Book 28 — Information System Design

by The Editor

Introduction

Contents List:

Back to Old Work
Business Systems
Government Systems

Return to:

Title Page
Library
Ardue Site Plan

Back to Old Work

My first two essays on Information and Technology were posted to this site in 1987. They form chapters 1 and 2 of this "new" book.

Thirty-some years after the introduction of computers into government departments, the news media still report dis-spiriting incidents of serious malfunctions in computer-assisted information systems. Hence I have decided to compile a "systems manual" summarising what I have learned during the last thirty-some years.

Business Systems

The success of firms such as Apple, Amazon, and Google shows what is possible. Nevertheless some business systems, even quite large ones, still show signs of strain or inefficiency, usually attributable to cobbling modules together without ensuring systemic integration or compatibility.

Government Systems

On 26 January, 2011, it was reported that Ł1.6 billion pounds paid by workers as National Insurance contributions over a period of years had not been correctly credited to the individual contributors, with possible adverse consequences for the individuals' legal rights to retirement pensions, etc.

On 1 February, it was reported that a new Web site intended to enable citizens to learn about the incidence of crime in their local areas was so popular that the system crashed: but not before several readers complained about the factual inaccuracy of some of the content.

On 6 February, the Foreign Secretary alluded to cyber warfare and stated that attempts by foreign governments to "break into" government information systems had become facts of daily life.

It must be admitted that designing fool-proof systems for government departments is fraught with unusual difficulties. Politicians are always making new laws and amending old ones without paying much regard to the consequences for the information systems on which they rely for support and which are therefore never stable for long enough to eliminate malfunctions and allow long periods of trouble-free operation.

It is therefore all the more important that government systems and their associated sub-systems should at the outset be specified in such a way as to ensure that fundamental unchanging requirements are clearly defined and documented to ensure a robust system "core" around which changes necessitated by legislation may be clearly identified and implemented securely with minimal impact on system operators by the addition of function-specific "modules".

What I offer here is a sort of Mrs Beeton's Book of Computer Management to help all sorts and conditions of information purveyors to serve nourishing and wholesome diets of food for thought. Completeness and consistency together add up to truth.