1. Move data from storage to main memory

2. Execure the instruction for manipulating data

3. move the results from main memory back to storage.

Also referred to as main memory or primary storage.

It is a holding area for data before and after processing by the CPU.

Ram units are volatile, they are emptied when the computer is shut off.

Is measured in size rather than speed.

Permanent storage used to hold the basic low-level programs and data particular to a computer's harware.

Vital to the operation of the hardware and cannot be altered by the owner and aren't affected when the computer is shut off.

Hard Drives- most common

Optical Drives- record and read data by laser beam. Dvd, cds. They rotate

Flash Drives- thumb drives. no moving parts

Floppy disks and magnetic tape- slow access times and hold less

Refers to the programs that are executed by the hardware. 

Two perspectives, 1. systems v. applications and 2. the programming language in which the software is written

Systems software- performs fundamental tasks to manage computer resources. 1. the operating system (traffic cop of any computer system). 2. Utility programs which perform basic functions not particular to a specific application such as copying, deleting, merging and sorting.

Application Software- consists of programs that tell the computer what steps the user wants carried out. can be purchased from vendors or developed internally.

Examples include, word processors, spreadsheets, graphics and small databases, payroll, hr, accounts payable, general ledger, etc

SQL- Structured Query Language: best know. Enables user to read, update, reorganize and report on data contained in a relational database

GAS- Generalized audit software: also know as CAAT computer assisted audit techniques. allows processing functions such as extracting sample items, verifying totals, developing file statistics, and retrieving specified data fields.

HTML- hypertext markup language: authoring software language commonly used to creat and link websites. Key features are hotlinking and graphics display.

XML- Extensible markup language: open standard usable with many programs and applications.

XBRL- Extensible business reporting language: specification developed by the AICPA to report in accordance with GAAP. Variation of XML that is expected to decrease costs of generating financial reports and sharing business info.

Connects devices across an urban area for instance, two or more office parks.

Has had limited success as a wire-based network.

Baseband- a medium that can carry only one signal

Broadband- a medium that can carry multiple signals.

Hubs- very simple and serve only to broadcast messages to every other device on the network.

Bridges- improve traffic flow by dividing LANs into segments. More intelligent than hubs. They read the destination address and isolate the message to the segment where the destination device is located, elimating traffic.

1. Light pulses used in fiber optics are not subject to electromagnetic interference.

 2. Interception by unauthorized parties is impossible because the light pulses cannot be tapped as electrical signals can.  Also, cut fiber becomes a mirror immediately alerting administrators that there is a problem.

Most successful protocol for LAN transmission. It breaks up the flow of data between devices into discrete groups of data bits called frames.

Polite conversation: Each device listens to the network to determine if another conversation is taking place. Once the network is determined to be free of traffic the device sends the message.

PRotocol that originally had a much higher speed than Ethernet.

Each device is connected to the next in a ring config. a special frame called the token is passed continuously around. When a device sends a message it attaches a message to the token and the token drops it off at the destination when it arrives there. I

It is expensive and difficult to expand.

MOre intelligent than hubs, bridges or switches.  They have tables stored in memory that tell them the most efficient path along which each packet should be sent.

Routing is what makes the internet possible.

The heart of internet routing. Allows any device anywhere in the world to be recognized on the internet through the use of standard format IP address.

Each of the four decimal separated elements of an IP address is a numeral between 0 and 255.

Operating system developed by Bell labs. Portable (used on many brands of computers), multi user, and multitasking. Has been expanded and refined and is considered to be very robust.

Variants are Linux ( free) and Solaris ( used on high end Sun servers and workstations.)

Data confidentiality

Data availability

Data Integrity

Improper disposal of customer records- threat to confidentiality

VIruses and denial of service attacks- threat to availability

Employee errors and disgruntles employee sabotage- threats to integrity.

Determining the likelihood of the identified threats

and determining the level of damage that could be done if the threats materialize.

Relate to the org's information systems environment as a whole and include:

IT Administration

Segregation of duties

Controls over systems development

Hardware controls

Physical controls

Logical controls

Are built into the equipment by the manufacturer. Assure proper internal handling of data as they are moved and stored. 

They include parity checks, echo checks, read-after-write checks, and any other procedure built into the equipment to assure data integrity.

Limit physical access and environmental damage to computer equipment and important documents. They include:

Access controls and

Environmental controls.

established to limit access in accordance with the principle that all persons should have access only to those elements of the org's information systems that are necessary to perform their job duties.  

They have a double focus: Authentication and Authorization

provide reasonable assurance that data have not been lost, suppressed, added, duplicated, or otherwise improperly changed. 

They provide reasonable assurance that data received for processing have been properly authorized, converted into machine sensible form and identified.

Provide reasonable assurance that processing has been performed as intended for the particular application.

-all transactions should be processed as authorized, no authorized transactions omitted, and no unauthorized transactions should be added.

Contains two subtypes:

1. Contains records that do not change very often, Example: a vendor file with vendor's name, address,

2. One that is regularly updated to reflect ongoing activity. Example; a general ledger file, which at any given moment holds the balances of all accounts in the ledger.

EBCDIC- Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

ASCII- American Standard Code for Information interchange

UNicode

Designation field which contains enough information to uniquely identify each record. ie, there can be no two records with the same key.

Keys allow records to be sorted and managed with greater efficiency.

the elements of data relate to oneanother in a highly flexible way.  Tables are not referred to as relations. Table's columns are now called attributes, and rows are called tuples.

Each element is stores as few times as necessary.

Data Definition Language

Data Manipulation Language

Transactions are accumulated and submitted to the computer as a single batch. The user cannot influence the process once the job has begun. Must wait till process has completed. 

Is efficient for applications such as payroll where large numbers of routine transactions must be processed on a regular schedule.

1. Outside provides offers economies of scale that are not available to the org. Ex; payroll processing hardware.

2.Or management determines that IT is not a core competency and the entire IT function is more efficiently provided by a firm specializing in IT.

Procedures performed at the end of processing to ensure that all transactions the user expected to be processes were. Includes:

Error listings

Record Counts

Run to run control totals

Hash totals

Proof account activity listing

An audit trail of all processing activity

Two subtypes. The first subtype is only updated irregularly, for instance, when a new vendor is added or an old one changes its mailing address.

The second subtype is updated regularly, for instance, with the daily postings of journal activity.

Whichever of the two is involved, the power to approve changes to a master file must be assigned in accord with a coherent organizational policy.

a. reveal the organization's performance or

b. help in decision making.

Do not necessarily have to be in paper form.

1st type is power failure, random intrusions such as viruses, and deliberate intrusions such as hacking.  PHysical facilities are sound, but immediate action is required to keep normal processing going.

2nd type is more serious. This type is caused by disasters such as floods, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. These occurance require an alternate processing facility existing.

1. Identifies and prioritizes critical applications

2. Evaluates their organizational impact

3. determines recovery time frames and minimum hardware platform requirements

4. assesses insurance coverage

5. identifies exposures and their implications

6. develops recovery plans.

Refers to financial transactions with outside parties, (the purchase and sale of goods and services)

2 basic varieties; B2B business to business and B2C business to consumer

not limited to EDI and other direct links between businesses but also involves activities within the broader electronic market. Involves working with vendors, distributors, and other businesses over the internet.

2 types of B2B companies; vertical and horizontal

Reduced purchasing costs- online purchasing saves time and electronic processing simplifies order process

INcreased market efficiency- internet gives easy access for market quotes etc.  More likely to find a better price

Greater market intelligence- provides producers with greater insights into the demand levels of any given market

Decreased inventory levels- internet allows for JIT manufacturing techniques.

1. correct identification of transacting parties (authentication)

2. Determination of who can make binding agreements (authorization)

3. protecting confidentiality and integrity of info

4. Assuring trustworthiness of listed prices and discounts

5. Providing evidence of tranmission and receipt of docs

6. Guarding against repudiation by sender or recipient

7. Proper extent of verification of pmt data

8. Best method of pmt to avoid wrongdoing or disagreements

9. Lost of duplicated transactions

10. Determining who bears the risk of fraud.

1. encryption and authentication methods, preferably by secure hardware rather than software.

2. Numerical sequencing to identify missing or false messages

3. The capacity of the host computer to avoid downtime and repel attacks

4. Nonrepudiation methods, such a digital certs, which prove origination and delivery.

5. Adherance to legal requirements

6. Documenting trading agreements, especially the terms of trade and methods of authorization and authentication

7. agreements for end to end security and availibility with providers of info services and value added networks

8. Disclosure by public trading systems of their terms of business.

Information may be insecure

Data may be lost

Transmissions to trading partners may fail

EDI is less standardized and more costly than internet based commerce, which ordinarily uses XML

EDI requires programming expertise and lease phone lines or use of a value added or third party network.

Another means of carrying on ecommerce.

rely on the established communications protocols of the internet. So expensive specialized equip needed for EDI is unnecessary.

Enacted by Congress to regulate electronic banking services.

Primary purpose is to provide disclosure to consumers who use these services.

Amount involved

Date of transaction

Type of transfer

Identity of the account

Identity of any third party from whom or to whom funds are transferred

Location or identification of the electronic terminal involved.

Amt of fees or charges assessed for maintenance

Balances of the accts at beg. and end of period

Address and telephone to be used in case of error

Stored-value cards such as phone cards.

Smart cards which contain computer chips

Update and analyze the perpetual inventory records.

Can perform other accounting tasks suchs as crediting revenue accounts and debiting cash, AR and COGS.

Provide marketing info in order to identify trends, make sales forecasts, determine products not in demand, improve customer service, target products and promotions to customers with different demographic traits, and evaluate the effects of promotions and coupons.

or asymmetric, is more secure of the two. The public key used by the sender for encoding is widely known, but the related private key used by the recipient for decoding is only known to the recipient.

LIke a post office box. Anyone knows the address and can mail to it, but only the owner has the key to open it.

Policies should

a. require use of only authorized software

b. adherence to licensing agreements

c. create accoutability for the persons authorized to maintain software

d. require safeguards when data or programs are obtained by means of external media

e. anti virus software should continuously monitor the system for virusing and should be constantly updated

f. software and data should be regualrly reviewed

g. investigation of unauthorized files should be investigated

h. email attachments should be checked

i. procedure should be established for copying either malware.

j. backup plan drafted

k. info about malware should be verified and alerts given

l. be aware of false messages and hoaxes.

Input

Transformation

Output

Storage

A central database for transaction level data from more than one of the org's TPSs. They are very large and require that the transaction records be converted to a standard format. Powerful tool for adhoc inquiries.

Is strictly a query-and-reporting system. Not used to carry out an org's routine operations.

Can work 24 hours a day

will not get sick or die

are extremely fast processors of data