ABSTRACT
Companies today have moved a long way from the small factory in a town, serving local industry. A typical company today will often have many branches or offices or warehouses scattered around the country or even around the world. The data that was once held manually in ledgers has now moved into many different types of computer systems, ranging from PCs to powerful mainframes. This has resulted in many people possessing some degree of computer literacy, from the secretary who is an expert in word processing, to the Senior Manager who is an expert with spreadsheets. Typically they all share one common goal: to read, update or create company data. This boom in computer awareness and the reliance by companies in using IT as a key component in their overall business strategy has resulted in an explosion of the demands now placed upon computer systems. As a result, businesses are making heavy technical demands on their systems, requesting many new systems, or enhancements to existing ones. This has resulted in a tremendous backlog of requirements, but this is still not stopping the advancement of computing. In fact, if anything, it is probably stimulating it.
