Application Areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) - Computer Studies Form 4 Notes

• Introduction
• Application areas Of information and communication technology
  
  • Financial Systems
  • Retail systems
  • Reservation systems
  • Education
  • Industrial systems
  • Scientific and research systems
  • Transportation systems
  • Entertainment systems
  • Virtual reality
  • Library system
  • Domestic systems
  • Health expert systems
  • Office expert systems
  • Marketing & Advertising
  • Security

Introduction

• Computers are used in several areas and industries. Many manual jobs nave been replaced by computers. This has led to processes being faster and efficient.

Application areas Of information and communication technology

• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has impacted on various fields. These fields include:

Financial Systems

Financial systems include

1. Payroll systems
2. Accounting systems
3. ICT in Banks and Insurance companies

Payroll Systems

Uses

• Human Resource Management.
• Salary processing.

Accounting Systems

Uses

• Customer orders entry.
• Billing.
• Inventory management.

ICT in Banks and Insurance companies

Uses

• Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
• Cheques Processing.
• Electronic Funds Transfer.
• Internet banking and Mobile banking.
• Asset finance management such as loan processing systems.

Retail systems

ICT in supermarkets

Uses

• Stock control.
• Electronic Point of Sale (EPOSJ - barcode reader, Electronic Funds Transfer, acknowledging and appending transactions.
• Security such as CCTV cameras and sensors item tags.
• Advertisements and promotions.

Reservation systems

Uses

• Hotel booking.
• Airline booking.

Education

Uses

• Computer Aided Learning (CAL).
• Computer Aided Teaching (CAT).
• E-learning.
• Computer Based Simulation.
• Virtual Learning.
• Record Management
• Exams preparation and processing.

Industrial systems

Uses

• Computer Aided Design (CAD).
• Computer Aided Manufacture (CAM).
• Simulation such as flight simulators.
• Process control using robots.
• Management control such as to keep track of orders, bills and transactions.
• Competitive tools such as designing new products and services.

Scientific and research systems

Uses

• Hospitals-Control lifesaving machines, diagnosis, intensive care units, health expert systems among others.
• Weather forecasting-Analyse climatic patterns and trends. 
• Military-weapons testing, radar systems, launching and guiding missiles, surveillance and tracking target enemies among others.
• Space exploration-Launch space automobiles and monitor flights.
• Nuclear science-Design and testing of nuclear weapons.

Transportation systems

Uses

• Automobile traffic control systems,
• Railway corporations to coordinate the movement of their goods and wagons.
• Shipping control for communication and management of fleets efficiently.
• Airline industry to control the mcn.'ement of aircrafts, take off and landing through the use of radar equipment

Entertainment systems

Uses

• Business presentations for advertisement purposes.
• Internet, radio and television.
• Music related equipment such as synthesisers
• Production of movies and computer games.

Virtual reality

Uses

• Entertainment.
• Training military personnel.
• Education.
• Flight simulation.

Components Of Virtual Reality.

• Gloves.
• Sensors.
• Body suit
• Head mounted display headgear.
• Virtual reality software.

Library system

Uses

• Cataloguing system-Locate books and other resources in an easier way.
• Inventory control system- Determine what books need to be ordered or which ones have been lost
• Sorrowing and lending system- For easier borrowing and returningof library materials.
• E-Libraries- Virtual library on the internet that offers electronic books and other learning materials online.
• Research-Llsing research sites such as google.
• Security -To control theft of books and other library properties.

Domestic systems

Uses 

• Watching movies, playing music and computer games.
• Storing personal information.
• Calculating and storing home budgets.
• Shopping purposes. They provide people with lists of snapping items as well as their prices. They also provide electronic money transfer facilities.
• Internet, radio, televisions, music, games.
• Production of movies and computer games.

Health expert systems

Uses

• It allows experts with no experience of computers to build and evaluate complex disease models.
• Used to disseminate key findings on research on medical treatment outcomes.

Office expert systems

Uses

• Assist in decision making process.
• Support planning and scheduling of activities in offices.
• Solve complex problems by reasoning through bodies of knowledge.

Marketing & Advertising

• Electronic commerce or E-business-Transactions are carried out electronically without physical interaction between the seller & the buyer. This saves on travel costs, time and other resources.
• Electronic presentation- Computers are used to create exciting presentations concerning the products of a business and present them to the audience using presentation software.
• Computers are used to design catchy presentations using animation softwares that can be broadcasted, placed on billboards or on the internet Note: The employee in charge of this work in an organisation is cal led a webmaster.

Security

Law enforcement agencies 

Uses

• Biometrics such as fingerprints, iris, facials, DNA and general database of outlaws.
• Lie detectors in criminology.
• Forensic analysis.
• To speed-up investigations.