SMRLS
Winona, Minnesota

March 17, 2006

att: Robert Youngerman attorney public housing matters

Dear Robert Youngerman,
To conclude a tenant statement about questions relative to the value of
"tenant meetings", and related remedies, as a City, we bear an opportunity
cost from the lost opportunity which results from useless propagandistic
meetings (3/15/06 3:00 pm) which apparently need not show any purpose except
argument for the approval for the Winona HRA management.  We can define the
opportunity cost involved also; the negativity of poverty, neglect, misery
and hate which results from the ostracism of public housing tenants within
the City, and by the Winona HRA among others.  We also may define the
opportunity cost as the failure to invent programs which are necessary to
increase useful discourse and useful decision models, and planning.

A government agency is often invented so the public government influence can
counteract short term decision models which result fail to manage the issue
over a longer term.  Housing is an example where landlord explaitation leads
to social decline  This was a lesson learned by the study of economic
decisions that over exploit land and animal life as a sustainable resource,
and people similarly.  The sad lesson of waste and exploitation of this City
as well.

As for the use of "tenent meetings" these have value for improving the short
term, but conditioned by the notice of any expense to the potential of
people.  And a necessary report about the issue of abuses of the "tenant
meeting" process has been submitted.  But in the longer term the tenants
have to hold information related to the function of public housing as a
model.  Many State agencies use public housing to improve the value of their
own work, i.e., State Human Services, HUD as a community resource,
construction and remodeling contracts, workmen in unions, etc.  Tenants
require representation moreso today because the elements of a useful
planning document "tenant satisfaction" is being twisted as if the
incentives of "tenant representation" should cause tenants to lose the
advantage of useful conservaton models as above.  The perverse incentive of
the propagandistic Winona HRA  meetings and newspapers results in the
exploitation of tenants and their families and in the manipulation of
"perverse incentives" for service to corruption of the appointees of the
City.

As this matter is significant to us all, I requested appointment of myself
by HRA Director to a Resident Advisor Board.  And it seem that my requests
for legal assistance before the SMRLS agency could represent an interest of
Winona HRA tenants as a group from that appointment at some date.  If your
office could assist the tenants in the matter of the appointment of myself
to the Resident Advisor Board of Winona HRA, then tenants and interests of
State and projects would be served as described above.  The trade-offs and
advantages to the implementation of a Resident Advisor Board and for
increased emphasis on conservation and strategic efficiency are due tenants
as a right of citizenship and reason.

- tenant
winona public housing

===

SMRLS
Winona, Minnesota

Dear Robert Youngerman,
A note to you on the development of your legal services as well as the
projects of the authorities e.g., schools, public housing, community
programs, etc.  The idea that some external expert who will provide a
package of solutions for large issues such as economic issues, quality of
life, has occasions wher it succeeds.  But the package of solutions is not
as wonderful as the dream of this complete relief that one might hope for.
I am writing you a note that offers a little understanding and recognition
of the misery.  I am suggesting a possible study which uses new technology
that involves almost a half century of math and engineering improvments
which are generally for the good.  But i also suggest that the individuals
within a community program, school, or lifestyle can take punishment because
their causes are not defined and properly dedicated to the will of their
neighbors.  And it is necessary to program the management of such community
facilities, to remain faithful to a dedication to receive support from their
close neighbors.  And the management routines that try to support a little
child-care here, and a little cash grant there, would be detrimental in the
longer term because the mission is community wellness, and social economy.
Most of the technology we have supports all of the planning of the largest
social success for the people who enjoy.  Many places are growing with rates
of 200% per year. As a community citizen and a client of SMRLS, i can enjoy
the progress of the world.  I hope that my neighbors are not withdrawing,
and that they are not restricting access to those modern pleasures.  So
perhaps your presence at a meeting of tenants can serve a purpose tomorow
March 15, at 3:00 - 4:00pm.

As for technology investment, the computer industry has provided us with
access to embedded technology at a universal scope.  These technology
platforms provide a great aid, and they are built to the need and serve the
need they are buit to serve.  Yet new technology also leads to a race to
conquer in many cases.  And the devotion of people within organizations
supported by government should notice the types of corruption and deceit
that lead to unfair advantages and punishment mismanagement and by the use
of a failure of dialog and transparent intentions and beneficial progress.
And the a tenant community is making progress which we share with neighbors
in the City, and we need more of the facility devoted to the education and
wellness of the entire City.  And we require politicians who recognize the
progress as a boon.  We have to shut the others down.  I have read through
your web site this morning.  It would make Shakespeare shirk with pain. Your
organization is looking to solve a riddle which existed 300 years ago.  It
will not enjoy support unless it has adapted a newer approach to the causes
of the infliction of technological supremacy.  I hope i am not beginning to
rant there has been a major information age breakthrough.  We can change the
environment in the world.  It is not at the cost of individuality any longer
as in the mass production systems.  Reading above it shows us that it is at
the cost of various types of trade and human bondage.  The technology
movement explains its approach to freedom as a freedom from drudgery and
toil and giving a freedom to explore and enjoy.  Thanks for corresponding.

- tenant
public community development
winona public housing

attach: planning problem-solving

===

SMRLS
Winona, Minnesota

att: Robert Youngerman attorney legal issues with pubic housing

Dear Bob Youngerman,
In the hope that your office can satisfy a request herein, please receive
this request for legal aid to tenants of City public housing.  Over the last
few days I reviewed our email correspondence of 1/11/06 and 2/03/06 along
with attachments.  In addition the PHA is planning a "tenant meeting" for
3/15/06.  The current request would be from those issues to the present.

We discussed as noted, the issue of a satisfactory housing program which has
continuity with the larger City and region.  The broader society requires
our participation, in that we are not foreign, nor is the imposition of
segregation reasonable.  A professor from a school of education suggests in
a lecture on the introduction of schools of thought that a public accounting
of issues is needed to retain political support for an institution.  Broadly
this is the purpose of this correspondence.  Tenants note that a "tenant
meeting" proposed for tha above date has not specified any agenda.  Also we
note that the neighboring property Maplewood Homes is not operated similar
to this property Schaffner Homes.  The issue is central to "tenant meeting"
issues because tenants of these two properties are not served to the same
ends.  The confused result is caused by inept Winona HRA policies and
management that effects the entire economy of the western edge of the City.
We have lost a dozen franchises and stores and reside on the edge of
economic ruin because of the City public housing management that would
resort to "tenant meetings" without an agenda.  The "tenent meeting" is held
among only Schaffner Homes tenants who would be very limited by age, and
educational technology in general use in the larger region.  The policy is
discriminatory and purposeless for this request we submit herein.

Tenants propose a plan of community revitalization including description
needed to remain in a City and regional support network.  Certain techniques
are needed to smooth the transitions that occur for lower income people in
public housing.  Some persons in Schaffner Homes are very old.  Most of the
persons residing at Maplewood Homes are below 30 years old perhaps an
average of 16 years old.  Each group mentioned should aspire to serve civil
rights and to increase the community beyond a segregated and dying economic
ruin with inept management.  Tenants such as I would round-off the extreme
disparities and make units of interest to feed results into a core program.
This is the way that modern bureaucracy produces efficiency and assures
results.  A proposed "tenant meeting" has not reached the level where a
result beyond fabrication and useless can be attained.  There is not a
bureaucracy that could satisfy anything but political failure by performing
as this City public housing regime prescribes.  We need to address the
failures that result from the supervisory performance involved with our
issue.  And a file attached to earlier corespondence and to this should
suggest a method to integrate the programs for the population, and the City
and region to avoid catastrophy of disjointness among the civic standings of
the people in a democratic City.  Tenants hope to see it is a democratic
City by the implementation of the necessary programs from above.  We find
some falsification of the assets of the City results in more corruption and
short sighted complicity.  Thank you for considering our request for support
of our remedies.  Those remedies notice certain form of technological
currency that exists in the region and produces much of the political
success. I suggest this currency to be in the storage and processing of
information and access to education and training.  Each institution would
need to support the political core to receive like support from the
political core.  The core is based upon electronic business machines and
connectivity into the community which is necessarily a primary motivation.
I feel the City management is using artifice and segregation by age and
income strata for bringing about political sickness.  The "tenant meetings"
seem to be such a device.  Personnel are inappropriate and facilities
dedicated to community development are wasted on the described projects.

 - tenant
public housing
Winona Public Housing

cc: attachment on technologies of departmental bureaucracy

attachment:
similar ideas have been listed here prior

This paper includes some notes relating to the managment of programming
projects (applications) for distributed systems.  A certain vocabulary
applies and has been developed elsewhere, to represent the issues about
advanced communications networks.  Working with the software depends upon a
good understanding about the programming model.  By working with the
vocabulary  and by analyzing why those programs work the way they work the
topic of distributed systems and client server architecture can be studied.

Some of the advanced topics which were recently raised would be Object RPCs
Waite's Group p. 331which are a set of lower level call interfaces for COM,
and also Implementing a COM Client and Server Waite's Group chapter 4, and
chapter 9.

There have been some important developments at the level of computer
languages and object-oriented programming.  One important development has
been that the system protocol used for working with the basic electrical
signals that travel through an information system has become a component of
a distributed system Waite's Group p. 331.  One of the goals of the
Distributed Computing Environment was to provide an RPC (remote procedure
call) architecture that was transport-independent.  Portions of the needed
software used to represent ideas will be found on the client computer of an
end user, and portions will exist as a server-side processing routine, at
the server end.

According to the MIS literature, it is important to manage the design of
these systems as if they are responding to issues found within an
environment of problem solving which, is used to produce a management
information system that will lead to other solutions for other related
problems, yet will not absorb more effort than they can produce by
conceptual design, in measured physical results.  This requires a
centralized research and distribution approach.  (In his definition of a
conceptual design, Radlow suggests that the computer is a machne that
represents a physical world system using representations and symbols.  These
are also the underlying concepts of this conceptual design I am supposing).
And the development of some better higher level application languages would
be considered to be the available research needed for my MIS (management
information systems) problem solving purposes.

Browser Programming
A second innovation has been that programming languages are themselves not
as bound to the machine.  As they are used to operate across a network od
user clients as the author of the linked document would have it.  The
programming performs similarly on all compliant machines which use the
standardized client browsers (Java compliant generally).

One major focus of this paper would concern the advances in the way of the
uses for simpler programming implementations and some of that theory behind
the aspects of the programming model which usefully networks in a dialog
among computing machines.  The book by Amundsen Practical Visual InterDev 6
is on the topic of programming the computer using Visual Microsoft InterDev
6 and it seems to be very well researched.  The early implementions of
machine level programming involved Viaual Basic, Visual C++, and several
other standard binary implementations for reusable component-ized software
installations.  There was a profit-oriented and market oriented approach to
those early tools and a noisy communication of information which had
resulted.  But the improvements that were generated by individuals and small
group collaborations have led to a modern pattern of distributed
applications over broad networks of end-users.

A Distributed Objects Overview
A study of the DCOM system that Microsoft is developing Waite Groups p. 323
reveals the problems that Microsoft is trying to solve.  A distributed
system is many things to many people so far as the definition is concerned.
Waite Group's book states their definition of a distributed system is p.
323, "a collection of software entities physically spread out across two or
more computers, working together to achieve a goal in common".  The
definition here includes a file sharing arrangement, but some computer
programmers would not define a distributed system as that.  Yet the Waite
Groups says that whether the computers are aware that files exist on other
computers, not locally, does not matter at all.

There are however, those distributed systems built with explicit knowledge
of a computer network or communications link.  These systems are designed
from the beginning so that the system's constituent software components are
executed on separate machines  (an object-oriented approach).

DCOM is the outgrowth of the evolving technology called distributed objects.

Initial client server implementations were designed to place some core
application functions such as user interfaces, and simple data validation
routines locally, at the client user's machine.  And an interesting
consequence of client/server computing is that the mainframe can be turned
into a sort of super-server, providing database and business logic services
for all of the PC based clients.

The mainframe server is not too far back in its time of usefulness though.
A mainframe is the embodiment Waite's Group p. 324 of centralized computing,
and it is an archetypal example of a nondistributed system.  The need for
mainframes has actually increased in spite of the option for distributed
systems.  Credit card companies, and insurance firms, and telephone
companies (late 1990's) possess a massive volume of information processsing
need.  Only mainframes can be used.

Two, and Three-tier Network Architecture
Client/server computing has been evolving.  The two-tier model is based upon
a client having all the user interface functionality, and the business logic
required by the system (fat client).  While the server is the second-tier
where the application data is located.  Application data is often stored in
some type of a database and is often stewarded by a database server program.

The client applications which may be many in number, each running at its own
client workstation -send requests to the database whenever the application
needed information or data stored in the database (i.e., inventory
database).  A two-tier client/server system is still a good fit for a
smaller departmental type of application.

However, the two-tier architecture does suffer from several deficiencies.
For one, each client requires the working interface with much of the
business rules portion of the application.  So the application as a
multi-user system is dependent on each client, and the clients can be too
many to service at the level neeed for tweaking of the applicaton.

In addition to the upgrade/maintenance issues above, the database itself is
connected to all the clients and changing the structure of the database in a
significant way will also affect the ability of the many clients which
search the server database by direct connection with its DBMS.  And it is
also more difficult to use more than one application running on/per client
when the data for several applications all must agree to the same DBMS
format.  And a change in any application on the clients could again affect
the multi-user system of clients to the degree that their performance of any
other tasks may be stopped by a need to repair and upgrade that one
application being altered.

One can yet imagine the solution to the problem issues of a two-tier network
architecture.  The issue of several applications running on a single client
being dependent on the single machine, can be addressed by giving each of
the applications an application server.  A corporate research department has
a server, and the financial department has a server, and personnel has a
server for its application also.  But unless we are considering an
enterprise with 5000 employees, too many servers can be a problem.

But first consideration is that you do not want a system where all  the
clients are directly connected to the main server.  So it is necessary to
have at least two servers, which makes this a three-tier network
architecture.  But the use of object oriented-programming can allow more
reliability of use for an application server which has been (would be)
designated to run several different applications.

In a three-tier architecture network system the clientsstill maintain
responsibility for the user interface, and perhaps a limited amount oif
validation.  Because these clients in a three-tier architecture contain a
minimum amount of functionality, these programs are sometimes referred to as
thin-clients.  The use of the web itself to manage individual clients, i.e.,
the Microsoft Windows operating system updates is not related to the core
functions of the application.

There is some basis to the fact that the use of a good relational database
which is object-oriented can be shared between applications.  So that part
of the server issue can be partly controlled.  The remainder is probably
related to sufficient programming of applications and the use of classes
that will work well together.  The  application suites such as Microsoft
Office and Lotus Smart Suite can be considered as classes which can be
managed using script.  And most of this application becomes more manageable
from the use of such integrated applications as a foundation.  But hat I
really wanted to mention was that early techniques for using multiple file
compiling and #include files, in C language were a method to change parts of
the program without interfering with the interface, or some of the
non-involved objects.

Introduction to Information Systems
As far as information processing, a management information system addresses
issues of a longer term nature.  A system is a process which changes and
adapts as it is growing to meet challenges.  A management system involves
organizational planning and operations within several functional work areas.
The environment within which this takes place can be conceptualized as
having subsystems, which  are parts of a supersystem.

Another issue about systems is the possibility for management modeling and
simulation.  This may be a significant management system to some who are
competent to be managers.  There is a certain school that manages using a
spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet is also backed by the brute force of the club.
Is that a goal for managers?

In Simulation James Radlow Computers and the Information Society,
McGraw -Hill 1986, chapter 13 p. 366 he states, "Before a computer
simulation can be developed, it's necessary to identify a system and to
construct a model of the system."   A computer model is based upon
mathematical equations.  When different numbers are substituted into the
equations the alternatives to the current system state can be tested (state
is the operative word).

Various formulas based upon the results of empirical research are written
about in the mathematical/professional literature.  The formulas are the
basic knowledge which is needed in order to utilize mathematics and software
to evaluate the current data.

Computer simulations in the social and environmental sciences start with
computer programs that model our economy, our environment, and the society
as a whole.  A computer  model of the water supply in the country would be
used to simulate the demand for waterin the future, and in different areas
in particular; as well aspossible new supplies of water, and pollution
issues.



The physical system which is under study is be described within our
conceptual system, which uses conceptual resources-information and points of
data -to represent a physical system.  Books which are available
commercially may contain information about the process of designing the
information system and about computer programming, and about the ways to
utilize various computer programming environments.


Computer programming is a subject which relates to both the documentation
and design of the management information system (MIS), and the life-cycle of
the system after it has been designed.  Applications for the management of
data (Access database) often allow the user to diagram the data which is
contained and utilized by the system.

And the final products of the system may be distributed using a network to
various client browsers (browser programming, above).


Theory
After a solution of this problem has been devised, it will be possible to
consider problems which may be related in terms of their solvability.
Problem-solving itself involves a system.

In general the solution of this problem will lend itself to the solution of
problems which require a computerized management information system.  A
knowledge of the environment which is used to (problem-solve) design and
implement a management information system will lead to system further system
programming designs and more development capacity.

Other considered problems based upon text-based data (nominal), and
statistics (formularea) might have related solutions, although computerized
system is not implemented in all cases.

Design issues in large computing problems include the distribution of
information, or the design of effective systems which do not absorb more
effort than they can produce by conceptual design, in measured physical
results.


DISCUSSION
The information in this section is adopted from the book by Ray McLeod, Jr.,
Texas A & M University, Management Information Systems - A study of
computer-based  information systems.  publ. Prentice Hall, New Jersey 1995.

Introduction to the computer-based information system - Chapter 1
Information management
The manager and systems
A model of a computer-based information system
An example of a management information system
The information services organization


Using Information technology for competive advantage - Chapter 2
Competitive advantage
What are information resources?
Who manages the information resources?
Strategic planning
Strategic planning for information resources
End-use computing as a strategic issue
The information resources management concept


The general systems model of the firm - Chapter 6
Introduction
Models
The general systems model
Putting the general systems model in context

The systems approach - Chapter 7
Introduction
The systems approach
Preparation effort
Definition effort
Solution effort
Review of the systems approach
Putting the systems approach in perspective

Fundamental of computer processing - Chapter 9
Introduction
The computer as an element in an information system
Computer architecture
Primary storage
Input units
Output units
The role of input and output devices in problem solving
Software
The role of software in problem solving
Keeping input efforts to a minimum

The database and database management system - Chapter 10
Introduction
The hierarchy of data
Data management
Secondary storage
The relationship of secondary storage to processing
The predatabase era
The dawn of the database era
The database concept
Database structures
Database software
Creating a database
Using a database
A model of a DBMS
The database administrator
Putting the database and DBMS in perspective

Data communications - Chapter 11
Introduction
The basic communication model
Computer-based data communications
Communications hardware and software
Basic network approaches to processing
Local area networks
Protocols and network architectures
Network management
The role of datacom in problem solving

The accounting information system - Chapter 12
Introduction
What is data processing?
The accounting information system
Data processing tasks
Characteristics of the accounting information system
A sample accounting information system
System overview
The major subsystems of the distribution system
Fill customer orders
Order replenishment stock
The role of the accounting information system in problem solving
Summary

The management information system - Chapter 13
Introduction
What is a MIS?
The concept of organizational information subsystems
Executive information systems
Marketing information systems
Manufacturing information systems
Financial information systems
Human resources information systems
The MIS and human factors considerations
Putting the MIS in perspective
The MIS and problem solving
Summary

Decision support systems - Chapter 14
Introduction
Decision making
The DSS concept
DSS objectives
A DSS model
Periodic and special reports
Mathematical modeling
Simulation
A modeling example
Modeling advantages and disadvantages
Computer graphics
Group decision support systems
The role of the DSS in problem solving
Summary

Office automation - Chapter 15
Introduction
Office automation
OA applications
The role of office automation in problem solving
Summary

Expert systems - Chapter 16
Introduction
Artificial intelligence
The appeal of expert systems
An expert system model
The user interface
The knowledge base
The inference engine
The development engine
A sample expert system
Advantagesand disadvantages of expert systems
Neural networks
Multimedia in the CBIS (computer-based information system)
Summary

Managing information resources - Chapter 22
Introduction
The CIO as a member of the executive committee
Global, quality, and ethics influences
Safeguarding information resources
Systems security
Contingency planning
Business process redesign
Information management cost reduction strategies
The future of the CIO
Summary


NOTES

Chapter 1
Learning Objectives
Know the main types of resources that are available to a firm
Appreciate that information needs to be managed just as any other resource
Understand why there is so much interest in managing information now
Who the users of computers are
Have an introductory understanding of systems concepts
Know the difference between data and information
Know the elements of the computer-based information system (CBIS) and how
they evolved
Be familiar with th types of information specialiosts who can assist the
user in developing information systems
Understand that users are doing more and more of their application
development, and how this trend affects information specialists
Appreciate the difficulty of economically justifying the cost of a computer
system
Understand how a computer system evolves through a life cycle and recognize
the roles played by the manager and information specialists
Understand that information systems belong to their users, not to the
information specialists

Introduction to the computer-based information system - Chapter 1
Information management (P. 4)
The manager and systems (p. 13)
A model of a computer-based information system (p. 19)
An example of a management information system (p. 20)
The information services organization (p. 22)

Information management
The interest in information management is a result of factors i.e., business
has become more complex, the computer has acheved higher capabilities.
Managers of a firm should be computer literate, but more important, they
should be information literate.  A main resource of a firm is the
information processor a physical resource.  A firm needs to develop an
information services organization to provide expertise in the development of
computer-based systems.  Users of computers have begun to attempt some of
the work of the specialists -a phenomenon called end-user computing.

A manager uses many reports or information displays to reflect the physical
condition of the firm with operations scattered over a wide area, and
several thousand employees.

Main Types  Of Resources
(1) Personnel
(2) Material
(3) Machinery and plant
(4) Capital (operating money)
(5) Information (including data)

Information and data are a conceptual resource which is used to manage the
other physical (1-4) resources.  A manager of information resources ensures
that the necessary raw data is gathered and then processed into usable
information.  The information is also distributed by the appropriate
manager.  The result is that the effective production and use of information
serves the firm.

Complexity growth (increase) involves international marketing influences,
worldwide competition, technology which increases competition, technology
which increases speeds of business, and external anti-forces which opposes
new business (pollution etc.), tariffs, laws.

The users of a computer-based information system include many non-managers
and staff specialists using the output as well.  Users exist outside the
firm itself, customers of the firm receive statements, stockholders receive
dividend checks, and the government receives tax related reports.

The scope of the firm's computers is extensive and it serves the need for
problem-solving information, rather than for the production of management
information.  The information service function is a branch of the
organization which is in the firm's functional area, along with
manufacturing, finance, marketing, and human resources.  The functional
areas satisfy the need for organization, planning, staffing, direction, and
control.  This would include the functions of the figurehead, the watcher
(monitor), and the entrepreneur (one man show) dimensions, in addition to
spokesman, leader, negotiator, resource allocator, and enforcer.  It's not
surprising that many managers perform several of these functions at the same
time, or in the same spirit: allocating resources while negotiating.

As for problem-solving skills of a manager the problem is defined as a
condition, for which the outcome of a problem-solving activity is, the
solution.  During the problem-solving process, managers are supposed to
become reliably engaged in decision making.  A decision is a course of
action.

Information literacy consists of understanding how to use information at
each step of the problem-solving process, and where that information can be
obtained, and how to share information with others.


The manager and systems
A system is a group of elements that are integrated with the common purpose
of achieving an objective.  An organization such as a firm or a functional
area (specialty) fits this definition.  The organization consists of the
resources that we identified earlier, and they work toward achieving
particular objectives that are specified by the owners or management.

A particular type of a system which has no control mechanism element,
feedback loop element, or objectives element  is called an open-loop system.
The open-loop system is known for the trait that it is not able to control
its own operations.

A closed-loop system has a programmed objectives element, a control
mechanism element,  and a feedback loop element.  The feedback loop element
is connected to the control element, where the objectives are programmed and
monitored.  The closed-loop system is a internal loop of control, type of
system.

A system which is not connected to the environment (i.e., for inputs and
resources) is called a open system.  Such open systems exist in tightly
controlled laboratories.

A system which is connected to the environment by means of resource flows is
called an closed system.  A company's heating system which may receive power
from an electric grid  and produce the heat for offices in the comany's
building would be an example of an closed system.  It may be useful to think
of a closed electric circuit having a dimmer switch, for remembering which
is the closed system.

A systems view regards business operations as systems embedded within a
larger environmental setting.  This is an abstract way of thinking, but it
has potential value to the manager.  The systems view:

(1) Prevents the manager from getting lost in the complexity of the
organizational structure and details of the job,
(2) Recognizes the necessity of having good objectives,
(3) Emphasizes the importance of all of the parts of the organization
working together,
(4) Acknowledges the interconnections of the organization with its
environment, and
(5) Places a high value on feedback information that can only be achieved by
means of a closed loop system.

Consultation
A Decision Suport System (DSS) is an information-producing system aimed at a
particular problem that a manager must solve and decisions that the manager
must make.  The manager can be located anywhere in the organization-on any
level and in any functional area.

The Management Information System (MIS) is considered to be an
organizational resource..  the MIS is intended to provide problem-solving
information to a group of managers in a general way, whereas the DSS is
intended to support a single manager in a specific way (p. 19 MIS text).
The textbook states, "We regard the management information system (MIS) as
an information-producing system that supports a group of managers who
represent an organizational unit such as a management level or a functional
area.  Another piece of information provided by an IBM manager eluded to the
longer-term life-cycle of a MIS.

An Expert System (ES) is one that functions as a specialist in an area.  For
example, an expert system can provide some of the same assistance to a
manager as would come from a management consultant.  Expert systems are
becoming characteristic of computer use, as firms pioneer these innovative
applications.

Communication
Office Automation (OA) facilitates communication and increases productivity
among managers and office workers through the use of electronic devices.
Office automation has grown to include applications such as word processing,
video conferencing, voice mail, electronic mail, electronic calendaring,
facsimile transmission, and desktop publishing.

A model of a computer-based information system
The computer portion of the information processor contains each of the
computer-based application areas -AIS (accounting information system), MIS,
DSS, OA, and ES.  We use the term computer-based information system (CBIS)
to describe the five subsystems that utilize the computer.  All the CBIS
subsystems provide information for problem-solving.  Information is used in
making decisions.  The information produced in the subsystems is a resource
which is an input into the problem-solving process.  The result of the
problem-solving process (in this model) would be the problem-solution.

An example of a management information system
The marketing division of a life insurance company uses an information
system that consists of a notebook of computer printouts prepared each
month.  Some of the printouts are intended to help marketing managers plan
future personnel hiring programs.

A report among the group of reports, is a projection of sales for the next
forty-eight months, along with corresponding personnel needs.  From left to
right .. the columns of this report are: (1) month, (2) sales goal for the
month, (3) the portion of sales to be made by sales agents currently
employed by the company, and (4) the portion to be made by new agents of the
company.  New agents will be needed to meet the increasing sales goals and
to replace agents who are promoted or leave the company.

In the center the number of agents needed to meet the sales goals is
identified.  The "To Hire" colunmn indicates the number of agents to be
hired that month.  The right-hand columns identify the number of recruiters
that will be be needed to hire new agents.

The report is an example of how a firm's objectives can provide the basis
for determining the human resources needed to meet those objectives.

The information services organization
The term information specialist is used to describe any of a firm's
employees who have full-time responsibility for developing and maintaining
computer-based systems.  There are five main categorties of information
specialists -systems analysts, database administrators, network specialists,
programmers, and operators.    These specialists have traditionally worked
together, and with the user, in developing computer-based systems.  The
ultimate flow of information is from the computer to the user.

System analysts work with users in developing new systems and in improving
existing systems.  Systems analysts are expert at defining problems and in
preparing written documentation of how the computer will assist in solving
the problems.

Information specialists have always had more work than they can handle.  It
became a critical situation in the 1980's when users began making demands on
information services for additional systems support.  The information
specialists could not respond fast enough and the work backlog meant
backlogs of jobs waiting for the computer.  The introduction of lower-cost
computers and software mass production contributed to the evolution of
End-User computing (EUC).

In many cases the user will work with information specialists in jointly
developing systems.  This means that information specialists can assume more
of a consulting role than they have in the past.  The help desk service and
support for end users of software which is purchased from the major software
sales companies (i.e., Microsoft, Lotus) indicates the result of an end-user
computing communication chain.

Chapter 2
Learning Objectives
Understand the relationship between a firm and its environment
Recognize that a firm can control its environment to a certain extent
Appreciate that competitive advantage can be achieved by managing the
information flows that connect the firm to all environmental elements
Know what the information resources are, and who manages them
Understand the meaning of the chief information officer concept
Be aware that the firm's executives chart its course through its competitive
environment by engaging in long-range, strategic planning
Appreciate why it is so important that the top-level managers in each
functional area cooperate when developing their own strategic plans
Have an idea of the content of a firm's strategic plan for its information
resources
Know the ingredients that comprise thje modern concept of information
resources management

Using Information technology for competive advantage - Chapter 2
Competitive advantage
What are information resources?
Who manages the information resources?
Strategic planning
Strategic planning for information resources
End-use computing as a strategic issue
The information resources management concept

Competitive advantage
In the computer field, competitive advantage refers to the use of
information to gain leverage in the marketplace.  The idea is that the firm
does not have to rely entirely on super physical resources when engaged in
competition.  Rather, superior conceptual resources-data and information-can
be used as well.  The firm's managers use conceptual as well as physical
resources in meeting the strategic objectives of the firm.


The physical system is to be described by our conceptual system, which uses
conceptual resources-information and data-to represent a physical system.

What are information resources?

==========


There is a three-level framework that is applicable to all databases.

(1) The bottom level of any database stores the elemental pieces of data.
Leaving aside for the moment the question of how best to store these
individual bits (binary digits) and bytes (8-bit units, or characters), we
will agree to call the storage base the internal level of any database
system.  See pg. 200  Computers and the Information Society, by James
Radlow.

(2) As for the next level of storage, a database consigns bits and bytes of
data to fields (related groups of characters treated as a single entity;
e.g., a NAME field) and finally to records (related groups of fields treated
as a single entity; e.g., all the fields -name, social security number,
shift, salary, years worked, and so on- making up the records of an
individual employee of a company).  The organization of fields and records
in a database is called the conceptual level of the system.  Organization at
this level is again very involved because all of the records in the database
are included at the conceptual level..

(3) The top level, is the only level seen by a user of the application.  The
user would be the person who is concerned with the task of updating and
searching the database system for information.  The top level is known as
the external level of the database system.  The user would use english
language queries or SQL to the system, which would reply with printed
output.  The users of the system may be divided into user groups.  Each of
the user groups corresponds to a subset of the data which is known at the
conceptual level of the system.  When database programming with Visual Basic
is being considered the correspondence between the top level the is used by
user groups and the conceptual level of the organization of files, is
described as a Class Module within the database system.  A Form view or a
Report is thought of as a module, which translates to an object or a class
module as now mentioned in a book by Romans (notes_29 on Maria) but I do not
know the title for the time being.  A standard module differs from the class
module in that it is not associated with any other object in particular, and
that standard modules contain general procedures that can be run from
anywhere within your database (larger scope).  The procedures which are
written into class modules associated with reports etc., can also call
procedures which you as a programmer have added to standard modules.

The user sees only the top level which is an overall wide-eyed view of the
database.  It shows the total information of a database to a particular
group of users.  Each of the groups of users may see a somewhat different
database structure.  The different displays of the database are named
"views".  And the "view" which a group of users is provided will depend upon
their company function and their requirements.  At this level an application
level language, such as Microsoft Access, or Visual Basic, and Superbase's
Visual Design Tools, provide a DBMS interface for programmers who want to
program the database's Jet DBMS.  We have found that the tools are so
tightly integrated that they melt together with the DBMS to link the top
level to the conceptual level, and to the FMS (File Management System).  The
application level language design tools are used to store the user's input
related to how the internal (bottom) level of the database should be
structured, and also what the views of the data will show.

Functionality
The inherent functionality of objects is one of the great strengths Visual
Basic (also applies to the other application level software mentioned) -once
objects are placed on a form and their properties are set, they are ready to
run without additional programming.  The project file that maintains the
list of all of the supporting files in a programming project is called the
Visual Basic Project (*.vbp) file.  More than one can be loaded into the
Program Window (feature of the Visual Basic IDE) at once.  The Project
Window displays the components of each project in a tree structure similar
to the one provided by Windows Explorer software.

The issue of the correspondence between the internal level of the database
and the top pertains to the subject of data independence.  The database
would have the design feature of being used in three parts internal level,
conceptual level, and top level, and a database administrator who is adding
to the database at the internal level, that being more storage media, or
additional files of data will not affect the top level users and their view
of the database system.

In the case of many publicly available databases an access charge is
involved.  Then the user will begin a session by searching the information
utility's reference database for possibly useful references.  The user then
accesses these references in the utility's source database which is made up
of books, technical and scholarly journals, magazines and newspapers.  If
the source material looks promising, then the user has it written to disk
(stored in permanent memory storage).  The user then hangs up the connection
to the information utiity and orders a printout -onscreen, on paper, or
both -for further study.

General Purpose Information Utilities
Many privately owned terminals, are not permanently wired to a host at a
college, business or governmental agency. but are used exclusively as a
means to access to one or more public information utilities.  These
terminials are connected to the information utility's computer only at
access time, and the wires used are the telephone lines, a specialized
network, or cable television lines.

General-purpose informatio utilities offer both general interest and
specialized databases -for example national news, financial data, recipes,
or information about computers -as well as such communication services as
electronic mail, electronic bulletin boards, and multiplayer electronic
games.  Some of the general-purpose information utilities known today
areCompuServe and The Source and the pattern of use shows that there is
large public demand not merely for business information (Lockheed's DIALOG
system, LEXIS, etc.) but also for general information and recreational
databases.  It could be argued that personal computer users are voting with
their dollars for public information utilities as universally necessary
services.

The growing system or networks and information utilities, linking
microcomputers to large computers, as well as to other microcomputers, may
do for the computer what the national; highway system did for the
automobile.

The Relational Data Model
Large database systems must be extremely well organized Radlow p. 202 at the
conceptual level, if users are to be able to out their search and updating
(i.e., inserting and deleting) operations efficiently.

One way to describe the organization of data at the conceptual level of a
system is to set up tables whose rows correspond to records and whose
columns correspond to fields of these records.

========
===The law as it is in U.S.A ===
Within the document by HUD regarding PHA Plans, are these contents:

1) Nondiscrimination. A PHA must carry out its PHA Plan in
conformity with the nondiscrimination requirements in Federal civil
rights laws, including title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the
Fair Housing Act. A PHA cannot assign persons to a particular section of
a community or to a development or building based on race, color,
religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin for
purposes of segregating populations (Sec. 1.4(b)(1)(ii) of this title).

2) (i) HUD regulations provide that PHAs should take affirmative steps
to overcome the effects of conditions which resulted in limiting
participation of persons because of their race, national origin or other
prohibited basis (Sec. 1.4(b)(1)(iii) and (6)(ii) of this title).
    (ii) Such affirmative steps may include but are not limited to,
appropriate affirmative marketing efforts; additional applicant
consultation and information; and provision of additional supportive
services and amenities to a development.

    (3) Validity of certification. (i) HUD will take action to challenge
the PHA's certification under Sec. 903.7(o) where it appears that a PHA
Plan or its implementation:
    (A) Does not reduce racial and national origin concentration in
developments or buildings and is perpetuating segregated housing; or
    (B) Is creating new segregation in housing.
    (ii) If HUD challenges the validity of a PHA's certification, the
PHA must establish that it is providing a full range of housing
opportunities to applicants and tenants or that it is implementing
actions described in paragraph (d)(2)(ii) of this section.
    (e) Relationship between poverty deconcentration and fair housing.
The requirements for poverty deconcentration in paragraph (c) of this
section and for fair housing in paragraph (d) of this section arise
under separate statutory authorities and are independent

And this is about PHA Resident Advisory Boards:


[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 24, Volume 4]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 24CFR903.13]

[Page 306-307]

                 TITLE 24--HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER IX--OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING,
               DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

PART 903_PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY PLANS--Table of Contents

                           Subpart B_PHA Plans

Sec. 903.13  What is a Resident Advisory Board and what is its role in
development of the Annual Plan?

    (a) A Resident Advisory Board refers to a board or boards, as
provided in paragraph (b) of this section, whose membership consists of
individuals who adequately reflect and represent the residents assisted
by the PHA.
    (1) The role of the Resident Advisory Board (or Resident Advisory
Boards) is to assist and make recommendations regarding the development
of the PHA plan, and any significant amendment or modification to the
PHA plan.
    (2) The PHA shall allocate reasonable resources to assure the
effective functioning of Resident Advisory Boards. Reasonable resources
for the Resident Advisory Boards must provide reasonable means for them
to become informed on programs covered by the PHA Plan, to communicate
in writing and by telephone with assisted families and hold meetings
with those families, and to access information regarding covered
programs on the internet, taking into account the size and resources of
the PHA.
    (b) Each PHA must establish one or more Resident Advisory Boards, as
provided in paragraph (b) of this section.
    (1) If a jurisdiction-wide resident council exists that complies
with the tenant participation regulations in part 964 of this title, the
PHA shall appoint the jurisdiction-wide resident council or the
council's representatives as the Resident Advisory Board. If the PHA
makes such appointment, the members of the jurisdiction-wide resident
council or the council's representatives shall be added or another
Resident Advisory Board formed to provide for reasonable representation
of families receiving tenant-based assistance where such representation
is required under paragraph (b)(2) of this section.
    (2) If a jurisdiction-wide resident council does not exist but
resident councils exist that comply with the tenant participation
regulations, the PHA shall appoint such resident councils or their
representatives to serve on one or more Resident Advisory Boards. If the
PHA makes such appointment, the PHA may require that the resident
councils choose a limited number of representatives.
    (3) Where the PHA has a tenant-based assistance program of
significant size (where tenant-based assistance is 20% or more of
assisted households), the PHA shall assure that the Resident Advisory
Board (or Boards) has reasonable representation of families receiving
tenant-based assistance and that a reasonable process is undertaken to
choose this representation.
    (4) Where or to the extent that resident councils that comply with
the tenant participation regulations do not exist, the PHA shall appoint
Resident Advisory Boards or Board members as needed to adequately
reflect and represent the interests of residents of such developments;
provided that the PHA shall provide reasonable notice to such residents
and urge that they form resident councils with the tenant participation
regulations.
    (c) The PHA must consider the recommendations of the Resident
Advisory Board or Boards in preparing the final Annual Plan, and any
significant amendment or modification to the Annual Plan, as provided in
Sec. 903.21 of this title.
    (1) In submitting the final plan to HUD for approval, or any
significant amendment or modification to the plan

[[Page 307]]

to HUD for approval, the PHA must include a copy of the recommendations
made by the Resident Advisory Board or Boards and a description of the
manner in which the PHA addressed these recommendations.
    (2) Notwithstanding the 75-day limitation on HUD review, in response
to a written request from a Resident Advisory Board claiming that the
PHA failed to provide adequate notice and opportunity for comment, HUD
may make a finding of good cause during the required time period and
require the PHA to remedy the failure before final approval of the plan.