C HAPTER 2

Overview of Business
Processes

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 INTRODUCTION
• Questions to be addressed in this chapter
include:
– What are the basic business processes in which an
organization engages?
• What decisions must be made to undertake these
processes?
• What information is required to make those decisions?
– What role does the data processing cycle play in
organizing business processes and providing
information to users?
– What is the role of the information system and
enterprise resource planning in modern
organizations?

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 INFORMATION NEEDS AND
BUSINESS PROCESSES
• Businesses engage in a variety of processes,
including:
– Acquiring capital
– Buying buildings and equipment Each activity
– Hiring and training employees requires
different types
– Purchasing inventory of decisions.
– Doing advertising and marketing
– Selling goods or services
– Collecting payment from customers
– Paying employees
– Paying taxes
– Paying vendors
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 INFORMATION NEEDS AND
BUSINESS PROCESSES
• Businesses engage in a variety of processes,
including:
– Acquiring capital
– Buying buildings and equipment Each decision
– Hiring and training employees requires
different types
– Purchasing inventory of information.
– Doing advertising and marketing
– Selling goods or services
– Collecting payment from customers
– Paying employees
– Paying taxes
– Paying vendors
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 INFORMATION NEEDS AND
BUSINESS PROCESSES
• Types of information needed for decisions:
– Some is financial
– Some is nonfinancial
– Some comes from internal sources
– Some comes from external sources
• An effective AIS needs to be able to
integrate information of different types and
from different
By improving sources.
business processes leading to efficient
production, Toyota has become the largest automobile
manufacturer in the world, a title held by General Motors for
almost 100 years.
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 INTERACTION WITH EXTERNAL AND
INTERNAL PARTIES

External
AIS Parties

• The AIS interacts with external parties,

such as customers, vendors, creditors,
and governmental agencies.

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 INTERACTION WITH EXTERNAL AND
INTERNAL PARTIES

Internal External
Parties AIS Parties

• The AIS also interacts with internal parties

such as employees and management.

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 INTERACTION WITH EXTERNAL AND
INTERNAL PARTIES

Internal External
Parties AIS Parties

• The interaction is typically two way, in that

the AIS sends information to and receives
information from these parties.

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• A transaction is:
– An agreement between two entities to
exchange goods or services; OR
– Any other event that can be measured in
economic terms by an organization.
• EXAMPLES:
– Sell goods to customers
– Depreciate equipment

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• The business transaction cycle is a

process that:
– Begins with capturing data about a
transaction.
– Ends with an information output, such as
financial statements.

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Many business processes are paired in

give-get exchanges.
• Basic exchanges can be grouped into five
major transaction cycles:
– Revenue cycle
– Expenditure cycle
– Production cycle
– Human resources/payroll cycle
– Financing cycle

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Many business processes are paired in

give-get exchanges.
• The basic exchanges can be grouped into
five major transaction cycles:
– Revenue cycle
– Expenditure cycle
– Production cycle
– Human resources/payroll cycle
– Financing cycle

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 REVENUE CYCLE

• The revenue cycle involves interactions

with your customers.
• You sell goods or services and get cash.

Give Get
Goods Cash

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Many business processes are paired in

give-get exchanges.
• The basic exchanges can be grouped into
five major transaction cycles:
– Revenue cycle
– Expenditure cycle
– Production cycle
– Human resources/payroll cycle
– Financing cycle

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 EXPENDITURE CYCLE

• The expenditure cycle involves

interactions with your suppliers.
• You buy goods or services and pay cash.

Give Get
Cash Goods

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Many business processes are paired in

give-get exchanges.
• The basic exchanges can be grouped into
five major transaction cycles:
– Revenue cycle
– Expenditure cycle
– Production cycle
– Human resources/payroll cycle
– Financing cycle

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 PRODUCTION CYCLE

• In the production cycle, raw materials and

labor are transformed into finished goods.

Give Raw Get

Materials & Finished
Labor Goods

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Many business processes are paired in

give-get exchanges.
• The basic exchanges can be grouped into
five major transaction cycles:
– Revenue cycle
– Expenditure cycle
– Production cycle
– Human resources/payroll cycle
– Financing cycle

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 HUMAN RESOURCES/
PAYROLL CYCLE
• The human resources cycle involves
interactions with your employees.
• Employees are hired, trained, paid,
evaluated, promoted, and terminated.

Give Get
Cash Labor

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Many business processes are paired in

give-get exchanges.
• The basic exchanges can be grouped into
five major transaction cycles:
– Revenue cycle
– Expenditure cycle
– Production cycle
– Human resources/payroll cycle
– Financing cycle

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 FINANCING CYCLE

• The financing cycle involves interactions with

investors and creditors.
• You raise capital (through stock or debt), repay
the capital, and pay a return on it (interest or
dividends).

Give Get
Cash cash

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Thousands of transactions can occur

within any of these cycles.
• But there are relatively few types of
transactions in a cycle.

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• EXAMPLE: In the revenue cycle, the basic

give-get transaction is:
– Give goods
– Get cash

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Other transactions in the revenue cycle include:

• Handle customer inquiries • Update sales and Accts Rec.
• Take customer orders for sales
• Approve credit sales • Receive customer payments
• Check inventory availability • Update Accts Rec. for
• Initiate back orders collections
• Pick and pack orders • Handle sales returns,
discounts, and bad debts
• Ship goods
• Prepare management reports
• Bill customers
• Send info to other cycles
Note that the last activity in any
cycle is to send information to other
cycles.

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Click on the buttons below if you wish to

see the transactions that occur in the other
cycles:
Expenditure Human Res./
Cycle Payroll Cycle

Production Financing
Cycle Cycle

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 BUSINESS CYCLES Back

• Transactions in the expenditure cycle:

• MAJOR GIVE-GET: • Update accounts payable for
• Give cash; get goods or purchase
services • Approve invoices for payment
• OTHER TRANSACTIONS • Pay vendors
• Requisition goods and • Update accounts payable for
services payment
• Process purchase orders to • Handle purchase returns,
vendors discounts, and allowances
• Receive goods and services • Prepare management reports
• Store goods • Send info to other cycles
• Receive vendor invoices

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 BUSINESS CYCLES Back

• Transactions in the HR/payroll cycle:

• MAJOR GIVE-GET: • Pay employees
• Give cash; get labor • Process timecard and
• OTHER TRANSACTIONS commission data
• Recruit, hire, and train • Prepare and distribute
employees payroll
• Evaluate and promote • Calculate and disburse tax
employees and benefit payments
• Discharge employees • Prepare management reports
• Update payroll records • Send info to other cycles

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 BUSINESS CYCLES Back

• Transactions in the production cycle:

• MAJOR GIVE-GET: • Store finished goods
• Give labor and raw materials; • Accumulate costs for
Get finished goods products
• OTHER TRANSACTIONS • Prepare management reports
• Design products • Send info to other cycles
• Forecast, plan, and schedule
production
• Requisition raw materials
• Manufacture products

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 BUSINESS CYCLES Back

• Transactions in the financing cycle:

• MAJOR GIVE-GET: • Pay dividends to investors
• Give cash; get cash and interest to lenders
• OTHER TRANSACTIONS • Retire debt
• Forecast cash needs • Prepare management reports
• Sell securities to investors • Send info to other cycles
• Borrow money from lenders

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Every transaction cycle:

– Relates to other cycles.
– Interfaces with the general ledger and
reporting system, which generates information
for management and external parties.

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 Finished Goods

Revenue Expenditure Production

Cycle Cycle Cycle

General Ledger
and Reporting • The Revenue Cycle
System – Gets finished
goods from the
production cycle.
– Provides funds to
the financing cycle.
– Provides data to
Human Res./ Financing the general ledger
Payroll Cycle Cycle and reporting
system.

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 Raw
Mats.
Revenue Expenditure Production
Cycle Cycle Cycle

Data
General Ledger
and Reporting • The Expenditure
System Cycle
– Gets funds from
the financing cycle.
– Provides raw
materials to the
production cycle.
Human Res./ Financing – Provides data to
Payroll Cycle Cycle the general ledger
and reporting
system.

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 Finished Goods

Raw
Mats.
Revenue Expenditure Production
Cycle Cycle Cycle

General Ledger
and Reporting • The Production Cycle:
System – Gets raw materials
from the expenditure
cycle.
– Gets labor from the
HR/payroll cycle.
– Provides finished
Human Res./ Financing goods to the revenue
Payroll Cycle Cycle cycle.
– Provides data to the
general ledger and
reporting system.

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Revenue Expenditure Production
Cycle Cycle Cycle

General Ledger
and Reporting • The HR/Payroll
System Cycle:
– Gets funds from
the financing cycle
– Provides labor to
the production
Human Res./ Funds Financing cycle.
Payroll Cycle Cycle – Provides data to
the general ledger
and reporting
system.

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Revenue Expenditure Production
Cycle Cycle Cycle

General Ledger
and Reporting • The Financing
System Cycle:
– Gets funds from
the revenue cycle.
– Provides funds to
the expenditure
and HR/payroll
Human Res./ Funds Financing cycles.
Payroll Cycle Cycle – Provides data to
the general ledger
and reporting
system.

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Revenue Expenditure Production
Cycle Cycle Cycle

Data
General Ledger Information for
Internal & External Users
and Reporting
System

• The General Ledger

Data and Reporting System:
– Gets data from all of
Human Res./ Financing the cycles.
Payroll Cycle Cycle – Provides information
for internal and
external users.

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• Many accounting software packages

implement the different transaction cycles
as separate modules.
– Not every module is needed in every
organization, e.g., retail companies don’t have
a production cycle.
– Some companies may need extra modules.
– The implementation of each transaction cycle
can differ significantly across companies.

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 BUSINESS CYCLES

• However the cycles are implemented, it is

critical that the AIS be able to:
– Accommodate the information needs of
managers.
– Integrate financial and nonfinancial data.

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 TRANSACTION PROCESSING:
THE DATA PROCESSING CYCLE
• Accountants play an important role in data
processing. They answer questions such as:
– What data should be entered and stored?
– Who should be able to access the data?
– How should the data be organized, updated, stored,
accessed, and retrieved?
– How can scheduled and unanticipated information
needs be met?
• To answer these questions, they must
understand data processing concepts.

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 TRANSACTION PROCESSING:
THE DATA PROCESSING CYCLE
• An important function of the AIS is to
efficiently and effectively process the data
about a company’s transactions.
– In manual systems, data is entered into paper
journals and ledgers.
– In computer-based systems, the series of
operations performed on data is referred to as
the data processing cycle.

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 TRANSACTION PROCESSING:
THE DATA PROCESSING CYCLE
• The data processing cycle consists of four
steps:
– Data input
– Data storage
– Data processing
– Information output

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 TRANSACTION PROCESSING:
THE DATA PROCESSING CYCLE
• The data processing cycle consists of four
steps:
– Data input
– Data storage
– Data processing
– Information output

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 DATA INPUT

• The first step in data processing is to

capture the data.
• Usually triggered by a business activity.
• Data is captured about:
– The event that occurred.
– The resources affected by the event.
– The agents who participated.

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 DATA INPUT

• A number of actions can be taken to

improve the accuracy and efficiency of
data input:
– Turnaround documents.
• EXAMPLE: The stub on your telephone bill that you tear off and
return with your check when you pay the bill.
• The customer account number is coded on the document, usually
in machine-readable form, which reduces the probability of human
error in applying the check to the correct account.

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 DATA INPUT

• A number of actions can be taken to

improve the accuracy and efficiency of
data input:
– Turnaround documents.
– Source data automation.
• Capture data with minimal human intervention.
• EXAMPLES:
– ATMs for banking.
– Point-of-sale (POS) scanners in retail stores.
– Automated gas pumps that accept your credit card.

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 DATA INPUT

• A number of actions can be taken to

improve the accuracy and efficiency of
data input:
– Turnaround documents.
– Source data automation.
– Well-designed source documents and data
entry screens.
• How do these improve the accuracy and efficiency of data
input?

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 DATA INPUT

• A number of actions can be taken to

improve the accuracy and efficiency of
data input:
– Turnaround documents.
– Source data automation.
– Well-designed source documents and data
• What does it mean if a document number is missing in the
entry screens.
sequence?

– Using pre-numbered documents or having

the system automatically assign
sequential numbers to transactions.

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 DATA INPUT

• A number of actions can be taken to

improve the accuracy and efficiency of
data input:
– Turnaround documents.
– Source data automation.
– Well-designed source documents and data
• What does it mean if there are duplicate document
entry screens.
numbers?

– Using pre-numbered documents or having

the system automatically assign
sequential numbers to transactions.

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 DATA INPUT

• A number of actions can be taken to improve the

accuracy and efficiency of data input:
– Turnaround documents.
– Source data automation.
– Well-designed source documents and data entry
screens.
– Using pre-numbered documents or having the system
automatically
• EXAMPLE: assign sequential
Check for numbers before
inventory availability to
transactions.
completing an online sales transaction.

– Verify transactions.

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 TRANSACTION PROCESSING:
THE DATA PROCESSING CYCLE
• The data processing cycle consists of four
steps:
– Data input
– Data storage
– Data processing
– Information output

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 DATA STORAGE

• Data needs to be organized for easy and

efficient access.
• Let’s start with some vocabulary terms
with respect to data storage.

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
A ledger is a file used to store cumulative
information about resources and agents. We
typically use the word ledger to describe the set
of t-accounts. The t-account is where we keep
track of the beginning balance, increases,
decreases, and ending balance for each asset,
liability, owners’ equity, revenue, expense, gain,
loss, and dividend account.

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
– Following is an example of a ledger account
for accounts receivable:
GENERAL LEDGER

ACCOUNT: Accounts Receivable Account Number: 120

Date Description Post Ref Debit Credit Balance

01/01/05 42,069.00
01/03/05 Sales S03 1,300.00 43,369.00
01/13/05 Cash collections CR09 4,600.00 38,769.00
01/23/05 Sales S04 5,600.00 44,369.00

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
The general ledger is the summary level
information for all accounts. Detail information is
not kept in this account.

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
Example: Suppose XYZ Co. has three
customers. Anthony Adams owes XYZ $100. Bill
Brown owes $200. And Cory Campbell owes
XYZ $300. The balance in accounts receivable in
the general ledger will be $600, but you will not
be able to tell how much individual customers
owe by looking at that account. The detail isn’t
there.
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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
• Subsidiary ledger
The subsidiary ledgers contain the detail
accounts associated with the related general
ledger account. The accounts receivable
subsidiary ledger will contain three separate
t-accounts—one for Anthony Adams, one for Bill
Brown, and one for Cory Campbell.

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
• Subsidiary ledger
The related general ledger account is often
called a “control” account.

The sum of the subsidiary account balances

should equal the balance in the control
account.

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
• Subsidiary ledger
• Coding techniques
• Coding is a method of systematically assigning numbers or
letters to data items to help classify and organize them. There
are many types of codes including:
– Sequence codes
– Block codes
– Group codes

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
• Subsidiary ledger
• Coding techniques
• With sequence codes, items (such as checks or invoices) are
numbered consecutively to ensure no gaps in the sequence.
The numbering helps ensure that:
– All items are accounted for.
– There are no duplicated numbers, which would suggest errors or
fraud.

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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
• Subsidiary ledger
• Coding techniques
• When block codes are used, blocks of numbers within a
numerical sequence are reserved for a particular category.
• EXAMPLE: The first three digits of a Social Security number
make up a block code that indicates the state in which the
Social Security number was issued:
– 001–003 New Hampshire
– 004–007 Maine
– 008–009 Vermont
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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
• Subsidiary ledger
• Coding techniques
• When group codes are used, two or more subgroups of
digits are used to code an item.
• EXAMPLE: The code in the upper, right-hand corner of many
checks is a group code organized as follows:
– Digits 1–2 Bank number
– Digit 3 Federal Reserve District
– Digits 4–7 Branch office of Federal Reserve
– Digits 8–9 State
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 DATA STORAGE

• Ledger
• General ledger
• Group coding schemes are often used in assigning general
ledger account numbers. The following guidelines should be
• Subsidiary
observed: ledger
– The code should be consistent with its intended use, so make
• Coding techniques
sure you know what users need.
– Provide enough digits to allow room for growth.
– Keep it simple in order to:
• Minimize costs
• Facilitate memorization
• Ensure employee acceptance
– Make sure it’s consistent with:
• The company’s organization structure
• Other divisions of the organization

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• The chart of accounts is a list of all general ledger accounts an organization
uses.
•
DATA STORAGE
Group coding is often used for these numbers, e.g.:
– The first section identifies the major account categories, such as asset,
liability, revenue, etc.
– The second section identifies the primary sub-account, such as current
• Ledger
asset or long-term investment.
– The third section identifies the specific account, such as accounts
• General ledger
receivable or inventory.
– The fourth section identifies the subsidiary account, e.g., the specific
• Subsidiary ledger
customer code for an account receivable.
•
• Coding techniques
The structure of this chart is an important AIS issue, as it must contain
sufficient detail to meet the organization’s needs.

• Chart of accounts

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 DATA STORAGE
• Table 2-4 in your textbook contains the chart of accounts for
S&S.
• Ledger
– What is the account number for federal unemployment taxes
payable?
• General ledger
– What is the account number for cost of goods sold?
• Subsidiary ledger
– What is the range of account numbers for expenses?
– With this chart of accounts, can S&S easily distinguish the
• Codingcosts
techniques
they incur for automobile insurance from the costs for
health insurance?
• Chart of accounts

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 • In manual systems and some accounting packages, the
first place that transactions are entered is the journal.
DATA STORAGE
– A general journal is used to record:
• Non-routine transactions, such as loan payments
• Summaries of routine transactions
• Adjusting entries
• Ledger • Closing entries
– A special journal is used to record routine transactions. The
• General most
ledger
common special journals are:

• Subsidiary ledger
• Cash receipts
• Cash disbursements

• Coding techniques
• Credit sales
• Credit purchases

• Chart of accounts
• Journals

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 DATA STORAGE
• An audit trail exists when there is sufficient
•Ledger
documentation to allow the tracing of a
• transaction
General ledgerfrom beginning to end or from the
end back to the beginning.
•Subsidiary ledger
• The inclusion of posting references and
• document
Coding numbers enable the tracing of
techniques
transactions through the journals and ledgers
•Chartand
of therefore
accounts facilitate the audit trail.
• Journals
• Audit trail

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 DATA STORAGE

• Now that we’ve learned some storage

terminology, let’s return to the data storage
process.
• When transaction data is captured on a
source document, the next step is to
record the data in a journal.
• A journal entry is made for each
transaction showing the accounts and
amounts to be credited.

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 DATA STORAGE

• If you took a principles of financial accounting class, you

probably worked with journals that looked something like
this:
01/15/04 Accounts receivable 2,200
Sales revenue 2,200

01/18/04 Cash 1,800

Accounts receivable 1,800

01/21/04 Salaries expense 900

Cash 900

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 DATA STORAGE

• You may not have gotten much experience with

special journals, but in most real-world
situations, journal entries really work like this.
– Entries are originally made in the general journal only
for:
• Non-routine transactions
• Summaries of routine transactions
– Routine transactions are originally entered in special
journals. The most common special journals are:
• Credit sales
• Cash receipts
• Credit purchases
• Cash disbursements

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 DATA STORAGE

• Let’s work through an example with a

special journal. In this case we’ll use the
sales journal.

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 DATA STORAGE

• On December 1, a sale is made to Lee Co.

for $800. Lee Co. was sent Invoice No.
201.
Page 5 Sales Journal
Invoice Account Account
Date Number Debited Number Post Ref. Amount
12/01/04 201 Lee Co. 120-122 800.00

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 DATA STORAGE

• The general ledger account number for accounts

receivable is No. 120. Lee Co. was about the 122nd
customer, so their subsidiary account number is 120-
122.
Page 5 Sales Journal
Invoice Account Account
Date Number Debited Number Post Ref. Amount
12/01/04 201 Lee Co. 120-122 800.00

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 DATA STORAGE

• The next sale on December 1 was made

to May Co. for $700.

Page 5 Sales Journal

Invoice Account Account
Date Number Debited Number Post Ref. Amount
12/01/04 201 Lee Co. 120-122 800.00
12/01/04 202 May Co. 120-033 700.00

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 DATA STORAGE

• The third and final sale on December 1

was made to DLK Co. for $900.

Page 5 Sales Journal

Invoice Account Account
Date Number Debited Number Post Ref. Amount
12/01/04 201 Lee Co. 120-122 800.00
12/01/04 202 May Co. 120-033 700.00
12/01/04 203 DLK Co. 120-111 900.00

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 DATA STORAGE

• Suppose the company making these sales posts

transactions at the end of each day.
Consequently, at day’s end, they will post each
individual transaction to the accounts receivable
subsidiary ledger:
– An $800 increase in accounts receivable (debit) will
be posted to Lee Co.’s subsidiary account (120-122).
– A $700 debit will be posted to May Co.’s subsidiary
account (120-033).
– A $900 debit will be posted to DLK Co.’s subsidiary
account (120-111).

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 DATA STORAGE

• Then a summary journal entry must be made to

the general journal. The sales for the period are
totaled. In this case, they add up to $2,400.

Page 5 Sales Journal

Invoice Account Account
Date Number Debited Number Post Ref. Amount
12/01/04 201 Lee Co. 120-122 800.00
12/01/04 202 May Co. 120-033 700.00
12/01/04 203 DLK Co. 120-111 900.00
TOTAL 2,400.00
120/502

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 DATA STORAGE

• The “120/502” that appears beneath the total indicates

that a summary journal entry is made in the general
journal with a debit to accounts receivable (120) and a
credit to sales (502).
Page 5 Sales Journal
Invoice Account Account
Date Number Debited Number Post Ref. Amount
12/01/04 201 Lee Co. 120-122 800.00
12/01/04 202 May Co. 120-033 700.00
12/01/04 203 DLK Co. 120-111 900.00
TOTAL 2,400.00
120/502

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 DATA STORAGE

• The entries in the general journal are periodically (or

automatically) posted to the general ledger. The $2,400
debit to accounts receivable will be posted to the
accounts receivable control account, and the $2,400
credit will be posted to the general ledger account for
sales.
12/01/04 Accounts receivable 2,400
Sales revenue 2,400

12/01/04 Cash 1,800

Accounts receivable 1,800

12/01/04 Salaries expense 900

Cash 900

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 DATA STORAGE

• From time to time, the subsidiary account

balances will be added up, and this sum
will be compared to the balance of the
control account.
• What does it mean if they aren’t equal?

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 DATA STORAGE
• Review so far:
– When routine transactions occur, they are recorded in
special journals.
– When non-routine transactions occur, they are recorded in
the general journal.
– Periodically, the transactions in the special journal are totaled,
and a summary entry is made in the general journal.
– The individual line items in the special journal are posted to
the subsidiary ledger accounts.
– The items in the general journal are posted to the general
ledger.
– Periodically, the balances in the general ledger control
accounts are compared to the sums of the balances in the
related subsidiary accounts.

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 DATA STORAGE

• Click the button below if you wish to

go through a summary of the
remaining steps in the accounting
cycle:

See Remainder
Of
Accounting Cycle

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• Now let’s move on to discussing some
computer-based storage concepts, including:
– Entity
– Attribute
– Record
– Data Value
– Field
– File
– Master File
– Transaction File
– Database

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• An entity is something about which information
is stored.
• In your university’s student information system,
one entity is the student. The student information
system stores information about students.
• What are some other entities in your student
information system?

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• Attributes are characteristics of interest with
respect to the entity.
• Some attributes that a student information
system typically stores about the student entity
are:
– Student ID number
– Phone number
– Address
• What are some other attributes about students
that a university might store?

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• A field is the physical space where an attribute is
stored.
• The space where the student ID number is
stored is the student ID field.

Col. 1–9 Col. 10–30 Col. 31–40 Col. 41–50

328469993 SIMPSON ALICE 4053721111
328500732 ANDREWS BARRY 4057440236
529036409 FLANDERS CARLA 4057475863

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• A record is the set of attributes stored for a
particular instance of an entity.
• The combination of attributes stored for Barry
Andrews is Barry’s record.

Col. 1–9 Col. 10–30 Col. 31–40 Col. 41–50

328469993 SIMPSON ALICE 4053721111
328500732 ANDREWS BARRY 4057440236
529036409 FLANDERS CARLA 4057475863

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• A data value is the intersection of the row and
column.
• The data value for Barry Andrews’ phone
number is 405-744-0236.

Col. 1–9 Col. 10–30 Col. 31–40 Col. 41–50

328469993 SIMPSON ALICE 4053721111
328500732 ANDREWS BARRY 4057440236
529036409 FLANDERS CARLA 4057475863

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• A file is a group of related records.
• The collection of records about all students at
the university might be called the student file. If
there were only three students and four
attributes stored for each student, the file might
appear as shown below:
Col. 1–9 Col. 10–30 Col. 31–40 Col. 41–50
328469993 SIMPSON ALICE 4053721111
328500732 ANDREWS BARRY 4057440236
529036409 FLANDERS CARLA 4057475863

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• A master file is a file that stores
cumulative information about an
organization’s entities.
• It is conceptually similar to a ledger in a
manual AIS in that:
– The file is permanent.
– The file exists across fiscal periods.
– Changes are made to the file to reflect the
effects of new transactions.

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• A transaction file is a file that contains
records of individual transactions (events)
that occur during a fiscal period.
• It is conceptually similar to a journal in a
manual AIS in that:
– The files are temporary.
– The files are usually maintained for one fiscal
period.

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 COMPUTER-BASED STORAGE
CONCEPTS
• A database is a set of interrelated, centrally-
coordinated files.
• When files about students are integrated with
files about classes and files about instructors,
we have a database.

Student Class
File File

Instructor
File
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 TRANSACTION PROCESSING:
THE DATA PROCESSING CYCLE
• The data processing cycle consists of four
steps:
– Data input
– Data storage
– Data processing
– Information output

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Once data about a business activity has

been collected and entered into a system,
it must be processed.

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 DATA PROCESSING

• There are four different types of file

processing:
– Updating data to record the occurrence of an
event, the resources affected by the event,
and the agents who participated, e.g.,
recording a sale to a customer.
– Changing data, e.g., a customer address.
– Adding data, e.g., a new customer.
– Deleting data, e.g., removing an old customer
that has not purchased anything in 5 years.

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Updating can be done through several

approaches:
– Batch processing

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Batch processing:
– Source documents are grouped into batches,
and control totals are calculated.
– Periodically, the batches are entered into the
computer system, edited, sorted, and stored
in a temporary file.
– The temporary transaction file is run against
the master file to update the master file.
– Output is printed or displayed, along with error
reports, transaction reports, and control totals.

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Updating can be done through several

approaches:
– Batch processing
– Online batch processing

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Online batch processing:

– Transactions are entered into a computer
system as they occur and stored in a
temporary file.
– Periodically, the temporary transaction file is
run against the master file to update the
master file.
– The output is printed or displayed.

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Updating can be done through several

approaches:
– Batch processing
– Online batch processing
– Online, real-time processing

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Online, real-time processing

– Transactions are entered into a computer
system as they occur.
– The master file is immediately updated with
the data from the transaction.
– Output is printed or displayed.

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 DATA PROCESSING

• Updating can be done through several

approaches:
– Batch processing
– Online batch processing
– Online, real-time processing
• If you’re going through enrollment,
which of these approaches would you
prefer that your university was using?
• Why?

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 TRANSACTION PROCESSING:
THE DATA PROCESSING CYCLE
• The data processing cycle consists of four
steps:
– Data input
– Data storage
– Data processing
– Information output

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• The final step in the information process is

information output.
• This output can• be in the form of:
Documents are records of
– Documents transactions or other company data.
• EXAMPLE: Employee paychecks or
purchase orders for merchandise.
• Documents generated at the end of
the transaction processing activities
are known as operational documents
(as opposed to source documents).
• They can be printed or stored as
electronic images.

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• The final step in the information process is

information output.
• Reports are used by employees to
• This output can becontrol
in the form of:
operational activities and by
managers to make decisions and
– Documents design strategies.
– Reports • They may be produced:
– On a regular basis
– On an exception basis
– On demand
• Organizations should periodically
reassess whether each report is
needed.

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• The final step in the information process is

information output.
• This output can be in the form of:
– Documents • Queries are user requests for specific
pieces of information.
– Reports • They may be requested:
– Queries – Periodically
– One time
• They can be displayed:
– On the monitor, called soft copy.
– On the screen, called hard copy.

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• Output can serve a variety of purposes:

– Financial statements can be provided to both
external and internal parties.
– Some outputs are specifically for internal use:
• For planning purposes
• Examples of outputs for planning
purposes include:
– Budgets
• Budgets are an entity’s formal expression of
goals in financial terms.
– Sales forecasts

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• Output can serve a variety of purposes:

– Financial statements can be provided to both
external and internal parties.
– Some outputs are specifically for internal use:
• For planning purposes
• For management of day-to-day operations
• Example: Delivery schedules

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT
• Performance reports are outputs that are
used for control purposes.
• Output can• serve a variety
These reports of purposes:
compare an organization’s
standard orcan
– Financial statements expected performance
be provided with
to both
its actual outcomes.
external and internal parties.
• Management by exception is an
– Some outputs are specifically
approach to utilizing for internal use:
performance
reports
• For planning that focuses on investigating and
purposes
acting on only those variances that are
• For management of day-to-day operations
significant.
• For control purposes

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• Output can serve a variety of purposes:

– Financial statements can be provided to both
external and internal parties.
– Some outputs are specifically for internal use:
• For planning purposes
• For management of day-to-day operations
• For control purposes
• For evaluation purposes
• These outputs might include:
– Surveys of customer satisfaction.
– Reports on employee error rates.
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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• Behavioral implications of managerial

reports:
– YOU GET WHAT YOU MEASURE!

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT
• Suppose an instructor wants to improve student
learning.
– He decides to encourage better attendance by
grading students on attendance (i.e., measuring it).
– The result will be better student attendance, i.e., you
get what you measure.
– The improved attendance may or may not improve
learning outcomes.
– Students may be getting better grades when
attendance is measured, but not learning more.
– Some students may in fact reduce their studying
because they believe they can use the attendance
score to boost their grade. This behavior would be a
dysfunctional result of the measurement.

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• Budgets can cause dysfunctional behavior.

– EXAMPLE: In order to stay within budget, the IT
department did not buy a security package for its
system.
– A hacker broke in and devastated some of their
data files.
– Critical security measures were foregone in order
to meet budgetary goals.
– The resulting costs far outweighed the savings.

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• Budgeting can also be dysfunctional in

that the focus can be redirected to
creating acceptable numbers instead of
achieving organizational objectives.
• Does this mean organizations shouldn’t
budget?

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 INFORMATION OUTPUT

• The saying goes, “Not many people sit

around and have a roast goose fall in their
lap.”
• In other words, if you want a roast goose,
you have to aim.
• With financial results, you’re also unlikely to
achieve when you don’t aim.
• Just be careful where you aim!

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 ROLE OF THE AIS

• The traditional AIS captured financial data.

– Non-financial data was captured in other,
sometimes-redundant systems
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
are designed to integrate all aspects of a
company’s operations (including both
financial and non-financial information) with
the traditional functions of an AIS.

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 SUMMARY

• We’ve learned about the basic business processes

in which an organization engages, the decisions
that need to be made, and the information required
to make those decisions.
• We’ve reviewed the data processing cycle and its
role in organizing business processes and
providing information to users.
• Finally, we’ve touched on the role of the
information systems in modern organizations and
introduced the notion of enterprise resource
planning systems.

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