Purpose, features and functionality

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Topic 6 Purpose, features and functionality In this topic you will look at the purpose, features, functionality and range of users that use information systems.

6.1 Introduction Data is unprocessed and has no purposeful meaning. Information is data that has been entered into a computer system, processed and stored and now has meaning.

1 Topic 6 Purpose, features and functionality In this topic you will look at the purpose, features, functionality and range of users that use information systems. You will learn the importance of being able to describe the purpose of an information system and why it is important to appreciate the range and type of users that will be using an information system. 6.1 Introduction Data is unprocessed and has no purposeful meaning. Information is data that has been entered into a computer system, processed and stored and now has meaning. For example the data has no meaning. If the data is processed, 09/11/1981 then you can see that it is a date and has meaning. Data consists of raw facts and figures which can be coded, structured, and organised for processing by computer. When processed, formatted and put in a context with meaning, the data becomes information that can be interpreted and understood by someone. Businesses and organisations can have a huge amount of data that they wish to store and use as information. They need to be able to access the information quickly and efficiently. Many organisations will require the information to be stored in a way that allows multi-user access.

2 An information system is a way in which people, or an organisation, collect, process and manage information. Previously information was collated on paper and stored in filing cabinets. This meant that there was only one copy of data and that it was very hard to sort it into a different order. Nowadays information is stored on a computer. Information can be stored in a database, spread sheet or website. In this unit you are looking at two types of information systems: 1. Websites 2. Databases Information systems should allow: Multi-access Fast access to information Information to be sorted by different criteria Information to be presented in different formats Information to be inserted, deleted or amended 6.2 Descriptions of purpose All information systems will have a detailed description of their purpose. This allows prospective users to understand the purpose of the information system and what it will be capable of. This could include the following information: What information is to be stored Why the information is to be stored How the information is to be stored How the information will be used Who will be using the information system The purpose of an Information System needs to be established at an early point in the development process; clients will often have a clear idea of what they want the information system to achieve, but will require specialist input from Systems Analysts and Designers to firm up the points above. A poor decision at this stage could make it very difficult to further adapt the information system or add new features in future. There are two types of users of information systems that should be considered: humans and other software. This will be discussed in more detail in sections 6.3 and Interaction of information systems with human users When you are developing an information system that is to be used with humans then you should consider the type of users that are going to use the system. There are two main questions that should be asked: What is the age range of the target audience? What is the experience level of the target audience?

3 The age range of the target audience, or intended users, is very important as this will significantly influence the design of the database or website. If the website is to be used by pre-school children then it will have a graphical design, lots of bright colours and images. Any buttons or links would be large and easy to click on. If a website is to be aimed at teachers then it will contain a lot more text and have a more refined design. It may be colourful but will be easy to read. If the website is to be aimed at someone with limited technological experience then it may contain a medium amount of text, broken into screens with very obvious navigation features then it may contain a medium amount of text and perhaps be in a slightly larger than normal font. Users fall into two types of category for their experience: novice and expert. A novice user is one that does not have a lot, or any experience with the type of information system that they are to be using. An expert user is one that is very familiar with the type of information system being used and will have used them before. An expert is likely to be familiar with all the common features of an information system. If you were creating a database that was to be used by novice users then it would probably be appropriate to include a graphical user interface so that they were not overwhelmed by a large table. If you were creating a database for an expert user then it might be appropriate to use a form that allows the user to select what feature they require via a button. A well designed system should cater for both novice and expert by offering an interface which can be customized. In addition, the amount of online help and how to access the online help will be varied depending on the experience level of users. 6.4 Interaction of information systems with software As well as thinking about the human users that will interact with an Information System, it is also important to consider whether other software, such as another Information System, should be able to access and use the Information System. The ability for Information Systems to interact with each other without human intervention is becoming increasingly important in a connected world, and is made possible by carefully designing and standardising the structure of the data being held. We will look at two examples of how Information Systems may interact with other software Internet search engine You are already aware that the structure of web pages are defined by a standard language called HTML, which is a good starting point if you want to write a program to search through all the content! Internet search engines work by automatically creating a database linking key words and phrases to the URLs of individual pages. This is done by software called 'crawlers' or 'bots' that are designed to scan through the HTML structure (just like a browser would do when rendering the page) and pick out the text, links, images and metadata that make up the page. This information is then written into the search engines database by the crawler automatically. This is only possible because of the standard structure of all web pages. Metadata can be used to 'help' the crawler software by providing an easily identifiable piece of information. If you look at the source code for a web page, you will usually see this type of metadata in the <head> area of the document: <meta name="description" content="amazing Scarves at sensible prices"> - This gives text that the search engine (may) use as a description under the link to your site.

<metaname="keywords" content="scarves, Hats, Coats, Thermals, Scottish Weather"> - This gives a list of possible search terms which a web crawler would add to its index for the site.

4 <metaname="keywords" content="scarves, Hats, Coats, Thermals, Scottish Weather"> - This gives a list of possible search terms which a web crawler would add to its index for the site. Of course things move on: Many search engines now don't bother using the 'keywords' metadata because people deliberately used misleading words to improve their chances of appearing at the start of a search! Because HTML is a standard language though leading search engines have developed other techniques. Google analyses which sites link to yours (using the <a> tag), to give your site an importance ranking. Search engines also give links to a page different values according to the "trustworthiness" of the site linking to it. Search Engine Optimisation Learning how search engines rank pages and how to make the most of this process is called 'Search Engine Optimisation' - or SEO for short. Specialists who take time to work out how to best structure a site to maximise its ranking are in high demand, with a good placement near the top of search results meaning a likely spin-off in increased traffic and custom. There are many factors that will affect a search ranking which an SEO specialist will use to ensure a good placement, such as: ensuring you use proper structure for your text, e.g. headings - integrate your keywords (sensibly) into headings, titles, etc. integrating with social media to share content ensuring metadata is available to describe images and other media (<img alt="picture of a scarf" src="..."/>)

6.4.2 'Aggregating' comparison sites Purpose, features and functionality Higher Today, websites that search through a number of other sites are becoming very popular.

5 6.4.2 'Aggregating' comparison sites Purpose, features and functionality Higher Today, websites that search through a number of other sites are becoming very popular. Whether you want to book a holiday for the end of your studies, or insure the car you own (or hope to in the future), the chances are you ll be heading to a site that pools results from a number of other websites. For example: All of this has been made possible due to good Information Systems design. In the above example, booking a flight and hotel to Orlando will involve searching a huge number of airline reservation databases and an equally huge number of hotel databases! In the background, huge efforts have gone into designing, documenting and sharing the structure of all this data. This make financial sense for the companies involved: with no human input your product can appear in front of many more potential customers than just those visiting your own website. If a customer decides to book via the third party site (in this case, Expedia ) then a small arrangement fee will be charged to the airline or hotel, covering the costs of running Expedia. Want to hire a car too? Guess what - standardised Information Systems allow Expedia to search those too, all from the original locations and dates you entered onto a single website. The general trend currently is for making sites as structured as possible. New markup is being invented all the time under the name of the 'semantic web'. The idea behind the semantic web is that it should be possible to determine exactly what each element of a page is from the structure information. This will inevitably have to go beyond HTML, which only focusses on page structure (e.g. if you add a price to a standard HTML document, there is no way of denoting that it is a price from any other piece of text). Standards such as RDF are already in place and being used to ensure the trend towards increased interoperability between information systems continues to develop.

6 6.5 Learning points Summary You should now know: Data is unprocessed and has no meaning. Information has been processed and has a meaning. An information system is where data can be collected, processed and stored On a computer. When developing an information system you should consider the age range of the prospective users and their level of experience. Information systems can be designed so that they can interact with other Software as well as with users.

Building a website. Should you build your own website?

Building a website. Should you build your own website? Building a website As discussed in the previous module, your website is the online shop window for your business and you will only get one chance to make a good first impression. It is worthwhile investing