Data structures and accessing in data-base systems, I: Evolution of information systems

Abstract

The attention of the computer user community is increasingly focusing on data bases and computerized information systems because of two converging trends. Computerized information systems are coming to play an essential role in business operations, and the hardware and software technology for supporting information systems is in a period of rapid technical progress. In spite of this attention, there is still little common agreement as to what information systems are, the functions they perform, and — from a technical point of view -how they should be designed, implemented, installed, and used. These conditions arise naturally from the newness of the field and the ad hoc nature of existing Computerized implementations. A compounding factor is the wide variety of perspectives of those who discuss information systems — for example, the executive, the management consultant, the systems analyst, the mathematician, and the systems programmer. In this paper, we emphasize aspects of information systems that are of importance to systems analysts, systems designers, and implementors.