Topic 16

A responsible and systematic approach to implementing or upgrading IT systems, for example, analysis, design, implementation, testing, evaluation, training, policies and standards by Romeo Wu

Information Technology will be one of the key factors driving progress in the 21st century it will transform the way we live, learn, work, and play. Advances in computing and communications technology will create a new infrastructure for business, scientific research, and social interaction. This expanding infrastructure will provide us with new tools for communicating throughout the world and for acquiring knowledge and insight from information.

Information technology will help us understand how we affect the natural environment and how best to protect it. It will provide a vehicle for economic growth. Information technology will make the workplace more rewarding, improve the quality of health care, and make government more responsive and accessible to the needs of our citizens. Information Technology also deals with the design and use of computers and communications for solving a wide variety of problems. It is remarkable that computers, which were only developed about 50 years ago, are now used in such a large number of large organizations.

We accept as part of our normal life that almost all bills and payments from governments and large organizations are printed by computers and that services such as Medicare or Bankcard are possible only because of the effective use of computers. Although the applications of computers are diverse, from printing bills to controlling a blast furnace, they all require that information be stored in the computer and manipulated by computer programs.

There are two main category of Information Technology. Data management comprises all the disciplines related to managing data as a valuable resource. The official definition provided by DAMA is that "Data Resource Management is the development and execution of architectures, policies, practices and procedures that properly manage the full data lifecycle needs of an enterprise."

This definition is fairly broad and encompasses a number of professions which may not have direct technical contact with lower-level aspects of data management, such as relational database management. Data storage is a system for recording information. Recording can be done using virtually any form of energy. A storage device may hold information, process information, or both. A device that only holds information is a recording medium. Devices that process information may either access a separate portable recording medium or a permanent component to store and retrieve information.