October 6, 2021

OFFICE INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTRODUCTION  During the past 30 years, has helped the enhance productivity in the office. The movement towards automation in work is often called office automation (OA).  Office automation includes the new hardware and software technologies-word processor, spread sheet package, electronic mail and so on-that makes office workers more productive, in addition to the attendant situation created by OA technologies and the people that use these technologies.  These combinations of information technologies that have a dramatic impact on day-to-day office operations are called office information systems (OIS). OFFICE AUTOMATION  The origin of office automation can be traced back to early 1960s, when IBM coined the term word processing to describe the activity of its electronic type writer division.  The term expressed to concept that office activity is centered on the processing of the words.  The intent was to draw the same attention to office products that have been lavished on computers and data processing.  Since the debut of word processing, other technologies have been applied to office work.  It includes all formal and informal electronics systems primarily concerned with the communication of information to and from person both inside and outside the organisations.  OFFICES AND OFFICE SYSTEMS  The fundamental network of office work has changed drastically over the past 30 to 40 years.  At one time, virtually the only role of equipment in the office was to help workers become more efficient. Until the mid-1960s, only the type writer, phone, copying machine, were standard office equipment.  Now, as computer technologies have a strong presence in offices, office workers have powerful tools that make them more effective. Nature of the Office  An office is a place where staff and line professionals, secretaries, and clerk perform management and administrative tasks. The work performed by office workers is often called white collar work.  There are five types Office workers found in the office : 1. Managers – Managers generally most of their time in planning, coordinating and controlling the activities of other people. Some examples are examinations controller, chief executive officer, operations manager, head of marketing research, and the principal of the college. 2. Staff professionals – Staff professionals support the activities of manager. These professionals have no direct line responsibility, i.e., their role is mostly one planning analyzing, and informing management of their finding. 3. Line professionals – Line professionals includes sales persons and purchasing agents. They typically interact daily with such outside groups as the organization’s customers and suppliers. 4. Secretaries – Secretaries are normally assigned to one or more knowledge workers in an office. They perform such support tasks as typing, filling, answering phones, and keeping appointment calendars. 5. Clerical personnel- Clerical personnel are usually not assigned to anyone in particular. They support the entire department/section/division. Typical tasks of clerks are filing, typing, and assisting in report preparation. Evolution of Office Systems • Until the mid 1960s, information technologies, in the office were typewriters, phones copying machines and electric adding machines. In 1964, a seemingly modest typing called word processing appeared. Since then, information processing in the office has never been the same. The introduction of microcomputers and small business computers in the late 1960s and early 1970s also contributed to the alteration of the office’s technology. Smaller computers made it possible to decentralize computing down to regional offices and individual offices. It was not unusual for large offices to own their computer. This trend towards decentralization was called distributed data processing (DDP). • The primary purpose of office information systems is to facilitate communication among members of an organization and between the organization and its external environment. An office information system allows individuals and group members to create, store and exchange messages through a variety of communications media, including data, documents , images , voice (audio), and video.

DEVELOPMENT OF DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS  The development of a decision support system is determined by the types of information and the facilities needed for taking the decision.  Decision support systems are developed using programming language or produced by packages specially in cooperating decision support development tools.  Conventional high-level languages, such as C++ and BASIC, can be used to develop DSSs. They are extremely flexible. However DSSs using this language involving a lengthy analysis and decision phase.  Fourth-generation or very high-level languages are more appropriate. They are particularly useful as they are generally data base-oriented.  This is important for those systems that really on data retrieval and analysis for decision support.  An example of prominent four generation language is SQL, which can used on many relation database system such as ORCAL.  The selection of language depends on factors such as: • Availability of language and support for it. • Experience of developers with various languages. • Amount of manipulation vs. presentation of data. • Need to document and maintain the program. • Frequency of use and number of users.  The advantages of using programming languages are that: • Application development is speedy. • Many are end-user oriented. • They are more likely to the decorating rather than procedural.  There are three methods for developing DSSs. 1. DSS generator 2. DSS shells GROUP DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS  Group decision support systems (GDSS) are computer based information systems that facilitate the free flow and exchange of ideas and information among group members while maintaining their anonymity.  Other terms have also been coined to describe the application of information technology group setting.  The terms include Group support system (GSS), Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), Computerised collaborative work support, Electronic meeting system (EMS).  Group typically consist of less than 20 people who arrive at decisions through taking process. The decision may be taken by vote for often by negotiation, consensus or preference ranking.  There are three types of computer based support are available in GDSS. These are  Decision networks:  This type allows participants to communicate though networks with each other or a central database.  Applications software is using a local area network and microcomputers. The technology filters out many of the typical group dynamics of a participative meeting.  Decision room  Participants are located in one place the decision room.  The purpose of this to enhance participant interaction and decision making by computerized support within a fixed period of time using a facilitator.  Tele/computer conferencing:  If groups are composed of members or subgroups that are geographically dispersed, tele/computer conferencing provides for interactive connection between two or more decision rooms. This interaction will involve transmission computerized and audiovisual in information.

Database Management System (DBMS)  To solve a problem the necessary data may come from internal or external database.  In an organization, internal data are generated by a system such as TPS and MIS.  External data come from a variety of sources such as newspapers, online data services, databases (financial, marketing, human resources). Model Management system  It stores and accesses models that managers use to make decisions.  Such models are used for designing manufacturing facility, analyzing the financial health of an organization. Forecasting demand of a product or service etc. Support Tools  Support tools like online help; pull down menus, user interfaces, graphical analysis, error correction mechanism, facilitates the user interactions with the system.  FUNCTIONS OF A DSS There are five function of a DSS facilitating managerial decision making. They are: • Model building • What-if analysis • Goal seeking • Risk analysis • Graphical analysis.  Model building  It allows decision makers to identify the most appropriate model for solving the problem at hand. It takes in to account input variables, interrelationships among the variables, problem assumptions and constraints.  For example, a marketing manager of Videocon is charged with the responsibility of developing a sales forecasting model for colour TV sets.  A model builder uses a structured framework to identify variables like demand, cost and profit, analyse the relationships among these variables identify the assumptions, if any (e.g., assume the prices of raw materials will increase by 5% over the forecasting period), and identify the constraints, viz., the production capacity of the plant.  All this information’s are then integrated by a system into a decision making model, which can be updated and modified whenever required.  ‘What-if’ analysis It is the process of assessing the impact of changes to model variables, the values of the variables, or the interrelationships among variables.  This helps managers to be proactive, rather than reactive, in their decision making.  This analysis is critical for semi-structured and unstructured problems because the data necessary to make such decisions are often either not available or incomplete. Hence, managers normally use their intuition and judgement in predicting the long-term implication of their decisions.  Managers can prepare themselves to face a dynamic business environment by developing a group of scenarios (best-case scenario, worst-case scenario and realistic scenario). Spreadsheet packages, such as Excel and Lotus 1-2-3, have’ what-if’ applications.  Goal seeking  It is the process of determining the input values required to achieve a certain goal.  For example, house buyers determine the monthly payment they can afford (say, Rs.700) and calculate the number of such payment required to pay the desired house.  Risk analysis  It is a function of DSS that allows managers to assess the risks associated with various alternatives.  Decision can be classified as low-risk and high-risk environments.  Graphical analysis  It helps managers to quickly digest large volumes of data and visualise the impact of various courses of action.  First, the Lotus system enabled uses to easily display and print information in a graphic form. S L Jarvenpaa G W Dickson (1988) studied the relative advantages and disadvantages of tabular and graphic output.