Auckland Institute of Studies, COMP501: IT Concepts Assignment Report

This assignment, prepared for the COMP501 Fundamentals of Information Technology course, explores core IT concepts. It begins with an overview of information technology systems, discussing the role of IT in organizations, software trends like AI, operating systems, and productivity software. The assignment then delves into the binary, decimal, octal, and hexadecimal number systems, explaining their significance in computer operations and data representation. Furthermore, the report examines e-commerce and m-commerce, detailing their technologies, architectural frameworks, and applications. The assignment also evaluates IT systems and technologies, comparing Intel and AMD CPUs, and different types of information systems, including TPS, MIS, and DSS, and their applications. Finally, it assesses e-books, outlining their features, purposes, advantages, and various formats. The document provides comprehensive insights into fundamental IT principles and their practical applications within various business contexts.

Running head: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Task 1: Information Technology System Concepts.......................................................................2
Answer to Question (a):...............................................................................................................2
Answer to Question (b)................................................................................................................3
Answer to Question (c)................................................................................................................5
Task 2: Usage of IT System and Technology................................................................................8
Answer to Question (a)................................................................................................................8
Answer to Question (b)................................................................................................................9
Task 3: IT System and Technology Evaluation...........................................................................10
Answer to Question (a)..............................................................................................................10
Answer to Question (b)..............................................................................................................13
Answer to Question (c)..............................................................................................................14
References......................................................................................................................................17

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Task 1: Information Technology System Concepts
Answer to Question (a):
Information technology play an important role in an organization. It increase the
efficiency of the business operation and also helps to improve the services that are provided by
the organization (Scarbrough & Corbett, 2013). The application and the software are the main
components of the Information technology. These two component drive the operation of an
information system. Some of the software and the application trends are as follows:
 Artificial Intelligence: Every business wishes for digital transformation. This led the
organization to compete effectively in this competitive market. Digital transformation is
the best business strategy in this environment. The digital transformation can be achieved
by implementation of information system which drives the business efficiently and helps
the business to provide good quality service to their clients. The AI mainly deals benefits
the organization by the machine learning and the natural language processing techniques.
They help to make the business operation automatic and also drives the business
operation effectively. It helps to develop many business factors like customer
relationship, decision making, planning and implementation of the business plans.
 Operating Systems and the application Software: Operating systems deals with the
hardware section of the organization and also generates the interface through which user
can communicate with the hardware implemented. Operating Systems mainly provides
the essential functionalities of the organization like handling hardware resources of
computer systems of the organization, provides user-interface elements and also provides
the platform for the software developers to develop various applications. The most

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effective and efficient Operating System are like Microsoft’s Windows as well as Apple’s
Operating System. The third trending operating system is the Linux which is the version
of the UNIX (Felter et al., 2015). It is a kind of the open source software.
 Productivity Software: The productivity software also helps the business to improve the
productivity and the quality of the production of the business such that they can retain the
customers and also involve other clients with their services. The productivity software
includes Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentation and other Microsoft Office tools
like Outlook and so on (Meyer et al., 2014). This allow the business official to save the
file in an electronic format. They can also keep all the documents secured by the process
of encryption. This allow the business to increase the business security factor.
Spreadsheets allow the officials to operate various numeric calculation and also allow the
officials to display various graphs or comparable charts which help the client to take an
effective and a quick decision. Presentation helps the business to attract the clients
towards their business and also helps to increase the number of clients which increase the
revenue of the organization. The Productivity software also help to visualize various
charts and graphs that are made depending on the input data. Clients can also compare
various products.
Answer to Question (b)
Binary Number System is the process of demonstrating a number in the base 2. The
binary system is represented by zeroes (0) and ones (1). The numbers are represented in the form
of zeroes and ones only. The computer systems use this number system to manipulate and store
data. The main advantage of using the binary number system is the simplicity. The computing
equipment can be generated by the series of switches which can change its position from on to

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off. These switches may be biological, mechanical and electronic. When the switch is in the
position of “On” it represents 1 and when the switch is in the position of “Off” it represents 0
(Mazurkin, 2014).
Decimal Number System: It is the usual process used to denote non integer and integer
numbers. They are denoted by the base 10. The process of representing numbers in decimal
system is known as the decimal notation. It contains numbers like 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Separator operator is also used in this numbering system like “.”. The binary number can be
converted to decimal system. For example:
(1001101)2 = (?)10
 1*26 + 0*25 + 0*24 + 1*23 + 1*22 + 0*21 + 1*20
 64 + 0 + 0 + 8 + 4 + 0 + 1
 (77)10
Octal Numbering System: It is denoted with base 8. The principle of this type of numbering
system is quite similar with the hexadecimal numbering system. In the octal numbering
system there are only seven numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. It is most popularly used for
counting the number of inputs and outputs. Conversion of a binary to an equivalent octal
number is very simple (Jiménez, Palomera & Couvertier, 2013). For example:
(1011000111)2 = (?)8
 001 011 000 111 [Separate in a group of three binary numbers the 1 in the 9th
position is added with two 0s to make it a group of three]
 1 3 0 7 [Decimal equivalent of the binary numbers]
 (1307)8

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Hexadecimal Numbering System: It is the type of positional number system which has the
base of 16. It utilizes 16 different symbols. These are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, A, B, C,
D, E and F. This type of numbering system is widely used by the computer system
programmers and designers. They represent the binary coded data in a user friendly method
(Hatley & Pirbhai, 2013). The conversion of a binary number in the hexadecimal numbering
is also similar as the octal conversion. For example:
(0100111001101111)2 = (?)16
 0100 1110 0110 1111 [divide in group of four]
 4 D 6 F [hexadecimal equivalent of the grouped numbers]
 (4D6F)16
Answer to Question (c)
E-Commerce: It is the process of selling or buying various products from the internet sources.
The technologies that are used in the electronic commerce are supply chain management,
Electronic data Interchange, automated data collection, World Wide Web, email, electronic fund
transfer, Internet Marketing and so on. E-Commerce comprises of three different sectors
electronic markets, online auctions and online retailing (Laudon & Traver, 2016). The
architectural framework of the e-commerce comprises of four basic layers:
Application services: It is the layer where the decision is taken regarding which type of
e commerce application will be employed. E-commerce application are of three types: Customer
to Business, business to Business and the intra-organizational application.

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Data brokerage as well as management layer: This layer mainly deals with the huge
amount of data that are to be transferred to the network. This layer behaves as an interface or the
communication medium through which the service providers and the customers communicate.
Internet and Support layer: This type of layer gives the interface for the e-commerce
applications. Some examples of this layer are the catalogs and the directories. These directory
services consist of the method needed for the data search as well as data access. These directories
handles the huge amount of data as well as transactions that are created to facilitate the e-
commerce.
Messaging layer: The messaging layer comprises of the fax, courier services and the
phone. The electronic messages alter the method of business operation. The main motive of the
electronic messages are privacy, confidentiality and security by the techniques of authentication
and data encryption.
Middleware Services: Middle ware services are provided for the purpose of the huge
amount of networks, other methods of communication and server client technology. These
services are utilized to sum up the dispersed software programs.
Network infrastructure: The main requirement of the e-commerce is the efficient and
effective linkage between the service provider and their clients. This is provided by this network
infrastructure layer.
M-Commerce:
M-commerce or mobile commerce is the subset of e-commerce. It is the method using the
mobile phones or tablet to conduct any kind of business transaction. The technology that is used
in case of m-commerce is WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). This technology helps the

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clients to conduct various services like making payments, financial transactions, sale of goods,
exchange of data and so on (Maity & Dass, 2014). The application of the m-commerce are:
 Mobile Banking: All the banking operations are done with the mobile by installing thee
respective bank applications.
 Auctions: Online auctions can also be done by the m mobile phones
 Stock Market report: Mobile application provides information regarding the trending
stock market.
 E-bills: These are the mobile vouchers or mobile coupons that are to be redeemed.
 Mobile booking and ticketing: Online tickets are booked by various mobile application.
E-Commerce and M-commerce differ in many ways like the e-commerce is the narrower
reach than the M-Commerce as the number of mobile users is huge (Niranjanamurthy et al.,
2013). The overall cost of e-commerce is less than the m-commerce.

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Task 2: Usage of IT System and Technology.
Answer to Question (a)
User requirements Intel CPU AMD CPU
Costs: They are expensive as it
provides many facilities like
power conservation, better
processing speed and better
graphics performance (Stegailov
& Vecher, 2017).
They are cheaper as compared
to the Intel CPU.
Locking Criteria Intel processors get locked at
fixed clocking speed.
They are more affordable than
Intel processors.
Power Consumption They are more efficient than
AMD
They are less efficient
compared to the Intel
processors.
Overall Performance Good Good
Gaming and Multimedia Good Good
Cooling Factor They do not get heated up They heat up faster than the
Intel processors

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Answer to Question (b)
Type of
Systems
Information Inputs Processing Information
Outputs
Users
TPS Transactional
Operations
Listing;
merging;
sorting and
updating
Lists;
summaries
and detailed
reports
Operational
manager
MIS High volume data;
summary transaction
data and high volume
data
Simple
models;
routing
reports and
simple
models
Exception
and summary
reports
Middle layer
managers
DSS Data analysis
equipment and
analytic models. Less
amount of data
Analysis;
simulations
and
interactive
Responses to
the queries;
decision
analysis and
special
reports
Staff
managers and
Professors

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The AIS (Auckland Institute of Studies) should be employed with MIS as they can deal with
proper identity allocation for every students as well as they can handle the proper education of
the students and also allow the officials to handle proper business operation.
Task 3: IT System and Technology Evaluation
Answer to Question (a)
E-Book: This is a relowable and non-editable book which is transferred to digital format that are
also required to be read in the digital service like mobile devices or computer devices (Lumb,
2016).
Some of the features of e-book technology are as follows:
 They are non-editable: E-book are converted in such a format that it becomes non-
editable. This is done because many users or readers can potentially alter the content of
the e-book to misguide others.
 They are relowable: E-book should be reflow able which implies that various users utilize
many different sizes of screens but it is to ensure that the e-book should fit to any size of
the user’s screen.
The main purposes of e-book are as follows:
 Creating leads for the business
 Establishing the authority or expertise
 Teaching the skill
 Entertainment

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There are various forms of e-book like: EPUB, AZW and PDF (Topol & Teirstein, 2015). It has
some advantages like:
 It save the space of the devices: The bookworms or the book lovers may not have that
huge amount of space to store all the books. E-book is a technology where various books
are stored in a single space. This also reduces complexity for the reader. The readers can
now find the e-book just by searching online instead of searching the target from that
huge amount of books.
 It also saves money: This are cheaper than the paperback books. The average price of an
e-book should be below $5 but the average cost of a paperback book is minimum $10.
 It saves the environment: The e-book technology saves the environment from the wastage
of paper. They save energy and also decreases pollution. It is also mentioned that it save
9.6 million plants annually.
 They are portable as well as convenient.
 They can be downloaded easily.
 They are searchable.
The disadvantages are like:
 Piracy
 Non convenient to read
 Printing Cost
Laptop: Laptop is an important kit for the students which enables them to gather information
regarding different topics and allow them to deliver good lessons in their classes. It also helps the

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student to develop new ideas and create some innovative project using those ideas. The student
laptop should have the following features:
 Good software
 Graphics Card
 i3 processor as i5 is expensive
 MS Office 365 toolkit
 Sufficient storage of minimum 1Tb having at least 4 GB RAM.
The purpose of the laptops for the students are like:
 Educational Purposes
 Work: to make various projects, run any programming code
 Entertainment hub
 Personal Use
Advantages of using laptop for the students:
 Portability and Flexibility: The laptop are portable and hence they can be moved
according to the needs. They are flexible to use and also complete the operation
efficiently.
 Peripherals and Ergonomics
 Hardware specs as well as customizations
 Software Support
Disadvantages of using laptop for the students:
 Reinstalling native operating system

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 The students can transfer their sensitive data to a vulnerable network without knowing
the websites
 They can be distracted in various means.
Answer to Question (b)
Network printers are accessible by the network connection and hence can be attacked
anytime by the hacker or the attacker. These can be used by various computers as they are
connected in the network. These printers can be used to scan various documents or can be used
to make the copy of the documents (Müller et al., 2017). The printers are connected in the
networks and thus various computer systems can access the printers such that the documents can
be scanned or printed. The network printer has some proper qualities like Color, Speed, Memory
and Resolution. The usual I/O interface of the network printers is the parallel Centronics
interface which has 36-pin plug. The computer system send the request to the printers in printer
language. These commands are used to handle the compression of data, graphics, color, font size
and so on . There are two languages in the printers: Printer Control language and Postscript
(Merz, 2018). The features of a good quality network printer are:
 Printer Speed: 10 color sheets/minute or 20 black and white sheets/minutes.
 Printer Quality: Minimum resolution is 600*600 dots/inch
 Duty Cycle: Efficient duty cycle range should be between 20000-25000 pages
 Scanner Resolution: Minimum resolution should be 1200*600
 Wi-Fi network Connectivity
 Memory Card Compatibility

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The advantages of this type of printer are as follows:
 Convenience
 Ease of Reading
 Secure Delivery
The disadvantages of this type of printer are as follows:
 Cost
 Environmental Concerns
Answer to Question (c)
MySQL is the free open source database which facilitates the effective management of
the databases by linking them to a software (Nixon, 2014). It the stable, powerful and reliable
solution having the following features and advantages:
 RDBMS (Relational Database Management System)
 Easy to use
 Free to download
 Scalable
 Compatibility
 Data Security
 Scalability
 Assurance of 24*7 hours uptime
 Comprehensive Transactional Support
 Reduce the cost of ownership
 High Flexibility

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 High Productivity
 High performance
The disadvantages of MySQL are (Solichin, 2016):
 Version lower than the 5.0 does not support ROLE and COMMIT.
 It cannot handle large databases in that efficient way
 The SQL check constraints are not supported by the MySQL
 It does contain well developed debugging tool.
MongoDB is the document oriented DBMS. It can handle database which contains enormous
amount of data. It offers flexibility in schema design by managing the storage of information in
lightweight BSON documents (Győrödi et al., 2015). It can accommodate data that are of
different format.
The advantages of MongoDB are as follows:
 Flexibility
 Sharding
 Scalability
 High Speed
 High Availability
 Supported by Ad-hoc query
 Technical support
The disadvantages are as follows:
 High memory Usage

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 Limited Nesting
 Limited data size

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publishing. Springer.

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