UNIT: 4

Information Technology (IT)

IT is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications. It is the area of managing technology and spans wide variety of areas that include computer software, information systems, computer hardware, programming languages but are not limited to things such as processes, and data constructs. IT provides businesses with four sets of core services to help execute the business strategy: business process automation, providing information, connecting with customers, and productivity tools. IT professionals perform a variety of functions (IT Disciplines/Competencies) that ranges from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as management and administration of entire systems. Information technology is starting to spread further than the conventional personal computer and network technologies, and more into integrations of other technologies such as the use of cell phones, televisions, automobiles, and more, which is increasing the demand for such jobs.

Information Technology Management

In recent years, information technology management has been growing in popularity amongst both big and small businesses, partnerships, proprietorships, and especially huge corporations. Information technology has expanded to the point where it can be considered its own field of interest and a career occupation or even its own industry, and technology management is a huge aspect of any business in this day and age. Virtually anything and everything is done with some form of technology, and information technology management can prove to be quite useful and profitable to companies if used accurately and practically. The most basic fundamental principle of information technology management is the investigation and comprehension of how information technology will help any given business, large or small, expand and prosper. Information technology, in short, is the utilization of all kinds of technology to gather and store information and data of any given business. Technology management is a crucial component to companies looking to expand, for the information that is arranged and organized by information technology management can provide useful data for future decisions that can be either extremely beneficial to a company or just as detrimental.

Both information technology management and management information systems are related in the sense that both of these fields utilize technology management and the use of various technologies in order to benefit a company. The main difference however, is what the technology is used for and how. Information technology management assists a business in organizing and ensuring that any and all information pertaining to a certain department or component of a company is accurate and readily available at all times. The main purpose of management information systems is to utilize and process this information stored by information technology management in order to assist in making decisions for the better of the company. Both information technology management and management information systems are essential aspects of any business that is looking to flourish and expand their horizons. Smart and profitable choices by a company start with an effective and efficient technology management department. Information technology management is a continually growing field, and as technology advances further and businesses become larger, information technology management is a sure career occupation that holds a bright and promising future. Without the assistance of proper technology management and accurate information processing, business owners would be at a much greater risk of making bad decisions and giving up profits. Those companies without an effective information technology management department are at a severe disadvantage compared to their competitors. Information technology management not only keeps confidential and imperative information and data stored in an organized fashion, it provides a healthy supplement to the closely related management information systems field which is just as important as information technology management in a company looking for prospective growth.

Information Technology Skills

01. Computer Networking 02. Information Security 03. IT Governance 04. ITIL (information technology infrastructure library) 05. Business Intelligence 06. Linux 07. Unix 08. Project Management

01. Computer Networking

Computer Networking is a focus within engineering that deals with communication between computer systems or devices. Computer networking is often considered a sub-discipline of a few areas: telecommunications, computer science, information technology and/or computer

engineering. Computer networks rely heavily on the theoretical and practical application of each of these engineering disciplines. A computer network is any set of computers or devices connected to each other with the ability to exchange data. Examples of different computer networks are:

Local area network (LAN) Wide area network (WAN) Wireless LANs (WLAN) Wireless WANs (WWAN)

02. Information Security Information security refers to protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction. The goals of information security include protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information. All organizations, including governments, military, financial institutions, hospitals, and private businesses, gather and store a great deal of confidential information about their employees, customers, products, research, and financial operations. Most of this information is collected, processed and stored on electronically and transmitted across networks to other computers. Protecting confidential information is a business requirement, and in many cases also an ethical and legal requirement. For the individual, information security has a significant effect on privacy and identity theft. The field of information security has grown significantly in recent years. There are many areas for specialization including Information Systems Auditing, Business Continuity Planning and Digital Forensics Science, for example. There are also specific information security technical certifications that can assist getting started in this field.

03. IT Governance
IT Governance, or Information Technology Governance, is a subset of Corporate Governance focused on information technology (IT) systems performance and risk management. There is a continual interest in IT governance as a result of compliance initiatives and the knowledge that IT projects can easily get out of control and have a serious effect on the performance of a company. A characteristic theme of IT governance discussions is that IT can no longer operate in a black box. Traditionally, board-level executives stayed out of the IT decision making process. IT governance implies a system in which all stakeholders, including the board, have input into the information technology decision making process. This prevents IT from independently making decisions that can affect the outcome of the entire organization.

04. ITIL (information technology infrastructure library)

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of concepts and techniques for managing information technology (IT) infrastructure, development, and operations. ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world. ITIL provides a cohesive set of best practice, drawn from the public and private sectors internationally. A whole ITIL philosophy has evolved from the guidance contained within the ITIL books and the ITIL professional qualification scheme. ITIL consists of a series of books giving guidance on the provision of quality IT services, and on the accommodation and environmental facilities needed to support IT. ITIL has been developed in recognition of organizations' growing dependency on IT and embodies best practices for IT Service Management. Benefits of ITIL: By providing a systematic approach to the management of IT service, ITIL can help an enterprise in the following ways:

reduced costs improved IT services through the use of proven best practice processes improved customer satisfaction through a more professional approach to service delivery standards and guidance improved productivity improved use of skills and experience

05. Business Intelligent

Definition: Business Intelligence (BI) is the ways in which we store and use business information. It encompasses the technologies, applications, and means for collecting, integrating, analyzing, and presenting business data. Using data that has been stored in a data warehouse, software applications are able to use this data to report past business information as well as predict future business information, including trends, threats, opportunities and patterns. Popular Business Intelligent applications are very complex and experts in this field are in high demand. Some of the currently popular enterprise level systems, which can manage information about all of the business functions and systems, are sold and implemented by Oracle, SAP, IBM, and Hewlett Packard (HP). Companies often need in-house experts in these systems to assist with the implementation and the on-going use of these systems, which are quite complex.

Also Known As: BI, Data Mining, Decision Support Systems, Business Performance Management, knowledge management, management information systems, MIS

06. Overview of Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer Operating System (or OS) that uses the Linux kernel. Linux started out as a personal computer system used by individuals, and has since gained the support of several large corporations, such as Sun Microsystems, HP and IBM. It is now used mostly as a server operating system, with some large organizations using an enterprise version for desktops. Linux is a prime example of open-source development, which means that the source code is available freely for anyone to use.

Overview of Unix Operating System

Unix is a computer Operating System (or OS) used most commonly in servers and workstations. Unix was originally released by Bell Labs to various government and educational institutions. This popularity led to the adaptation of Unix by many startup companies; as a result, Unix helped fuel the growth of the internet in the 1990s.

07. Project Manager Overview

A Project Manager is responsible for managing the resources of large projects. For Tech Careers, can mean managing large Software Development projects, Networking projects, IT installations or conversions, or any other function where business and technology needs have to be managed and resources have to be coordinated. The Project Manager is responsible for making sure a project is completed within a certain set of restraints. These restraints usually involve time, money, people and materials. The project must then be completed to a certain level of quality. Project Managers usually use Project Management Software to help keep track of resources and project deliverables (or outputs). This software helps document the project objectives, status, time lines and expected outcomes.

Information as a strategic resource

One of the dilemmas facing today's manager is that on the one hand they seem to be suffering from information overload, yet on other hand, they often they complain about shortage of information needed to make vital decisions. Symptoms of overload are a growth of incoming information, including electronic mail, an explosion in the volume of information sources (there are over 10,000 business newsletter titles and a similar number of CD-ROM titles). Symptoms of scarcity are the lack of vital

information for decision making, unexpected competitor moves and the inability to find the relevant 'needle in the haystack' There is also the crucial problem of exploiting an organizations proprietary information as a strategic asset. Underlying these problems is that of having "the right information, in the right place, in the right format, at the right time".

Information Resources Management (IRM)

Information Resources Management (IRM) is an emerging discipline that helps managers assess and exploit their information assets for business development. It draws on the techniques of information science (libraries) and information systems (IT related). It an important foundation for knowledge management, in that deals systematically with explicit knowledge. Knowledge centers often play an important part in introducing IRM into an organization.

Benefits of implementing an IRM Strategy

Few organizations have developed a comprehensive IRM strategy. Those that have started with some of its key processes of information audit, and information mapping cite the following benefits:

Identifies gaps and duplication of information Clarifies roles and responsibilities of owners and users of information Provide costs saving in the procurement and handling of information Identifies cost/benefits of different information resources Actively supports management decision processes with quality information

Some of the issues that it addresses are:

Strategic - the information needs to support the implementation of business strategies; also the way that information itself can be a key lever of strategy (in terms of new product and service opportunities) Organizational - ownership, evaluation, fragmentation, isolation from processes, the politics of information Structural Integrating external and internal information, its categorization, refining it from data into classified actionable 'chunks' Systems User accessibility, interface to sources, multiple databases, retrieval, usability Human Processing capability, overload, incentives to share

Information and Communication Technology

Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers, middleware as well as necessary software, storage- and audio-visual systems, which enable users to create, access, store, transmit, and manipulate information. In other words, ICT consists of IT as well as telecommunication, broadcast media, all types of audio and video processing and transmission and network based control and monitoring functions. The term ICT is now also used to refer to the merging (convergence) of audio-visual and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic incentives (huge cost savings due to elimination of the telephone network) to merge the audio-visual, building management and telephone network with the computer network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution and management. This in turn has spurred the growth of organizations with the term ICT in their names to indicate their specialization in the process of merging the different network systems.

Information Communication Technology (ICT)

ICT is central to today's most modern economies. Many international development agencies recognize the importance of ICT4D - for example, the World Bank's GICT section has a dedicated team of approximately 200 staff members working on ICT issues. A global network hub is also promoting innovation and advancement in ICT4D. Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is the world's first multi-stakeholder network, bringing together public sector, private sector and civil society organizations with the goal of sharing knowledge and building partnerships in ICT4D. Developing countries far lag developed nations in computer use and internet access/usage. For example, on average only 1 in 130 people in Africa have a computer while in North America and Europe 1 in every 2 people have access to the Internet. 90% of students in Africa have never touched a computer. However, local networks can provide significant access to software and information even without utilizing an internet connection, for example through use of the Wikipedia CD Selection or the e-Granary Digital Library. The World Bank runs the Information for Development Program (infoDev), whose Rural ICT Toolkit analyses the costs and possible profits involved in such a venture and shows that

there is more potential in developing areas than many might assume. The potential for profit arises from two sources- resource sharing across large numbers of users (specifically, the publication talks about line sharing, but the principle is the same for, e.g., tele-centres at which computing/Internet are shared) and remittances (specifically the publication talks about carriers making money from incoming calls, i.e., from urban to rural areas). A good example of the impact of ICTs is that of farmers getting better market price information and thus boosting their income. Community e-center in the Philippines developed a website to promote its local products worldwide. Another example is the use of mobile telecommunications and radio broadcasting to fight political corruption in Burundi.

Information AGE
The information age, also commonly known as the computer age or digital age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously. The idea is linked to the concept of a digital age or digital revolution, and carries the ramifications of a shift from traditional industry that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on the manipulation of information, i.e., an information society. The information age formed by capitalizing on the computer microminiaturization advances, with a transition spanning from the advent of the personal computer in the late 1970s to the internet's reaching a critical mass in the early 1990s, and the adoption of such technology by the public in the two decades after 1990. Bringing about a fast evolution of technology in daily life, as well as of educational life style, the Information Age has allowed rapid global communications and networking to shape modern society. The rise of information-intensive industry and "the new entrepreneurialism" Industry is becoming more information-intensive and less labor and capital-intensive (see Information industry). This trend has important implications for the workforce; workers are becoming increasingly productive as the value of their labor decreases. However, there are also important implications for capitalism itself; not only is the value of labor decreased, the value of capital is also diminished. In the classical model, investments in human capital and financial capital are important predictors of the performance of a new venture. However, as demonstrated by Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, it now seems possible for a group of relatively inexperienced people with limited capital to succeed on a large scale.

Information System Architecture

Information system architecture is a formal definition of the business processes and rules, systems structure, technical framework, and product technologies for a business or organizational information system. Information system architecture usually consists of four layers: business process architecture, systems architecture, technical architecture, and product delivery architecture. The architecture of an information system encompasses the hardware and software used to deliver the solution to the final consumer of services. The architecture is a description of the design and contents of a computerized system. If documented, the architecture may include information such as a detailed inventory of current hardware, software and networking capabilities; a description of long-range plans and priorities for future purchases, and a plan for upgrading and/or replacing dated equipment and software. The architecture should document: What data is stored?, How does the system function?, Where are components located?, When do activities and events occur in the system?, and Why does the system exist?

What is information architecture?

Information architecture is the term used to describe the structure of a system, i.e the way information is grouped, the navigation methods and terminology used within the system. Effective information architecture enables people to step logically through a system confident they are getting closer to the information they require. Most people only notice information architecture when it is poor and stops them from finding the information they require. Information architecture is most commonly associated with websites and intranets, but it can be used in the context of any information structures or computer systems.

The evolution of information architecture

The term information architecture was first coined by Richard Saul Wurman in 1975. Wurman was trained as an architect, but became interested in the way information is gathered, organised and presented to convey meaning. Wurmans initial definition of information architecture was organising the patterns in data, making the complex clear. The term was largely dormant until in 1996 it was seized upon by a couple of library scientists, Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville. They used the term to define the work they were doing structuring large-scale websites and intranets.

In Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites they define information architecture as: 1. The combination of organisation, labelling, and navigation schemes within an information system. 2. The structural design of an information space to facilitate task completion and intuitive access to content. 3. The art and science of structuring and classifying web sites and intranets to help people find and manage information. 4. An emerging discipline and community of practice focused on bringing principles of design and architecture to the digital landscape.

Styles of information architecture

There are two main approaches to defining information architecture. These are:

Top-down information architecture This involves developing a broad understanding of the business strategies and user needs, before defining the high level structure of site, and finally the detailed relationships between content.

Bottom-up information architecture This involves understanding the detailed relationships between content, creating walkthroughs (or storyboards) to show how the system could support specific user requirements and then considering the higher level structure that will be required to support these requirements.

Both of these techniques are important in a project. A project that ignores top-down approaches may result in well-organised, findable content that does not meet the needs of users or the business. A project that ignores bottom-up approaches may result in a site that allows people to find information but does not allow them the opportunity to explore related content.

Creating an effective information architecture in 9 steps

The following steps define a process for creating effective information architectures. 1. Understand the business/contextual requirements and the proposed content for the system. Read all existing documentation, interview stakeholders and conduct a content inventory. 2. Conduct cards sorting exercises with a number of representative users.

3. Evaluate the output of the card sorting exercises. Look for trends in grouping and labelling. 4. Develop a draft information architecture (i.e. information groupings and hierarchy). 5. Evaluate the draft information architecture using the card-based classification evaluation technique. 6. Dont expect to get the information architecture right first time. Capturing the right terminology and hierarchy may take several iterations. 7. Document the information architecture in a site map. This is not the final site map, the site map will only be finalised after page layouts have been defined. 8. Define a number of common user tasks, such as finding out about how to request holiday leave. On paper sketch page layouts to define how the user will step through the site. This technique is known as storyboarding. 9. Walk other members of the project team through the storyboards and leave them in shared workspaces for comments. 10. If possible within the constraints of the project, it is good to conduct task-based usability tests on paper prototypes as it provides valuable feedback without going to the expense of creating higher quality designs. 11. Create detailed page layouts to support key user tasks. Page layouts should be annotated with guidance for visual designers and developers. Developing information architecture in this way enables us to design and build a system confident that it will be successful.

There are many ways to document an IA

Products from the information architecture process Various methods are used to capture and define an information architecture. Some of the most common methods are:

Site maps Annotated page layouts Content matrices Page templates

There are also a number other possible by-products from the process. Such as:

Personas Prototypes Storyboards

Each of these methods and by-products is explained in detail below.

Site maps Site maps are perhaps the most widely known and understood deliverable from the process of defining an information architecture. A site map is a high level diagram showing the hierarchy of a system. Site maps reflect the information structure, but are not necessarily indicative of the navigation structure. Annotated page layouts Page layouts define page level navigation, content types and functional elements. Annotations are used to provide guidance for the visual designers and developers who will use the page layouts to build the site. Page layouts are alternatively known as wireframes, blue prints or screen details. Content matrix A content matrix lists each page in the system and identifies the content that will appear on that page. Page templates Page templates may be required when defining large-scale websites and intranets. Page templates define the layout of common page elements, such as global navigation, content and local navigation. Page templates are commonly used when developing content management systems. Personas Personas are a technique for defining archetypical users of the system. Personas are a cheap technique for evaluating the information architecture without conducting user research. Prototypes Prototypes are models of the system. Prototypes can be as simple as paper-based sketches, or as complex as fully interactive systems. Research shows that paper-based prototypes are just as effective for identifying issues as fully interactive systems. Prototypes are often developed to bring the information architecture to life. Thus enabling users and other members of the project team to comment on the architecture before the system is built.

Storyboards Storyboards are another technique for bringing the information architecture to life without building it. Storyboards are sketches showing how a user would interact with a system to complete a common task. Storyboards enable other members of the project team to understand the proposed information architecture before the system is built.

Information architecture as an attribute of the quality of a system

Effective information architecture is one of a number of attributes of a usable system. Other factors involving the usability of a system include:

Visual design Interaction design Functionality Content writing

Information architecture as a process

The process for creating effective information architecture is a sub-set of the usability activities involved in a project. Although weighted to the beginning of the project, usability activities should continue throughout a project and evaluate issues beyond simply the information architecture.

Who creates the information architecture?

Increasingly companies are realizing the importance of information architecture and are employing specialist information architects to perform this role. But information architecture is also defined by:

intranet designers and managers website designers and managers visual designers other people designing information systems programmers librarians technical writers

What is Architecture Management?

To begin, it is important to define what we mean by "architecture management". By "architecture", we are referring to the model hierarchy and organization, i.e., its topology. By "management", we are referring to the act of using that architecture in new ways.

Architecture Analysis
To understand how a model behaves, one must understand how it is organized. What kind of hierarchical modeling structure used? How has the model been partitioned - by functional requirements, by physical subsystems, by modeling domains, etc.? What are the interfaces to the model's subsystems? These are the initial questions that must be answered in order to analyze an existing model or to design a new model. Using IME's visualization capabilities, the engineer can easily browse the model hierarchy in a tool-neutral environment. They can expand subsystems of interest while keeping the entire hierarchy visible. They can view any level of the model from a variety of views, such as trees views or network diagrams. Features such as these greatly increase the engineer's ability to understand the organization of complicated models. This in turn allows them to better understand how changes in one part of the model impacts other subsystems.

Decentralized Information Systems

The growth of the web presents users with a means of accessing an ever increasing number of diverse information sources (ranging from institutional archives to real world deployed sensor networks). However, using of this information to make informed decisions presents a number of challenges. The information may be incomplete, uncertain or contradictory. It may come from sources owned by different stakeholders, and increasingly, it may incorporate a huge number of different media. Thus, there is a clear need for systems that are able to interact with these diverse information sources to not only collect relevant information, but also to reformulate and reason about it in principled ways. To this end, agent-based computing has been identified as an appropriate engineering paradigm for building such decentralised information systems. Within IAM we are designing, prototyping and evaluating the technologies that are required to build these systems. These technologies range from negotiation techniques to allow agents to cooperate to form ad-hoc networks that exchange relevant information, recommender systems to assist users in finding information relevant to their current context, and web technologies that promote the inter-operability of information systems.

Distribution System
The word distributed in terms such as "distributed system", "distributed programming", and "distributed algorithm" originally referred to computer networks where individual computers

were physically distributed within some geographical area. The terms are nowadays used in a much wider sense, even referring to autonomous processes that run on the same physical computer and interact with each other by message passing. A distributed system may have a common goal, such as solving a large computational problem. Alternatively, each computer may have its own user with individual needs, and the purpose of the distributed system is to coordinate the use of shared resources or provide communication services to the users. Other typical properties of distributed systems include the following:
The system has to tolerate failures in individual computers. The structure of the system (network topology, network latency, number of computers) is not known in advance, the system may consist of different kinds of computers and network links, and the system may change during the execution of a distributed program. Each computer has only a limited, incomplete view of the system. Each computer may know only one part of the input.

(a)(b) A distributed system. (c) A parallel system.

The figure on the right illustrates the difference between distributed and parallel systems. Figure (a) is a schematic view of a typical distributed system; as usual, the system is represented as a network topology in which each node is a computer and each line connecting the nodes is a communication link. Figure (b) shows the same distributed system in more detail: each computer has its own local memory, and information can be exchanged only by passing messages from one node to another by using the available communication links. Figure (c) shows a parallel system in which each processor has a direct access to a shared memory.

Parallel and distributed computing

Distributed systems are groups of networked computers, which have the same goal for their work. The terms "concurrent computing", "parallel computing", and "distributed computing" have a lot of overlap, and no clear distinction exists between them. The same system may

be characterized both as "parallel" and "distributed"; the processors in a typical distributed system run concurrently in parallel. Parallel computing may be seen as a particular tightlycoupled form of distributed computing. And distributed computing may be seen as a looselycoupled form of parallel computing. Nevertheless, it is possible to roughly classify concurrent systems as "parallel" or "distributed" using the following criteria:

In parallel computing, all processors have access to a shared memory. Shared memory can be used to exchange information between processors. In distributed computing, each processor has its own private memory (distributed memory). Information is exchanged by passing messages between the processors.

Reasons for Distribution System

There are two main reasons for using distributed systems and distributed computing. First, the very nature of the application may require the use of a communication network that connects several computers. For example, data is produced in one physical location and it is needed in another location. Second, there are many cases in which the use of a single computer would be possible in principle, but the use of a distributed system is beneficial for practical reasons. For example, it may be more cost-efficient to obtain the desired level of performance by using a cluster of several low-end computers, in comparison with a single high-end computer. A distributed system can be more reliable than a non-distributed system, as there is no single point of failure. Moreover, a distributed system may be easier to expand and manage than a monolithic uniprocessor system. Examples of distributed systems and applications of distributed computing include the following:

Telecommunication networks: o Telephone networks and cellular networks. o Computer networks such as the Internet. o Wireless sensor networks. o Routing algorithms.

Network applications: o World wide web and peer-to-peer networks. o Massively multiplayer online games and virtual reality communities. o Distributed databases and distributed database management systems. o Network file systems. o Distributed information processing systems such as banking systems and airline reservation systems.

Real-time process control: o Aircraft control systems. o Industrial control systems. Parallel computation: o Scientific computing, including cluster computing and grid computing and various volunteer computing projects; see the list of distributed computing projects. o Distributed rendering in computer graphics.

Distributed Programming Categories Typically DPC falls into one of several basic architectures or categories: clientserver, 3-tier architecture, n-tier architecture, distributed objects, loose coupling, or tight coupling.

Clientserver: Smart client code contacts the server for data then formats and displays it to the user. Input at the client is committed back to the server when it represents a permanent change. 3-tier architecture: Three tier systems move the client intelligence to a middle tier so that stateless clients can be used. This simplifies application deployment. Most web applications are 3-Tier. N-tier architecture: n-tier refers typically to web applications which further forward their requests to other enterprise services. This type of application is the one most responsible for the success of application servers. Tightly coupled (clustered): refers typically to a cluster of machines that closely work together, running a shared process in parallel. The task is subdivided in parts that are made individually by each one and then put back together to make the final result. Peer-to-peer: an architecture where there is no special machine or machines that provide a service or manage the network resources. Instead all responsibilities are uniformly divided among all machines, known as peers. Peers can serve both as clients and servers. Space based: refers to an infrastructure that creates the illusion (virtualization) of one single address-space. Data are transparently replicated according to application needs. Decoupling in time, space and reference is achieved.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)

It is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means. It is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one computer system to another computer system, i.e. from one trading partner to another trading partner without human intervention. It is more than mere e-mail; for instance, organizations might replace bills of

lading and even cheques with appropriate EDI messages. It also refers specifically to a family of standards. EDI allows a direct electronic connection between computer systems to facilitate the exchange of documents in a standardized format. The Federal Government and Military Agencies require their contract vendors to communicate using EDI to send and receive purchase orders and invoices. Businesses have the option to connect with their government clients through a VAN, or Value Added Network, a web based EDI system that bridges the gap between Vendors without a native EDI system and their government clients. Prime Vendor is a Certified VAN and specializes in bridging the gap between businesses and their major customers. Our economically priced service allows businesses to enjoy the benefits of EDI communication with their clients without having to invest tens of thousands of dollars in upfront costs to develop a native EDI system. In 1996, the National Institute of Standards and Technology defined electronic data interchange as "the computer-to-computer interchange of strictly formatted messages that represent documents other than monetary instruments. EDI implies a sequence of messages between two parties, either of whom may serve as originator or recipient. The formatted data representing the documents may be transmitted from originator to recipient via telecommunications or physically transported on electronic storage media." It distinguishes mere electronic communication or data exchange, specifying that "in EDI, the usual processing of received messages is by computer only. Human intervention in the processing of a received message is typically intended only for error conditions, for quality review, and for special situations. For example, the transmission of binary or textual data is not EDI as defined here unless the data are treated as one or more data elements of an EDI message and are not normally intended for human interpretation as part of online data processing." EDI can be formally defined as the transfer of structured data, by agreed message standards, from one computer system to another without human intervention.

EDI is considered to be a technical representation of a business conversation between two entities, either internal or external. Note that there is a perception that "EDI" constitutes the entire electronic data interchange paradigm, including the transmission, message flow, document format, and software used to interpret the documents. EDI is considered to describe the rigorously standardized format of electronic documents. EDI is very useful in supply chain. The EDI standards were designed to be independent of communication and software technologies. EDI can be transmitted using any methodology agreed to by the sender and recipient. This includes a variety of technologies, including modem (asynchronous and synchronous), FTP, e-mail, HTTP, AS1, AS2, etc. It is important to differentiate between the EDI documents and the methods for transmitting them. EDI documents generally contain the same information that would normally be found in a paper document used for the same organizational function. For example an EDI 940 shipfrom-warehouse order is used by a manufacturer to tell a warehouse to ship product to a retailer. It typically has a ship to address, bill to address, a list of product numbers (usually a UPC) and quantities. Another example is the set of messages between sellers and buyers, such as request for quotation (RFQ), bid in response to RFQ, purchase order, purchase order acknowledgment, shipping notice, receiving advice, invoice, and payment advice. However, EDI is not confined to just business data related to trade but encompasses all fields such as medicine (e.g., patient records and laboratory results), transport (e.g., container and modal information), engineering and construction, etc. In some cases, EDI will be used to create a new business information flow (that was not a paper flow before). This is the case in the Advanced Shipment Notification (856) which was designed to inform the receiver of a shipment, the goods to be received and how the goods are packaged.

Transmission of EDI System

Trading partners are free to use any method for the transmission of documents. In the past one of the more popular methods was the usage of a bisync modem to communicate through a value added network (VAN). Some organizations have used direct modem to modem connections and bulletin board systems (BBS), and recently there has been a move towards using some of the many Internet protocols for transmission, but most EDI is still transmitted using a VAN. In the healthcare industry, a VAN is referred to as a "clearinghouse".

Value-added Network
In the most basic form, a VAN (value-added network) acts as a regional post office. They receive transactions, examine the 'from' and the 'to' information, and route the transaction to

the final recipient. VANs provide a number of additional services, e.g. retransmitting documents, providing third party audit information, acting as a gateway for different transmission methods, and handling telecommunications support. Because of these and other services VANs provide, businesses frequently use a VAN even when both trading partners are using Internet-based protocols. Healthcare clearinghouses perform many of the same functions as a VAN, but have additional legal restrictions that govern VANs also provide an advantage with certificate replacement in AS2 transmissions. Because each node in a traditionally business-related AS2 transmission usually involves a security certificate, routing a large number of partners through a VAN can make certificate replacement much easier.

Value-added networks are the go-between in EDI communications. The VAN is responsible for routing, storing and delivering EDI messages. They also provide delivery reports Depending on the VAN type, messages may need extra envelopes or may be routed using intelligent *VANs which are able to read the EDI message itself. VANs may be operated by various entities: o Telecom companies; o Industry group consortia; o A large company interacting with its suppliers/vendors.

Supply Chain Management (SMC)

It is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers (Harland, 1996). Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption (supply chain). Another definition is provided by the APICS Dictionary when it defines SCM as the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally."

Supply chain management is the systematic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole (Mentzer et al., 2001). A customer focused definition is given by Hines (2004:p76) "Supply chain strategies require a total systems view of the linkages in the chain that work together efficiently to create customer satisfaction at the end point of delivery to the consumer. As a consequence costs must be lowered throughout the chain by driving out unnecessary

costs and focusing attention on adding value. Throughout efficiency must be increased, bottlenecks removed and performance measurement must focus on total systems efficiency and equitable reward distribution to those in the supply chain adding value. The supply chain system must be responsive to customer requirements."

Global supply chain forum - supply chain management is the integration of key business processes across the supply chain for the purpose of creating value for customers and stakeholders (Lambert, 2008). According to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management. It also includes the crucial components of coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. More recently, the loosely coupled, selforganizing network of businesses that cooperate to provide product and service offerings has been called the Extended Enterprise.

Why Supply Chain Management.

Some of the reasons for which a company sets up a SCM is to increase customer satisfaction for instance by reducing delivery times, to allow faster adaptation to market changes, to avoid out-of-stock situations while aiming to an overall reduction of stocks, to generate cost benefits through the optimization of the supply chain, etc. Overall advantages of the SCM concept are a higher transparency of the flows of goods, funds and information, a continuous controlling of processes, a reduction of process time and costs as you can clearly identify the big cost drivers. For several decades more and more companies outsourced non core activities and reduced their intra-organizational division of labour. As a result more differentiated supply chains had to be set up. Except for some exceptions there is nearly no more competition between vertically integrated companies but between deeply structured supply chains. These supply chains are built of exchangeable independently acting companies connected by contracts. Therefore a companys management needs to structure and coordinate the whole chain with respect to their markets requirements in order to be competitive and successful. These considerations led to the development of supply chain management. The complexity of a companys supply chain varies with the type, intricacy and amount of products which are sold.

Elements of the Supply Chain

On his site about logistics and supply chain management, Martin Murray states that a companys supply chain is made up with the following elements especially if the product is manufactured on order by the client. The customer demands a certain product by contacting the sales department. After having combined different orders the planning department establishes a production plan which takes into account the different requirements of the orders for instance the necessary materials and services. The purchasing department manages the buying of the mentioned goods from the suppliers. These raw materials are received, checked and stored by the inventory. Following the production plan finished products are manufactured by the production department and stored in the warehouse. The logistics department organizes the delivery of the goods to the customer.