Barclays Bank Information System: IT Role, Technologies, and Ethics

This report provides a detailed analysis of Barclays Bank's information systems. It begins with an introduction to the role of IT in the retail business sector, different networking technologies, ethical and social issues of IT, and the importance of Intranet and Internet in business. The report then focuses on Barclays Bank, examining the role of IT, including Transaction Processing Systems, Management Information Systems, and Decision Support Systems. It also covers the networking technologies used, ethical and social issues within the bank, and the importance of Intranet and Internet. The report concludes with a discussion of the System Development Life Cycle. The study utilizes a literature review to support the claims and analysis, providing insights into the bank's technological infrastructure and its impact on operations and customer service.

Running head: BARCLAYS BANK INFORMATION SYSTEM
BARCLAYS BANK INFORMATION SYSTEM
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

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Acknowledgement
I declare that this assignment is all my own work and that I have acknowledged all materials
used from the published or unpublished works of other people. All references have been duly
cited.

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Executive Summary
The overall integration of software as well as the hardware systems in an organization to ease
out the functionality processes is referred to as the implementation of the System of
Information in the associations nowadays. The information systems are beneficial for the
organizations because it helps in streamlining the processes as well as support automation to
save cost, time and energy of the employers of the organization. The applications of the
information systems although paybacks the organization in various aspects, incorporates risks
such as leakage of data confidential data from the organization. Hence, the networking
technology, the social along with the ethical issues and the advantages of Internet as well as
Intranet with regard to Information Systems are discussed in detail for the organization of
Barclays bank in this assignment.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................4
1.1. Background Study...........................................................................................................4
1.2. Aim of the Research........................................................................................................4
2. Literature Review...................................................................................................................5
2.1 Role of IT in Retail Business Sector................................................................................5
2.2 Different Types of Networking Technology....................................................................5
2.3 Ethical and Social Issues of IT.........................................................................................6
2.4 Importance of Intranet and Internet in Business..............................................................7
3. Analysis and Discussion........................................................................................................8
3.1 Role of IT at Barclays Bank.............................................................................................8
3.1.1 Types of Information Systems..................................................................................8
3.2 Networking Technologies at Barclays Bank....................................................................9
3.3 Ethics and Social Issues at Barclays Bank.....................................................................10
3.3 Importance of Intranet and Internet at Barclays Bank...................................................10
3.4 Different Stages of System Development Life Cycle....................................................11
4. Conclusion............................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13

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1. Introduction
1.1. Background Study
The business infrastructures nowadays are incorporating information systems in their
organization with the sole purpose of establishing a consistent data management system.
These information systems are also responsible for bringing in accuracy and reliability in the
overall workflow systems of the companies. Progressions are happening in the technical
world and there are emergence of the trending concepts like ‘Internet of Things’, ‘Cloud
Computing’, ‘Big Data’ and many more (Rostami et al. 2017). Hence, the organizations are
finding the need to renovate and develop their existing systems into new computing systems
to develop new products and solutions, incorporate significant changes in the work
procedures and simplify the decision-making process. Storing information is no more an
issue for the companies after the implementation of information systems (Schwade and
Schubert 2017). The added advantages are easy access to data, finding patterns in them and
generating reports based on which effective decisions can be taken in the business activities.
1.2. Aim of the Research
The research study aims to find the role of the Information Systems in the
organization of ‘Barclays Bank’ and the changes incorporated in their banking system to
provide with efficient services to the customers and make it easier for the employees to carry
out the regular activities by the automated processes within no time. The assignment will
provide with the reviews of different literatures regarding the networking technologies used
in these systems, the associated social and ethical issues and later on analyse it with respect to
the banking organization at Barclays.

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2. Literature Review
2.1 Role of IT in Retail Business Sector
According to Sharma and Kim (2016), the information technology is able to change
the perspective of sales in the retail organizations worldwide. Prior to the information
systems, the customers used to wait in the long queues of the merchandise stores to purchase
their desired items and made payments by cash. However, the emergence of technology in
retail sector allows the customers to check their items in the online websites buy them and
make payments through digital procedures. Laamanen, Lamberg and Vaara (2016), also
states that the implementation of augmented reality by the technological encroachments,
allows the organizations to represent product specifications adhering to minute detailing such
that the customers can make their choices easily. This facility has led to an increase in the
customer contentment and a rise in the sales in the retail sector.
The authors Aranyossy, Blaskovics and Horváth (2018), clarifies that managing the
inventories has become a minimal issue with the application of technological systems. The
technology helps in tracking the item status and provides with real-time updates to the
executives such that the merchandise stores are always in full stock. Irene (2017) mentions
that the technology has also resolved the issues with price auditing. The organizations
succeeds in convincing their customers that they are not overcharging them and helps the
employees to save time by automating the price-checks on the items thus creating mutual
trust between the stores and its customers.
2.2 Different Types of Networking Technology
As said by the authors Kafle, Fukushima and Harai (2016), the networking
technologies can be categorised into two sectors: a) based on their transmission and b) based
on their scale. Based on the transmission type the networking technology has point-to-point

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technology and multi-point technology. The devices that are in direct contact with each other
incorporate the point-to-point networking technology. During the transmission of data
between these devices, a guided medium helps in case of wired network and an unguided
medium in case of wireless network. However, for multi-point technology, the nodes of the
several devices connect with each other in a linear manner with the aid of a common
medium. In this type of networking technology, the data transmission takes place either by
separate time-slots (time-sharing) between the nodes or by establishing communication
between the nodes concurrently at a time (spatial-sharing).
Furthermore, based on the scale the networking technology in different organization
divides into types such as LAN, MAN, WAN and VPN. Ramson and Moni (2016), states that
the Local Area Network is established between the local devices of the organizations such as
the computers, printers and scanners within the range of 100m to 10km. The cables used in
this type of network are the coaxial cables, twisted pair or optical fibres. The Metropolitan
Area Network is established by connecting the multiple LANs of an organization. It makes
use of wireless type of technology such as the Wi-Fi and is dependent on the physical cables
for connecting the devices in the network. As said by Rehm, Goel and Junglas (2017), the
Wide Area Networking Technology allows the connectivity of the devices in an organization
that are miles apart from each other and is beneficial for organization who have different
offshore setups in different countries of the world. By incorporating the Virtual Private
Network, the organizations allows their employees to use the networking system of their
companies and work from home to increase in their production.
2.3 Ethical and Social Issues of IT
As mentioned by Sargolzaei and Nikbakht (2017), technology, although provides us
with numerous benefits, at times poses risks on the world if the users are not careful enough
or are misusing the technology for their own benefit. Hence, while using technology the

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organizations are responsible for ensuring that their information systems meet the five moral
dimensions. The first moral dimension is ‘Right to Information and Obligations that
questions the organizations about the right they possess in acquiring an information and the
measures taken by them to protect it. The second moral dimension is the ‘Right to Property
and Compulsions’ that questions a company about the measures taken by them to safeguard
their digital properties such that tracing and accounting for ownership on them is not possible
for the illegal users. The third moral dimension questions who is held responsible in an
organization for ‘Accountability and Control Rights’ if any illegal actions are performed in
the information systems such as leakage of data. The fourth moral dimension speaks up for
the ‘Quality of Systems’ whether it is well equipped to protect the information rights and the
fifth dimension questions on the ‘Quality of Life’ that is provided by the information system
to add value to human life.
As stated by Pearlson Saunders and Galletta (2019), ethics in an information system
questions for the responsibility, accountability, liability of the information systems. The
ethical issues with regard to these systems are the privacy challenges faced by the
organizations due to the usage of Internet for the operational processes. Computer crimes and
associated abuses are also another form of ethical issue that occurs when any illegal user tries
to hack the network and the systems to carry out illegal activities and harm the organization
at large. Sénécal, Unim and Knoppers (2018), states that the social issue generated due to the
information systems in the organizations are the repetitive stress injury (RSI) or computer
vision syndrome (CVS) that is extending the work hours and disrupting the work-life balance
of the employees in an organization.
2.4 Importance of Intranet and Internet in Business
Wu and Gereffi (2018) mentions the arrival of Internet in the business scenario has
led to innovations like Digital Marketing, different online business models and Internet

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Banking that facilitates both the organizations and its customers to enhance business
communication. The companies can provide its customers with online services that the latter
can access from any place in the world with just an Internet connection in their smart devices.
The companies are also able to attend the issues of the customers and enhance their business
process as per their requirements by acquiring information online.
On the other hand, Banner (2018) states that intranet allows for the enhancement of
the internal communication in the organizations that leads to an increase in the efficiency and
productivity of the business processes, reduces friction and streamlines the operations at
large. Intranet is also responsible for a rise in the engagement of the employees in their work
that provides for efficient services to the customers of the organization.
3. Analysis and Discussion
3.1 Role of IT at Barclays Bank
The banking group at Barclays has adopted the Information System to improve the
services provided to the customers, capture the vicissitudes of the share market and reduce
costs in their operational processes. In the year 1994, the bank invested approximately $20
billion to renovate their systems and increase efficiency in the functionalities of the
organization.
3.1.1 Types of Information Systems
Transaction Processing System: The Barclays Bank incorporated the TPS to record
automatically the daily transactions that are occurring on a regular basis. This system is
responsible in allowing its customers to make online transactions and digital payments thus
supporting millions of transactions to happen at one single time (Mahato et al. 2017). The
bank facilitates its customers with instant loans and payments due to the streamlining of the
transactional processes in their systems. The TPS incorporates detailed information that helps

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the managers and other executives of the bank to process the documents with utmost
transparency. The TPS is also responsible for managing the sales systems of the customers
and the payroll systems of the bank employees.
Management Information System: The management information system at Barclays
incorporates the output from the TPS to effectively manage the regularly generated
information and generate reports to assess the status of the market. The bank uses the MIS to
analyse the operations in the money market, check the investments done in banking and
manage the assets and liabilities of the bank (Antucheviciene et al. 2017). The MIS at
Barclays is also responsible for aggregating, comparing and summarising on the reports of
the budget system of the bank such that they can implement strategic decisions in their
transactional operations and benefit from the investments made.
Decision Support System: The decision support system in the banking organization of
Barclays are responsible for making the optimum strategic decisions such that the bank can
facilitate its customers with the maximum rate of interest and yet make an innumerable
amount of profit in the share market. The banking executives such as the branch heads and
the operational managers take help of the DSS to check the type of investments that are
popular amongst the customers or the type of transactions preferred by the customers and
finally take decisions based on the reports generated by the DSS (Sun, Strang and Firmin
2017). The senior managerial body uses the DSS to invent ways by which the bank can make
the maximum profit from its transactions and sales.
3.2 Networking Technologies at Barclays Bank
Although the network systems at the Barclays bank do not have a direct impact on the
transactional processes and its associated benefits, the networking systems incorporated by
the banks increases the scope of the business at large. The LAN is incorporated in the local

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systems of the organization and in addition to that, the WAN connections in the bank
provides Wi-Fi services to its employees for online documentation and transactional
processes (Nkiru, Sidi and Abomeh 2018). The bank incorporates wireless services at an
enlarged rate to facilitate its customers with online transactions and makes it easier for them
to make payments digitally by using 5G network services.
3.3 Ethics and Social Issues at Barclays Bank
Although the bank at Barclays are providing enormous facilities with online banking
services and loan services, the bank still incorporates social and ethical issues in their
operational processes that they are trying to overcome. The bank adopts blockchain
technology that helps to automate most of the transactional processes. However, the
transactions are at stake because the information associated with the transactions are available
at the central repository for the employees to access it. Moreover, the frauds in online
banking processes are the major issues that the Barclays Banking Association is trying to
avoid by implementing security firewalls in their network (Sharma and Singh 2016). The
bank is responsible for the social and economic development of the country but not at the cost
of high interest rates from its customers. Hence, the bank should streamline its operations to
avoid any type of crisis in the future.
3.3 Importance of Intranet and Internet at Barclays Bank
The internet plays a major role in the online services that is provided by the Barclays
Bank to its customers. The customers can avail to the net banking services by attending the
website of the bank to transfer money from one account to another in a seamless manner. The
usage of internet facilitates the customers of the bank to use the mobile banking services too
and make transactions online or transfer huge amount of funds without any hassle. The
advantageous part is that the bank ensures enhanced security systems like generating OTP for

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encryption at both ends. Again, the Intranet services in the banks facilitates the employees of
the bank to maintain their profiles efficiently in the online directory (Morales and Trinidad
2019). The bank makes use of the Intranet system to make their employees aware of the
change in policies and furthermore allows for an online platform to fill up documents to
maintain a cost-effective approach for the operational processes.
3.4 Different Stages of System Development Life Cycle
The banking organizations are incorporating information systems to enhance their
business processes and reduce costs in their operations. Hence, to implement such systems
effectively in the banking sector, the system development life cycle steps should be
incorporated in the development model comprising of initiation, planning, executing,
monitoring and closure (Sari, 2018). In the initiation phase, the creation of feasibility study
and system requirement specifications document is to be prepared to verify whether the
information system will be advantageous for the banking system or not.
Once the verifications are done, the next step is to plan for the resources and design
the system for efficient banking services. The design should include the customer service
operations, the ATM facilities and the online transaction systems of the banks as the
prioritized features. The execution step is where the system should be built in a robust way
such that the system meets the functional as well as the non-functional requirements
(Sugiandi and Kerlooza 2018). The monitoring phase is the testing phase to detect the issues
in the transactions and operations of the bank and resolve them to maintain quality in the
systems. If the systems are built with optimality, the project manager should call for closure
of the project.

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4. Conclusion
The paper discusses about the role of information systems and its advantages in the
organizations worldwide. The information systems are a product of the new technological
progressions in the world and hence they make the maximum usage of the data generated on
a regular basis from the organizations to extract important information from them. This
information helps the executives present in an organization to make strategic decisions such
that they can satisfy their customers with the best possible services from their end. In the
paper, the information system of the Barclays Bank are discussed in detail to review the
benefits as well as the social as well as the ethical issues concerned with the operations of the
bank. Hence, in conclusion, it can be said that although information systems are beneficial to
various organizations, precautionary measures should be taken at each stage of SDLC to
avoid the ethical issues.

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