we be doing?’ In the library environment, marketing information might be said to fall into this category. (In the broader information management environment this kind of enquiry is closely related to environmental scanning.)

Another example is the deliberate varying of system parameters to see if a change of policy or procedures could result in the more effective achievement of objectives. Earlier it was stated that many commercial vendors of library management systems leave parameters (variable values, such as loan periods) for library managers to define. This does give managers the opportunity to change parameters and so test existing policies and procedures: for example, the periods at which overdue notices are sent could be varied. Delaying the dispatch of overdue notices might produce the same end result with lower postal charges (because more loans might be returned before notices are generated). Similarly, loan entitlements (quotas) could be varied and the results monitored. Arguably, this testing of policies and procedures could be seen as the application of an executive information system in the library environment.

I.A. Information Systems

Today, information systems are thought of as computer-based information systems. With the hype surrounding computers, it can blind people to the simple use of their five senses to gain information on which to make decisions and improve ones' law firm. For example, a client says that when he or she called the office the person on the other end was rude. A computer information system is not needed to tell the law firm that this situation has to be dealt with quickly and effectively.

This article will deal exclusively with computer- and technical-based information systems. So as a disclaimer it is not an oversight by the authors but one of the best information systems on the market is in your own back yard so to speak—your five senses. First, the article will examine the role of information systems in a successful law firm. Second, the article will review the unique aspects of the law firm as a business. This will include an introduction to the main focus of the chapter: business operation, pretrial, and trial. Third, the article will deal with each of three areas in depth with regards to information systems. The article will finish with a look at the future and information systems in the legal profession.

VI. Conclusions

Today, organizations typically utilize both manually processed and computer-based information systems. Despite the rapid deployment of information technology in business organizations today, manual ISs continue to play an important role alongside computerized systems and to outnumber them in terms of the quantity of systems and the volume of information processed. This chapter discusses the manual data processing model and attempts to illustrate its role within the context of transaction processing in the traditional, functionally structured business organization.

A sound grasp of manual data processing concepts lies at the heart of a good understanding of contemporary information processing systems. Given such an understanding readers will become more effectively positioned to assist their organizations in deploying the most appropriate information mechanism, whether manual or computerized, that is consistent with their organizational information perspective, their information processing capability, and the information richness desired.

I. Introduction to On-line Analytical Processing (olap)

For all sizes of organizations, a newer type of computer-based information system, that is, an on-line analytical processing (OLAP) system, is expanding the computer's role in everyday operations. An important goal of an OLAP system is to provide information and knowledge based on insight and understanding that decision makers (from the highest level to the lowest level) need. In effect, an organization-wide OLAP system challenges decision makers to evaluate the status quo. An OLAP system allows decision makers to tailor their information and knowledge requirements by discriminating according to user-defined criteria. An OLAP system is capable of making comparisons, analyzing trends, and presenting historical and current data. It is interactive and needs users' input to search and summarize the pertinent data of interest. More recently data mining (also known as knowledge discovery) has been used to obtain information and knowledge from data.

Unlike a traditional information system (IS) presentation, it can distinguish between vital and seldom-used data. An on-line analytical processing system can track and evaluate key critical success factors for decision makers, which is valuable in assessing whether or not the organization is meeting its corporate objectives and goals. In general, an OLAP system can shape an information and knowledge base that decision makers can use to make better informed decisions.

In the past, information systems basically used the computer as a means of providing information to solve recurring operational problems. A better approach today is OLAP systems, which position decision makers at the center of the decision-making process. By increasing the capabilities of decision makers and by eliminating impediments to their rational functioning, an OLAP system improves the chances that an organization will achieve its goals of increased sales, profits, and so forth, by placing information and knowledge in the hands of decision makers at the proper time and place, and by providing flexibility in their choice and sequence of information analysis and in the ultimate presentation of results. From this perspective, OLAP systems provide essential information and knowledge to decision makers so that they can better cope with changing times.

IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS ON SOCIETY

The end of the 20th century saw the beginning of the technologic revolution, which began with the development of dedicated devices in isolated research centers and progressively transformed into multifunctioning, computer-based, information systems operating in the broader community.54 Technologic developments had their beginnings in aerospace research, army intelligence, and university research, and have since found application in homes and businesses around the world.

Technology continues to develop at a rapid pace. The power of computer technology has improved dramatically over the last 2 decades35 and has become more compact, faster, and cheaper, finding new forms of application.8,37 Computer systems that once filled a room can now fit in the palm of a hand. Calculations that once took a week by hand, or a day on an early computer, now take milliseconds. Computers were once a major purchase even for large corporations; now, however, they are regular items in household budgets. Technology that once calculated the trajectory of rockets now calculates interest and repayments on home loans or analyzes last month's sales figures.

Even the simplest technologies have changed the way we live. Many repetitive, time-consuming tasks have been eliminated by technology. Time spent performing tasks around the home, such as cooking and washing, has been reduced with the use of specialized machines and devices. The advent of the computer age saw equipment that once required constant supervision being preprogrammed and left to operate itself. Equipment also can be monitored and reprogrammed from another location. The introduction of technology, such as the simple remote control for the television to sophisticated electronic control systems, has resulted in homes becoming increasingly automated. These technologies have given us both greater control and greater flexibility in scheduling tasks. Electronic automation also has afforded us more freedom outside the home. Transactions that were once conducted over the counter at a specified bank during office hours can now be done through an ATM machine anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Hailed by some as the most significant technologic development to date, the Internet has come of age in the 21st century. This globalization of information provides people with instant access to vast amounts of information. The convergence of telecommunication, computer, and information technology has transformed the way we communicate with other households, services, and businesses.6 The Internet enables people to communicate from their desktops with others around the world. The ease and speed with which we communicate and interact continues to improve. We now have great flexibility as to when, where, and how we conduct our business.

1 History

The concept of the Land Information System was first developed during the 1980s, but its roots go far back to ancient times. Its present-day evolution is a direct result of two simultaneously occurring phenomena of the closing decades of the twentieth century, one being the rapid growth of the world's human population and the pressure that this growth has had and is having on the planet's dwindling land resources. The other continues to be the prodigious progress in the field of computer-based information systems. Before reviewing what a Land Information System could look like today, let us briefly look back at its origins and appreciate that many of the principles maintained at present have come to us from many centuries ago.

There can be little doubt that humans have always in one way or another classified and arranged their immediate and surrounding territorial space. This endeavor is a necessity even for an individual acting alone, and more so for groups or clans working in unison. We can very well imagine prehistoric cave dwellers designating areas for such purposes as cooking, sleeping, storing, and gathering—together within the confines of their individual and shared living space. Over time, as societies grew in numbers and in complexity, accompanied by the conscious setting aside of spaces or units of land within which to perform specific activities or functions, the task of preparing an accounting system designed to establish formally and govern these activities or functions became an inescapable necessity.

A detailed history of the evolution of land recording is not readily available. What we do have is evidence that as a formal activity land accounting, or inventorying, is several thousand years old. For example, there is proof in the form of a Chaldean tablet prepared some six thousand years ago. The same may possibly represent some form of agricultural inventory, describing the production of different crops within distinct areal units, for a particular harvest period. This singular type of registry, performed over time, could have undoubtedly given the ancient Babylonians a detailed view of their food production in the Tigris Euphrates river valley, which in turn allowed this form of wealth to be planned for and dealt with accordingly.

There is also evidence that the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and in America the Incas and the Aztecs, maintained elaborate land records. As for Asia, the Chinese have a millenary tradition in the establishment of formal accounting and controls for the administration of land. The Romans, for example, were particularly active in the preparation of “cadastral” records. Not only would they prepare and maintain land registers in outlying provincial cities and towns but also copies were remitted to Rome to be consigned to a central registrar. During the reign of Roman emperor Diocletian (AD284–305) the jugum, a tax on a unit of cultivable land, was imposed. Besides requiring extensive surveying to be undertaken and periodic assessments, it established a linkage between the levying of taxes and the ownership and productivity of land. As empires and kingdoms grew in size and complexity, the inventory of land, and thus the capability of exercising controls over this most important source of wealth and power, was indispensable to their survival. But it was not until the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth that what can be qualified as a “modern cadastre” began to be implemented, particularly in continental Europe. The driving force behind its development and implementation was the taxation of land and its component buildings, and thus its name “tax cadastre.”

The modern cadastral survey, with its concomitant cadastral record, is the mainstay of any land information system of the present or near future. What must be kept in mind is that no single cadastral system is suitable for all cases due to the enormous disparities that presently exist between national cultures, jurisprudence, and available material and human resources. It is clear that a cadastral survey must be “tailored” to particular circumstances, but maintaining universally recognized methodology and content. In short, it is an ongoing process that over time can acquire the additional elements that will eventually result in a modern system with all its inherent advantages.

VI.A Controls in Enterprise Accounting Systems

A critical issue regarding enterprise accounting systems is the accuracy and integrity of the data stored within the system. Users of the enterprise system must have assurance that the information they receive from the system is error free. Recall that in an enterprise system data are stored in a single repository or database. Control and security concerns are heightened in database environments because of the single shield protecting the entire database, i.e., the database management system. However, database technology also provides opportunities to build controls into the system itself such that errors and irregularities are prevented from ever occurring. Control procedures are mechanisms designed to prevent, detect, or correct errors and irregularities. The hardware inside computer systems will usually process transactions and perform calculations in a flawless manner. However, the software that directs the functioning of computer hardware is designed and created by humans. It is the software component of computer-based information systems, and the human component that interacts with computer-based systems, that can cause errors and irregularities in data and thus bring the need for good controls. Control procedures may be applied at various organizational and data processing levels. Control procedures that affect all information systems and subsystems within the organization are categorized as general control procedures, while controls designed to prevent or detect errors within each information system or sub-system are categorized as application control procedures.

General control procedures are the methods and measures adopted within a business to promote operational efficiency and encourage adherence to prescribed managerial policies. Segregation of duties, maintenance of proper documents and records, and making sure that all accounting transactions are appropriately authorized are some of the common general control procedures that should exist in all accounting systems, regardless of the presence or extent of computerization. For computer-based accounting systems, general controls are those controls that facilitate the effective operation and management of the organization's computer systems and all its applications. The six categories of general control procedures are (1) proper organization of the information systems department to ensure adequate supervision over employees and segregation of duties, (2) system development and program change controls including procedures to authorize, test, and document new systems and changes to existing systems, (3) hardware controls including scheduled maintenance of computing and related equipment, (4) access controls to ensure an appropriate match between the duties of employees and the type of access they have to specific files and programs, (5) computer operations controls that cover the functioning of the organization's computing center, and (6) backup and recovery procedures, including a disaster recovery plan, to protect against accidental or intentional loss of data.

Application control procedures are focused on ensuring the accuracy and reliability of data within each subsystem of the enterprise-wide information system. Computer-based application control procedures include input controls, processing controls, and output controls. As their names suggest, these three sets of control procedures are applicable during the input, processing, and output stages of the data processing cycle. Input control procedures are essentially procedures to validate the data. In an enterprise system employing a relational database, a number of data validation rules can be defined at the table level within the database. In addition, the field type designated for each field in a table can itself serve as a control mechanism. For example, fields defined as Date/Time will accept only date and time data appropriately formatted. In addition, validation rules, which are enforced automatically, can be designed to check whether data entered into a field in a table (1) fall within a certain range, (2) are of the correct length, and (3) match one of the acceptable values for the field. In on-line systems, if a field can have only one of several acceptable values, then the user can be presented with a “pick list” of acceptable values from which a selection can be made. Another powerful feature in on-line systems is the ability to program the system to automatically enter data in certain fields. This control procedure, referred to as system generated data, can for example, enter the current date and next order number on an order entry form.

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