ABSTRACT
This chapter describes an information system that people can influence the nature and controls on the input, can choose parameters for the processing, and most important of all, can interpret, understand and use the output. Computing power can be used in a variety of ways to present information, as in computer print-out, microfilm, visual display units, graph plotters, teletypes; but the information that is presented must have a source. The processing of data and the calculations that computing power make possible can contribute to management decisions in two ways. At first, the data in the data base can be combined, grouped and related together, so as to provide a formal reporting structure, a flow of information to form the backbone for the organization. Secondly, it makes the ability to undertake innumerable rapid calculations open up a whole new world to the decision process, and as with all new worlds the rewards are matched by the dangers!
