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Creating and planning the corporate data base system project
Managinginformationsystems Management Information Systems (Third Edition) byJerome Kanter. Published by PrenticelHall. X25.25. 448~~.
A Management Information System is one that aids management in making, carrying out and controlling decisions. This is Jerome Kanter’s succinct definition of an MIS, and he uses it as a basis for discussion and as the starting point for this book. Database Management Systems is a phrase with which we are all becoming familiar, and one may be forgiven for thinking that this is all that is involved in management systems. However, a database is just one component of an MIS - albeit a very important one. Only one chapter is devoted to a discussion of databases, and their
place in the foundation of MIS. Management itself is a phrase which is open to several interpretations, and again Kanter devotes several pages at the outset to delineating clearly the different levels of management and their respective areas of involvement in formulating and controlling company policy. The essence of an MIS is that it should be management-orientated and directed, remembering that flexibility is an important consideration. All these points are covered along with many other relevant factors. Naturally, the centrepiece of a system is the computer, and several chapters are devoted to various aspects of computerization - data
processing and distribution, systems studies and application developments - as well as topics such as the History of computers, Acquiring a computer, Software requirements and developments, and a final chapter on future developments. Kanter has written an extremely comprehensive manual on an important topic, well-supported with clear, easy-to-understand diagrams and case histories to study. All management levels of any company that is using or plans to use - computers on a large scale for information processing would do well to include this book in their library. DAVID ALBURY
Developingdatabasesystems Creating and Planning the Corporate Data Base System Project by L J Cohen. Published by PrenticelHall. 323~~. g35.65.
This book is aimed at personnel in a data processing environment who seek further background to the development of a database system project. There is no undue emphasis on any academic prerequisites and the book is more likely to serve as an introduction to management rather than to provide a designer with any new techniques. Sadly however, the text is without a sensible introduction. By having neither a preface stating the author’s objectives nor a guide as to how to approach the book, the reader does
so
not know whether the book is likely to be helpful or not. As database system work is demanding, it needs a clean approach and hence one must make that sort of demand upon any book on the subject. This is where this book falls down, as it lacks any basic structure. Not only is there no introduction, but there are also no references nor an index. This is useless; left only with a stark list of contents, the reader has little choice but to read all the material from first line to last before gaining an appreciation of the material. The material itself tends to be wordy. The areas covered are: Database Architecture, Package Selection,
Cost/Benefit Analysis and Implementation Specification. Terms are explained well enough and a distinction is drawn between the functionoriented traditional file system and the generalized data system. However, by not placing an emphasis either on case studies or on general principles the reader wallows somewhat between verbose generalizations and glimpses of practical issues. At a price of g35.65 this book is not worth the money nor the work involved in trying to find out what it contains.
R H DAVIS Heriot-Watt University
data processing
A Management Information System is one that aids management in making, carrying out and controlling decisions. This is Jerome Kanter’s succinct definition of an MIS, and he uses it as a basis for discussion and as the starting point for this book. Database Management Systems is a phrase with which we are all becoming familiar, and one may be forgiven for thinking that this is all that is involved in management systems. However, a database is just one component of an MIS - albeit a very important one. Only one chapter is devoted to a discussion of databases, and their
place in the foundation of MIS. Management itself is a phrase which is open to several interpretations, and again Kanter devotes several pages at the outset to delineating clearly the different levels of management and their respective areas of involvement in formulating and controlling company policy. The essence of an MIS is that it should be management-orientated and directed, remembering that flexibility is an important consideration. All these points are covered along with many other relevant factors. Naturally, the centrepiece of a system is the computer, and several chapters are devoted to various aspects of computerization - data
processing and distribution, systems studies and application developments - as well as topics such as the History of computers, Acquiring a computer, Software requirements and developments, and a final chapter on future developments. Kanter has written an extremely comprehensive manual on an important topic, well-supported with clear, easy-to-understand diagrams and case histories to study. All management levels of any company that is using or plans to use - computers on a large scale for information processing would do well to include this book in their library. DAVID ALBURY
Developingdatabasesystems Creating and Planning the Corporate Data Base System Project by L J Cohen. Published by PrenticelHall. 323~~. g35.65.
This book is aimed at personnel in a data processing environment who seek further background to the development of a database system project. There is no undue emphasis on any academic prerequisites and the book is more likely to serve as an introduction to management rather than to provide a designer with any new techniques. Sadly however, the text is without a sensible introduction. By having neither a preface stating the author’s objectives nor a guide as to how to approach the book, the reader does
so
not know whether the book is likely to be helpful or not. As database system work is demanding, it needs a clean approach and hence one must make that sort of demand upon any book on the subject. This is where this book falls down, as it lacks any basic structure. Not only is there no introduction, but there are also no references nor an index. This is useless; left only with a stark list of contents, the reader has little choice but to read all the material from first line to last before gaining an appreciation of the material. The material itself tends to be wordy. The areas covered are: Database Architecture, Package Selection,
Cost/Benefit Analysis and Implementation Specification. Terms are explained well enough and a distinction is drawn between the functionoriented traditional file system and the generalized data system. However, by not placing an emphasis either on case studies or on general principles the reader wallows somewhat between verbose generalizations and glimpses of practical issues. At a price of g35.65 this book is not worth the money nor the work involved in trying to find out what it contains.
R H DAVIS Heriot-Watt University
data processing