BCA - FCIT - Sem I

Sector Format and Structure Storage Devices
NOTES
The fundamental unit of data storage on a hard disk is sector itself. The name sector
comes from a mathematical term which refers to the pie-shaped angular section of the 151
size of a circle which is encircled by radius on two sides and the parameter on one
side. A hard disk which has circiular tracks with a single centre, defines a sector of
every track on the surface of the platter, which it intersects. It is called sector in the
hard disk world. Which is a small segment related to the length of the track. Once,
the number of sectors in each sector of the hard disk was the same and infact, in every
track, the number of sectors was mostly standard in every track. Today's progress, as
it has been discussed here, has enabled the number sectors per track to be separated.
Every sector of hard disk can store 512 byte user data. There are some disks in which
this number can be modified, but 512 is a standard which is automatically found in
all the harddisks. Every sector contains more information than 512 bytes. Extra bytes
are required to restrict control structure and drive, locate the data and perform other
support functions. The architecture of a sector and its description depends on drive
model and the manufacturer. In the contents of one sector, the following general
elements are included -
ID Information : Traditionally, in each sector, the blank space is left for sector number
and location. It is used to find out the sector on the disk. This field contains information
about the states of the sector. For example, a bit is used to indicate whether the sector
is found defective and remapped.
Synchronization Fields : It is interally used to guide the read process through the drive
controller.
Data : It stands for the actual data in the sector.
E.C.C. : The full form of E.C.C. is Error Correcting Code. It is used to ensure the integrity
of data.
Gaps : If needed, one or more blank space is required which is used to separate other
fields of the sector and to avail time to the controller to process the bits read before
reading more bits.
In addition to the sectors, each of which contains the above said elements, the blank
space of every track is used for servo information on embedded servo drive (which is a
design used by all the modern units).
The space taken for overhead by every sector is important, as the more bits are used for
management the less will be number of bits applied, on the whole, for the data. There-
fore, hard disk manufacturers try their best to reduce the amount of non-user data
information to be necessarily stored on the disk. Format efficiency denotes the percentage
of bits on the disk which are used only for data. The more the format efficiency, the better
this would be.
The No. ID format, built by IBM is mid is one of the main improvements in sector format.
The plan behind this latest change is apparent with its name that the ID field has been
removed from the sector format. Instead of labelling each sector in the sector header, a
format map is stored in the memory and is referred when the sector should be located.
This map contains the information like which sectors are badly marked and re-located,
where the sector servo is with respect to the location of the information etc. It not only
improses the capacity of the format but also ensures 10 percent more storage of data
on each sector resulting in improved performance. Since this delicate positioning
information is available in the high speed memory, it can be accessed very rapidly.

Hard Disk Formatting

Most PC users are aware of this concept that all the storage including with the hard
disk are formatted before being brought to use. Generally, there are some confusions

Fundamentalsof regarding the meaning of formatting and its functions. This gets complicated from the
Computers & fact that the modern hard disks are not formatted like the old ones and another fact
Information Technology strengthens the old confusion is that the utilities used for formatting behave differently
for hard disk and floppy disk. This section will deal with formatting.
NOTES Formatting Steps :
Many PC users don't understand that the formatting of the hard disk doesn't completed
152 in one step. In fact, it takes three steps.
Low Level Formatting :
This is the main formatting process. It creates physical structure on the hard disk (tracks,
sectors, control information). Generally, it starts with the process of making the hard disk
platters completely clean and information free.
Partitioning :
This process divides the disk into logical fragments which become separate hard disk
volume. These are known as drive latter (D,E,F etc.) This is an operating system function.
High Level Formatting :
This last step is again the instruction of the operating system level. It defines logical
structure on the division/partitioning and places the necessary operating system files in the
beginning of the disk. As you see that two terms out of three are formatting and the
repeated use of word creates confusion-whenever the word formatting is used. One more
important fact is that when the format command of the DOS is applied on the disc, it
is quite different from the floppy disk. The floppy disk has totally normal and standard
geometry and it can't be divided. Therefore, the format command is automatically pro-
grammed for the low level and high level format of the floppy disc. For the Hard Disc.
FORMAT, does only high-level formatting. The low-level formatting in the Hard Disk is
done in the factory itself.
Low Level Formatting
The Low Level Formatting is a process of creating a blue-print of the places of tracks and
sectors on the hard-disc and writing control structure which defines where the tracks and
sectors are. It is often called actual formatting operation because it only creates physical
format which defines, where the data is stored in the hard disk. When, the low-level
formatting is completed first on the hard disk, the disk platter starts emptying. If low level
formatting is performed on a disk that contains data, then the data stored on the disk is
lost.
High Level Formatting
After the low level formatting is completed, we get disk arranged completely in tracks and
sectors. High level formatting is a process of writing file structure on the disk which
prevents data and program from getting stored on the disk. If you are using FORMAT
command of DOS, the disk writes applications such as Master Boot Record and File
Allocation Tables. High level formatting is complete when the hard disk has been divided
even only one division has been used.
It is necessary to know the difference between high-level formatting and Low Level
Formatting. To delete low-level formatting is not required to be done. For most of the
purposes, only high level formatting is enough. Different operating systems use different
high level format program for they use different file systems. But the low level format
is the actual place where tracks and sectors are recorded, it is identical in all.

FLOPPY DISK

Floppy disks also termed as diskettes and floppies, are used primarily with microcom-
puters. Unlike hard disks, floppy disks are easily portable as you can remove them from

one drive and use on the other. Device used for operating floppy disk is called floppy Storage Devices
disk drive. Floppy disks work much slower and contain much less data than hard disks, NOTES
but they are very cheaper than hard disks too.
Floppy disks are inserted into a disk drive, a mechanical machine with a spindle in it. 153
A read/write head within the disk drive retrieves data from and records data on the
disk. In a floppy disk system, the read/write head actually makes contact with the
rotating disk.
Floppy disks are of the following two types -

(a) Mini floppy - 51/4 inch
(b) Micro floppy - 31/2 inch
Mini Floppy
Mini floppy has the size of 5 1/4 inches. It has capacity to store data upto 1.2 MB.
Micro Floppy
Micro floppies are preferable to mini floppies. They are more durable, hold more data,
last longer and operate better in disk drive. They are available in two basic types with
regard to their density - Double density and High Density. Double density micro floppy
contains 737,280 bytes ( 0.7 MB ) having 1440 sectors whereas high density micro
floppies hold 1,474,560 bytes ( 1.44 MB ) having 1880 sectors.
Both types of floppy diskettes contain a square nick called Write Protect Notch. Notch
can be closed, once it is closed, it stops entering data on it.

Role of a floppy disk

In this part me will learn about role of floppy disk in a computer system. Domains where
floppy disk is used are :
Data Transfer : Still, floppy is sued as a global means to transfer files from one computer
to another. With the use of computer utilities you can even store files of very large size
in a floppy disk and send this disk to any-person and moreover you can be fully reassured
that computer on the other side will also read it. 3.5 floppy is a standard on computer.
Many apple and even Unix machines can also read data of these disk.
Small file storage and backup : Use of floppy disk for taking backup of small quantity
data and for collection is much more than you can even think.
Software installation and driver updates : A large number of hardware drivers still uses
floppies to distribute software and floppies are sued for some software However, as
software are becoming larger, it is getting uncommon and CD-Rom drives are becoming
global. Inspite of role of floppy drives in modern PC, reduction in its importance cannot
be ignored. Now, very attention is given on performance of floppy. Even at the time of
buying a computer, this part is not discussed in comparison with other parts.
In short, today floppy drive is a commodity item. That's why, though I had discussed floppy
drive in this chapter, but not gone into depth.
Beside this because many aspects of construction and logical function of floppy disk
are similar to many aspects of hard-disk, I had explained hard-disk in detail much that
you learn about floppy from that only.

Construction and Operation

Floppy disk drives are different in construction and data format, internally they all are
nearly same floppy drivers are similar to hard-disk in respect to construction and
function. Certainly, opposite to hard-disk, floppy disk drives uses transferable floppy

Fundamentalsof media in place of integrated storage platters. This part will show you fundamental
Computers & constituents and physical operations of floppy disk drive.
Information Technology Read/Write head
In floppy drive, read/write head is used to convert binary data to electromagnetic while
NOTES writing and to convert electromagnetic to binary data while reading. This exactly works in
similar manner as head of hard-disk works.
154 There are many import ant unevenness between floppy disk and hard-disk read/write head.
Firstly, head of floppy-disk is comparatively large and precise that of hard-disk because
density of floppy disk's track is much less than that of hard-disk. Tracks are organized less
precisely. Generally it is a old techniques. In hard-disk density of track is per inch thousand
tracks while in floppy disk per inch track's density is 135 or less than this.
Concerning technology, floppy disk still uses old ferrite styles of head that was used in
ancient hard-disk. In short, there is iron at the centre of head, around which a wire is cling
which creates a controllable electro-magnet. Yet, floppy drive is a contact recording tech-
niques. Meaning of contact recording technique is that in this head have direct contact
with the disk media. It does not contain any floating head above the surface as hard disk.
Because of direct contact, it is possible to transfer confidential data with this relatively
common techniques. So when you are using flexible media as floppy, then it not possible
to maintain space between media and floating head for long time at any cost.
As speed with which floppy disk revolves is comparatively less than that of hard-disk, these
are capable of being in contact with media without rubbing magnetic material art ate of
300 to 600 revolutions per minute while minimal rate of hard-disk is 3600 revolution per
minutes (RPM). However, as time passes dirt and magnetic oxide gathered over head. For
this very reason head of the floppy should be cleaned form time to time.
Floppy disk makes a system more sensitive in case of problems that are dirt provocative
which results in scratching of media, because of these reason floppy disk is less reliable
than hard-disk.
Floppy disk uses a special type of design in which there are two erase heads additional
to read/write head. These are known as tunnel-erase head. They are kept at the back of
read-write head. Their work is to erase misplaced magnetic information that has been
written or recorded outside the track by read-write head. It is necessary to keep each track
separately and well defined on floppy otherwise intervention can be caused between
results of tracks.
All modern floppy are double-sided. Old floppy drives were only single sided. Because disk
are double-sides so there are heads in the drive that are placed as at one each side. When
disk is inserted then head contacts with the media by pressing its each side between
heads. With respect to drive format and density there can be minute changes between
different heads of drives.
Head Actuator
Head actuator is a tool that physically places a read-write head over right track of disk
surface. Floppy normally contains 80 tracks on each side. Actuator is made to run through
stepper motor. As stepper motor runs, it pass away from many stop positions and doing
so it goes to many places including inside & outside of head. Stepper motor was particu-
larly used for actuator of hard-disk. But due to problems of speed and reliability it was
replaced with voice coils. As stepper motor uses pre defined track placement, so
thermal expansion of hard-disk, old hard-disk in which stepper motor used, may results
into error when disk platters takes away or spread tracks at some other place than
expected.
After a certain time, if actuator's track changes it place form its normal place to some
other place too floppy disk can create problems. This is called as head alignment
problem. You must have paid attention that in case of wrong alignment of head, disks
works only when it is formatted, written, in one drive and then reads in that drive

only. But if it is taken from one drive to another then it does not work. This is because Storage Devices
formatting of floppy tells where data is kept. Problem of misalignment can be solved NOTES
by aligning head of floppy drives too low so nobody align floppy drives again and again.
Head of floppy disk is much slower in comparison with hard-disk's actuator which 155
increases its seek time. Actuator of hard disk can complete a cycle from inner most
tracks to outermost tracks (called as full stroke seek) in nearly 20 milli seconds. On
the other side, floppy disk takes 10 times or even more time in comparison to hard
disk. This is also a reason for a floppy disk to be slower in comparison with hard disk.
Spindle Motor
When floppy disk is kept inside a drive then spindle motor of floppy causes a floppy
to revolve. When disk is inserted inside floppy then clamps comes down in middle
to hold the disk physically. These clamps in middle to hold the disk physically. These
clamps are attached to the spindle motor. They rotate the disk on moving of spindle
motor speed of spindle motor depends upon type of floppy drive speed of spindle
motor of floppy drive of 5.25" and 1.2 MB and 3.5" and 1.44 MB are 360 RPM and
300 RPM respectively.
Spindle with low speed is used to rotate floppy disk. This is one of the major reason
for its bad performance in comparison with other media because speed of spindle
affects both latency and data transfer rate. Because of its slow speed, heads are not
able to rub the magnetic material of media even after contacting its surface because
of its normal requirement, spindle motor uses less energy and less heat on floppy.
Disk Change sensor
In modern floppy drives, a special sensor and signal are sticked to floppy cable that
tells about disk insertion and ejection to the floppy controller. This signal is used for
performance reasons. Keeping records of disk changing also means that system knows
that when it has not been changed. Because of this information time that was to be
spend on disk checking by system every time when a disk is accessed is saved.
Otherwise demonstration of disk will be affected by structure investigation of disk
repeatedly.
Sometimes when a problem arrives then disk change sensor or circuitry starts perform-
ing opposite work which leads to strange problems.
Normally it happens that you had changed the disk but system does not recognize it
and thinks that did disk still exist. So when you will access file of new disk then it will
say "file not found".
Actually, it does not check files of recently inserted disk, it only checks the contents
of old disk that still exists in memory. So in this condition if you will try to write down
in new disk then these contents will be tangled and the controller will think that you
are writing in old disk.
Connectors and Jumpers
To major connectors are used to connect floppy with other parts of PC. Jumpers are
also provided to configure floppy. However, normally they do not touch each other
when they are used. Drive select (DS) Jumper is used to select whether floppy drive
of system is A: or B:. But this is tradition in PC that to control A: and B: drive floppy
cable is used. Nearly all floppy come prepared in form of B: drive and cable is used
to select that which one is A: drive instead of jumper. Similarly, some drive contains
other jumpers which control their functions. But they are always left nearly on their
default. S.C.S.I. floppy disk is used in some rare systems. This floppy contains separate
jumpers.
Power connector is one of the two connectors that are used to connect floppy disk
with electricity. This is used in two different forms. In old drives of 5.25", normally

Fundamentalsof standard connector of 4 wires is used that is used for hard disk, CD-ROM and other
Computers & devices. Almost all 3.5" drive uses mini power connector. Adapter can be changed
Information Technology from big size to small size but new power supplies comes with small plugs that involves
3.5" drive in order to give power.
NOTES Second connector is data interface cable. 99.9 percent of floppy disk uses standard
floppy interface which uses a special 34 pin connector to connect with the floppy
156 interface because in most cases problem can be solved just by changing cable and drive
can not be ruined as it has been wrongly applied.
Drive will not work when floppy cable is wrongly applied or when its indicator will
show that it is busy.
Actually there are two different types of connectors. In old style, card edge connector
is used in drives that are generally found in 5.25" drives. Connectors of new style uses
34 pin header that is somewhat similar to internal hard-disk. Connector described in
later type are not aceurately guided against preventing wrong insertion. That's why this
is a serious issue.
Logic Board
There is a integrated logic board in a floppy disk that works like a drive controller.
It consists of electronics that controls read/write head, spindle motor, head actuator
and other constituents.
Circuit of this board communicate with floppy disk controller on floppy interface.
Undoubtly, in S.C.S.I. there is a S.C.S.I. interface on logic board that is used to
communicate on S.C.S.I. interface. There can be problems on old drives because of
circuit board. Theoretically, board can be removed or it can be repaired but replacing
whole drive is cheaper.
External Pakaging, Dimensions and Monting
Mostly all floppy drives are internal drive in which one is faceplate or bazel which are
used to provide access to drive door.
Size of faceplate determines that what size of drive bay will be a required in drive.
There is 5.25" bay for 5.25" drive and for 3.5" drive it is 3.5 or 5.25 bay. Adapter or
mounting kit is required in case of 3.5" drive that adapt the drive into large bay size.
These kits are cheap and these kits are required when you put 3.5" drive that has 3.5"
drive bay in a old case.
Height of 3.5" floppy drive is one inch that is somewhat similar to height of hard disk
that generally share one drive bay. 5.2" drive comes in two different heights. Old
standard is known as full-height drive that was 3.5" in height. This can be found only
in old PC and bays that are used for these drives have not been used since decade.
Today's standard is known as half-height drive that is nearly 1.75" in height. This
standard is fitted into 5.25" drive bay.
Door of floppy disk drive is different for 5.25" and 3.5" drive. In 5.25" manual latch
is used. When this is enabled, read/write head and actuator arm disk gets close on
media's surface. When 3.5" drive is inserted into drive then it automatically fits disk.
A button is used to extract drive when required.
Mostly all floppy drive contains holes for screws at the end and the underneath part
that are useful in fixing them. In old system drive contains strips of metal that can slide
drive bay in drive in mechanical way. In new system, drive are attached to bay by
using screws.
As in floppy drive a solid method is used to hold disk during reading so it is not difficult
to install them on other side. Infact, 3.5" drives are in horizontal form in most of the
desktop CPU's cases.

Floppy Disk Media and Low Level Data Structure

In hard disk, recording media are integrated in drives. That's why they are called as
fixed disk. Opposite to this media of floppy disk drive are transferable. Floppy disk (that

can also be called diskette) has cover a long distance of ability and reliability. Cost of Storage Devices
disk that was before ten years, can now be used to buy 10 disks. NOTES

5.25" Media Construction

In previous sections, you learned about detailed knowledge of construction and op-
eration of floppy disk. Let's understand about construction of 5.25" floppy in this section.
Earlier in reality floppy disks were not of 3.5" and 5.25". They were of 8". These are
still used on old computer systems. 5.25" is younger brother of 8" and its design is also
nearly similar to 8".
5.25" is comprised of two parts. First part its base circular disk media that is sometimes
refers to as cookie and second one is protective jacket.
Base disk is made up of their part of plastic and it is covered with magnetic material.
There is a big hole at the centre which is used to hold and rotate the drive. Its jacket
does not rotate. One slot of jacket is cut down that highlights the disk for read/write
disk. This is very broad for head and it is so long such that it can move heads on all
tracks of actuator disk. There is a notch on one side of disk that functions in form of
write-protect control. It is some crude in which you can paste a tape in order to
prevent disk from any manipulation.

Figure 9.13 : 5.25" floppy disk drive 157

It was named as floppy because of disk of 5.25. These disks are fragile and their jackets
are not sufficient for protection. Moreover due to large size, it is easy to mould them. To
prevent them from being destroyed, special attention is required. Basically they are kept
in a plastic box to prevent them from being destroyed. They are kept in a big box in order
to send them from one place to another through courier. Read/Write windows of disk is
kept opened. This is the reason if we will not keep them safely in some paper packets
then they can be ruined easily. To ruin them, writing on their jacket with ball point
pen is enough. As jacket is very thin, so the image of text written on jacket with the
use of pointed pen also gets dismounted on disk media. In comparison with 3.5" disk,
5.25" is the basic reason for reduction in stability of media and downfall of 5.25" floppy
disk drive.

3.5" Media Construction

After learning construction of large size of floppy lets learn about construction of 3.5"
floppy disk is similar to 5.25" disk but many improvement have been made. First improve-
ment lies in its jacket. This has been made with some solid material that can forbear
more misuse. Secondly, Read/Write window of disk that is secured through sliding
metal cover is when inserted into drive of media then it starts working. Hence as disk
is small it is much strong.
Apart from these, much more improvements have been made in 3.5" disk. Its right

Fundamentalsof protect notch is changed with sliding plastic cover. When hold is opened then disk is
Computers & write-cover. When hold is opened then disk is write protected and when it is closed
Information Technology then it is suitable for writing and it is very easier to convert it from write protected
to write enabled. Large hold at the centre of 5.25" is replaced with a small disk of
NOTES metal that contains a indexing hole that is used to make it stable.

Figure 9.14 : 3.5" floppy disk drive

Instead of weak and sensitive media 3.5" disk media is much more stable and reliable.
Their jackets are so strong that even writing with ball point pen does not cause any
harm to them. It is not difficult to transfer them with courier.

WINCHESTER DISK

The IBM 3340 Direct Access Storage Facility code named Winchester was introduced
in March 1973 for use with IBM System 1370. Its removable disk packs were sealed
and included the head and arm assembly. There was no cover to remove during the
insertion process. Access time was 25 millisecond and data was transferred at 885 KB/
S. Three versions of the removable IBM 3348 Data module were sold, one with 35
megabyte capacity, another with 70 megabytes, the third also had 70 megabytes, but
with 500 kilobytes under separate fixed heads for faster access. The 3340 also used
error correction. It was withdrawn in 1984.
The Winchester code name is rumoured to be after the famous 30-30 Winchester rifle
(a rifle known as multishot or repeating rifle manufactured by the Winchester Repeating
Arms Company). The rumour was that development engineers called the drive a 30-
30 because it had two spindles holding 30 megabytes each and that the engineer in
charge made the connection with the rifle. IBM accepts the existence of this rumour
but does not confirm it. The term Winchester was used for hard disk drives in general
for some time after the introduction of the 3340.

OPTICAL DISK

An optical disc is a flat, circular, usually polycarbonate disc whereon data is stored in
the form of pits (or bumps) within a flat surface, usually along a single spiral groove
that covers the entire recorded surface of the disc. This data is generally accessed
when a special material on the disc (often aluminium) is illuminated with a laser diode.
The pits distort the reflected laser light.
The information on an optical disc is stored sequentially on a continuous spiral track
from the innermost track to the outermost track. An acronym for Optical Disc Drives
is ODD.
158

CD (COMPACT DISK) Storage Devices
NOTES
A Compact Disc or CD is an optical disc used to
store digital data, originally developed for storing digital Figure 9.15 : A Compact disk
audio. An audio CD consists of one or more stereo
tracks stored using 16-bit PCM coding at a sampling
rate of 44.1 kHz. Standard CDs have a diameter of
120 mm and can hold approximately 80 minutes of
audio. There are also 80 mm discs, sometimes used
for CD singles, which hold approximately 20 minutes
of audio. Compact Disc technology waslater adapted
for use as a data storage device, known as a CD-
ROM, and to include record-once and re-writable
media (CD-R and CD-RW respectively). CD-ROMs
and CD-Rs remain widely used technologies in the
PC industry as of today.

CD Material

One CD can store at least the music of 74 minutes. Thus it can contain digital data of
783, 216,000 bytes. How does 783 megabytes data can be stored only 4.8 inch or 12
centimeter ? This will be clear after we know the playsical structure of CD.

CD is a piece of plastic, 12 mm thick. Most of the CD's are clear polycarbonate plastic.
During its manufacturing this plastic is printed with microscopic bump (small bumpy part
which can be seen only through a microscope) which is arranged as single, continuous very
long spiral track. After a clean piece of polycarbonate is made a sprout of a thin reflective
aluminium layer on the disk to cover the bumps. Then a thin layer of a crylic (a substance
used to make clothes and colour) is sprayed on the aluminium to keep it safe. After that
the label is printed on the acrylic.

CD Spiral

CD has a single spiral track of data which creates a circle from the inside to outside. The
is started spiral from the centre so that the CD can be shortened from 4.8 inch as
required. In fact, now plastic baseball cards and business cards are also available which you
can place on any CD Player CD business cards, before cutting the circular shapes and form
of the card, store only 3 MB of data.

Fig. 9.16 : Spiral

Data track is very small. It is almost 0.5 micron wide which is of 1.6 microns in
separating one track from the next one. Micron is the one millionth part of one meter
and bumps are even smaller than this.

159

Fundamentalsof CD Bumps and Pits
Computers &
Information Technology Long and thin bumps which create tracks are 0.5 micron wide each. While glancing
at bumps on the polycarbonated layers these are probably seen display like the
NOTES following figure :

Fig. 9.17 : Bumps

Instead of CD bumps, you will often read about pits. These are the same. From
aluminium, they seem to be pits but from the sides the laser reads them, these are
bumps. Pits mean ditches and bumps mean projected.
The unbelievably small size of bumps can elongate the spiral track on the CD. If you
can left the data from the CD track and spread it along a straight line, it will be almost
0.5 micron broad and almost 5 km long.

CD Player

Let us see in this section, how a CD Player functions. The function of a CD Player
is to search and read the data stored on the CD in the form of bumps. Considering
the extremely small size of bumps we can understand that a CD Player can read even
the subtlest details. A drive, mainly, contains a drive motor, a laser and lense system
and tracking mechanism. The drive motor rotates the disk. This drive motor with an
exact control rotates at the rate of 200 rotations per minute and 500 rotations per
minute which depends on which track is being read.

Fig. 9.18 : The parts of CD Player

Laser and lense system focuses on the bumps and reads them. The tracking mechanism
moves the laser assembly so that the laser beam can follow the spiral track. The tracking
system can move the laser on micron resolutions.

VCD

VCD (also known as Video CD, View CD, Compact Disc digital video) is a standard digital
format for storing video on a Compact Disc. VCDs are playable in dedicated VCD players,
nearly all personal computers, most modern DVD-Video players, and some video game
160 consoles.

The VCD standard was created in 1993 by Sony, Philips, Matsushita, and JVC and is Storage Devices
referred to as the White Book standard. NOTES

CD-R 161

A CD-R (Compact Disc-Recordable) is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips
and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once, Read Many optical media (though the whole disk does
not have to be entirely written in the same session) and retains a high level of compatibility
with standard CD readers (unlike CD-RW which can be rewritten but has much lower
compatibility and the discs are considerably more expensive). Some people jokingly refer
to these mediums as CD-PROM since they are the optical analogy to Programmable read-
only memory.

CD-RW

Compact Disc ReWritable (CD-RW) is a rewritable optical disc format. Known as CD-
Erasable (CD-E) during its development, CD-RW was introduced in 1997.

DVD

DVD (also known as “Digital Versatile Disc” or “Digital Video Disc”) is an optical disc
storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video
and sound quality. DVDs resemble Compact Discs as their diameter is the same (120 mm
or 4.72 inches, or occasionally 80 mm or 3.15 inches), but they are encoded in a different
format and at a much higher density.
All read-only DVD discs, regardless of type, are DVD-ROM discs. This includes replicated
(factory pressed), recorded (burned), video, audio, and data DVDs. A DVD with properly
formatted and structured video content is a DVD-Video disc. DVDs with properly format-
ted and structured audio are DVD-Audio discs. Everything else (including other types of
DVD discs with video) is referred to as a DVD-Data disc. Many people use the term
“DVD-ROM” to refer to pressed data discs only, but that is not technically correct.
The term DVD is also being applied as a generic term to describe newer video formats,
both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Table 9.3 lists DVDs with their diameter and capacity.

Physical Single Layer Dual/Double Layer
Si ze Capacity (In GB) Capacity (In GB)
12 cm, single sided
12 cm, double sided 4.7 8.5
8 cm, single sided 9.4 17.1
8 cm, double sided 1.4 2.6
2.8 5.2

Table 9.3 : DVDs with different size and capacity

DVD-R
The complete name of DVD-R is Digital Versatile Disc Recordable. It is just like CD-R.
The drive can write on such a disc only once. While there is no limit for reading it. DVD-
R is a standard recommended by DVD-Forum.
DVD-RW
A DVD-RW is a rewritable optical disc with equal storage capacity to a DVD-R, typically
4.7 GB. The format was developed by Pioneer in November 1999 and has been approved
by the DVD Forum. Unlike DVD-RAM, it is playable in about 75% of conventional DVD
players.
The primary advantage of DVD-RW over DVD-R is the ability to erase and rewrite
to a DVD-RW disc. According to Pioneer, DVD-RW discs may be written to about

Fundamentalsof 1,000 times before needing replacement, making them comparable with the CD-RW
Computers & standard. DVD-RW discs are commonly used for volatile data, such as backups or
Information Technology collections of files. They are also increasingly used for home DVD video recorders.
One benefit of using a rewritable disc is that if there are writing errors while recording
NOTES the data, the disc is not ruined and can still store data by erasing the faulty data.
One competing rewritable format is DVD-RW. Hybrid drives that can handle both,
often labelled “DVD-RW” are very popular since there is not yet a single standard for
recordable DVDs.
The recording layer in DVD-RW and DVD-RW is not an organic dye, but a special
phase change metal alloy. The alloy can be switched back and forth between a
crystalline phase and an amorphous phase, changing the reflectivity, depending on the
power of the laser beam. Data can thus be written, erased and re-written.

ZIP DRIVE

The Zip drive is a medium-capacity removable disk storage system, introduced by
Iomega in late 1994. Originally it had a capacity of 100 MB, but later versions increased
this to first 250 MB and then 750 MB.
The format became the most popular of the super-floppy type products but never
reached the status of a quasi-standard to replace the 3.5-inch floppy disk. It has been
superseded by flash drive systems as well as rewritable CDs and DVDs, and is fading
in popularity. The Zip brand was also used for internal and external CD writers known
as Zip-650 or Zip-CD.

Figure 9.19 : A Zip Drive

The initial Zip system was introduced with a capacity of 100 megabytes. Plans were
considered for a lower cost 25 MB version that would work in the same 100 MB drive
— the idea being to bring the price of a Zip disk closer to that of an ordinary floppy
— but these disks seem not to have been released. The introduction of the 100
megabyte disk quickly made Zip a success and people used them to store files larger
than the 1.44 MB capacity of regular floppy disks. As time went on, Iomega eventually
increased the capacity to 250 and later 750 megabytes, while improving the data
transfer rate and seek times.

FLASH DRIVES

USB flash drives are NAND-type flash memory data storage devices integrated with
a USB (universal serial bus) interface. They are typically small, lightweight, removable
and rewritable. As of November 2006, memory capacities for USB Flash Drives
currently are sold from 32 megabytes up to 64 gigabytes. Capacity is limited only by
162 current flash memory densities, although cost per megabyte may increase rapidly at

higher capacities due to the expensive components.

USB flash drives offer potential advantages over other portable storage devices, par- Storage Devices
ticularly the floppy disk. They are more compact, generally faster, hold more data, and NOTES
are more reliable than floppy disks due to both their lack of movable parts, and their
more durable design. These types of drives use the USB mass storage standard,
supported natively by modern operating systems such as Linux, Mac OS X, Unix, and
Windows.

Figure 9.20 : A Flash Drive 163

A flash drive consists of a small printed circuit board encased in a plastic or metal
casing, making the drive sturdy enough to be carried about in a pocket, as a key fob,
or on a lanyard. Only the USB connector protrudes from this protection, and is usually
covered by a removable cap. Most flash drives use a standard type-A USB connection
allowing them to be connected directly to a port on a personal computer.
To access the data stored in a flash drive, the drive must be connected to a computer,
either by plugging it into a USB host controller built into the computer, or into a USB
hub. Flash drives are active only when plugged into a USB connection and draw all
necessary power from the supply provided by that connection. However, some flash
drives, especially high-speed drives utilizing the USB 2.0 standard, may require more
power than the limited amount provided by a bus-powered USB hub, such as those
built into some computer keyboards or monitors. These drives will not work unless
plugged directly into a host controller (i.e., the ports found on the computer itself) or
a self-powered hub.
Modern flash drives have USB 2.0 connectivity. However, they do not currently use
the full 480 Mbit/s the specification supports due to technical limitations inherent in
NAND flash. The fastest drives currently available use a dual channel controller,
although they still fall considerably short of the transfer rate possible from a current
generation hard disk, or the maximum high speed USB 2.0 throughput.
Typical overall file transfer speeds are about 3 Mb/s. The highest current overall file
transfer speeds are about 10-25 Mbytes/s. Older, “full speed” 12 Mb/s devices are
limited to a maximum of about 1 Mb/s.
BLU RAY DISK
Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc
format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), a group of the world’s
leading consumer electronics, personal computer and media manufacturers (including
Apple, Dell, Hitachi, HP, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung,
Sharp, Sony, TDK and Thomson). The format was developed to enable recording,
rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts
of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs
and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This
extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer
consumers an unprecedented HD experience.
While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD± R, DVD± RW, and DVD-
RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet
laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray. Despite the different type of lasers used, Blu-

Fundamentalsof ray products can easily be made backwards compatible with CDs and DVDs through
Computers & the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit. The benefit of using a blue-
Information Technology violet laser (405nm) is that it has a shorter wavelength than a red laser (650nm), which
makes it possible to focus the laser spot with even greater precision. This allows data
NOTES to be packed more tightly and stored in less space, so it’s possible to fit more data
on the disc even though it’s the same size as a CD/DVD. This together with the change
of numerical aperture to 0.85 is what enables Blu-ray Discs to hold 25GB/50GB.
Blu-ray is currently supported by more than 180 of the world’s leading consumer
electronics, personal computer, recording media, video game and music companies.
The format also has broad support from the major movie studios as a successor to
today’s DVD format. In fact, seven of the eight major movie studios (Disney, Fox,
Warner, Paramount, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) are supporting the Blu-ray format and
five of them (Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate and MGM) are releasing their movies
exclusively in the Blu-ray format. Many studios have also announced that they will
begin releasing new feature films on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as
a continuous slate of catalog titles every month.

Figure 9.21 : A Blu Ray Disk

In the following table the similarities and differences on the basis of some parameters
between DVD and Blue Ray have been displayed :

Parameter Blue Ray DVD

Storage capacity 25 GB (One layer) 4.7 GB (One layer)

50 GB (Double layer) 8.5 GB (Double layer)

Laser Wavelength 405 Nanometer 650 Nanometer (Red layer)
(Double layer)

Disk Perimeter 120 mm 120 mm

Disk thickness 1.2 mm 1.2 mm

Security layer 0.1 mm 0.6 mm

Hard Coating exists does not exist

Data Transfer Rate 36 MBPES 11.8 MBPES

164 Table 9.4 : Similarities and Differences between DVD and Blue-Ray

MEMORY CARD Storage Devices
NOTES
Let us see what is memory card and let's talk about SD and MMC memory card.
Memory card too like flsah drive is based on storage technology. It has been developed 165
for data transfer amidst the electronic devices such as Mobile Phone, PDA, Digital
Camera etc and computer. Two sorts of memory cards- Secure Digital and Multimedia
card are very popular.

SD Memory Card

SD stands for Secure Digital. Secure Digital (SD) is a flash (non-volatile) memory card
format developed by Matsushita, SanDisk and Toshiba for use in portable devices, including
digital cameras, handheld computers, PDAs and GPS units. SD card capacities include 8,
16, 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512 MB, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 GB (4-32 GB: SDHC).

MMC Memory Card

The MultiMediaCard (MMC) is a flash memory card standard. Unveiled in 1997 by Siemens
AG and SanDisk, it is based on Toshiba’s NAND-based flash memory, and is therefore
much smaller than earlier systemsbased on Intel NOR-based memory such asCompactFlash.
MMC is about the size of a postage stamp: 24 mm x 32 mm x 1.4 mm. MMC originally
used a 1-bit serial interface, but newer versions of the specification allow transfers of 4
or sometimes even 8 bits at a time. They have been more or less superseded by Secure
Digital cards (SD card), but still see significant use because MMC cards can be used in
most devices which support SD cards and they are cheaper than SD cards.
Typically, an MMC card is used as storage media for a portable device, in a form that can
easily be removed for access by a PC. For example, a digital camera would use an MMC
card for storing image files. With an MMC reader (typically a small box that connects via
USB or some other serial connection, although some can be found integrated into the
computer itself), a user could copy the pictures taken with the digital camera off to his
or her computer. Modern computers, both laptops and desktops, often have SD slots,
which can additionally read MMC cards if the operating system drivers support them.
MMC cards are currently available in sizes up to and including 4 GB with 8 GB models
announced but not yet available. They are used in almost every context in which memory
cards are used, like cellular phones, digital audio players, digital cameras and PDAs. Since
the introduction of Secure Digital card and SDIO (Secure Digital Input/Output) slot few
companies build MMC slots into their devices, but the slightly thinner, pin-compatible
MMC cards can be used in almost any device that supports SD cards if the software/
firmware on the devices support them. An exception is some mobile devices like the
Nokia 9300 communicator, where the smaller size of the MMC card is a benefit.

Differences between SD and MMC Memory Card

SD cards are based on the older MultiMediaCard (MMC) format, but have a number
of differences:
 The SD card is asymmetrically shaped so that it cannot be inserted upside down,

whereas an MMC card will go in any of the way but not make contact if inverted.
 Most SD cards are physically thicker than MMC cards. SD cards generally measure

32 mm × 24 mm × 2.1 mm, but can be as thin as 1.4 mm, just like MMC cards.
 SD cards typically have higher data transfer rates, but this is always changing,

particularly in light of recent improvements to the MMC standard.
 Devices with SD slots can use the thinner MMC cards, but the standard SD cards

will not fit into the thinner MMC slots. SD cards can be used in Compact Flash
or PC Card slots with an adapter. miniSD and microSD cards can be used directly
in SD slots with a physical interface adapter.

Fundamentalsof  There are some SD cards with a USB connector for dual-purpose use, and there
Computers & are card readers which allow SD cards to be accessed via many connectivity ports
Information Technology such as USB, FireWire, and the common parallel port. SD cards can also be
accessed via a floppy disk drive with a FlashPath adapter.
NOTES
Drive Naming Conventions In A PC
166
In a personal computer, there may be more than one hard disk drives, one or two
floppy disk drives (though floppy disk drive is getting extinct, but still one micro floppy
disk drive is in vogue), one Compact Disk Drive and one Digital Versatile Disk drive.
The Letters A and B are usually kept safe for floppy disk drives. While C is kept for
a hard drive. In case your personal computer has more than one drives or your drive
has partitions, then C onwards are kept for the next partition or drive. Afterwards, the
next alphabet is used for denoting CD or DVD drive. To elaborate it, suppose you have
a computer that has one floppy drive, one hard disk with two partitions and one CD
or DVD drive, the naming convention would be like this -

A : denotes a Floppy Disk Drive

B : remains free as there is no other FDD

C : denotes one partition of Hard Disk Drive

D : denotes second partition of Hard Disk Drive

E : denotes Compact Disk Drive or Digital Versatile Disk Drive

SUMMARY

 Computers have more than one form of memory. We can generally classify
them into primary and secondary memory.

 Primary memory is used as a temporary memory for calculation processes and
storage of temporary values.

 Bigger programs require more primary memory. RAM (Random Access Memory),
caches & buffers are just a few examples of primary memory.

 Secondary storage comes in different forms. Floppy disk, Hard disk & optical disk
are a few to name.

 Human is the creator of a computer. There is no difference between human
body and computer system. Our human body carries blood while computer
systems carry electrons in their veins.

 A human brain can contain forty mega libraries where each mega library has
a capacity of average eighty thousands of book.

 The brain has about 100 million - MIPS worth of processing power while
recent super computers only have a few million MIPs worth in processor
speed.

 Computer memory is such a space where data are stored electronically as
per instructions of the users. Byte represents a letter, digit, symbol and white
space on the computer.

 Random Access Memory is the same as main memory i.e.volatile memory.
 Read Only Memory (ROM) is a permanent memory of computer. It is non-

volatile – contents do not disappear when the current is turned off.
 Stored information on EPROM can be erased in the presence of ultra violet rays

and new information or programs can be written.
 EEPROM – is a new technology. Where electric current is used instead of ultra-

violet rays.
 Cache memory is a special type of super fast memory.

 Direct access storage requiresan input/output device that isconnected to the Storage Devices
CPU. NOTES

 There are a number of secondary storage devices. Magnetic tape, Magnetic
Disk & Optical Disk are a few to name.

 Magnetic tape is a non-volatile storage medium consisting of a magnetic
coating on a thin Plastic Strip.

 Magnetic disk is another form of sequential access storage.
 A Hard disk is a non-volatile storage device. They read the data back by

detecting the magnetization of the material.
 Floppy disks also termed as diskettes and floppies are used principally with

micro computers.
 Mini floppy comesin the size of 5¼. It hasthe capacity to store data upto 1.2 MB.
 USB flash drives are NAND-type flash memory data storage devices inte-

grated with a USB interface.

Answer of the Check your progress : Check Your Progress:
5. What does DI MM st and
1. Direct Access Storage–Direct accessstorage requiresan input/output device that
isdirectly connected to the CPU; that is, it issaid to be online, making the stored for ?
data available to the CPU at all times. Such storage devices are called direct 6. What type of floppy disks
accessstorage devices. An example of direct accessmedia isamagnetic disk, such
as the diskettes used with a personal computer. ar e available.
7. What isRead /Writehead?
2. Several types of RAM are used in personal computers : 8. What arebasic advantages
 Dynamic RAM ( DRAM)
 Synchronous DRAM ( SDRAM ) of DVD-RWover DVR-R?
 Static RAM ( SRAM )
167
3. ROM is of the following types :
 Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM)
 Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM)
 Electrical Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM)

4. Cache memory isa special type of high speed memory built onto or next to the
processor. Your processor moves and workswith a lot of data. Sometimes, your
processor works on a problem and needs to set it aside and start working on
another before picking up the original problem. Without cache, your processor
would have to store the set aside data into conventional memory (RAM).

5. DIMM–A DIMM, or Dual In-line Memory Module, comprisesa seriesof random
access memory integrated circuits. These modules are mounted on a printed
circuit board and designed for use in personal computers. DIMMs began to
replace SIMMs (single in-line memory modules) as the predominant type of
memory module as Intel’s Pentium processors began to control the market.

6. Floppy disks are of the following two types -
(a) Mini floppy - 51/4 inch
(b) Micro floppy - 31/2 inch

7. Read/Write head–In floppy drive, read/write head is used to convert binary
data to electromagnetic while writing and to convert electromagnetic to binary
data while reading. This exactly works in similar manner as head of hard-disk
works.

Fundamentalsof 8. The primary advantage of DVD-RW over DVD-R is the ability to erase and
Computers & rewrite to a DVD-RW disc.
Information Technology
EXERCISE
NOTES
1. Why is memory device required in a computer ?
2. Differentiate between human sensory system and computer memory.
3. How many bytes are there in a Gigabyte ?
4. Which is the smallest unit to measure data in a computer ?
5. How many methods are there of data access ? Write the name.
6. What do you understand by direct access ?
7. Tell about sequential access.
8. Give the definition of primary storage.
9. Explain Index sequential.
10. Explain Random Access Memory in detail.
11. Explain Read Only Memory in detail.
12. What is cache memory ? Explain its different types.
13. Explain SIMM and DIMM.
14. What do you understand by secondary storage ?
15. Tell about magnetic tape.
16. Tell about Cartridge tape.
17. Explain the role of hard-disk in a computer system.
18. What do you understand by Pocket Hard Disk Drive ?
19. Tell about Hard Disk platters and Media.
20. Explain tracks and sectors with regard to hard disk.
21. Describe Hard Disk Formatting in detail.
22. Explain the role of floppy drive in a computer system.
23. Describe the read/write head of a Floppy Disk.
24. Describe head actuator with regard to Floppy Drive.
25. Describe Spindle Motor with regard to Floppy Drive.
26. Describe the structure of 3.5" floppy media.
27. Tell about Winchestor Disk.
28. Describe various elements to be used in a CD.
29. Explain DVD in detail.
30. Explain ZIP drive.
31. Describe Flash Drive.
32. Explain Blue-Ray Disk.
33. What is memory card ? Tell about SD and Multimedia memory card.
34. Write about Drive-naming in a PC.

168

10 Basics of Software Basics of Software
NOTES
The Chapter Covers :

 Introduction
 What Does Software Stand For ?
 Needs of software
 Types of software

 System Software
 Application Software
 Utility Software
 Open Source Software
 Integrated Development Environment
 Summary
 Exercise

INTRODUCTION

What water means to a fish, software means to a computer system. Fish can not live
without water so computer cannot go without software. It is something that utilizes all
hardware resources of a computer system. Softwares are of different kinds and they
perform different roles in executing different functions. This chapter delivers you a very
good amount of information on software.

169

Fundamentalsof WHAT DOES SOFTWARE STAND FOR ?
Computers &
Information Technology Software, consisting of programs, enables a computer to perform specific tasks, as
opposed to its physical components (hardware) which can only do the tasks they are
NOTES mechanically designed for. The term includes application software, such as word
processors, which perform productive tasks for users, system software, such as oper-
170 ating systems, which interface with hardware to run the necessary services for user-
interfaces and applications, and middleware which controls and co-ordinates distrib-
uted systems.
Computer software is so called in contrast to computer hardware, which encompasses the
physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software.
In computers, software is loaded into RAM and executed in the central processing unit.
At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual
processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor
instructions (object code), which change the state of the computer from its preceding state.
Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer
hardware in a particular sequence. It is usually written in high-level programming lan-
guages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language)
than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine
language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially,
a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet.
Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.

NEEDS OF SOFTWARE

Suppose you are given a machine and you do not know how to operate it. Can you
do anything with that machine? Similary, you are given a computer that contains a box
(CPU), a monitor that looks like a television and a board consisting of a few keys. What
would you do? You will remain staring unless an operating system loads on it. Means,
the first thing you require to see what your computer system does is an operating
system that is a kind of software which comes under the category of system software.
The basic need of a system software is to start a computer or a computer based gadget
like mobile or something else. Now, when you have loaded a software called an
operating system, only then can you be in position to start your computer system. If
you want to work further like you have an office to automate, you need something
more than an operating system. For instance, if you want to type a letter or to create
a textual or graphical chart or to create a presentation or to manage your official and
personal data, you again need a number of different software for different purposes
whichare called application software. Moreover, if your computer is infected with virus,
you again need a software called utility. In short, if you have a computer system and
want to work smoothly, you need software at every step. Now why do you need a
software may likely be justified by giving following reasons:

 To start your computer
 To type a letter
 To create a chart
 To create presentation
 To manage your data
 To use Internet
 To let operating system work perfectly

TYPES OF SOFTWARE

Practical computer systems divide software systems into three major classes: system
software, programming software and application software, although the distinction is
arbitrary, and often blurred.

System software helps run the computer hardware and computer system. It includes Basics of Software
operating systems, device drivers, diagnostic tools, servers, windowing systems, utilities NOTES
and more. The purpose of systems software is to insulate the applications programmer
as much as possible from the details of the particular computer complex being used, 171
especially memory and other hardware features, and such accessory devices as com-
munications, printers, readers, displays, keyboards, etc.

Software

System Utility Others
(Operating system, (Disk defragmenter, (Free domain software, open
Compiler, Interpreter, Anti-virus, Disk scan- source software, Freeware,
Assembler, linker, ner, Disk clear-up, Back shareware, Integrated devel-
loader) up, Disk compression) opment environment)

Application
(Word processor, Presenta-
tion, Database management
system.)

Fig. 10.1 : Types of software

Programming software usually provides tools to assist a programmer in writing computer
programs and software using different programming languages in a more convenient way.
The tools include text editors, compilers, interpreters, linkers, debuggers, and so on. An
Integrated development environment (IDE) merges those tools into a software bundle, and
a programmer may not need to type multiple commands for compiling, interpreting,
debugging, tracing, etc., because the IDE usually has an advanced graphical user interface,
or GUI.
Application software allows end users to accomplish one or more specific (non-computer
related) tasks. Typical applications include industrial automation, business software, educa-
tional software, medical software, databases, and computer games. Businesses are prob-
ably the biggest users of application software, but almost every field of human activity now
uses some form of application software. It is used to automate all sorts of functions.

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

System software is a general term which refers to any computer software which manages
and controls the hardware so that application software can perform a task. It is an essential
part of the computer system. An operating system is an obvious example. System software
contrasts with application software, which are programs that help the end-user to perform
specific, productive tasks, such as word processing or image manipulation.
If system software is stored on non-volatile storage such as integrated circuits, it is usually
termed firmware.
In short, systems software is a set of programs that organise, utilise and control hardware
in a computer system

Operating System

Operating System is a software which is loaded after the computer starts. It is very
important software for the booting of your computer. It is also necessary to run other
application software and utility software on the computer. The next chapter deals in
detail about the operating system.

Fundamentalsof
Computers &
Information Technology

NOTES

Figure 10.2 : Operating System

Compiler, Interpreter and Assembler

After creating a piece of source code, the programmer must convert the source code into
machine code (break it down to a series of 1s and 0s), before it can run on a computer.
The job of converting the source code is handled by one of the two types of
programs :
A compiler converts all the source code into machine code, creating an executable file.
The content of this executable file is called object code. The programmer can copy the
executable object code onto any similar system and run the program. In other words, once
compiled, the program is a stand-alone executable file that no longer needs the compiler
to run. Of course, each programming language requires its own compiler to translate code
written in that language. For example, the programming language C, requires a C compiler,
while the language Pascal, requires a Pascal compiler.
An interpreter also converts source code to machine code. Instead of creating an execut-
able code file, however, the interpreter simply executes each bit of machine code as it
is converted. Interpreters translate code on the fly, so they have a certain flexibility that
compilers lack. The interpreted code runs slower than compiled code because the code
must be interpreted each time it is run, and a copy of the interpreter must accompany
the code everywhere it goes. Therefore, every system that needs the program must have
a copy of the interpreter as well as the source code. Some popular interpreted languages
include LISP, BASIC and PERL.
Assembler is a program that translates assembly language into machine language and vice
versa. Unlike Interpreter and Compiler that translate high level language into machine
language, Assembler converts mnemonic codes into binary ones.

Linker and Loader

A linker or link editor is a program that takes one or more objects generated by
172 compilers and assembles them into a single executable program. A loader is a program

that performs the functions of a linker program and then immediately schedules the

resulting executable program for action (in the form of a memory image), without Basics of Software
necessarily saving the program as an executable file. Loader programs are useful for NOTES
application prototyping and testing.

Debugger

A debugger is a computer program that is used to test and debug other programs. The
code to be examined might alternatively be running on an instruction set simulator (ISS),
a technique that allows great power in its ability to halt when specific conditions are
encountered but which will typically be much slower than executing the code directly on
the appropriate processor.
When the program crashes, the debugger shows the position in the original code if it is
a source-level debugger or symbolic debugger, commonly seen in integrated development
environments. If it is a low-level debugger or a machine-language debugger it shows the
line in the disassembly. A “crash” happens when the program can’t continue because of
a programming bug. For example, perhaps the program tried to use an instruction not
available on the current version of the CPU or attempted access to unavailable or pro-
tected memory.
Typically, debuggers also offer more sophisticated functions such as running a program
step by step (single-stepping), stopping (breaking) (pausing the program to examine the
current state) at some kind of event by means of breakpoint, and tracking the values of
some variables. Some debuggers have the ability to modify the state of the program
while it is running, rather than merely to observe it.

Fig. 10.3 : Use of debugger in VB.Net Check Your Progress:
1. Definesystemsoftware?
APPLICATION SOFTWARE 2. What is an oper at ing

Application software is a subclass of computer software that employs the capabilities system ?
of a computer directly to a task that the user wishes to perform. This should be 3. What is aninterpretor ?
contrasted with system software which is involved in integrating a computer’s various 4. Definelinker ?
capabilities, but typically does not directly apply them in the performance of tasks that
benefit the user. In this context the term application refers to both the application 173
software and its implementation.

Fundamentalsof Typical examples of applications software are word processors, spreadsheets, and media
Computers & players.
Information Technology Multiple applications bundled together as a package are sometimes referred to as an
application suite. Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org, which bundle together a word
NOTES processor, a spreadsheet, and several other discrete applications, are typical examples. The
separate applications in a suite usually have a user interface that has some commonality
174 making it easier for the user to learn and use each application. And often they may have
some capability to interact with each other in ways beneficial to the user. For example,
a spreadsheet might be able to be embedded in a word processor document even though
it had been created in the separate spreadsheet application.
User-written software tailors systems to meet the user’s specific needs. User-written
softwares include spreadsheet templates, word processor macros, scientific simulations,
graphics and animation scripts. Even email filters are a kind of user software. Users create
this software themselves and often overlook how important it is.
In some types of embedded systems, the application software and the operating system
software may be indistinguishable to the user, as in the case of software used to control
a VCR, DVD player or Microwave Oven.
Application Software include Word Processing (MS-Word), Spreadsheet (MS-Excel, Lotus
etc.), Presentation Package (MS-PowerPoint), Database Management System (MS-Access,
Foxpro), Graphics (Coreldraw, Photoshop etc.).

Types of Application Software with their Functional Areas

The programs which performs major tasks for the user, are called application software. For
example, Application software enables a computer to write letters or framing pictures.
Application software contain the following :

 Word Processor : To form documents such as letters.
 Spreadsheet : With a speed million times faster than a calculator for the

solution of number problems.
 Presentation Software : To present commercial strategies in a better way on

a big projector and screen.
 Database Management System : To collect, arrange the data and make it

available as information.
 Graphics and Designing Software : To draw simple and complex sketches

and give an attractive shape to the deformed photographs.

Word Processor

Word Processor stands for such a word process under which disarranged words are
arranged and processed upon. Quite different from human type-writer. Word Process-
ing software provides several useful tools, such as- Word Wrap, Spelling check and
designing the letter and page of the document.
You can see what you write on the screen through the Word Processor and read or
design it. The greatest feature of word processor is that you can modify your docu-
ments as many times as you want, delete them, add new words to them before they
are printed on paper. Wordstar, Word perfect and MS-Word are a few of their
examples.
Uses of Word Processor :
You can create a letter, circular or any of the document in the word processor.

 In the word processor, the document is formatted in a different way.

Basics of Software
NOTES

Figure 10.4 : Word Processor 175

 With the help of word processor, the document can be printed on paper.
 With the help of an advanced word processor, you can convert your document

into a web-page can be published on web.
 With the word processor you can search for the mistakes in the document.
 Word processor has a big dictionary, which can help you find the synonyms

and antonyms of the words.
 In the new word processor, there is facility of transferring the document

through the electronic mail.
 In the word processor, the facility of mail merge is a strong utility to correspond

at a big level, with the help of which you can print one letter for multiple
recipients.
 Word processor has the facility of printing label etc.

Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet programs are mainly used to complete numeric operations, arranging the
data into tabular form, creating chart and colourful graph.
A spreadsheet program has a worksheet which is just like a normal page and each of them
has rows and columns while help write the data in the tabular form. The intersection of
each now & column is known as a "cell". A cell may contain any sort of data such as
a letter, digit, symbol or formula. Like word processor, you can arrange data in multiple
dimensions.
Lotus and MS-Excel are some of the spreadsheet sortware which are popular in the
market.

Uses of Spreadsheet

 With the help of a spreadsheet, you can perform a numeric calculation easily.
 With the help of a spreadsheet, you can speedily create charts, and table on

the basis of the collected data.
 New Spreadsheet package, like new wordprocessor provide you the facility of

Internet related web-page creation and electronic mail facility.

Fundamentalsof
Computers &
Information Technology

NOTES

Fig.10.5 : Spread-sheet

Presentation Software

Through the presentation software, the user can express his view point on a big screen
or a computer screen with the help of a projector and can address a large number of
audience. You can use it to display the business plan or strategy. In your presentation, you
can include any data, such as text, picture, sound etc. It is also used by cable operators
to display ads on computer. MS-Powerpoint is best software for this purpose.

Fig. 10.6 : Presentation Software

Uses of Presentation Software :
 With the help of presentation software you can make the people in large number
aware of your matter.
 It can help you prepare a very attractive presentation.
 With the help of presentation software, you can use not only text but also
pictures, sound and visual clippings in your presentation software.

176  With the help of presentation software, you can publish your presentation on
the web.

 With its help, you can display various advertisements on cable television. It can Basics of Software
also help you make the people in your reception hall aware of your view point NOTES
during a function.

Database Management System

Database Management software processes the data and facts after storing them and
converts them into information which the users can access whenever they want. The use
of database management software is not less than any normal software. Small to big
companies completely depend on commercial or custom database management system
which controls their data resources. Database management software, in addition to being
designed as per the need of small companies, can be designed for big mainframe com-
puter system or client server network.
The use of database management software on personal computer is mainly done in business
and domestic users use it at home to arrange data related to address home budget and
domestic business.

Fig. 10.7 : Database Management System Check Your Progress:
5. What does DI MM st and
Basically the Microsoft Outlook coming with office suit, there is database management
system where works for you as an excellent contect management system. With its help for ?
you can store the name of your acquaintences, their address, phone, email id etc. 6. What type of floppy disks
Database Management software can fastly perform many time consuming and difficult
tasks. ar e available.
The advanced technique of database management system- Relational Database Manage- 7. What isRead /Writehead?
ment System too is in vogue and is relatively more useful. Sybase, Foxpro, MS-Access are 8. What arebasic advantages
its chief example. MS-Access, is very popular among users as a database management.
Uses of Database Management System : of DVD-RWover DVR-R?

 After collecting data or facts and convert them into information. 177
 Can arrange hundreds of addresses on the basis of Pin Code.
 Can search for people's records on the basis of the income of a specific city.
 Can classify your record between business, private, family etc.
 After retrieving the list of acquaintances in our office you can create a mailing

label.
 Can prepare Report/Query.

Fundamentalsof Drawing And Graphics Program
Computers &
Information Technology A drawing program is a kind of graphics program which is used to draw pictures, store
them and shape them as per the use's wish. Coreldraw is the most popular drawing
NOTES program.

Fig. 10.8 : Drawing Program

Fig. 10.9 : Graphics Program

Graphics program is used to draw pictures and to modify and store them. Some
graphics programs are used specially to give an attractive look to deformed photograph.
They are widely used in publication and website designing. Illustrator and Photoshop
are their excellent examples.
Use of Drawing and Graphics program :

 It can create any sort of figure.
 One can design the monogram of an organisation.
 Can modify already drawn figure.
178  Can give a new look to the old photographs.

UTILITY SOFTWARE Basics of Software
NOTES
Utility software (also known as service program, service routine tool, or utility routine)
is a type of computer software. It is specifically designed to help manage and tune the
computer hardware, operating system or application software, and perform a single task
or a small range of tasks; as opposed to application software which tend to be software
suites. Utility software has long been integrated into most of the major operating
systems.
There are various utility software you might have come across. They include Disk
Defragmenter, System Profilers, Virus Scanners, Archive Utilities, Compressions Utilities
and Encryption Utilities.

Disk Defragmenters

Disk defragmenter is a utility that can detect computer files whose contents have been
stored on the hard disk in disjoined fragments, and move the fragments together to
increase efficiency. A Disk checker can scan the contents of a hard disk to find files
or areas that are corrupted in some way, or are not correctly saved, and eliminate them
for a more efficiently operating hard drive. A Disk cleaner can find files that are
unnecessary to computer operation, or consume considerable amounts of space. Disk
cleaner helps the user to decide what to delete when his hard disk is full.

Figure 10.10 : Disk Defragmenter Utility in process 179

System Profilers

A System profiler can provide detailed information about the software installed and
hardware attached to the computer. Backup software can make a copy of all infor-
mation stored on a computer, and restore either the entire system (e.g. in an event
of disk failure) or selected files (e.g. in an event of accidental deletion). Disk com-
pression software can transparently compress the contents of the hard disk, in order
to fit more information to the drive.

Virus Scanners

Virus Scanners scan for computer viruses among files and folders.

Fundamentalsof
Computers &
Information Technology

NOTES

Figure 10.11 : System Information as a system profiler
utility offering information about your systems

Binary/Hex Text Editor

Binary/Hex Text Editor utility directly modify the text or data of a file without the
WYSIWYG view in editor suites. These files could be data or an actual program.

Archive Utilities

Archive utilities output a stream or a single file when provided with a directory or
a set of files. Archive utilities, unlike archive suites, usually do not include compression
or encryption capabilities. Some archive utilities may even have a separate un-archive
utility for the reverse operation.

Compression Utilities

Compression utilities output a shorter stream or a smaller file when provided with
a stream or file.

Encryption Utilities

Encryption utilities use a specific algorithm to produce an encrypted stream or
encrypted file when provided with a key and a plaintext.

FREE DOMAIN SOFTWARE

Free domain software are basically available on the Internet. They can be downloaded
from the Internet. Freeware and Shareware are their examples.
Freeware are softwares that can be downloaded for free from the Internet and they can
be distributed even to others with no charge.
Shareware are such software that can be used for a time limit on trial basis without any
charge and if the user find them good and useful, they can buy them for further use after
paying a fixed amount. Shareware can also be downloaded from the net.

OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Open Source Software is a completely new concept and a revolution in the software
industry. Its source code is free to download from the net and one can make changes
and customize according to one's needs. Open source software is almost free to use and
offers complete freedom to present in a desired form. Linux is a very good example of
this type of software. Disadvantage of this type of software is that there is no standard
180 software so this creates difficulties for a common user.

INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT Basics of Software
NOTES
An integrated development environment (IDE), also known as integrated design environ-
ment and integrated debugging environment, is a type of computer software that assists
computer programmers in developing a software.
IDEs normally consist of a source code editor, a compiler and/or interpreter, build-automa-
tion tools, and (usually) a debugger. Sometimes a version control system and various tools
to simplify the construction of a GUI are integrated as well. Many modern IDEs also
integrate a class browser, an object inspector and a class hierarchy diagram for use with
object oriented software development.

Figure 10.12 : Integrated Development Environment Of Visual Basic

SUMMARY Check Your Progress:
5. What doyouunderstandby
 What water means to a fish , software means to a computer system.
spread sheet ?
 Software consisting of programs enables a computer to perform specific tasks. 6. What ar e use of uses of

 The basic need of a software is to start a computer or a computer based gadget dbms ?
like mobile or somethingelse. 7. What iscompression utili-

 Practical computer systems divide software systems into three major classes : ties ?
system software, programming software and application software. 8. What is open source soft-

 System software helps run the computer hardware and computer system. ware ?

 Programming software usually provides tools to assist a programmer in writing 181
computer programs and software using different programming languages in a
more convenient way.

 Applications software allows end user to accomplish one or more specific tasks.

 Typical examples of application software are word processors, spreadsheets and
media players.

Fundamentalsof  Utility software is a type of computer software, specially designed to help,
Computers & manage and time the computer hardware , operating system or application
Information Technology software.

NOTES  Freeware are software that can be downloaded for free from the Internet and
they can be distributed even.
182
 Shareware are software that can be used for a time limit on trial basis without
any charge but they must be bought after the trial period.

 Open source software is a very new concept and a revolution in the software
industry.

 Linux is a very good example of open source software.

 A compiler converts all the source code into machine code creating an
executable file.

 An interpreter also converts source code to machine code. Basic is an example
of interpreted language.

 Assembler is a program that translates assembly language into machine lan-
guage and vice-versa.

 A Linker or link editor is a program that takes one or more objects generated
by compilers and assembles them into a single executable program.

 Loader programs are useful for prototyping, testing and one-off applications.

 A debugger is a computer program that is used to test and debug other
programs.

 An integrated development environment is a type of computer software that
assists computer programmers in developing software.

ANSWER OF THE CHECK YOUR PROGRESS :

1. Systems software is a set of programs that organise, utilise and control hard-
ware in a computer system.

2. Operating System is a software which is loaded after the computer starts. It
is very important software for the booting of your computer. It is also necessary
to run other application software and utility software on the computer.

3. An interpreter also converts source code to machine code. Instead of creating
an executable code file, however, the interpreter simply executes each bit of
machine code as it is converted.

4. A linker or link editor is a program that takes one or more objects generated
by compilers and assembles them into a single executable program.

5. Spreadsheet programs are mainly used to complete numeric operations, ar-
ranging the data into tabular form, creating chart and colourful graph.

6. Uses of Database Management System :

 After collecting data or facts and convert them into information.

 Can arrange hundreds of addresses on the basis of Pin Code. Basics of Software
NOTES
 Can search for people's recordson the basis of the income of a specific city.
183
 Can classify your record between business, private, family etc.

 After retrievingthe list of acquaintancesin our office you can create a mailing
label.

 Can prepare Report/Query.

7. Compression utilities output a shorter stream or a smaller file when provided
with a stream or file.

8. Open Source Software is a completely new concept and a revolution in the
software industry. Its source code isfree to download from the net and one can
make changes and customize according to one's needs. Open source software
is almost free to use and offers complete freedom to present in a desired form.
Linux is a very good example of this type of software. Disadvantage of this type
of software is that there is no standard software so this creates difficulties for a
common user.

EXERCISE

1. Define software with examples.

2. How many types of software are there ?

3. Distinguish between System software and Application software.

4. What do you mean by Compiler and Interpreter ?

5. Write a note on linker and loader.

6. What is the concept of open source software ?

7. Write short notes on the followings -

(i) Operating System (iii) Compiler

(iv) BASIC (v) Shareware

8. Why are software needed ? Give five reason.

9. Explain assembler.

10. Give five examples of system software.

11. Should the system software be loaded in computer to start a computer system ?

12. Write five examples of Application software.

13. What is word-processor. Explain its various further.

14. What is spreadsheet ? What are its functions ?

15. Write an essay on presentation software.

16. What is Database Management System. Write five of its functions.

17. What is MS-Access ?

Fundamentalsof 18. What is MS-Powerpoint ?
Computers & 19. What is photoshop ? What can you do with it ?
Information Technology 20. What is free-domain software.
21. What is freeware ?
NOTES 22. What is shareware ? Is shareware free ?
23. Explain Disk-defragmentor.
24. What do you understand by utility software ?
25. What do you understand by Integrated Development Enviornment.

184

19 Applications of Computers Applicationsof Computers
and Information Technology and Information Technology

NOTES

The Chapter Covers :

 Introduction
 BusinessAnd Computer
 E-Mail
 E-Commerce
 Project management
 Computersin Personnel Administration
 Accounting
 Computersin Cost and Budget Control
 Marketing
 Manufacturing
 Materialsmanagement
 Banking
 Insurance And Stockbroking
 Purchasing
 computersin warehousing
 Summary
 Exercise

INTRODUCTION

Computers have transformed the business world as we know it, whether you are part of
a small business that uses computers for keeping inventory or accounting records or if you
are part of a large business that uses computers for about every operation in the business,
computers are there to stay. This section introduces you to the prominent role of com-
puters in business. This chapter is about different applications of computers in business.

323

Fundamentals of BUSINESS AND COMPUTER
Computers &
Information Technology Computers are doing business today. This statement has become a universal truth. Busi-
nesses are no more people oriented rather than technology oriented. Right from home
NOTES keeping to store keeping, from typing a letter to directing managers what to do are
controlled by computers. Doctors totally depend on what computers hint them about the
324 disease of the patients. Manual business is converting into electronic business. People are
going for online shopping and businesses are exploiting the technology to reach their
doorsteps in electronic form. No sales representatives are required any more in the
developed countries like United States and Europe. Prior to understanding more about
computers in business, we try to understand electronic commerce and other technologies.
COMPUTERS IN BUSINESS
Computers in business can be categorized into four major applications. The applications
include :
 Computers Clerks – These computers can handle large amounts of repetitive clerical

work. Most of the business computers fit into the 'clerk' category and they still perform
it today.
 Computers as an Information System – Second, computers are used as an informa-
tion system. These computers try to gather, predict, and store data.
 Architect and Designer – Third, there are the computers with the first drafting
technonlogy. These computers are used for designing crude and small buildings or
crude vehicles and aircraft.
 Controllers – Finally, there are the computer 'controllers.' They are fed information
which respond with programs that are already installed. The programs help a com-
puter decide on raising or maintaining certain information such as investing in stocks.
Business computers today may be used with information to rate the pollution in the air
of a city or for reserving plane tickets from several different locations at once.
Computer uses have become inevitable in our world today. No matter what type of career
field someone wants to enter, he is bound to have to use the computer in some element
of his job. Some possible uses that are made easier through the use of computers are
such things as online conferences with other businesses that may be half way around the
world, or to something as simple as using an internal fax machine in a company computer
system to send an employer a memo in another office. The business field deals with a
vast majority of what the world revolves its ongoing activities and without them the world
would not be what is today.

E-MAIL

Another way that small business owners and sales people from larger firms can benefit
from the E-commerce, is the use of E-mail. A small business owner is able to communicate
with customers from long distances to confirm business deals. He or she may also be able
to provide more information to a customer about the product being sold by using E-mail.
A sales-person from a larger firm may also use E-mail to communicate with customers, but
may not use it to sale a product for the first time to a new customer. The smaller business
may be able to get away with selling to a buyer for the first time because when the
products are sold for first time then customers buy them quickly without considering
anything. A larger firm would want to have a sales-person build a relationship with a new
customer first and then sale the product. After that, it can be possible that the customer
re-buy same product by using Internet. Having the customer use the Internet to re-buy
a product will save the customer's time and money. The customer and the sales-person
can then use E-mail to communicate with each other at any time for follow up questions.
This will benefit everyone and both parties will be freed from paying phone bills. The
better the communication, the better the relationship between the customer and the
sales-person.

E-COMMERCE Applicationsof Computers
and Information Technology
E-commerce or electronic commerce is the buying and selling of products and services on
the Internet, and it seems to be the wave of the future. Concept of E-commerce is pretty NOTES
simple. Someone gets on the Internet and shops around. After he finds a product he
wants, he can purchase it. All he needs is a credit card. He will fill out the order form 325
and submit his credit card number with it. Then the transaction goes through a transaction
server and then to a credit company to check and make sure that the person shopping,
has good credit. Then, if the credit is approved, the transaction will carry on to the
manufacturer or the small business and he will get a message on his computer saying the
order is complete. Finally, the product will be delivered to his house via the mail. Small
business owners can benefit from E-commerce by selling their products on the Internet to
customers whom they were not able to reach before. E-commerce allows for more com-
petition so we do not have to settle for local products and prices. Another benefit of E-
commerce is that it can help a small business grow into an international business. The
Internet is world wide, so if we have products on-line then we can build business rela-
tionship with people overseas.
Larger retailers can also provide their products using E-commerce. This will allow for all
customers, large accounts or small, to buy their products. It can help the sales represen-
tative of a corporation in serving a customer that buys the same product of the same
amount at a certain time of each month, otherwise called as an automatic re-buy. The
customer can log on to the website and order what he or she needs. Then the sales
representative can follow up the order with an e-mail to see if everything is going all right.
This will save the customer's time and money as well as of the sales representative's.

What is BPO ?
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the contracting of a specific business task, such
as payroll, to a third-party service provider. BPO is often divided into two categories:
back office outsourcing, which includes internal business functions such as billing or
purchasing, and front office outsourcing, which includes customer-related services such
as marketing or technical support. India is the leading country for BPO and
outsourcing.
Usually, BPO is implemented as a cost-saving measure for tasks that a company
requires but does not depend upon to maintain its position in the marketplace.
BPO that is contracted outside a company’s own country, is sometimes called offshore
outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company’s neighboring country, is sometimes
called nearshore outsourcing, and BPO that is contracted within the company’s own
country, is sometimes called onshore outsourcing.
The most common examples of BPO are call centers, human resources, accounting
and payroll outsourcing.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources (i.e. people)
in such a way that the project is completed within defined scope, quality, time and cost
constraints. A project is a temporary and one-time endeavour undertaken to create a
unique product or service, which brings about beneficial change or added value. This
property of being a temporary and a one-time undertaking contrasts with processes or
operations, which are permanent or semi-permanent ongoing functional work to create
the same product or service over and over again. The management of these two systems
is often very different and requires varying technical skills and philosophy, hence requiring
the development of project management.
The first challenge of project management is to ensure that a project is delivered within
defined constraints. The second, more ambitious challenge is the optimized allocation and
integration of inputs needed to meet pre-defined objectives. A project is a carefully

Fundamentals of defined set of activities that use resources (money, people, materials, energy, space, pro-
Computers & visions, communication, quality, risk, etc.) to meet the pre-defined objectives.
Information Technology
What is KPO ?
NOTES Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is a form of outsourcing, including legal process
outsourcing. These are both high-value-added forms of business processing
326 outsourcing (BPO). KPO firms provide domain-based processes and business expertise,
rather than just process expertise, and actually make many low level business decisions
- typically those that are easily undone if they conflict with higher-level business plans.
Process transparency is a major barrier in using KPO services. Many organizations don’t
track carefully which decisions are made by whom and rely on informal social pro-
cesses (and 'soft skills') so much that it’s unclear how much using KPO would disrupt
existing operations. However, requirements like Sarbanes-Oxley and radical transpar-
ency movements like full cost accounting, shareholder activism and eco-labels and
moral purchasing have tended to require organizations to be more explicit about who
and when decisions are made. These trends make it easier for outsourcing non-critical
jobs to be considered by qualifying the impact of decisions in advance. Furthermore,
it becomes easier to evaluate and compare success. A fully developed service economy
enables KPO by treating all functions as services. So do more technical trends such as
service oriented architecture, enterprise application integration and telework: it is
easier to outsource a job if it is already being performed outside the head office.
Organizations adopting ISO 9000 and ISO 19011 should also find it much easier to
integrate externally provided KPO into their operations and audit them on a fair basis.
As of 2007, most US organizations were hiring foreign professionals under H-1 visas
to do jobs in the USA for several years, after which they would return to their home
countries as managers to train and supervise others, continuing to report to their
former business units.
CONSTRAINTSIN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Like any human undertaking, projects need to be performed and delivered under certain
constraints. Traditionally, these constraints have been listed as scope, time and cost. These
are also referred to as the Project Management Triangle, where each side represents a
constraint. One side of the triangle cannot be changed without impacting the others. A
further refinement of the constraints separates product's ‘quality’or ‘performance’from
scope, and turns quality into a fourth constraint.
The time constraint refers to the amount of time available to complete a project. The cost
constraint refers to the budgeted amount available for the project. The scope constraint
refers to what must be done to produce the project’s end result. These three constraints
are often competing constraints: increased scope typically means increased time and
increased cost, a tight time constraint could mean increased costs and reduced scope, and
a tight budget could mean increased time and reduced scope.
The discipline of project management is about providing the tools and techniques that
enable the project team (not just the project manager) to organize their work to meet
these constraints.
Another approach to project management is to consider the three constraints as finance,
time and human resources. If you need to finish a job in a shorter time, you can throw
more people at the problem, which in turn will raise the cost of the project, unless by
doing this task quicker we will reduce costs elsewhere in the project by an equal amount.
TIME

For analytical purposes, the time required to produce a deliverable is estimated using
several techniques. One method is to identify tasks needed to produce the
deliverables documented in a work breakdown structure or WBS. The work effort for
each task is estimated and those estimates are rolled up into the final deliverable
estimate.

The tasks are also prioritized, dependencies between tasks are identified, and this Applicationsof Computers
information is documented in a project schedule. The dependencies between the and Information Technology
tasks can affect the length of the overall project (dependency constrained), as can the
availability of resources (resource constrained). Time is not considered a cost nor a NOTES
resource since the project manager cannot control the rate at which it is expended.
This makes it different from all other resources and cost categories. 327

COST

Cost to develop a project depends on several variables including (chiefly): labour
rates, material rates, risk management, plant (buildings, machines, etc.), equipment,
and profit. When hiring an independent consultant for a project, cost will typically be
determined by the consultant’s or firm’s per diem rate multiplied by an estimated
quantity for completion.

SCOPE

The overall definition of what the project is supposed to accomplish, and a specific
description of what end result should be accomplish. A major component of scope
is the quality of the final product. The amount of time put into individual tasks
determines the overall quality of the project. Some tasks may require a given amount
of time to complete adequately, but given more time could be completed exception-
ally. Over the course of a large project, quality can have a significant impact on time
and cost (or vice versa).

Together, these three constraints have given rise to the phrase “On Time, On Spec,
On Budget”. In this case, the term 'scope' is substituted with 'spec(ification)'.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

Project Management is composed of several different types of activities such as:

 Planning the work or objectives
 Analysis and design of objectives
 Assessing and controlling risk (or Risk Management)
 Estimating resources
 Allocation of resources
 Organizing the work
 Acquiring human and material resources
 Assigning tasks
 Directing activities
 Controlling project execution
 Tracking and reporting progress
 Analyzing the results based on the facts achieved
 Defining the products of the project
 Forecasting future trends in the project
 Quality Management
 Issues Management
 Issues solving
 Defect prevention
 Project Closure meet
 Communicating to stakeholders

Fundamentals of COMPUTER-AIDED PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Computers & There are a few examples, I am citing here for your perusal. The English tunnel between
Information Technology England and France was approved at about $9 billion in 1986. Ten years later the project’s
cost had escalated to more than $18 billion, and the project faced the possibility of
NOTES bankruptcy.
The Toronto Skydome stadium project was completed with a 400% cost overrun. The
328 Denver International Airport opened in 1995 at a final cost of $3 billion over the original
budget of $1.7 billion. The author cites these projects as examples of the traditional
owner/consultant/contractor arrangement in which the project environment is highly de-
centralized. Dealing with many hazards of large, complex projects is difficult in the best
of times. The wrong or incompatible computer tools can render the task virtually hopeless.
After going through a few cases cited above, the importance of a computer aided man-
agement becomes crystal clear.
BENEFITS OF A PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE
Project management software is a term covering many types of software, including sched-
uling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, collaboration software,
communication, quality management and documentation or administration systems,
which are used to deal with the complexity of large projects.
Tasks of project management software are being discussed ahead:
Scheduling
One of the most common tasks is to schedule a series of events, and the complexity of
this task can vary considerably depending on how the tool is used. Some common
challenges include:

 Events which depend on one another in different ways or dependencies
 Scheduling people to work on, and resources required by, the various tasks

commonly termed resource scheduling
 Dealing with uncertainties in the estimates of the duration of each task
 Arranging tasks to meet various deadlines
 Juggling multiple projects simultaneously to meet a variety of requirements
Calculating Critical Path
In many complex schedules, there will be a critical path, or series of events that depend
on each other, and whose durations directly determine the length of the whole project.
Some software applications (for example, Dependency Structure Matrix solutions) can
highlight these tasks, which are often a good candidate for any optimisation effort.
Providing Information
Project planning software needs to provide a lot of information to various people, to justify
the time spent using it. Typical requirements might include:
 Tasks lists for people, and allocation schedules for resources
 Overview information on how long tasks will take to complete
 Early warning of any risks to the project
 Information on workload, for planning holidays
 Evidence
 Historical information on how projects have progressed, and in particular, how

actual and planned performance are related.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS Applicationsof Computers
and Information Technology
In addition to a full-fledged Project Management Software, there are different project
management tools available. These include PERT Charts, GANTT Charts , Run Charts and NOTES
Microsoft Project as being discussed ahead.

PERT Chart

The Program Evaluation and Review Technique commonly abbreviated PERT is a model
for project management invented by Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. under contract to the
United States Department of Defense’s US Navy Special Projects Office in 1958 as part
of the Polaris mobile submarine-launched ballistic missile project. This project was a direct
response to the Sputnik crisis. Some US government contracts required that PERT should
be used as a part of management supervision.

PERT is basically a method to analyze the tasks involved in completing a given project,
especially the time needed to complete each task, and identifying the minimum time
needed to complete the total project.

PERT was developed in the 1950’s, Figure 19.1 : A PERT chart
primarily to simplify the planning and
scheduling of large and complex
projects. It was able to incorporate
uncertainty by making it possible to
schedule a project not knowing pre-
cisely the details and durations of all
the activities. It is more of an event-
oriented technique rather than start-
and completion-oriented, and is used
more in R&D-type projects where not
the cost but the time is a major factor.

The most famous part of PERT is the 'PERT Networks', charts of timelines that interconnect.
PERT is intended for very large-scale, one-time, complex, non-routine projects.

GANTT Chart

A Gantt chart is a popular type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts
illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a
project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown struc-
ture of the project. Some Gantt charts also show the dependency (i.e., precedence net-
work) relationship between activities. A Gantt chart is displayed in Figure 19.2

Figure 19.2 : A Gantt chart 329

Fundamentals of RUN Chart
Computers & A Run chart is a graph that displays observed data in a time sequence. Often, the data
Information Technology displayed represent some aspect of the output or performance of a manufacturing or other
business process. Examples could include measurements of the filling level of bottles filled
NOTES at a bottling plant or the water temperature of a dishwashing machine each time it is run.
Time is generally represented on the horizontal (x) axis and the property under observa-
tion on the vertical (y) axis. Often, some measure of central tendency (mean or median)
of the data is indicated by a horizontal reference line.

Figure 19.3 : A Run chart

Run charts are analyzed to find anomalies in data that suggest shifts in a process over time
or special factors that may be influencing the variability of a process. Typical factors
considered include unusually long 'runs' of data points above or below the average line,
the total number of such runs in the data set, and unusually long series of consecutive
increases or decreases.
Run charts are similar in some regards to the control charts used in statistical process
control, but do not show the control limits of the process. They are therefore simpler to
produce, but do not allow for the full range of analytic techniques supported by control
charts. (See Figure 19.3)
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Project (or MSP) is a project management software program developed and sold
by Microsoft which is designed to assist project managers in developing plans, assigning
resources to tasks, tracking progress, managing budgets and analyzing workloads. Microsoft
Project was the company’s third Windows-based application, and within a couple of years
of its introduction WinProj was the dominant PC-based project management software.
The application creates critical path schedules, although critical chain and event chain
methodology third-party add-ons are available. Schedules can be resource leveled, and
chains are visualized in a Gantt chart. Additionally, Project can recognize different classes
of users. These different classes of users can have differing access levels to projects, views,
and other data. Custom objects such as calendars, views, tables, filters and fields are
stored in an enterprise global which is shared by all users. (See Figure 19.4)
330

Applicationsof Computers
and Information Technology

NOTES

Figure 19.4 : Microsoft Project

COMPUTERS IN PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION Check Your Progress:
1. Definee-commerce.
Computer plays a very important role in personnel administration. Payroll system is the 2. DefinePERT Chart.
most important part of personnel administration that is fully managed by computer. 3. What isPayroll ?
WHAT ISPAYROLL?
The term ‘payroll’ encompasses every employee of a company who receives a regular 331
wage or other compensation. Some employees may be paid a steady salary while others
are paid for hours worked or the number of items produced. All of these different
payment methods are calculated by a payroll specialist and the appropriate paychecks are
issued. Companies often use objective measuring tools such as timecards or timesheets
completed by supervisors to determine the total amount of payroll due each pay period.
After a payroll accountant multiplies an employee’s hours by his or her pay rate, the gross
income amount is entered into a calculator or computer program. Regular deductions
such as tax withholdings, FICA payments (social security), medical insurance, union dues,
charitable contributions and so on are then categorized and subtracted. The remaining
balance is then converted to a check and becomes the employee’s net pay for that time
period. Payroll departments also identify the employer and employees by a federal code
and keep a running tally on total income and deductions for the fiscal year.
For small business owners, keeping enough cash in a payroll account is often one of their
highest priorities. Even if the business itself hasn’t become profitable, employees must still
be compensated for their services. This is why many smaller companies prefer to keep
their payroll obligations as low as possible until they’ve reached a certain level of prof-
itability. It’s not unusual for small business owners to forego their own salaries in order to
meet their payroll obligations.
Setting up an effective payroll system is not especially difficult for trained accountants, but
it can be very time consuming. Some smaller businesses rely on user-friendly computer
software to set up a simple payroll system complete with check printers and file storage.
Larger companies may assign trained accountants to handle payroll issues as part of their

Fundamentals of overall duties. But many businesses without the means to maintain their own payroll
Computers & systems choose to form out this task to outside specialists.
Information Technology Since payroll records are based on objective criteria such as timecards and national tax
forms, outside accountants can perform all of the calculations, store all of the year-to-date
NOTES data and issue paychecks in a timely fashion. Employers simply need to update these
payroll companies with changes in employee pay rates or deductions.
332 Payroll accounting was the first commercial area to become widely computerised. The
calculation of wages or salaries involves a number of variable but common factors, which
relate to the personal details of each employee, such as gross pay or rate for the job, tax
code, national insurance, etc.
The facts are retained on backing store (Also known as auxiliary store or secondary store)
together with information, which accumulates each time the payroll is run, such as pay
to date and tax deduced for the year. The program contains formulae for calculating all
the deductions to arrive at net pay. It will also build up records of tax-to-date, pay-to-date,
etc. It computes these details, prepares a wage-slip for the employee (and, perhaps, a
copy for the firm’s pay office records) and writes up-dated information on the backing
store for future use before moving on to consider the next employee. All this is integrated
into one payroll system, which may be made up of a number of related programs. They
are not programs necessarily involving lengthy or complicated calculations but they save
a considerable amount of repetitive manual effort.
If pay is made in cash, a program can include an analysis to calculate the exact number
of notes and coins of each denomination required for the total pay out and for each
individual wage packet. Another program might print out cheques to the individual bank
account of each employee. Files generated by payroll are frequently enlarged to include
such additional information as length of service, qualifications, training, attendance, sick-
ness and vacation records, thus providing comprehensive personnel records.
The overall payroll system with attendant personal details and records may comprise tens
or even several hundreds of different though related programs. Collectively they form a
package or a number of packages. A package may be a standard software developed for
a particular range of computers or be produced entirely within the business concern.
Increasing use is being made of standard packages. Computers essentially process infor-
mation and it is only information (or data), which has to be provided for a package to
operate successfully. A package is designed to accept information according to a specified
format and the general aim is that it should be readily usable by non-programming
personnel.
The expense of a computer and the attendant system is unlikely to be justified for payroll
and personnel records alone, the firm would probably use the computer (its own or one
shared through a bureau) for further analysis based on the payroll program, e.g. the
relationship of total wage costs (monthly etc) to jobs in hand, total costs to date, individual
job costing, etc. This kind of information if quickly available and up-to-date, makes it
easier for management to improve its efficiency by promptly pin-pointing areas of weak-
ness and strength.

ACCOUNTING

Accounting is the backbone of business. Ethical and professional accounting forms a clear
financial image of a business, and allows managers to make informed decisions, keeps
investors abreast of developments in the business, and keeps the business profitable. It is
also one of the oldest professions; businesses have been practising accounting for thou-
sands of years.
A number of disciplines are involved in accounting. At the root of all accounting is 'Book-
keeping' A book-keeper keeps tracks of all of the funds that a business handles, including
money paid to the business, money paid out, and assets that the business holds. The
book-keeper’s goal is to keep the ledgers of the company balanced so that anyone can

assess, at a glance, the financial state of the company. Records handled by a book-keeper Applicationsof Computers
include payroll, company ledgers, bank statements, and paperwork pertaining to real and Information Technology
estate and investments.
Auditing is also included in accounting. Auditing protects employees, investors, and own- NOTES
ers of a company from accounting fraud, and is usually performed by an outside agency.
During an audit, an accountant will examine the ledgers of a company along with numer- 333
ous other records to see if the ledgers provide an accurate picture of the financial doings
of the business. If other financial records such as bank statements, do not support the
picture presented by the ledgers, the auditor must find out why. Part of accounting is
establishing internal controls to keep a company’s business clean, so that a company can
fearlessly face an audit.
The financial records of a company are used to make important decisions, such as whether
or not to make a major investment. Proper accounting supports company officials while
they make these decisions, showing them whether or not an investment will be practical,
and if the company can afford it. Accountants prepare regular statements which are
distributed to company officials so that they can follow the health of the business, and they
also handle tax rolls and reports to government agencies.
INFORMATION SYSTEM IN ACCOUNTING
Basic daily skills in everyday accounting life are essential to the job. Not only are these
basic skills useful in most other fields but also they are necessities to an accountant. These
basic skills include the use of e-mail via the Internet, basic use of notebooks and word
processors, the interaction between team members through communication tools on the
computer that can be compared to instant messaging, and using such data systems as
Excel to create spreadsheets. People who are in the field of accounting, use word
processing, e-mail, and spreadsheets the most. Being an accountant, there is a need to
use the computer. Before there were standard filing systems to store information, there
was a need for typewriters, and also a major need for the central mailing system. Now
most of the old everyday tasks that were used, have become inefficient or obsolete
because computers have cancelled out the need for them. The technology today is a
faster and easier way to complete these everyday tasks via e-mail accounts, the use of
computer filing programs that can be used more efficiently and accessible, and a much
more easier way to communicate with co-workers to share data on a current basis through
instant messaging.
Computer skills are essential and have made the job of an accountant more efficient and
reliable than prior methods. These everyday tasks that evolve around the use of a com-
puter help to make the job of an accountant more organized, effective, and resourceful.
Auditing job can be found at public and private accounting firms as well as through the
government. Auditors require special skills that another person in a different business field
may not necessarily need. Knowledge of certain programs and databases are important
as a special skill that an auditor may need. As an auditor there are many choices to pick
from that can be used to document work, create programs and research. Most create
programs that have many steps that each company that is being audited has to go through.
The steps use are tailored to each client so that they can be formatted to fit their needs.
All of the information that these steps acquire, are documented into a database. Another
type of database used by accountants, is known as Quicken. This is a computer software
that is used by many accountants and entrepreneurs.
Auditors also use the computer as a research tool when addressing the need for informa-
tion. One example of a system that can be used for research, is Edgar scan. Edgar scan
is a research tool that is used for getting information such as financial statements and
annual reports of public companies. Another research tool is DowJones Interactive, which
provides information about companies so that one can benchmark them and do an
industry analysis if needed. These research tools are very helpful in part of the steps that
are taken to audit a company.

Fundamentals of COMPUTERS IN COST AND BUDGET CONTROL
Computers &
Information Technology Cost is the basis of price determination. The companies till now, working without com-
puter found it difficult, to have an account of a number of expenditures and sometimes
NOTES they found it impossible also. Big companies, or those companies which are completely
computerized don't find it difficult to know even how much amount of diesel was spent
334 on generator on a particular day. The company with a full control on cost will be closer
to success. Cost control in most companies is one of the major applications of computer.
The cost system controlled by a computer can give you an account of Rs. 10 being spent
very easily which is impossible for traditional system.
A good cost system has served two purposes. One of them is the system deployed to
protect the interests of the company and the second it serves the purpose of general
information bank. The first is more routined and easy to understand but the system gets
support from the other. Every cost voucher and entry is allocated to a cost head through
a detailed code. After the end of each period, the entries are tallied for scruting and
rectification and are printed till different limits of the account. As an exception, the
management principals are pointed in the management of only those area where the cost
does not correspond with the budget.
The coding of the cost heads must be done very carefully as through the special codes,
a lot of necessary information, automatically come to us. For example, there should be
specific codes for unexpected expenditure which are beyond necessities. Where standard
rates are applied, the cost should be divided into price at a standard rate and cost beyond
necessity. For out of budget expenditures different codes must be provided and the
outstanding should be divided into secured, insceured, doubtful and there must be an
arrangement for unrecovered loans (bad debts).
A serial-wise cost system which has sufficient storage space for historical costs, provides
an excellent database for cor-porate decisions. This is its biggest advantage. At a number
of times, important decisions are to be taken in absence of data, for either the data is not
available or its availability is very costly and time-taking. Only a computer can maintain
a list of detailed account of a cost without overwhelming clerical expenses. On the basis
of retrieval capacity only, the desired data can be obtained in a few hours.
A good manager is known for asking such questions constantly. Such as- "How much will
be the cost if sales calls are distributed this way ? If we have to work in additional shifts,
would it be wiser to take new orders. Can I gain profit by putting such a low price on
this offer ? How much will an additional machine installed will affect our profit. Whether
re-allocation to our staff is beneficial or only the expenditure due to over time has gone
up. A good cost system is one which can answer such questions quickly, effectively and
with minimum calculations.
The main reason behind giving top priority to cost systems is that they provide such a data
on which all the mathematical optimisation models are based. In the absence of an
accurate and comprehensible cost data, a mathematical model is only a speculation and
it is neither valid nor important.
The expenditure on a computer and its support system, can't be justified only on the basis
of storing pay-roll and records related to the employees. Firms (own or shared) use
computers for other analysis based on pay-roll such as manual tasks and monthly total
wages cost relation, complete cost till data, work cost per employee etc. If such informa-
tion is readily available and latest, the management finds it easier to know about its bright
and grey areas and improve its efficiency.

MARKETING

Marketing is a business field that is based on promoting a company or its product. They
still need databases and programs that can document and store files and work just like
most other companies. Some of the uses of the computer that they use are such as
desktop publishing, database management, and of course the use of virtual communica-

tion via e-mail. Desktop publishing is a source that can create ads, proposals and news- Applicationsof Computers
letters that can be sent through the company computer system. and Information Technology
Database management is a marketing database where someone can pull information
about clients and update the information as well. These types of computer systems are NOTES
useful tools for the field of marketing because it has become a much more efficient way
for them to do business. 335

MANUFACTURING

Manufacturing companies focus primarily on electronic networking in the offices and
using their own shipping program. If they do not provide their own shipping, they may
use such companies like UPS or FedEx’s software programs and services. This software
provides labels for packages and a UPC code so the products can be traced throughout
the world. These programs also keep track of inventory in the warehouses, which helps
cut back on counting the inventory by hand that is more time efficient. Before sending
out products from the warehouse, the software has a program that weighs and computes
the cost for the products to be sent out. All of this is done electronically which cuts back
on manual labour, time and makes shipping products more resourceful.
The electronic networking in the offices is used for sales-representatives and management.
Sales representatives are connected to the same network so they can keep track of
cumulative sales. In turn, management is connected to the same network to observe the
sales, which helps figure out their cash sales and account receivables.
People in sales use computer systems everyday. Business representatives rather than going
into the market sit in front of computers, taking down orders. After completing the
customer's order, the representative would print out a hard copy of it and send the order
out to the warehouse where it would be packaged. The use of computers in sales helps
keep track of customers’payments and how much they owe by certain dates. Another
good application, for computers in this fields is to cut back on errors when orders are
made.
The accountant of the office could then prepare a statement of cash collections where
they expect to receive a certain percentage of cash from sales each month. From this,
they can predict the percentage of non-collected sales for each quarter.

MATERIALS MANAGEMENT

Computer plays equally important role in the management of materials. This section deals
with major activities in the management of materials and the contributions of computers
in materials management. The major activities in materials management can be under-
stood by dividing them into three main functions. They include : Materials planning,
Requirement determination and Inventory management.
M ATERIALS PLANNI NG
Materials planning is the first stage of materials management. In this phase sale is forecast
and on that basis finished goods are forecast. And the bill of materials is used for exploding
the requirements of finished goods into the requirements of materials. The bill of materials
is a document containing a detailed list of all raw materials, components and sub-assem-
blies needed for manufacturing a particular final product. It will be very exhaustive and
will carry part numbers, store locations, whether they are to be purchased or manufac-
tured, and so on.
REQ UIREM ENTS DETERM INATION
For the purpose of determining requirements, materials are usually classified into the
following two categories:

(a) Direct materials
(b) Indirect materials

Fundamentals of Direct materials are those that form a part of the products that a company is selling and
Computers & include raw materials, components assemblies, etc. Indirect materials on the other hand,
Information Technology do not form part of products, but are necessary to keep an organization working. Ex-
amples are : spares, oils, stationery, etc. Completely different approaches are usually
NOTES necessary for determining requirements of the two categories of materials.
a. Direct Materials
336
The requirement of direct materials has to be derived from forecast of product sales.
The computer can assist in forecasting product demand. If the requirement of direct
materials bears a simple relationship to product demand, as in the case of equipment
manufacturing industry, this relationship is quite complex. Thousands of items go into
a machine. Given the requirement of finished goods, the computer can quickly pro-
vide the requirements of all direct materials using a Bill of Materials file. Further, the
requirements it provides, will be the net requirement taking into account inventories
on hand. Thus at each level (finished goods, assembly, sub-assembly, component, raw
material), it will check inventory, compute net requirement, explode this into the
requirement for the next level materials and so on until derives requirements for the
lowest level materials.
b. Indirect materials
The requirement of indirect materials is usually derived from past consumption fig-
ures. Traditionally, the approach has been to take consumption for the past year and
increases it by an adhoc percentage to get requirements for the coming year. In some
cases, where it is felt that the consumption is very erratic (As for some spares), the
future requirement has been taken on an adhoc basis.
It is true that some items in any organization are impossible to forecast well. However,
much better forecasts can be obtained for the bulk of items using statistical forecasting
techniques. The computer has made use of such techniques both quick and economi-
cal.
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
At the end of materials planning, the requirements of all component parts would have
been estimated. At the inventory management stage, computers are used to control the
level of inventories and to provide materials at the right time. Computers can handle
various data such as price, lead time, cost of ordering, cost of carrying, historical data on
delivery performance and so on very easily. Various techniques such as ABC analysis
,EOQ, etc., can be easily programmed into the computer so that tedious and time-
consuming calculations are avoided. Also movement analysis, lead time analysis, vendor
rating, etc., can be computerised in a short time which permits the management to
evaluate carefully and take scientific decisions so as to control the inventory levels. Factors,
such as reserve stock, safety stock and reorder points, require statistical and mathematical
analysis; when thousands of items have to be procured, it will be impossible to control
them manually. Programs are available for performing ABC analysis ,EOQ calculations
reorder point computations and delivery schedule printing. This will come as a part of the
'software package' in most of the cases.

BANKING

Banks were among the first large organizations to invest heavily in computing, and today
banking is almost totally dependent on the computer. In the past,a large but managable
amount of book-keeping was handled manually, but such has been the expansion in the
banking sector that a huge labour force would be needed to tackle today’s massive
volume of book-keeping. The computer is necessary because there is no other way of
dealing with the problem. In most instances, the computer is sited centrally. Branches are
equipped with terminals, given them an on-line accounting facility and enabling them to
interrogate the central system for information on such things as current balances, deposits,

overdrafts, interest charges, share and trustee records. Under computer control, customer Applicationsof Computers
statements are prepared and printed out onto specially designed or preprinted stationery. and Information Technology
Cheques are handled by computers at the clearing banks, a mammoth operation normally
carried out during the night when the system can concentrate on (be dedicated to) this NOTES
purpose. The cheques are sorted into branch, and then customer-order are returned to
the branches the next day. The computer also provides each branch, and its customers, Check Your Progress:
with prompt access to information from a much wider financial world than would be 4. For the purpose of deter-
possible under a manual, local system. New developments, such as the automatic cash
dispenser, are making it even far easier for customers to deal with banks. miningrequirements, ma-
Leading international banks and financial institutions are able to obtain up-to-date news terials are usually classi-
on foreign currency rates from the world’s money markets using an on-line worldwide fied intowhich categories.
information retrieval service. London, New York, Zurich, Frankfurt and HongKong are the 5. What isinventory manage-
major sites in the networks with each city servicing its own and neighboring countries. ment.
Data is entered and received using visual display terminals, and the processed data is held
on disk storage at the central sites. 337

INSURANCE AND STOCKBROKING

Insurance companies, finance houses, stock exchanges and stock broking firms also make
use of computers. Here conditions and requirements are similar to those in banking. Large
files of information have to be prepared and payments made. In the buying and selling
of stocks and shares various calculations have to be made, contract notes drawn up and
files consulted and amended.
The computer is also beginning to be used as an aid to more efficient investment man-
agement. Up-to-date and accurate information can be obtained by consulting databases
relating, for example, to foreign securities, or to the share price index. Armed with this
information, the stockbroker is in a better position to use his judgement and to take
decisions.

PURCHASING

An organisation involved in manufacturing goods, only Production Planning and Control
departments fulfil the chief responsibilities. Its main role and function is to see that the
production orders can ensure the fulfilment of market related requirements and by deco-
rating the arrival of the material in different steps of production process, can restrict the
price of each product at the minimum. Normally, the production manager who is in
charge of Production Planning and Control department also controls purchasing and stor-
age department which are specified as sub-function of production.
Tender sales department basically invites indent information and tender receiving and
examines the tenders. If a machine or material is required to be imported for production,
then it is responsibility the Purchasing department to arrange for import License and
foreign exchange for it Order implementation, the tasks of further action are the respon-
sibilities of the same department till the orders are received in the department. Once the
storage is properly checked, it is the purchasing department which takes care of material
storage, sending bills and payments to the sellers. In several departments when the ma-
terial gets old or stock gets higher than the demand level, the purchasing department
solves this problem.
The functions of storage department are material receiving checking them and keeping
them properly. It is an important responsibility to issue material to the Production unit. The
department has to rain complete control over the storage condition and as soon as the
stock reaches up to minimum level the purchasing task has to be begun. Posting the laser
is an important activity of storage department. In addition to it, if some material is more
than required, then identifying it, separating it and making the purchasing department
aware of resolving this matter is the responsibility of this department.

Fundamentals of COMPUTERS IN WAREHOUSING
Computers &
Information Technology Counting the stock in goodwans is a hated task. Computer can help you do it very easily.
It provides the list of all the goods present in storage. It provides the price of goods to turn
NOTES increase and decrease recorded in the material during physical verification into price, and
if the stock of some goods is to be taken irregularly, the computer provides the list of goods
338 in this way.
Finally, if storage location has been given a code in storage, the computer can provide the
list in the order of the location code. It saves a fair amount of time and helps a person
with little knowledge in physical verification to do the verification in a good way.

Use of Computers in Common Public Services and e-governance

Internet is a great help in administration, rather a boon it has proved in it. Many govern-
ment departments in many states of India have been linked to computer and Internet.
Andhra Pradesh is a good example in this regard. In this state, with the help of internet,
people can get their work done from the panchayat level to the chief-ministrial office.
Internet has reduced the hazards of standing in a queue for hours and greasing the palm
of the employees. Internet has simplified the civil life in banks, schools, colleges, univer-
sities, passport offices administrative offices. In India, the National Informations centre has
developed several government sites which link a man in the street to the Prime-Ministerial
and Presidential offices. E-governance has helped a lot in taking such services to people's
door steps. It is called G-To-C, it means Government to Citizen. E-governance has gained
popularity in several countries of the world. The FIRSTGOV of the U.S., e-ENVOY of
Britain, E-TAIWAN of Taiwan, E-CITIZEN of Singapore, E-KOREA, E-MALAYSIA and Gov-
ernment Online of Canada are ery popular and rewarded. Such projects are working in
India too. The Andhra government has started E-SEWA to provide better services to the
people of the state. The aim of this project is to provide people every facility under a
single roof and save them from wandering from one office to another. Using the E-SEWA,
people can deposit their water, electricity, and telephone bill without much pains. Besides,
they can obtain, birth certificate, death certificate, educational certificate, educational
certificate online. This service was started in 1991 and is providing ISO services through
200 centres. As per an estimate, more than five crore people are availing the benefits of
it every month. E-SEVA is also helpful in submitting property tax, income tax etc. One can
apply for passport through it. Rail and Air tickets can be reserved through it. Movie tickets
can be purchased through it. E-governance is working very well in Kerala and Karnataka.
E-governance includes the following activities.

Meetings

Internet provides video conferencing facilities. This facility can be used in organising
conferences, seminars, meetings etc. People can participate in a program sitting in any
corner of the world.

Correspondence

Internet is used as a strong tool for correspondences. An order, circular, notice can be
sent from the head office to all its branches and can receive answers to it quickly. The
offices use Internet to send their report. It is fast, easy and safe.

Registration and admission

Now the government and the private offices publish their registration and admission
forms on their sites. Students, visiting those sites can register themselves and get
themselves admitted. They pay their registration and admission fee through Credit
Card or Net Banking. As a substitute, after their online registration, can send the
demand draft of the required sum to the office.