Strategic Information Systems ICT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic Information Systems ICT - Essay Example In this scenario we are aimed at analyzing the basic issues regarding corporate information and data dealing. This kind of issues can emerge while transferring and dispatching and data and information. In addition, these issues can harm the corporate credibility and performance. In this scenario, the basic intention is to assess all the possible impacts that data security issues can place on the corporate market standing and customer relationship management. This research will compare and contracts the possible influences that a data or information breach can place on business. Here we will try to involve all possible stakeholders who can play role in the whole situation. However, major stakeholders that are involved in this scenario include business staff, outsider business rivals and hackers. These all categories will be inspected to assess their possible interest in business working and operational performance. I will make use of the drill down approach to assess and evaluate the overall working and performance related issues. These issues will be about the security and ethical aspects related. Part 2 Ethical Issues in ICT Assessing and determining the influence of a new technology, like that ICT could be extremely complicated task. In fact, ICT does not simply engage technological scenarios, however as well epistemology as the major part of ICT is information that demonstrates information, data and knowledge. In addition, ICT helps expand the capability of mankind to gather, process, store, recognize, utilize, develop, and distribute information at a speed as well as scale that had never been thought probable previously. Additionally, a number of influences as well as transformations of ICT are noticeable, however lots of are... This research aims to evaluate and present Ready Rural as a large size business corporation. Currently, the business deals with a lot of customers, supplier and involving stakeholders. There is a great chance of the security issues and privacy concerns such as loss of data and security at the corporate arrangement. In fact, the business data is transmitted and sent to a variety of people having major stack in business. In this scenario there is a chance of security breaches and privacy issues. Transactions are transferred and recorded in database of Ready Rural business at main data centers. The contents of e-communications and databases and other private information can be accessed by prohibited individuals and organizations if they are not strongly protected. The huge business setup of Ready Rural Business deals with a lot of business transactions every day. In this scenario there are greater chances of having some error during entry of data feeding level. In addition, the informat ion inserted into business databases is prone to device and human faults and error. Addition, the computer programs that execute different processes can hold thousands of issues and errors. As a result, these issues and errors are able to produce wrong as well as confusing information regarding organizations and individuals. Moreover, the information and programs errors might consequence in financial loss at Ready Rural Business, or even the loss of lives because Ready Rural Corporation has steel processing plant that has a really dangerous working environment.

Computerised quotation system Essay Example for Free

Computerised quotation system Essay The task that I am going to provide a solution for is to produce a computerised quotation system for S S Insurances. EXISTING SYSTEM: Thomas Davidson is currently a broker providing insurance for cars. At present he insures through a financial institution, S S Finances. He is a broker working for the insurance company S S Insurances. He has worked with many insurance companies in the past trying to find the best deal so that he can earn a good amount of profit. He finally made a deal with S S Insurances in which he can gain a good amount of commission. His job is to find customers who would like to buy insurance for their cars and he gains a commission of 7.5% for each customer to whom he sells a quote. He started his career as a broker approximately three years ago after being made redundant as a factory worker assembling car parts. He has no employees working for him at the moment. However his wife helps him with the paperwork when she can. Thomas works full- time from his home study, which is located in the heart of Streatham. In the past Thomas has had a lot of experience dealing with customers and clients. He now has a number of devoted customers who frequently contact him when the renewal for their car insurance is due. Thomas usually interacts with his customers over the phone from his study; sometimes however he does conduct business at the home of his customer to their convenience. When Thomas finds an interested client he firstly explains to the client everything that is involved in the quote. In order for Thomas to calculate the insurance quote, he uses a calculator, a record of tables with the insurance ratings provided by S S Insurances and his diary where he notes all the information down. The insurance ratings show a different variety of things the first table is the insurance group, which shows the basic cost for a car depending on the cars make, price and power. The more expensive and powerful the car, higher the basic cost. Thomas then adjusts the basic cost by multiplying it by various factors, which could affect the insurance. Age is also a factor, the older the driver is, the less they are considered as a risk. Sex is also a factor; a female is considered as a less of a risk than males. The area you live in is also a criterion which Thomas considers before issuing an insurance quote, if you live in a high risk sensitive area you are likely to pay more. The customer can then choose what type of insurance he would like; third party only, third party fire and theft or fully comprehensive. The insurance also offers an extra driver criterion, which can be added at an increased cost. Thomas then offers a discount to the customers if they have had no claims varying from the past year or five years. Thomas then calculates the quote by multiplying the basic cost with all the factor multipliers and seeing if they can get a discount and then giving the customer the final result. Thomas writes all of the things discussed and quotations in his diary. If the client agrees to go ahead with the quote after hearing the final cost, Thomas makes a word- processed quote, which he then sends to S S Insurances. From there S S Insurances make the actual policy and then send it directly to the customer. Thomas does possess a computer and laptop at home, which his children use for educational purposes. Thomas has very little knowledge about using computers, however to produce the insurance quotes which are word-processed his daughter helps him and recently Thomas has started to produce the quotes by himself since he is gradually learning to use a computer, even though he is slow with the typing. Thomas makes hand-written notes about all his clients, their details and policies, which is time consuming and can get tiring and boring despite having a computer due to his lack of computer skills. Furthermore sometimes Thomas wife also helps him with the paperwork, if there are too many customers wishing to have a quote ready. Thomas says that most of his customers find out about his business by word of mouth or from the consequence of the advert he has placed in the local newspaper, if he could he would also like to attract more customers to increase the standard of his living. Thomas Davidson finds the existing manual way he issues quotes prolonged and exhausting and would like to automate the system. He would also prefer to make more use of his laptop, however his lack of computer skills is a problem and therefore would like to be able to issue quotes on a simple and straightforward system. He would also like to automate the system so that it would be much faster to issue quotes and therefore would not have to spend too much time doing things manually. At the moment he hardly gets anytime to spend with his children especially when there is a heavy workload. Thomas feels that if he were able to get the system to be computerised he would like to employ some staff and expand and preferably shift into an office. He would also like to work with more than one insurance company at the same time if possible in the near future. CONSTRAINTS: There are not many constraints however there are a few which are important. My user Thomas Davidson has no experience of using a computer except for possessing basic typing skills. This means the system will have to be easy and simple to use and understand. Another constraint is time, although my user does not want the system to be made immediately or as soon as possible. However he would like the computerised system to be created soon so that he can use it and update all his handwritten manual notes onto the system and be able to use it with future clients. USER REQUIREMENTS: My user is Thomas Davidson, who is a broker for S S Insurances for whom I will be creating a computerised quotation system. He would like the following requirements to be taken into account. * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote. * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote before a discount is given. * To be able to print the quotation. * To make sure that system is safe and secure. * To be able to see the details of all the customers such as; forename, surname, age, and the type of insurance they would like. * To be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. * To enable phone enquiries to be dealt much quickly. * To make the system user- friendly. * To make sure the data entered is accurate. * To make the system look professional, systematic and organised. QUANTITATIVE OBJECTIVES: * To use a formula to work out the total cost of the insurance quote. * To use another formula to work out the cost of the quote excluding the discount. * To be able to print multiple copies of the quotes. * To make the system password protected so a password will be needed in order to enter the system. * To make sure the details about the customers names, surnames, addresses, age and other details can be seen. * To be able to use a command button so data can be stored. * To use drop down boxes to be able to select options. QUALITATIVE OBJECTIVES: * To make the system user- friendly I will create a user interface so that it is easy to move around the system. * To make the system look professional and organised. PERFORMANCE CRITERIAS: * The system should be able to use a formula in order to work out the total cost of the insurance quote. * The system should be able to use a calculation in order to work out the cost of the insurance excluding the discount. * The system should be able to print multiple copies of the insurance quotation. * The system should be password enable, so a password will be needed in order to access the system to make sure the system is safe. * The system should show all the details about the customers such as names, surnames, addresses and other details. * The system should be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. * The system should have drop down boxes so the user can select options quickly and easily. NEW SYSTEM: HARDWARE: In order to computerise the quotation system I will need a Windows XP computer. I will also need a QWERTY keyboard and a mouse in order to input the data into the spreadsheet. I will be using the hard drive to save the spreadsheet on an internal storage. I will also be saving the spreadsheet on an external storage such as CR-RW so that I have a back- up copy of the data in case the original copy is deleted I will still have another copy. I will also be using a VDU (visual display unit) to see the spreadsheet. I will also be using a printer to print out the quotes so that the user can see them and then send them to S S Insurances. SOFTWARE: In order to produce the car insurance quotation system I will be using spreadsheet software for many reasons. In a spreadsheet I can use many of the features which will enable me to produce an efficient quotation system. I can use macros, list boxes, combo boxes, V Lookup, IF statements and other features in the system. There is other software such as a word- processor or a database but they are not suitable for this quotation system. Although you can make tables and do basic calculations they are only limited as they are not mainly designed for that purpose. I will be using Microsoft Excel 2003 as I do not have any other spreadsheet software available on my computer. I will also use it as I am more familiar with it as I have used it many times in the past. SECURITY: I will need to make sure the spreadsheet I create will be kept safe and secure. I will need to make sure the data is secure as I will need to follow the Data Protection Act 1998. In order to comply with the law I will keep the data safe by having cell protection so if anyone other than me or the user accesses the data he will need to enter the password in order to alter the information. I will also keep a backup copy of the system so if the user loses the original copy he will still have another backup copy. INPUT, PROCESSES AND OUTPUT: Input: I will input all the data required using a keyboard into the spreadsheet. The input data I will need in order to produce the quotation system are all the customer details and the headings. I will require the following specific data about the customers: forename, surname, address, sex, model and make of the car. I will also need the age of the driver, which will be in a grouped arrangement e.g. 17- 19 or 60- 65. The type of insurance the driver wants will also be required whether it is, fully comprehensive, third party only or third party fire and theft. I will abbreviate the type of insurance to make it shorter so it would be much quicker to type and also easier. I will also need to know what type of area the driver lives in, as this could be a risk factor, low, medium or high. I will also need to know if the driver would like to state an extra driver or not. I will also need to know the number of claims the driver has made in the past 4 years and whether he is eligible for a discount. The other details I will need to know is about the insurance and which rating the cars are allocated according to their power and cost. I will also need to know about the multipliers so that I can work what I need to multiple the costs, these will be allocated to the sex, age of driver, risk of area and insurance and type. The final detail I will need to know are the number of penalty points the customer has, as having more conviction point will increase the cost of the insurance quote. Processes: In order to create the quotation system I will need to carry out a number of processes with the input data in order to produce the output. The fixed data will be the data that I will not change on the spreadsheet such as the main headings e.g.: forename, surname, address. The variable data will be the data that will change. The data that will need to be changed are all the details about the customer and his car. In order to fulfil the following user requirements I will carry out a number of processes: * To be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote and to be able to see the total cost of the insurance quote before a discount is given. I will be using a formula to calculate the total costs of the quote and also to work out the cost excluding the discount. I will be using a simple Auto sum calculation in order to do this. In order to work out the total cost I will need to use a V Lookup formula. A V Lookup searches for a value in the leftmost column of a table, and then returns a value in the same rows from a column you specify in the table. I will be using a V Lookup formula since I will having different things on different sheets it will need to lookup the values in other cells. * To be able to print the quotation. In order to do this the user can use the menu options on the toolbar however to make it easier for the user I will have a macro. * To make sure that system is safe and secure. In order to keep the data safe I will be using cell protection. I will be keeping a password so when someone accesses the file he will be prompted to enter the password. If the password entered is correct he will gain access and be able to change the data. However if an incorrect password is entered an error message will appear informing the user he cannot gain access. * To be able to see the details of all the customers such as; forename, surname, age, and the type of insurance they would like. In order to do this I will have a sheet where the details about the customer can be seen. * To be able to store the issued quotes so that they can be used at a later date. In order to do this I will be using macros. Macro is a feature that stores a series of commands so that the user can use them with a single command. I will be using macros for various things such as printing the quote, storing the quotes, to view the quotes and other tasks. * To enable phone enquiries to be dealt much quickly. In order to fulfil this requirement I will be using a variety of buttons to make it easier for the user. Option buttons are used for choosing one item from a list of options, where you can select one option button at a time. I will be using them so the user can select the sex of the driver, either male or female. Combo boxes can also be called drop- down boxes, which offer a number of choices to the user, one of which maybe selected. I will be using a combo box so that my user can select the drivers car. By selecting on the drop- down arrow will provide the models of the cars. A list box and combo boxes are alike however a list box shows the choices available without having to click on the arrow. I will be using a list box for the risk assessment of the area and type of insurance, as there are only three options from which the user can select. A check box is a box, which can either be selected or unselected, when you click on the box a tick appears in the box. I will be using a check box for the declaration of the extra driver. A spinner is made up of two arrows, one point up and the other down. By clicking on the up arrow increases the value and the down arrow decreases the value. I will be using the spinner to choose the number of years the driver has made no claims. I will also be using IF statements in order to see the values of the check box which will check whether the customer would like an extra driver. * To make the system user- friendly. In order to make the printed quote professional and organised I will be adding the name of the company, address, telephone numbers and the company logo at the top. I will also arrange all the information into sections and add colour to make it look more attractive. I will create the macros into buttons so the user can quickly carry the tasks. I will also add a front end to the system. A front end is the name given to the user-friendly interface that will appear on the screen when the file is loaded. It will provide the user with a number of options. Once the data has been entered I will need to rename the worksheets and insert a defined name for certain data which will be used in calculations. Output: The output will be the full quote details, which will be on the screen of the computer showing the customer name, address, car details, and the cost of the insurance and without the discount. The output on the screen will also show the macros, which can be used to navigate around the system. The other output will be the fully modified and professional printed quote that will show the company logo along with the companys address and contact numbers. It will also show the issue date, all the details about the quote and the expiry date of the quote.

Self Assessment Reflective Essay

Self Assessment Reflective Essay Good writing is important skill for young people, as it is a predictor of academic success, for successful career and a basic requirement for participation in civic life. (Murray 2004). Most contexts of life (school, the workplace, and the community) call for some level of writing skill, and each context makes overlapping, but not identical, demands. Proficient writers can adapt their writing flexibly to the context in which it takes place. That is why all students need to become proficient and flexible writers. Finding a good topic is one of the hardest parts of learning to write. And, unfortunately, every writer runs into it right at the beginning. Thats why it is necessary to know strategies that will always give many good topics to choose from. In all subject areas, a student needs to develop skills for getting what they know about a topic down on paper, and generating ideas or finding additional facts. He also needs skills to check whether their writing is on-topic and fulfills its purpose. Further, they need to be able to explain the writing assignment and the process they are following to effectively complete the assignment. To write a good essay a student needs to know how to organize what they have learned about any topic or assignment into a well-structured whole. In longer writing assignments, he needs to know how to create a strong, focused introduction that catches the readers interest; how to link ideas in logically connected paragraphs that contain enough supporting detail; and how to conclude with a strong ending. It is difficult to start writing an essay, for example, without a central idea and notes to support it. Often, the more detailed an outline, the easier is the writing. People frequently find that they can finish faster by writing a first draft quickly and then editing and revising this draft. In my opinion students learn to write by writing, so they need regular opportunities at school and colleges to write in all subjects. A consistent approach to the writing process in all subject areas and explicit instruction on the writing process by the subject teacher help students become better writers. Models of good writing in the subject area, and feedback that is constructive and formative, are critical to students growth as writers. The pre-writing strategies Writing is the final step of several separate acts like note-taking, identifying a central idea, outlining, drafting and editing. The first step is pre-writing that is the formulation and organization of ideas preparatory to writing. (Murray 2004) Speaking about the pre-writing strategies, I can say that pre-writing engages in activities designed to help them generate or organize ideas for the essay and very important that it improves the quality of their writing. Pre-writing activities include gathering possible information for a paper through reading or developing a visual representation of their ideas before sitting down to write. (Pattison 2006) There are many effective practices in the process of pre-writing. For me it was important to create a topic by using various methods, such as listing and brainstorming. My pre-writing activities included planning before writing, reading necessary literature, organizing pre-writing ideas, writing an outline to a topic and then plan the work in advance. I have chosen the free writing strategy. It means that I set a time limit and wrote without stopping, and when the time was up, I looked at what I had written and determined which idea seemed most significant. After that I pointed the important insights and ideas with which to work. The writing process For the writing class I chose the topic of Self assessment because this topic is interesting for me and the audience for many reasons: First of all because the self-assessment is important to define clearly the progress of personal development ; The audience is interested in psychology because it is always interesting to get acquainted with ones self-assessment to be able to avoid pitfalls of self-assessment made by others in the course of their own self-assessment; process of self-assessment is always a challengeable task, because people always attempt to conduct a self-assessment but they do not always succeed, as it is closely connected with the inadequate self-esteem or self-awareness. In the whole the writing process involves generating ideas, developing and organizing the ideas, and revising and editing them. Effective writers do all these stages for the best result, so that the writing achieves its purpose. (Murray 2004) When writing the essay I had the next goals: To write well-organized paragraphs for different subject areas, with supporting details; to demonstrate a clear understanding of the topic; to spot main ideas and support details. Writing an essay is a very private process, as it shows your own writing style, your thoughts and vision of the topic. It was very important not only to follow the topic, but also to show the right order of thoughts and material so that it flowed from one area, to follow a logical order. Each part of the essay should follow on the previous parts, and the whole body of the essay should clearly come to the conclusion. I tried in my essay to Essay writing requires to use both creative and critical thinking. Creative thinking encouraged me to broaden my ideas, while critical thinking encouraged me to narrow the focus of my ideas on the main topic of the essay. All these strategies helped me to organize my essay in the best way, so it would be interesting and understandable for the audience.

Investigating the rate of diffusion of ammonia :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

Investigating the rate of diffusion of ammonia Investigating the rate of diffusion of hydrochloric acid in agar Planning You can change different things you do to an experiment like the amount of acid, temperature, size of the agar or concentration of the acid. We can measure/observe on how long it takes to diffuse or the amount diffused each minute. My partner and I are going to predict and measure the rough time it will take to diffuse at different temperatures. The factors that may affect the readings of our results are if the temperature of the room may reduce the temperature of our water baths or if the windows open. There may be a human error were the person which is timing may not get it exactly correct or you may not be able to measure the amount of acid correctly. We are going to do the experiment three times and work out the mean time by adding the times together then dividing by however many readings you’ve added. You have to do them three times just in case the temperature varied. But you should get them roughly around a time. To make it a fair test you must only change one factor. The factors that we are keeping the same are the amount of acid you test it in, the size of the agar cube and the container you do the experiment in. You have to keep the container the same because with a wider container will make it seem like there is only a small amount of acid were as a boiling tube would make it seem like there is quite a lot. The factor that we are changing is the temperature of the water bath, which we will keep it in for however long it takes to diffuse. I predict that the higher the temperature of Hydrochloric acid , the faster it will diffuse. Found my information at www.britannica.com What are the factors that affect chemical reaction rate? Answer: foundation energy, temperature, method, concentrations, particle size, and surface area Reactive impact: Chemical reaction takes place only when two reactants collide under the right conditions. The higher the temperature the more reactants with kinetic energy above the activation energy Effect of temperature—increasing temperature to overcome the activation energy barrier and to increase entropy (a measure of the confusion of the molecules in a substance) Effect of concentration—increasing colliding frequency When you heat a solution up the partials speed up and in this case move the partials in the agar so much it forms a chemical reaction. The apparatuses we are going to use are: 1 cm ² agar, boiling tubes, water baths at different temperatures, ice, boiling tube rack,

What Makes You Who You Are

The perennial debate about nature and nurture–which is the more potent shaper of the human essence? –is perennially rekindled. It flared up again in the London Observer of Feb. 11, 2001. REVEALED: THE SECRET OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR, read the banner headline. ENVIRONMENT, NOT GENES, KEY TO OUR ACTS. The source of the story was Craig Venter, the self-made man of genes who had built a private company to read the full sequence of the human genome in competition with an international consortium funded by taxes and charities.That sequence–a string of 3 billion letters, composed in a four-letter alphabet, containing the complete recipe for building and running a human body–was to be published the very next day (the competition ended in an arranged tie). The first analysis of it had revealed that there were just 30,000 genes in it, not the 100,000 that many had been estimating until a few months before. Details had already been circulated to journalists under embargo. B ut Venter, by speaking to a reporter at a biotechnology conference in France on Feb. , had effectively broken the embargo. Not for the first time in the increasingly bitter rivalry over the genome project, Venter's version of the story would hit the headlines before his rivals'. â€Å"We simply do not have enough genes for this idea of biological determinism to be right,† Venter told the Observer. â€Å"The wonderful diversity of the human species is not hard-wired in our genetic code. Our environments are critical. † In truth, the number of human genes changed nothing.Venter's remarks concealed two whopping nonsequiturs: that fewer genes implied more environmental influences and that 30,000 genes were too few to explain human nature, whereas 100,000 would have been enough. As one scientist put it to me a few weeks later, just 33 genes, each coming in two varieties (on or off), would be enough to make every human being in the world unique. There are more than 10 billio n combinations that could come from flipping a coin 33 times, so 30,000 does not seem such a small number after all.Besides, if fewer genes meant more free will, fruit flies would be freer than we are, bacteria freer still and viruses the John Stuart Mill of biology. Fortunately, there was no need to reassure the population with such sophisticated calculations. People did not weep at the humiliating news that our genome has only about twice as many genes as a worm's. Nothing had been hung on the number 100,000, which was just a bad guess. But the human genome project–and the decades of research that preceded it–did force a much more nuanced understanding of how genes work.In the early days, scientists detailed how genes encode the various proteins that make up the cells in our bodies. Their more sophisticated and ultimately more satisfying discovery–that gene expression can be modified by experience–has been gradually emerging since the 1980s. Only now is it dawning on scientists what a big and general idea it implies: that learning itself consists of nothing more than switching genes on and off. The more we lift the lid on the genome, the more vulnerable to experience genes appear to be.

St. John Bosco (1815-1888)

A man with a vision, with an awareness of the good that lives in people, with an ability of dreaming dreams of beauty for those he met along his way, this is John Bosco. St. John Bosco (1815-1888) was born to poor parents in Recchi, Italy, the Piedmont area of northern Italy. When John was two, his father died prematurely. As a boy, John lived on a farm with his family doing the only thing they knew how, farming. Poverty and a lack of formal education in the home did not stop the growth of John Bosco as a person. His mother was for real, realizing the importance of God in life. This friendship with God became powerful and slowly John prepared for the priesthood. In 1841 at the age of 26, John was ordained priest at Turin, and immediately gave himself to that work, finding shelter for neglected youth and instructing them in religion. He was now ready to make his contribution toward the poor and homeless. He rented an old barn in a field which he called â€Å"The Oratory.† This was the first of many oratories John Bosco founded for helping poor boys who needed a home. He believed that prayer and Holy Mass and Communion and confession are the best ways for children to attain a sense of personal responsibility. In a short time, other priests joined him in his work and by 1852 they were caring for over 600 boys. John dealt with them by using a minimum of restraint and discipline, lots of love, keeping careful watch over their development and encouraging them personally and through religion. John†s preaching and writing, as well as the charitable support of wealthy and powerful patrons allowed for expansion of his work. The need for dependable assistants led to the founding of the society of St. Francis de Sales in 1859, and it continues to work today. To provide similar care for the poor and neglected girls, John Bosco founded, in 1872, the Daughters of Our Lady, Help of Christians. The life of St. John Bosco was full and his zeal contagious. He never got tired of talking and writing about his work for the young and their care. On this feast day the Church has chosen for the Office of Readings an excerpt from one of his letters. It expresses his concern and is applicable for our time when children suffer from neglect in broken homes and in less than ideal welfare situations. John wrote: â€Å"If we wish to appear concerned about the true happiness of our foster children and if we would move them to fulfill their duties, you must never forget that you are taking the place of the parents of these beloved young people. I have always labored lovingly for them, and carried out my priestly duties with zeal. And the whole Salesian Society has done this with me. Juggler, magician, acrobat, tailor, teacher and writer, John Bosco became all of these in his efforts to lead boys and girls to God. A prayer was the price of admission to his shows; a friendly contest to match skill or strength was his answer to the hoodlums who laughed at him. As a priest he was known as Don Bosco and built churches and schools. John Bosco would be pleased with the concern that the Church has today for education. This concern is expressed in the II Vatican Council†s Decree on Christian Education. John Bosco died on January 31, 1888 and was canonized in 1934 by Pope Pius XI. His work was continued by a group of dedicated people called the Salesians. His feast day is celebrated on January 31. St. John Bosco is honored by us as an outstanding teacher and father to the young, and we ask that we be filled with love like his.