Case Summary: A waiter takes an order at a table, and then enters it online via one of the six terminals located in the restaurant dining room. The order is routed to a printer in the appropriate preparation area: the cold item printer if it is a salad, the hot-item printer if it is a hot sandwich or the bar printer if it is a drink. A customer’s meal check-listing (bill) the items ordered and the respective prices are automatically generated. This ordering system eliminates the old three-carbon-copy guest check system as well as any problems caused by a waiter’s handwriting. When the kitchen runs out of a food item, the cooks send out an ‘out of stock’ message, which will be displayed on the dining room terminals when waiters try to order that item. This gives the waiters faster feedback, enabling them to give better service to the customers. Continue reading
Information Systems Basics
Data Tampering – Meaning, Types and Countermeasures
Tampering means changing or deleting a resource without authorization. A web application is an application that is accessed through a web browser over the internet. Data tampering in web applications simply means a way in which a hacker or a malicious user gets into a web site and changes, deletes or to access unauthorized files. A hacker or malicious user can also tamper indirectly by using a script exploit that is the hacker would get the script to execute by masking it as a user input from a page or as a web link. Tampering is one of the biggest security threats faced by web applications. It is used to change or edit files found in web applications which are usually used by multi-million business corporations across the world. Tampering started in the late 1980’s as a way to sabotage data or plant a malicious or destructive program to delete Continue reading
E-Business Models
The term E-business (electronic business) is similar to terms like e-mail, e-commerce, helping not only in buying, selling but also in servicing customers and collaborating with business partners. Today, major corporations are rethinking their businesses in terms of the internet and its new culture and capabilities. Companies are using web to buy parts and supplies from other companies, to collaborate on sales promotions, and to do joint research. Exploiting the convenience, availability, and world-wide reach of the Internet, many companies, have discovered how to use the Internet in a better way. After the first wave of e-business, ‘bricks and clicks’ businesses — those with both a traditional and e-commerce approach — find that, while they already have sound financial resources, they, too, must find the right e-business model(s) for generating profitable revenue streams from the Internet. In terms of operationalising the e-business strategy a variety of e-business models are now Continue reading
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Concept of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Traditionally, the transfer of data from one company to another has been by paper documents. This is known as a paper-based system. These documents have to be manually forwarded and entered to the destination computer. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the electronic exchange of standard business information, in standard formats, between computers. EDI eliminates the need for a paper-based system by providing an electronic link between companies. This reduces data entry tasks and improves business cycle times. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the electronic transfer of structured business documents in an organization internally among groups of departments or externally with its suppliers, customers and subsidiaries. The documents likely to be used in EDI are invoices, purchase orders, shipping requests, acknowledgements and payments. EDI Continue reading
Computer System – Concepts and Components
The Computer System Concept A computer is more than a high-powered collection of electronic devices performing a variety of information processing chores. A computer is a system, an interrelated combination of components that performs the basic system functions of input, processing, output, storage, and control, thus providing end users with a powerful information processing tool. Understanding the computer as a computer system is vital to the effective use and management of computers. A computer is system of hardware devices organized according to the following system functions. Input. The input devices of a computer system include keyboards, touch screens, pens, electronic mice, optical scanners, and so on. Processing. The central processing unit(CPU) is the main processing component of a computer system. (In microcomputers, it is the main microprocessor.) In particular, the electronic circuits of the arithmetic-logic unit one of the CPU’s major components, perform the arithmetic and logic functions required in Continue reading
E-Commerce – Definition, History and Types
Electronic commerce (e-commerce) is the term used for any type of business or commercial transaction that involves the transfer of products, services and information over electronic systems such as the internet and other computer networks. The trader and customer are not face to face at any point during these transactions, the business being conducted remotely, regardless of location. E-commerce covers a range of different types of businesses, from consumer based retail sites, through auction or music sites, to business exchanges trading goods and services between corporations. It is currently one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web. E-Commerce includes transactions within a global Information Economy such as electronic trading of goods and services, online delivery of digital content, electronic funds transfer, electronic share trading, electronic bills of lading, commercial auctions, collaborative designs, engineering and Continue reading