Management Info Systems

Business Information system in your career

Wireless cell phone accounts outpaced landlines, and online tools like email and e-
commerce became essential. Over 40 million businesses had websites, and millions
of people used the Internet daily for shopping, research, and information. Businesses
increasingly relied on fast, efficient supply chains and just-in-time inventory
management. With the rise of online news, banking, blogs, and Internet advertising,
customer engagement shifted online, making digital presence crucial. The text
emphasizes that understanding and adapting to these changes is vital for success in
any business career.
Perspectives On Information Systems And Information Technology

 An Information System (IS) can be defined technically as a set of interrelated

components that collect (or retrieve), process, store, and distribute information
to support decision taking and control in an organization.
 In addition to supporting decision making, coordination, and control,
Information Systems may also help managers and workers analyze problems,
visualize complex subjects, and create new products.
The roles of people and organizations

Organizations

 Organizations have a structure that is composed of different levels and

specialties. Their structures reveal a clearcut division of labor.
 A business firm is organized as a hierarchy, or a pyramid structure, of rising
authority and responsibility.
 The upper levels of the hierarchy consist of managerial, professional, and
technical employees, whereas the lower levels consist of operational
personnel.
 Experts are employed and trained for different business functions, such as
sales and marketing, manufacturing and production, finance and accounting,
and human resources.
 Information Systems are built by the firm in order to serve these different
specialties and different levels of the firm.
People

 A business is only as good as the people who work there and run it. Likewise
with Information Systems--they are useless without skilled people to build and
maintain them, and without people who can understand how to use the
information in a system to achieve business objectives.
  For instance, a call centre that provides help to customers using an advanced
customer relationship management system (described in later chapters) is
useless if employees are not adequately trained to deal with customers, find
solutions to their problems, and leave the customer feeling that the company
cares for them.
 Likewise, employee attitudes about their jobs, employers, or technology can
have a powerful effect on their abilities to use Information Systems
productively.
Technology

 Computer hardware is the physical equipment used for input, processing,

and output activities in an Information System.

It consists of the following:

 computers of various sizes and shapes;

 various input,
 output, and
 storage devices;
 and telecommunications devices that link computers together.

 Computer software consists of the detailed, pre-programmed instructions that

control and coordinate the computer hardware components in an Information
System.
 Data management technology consists of the software governing the
organization of data on physical storage media.
 Networking and telecommunications technology, consisting of both physical
devices and software, links the various pieces of hardware and transfers data
from one physical location to another.
MIS in action

 The organization element anchors the package tracking system in UPS's

sales and production functions (the main product of UPS is a service--
package delivery).
 It specifies the required procedures for identifying packages with both sender
and recipient information, taking inventory, tracking the packages en route,
and providing package status reports for UPS customers and customer
service representatives.
 The system must also provide information to satisfy the needs of managers
and workers.
 UPS's management is responsible for monitoring service levels and costs and
for promoting the company's strategy of combining low cost and superior
service.
  Management decided to use automation to increase the ease of sending a
package using UPS and of checking its delivery status, thereby reducing
delivery costs and increasing sales revenues
The problem-solving model

1. Problem identification

Recognise and articulate the problem

2. Solution design

Brainstorm possible solutions without evaluating them initally

3. Solution evaluation

Assess the potential solutions and choose the best one

4. Implementation

Put the chosen solution into action and monitor its effectiveness

The Role of critical thinking in problem solving

 Maintaining doubt and suspending judgment

 Being aware of different perspectives
 Testing alternatives and letting experience guide
 Being aware of organizational and personal limitations
The connection between business objectives, problems and solutions

The six reasons business firms invest in information systems and technologies are
identified as six business objectives of information systems:

 operational excellence;
 new products, services, and
 business models;
 customer/supplier intimacy;
 improved decision making;
 strategic advantage;
 and survival.

When firms cannot achieve these objectives, they become "challenges” or

"problems” that receive attention.
E-Business: How businesses use
Components of a business

 A business is a formal organization whose aim is to produce products or

provide services for a profit--that is, to sell products at a price greater than the
costs of production.
 Customers are willing to pay this price because they believe they receive a
value greater than or equal to the sale price.
 Business firms purchase inputs and resources from the larger environment
(suppliers who are often other firms).
 Employees of the firm transform these inputs by adding value to them in the
production process.
Managing a business and firm hierarchies

 Firms coordinate the work of employees in various divisions by developing a

hierarchy in which authority (responsibility and accountability) is concentrated
at the top.

The hierarchy of management is composed of senior management, which makes

long range strategic decisions about products and services as well as ensures
financial performance of the firm; middle management, which carries out the
programs and plans of senior management; and operational management, which
is responsible for monitoring the daily activities of the business.

 Knowledge workers, such as engineers, scientists, or architects, design

products or services and create new knowledge for the firm, whereas data
workers, such as secretaries or clerks, assist with paperwork at all levels of
the firm.
firms invest in information systems to fulfil and realize the following business
objectives:

 To achieve operational excellence (productivity, efficiency, agility)

 To develop new products and services
 To attain customer intimacy and service (continuous marketing, sales, and
service; customization and personalization)
 To improve decision making (accuracy and speed)
 To achieve competitive advantage
 To ensure survival
Enterprise application and systems

 Enterprise applications, which are systems that span functional areas, focus
on executing business processes across the business firm, and include all
levels of management.
 Enterprise applications help businesses become more flexible and productive
by coordinating their business processes more closely and integrating groups
of processes so they focus on efficient management of resources and
customer service.

There are four major enterprise applications:

 enterprise systems,
 supply chain management systems,
 customer relationship management systems,
 and knowledge management systems.

Each of these enterprise applications integrates a related set of functions and

business processes to enhance the performance of the organization as a whole.

 Enterprise Systems, also known as enterprise resource planning (ERP)

systems, solve this problem by collecting data from various key business
processes in manufacturing and production, finance and accounting, sales
and marketing, and human resources and storing the data in a single central
data repository.
 This makes it possible for information that was previously fragmented in
different systems to be shared across the firm and for different parts of the
business to work more closely together.
Intranets and extranets

 Intranets are internal networks built with the same tools and communication
standards as the Internet and are used for the internal distribution of
information to employees, and as repositories of corporate policies, programs,
and data.
 Extranets are intranets extended to authorized users outside the company

The information systems department

 The information systems department consists of specialists, such as

programmers, systems analysts, project leaders, and information systems
managers.
 Programmers are highly trained technical specialists who write the software
instructions for computers.
 Systems analysts constitute the principal liaisons between the information
systems groups and the rest of the organization.
  It is the systems analyst's job to translate business problems and
requirements into information requirements and systems.
 Information systems managers are leaders of teams of programmers and
analysts, project managers, physical facility managers, telecommunications
managers, or database specialists.

In many companies, the information systems department is headed by a chief

information officer (CIO).

 The CIO is a senior manager who oversees the use of information technology
in the firm.
 The chief security officer (CSO) oversees information systems security for the
firm and is responsible for enforcing the firm's information security policy.
(Sometimes this position is called the chief information security officer (CISO),
where information systems security is separated from physical security.)
 The CSO is responsible for educating and training users and information
systems specialists about security, keeping management aware of security
threats and breakdowns, and maintaining the tools and policies chosen to
implement security.
 The CPO is responsible for ensuring that the company complies with existing
data privacy laws.
 They safeguard personal data have become so important that corporations
collecting vast quantities of personal data
 The chief knowledge officer (CKO) is responsible for the firm's knowledge
management program.
 The CKO helps design programs and systems to find new sources of
knowledge or to make better use of existing knowledge in organizational and
management processes.
Information system services

Services provided by the information systems department include the following:

 Computing platforms provide computing services that connect employees,

customers, and suppliers into a coherent digital environment, including large
mainframes, desktop and laptop computers, servers, and wireless handheld
devices.
 Telecommunications services provide data, voice, and video connectivity to
employees, customers, and suppliers.
 Data management services store and manage corporate data, and provide
capabilities for analysing the data.

 Application software services provide development and support services for

the firm's business systems, including enterprise-wide capabilities, such as
 enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply
chain management, and knowledge management systems that are shared by
all business units.
 Physical facilities management services develop and manage the physical
installations required for computing, telecommunications, and data
management services.
 IT management services plan and develop the infrastructure, coordinate with
the business units for IT services, manage accounting for the IT expenditure,
and provide project management services.
 IT standards services provide the firm and its business units with policies that
determine which information technology will be used, when, and how.
 IT educational services provide training in system use to employees and
offer managers training in how to plan for and manage IT investments.
 IT research and development services provide the firm with research on
potential future information systems projects and investments that could help
the firm differentiate itself in the marketplace.

Learning Objective-aligned

1. A business is a formal complex organization producing products or

services for a profit. Businesses have specialized functions, such as
finance and accounting, human resources, manufacturing and production,
and sales and marketing. Business organizations are arranged
hierarchically into levels of management. A business process is a logically
related set of activities that defines how specific business tasks are
performed. Business firms must monitor and respond to their surrounding
environments.

2. Sales and marketing systems help the firm identify customers for the firm's
products or services, develop products and services to meet customers'
needs, promote the products and services, sell the products and services,
and provide ongoing customer support. Manufacturing and production
systems deal with the planning, development, and production of products
and services, and control the flow of production. Finance and accounting
systems keep track of the firm's financial assets and fund flows. Human
resources systems maintain employee records; track employee skills, job
performance, and training; and support planning for employee
compensation and career development.

3. Systems serving operational management are transaction processing

systems (TPS), such as payroll or order processing, that track the flow of
the daily routine transactions necessary to conduct business. Management
information systems (MIS) and decision-support systems (DSS) support
 middle management. Most MIS reports condense information from TPS
and are not highly analytical. DSS support management decisions that are
unique and rapidly changing, using advanced analytical models and data
analysis capabilities. Executive support systems (ESS) support senior
management by providing data that are often in the form of graphs and
charts delivered via portals using many sources of internal and external
information.

4. Enterprise applications (enterprise systems, supply chain management

systems, customer relationship management systems, and knowledge
management systems) are designed to coordinate multiple functions and
business processes. Enterprise systems integrate the key internal
business processes of a firm into a single software system to improve
coordination, efficiency, and decision making. Supply chain management
systems help the firm manage its relationship with suppliers to optimize
the planning, sourcing, manufacturing, and delivery of products and
services.

5. The information systems department is the formal organizational unit

responsible for information technology services. It is responsible for
maintaining the hardware, software, data storage, and networks that
comprise the firm's IT infrastructure. The department consists of
specialists, such as programmers, systems analysts, project leaders, and
information systems managers, and is often headed by a CIO

Using information systems to achieve competitive

advantage
Porters competitive forces model
1. Competitive rivalry: This force examines the intensity of competition
among existing firms in the industry.
 2. Threat of new Entrants: This force looks at how easy or difficult it is for
new competitors to enter the market
3. Bargaining power of supplies: This force analyzes the power that
suppliers have over the industry.
4. Bargaining power of buyers: This force assesses the influence
customers have on the industry.
5. Threats of substitutes: his force considers the availability of alternative
products or services that can meet the same needs as the industry’s
offerings.

 This model provides a general view of the firm, its competitors, and the firm's
environment.
 Porter's model is all about the firm's general business environment. In this
model, five competitive forces shape the fate of the firm.
Align IT with business objectives

The basic principle of IT strategy for a business is to ensure the technology serves
the business, and not the other way around. The research on IT and business
performance has found that:

 The more successfully a firm can align its IT with its business goals, the more
profitable it will be, and
 Only about one-quarter of firms achieve alignment of IT with business. About
half of a business firm's profits can be explained by alignment of IT with
business

How to achieve align It as a manager?

 Identify your business strategy and goals.

 Break these strategic goals down into concrete activities and processes.
 Identify how you will measure progress towards the business goals (e.g.
metrics).
 Ask yourself "How can information technology help me achieve progress
towards our business goals and how it will improve our business processes
and activities?”
 Measure actual performance. Let the numbers speak.

IT infrastructure: Hardware and software

Infrastructure components

Computer hardware

 Computer hardware consists of technology for computer processing, data

storage, input, and output.
  This component includes large mainframes, servers, midrange computers,
desktop and laptop computers, handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs),
and mobile devices for accessing corporate data and the Internet.
 It also includes equipment for gathering and inputting data, physical media for
storing the data, and devices for delivering the processed information as
output.

Computer software

 Computer software includes both system software and application software.

System software manages the resources and activities of the computer.
 Application software applies the computer to a specific task for an end user,
such as processing an order or generating a mailing list.

Networking and telecommunications technology

 Networking and telecommunications technology provides data, voice, and

video connectivity to employees, customers, and suppliers.
 It includes technology for running a company's internal networks, services
from telecommunications/telephone services companies, and technology for
running Web sites and linking to other computer systems through the Internet.

TYPES OF COMPUTERS

 Business firms face many different challenges and problems that can be
solved by computers and information systems.
 To be efficient, firms need to match the right computer hardware to the nature
of the business challenge, neither overspending nor underspending for the
technology.
 Computers come in an array of sizes with differing capabilities for processing
information, from the smallest handheld devices to the largest mainframes
and supercomputers.

Computer networks and client/server

Client/server computing splits processing between "clients” and "servers.” Both are
on the network, but each machine is assigned functions it is best suited to perform.

 The client is the user point of entry for the required function and is normally a
desktop or laptop computer.
 The user generally interacts directly only with the client portion of the
application. T
 he server provides the client with services. Servers store and process shared
data and also perform functions such as managing printers, backup storage,
and network activities such as security, remote access, and user
authentication.
Secondary storage technology
  PCs have hard drives, and large mainframe or midrange computer systems
have multiple hard disk drives because they require immense disk storage
capacity in the gigabyte and terabyte range.
 Some PCs use floppy disks, but they have been largely supplanted by USB
flash drives, also known as USB drives.
 A USB flash drive provides portable flash memory storage by plugging into a
computer's USB port.

Storage Networking: Large firms are turning to network-based storage technologies

to deal with the complexity and cost of mushrooming storage requirements. Input
and Output Devices Input devices gather data and convert them into electronic form
for use by the computer, whereas output devices display data after they have been
processed.
Operating system software

 The system software that manages and controls the computer’s activities is
called the operating system.
 The operating system is the computer system’s chief manager, enabling the
system to handle many different tasks and users at the same time.
 The operating system allocates and assigns system resources, schedules the
use of computer resources and computer jobs, and monitors computer system
activities.
 The operating system provides locations in primary memory for data and
programs, and controls the input and output devices, such as printers,
terminals, and telecommunication links.
 The operating system also coordinates the scheduling of work in various
areas of the computer so that different parts of different jobs can be worked
on at the same time.
 Finally, the operating system keeps track of each computer job and may also
keep track of who is using the system, of what programs have been run, and
of any unauthorized attempts to access the system.

Application software and desktop productivity tools

Application Programming Languages for Business

 For business applications, the most important programming languages have

been COBOL, C, C++, and Visual Basic. Some of these supports traditional
procedural programming, some support object-oriented.
 Another type of programming is visual programming language allows users to
manipulate graphic or iconic elements to create programs.
Fourth-generation languages
  Fourth-generation languages tend to be nonprocedural, or less procedural,
than conventional programming languages.
 Nonprocedural languages need only specify what has to be accomplished
rather than provide details about how to carry out the task.
 Some of these nonprocedural languages are natural languages that enable
users to communicate with the computer using conversational commands
resembling human speech.

There are seven categories of fourth generation languages:

1. PC software tools,
2. query languages,

3. report generators,

4. graphics languages,

5. application generators,

6. application software packages, and

7. very high-level programming languages.

SOFTWARE FOR THE WEB: AJAX

Ajax

 Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is another Web development

technique for creating interactive Web applications that prevents all of this
inconvenience.
 Ajax allows a client and server to exchange small pieces of data behind the
scene so that an entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the
user requests a change.

Hands-on MIS

 The projects in this section give you hands-on experience in using

spreadsheet software to help a real-world company make a rent versus buy
decision about new manufacturing software, using spreadsheet software to
evaluate alternative desktop systems, and using Web research to budget for a
sales conference.
Foundations of business intelligence: Databases
and information management
The database approach to data management

 A database is a collection of related files containing records on people,

places, or things.
 Prior to the development of digital databases, a business would use large
filing cabinets filled with paper files to store information on transactions,
customers, suppliers, inventory, and employees.

ORGANIZING DATA IN A RELATIONAL DATABASE

 In an information system, a database organizes the data much the same way,
grouping related pieces of data together.
 The relational database is the most common type of database today.
 Relational databases organize data into two dimensional tables (called relations) with
columns and rows.

Database Management systems

 A database management system (DBMS) is a specific type of software for creating,

storing, organizing, and accessing data from a database.
 Microsoft Access is a DBMS for desktop systems, whereas DB2, Oracle Database, and
Microsoft SQL Server are DBMS for large mainframes and midrange computers.
 MySQL is a popular open-source DBMS, and Oracle Database Lite is a DBMS for
small handheld computing devices.
 All of these products are relational DBMS that support a relational database.

CAPABILITIES OF DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

 A DBMS includes capabilities and tools for organizing, managing, and accessing the
data in the database.
 The most important are its data definition capability, data dictionary, and data
manipulation language. DBMS have a data definition capability to specify the
structure of the content of the database.
 It would be used to create database tables and to define the characteristics of the
fields in each table. This information about the database would be documented in a
data dictionary.
 A data dictionary is an automated or manual file that stores definitions of data
elements and their characteristics.

Querying and Reporting

  DBMS include tools for accessing and manipulating information in databases.
 Most DBMS have a specialized language called a data manipulation language that is
used to add, change, delete, and retrieve the data in the database.
 This language contains commands that permit end users and programming
specialists to extract data from the database to satisfy information requests and
develop applications.
 The most prominent data manipulation language today is Structured Query
Language, or SQL

Object-oriented database

 An object-oriented DBMS stores the data and procedures that act on those data as
objects that can be automatically retrieved and shared.
 Object-oriented database management systems (OODBMS) are becoming popular
because they can be used to manage the various multimedia components or Java
applets used in Web applications, which typically integrate pieces of information from
a variety of sources.
 Although object-oriented databases can store more complex types of information
than relational DBMS, they are relatively slow compared with relational DBMS for
processing large numbers of transactions.
 Hybrid object relational DBMS systems are now available to provide capabilities of
both object-oriented and relational DBMS.

Using Databases to improve business performance and decision making

Data warehouses

 A data warehouse is a database that stores current and historical data of potential
interest to decision makers throughout the company.
 The data originate in many core operational transaction systems, such as systems for
sales, customer accounts, and manufacturing, and may include data from Web site
transactions.
 The data warehouse consolidates and standardizes information from different
operational databases so that the information can be used across the enterprise for
management analysis and decision making.

Data marts

 A data mart is a subset of a data warehouse in which a summarized or highly focused

portion of the organization’s data is placed in a separate database for a specific
population of users.

Data mining
  Data mining provides insights into corporate data that cannot be obtained with OLAP
by finding hidden patterns and relationships in large databases and inferring rules
from them to predict future behaviour.
 The patterns and rules are used to guide decision making and forecast the effect of
those decisions.
 The types of information obtainable from data mining include associations,
sequences, classifications, clusters, and forecasts.

 Classification recognizes patterns that describe the group to which an item belongs
by examining existing items that have been classified and by inferring a set of rules.
 IT helps discover the characteristics of customers who are likely to leave and can
provide a model to help managers predict who those customers are so that the
managers can devise special campaigns to retain such customers.

 Clustering works in a manner similar to classification when no groups have yet been
defined.
 A data mining tool can discover different groupings within data, such as finding
affinity groups for bank cards or partitioning a database into groups of customers
based on demographics and types of personal investments.

Telecommunications, the internet and wireless

technology
A computer network

 a network consists of two or more connected computers.

 Each computer on the network contains a network interface device called a network
interface card (NIC).
 The connection medium for linking network components can be a telephone wire,
coaxial cable, or radio signal in the case of cell phone and wireless local-area
networks (Wi-Fi networks).
 The network operating system (NOS) routes and manages communications on the
network and coordinates network resources.
 A network server computer is a computer on a network that performs important
network functions for client computers, such as serving up Web pages, storing data,
and storing the network operating system (and hence controlling the network).

Key digital networking technologies

 Client/server computing is a distributed computing model in which some of the

processing power is located within small, inexpensive client computers, and resides
literally on desktops, laptops, or in handheld devices.
  These powerful clients are linked to one another through a network that is controlled
by a network server computer.
 The server sets the rules of communication for the network and provides every client
with an address so others can find it on the network.

TCP/IP and connectivity

 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) handles the movement of data between

computers. Internet Protocol (IP) is responsible for the delivery of packets and
includes the disassembling and reassembling of packets during transmission.

 1. Application layer. The application layer enables client application programs to

access the other layers and defines the protocols that applications use to exchange
data. One of these application protocols is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP),
which is used to transfer Web page files.
 2. Transport layer. The transport layer is responsible for providing the application
layer with communication and packet services. This layer includes TCP and other
protocols.
 3. Internet layer. The Internet layer is responsible for addressing, routing, and
packaging data packets called IP datagrams. The Internet Protocol is one of the
protocols used in this layer.
 4. Network interface layer. At the bottom of the reference model, the network
interface layer is responsible for placing packets on and receiving them from the
network medium, which could be any networking technology.

Communications networks

Signals: Digital vs. Analog

 analog signal is represented by a continuous waveform that passes through a

communications medium and has been used for voice communication.
 A digital signal is a discrete, binary waveform, rather than a continuous waveform.
 Digital signals communicate information as strings of two discrete states: one bit and
zero bits, which are represented as on-off electrical pulses.

Securing information systems

Systems Vulnerability

 When a system is vulnerable, large amounts of data are stored in electronic form,
they are vulnerable to many more kinds of threats than when they existed in manual
form.
 Systems malfunction if computer hardware breaks down or if a computer is not
configured properly, or is damaged by improper use or criminal acts.
  Errors in programming, improper installation, or unauthorized changes cause
computer software to fail.
 Power failures, floods, fires, or other natural disasters can also disrupt computer
systems.

MALICIOUS SOFTWARE: VIRUSES, WORMS, TROJAN HORSES, AND SPYWARE

 Malicious software programs are referred to as malware and include a variety of

threats, such as computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
 A computer virus is a rogue software program that attaches itself to other software
programs or data files in order to be executed, usually without user knowledge or
permission.

Most computer viruses deliver a “payload.”

 The payload may be relatively benign, such as the instructions to display a message
or image, or it may be highly destructive—destroying programs or data, clogging
computer memory, reformatting a computer’s hard drive, or causing programs to run
improperly.
 Viruses typically spread from computer to computer when humans take an action,
such as sending an e-mail attachment or copying an infected file.
 Trojan horse is a software program that appears to be harmless but then does
something other than expected. The Trojan horse is not itself a virus because it does
not replicate but is often a way for viruses or other malicious code to be introduced
into a computer system.

Spoofing and sniffing

 spoofing also may involve redirecting a Web link to an address different from the
intended one, with the site masquerading as the intended destination.
 A sniffer is a type of eavesdropping program that monitors information traveling over
a network.
 When used legitimately, sniffers help identify potential network trouble spots or
criminal activity on networks, but when used for criminal purposes, they can be
damaging and very difficult to detect.
 Sniffers enable hackers to steal proprietary information from anywhere on a network,
including e-mail messages, company files, and confidential reports.

Denial-of-Service Attacks

 In a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, hackers flood a network server or Web server with
many thousands of false communications or requests for services to crash the
network.
 The network receives so many queries that it cannot keep up with them and is thus
unavailable to service legitimate requests.
  A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack uses numerous computers to inundate
and overwhelm the network from numerous launch points.

Pharming

 Pharming redirects users to a bogus Web page, even when the individual types the
correct Web page address into his or her browser.
 This is possible if pharming perpetrators gain access to the Internet address
information stored by Internet service providers to speed up Web browsing and the
ISP companies have flawed software on their servers that allows the fraudsters to
hack in and change those addresses.

FIREWALLS, INTRUSION DETECTION SYSTEMS, AND ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE

 A firewall is a combination of hardware and software that controls the flow of

incoming and outgoing network traffic.
 The firewall identifies names, IP addresses, applications, and other characteristics of
incoming traffic.
 It checks this information against the access rules that have been programmed into
the system by the network administrator

Network Address Translation (NAT) can provide another layer of protection when static
packet filtering and stateful inspection are employed.

 NAT conceals the IP addresses of the organization’s internal host computer(s) to

prevent sniffer programs outside the firewall from ascertaining them and using that
information to penetrate internal systems.