Enterprise modeling A top-down approach to detailing the
data requirements of an organization. Enterprise modeling
employs a high-level, three-tier approach, first dividing the work
of the organization into its major functions (such as selling and
manufacturing), and then dividing each of these functions into
processes and each process into activities.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system A set of
integrated business applications, or modules, to carry out most
common business functions, including inventory control, general
ledger accounting, accounts payable, accounts receivable, mate-
rial requirements planning, order management, and human
resources. ERP modules are integrated, primarily through a com-
mon set of definitions and a common database, and the modules
have been designed to reflect a particular way of doing business,
that is, a particular set of business processes. The leading ERP
vendors are Oracle and SAP.
Enterprise system A large application designed to integrate a
set of business functions or processes. Enterprise resource plan-
ning (ERP) systems were the first wave of such systems, which
today include customer relationship management (CRM) systems
and supply chain management (SCM) systems.
Entity In data modeling, the things about which data are
collected, for example, a customer or a product.
Entity-relationship diagram (ERD) A common notation for
modeling organizational data requirements. ER diagramming
uses specific symbols to represent data entities, relationships, and
attributes.
ERD SeeEntity-relationship diagram.
ERM SeeElectronic records management.
ERP SeeEnterprise resource planning system.
Ethernet The name of the original Xerox version of a con-
tention bus local area network design, which has come to be used
as a synonym for a contention bus design. See alsoLocal area
network, Contention bus.
Evolutionary design SeeGenetic programming.
Evolutionary development Any development approach that
does not depend upon defining complete requirements early in
the development process, but, like prototyping, evolves the
system by building successive versions until the system is accept-
able.See alsoPrototyping, Rapid application development.
Executive information system (EIS) A computer application
designed to be used directly by managers, without the assistance
of intermediaries, to provide the executive easy online access to
current information about the status of the organization and its
environment. Such information includes filtered and summarized
internal transactions data and also “soft” data such as assess-
ments, rumors, opinions, and ideas.
Expert systems The branch of artificial intelligence
concerned with building systems that incorporate the decision-
making logic of a human expert. Expert systems can diagnose
and prescribe treatment for diseases, analyze proposed
bank loans, and determine the optimal sequence of stops on a
truck route.
Glossary 675Expert systems shell Computer software that provides the
basic framework of an expert system and a limited but user-
friendly special language to develop the expert system. With the
purchase of such a shell, the organization’s system builder can
concentrate on the details of the business decision being modeled
and the development of the knowledge base.
eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) A set of
XML tags which is being developed as the standard for publicly
traded companies to submit financial documents to the Securities
and Exchange Commission. See alsoeXtensible Markup
Language (XML).
eXtensible Markup Language (XML) A markup language
standard to facilitate data interchange across applications on the
Web. An XML specification consists of tags that convey
the meaning of data, not the presentation format.
Extranet A private network that is a portion of a company’s
intranet, which is made accessible (normally over the Internet) to
business partners outside the company (such as customers or
suppliers).See alsoIntranet.
eXtreme Programming (XP) A so-called “agile” software
development approach in which programmers develop computer
code in a very short time period using programming pairs,
common coding approaches, and frequent testing of each
other’s work.
Factory automation The use of information technology to
automate various aspects of factory operations. Factory auto-
mation includes numerically controlled machines, material
requirements planning (MRP) systems, computer-integrated
manufacturing (CIM), and computer-controlled robots.
Fast Ethernet An approach to implementing a high-speed
local area network, operating at 100 million bits per second
(mbps). Fast Ethernet uses the same CSMA/CD architecture as
traditional Ethernet and is usually implemented using either a
cable of four twisted pairs (this is called 100 Base-T) or a multi-
mode fiber-optic cable (this is 100 Base-F). See alsoContention
bus, CSMA/CD protocol, Ethernet.
Feasibility analysis An analysis step in the systems develop-
ment life cycle in which the economic, operational, and technical
feasibility of a proposed system is assessed.
Federal design An IS organization design in which some IS
responsibilities are centralized and others are decentralized to
best meet the organization’s IT needs. Typically, IS operational
activities are centralized to a corporate IS unit, but systems devel-
opment activities are decentralized to IS groups within business
units to ensure responsiveness to business unit needs.
Fiber optics A transmission medium in which data are
transmitted by sending pulses of light through a thin fiber of
glass or fused silica. Although expensive to install and difficult
to work with, the high transmission speeds possible with fiber-
optic cabling—100 million bits per second (mbps) to 3,200 billion
bps (gbps)—are leading to its use in most new long-distance
telephone lines, in backbone networks to connect multiple
LANs, and in LANs where very high speeds or high security
needs exist.