What is an ERP System?

An information system model that enables an organization to automate and integrate its key
business processes.
What is the relationship among data, information, and an information system?
Data are facts, which may or may not be processed (edited, summarized, or refined) and have no
direct effect on a user's actions. Information causes the user to take an action that he or she
otherwise could not, or would not, have taken. The relation is an information system is the act of
formal procedures by which data are collected, stored, processed into information, and distributed
to users.
What are the three cycles of transaction processing systems?
The three cycles of transaction processing systems are the revenue cycle, the expenditure cycle,
and the conversion cycle.
What are the characteristics of good or useful information?
The characteristics of a useful information are relevance where the contents of report or document
must serve purpose, timeliness where there must be no older than the time of the action it
supports, accuracy where information must be free from material errors, completeness where no
piece of information essential to a decision or task should be missing, and summarization where
information should be aggregated in accordance with the user's needs.
What are the roles of internal and external auditors?
An external audit is an independent attestation performed by an expert who expresses an opinion
regarding the presentation of financial statements. An internal audit is an independent appraisal
function established within an organization to examine and evaluate its activities as a service to
the organization
What is feedback, and how is it useful in an information system?
Feedback is a form of output that is sent back to the system as a source of data. Internal feedback
such as an inventory status report can signal when to initiate the inventory ordering process to
replenish inventories. External feedback about the level of uncollected customer accounts can be
used to adjust the organization's credit-granting policies.
What are the levels of data hierarchy?
Attribute, record, and file. Each file is a complete set of records of an identical class. Each record
is a complete set of attributes for a single occurrence within an entity class. Each attribute is the
most elemental piece of potentially useful data in the database.

What is Distributed Data Processing

Involves reorganizing the IT function into small information processing units that are distributed
to end users and placed under their control.
What are the four levels of activity in the pyramid representing the business organization?
Distinguish between horizontal and vertical flows of information.
The four levels of activity in the business organization are the Top Management, Middle
Management, Operations Management, and Operations Personnel. Horizontal flow supports
operations-level tasks with highly detailed information about the many business transactions
affecting the firm such as shipment of goods, use of labor and materials in production process,
etc. The vertical flow distributes information downward from senior managers to junior managers
and operations personnel in the form of instructions, quotas, and budgets.
What does stewardship mean, and what is its role in an information system?
Stewardship means the managers' responsibility to properly manage the resources of the firm and
to report on their activities.