Databases+and+Information+Systems

media type="custom" key="4399637" The most common database application is an information system, which is a system of computer hardware, software, and operating procedures. Information systems are designed to meet the information needs of a company, such as tracking income and expenditures, recording transactions, sharing resources, and planning for future growth.

[|Management Information Systems] **(MIS)** - used to track and control every //transaction// through a database. A transaction is any business activity central to the nature of an enterprise. A database stores the information that is at the core of any MIS system.

[|Office Information Systems] **(OIS)** - An electronic office is an office that implements an OIS. Many people thought that the advent of electronic offices would lead to "paperless offices." Unfortunately, computer systems tend to generate more paper documents than their noncomputerized counterparts. This is in large part due to the ease with which printers can now churn out documents, as compared with the precomputer era when documents would have been typed manually.

[|Decision Support Systems] **(DSS)** - Is designed to help management make decisions about an operation. DSS al lows managers to work with "what-if" scenarios. If a business is considering expansion or the release of a new product, a DSS can help determine if the change wouold be likely to succeed or fail. The database could provide information on past performance, which the business owners could use to judge the cost of the expansion and any changes to revenue that might result.

[|Factory Automation Systems] **-** [|Computer-aided manufacturing] **(CAM) and ** [|Computer-integrated manufacturing] **(CIM) ** - are information systems that support factory automation. CAM refers to systems that run an assembly line directly, controlling manufacturing process from shop-floor level of conveyor belts and robots. CAM systems form a portion of a complete CIM system, a higher-level concept indicating a system that controls a manufacturing process from beginning to end.