On the design of business systems for computers

Business systems are “the mechanics by which and through which any given clerical function is performed...which enables management to fulfill organization purpose” (1), or are “methods of translating management policy into action (and) of finding the... (best) means of accomplishing every task except those that directly change the form of the product”(2). From these definitions, it correctly appears that business systems are concerned only with the processing of information in business, and that business systems are particular ways or methods of doing the information processing. Also, from these definitions it correctly appears that business systems have objectives in relation to management's direction of the business.

To design business systems, the computer development analyst in business has to devise ways or methods of processing information that will acceptably meet the objectives management has in mind. In doing this, the analyst is limited to three basic “building blocks” which taken in some combination have the ability to do acceptable information processing. These three “building blocks” are the services of human beings, the services of materials (such as punched cards), and the services of machines (such as, very importantly, automatic computers). Because of this, a business system may be defined as a particular combination of the three types of services to accomplish information processing in business (adapted from (3)).