Showing papers on "Business analytics published in 1979"

Business information characterization study

Abstract: In the late 1960s, IBM recognized the need for new informatio n systems that would improve planning and control for some of th e business problems facing the company at that time . A small organization, created by the company's Data Processing Group Head quarters, was assigned the task of defining the required information systems . From this group, Business Systems Planning ( BSP ) was later formed in the Data Processing Division to carry out thi s type of definition in customer locations . ' This article describes the Business Information Characterizatio n Study ( BIOS) which is a logical extension to the BSP methodology via use of Donald Burnstine's BIAIT theory 2 to provide a structured approach for understanding business information systems . The Business Information Analysis and Integration Technique (BIAIT) is described in the companion paper by Walte r Carlson . The major difference between the two methodologies i s that BICS provides the study team with an information model of the business which it then verifies, while BSP builds a mode l through a discovery process . Data processing addresses the application of computers t o such activities as inventory control, truck scheduling, invoicing , shipping, reserving space, banking and the preparation of report s to help management measure results . These processes permit th e manager to conduct business as he or she wishes and in a disciplined way . The manager, for example, may wish to supply a customer with a bill, may wish to deliver a product later, may wis h to keep historical records about a customer or may want to make a product to order . Executives know what is necessary to do billing, invoicing an d so on, but they often do not understand these activities in terms o f the data necessary to do them . Data processing people, on th e other hand, understand data organization but not necessarily al l the functions which need to be performed, both manually an d electronically . Through the use of a generic model, BIAIT Business Data Clas sification (BBDC) , BIOS bridges the communication gap betwee n management and the information systems department . BBDC is a business model that affords an abstract view of the informatio n activity and data usage of businesses . Using the techniques described in this article, end users (managers) can develop an information-handling definition of the business (or businesses) they are in . In this paper, business is defined as any establishment or organization that exists to provide som e