Psu Scheduling System

Chapter I

The Problem and its Background

The Problem

The whole world is living with the information age. Information and IT are governing every aspect of our lives. The ever-growing reach of the Internet and the World Wide Web has brought together individuals and public and private organizations as at no other time in human civilization. The Internet, as a decentralized global network of computers, has become the de facto standard medium to transfer data, voice, and video anywhere and anytime. Information can be considered the lifeblood of business and a strategic resource that can provide a competitive advantage. The ability to gather, store, and process information is essential for making timely decisions. As much as 80% of an executive’s time is devoted to receiving, communicating, and using information in performing a variety of tasks. Because all organizational activities depend on information, systems must be developed to produce and manage them.

Before the advent of computers, due to technological limitations, the bulk of management information system consisted of paper reports generated by functional areas, such as accounting, manufacturing, and marketing. Accessing this information was very slow and time-consuming. There was a time lag between the generation of information and its use. Depending on the physical distance between the source and the user of information, the time lag ranged from a few hours to weeks. As a result of the limitation in information management, greater geographical distances from the headquarters implied a higher degree of autonomy for the subsidiaries.

Today, IT comprises computers and telecommunication networks that allow instantaneous International Information Systems Management access to information regardless of the physical distance between the source and the user of the information. A Scheduling system is a system in which the computer plays a major role and this kind of system is needed by every companies and...