[Solved]Three Years Ago Pata Number Problems Trying Make Sense Information Gets Computer Based Inf Q37172767
- Three years ago, Pata has had a number of problems trying tomake sense of information it gets from it computer-basedinformation systems. It has not been able to determine howprofitable its individual customers are, or even what its totalbusiness is with each customer, because its customer codes are notcommon across branches or lines of business. It has also not beenable to negotiate favorable purchasing agreements with its majorsuppliers, because it cannot pool inconsistent data from the nineplants it has in order to find out how much it buys from eachsupplier. Jean, the director of the information services departmentin Pata thought that developing new systems would alleviate theproblem. However, Pata new systems development was stymied by anavalanche of ad hoc report requests and by the ongoing burden ofsystem maintenance. Neither reports nor new systems could bedeveloped fast enough to be useful.
In order to get around the problem, a three-point program wasimplemented to eliminate an application backlog and ensure it doesnot return. Application development goes much faster with the 4GLcoding techniques provided by the DT/DB database management system.Users can employ query tools that give them direct access to datawithout requiring MIS handholding. They can also query corporatedatabases and create customized reports with a query/report writer,which is a DT/DB database management system capability.
Pata has also developed all of its systems so that they aregeneric in nature and can be modified and maintained easily.Productivity is clearly up and the programming staff has shrunkdrastically. With a smaller staff, the company converted andimplemented 1,000 programs. One database administrator created 50databases. And Pata has 1,400 files and 2,000 logical views ofthose files.
- Show why the shortcomings of the system, that Pata used beforethe database implementation, should actually have beenexpected.
- Demonstrate how the use of database management systems helpedin overcoming the shortcomings that were faced then by Pata
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