المغربي

كما قال الاعضاء المحترمون فان الدمج بين المجالين هو الافضل و يجب اخد الحيطة و الحذر قبل التغلغل في بحر البرمجة اللامتناهي و يجب التركيز على قواعد البيانات و كل ما يرتبط بها لان قواعد البيانات هي الاشد ارتباطا بالمحاسبة بالاضافة لنظم الخبرة expert systems المتطورة . و في حالة قرارك بالدمج بين المجالين فانك سوف تتوجهين مباشرة الى نظم المعلومات المحاسبية و التي تستلزم التمكن من المهنتين مهنة المحاسبة و مهنة المعلوميات .

شكرا لكافة الاعضاء على مشاركاتهم توجدطريقة خاصة لبناء النظم المحاسبية تسمى ressource event agent و اختصارا REA . فليحاول الاخوان البحث عن مصادرهاا لنادرة من كتب و تقارير . و سوف تجدون فيها كل الاساسيات التي يرتكزعليها نظام المعلومات المحاسبية الحذيث . و كل من يهتم بالموضوع ساجيب على تساؤلاته و ساقدم له المصادر

CONCLUDING COMMENTS In this chapter we have provided a patterned approach for developing models of enterprises at two levels of detail—the value system level and the value chain level. This approach facilitates your understanding of how business enterprises work. As you go about your daily activities, pay attention to the business enterprises with which you interact and look for these script patterns. When you go out to eat at a restaurant, or order pizza, see if you can picture the value system and value chain for that restaurant or pizza place. When you go shopping at different kinds of stores: grocery, convenience, department, or electronics, see if you can identify the value system and value chain patterns for those stores. Consider what they have in common and any differences they may have. Think about the possibilities of using the things they have in common as base objects in an information system and EXHIBIT 3–5 Robert Scott Woodwinds Shop Detailed Value Chain Financing process process Conversion Cash Cash Cash Labor Raw materials Overhead Instruments Manufactured accessories, repair services Revenue process Payroll process Acquisition/ payment process Duality Sale Cash receipt Duality Cash receipt Cash disbursement Duality Labor operation Machine operation WIP job Material issue Duality Labor acquisition Cash disbursement Duality Acquisition Cash disbursement 48 Chapter Three The REA Enterprise Ontology: Value System and Value Chain Modeling keeping the things that are unique as nonfoundational elements in the information system. Think about how such an approach could lead to enterprise systems that may be integrated with solid connections rather than tied together with string.

The REA Enterprise Ontology: Value System and Value Chain Modeling LEARNING OBJECTIVES The objectives of this chapter are to describe the components of a typical enterprise’s value system and value chain and to discuss the procedures for developing models of enterprise value systems and value chains. After studying this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Identify an enterprise’s external business partners 2. Identify the resources that are exchanged between an enterprise and its business partners 3. Develop a value system level REA model for an enterprise 4. Identify the business processes (transaction cycles) in an enterprise 5. Identify the resource flows between an enterprise’s internal business processes 6. Identify the economic events that cause the resource flows between an enterprise’s internal business processes 7. Develop a value chain level REA model for an enterprise 8. Explain how enterprises create value and describe Porter’s Value Chain Model 9. Explain how evaluating enterprise activities at the value system and value chain levels facilitates understanding the business process level VALUE SYSTEMS AND VALUE CHAINS We introduced the concepts of value systems and value chains in Chapter 2; we examine them more closely in this chapter. You may be surprised to learn that many of the critical steps of building an information system have little to do with programming a computer. The process begins with identifying the need for a business solution and acquiring a better understanding of the environment you plan to support and/or improve. You must examine that environment (the enterprise) from different perspectives and at different levels of detail. We believe the first level of detail you should consider is the least detailed—the big picture view that we call the value system level. You may have heard the saying “they couldn’t see the forest for the trees” used to describe those so mired in detail that they forget the big picture of what they are trying to accomplish. We believe that looking at the forest level of an enterprise first and trying to develop a plan for analyzing the enterprise a section at a time will help you keep your perspective and avoid getting mired in the detail. Obviously there is plenty of detail in which to get mired, so try to keep picturing the end goal and the plan for getting there to keep you on the path. Examining the value system level of a firm includes thinking about the enterprise’s mission and strategy. Understanding this level is crucial because later you must ensure that activities within the enterprise’s business processes are consistent with its overall mission and strategy. The REA ontology is about much more than developing information systems; it is about understanding enterprises. Everything an enterprise does should create value for its customers according to Michael Porter in Competitive Advantage.1 Creating value has a cost. For example, an enterprise that assembles automobiles creates something of value but also must pay for various inputs (e.g., materials, supplies, and time of employees). Porter computes an organization’s margin as the difference between value and cost. This calculation includes all value and all cost, much of which is difficult to measure financially, but which the REA value chain model can capture if measurements are available. The concept of creating value applies to both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. For-profit organizations try to maximize their margins. Not-for-profit organizations, such as charitable or governmental entities, seek to maximize the goods and services they provide with the resources (funds) they receive. Over the long run, charitable and governmental organizations seek to optimize their services while matching outflows to inflows. Whether forprofit or not-for-profit, viable organizations provide goods and services that customers value in a cost-effective way. The main difference between for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises is that at the value system level, the input resources and output resources are paired with different external business partners. That is, some of the partners who give resources to the not-for-profit enterprises do not receive resources directly from the not-for-profit enterprises and some of the partners who receive resources from the not-for-profit enterprises do not give resources to the not-for-profit enterprises. The overall notion of input resources being transformed into output resources is still valid because one would expect that if the not-forprofit organization failed to provide the expected goods and services, its contributing external business partners would discontinue their contributions. Every organization seeks to create value by providing goods and services customers want. For example: • A grocery store creates value by providing food in a clean and convenient location for customers to purchase. • An airline company creates value by safely transporting passengers and cargo in a timely manner. • An automobile manufacturer creates value by producing safe, reliable vehicles to transport people and cargo. • A municipality creates value by providing essential community services (e.g., police protection, fire protection, emergency services, and utilities) to its citizens. Enterprises that provide goods and services of value to their customers will survive and grow while those that do not will shrink and die. Due to competition for scarce resources, each enterprise must provide value in a cost-effective manner. Although some organizations manage to defer their demise through deceit, disguise, or political influence, ultimately every organization has to answer to the final arbiter of value—the customer. Because enterprises need increased adaptability, effectiveness, and efficiency to remain competitive, most organizations find it essential to differentiate between the various business activities in which they engage. Obviously, organizations must look internally at each of their functions and develop capabilities in each area. They also must effectively integrate and coordinate all business functions. However, in today’s business world, an organization’s performance is increasingly affected by the world around it. You might work for the most internally cost-effective organization you can imagine, but it might be an unsuccessful organization. Why? Perhaps the organization has competitors who better meet the needs of customers, do a good job of outsourcing some business functions, or do a better job of creating effective strategic alliances with trading partners.2 To really understand and analyze an organization, you must understand more than internal operations and functions. You must look outside the organization at the industry, the suppliers, the customers, and all the other parties that affect organization performance. In other words, you must examine the enterprise at its value system level, and also consider how the enterprise’s value system interacts with the value systems of the other enterprises in its supply chain. An enterprise supply chain encompasses all of the enterprises involved in providing a product or service to an end customer. For example, Robert Scott Woodwind Shop purchases instruments from its suppliers as part of its value system level activities. Those suppliers had value systems of their own to make those instruments available for 2Outsourcing occurs when one organization finds another organization to perform some work. This is usually done when the outsourcing organization can’t complete the work (e.g., they do not have the capacity or the expertise) or when they identify another organization that can complete the work in a more cost-effective manner. Case in Point In the late 1970s and early 1980s when gas prices were rapidly rising and our oil supplies were in doubt, most new car buyers favored smaller, more gas-efficient automobiles. America’s automobile manufacturers had several lean years as they modified their automobile design to smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles. Over the next decade as the percentage of small cars increased, most parking lots adjusted the size of the parking stalls from 8 or 9 feet wide to 7 feet wide. But since 1987 the size of America’s cars has been getting bigger. In sprawling Western and Southwestern cities, the popularity of sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks can make parking a hassle. Parking lots with larger parking stalls are now able to charge a premium price. Parking problems will likely increase as the popularity of the Hummer increases. The Hummer is the civilian adaptation of a military vehicle that is 8 feet wide, including the mirrors.* Chain Modeling sale to RSWS. Likely RSWS buys the instruments from the manufacturers; their value system levels would involve purchasing raw materials, labor, and manufacturing equipment from their suppliers. Those suppliers had value systems to make those items available for sale. Eventually managers must look at the entire supply chain to streamline interenterprise activities and gain efficiencies in operations. However, the best first step is to focus on the enterprise in the context of its immediate business partners, then to focus on the enterprise value chain and the internal business processes that comprise that chain. Once you understand the enterprise in the context of its immediate business partners and its internal processes, examine the more distant links on its supply chain. To complete a thorough cradle-to-grave analysis, many people use the value chain analysis approach originally proposed by Michael Porter.3 Porter illustrated that each firm is a “collection of activities that are performed to design, produce, market, deliver, and support its product.” You can see Porter’s Generic Value Chain in Exh 3–1. Although this diagram looks different from the value chain diagrams we use in this textbook, both types of value chain diagrams encompass the same set of activities. Porter’svalue chain is defined as a set of business activities that add value or usefulness to an organization’s products or services; the REA ontology defines the value chain as a set of business processes through which resources flow, with the assumption that value is added to the resources within each business process. The value chain is intended to show total value and consists of value activities and margin. Value activities are the physical and technological activities performed by an organization. Porter presented two types of value activities in his generic value chain: primary and support. Primary value activities consist of the events that create customer value and provide organization distinctiveness in the marketplace. They are the critical activities in running a business. Support value activities facilitate accomplishing the primary activities. Margin is the difference between total value and the cost of performing the value activities. Porter’s primary value activities include the following categories: • Inbound logistics—activities associated with receiving, storing, and disseminating inputs to the products or services • Operations—activities associated with transforming inputs into the final products or services • Outbound logistics—activities associated with collecting, storing, and physically distributing the products or services • Marketing and sales—activities associated with providing a means by which customers can buy products and the means for inducing them to buy • Service—activities associated with providing service to enhance or maintain the value of the products or services Porter’s support value activities include: • Procurement—the function of purchasing inputs to a firm’s value chain • Technology development—the know-how, procedures, or technology embedded in processes that are intended to improve the product, services, and/or process • Human resource management—activities involved in recruiting, hiring, training, developing, and compensating all types of personnel • Firm infrastructure—activities that support the entire value chain (e.g., general management, planning, finance, accounting, legal, government affairs, and quality management) In REA value chain analysis we also differentiate value activities in three event categories— operating events, information events, and decision /management events. We define and discuss these categories in Ch4. Value system and value chain analyses are valuable because they compel you to understand the internal operations of a firm as well as the forces and parties outside the firm that affect its ability to create value. The direct actions of an organization are only part of its overall value chain process. It is also important to look at external linkages, such as the activities of customers and suppliers, to understand the ability of an organization to create value. For example, some organizations may be more successful at creating value because they elicit quality responses from their customers and use the feedback to quickly change or upgrade their products. Other organizations may achieve success because they have worked effectively with their suppliers to reduce costs and improve the ability to respond to customer desires. A thorough analysis of the value system and value chain helps you to understand all the activities that are strategically relevant to an organization, not just the portion of activities in which an organization directly participates or controls. In Exh3–2 we illustrate how the value system and value chain activities are linked. In this diagram note that Suppliers encompasses suppliers of every type of resource, including employees, investors, and creditors, as well as those who supply products and services. VALUE SYSTEM LEVEL REA MODELING To develop a value system level REA model you must answer the question, “Who are the enterprise’s external business partners?” To answer this question, focus on resource flows and ask the question this way, “To whom does the enterprise give resources and from whom does the enterprise receive resources?” Recall from Chapter 2 that resources are defined as things that have economic value to the enterprise. Recall also from Chapter 2 that we are taking a pattern-based approach to developing enterprise information systems. Thus we want to consider what is true for most enterprises and then make adjustments as necessary for our particular enterprise. Most enterprise resources fit into one of the following categories: • Cash • Inventory (raw materials, finished goods, merchandise, parts, and supplies) • Labor • Property, plant, and equipment • Insurance • Services (such as advertising or government services) • Utilities (water and energy) To determine an enterprise’s external business partners, a helpful step is to examine which of these resources the enterprise provides or uses and then determine to whom they provide the resources and from whom they acquire the resources. To make matters even simpler, in the current economic environment cash is the universal resource for which most other resources are exchanged. Very seldom do companies engage in barter transactions (exchanges of a noncash resource for a different noncash resource). Therefore by concentrating on identifying the various partners to whom the enterprise pays cash and from whom the enterprise receives cash, you very likely have identified all the appropriate external business partners. Typically the external business partners fit into the following categories: EXH 3–2 • Vendors or suppliers (of various types of inventory, equipment, utilities, insurance, and services) • Employees • Investors and creditors • Customers Sometimes examining the cash outflows of an enterprise does not reveal a resource received in exchange. For example, when an enterprise pays cash to government agencies (such as the Internal Revenue Service) what resource does the enterprise receive in exchange? Some resources the government provides are easy to identify, such as a license to do business, or police and fire protection services. However, the amounts paid in taxes and fees to the government often exceed an identifiable resource received in exchange and we must simply label the resource as government services. Payments to charitable organizations pose a similar dilemma. If an enterprise donates money to a university, what resource does it receive in exchange? The enterprise must believe it receives a resource, because enterprises are assumed to make economically rational decisions. The enterprise may expect goodwill, an increased reputation in the community (in effect, advertising), or an advantage in recruiting the university’s students. Based on the assumption that the enterprise does in fact receive resources in exchange for these payments, hopefully you have figured out that government agencies and charitable organizations would be included in the external business partner category of vendors or suppliers. Once the resources an enterprise uses are identified and the external business partners with whom these resources are exchanged are determined, the information is portrayed in a diagram. The enterprise being modeled is represented as a circle or oval in the center of the diagram. Each external business partner is represented as a square or rectangle; these are placed around the outside of the circle that represents the enterprise. Arrows are drawn between the circle and the squares as appropriate to indicate the actual resource exchanges between the enterprise and its business partners. Let’s examine the RSWS example introduced in Chapter 2 to determine how the value system level REA model was constructed. The value system diagram from that example is reproduced in Exh 3–3. The first step in constructing this model is to examine the various resources RSWS uses in its operations. Cash is certainly used by RSWS. Let’s consider how the cash is used, to whom it is paid, and from whom it is received. We identify that cash is received from investors (for equity financing), from creditors (for debt financing), and from customers. Thus we draw a rectangle to represent the set of investors and creditors and another rectangle to represent the set of customers. Cash is received from investors and creditors because they expect to receive cash in exchange, therefore we simply draw an arrow from investors and creditors to RSWS and label it cash to represent those cash inflows. We draw another arrow from RSWS to investors and creditors to represent cash outflows to investors and creditors (e.g., for interest payments, dividends, principal repayments, and treasury stock purchases). Next we draw an arrow from customers to RSWS and label it cash to represent the cash inflows from customers. We realize that the reason customers give RSWS cash is because they expect RSWS to provide goods (e.g., instruments, accessories), repair services, or the use of goods (i.e., rental of instruments). Therefore we draw an arrow from RSWS to customers to indicate that RSWS provides those resources to its customers. We then inspect the narrative to determine what types of cash payments are made and to whom. We identify cash payments made to employees and realize that those payments are made in exchange for labor provided by our employees. Therefore we draw a rectangle to represent the set of employees. We draw an arrow from RSWS to employees to represent the cash outflows to employees and we draw an arrow from employees to RSWS to represent the labor inflow from employees. You might notice that there is no arrow to represent benefits such as health insurance paid to employees. Is it because RSWS doesn’t offer any such benefits or is it because they have forgotten to represent them? The answer is neither. Payments made for health insurance for employees is a cash outflow to suppliers made by RSWS on behalf of the employees. The actual insurance is an outflow from the health insurance supplier to the employees and is outside the scope of RSWS’s value system model, which only examines the direct resource flows between RSWS and its external business partners. This leads us to the other external business partner for RSWS— the suppliers (some enterprises may call these vendors). Suppliers is the set of all nonemployee individuals or organizations from which an enterprise acquires goods and services. We draw a rectangle to represent the set of suppliers, an arrow from RSWS to suppliers to indicate the cash outflow, and an arrow from suppliers to RSWS to indicate the inflow of goods and services. VALUE CHAIN LEVEL REA MODELING Once the value system level analysis is complete, much of the initial value chain analysis has also been completed. This level of analysis focuses on the resource flows between its internal business processes. A business process is a series of activities that accomplishes a business objective: adding value to input resources. Once you have identified the resources flowing into and out of the enterprise, examine what the company does with its input resources and how it generates its output resources. As business processes use up resources, they should be producing resources worth more to the enterprise than those used up. As noted earlier, enterprises create value by developing and providing the goods and services customers desire. Goods and services are provided through a series of business processes. Regardless of the type of goods or services provided, each organization has at least three business processes (see Exh 3–2): 1. Acquisition/payment process: The objective of the acquisition/payment process is to acquire, maintain, and pay for the resources needed by the organization. Many resources are required including human resources, property, plant, equipment, financial resources, raw materials, and supplies. Resources are acquired from external entities like suppliers or vendors. These are the inputs required by the organization to provide goods and services to its customers. Because the acquisition of financial resources and the acquisition of human resources have complexities not found in the acquisition of other goods and services, many enterprises separate these activities into additional business processes, called the financing process and the human resources process, that we cover separately in later chapters. 2. Conversion process: The objective of the conversion process is to convert the acquired resources into goods and services for customers. The raw inputs are transformed into finished goods and services by this process. 3. Sales/collection process: The objective of the sales/collection process is to sell and deliver goods and services to customers and collect payment. The finished goods and services from the conversion process are sold to customers (external entities) in exchange for their payment, usually in the form of cash. Creating a value chain model that illustrates the linkages between these processes requires understanding of two very important concepts in the REA ontology: duality and stockflow. These concepts characterize the core economic phenomena of an exchange. As noted earlier, enterprises are assumed to make rational economic decisions. Rational economic theory precludes decision makers from giving up something with no expectation of anything in exchange. For every event in which an enterprise gives something up we expect a related event in which the enterprise receives something. The causal relationship between a give event and a take event is a duality relationship. Stockflow is defined as the inflow or outflow of a resource. Stockflow relationships exist between give events and resources (these stockflows are outflows) and between take events and resources (these stockflows are inflows). The value chain level of the REA ontology is constructed based on these two concepts. Geerts and McCarthy say, “Duality relationships are the glue that binds a firm’s separate economic events together into rational economic processes, while stockflow relationships weave these processes together into an enterprise value chain.”4 The first step in creating a value chain model is to write the enterprise script to identify the business processes that need to be included in the value chain. We use the value system level model along with whatever other information we have such as a narrative description about the enterprise’s activities. The second step in creating a value chain model is to draw the resource flows to link the business processes together. The third step is to determine the economic exchange events and the duality relationships that make up the core of each business process in the value chain. An example will clarify these steps. Let’s revisit our RSWS example. In Exh 2–3 (reprinted here as Exh 3–4) we portrayed a summarized value chain level that would be the result of the first two steps. After going through steps 1 and 2 to reconstruct this model, we discuss step 3 and illustrate the resulting detailed value chain model. Step 1: Write the Entrepreneurial Script To complete this step, we examine the typical scenes of the entrepreneurial business script to see which of the typical scenes RSWS has. Based on our value system level analysis, the typical script pattern, and the narrative description of RSWS we write RSWS’s script as follows: • RSWS gets cash from investors and creditors • RSWS engages in value-adding activities • uses cash to buy instruments, raw materials, and overhead from vendors • uses cash to acquire labor from employees • uses materials, equipment, and overhead to manufacture accessories and to provide repair services • sells instruments, accessories, and repair services to customers for cash • RSWS pays cash to investors and creditors The first and last scenes together comprise the financing process; in scene 2, the subscenes are (in order) the acquisition/payment process; the human resources (payroll) process; the conversion process; and the sales/collection process. Keep in mind that all of these scenes and subscenes come directly from our value system level analysis except for the “uses materials, equipment, and overhead to manufacture accessories and to provide repair services.” Because the subscene doesn’t involve resource exchanges with external business partners, it is not modeled at the value system level. Thus you must be careful when developing your value chain model to include not only the scenes that you derive from the value system level but also any business processes that add value via internal resource transformations. EXH 3–4 Step 2: Connect the Scenes with Resource Flows Once all the scenes are identified they need to be combined to form a value chain (at which point no distinction is made between scenes and subscenes). The resource flows provide the link from one scene to the next. Once the cash is acquired in the financing process, it is used as input for the acquisition/payment and human resource processes, where it is transferred out to external business partners in exchange for instruments, raw materials, overhead, and labor. Because the value chain model only illustrates the internal processes, we don’t show the cash outflows from the acquisition and payroll processes to the external partners, nor do we show the related resource inflows from those external partners. From this perspective we view the acquisition process as one that uses up cash and produces materials, equipment, overhead, and instruments; and we view the payroll process as one that uses up cash and produces labor. We view the conversion process as one that transforms the labor, materials, equipment, and overhead into the accessories and repair service resources. The sales/collection process is then viewed as one that uses up instruments, accessories, and repair services and obtains cash. The assumption is that in each of these scenes the resources produced are worth more than the resources used up; thus value is added to the enterprise in each link of the chain. Step 3: Specify the Economic Exchange Events within Each Scene The third step in creating the value chain diagram adds more detail to the diagram that clarifies how each scene’s representation in the value chain diagram provides the starting point for a business process level model representation. This step entails depicting the economic exchange events inside each scene’s bubble on the value chain diagram. Each scene must contain at least one economic increment (take) event and at least one economic decrement (give) event. You can use the resource flows to determine what events are needed. This analysis also helps you to determine whether a scene in your value chain should be decomposed into multiple scenes. The general rule to follow for this step is that each process must have an economic decrement event to match up with each resource inflow and an economic increment event to match up with each resource outflow. The idea is that if a resource is flowing into a process, the process must include an event that uses it up (either by transferring it to an external partner or by transforming it into a different resource). Similarly, if a resource is flowing out of a process, the process must include an event that produced the resource (either by transferring it in from an external business partner or by creating it as a transformation of some other resources. In our RSWS example, let’s add detail first to the financing process. Because cash is a resource inflow to that process, the process must include an event that uses it up (i.e., a cash disbursement event). Cash is also a resource outflow from financing, so the process must include an event that acquired it (i.e., a cash receipt event). The cash receipt and cash disbursement events are linked via a duality relationship. So we draw two event boxes inside the financing process bubble and connect them via a diamond (relationship symbol) labeled with the word duality. We label the events cash receipt and cash disbursement. Note that even though the cash flows from the financing process to multiple other processes, the data attributes of all cash receipts are likely the same so we consider cash receipts for all purposes as part of the same event set. The fact that cash got used for different purposes doesn’t matter. Next we examine the payroll process. Because cash is a resource inflow, the process must include an event that uses it up (i.e., a cash disbursement event). Notice that the enterprise will likely have only one cash disbursement event set that encompasses all cash disbursements made for all purposes, but we must depict the event set in each business process that uses cash. The payroll process generates labor as its resource outflow, so there must be an event within the payroll process that obtains that labor (labor acquisition, an event that transfers the labor in). So we draw two event boxes inside the payroll process bubble and connect them via a diamond (relationship symbol) labeled with the word duality. We label the events cash disbursement and labor acquisition. The acquisition/payment process is similar to the payroll process. Cash is a resource inflow to acquisition/payment, so the process must have an event that uses it up (i.e., a cash disbursement event). The acquisition/payment process has instruments, materials, services, and equipment as outflows, so the process must include an event that obtains those things from external sources (i.e., an acquisition event set). Here we must determine whether the same data attributes are recorded for acquisitions of each of these types of items. For any that are different, the events should be modeled separately and the recommendation would be to make separate acquisition cycle bubbles. Let’s say we determine that RSWS records all acquisitions using a common set of forms and captures the same data attributes for them. Thus we need only one acquisition event set and only one acquisition process (scene). We draw two event boxes inside the acquisition/payment process bubble and connect them via a diamond labeled with the word duality.We label the events cash disbursement and acquisition. Next we examine the conversion process. The conversion process is typically the most complicated scene. Our value chain diagram shows input resource flows as materials, equipment, labor, and overhead. That indicates our conversion process must have events that use up each of those items. We determine that raw materials are used up as they are issued into a manufacturing or repair job so we draw a box labeled material issue.We note that employee labor is used up through the employees’ involvement in labor operations, so we draw a box labeled labor operation. Equipment and overhead are used up in machine operations, so we draw a box labeled machine operation. Next we need to determine what event produces the finished accessories and/or repaired instruments. We determine that for RSWS every repair service and each production run for a batch of parts or ccessories is considered to be a work in process job. Thus we add a box labeled WIP Job.We realize that the material issues, labor operations, and machine operations are economic decrement events (they use up resources) that are matched with the WIP job, which is an economic increment event (it produces resources). Therefore we draw a diamond symbol to connect all four boxes and label it as duality. Now all our scenes are detailed except for the Sales/Collection process. We see that the input resources are the instruments (from the acquisition process), and the manufactured accessories and repair services (from the conversion process). The instruments get changed into cash either by selling them or renting them to customers. The repair services and manufactured accessories are also changed into cash by selling them to customers. As with the acquisition process, we need to make a choice as to whether there is a common sale event set for which the same set of data attributes can be maintained, or whether the activities are dissimilar enough to warrant being maintained as separate event sets. For this example, we assume RSWS uses the same set of forms and captures the same data attributes for each of these revenue-generating activities, so we combine them into one economic decrement event called sale. The output resource flow is cash, indicating that the process must include an event that produces or obtains the cash, in other words an economic increment event called cash receipt. We draw two boxes with a duality relationship connecting them; we label one box sale and the other box cash receipt. Now our value chain is complete (see Exh 3–5) and may be used to facilitate creation of the business process level models for RSWS. We discuss that process in detail in Ch4.

Labor acquisition event //.......... an economic increment event in which employee labor is purchased; each instance covers some time period; often represented by a timecard document Labor operation //...... an economic decrement event that uses up the employee labor resource Labor type resource //...... a resource-type entity set that represents a list of the kinds of labor activities that can be performed in labor operations Lapping //.............. a method of stealing cash whereby an employee steals cash from a customer payment, delays posting a payment to the customer's account, and then uses funds from a subsequent customer payment to post to the first customer's account; the process continues with the employee continually stealing from subsequent customer payments to post as prior customer payments Left join //............. a combination of tables based on a common attribute that includes unmatched records from the first table in the join and does not include unmatched records from the second table in the join; a partial outer join Level zero DFD //............. a high level (just under context level) representation that depicts only the very high-level processes within an information system Linkage relationship //..... an association between two resources to represent the fact that one of the resources is composed of the other; in the conversion cycle this provides a means for identifying the materials a finished good is composed of and the types of labor that are needed to produce a finished good Load (high and low) //........... the percentage of data values for an attribute that are non-null; if most cells in a column have actual values, the load is high; if most cells in a column have null values, the load is low Logical access control //........... restricting unauthorized access to the programs and data in systems Logical level implementation compromise //............. an implementation compromise made when converting a conceptual model into database objects Logical model //............ in database design, a model into which the conceptual model is converted once the type of database software to be used has been chosen (e.g., relational or object-oriented); hardware independent and somewhat software independent (if relational is chosen as the database type, then any relational software may be chosen but object-oriented software may not) Logical operator //............ Boolean search terms used in queries to define which records are included in the query result (examples include AND, OR, and NOT) Machine operation //............ an economic decrement event that partially consumes a machine in the conversion cycle Margin //............. the difference between value and cost in Porter's generic value chain model Marketing and sales //.......... primary value activities in Porter's generic value chain; activities associated with providing a means by which customers can buy products or services and the means for inducing them to buy Marketing event //........... an activity such as a sales call, advertising campaign, or promotion intended to inform customers about products and/or services and persuade them to trigger the sales/collection process; an internally instigated instigation event Master reference check //............. verifies that an event/transaction record has a corresponding master record to be updated Materiality of risk //........... a function of the size of the potential loss, its impact on achieving the enterprise's objectives, and the likelihood of the loss Materialization of task as entity //........... a conceptual model level implementation compromise in which an activity that could be reengineered is established as an entity (base object) Mathematical operation //........... a calculation that manipulates data values Maximum participation cardinality //........... represents the maximum number of times each instance of an entity set may participate in a relationship; legal values are one and N (many) Minimum participation cardinality //............ represents the minimum number of times each instance of an entity set must participate in a relationship; legal values are zero (optional participation) and one (mandatory participation) Model //........... a representation intended to serve as a plan or blueprint for something to be created; an object that represents in detail another (usually larger and more complex) object; used in systems design to help control complexity Monitoring //.............. one of COSO's five interrelated components of an internal control system; the process of assessing the quality of internal control performance over time and taking corrective actions as needed Move ticket //............. a document typically used in the conversion cycle to indicate the actual use of raw materials (i.e., the materials issuance event) Mutual commitment event //............. an event that obligates an enterprise to participate in at least two future economic events, one that increments a resource and another that decrements a resource Name conflict //............. a form of entity conflict in which two different entities are assigned the same name or a single entity is assigned two different names Noncash related economic event //.............. an activity in which a resource other than cash is increased or decreased Null to zero (Nz) function (in Microsoft Access) //.............. a Microsoft Access procedure used in querying that treats null values as if they are zeros Null value //............ a blank cell in a database table; a cell into which no data has been entered Object //............ a thing that has a physical or conceptual existence One-fact, one-place rule //........... a principle in database design that prohibits a pairing of a candidate key value with another attribute value from appearing multiple places in a database table and also prohibits multiple pairings of candidate key values with other attribute values in the same place; helps to ensure well-behaved relational tables Open purchase order file //............. a repository that contains information about purchase order events that have not yet been fulfilled by purchase events; a collection of unfilled purchase orders Open purchase requisition //............ a purchase requisition that has not yet been fulfilled by a purchase order Open sales invoice file //.......... a repository that contains information about sales events that do not yet have related cash receipts Open sales order file //............ a repository that contains information about sale order events that have not yet been fulfilled by sale events; a collection of unfilled sale orders Operating event //............. an activity performed within a business process to achieve enterprise objectives that does more than just communicate information (e.g., economic events, commitment events, and some instigation events) Operations //............ primary value activities in Porter's generic value chain; activities associated with transforming inputs into final products or services Operations list //.............. a document that identifies the labor types needed to create a finished good; captures the same information as the linkage relationship between labor types and finished goods Opportunity //............ a potential for reward Outbound logistics //........... primary value activities in Porter's generic value chain; activities associated with collecting, storing, and physically distributing products or services Outer join //............ a combination of tables based on a common attribute that includes unmatched records from both sides; accomplishes a set union of the tables Outflow //.............. the flowing out (disbursement or distribution) of a resource from an enterprise Packing slip //.......... a document that identifies the goods that have been shipped to a customer Parameter query (in Microsoft Access) //............ a query in which variables are used in lieu of data values as part of the query's selection criteria; allows the user to specify the data value to be used each time the query is run, thereby allowing reuse of the same query many times for different decisions Participation cardinalities //............ represents business rules for how many times an instance of an entity set is allowed to participate in a relationship Participation relationship //............. an association between an event and an internal or external agent Password //............. a unique identifier that only an authorized user of a system or application should know and that the user is required to enter each time he or she logs onto the system; a weak form of protection; a logical access control Pattern //........... a template or configuration from existing scenarios that can be used to make sense of other scenarios Paycheck //............. a document representing a cash disbursement (economic decrement event) to an employee Payroll clerk //.............. an internal agent responsible for accomplishing the cash disbursement event in the payroll transaction cycle Performance review //............ a review of some element of an enterprise's performance that provides a means for monitoring (e.g., comparison of actual data to budgeted or prior period data; comparison of operating data to financial data; and comparison of data within and across various units, subdivisions, or functional areas of the enterprise) Personal identification number (PIN) //.......... a numeric identifier used as a logical access control to authenticate a user; similar to a password Physical database model //............ a working database system that is dependent on the hardware, software, and type of software chosen during the design stages Physical level compromise //............... an implementation compromise made when entering the logical database objects into a database software package to create the working database Picking slip //............ a document that identifies the goods that have been taken out of the warehouse and made available to be shipped Posted key //............ an attribute of a database table that is added to another database table to create a link between the tables Preventive control //........... a control activity that focuses on preventing errors or irregularities either from occurring or from being entered into the enterprise information system Primary key attribute //........... a characteristic that uniquely and universally identifies each instance in an entity or relationship set Primary value activities //............. the events that create customer value and provide organization distinctiveness in the marketplace; events viewed as the critical activities in running a business Primitive DFD //............ the lowest level (most detailed) representation of a system process; cannot be further decomposed Primitive level data //............ data that cannot be decomposed into any component parts Procurement //.......... a support value activity in Porter's generic value chain; the function of purchasing inputs to a firm's value chain Production employee //........... an internal agent involved in labor operations and production runs in the conversion process; a worker who participates in the manufacture of finished goods Production order document //............ a document that captures information about a production order event Production order event //............ an event that represents the enterprise's commitment to engage in a future economic increment event (a production run) that will increase the finished goods resource Production run //........... an economic increment event that increases the quantity of a finished goods resource Production supervisor //.......... an internal agent who authorizes events in the conversion cycle Project //......... a relational algebra operator (pronounced pro-JECT' rather than PRO'-ject) that specifies a vertical subset to be included in the query result Proposition relationship // ........ an association between an instigation event and a resource or resource type; often specifies quantity and proposed cost or selling price for the item(s) identified as needed Purchase //........ an economic increment event in which services or the title to goods transfers from a supplier to the enterprise; also called an acquisition Purchase order //......... a mutual commitment event in which a supplier agrees to transfer title of goods to the enterprise at an agreed upon future time and price and the enterprise agrees to pay for those goods; a document reflecting the terms of the mutual commitment event Purchase requisition //......... an instigation event in which the need for goods or services is identified; an internal document that communicates this need to the enterprise purchasing function Purchase return //......... an economic increment reversal event in which the title to goods previously transferred from a supplier to the enterprise is transferred back to the supplier Query //....... a request for information submitted to a database engine Query by example (QBE) //...... a type of query interface intended to be more "point and click" in nature than is SQL; in this interface the user creates a visual example of what tables and fields should be included in a query result and specifies any calculations to be included Query grid (in Microsoft Access) //........ the lower half of the QBE view into which fields are dragged and in which aggregations or horizontal calculations may be created to establish the desired logic for a query Query window (in Microsoft Access) //....... the screen in which queries are created; user may toggle back and forth between QBE design, SQL design, and Datasheet (result) views within the query window Range check //........ an instruction in a computer program that compares entered data to a predetermined acceptable upper and/or lower limit and rejects data that falls outside the specified limits unless special authorization is obtained Raw material //....... an input resource in the conversion process that is completely used up in the transformation to finished goods Raw material issuance //........ an economic decrement event involving the using up of raw materials in the production process; the raw materials are usually transformed into finished goods and lose their own identity and nature in the process Raw material requisition //....... a commitment event whereby the inventory clerk or warehouse supervisor commits to the production supervisor to transfer materials from the materials warehouse to the production floor; assumes the raw materials are available within the enterprise and reserves them for use REA core pattern //........ the original version of the REA model at the business process level; includes resources, economic events and agents, duality relationships, stockflow relationships, and control (participation) relationships Read-only file designation //......... a property used to mark data as available for reading only; the data cannot be altered by instructions from users, nor can new data be stored on the device Reality //........ that which exists objectively and in fact REA ontology //........ a domain ontology founded by Bill McCarthy at Michigan State University that attempts to define constructs that are common to all enterprises and demonstrate how those constructs may be represented in an integrated enterprise information system. The REA ontology is made up of four layers: the value system, value chain, business process, and task levels. Reasonableness check //....... an instruction in a computer program to verify whether the amount of an event/ transaction record appears reasonable when compared to other elements associated with each item being processed Receiving report //...... a document that lists the items and the quantities and condition of each item received in an acquisition event; the receiving report identifier is often used as the identifier for the acquisition event Reciprocal relationship //....... a relationship between a commitment to an economic increment and a commitment to an economic decrement; the commitment level equivalent of the duality relationship; in the conversion cycle, represents a schedule of what is to be produced and what will need to be used and consumed in the production process Record //....... a row in a relational database table Redundancy //......... in database design, duplicate storage of the same information Reengineering //........ the redesign of business processes or systems to achieve a dramatic improvement in enterprise performance Referential integrity // ........ a principle in relational databases that requires a value for a foreign key attribute to either be null (blank) or to match exactly a data value in the table in which the attribute is a primary key Relational algebra // ...... the original data manipulation (querying) language that was constructed based on set theory and predicate logic as part of the relational database model; primary operators include Select, Project, and Join; however, other operators are also part of the relational algebra Relational database //....... a collection of tables that meet the criteria of the relational model Relational model //......... a logical level database design model developed by E. F. Codd based on set theory and predicate logic; primary constructs are relations (tables) that represent entities and relationships between entities Relational table //......... a relation; a two-dimensional storage structure (i.e., a storage structure with rows and columns) that represents either an entity or a relationship between entities and that adheres to relational principles such as entity integrity, referential integrity, and the one-fact, one-place rule Relationship //............ an association between two or more entity sets Relationship conflict // ........ a discrepancy in the assignment of participation cardinalities or in the label used to name the same relationship in different view models Relationship layout (in Microsoft Access) //........ a window in which relationships between tables are visually depicted Remittance advice //........ a document (usually the portion of a customer invoice or statement that says "return this stub with payment") that advises the enterprise the customer is remitting payment; often used as the identifier for a cash receipt event Rental // .......... an economic decrement event that does not involve the transfer of title of goods, but instead involves a transfer of the right to use goods for an agreed upon length of time; begins when the right to temporary possession of the goods transfers from the lessor to the lessee and ends when possession of the goods transfers back from the lessee to the lessor Repeating group //......... multiple facts stored in one place; the same value of a key attribute field associated with multiple values of another attribute Representation //.......... a surrogate for something; a symbol that closely resembles the actual construct; the closer the resemblance to the real object, the better the representation Request to return goods //......... notification to a supplier of the enterprise's dissatisfaction with goods that seeks permission to return those goods in lieu of making payment (or in exchange for a refund) Required data entry (field property) (in Microsoft Access) //........... a choice specified in table design view; a user will not be allowed to enter a record into the table without including a value for any field(s) for which this property is set to "yes"; a user may leave any field except the primary key field(s) blank for which this property is not set to "yes" (Microsoft Access automatically enforces entity integrity so there is no need to set the required data entry field property to "yes" for primary key fields) Reservation relationship //......... an association between a mutual commitment event and a resource or resource type; often specifies quantity and budgeted cost or selling price for the item(s) involved in the agreement Resource // ......... a thing of economic value (with or without physical substance) that is provided or consumed by an enterprise's activities and operations Resource flow // ......... the increase or decrease of a resource as the result of an event Resource inflow //........ the increase of a resource as the result of an event Resource outflow //......... the decrease of a resource as the result of an event Reversal relationship //.......... an association between an economic reversal event and a resource or resource type; often specifies the quantity and cost or selling price information for the item(s) involved in the event Right join //....... a combination of tables based on a common attribute that includes unmatched records from the second table in the join and does not include unmatched records from the first table in the join; a partial outer join Risk // ........... an exposure to the chance of injury or loss Risk assessment //......... one of COSO's five interrelated components of an internal control system; the identification and analysis of relevant risks associated with the enterprise achieving its objectives; forms the basis for determining what risks need to be controlled and the controls required to manage them Row //.......... the data attribute values that apply to a single instance of an entity or relationship set as represented in a relational database table Sales/collection process //......... transaction cycle in which goods or services are exchanged to customers or clients for cash or some other form of compensation Sales call //........... An internally initiated instigation event; typically involves a sales representative calling on a customer, either via telephone or in person, to describe the features of one or more products or services Sales invoice // ........... a document used to communicate to a customer the fact that the enterprise has fulfilled a commitment to transfer title of goods to the customer; sometimes also serves as a request or reminder for the customer to fulfill its commitment and remit payment to the enterprise Sales order //........... a mutual commitment event in which the enterprise agrees to transfer title of goods to a customer at an agreed upon future time and price and the customer agrees to pay for those goods; a document reflecting the terms of the mutual commitment event Sales return //......... an economic decrement reversal event in which the title to goods previously transferred to a customer transfers back to the enterprise Schedule //......... a mutual commitment event in the human resource business process wherein the employee agrees to provide labor as specified in the schedule and the enterprise commits to pay the employee the contracted wage rate for the labor provided Schema //........... the column headings, or intension, of a relational database table Script //.......... a sequence of events that typically occur in combination with each other Select //........... a relational algebra operator that specifies a horizontal subset to be included in the query result Select-From-Where //........... the format of SQL queries; the Select clause specifies a vertical subset to be included in the query result; the From clause specifies which table(s) are to be queried and any subgrouping to be done; the Where clause specifies a horizontal subset to be included in the query result and, if multiple tables are included, helps to define the join Semantic orientation //.......... a goal of REA-based systems that requires objects in the system's conceptual model to correspond as closely as possible to objects in the underlying reality Separation (or segregation) of duties //......... the structuring of employees' job functions such that one employee is prohibited from performing two or more of the following functions: authorization of transactions involving assets, custody of assets, record keeping, and reconciliation; reduces the opportunity for one employee to steal enterprise assets and to conceal the theft in the normal course of his or her work Sequence check //....... a control used to verify the records in a batch are sorted in the proper sequence and/or to highlight missing batch items Service //.......... primary value activities in Porter's generic value chain; activities associated with providing service to enhance or maintain the value of the products or services Service engagement //........ an economic decrement event in which the enterprise transfers services to a customer Service type // ......... a kind of service an enterprise has the ability to provide to customers; a resource type Shares of stock // ....... units that represent the holder's right to share in various ownership interests of an enterprise Show Table window (in Microsoft Access) //......... a screen from which the user may choose which table(s) to include in the relationship layout or in a query Simple attribute //......... a characteristic of an entity or relationship that cannot be further decomposed into component characteristics Smart card or token //.......... a logical access control that authenticates a user through a hardware device combined with a log-in password process; the smart card generates a random code that changes at predetermined intervals and must be matched against the host system; the user must also enter a password to gain access to the system SQL view (in Microsoft Access) //....... a mode for viewing the underlying SQL statement for a query; even if a query was created in QBE mode, Microsoft Access generates a corresponding SQL statement that the user may view to evaluate the query's logic Statement on Auditing Standards No. 94 //........ an auditing statement that largely established current standards for internal control Static derivable attribute //....... a derivable attribute for which the derived value will not change if additional transaction data is entered into the database Stockflow relationship //...... an association between an economic event and a resource or an association between an economic reversal event and a resource; often specifies quantity and actual cost or selling price for the item(s) involved in the event Stock issuance commitment event //..... an equity financing agreement that commits an investor to provide a determinable cash dollar amount (stock proceeds) on a specified date Stovepipes //..... functional areas structured such that the only pathways for communication are at the top (i.e., between the managers of each area); also called functional silos Strategy //....... an enterprise's planned course of action for achieving an objective Structured Query Language (SQL) //......... a query language developed to enable the performance of multiple operations in a single query and to use a standard format for every query statement (Select-From-Where) to simplify the task of query development Structuring orientation //.......... a goal of REA-based systems that demands the use of a pattern as a foundation for the enterprise system to facilitate automated reasoning by intelligent software interfaces to the enterprise system Sum //......... the mathematical total of a column of numerical data values Supplier //........ a person or organization from which an enterprise purchases goods or services Supply chain // ....... the entire network of enterprises (e.g., retailers, wholesalers, transportation firms) involved in providing a particular product or service to an end customer Support value activities //......... in Porter's generic value chain, activities that facilitate accomplishing the primary value activities Symbol //.......... something that stands for or represents something else Synonym //....... a word that has the same meaning as one or more other words Syntax //....... the formatting rules of a query language (and also other types of languages) System flowchart //........ a graphical representation of the inputs, processes, and outputs of an enterprise information system; includes details about the physical as well as the logical aspects of the system components Task level REA model // ...... a task is a workflow step or activity that may be changed or eliminated without fundamentally changing the nature of the enterprise and therefore should not serve as a foundational element in an enterprise information system; task level models in the REA ontology are graphical representations of workflow processes for which there is no identified pattern Technology development //......... support value activities in Porter's generic value chain; the know-how, procedures, or technology embedded in processes that are intended to improve the product, service, and/or process Threat //...... a situation or event that causes possible or probable loss to a person or enterprise Timecard //......... the primary document prepared by the enterprise in conjunction with the economic increment event; may be completed on a daily, weekly, or other basis; is typically completed by employees and approved by supervisors; lists the times employees started working (punched in) and stopped working (punched out) for each day in the covered time period Token //.......... an individual object; token-level representation uses a separate token for each individual instance in the piece of reality that is being modeled Training //...... the provision of education to employees to further develop their skills and/or knowledge Transfer duality relationship //...... an association between economic increment and decrement events in which the resource(s) decremented are traded for the incremented resource(s) Transformation duality relationship // .......... an association between economic increment and decrement events whereby the resource(s) decremented are changed into the incremented resource(s), i.e., the incremented resource(s) is created from the decremented resource(s) Tuple //....... a row in a relational database table Type // ......... a category into which individual objects may be classified; type level representation uses one type to represent as many individual instances as fit the category Typification //....... a relationship between an entity and an entity type; allows for storage of characteristics of entity categories Use stockflow relationship //........... a relationship between a resource and an economic decrement event whereby the resource is completely subsumed by the decrement (i.e., the resource is completely used up) Validity check //........ an internal control in which a comparison is made between entered data and prespecified stored data to determine whether the entered data is valid Valid sign check //....... an internal control used to assess whether a field's sign (positive or negative) makes sense; used to highlight illogical values, particularly balances in master file records Value chain //........ the interconnection of business processes via resources that flow between them, with value being added to the resources as they flow from one process to the next Value chain level REA model // a representation that depicts the interconnected business processes for an enterprise, the resource flows between the processes, and the duality relationships within each process Value system //....... an enterprise placed into the context of its various external business partners such as suppliers, customers, creditors/investors, and employees Value system level REA model // a representation that depicts the resource exchanges in which an enterprise engages with external business partners Vendor invoice //......... a document sent by a supplier to the enterprise to communicate the fact that the supplier has fulfilled its commitment to transfer title of goods to the enterprise; sometimes also serves as a request or reminder for the enterprise to fulfill its commitment and remit payment Vertical calculation //....... a computation that is a summarization of data values within a single column; also called an aggregation function Vertical subset of a table //........ a part of a table that includes only some of the table's columns (but includes all the rows) View integration //....... the process of combining separate conceptual models into one comprehensive model View modeling //.......... the creation of conceptual models to represent separate parts (usually transaction cycles) of an enterprise Virtual close //....... the ability to produce financial statements without actually closing the books; often touted as a benefit of ERP system software Voice recognition technology //........ used for internal control, creates a digital representation of a person's voice and stores it in a database; to access a resource the person speaks into a device; the spoken voiceprint is compared to the stored voiceprint and the person is denied access if the voiceprints do not match Volatile derivable attribute //..... a derivable attribute for which the derived value will change if additional transaction data is entered into the database Withholdings // .... employee pay amounts retained by the employer to remit to governmental or other agencies on behalf of the employee (e.g., social security, income tax, health insurance premiums) Workflow //......... detailed procedural steps and activities used to accomplish events and business processes in enterprises XBRL //..... Extensible Business Reporting Language; a tagging language used to identify data values of business reporting line items such as financial statement elements XML //..... Extensible Markup Language; a tagging language used in the creation of websites .

Access control matrix // ....... identifies the functions each user is allowed to perform and what data and programs the user can access once he or she gains access to the system Acquisition/payment process //...... transaction cycle in which cash or some other form of compensation is disbursed in exchange for goods and services; encompasses all activities associated with the purchase of and payment for those goods and services; also called the "procure-to-pay" mega-process or the expenditures cycle Ad hoc querying //....... direct retrieval of information by end users from a database whereby the retrieval was not planned (i.e., no preformulated queries or interfaces were developed in anticipation of needing the information) Agent //...... an individual, department, division, or organization that participates in the control and/or execution of one or more events Aggregation function //........ a mathematical operation used in querying to summarize information within a single column; also called a vertical calculation Application control //....... a feature created in a software program to help ensure transactions are valid, properly authorized, and completely and accurately processed Areas of responsibility //.......... departments, sections within a department, or individual employees within a department; used in system flowcharting to clearly identify changes in accountability for a document as the document moves through the system Artificial construct // .......... a thing that is artificially created or developed as opposed to something naturally occurring; also called an artifact Attribute //........ a characteristic possessed by an entity or a relationship Attribute conflict //......... differences in the list of characteristics identified as important for describing the same entity or relationship in various view models; resolve in view integration by including a set union of the attributes for the entity or relationship in the integrated view Back-office systems //.......... activities or systems that are only seen and used by people within enterprises; external partners, such as vendors and customers, do not usually see back-office activities or systems Backup // ......... a duplicate copy of a current data file Balanced DFD //......... data flow diagrams at different levels of detail (e.g., context level and level zero) that are consistent in showing system inputs and outflows Base object //........ a foundational building block of an enterprise information system; because they are foundational, removal of base objects causes serious problems and requires rebuilding of the system Batch control total //.......... an internal control used to verify that all transactions within a batch were processed correctly Bill of lading //......... a document that indicates transfer of custody of goods from the enterprise to a common carrier; includes details about how many boxes made up the shipment and the dimensions and/or weight of those boxes Bill of materials //........ a document that identifies the types and quantities of raw materials needed to create a finished good item Biometric access control //......... use of biological features such as fingerprints, palm prints, retina eye patterns, signatures, or voices to authenticate users and determine whether to allow them to access a resource Bolt-on application //......... software programs that can be added to existing ERP software applications Bonding //....... the process of purchasing insurance on the employees who handle cash for an enterprise; the insurer performs background checks on the employees, determines the likelihood the employees will steal from the enterprise, and agrees to compensate the enterprise in the case of employee theft; primarily a corrective control Budget //......... a plan for future inflows and/or outflows of resources Business-entrepreneur script //............ the stereotypical sequence of enterprise events that says (from the enterprise's point of view) the enterprise gets some money, engages in value-added exchanges, pays back the money, and lives off the profit Business interruption //.............. a temporary halt in normal operations due to an incident, such as a threat or catastrophe Business process //........... a term widely used in business to indicate anything from a single activity, such as printing a report, to a set of activities, such as an entire transaction cycle; in this text, business process is used as a synonym of transaction cycle Business process level REA model //......... a representation of an enterprise's resources, events, agents, and appropriate relationships between them within one or more transaction cycles; this conceptual representation is typically used to design the logical enterprise database design Business process risks //........... possibilities of loss and activities intended to mitigate such loss associated with actual business process objects, including resources, events, agents, and relationships among resources, events, and agents Cardinality pattern // the complete specification of minimum and maximum cardinalities of the entities that participate in a relationship Cash disbursement/cash disbursement economic event //........... an event that has the effect of decreasing cash; also called a payment Cash flow budget //......... a plan that delineates expected future cash inflows and outflows Cashier //............ a person who handles cash transactions on behalf of an enterprise Cash receipt/cash receipt event //........... an event that has the effect of increasing cash Cash requisition event //.............. the identification of need for cash Cash resource // ............ usually a list of cash accounts (whether in banks or in petty or on-hand accounts) owned by an enterprise; in essence, a resource type Check //............. a document used to authorize the transfer of cash from one person or enterprise to another Check digit //............. a number that is appended to and maintained as a part of an account number, part number, or other identifier as determined by a predefined formula Claim //............. a timing difference between an economic increment event and the related economic decrement event; receivables and payables are examples of claims Closed loop verification //............ an internal control that helps the user verify the correct record is being processed and updated by displaying details of the record the user should recognize as belonging to the record; e.g., display of a customer's name upon the user entering the customer number Collusion //........... two or more employees acting together to perpetrate a fraud Column //.......... the data values of an attribute (field) for various records (rows) in a database table Combined entity key posting //............. a logical level implementation compromise whereby a single foreign key is placed into a table to represent two or more different relationships Commitment event //........... an event whereby an enterprise becomes obligated to engage in a future economic event Committee on Sponsoring Organizations of the Treasury Commission (COSO) //.......... a committee of the Treadway Commission that issues reports with guidance/requirements as to components of internal control systems and methods of evaluating internal controls Comparison operator //........... in querying, operators used to compare a variable to a value; common comparison operators are less than, equal to, greater than, not equal to, greater than or equal to, and less than or equal to Completeness check //............. an edit check internal control that verifies that all critical field data are entered; only verifies that some value has been entered for each field; does not verify accuracy Composite attribute //.......... a characteristic that is a combination of other characteristics Concatenated primary key // ........... a unique and universal identifier for an entity or relationship that is made up of multiple attributes Conceptual database model //.......... a representation that depicts the important objects and relationships between the objects that must be captured in a database; is independent of any hardware, software, or even any type of software Conceptual level modeling compromise //............. the use of less than ideal representation in a conceptual model because of an inability (e.g., inadequate measurement technique) or lack of need to completely and accurately represent an object Conceptually congruent events // ............... two or more events that are inseparable, that always occur simultaneously Consume stockflow //.............. a relationship between a resource and an economic decrement event whereby the resource is partially used up by the decrement but still exists when the decrement is complete Context //.............. the circumstances or setting in which an event occurs; determines which script is invoked in attempting to understand and make predictions about the event Context diagram //.............. the highest level data flow diagram; represents a single system and provides the scope of the represented system Contingency plan //............... an approach to be followed in case of a future business interruption or other emergency Contract // an agreement that commits two or more enterprises to engage in one or more future exchanges of resources Control activity //................ one of COSO's five interrelated components of an internal control system; a policy or procedure used to ensure necessary actions are taken to minimize risks associated with achieving enterprise objectives; may be preventive, detective, or corrective in nature Control environment //................ one of COSO's five interrelated components of an internal control system; "the tone at the top"; the foundation that provides discipline and structure upon which all other components of internal control are built Conversion process //............... transaction cycle in which materials, labor, machinery, and other resources are transformed into finished goods or services; also called the manufacturing cycle Copy of entity //................. a duplicate representation of an entity placed in a separate position on a conceptual model; must be marked as a copy and have no attributes assigned to it to avoid the creation of duplicate database tables Corrective control //.............. a control activity that focuses on recovering from, repairing the damage from, or minimizing the cost of errors or irregularities Credit memorandum or credit memo //............ an internal document used to communicate to the accounting department that a journal entry needs to be made with a credit to the customer's account receivable; a copy may be given to the customer to confirm their account balance was decreased Creditor //............... an external agent (business partner) from whom the enterprise borrows cash and to whom the enterprise repays cash Customer //............. an external agent (business partner) to whom an enterprise sells its goods and services Customer order //.............. information in the customer's own format regarding what goods and services the customer is committing to purchase from an enterprise Customer statement //.............. a document that summarizes the economic transactions for a customer and reflects the customer's account balance status Database orientation // ........... a goal for integrated enterprise-wide data storage that requires data to (a) be stored at their most primitive levels, at least for a defined time period; ( be stored only once, and such that all authorized decision-makers can access the data; and © be stored so as to allow retrieval in various formats as needed for different purposes Database window (in Microsoft Access) // ............ a screen that depicts the components of the selected database (e.g., tables, queries, forms) Data flow diagram // ................ a graphical representation whose primary purpose is to illustrate the logical flow of data in a system Data flow diagram symbols //........... the notations used in a graphical representation whose primary purpose is to illustrate the logical flow of data in a system; four types of symbols are used: squares for data sources and destinations, circles for processes, arrows for data, and parallel lines for data storage Data manipulation language //............... the specification of operations to be performed on one or more data fields to obtain additional information; may create aggregations, horizontal calculations, subset selections, and so forth Datasheet view (in Microsoft Access) //............. a mode that presents a relational table or a query result in row/column format Data type (field property) (in Microsoft Access) //................ specification as to what kind of data values may be entered into a database table's column Data value //............. the actual entry in a cell of a database table Date constraint //............... a restriction placed on a date field in a query to limit the query results to include only records for which the date values meet the restriction Debit memorandum //.............. an internal document used to communicate the need for a journal entry to debit (decrease) the enterprise's accounts payable balance for a supplier to whom goods were returned Debt financing //............. a mechanism for acquiring cash whereby the enterprise borrows cash from one or more external business partners for a specified period of time and with the agreement that the enterprise will pay a specified interest rate as well as repay the principal balance Decomposition DFD //............. division of processes on a data flow diagram and into more detailed subprocesses Default value //............. a software option that sets a data field's contents to a prespecified (default) value; in some cases the default values may be overridden, while in other cases they may not Deposit slip //.............. a document used to summarize the cash receipts that are added to an enterprise's bank account at a specified point in time Derivable attribute //............... a characteristic of an entity or a relationship that can be calculated based on the values of other stored characteristics Design view (in Microsoft Access) //................ for relational tables, a mode that displays details about the fields of a table and allows the user to specify various design parameters such as which field(s) comprise the primary key, whether a field is set to required data entry, and the data type for a field; for queries, a mode that depicts the logic of a query in QBE format Detective control //............. a control activity that focuses on identifying that errors or irregularities have occurred Digital signature recognition //............ a technology that compares a user's signature to a stored digital representation of the user's signature to authenticate the identification of the user Direct deposit //................ a cash disbursement (economic decrement event) made to an employee via electronic funds transfer from the enterprise's bank account to the employee's bank account Disbursement voucher //............ an internal document that authorizes the transfer of cash from an enterprise to an external business partner Dividend //............. a portion of enterprise earnings that is paid to shareholders Dividend declaration commitment event //............. a commitment to a future economic decrement event in the equity financing cycle; a legal obligation of the enterpriseÑonce a dividend is declared the enterprise is required by law to actually pay the dividend Document/procedure flowchart //............. a graphical representation that depicts the movement of and processing procedures for documents through a system Duality relationship //............ the causal link between a give (economic decrement) event and a take (economic increment) event Dynaset (in Microsoft Access) //............ a query's result; looks and behaves like a table but is not actually stored as a table; it is generated as a view each time the query is run EbXML //............ Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language; a set of specifications that provides a standard method by which enterprises may communicate data in common terms Economic decrement event //........... an activity that decreases one or more resources Economic decrement reversal event //............ an activity that undoes a previous event that had decreased a resource; therefore, the reversal event increases the resource Economic event //................ an activity that either increases or decreases one or more resources Economic increment event //............. an activity that increases one or more resources Economic increment reversal event //.......... an activity that undoes a previous event that had increased a resource; therefore, the reversal event decreases the resource Economy risks //............ threats of loss associated with factors that affect the entire economy, and control activities that mitigate such threats Edit check //.............. a control incorporated into computer program instructions to verify and validate the completeness, reasonableness, and/or accuracy of data Electronic commerce (e-commerce) //............... use of electronic technology to facilitate or accomplish business exchanges Electronic data interchange (EDI) //............ the exchange of transaction-level data between enterprises in a prescribed electronic format, usually through a proprietary value-added network Electronic funds transfer //............ a form of payment that reduces human involvement with cash by having customers electronically transfer funds from their personal bank accounts directly to the company's bank account Employee //............. an external business partner with whom the enterprise exchanges cash for labor; also serves as an internal agent acting on the enterprise's behalf Employee knowledge and skills //.............. resources an enterprise is obtaining together with employee labor, but which the enterprise usually is unable to "own" Encryption //......... a process of encoding data entered into a system, storing or transmitting the data in coded form, and then decoding the data upon its use or arrival at its destination to prevent unauthorized access to the data while it is stored or as it is transmitted Enforce referential integrity (in Microsoft Access) // ........... a choice selected in the relationship layout to determine whether the referential integrity principle will be enforced in a relationship between two tables as the user enters data into the database Enterprise //............. an organization established to achieve a particular undertaking involving industrious, systematic activity; may be profit driven or charitably motivated Enterprise application integration software (EAI) //............. a software solution that builds bridges from existing applications to a generic central hub that integrates the pieces Enterprise resource planning system (ERP) //........... a group of software applications integrated to form an enterprise-wide information system solution Enterprise risks and controls //........... threats of loss to the enterprise as a result of internal and external factors that result from the actions or circumstances of the enterprise itself or of one of its external business partners, and control activities to mitigate such threats Entity //............ an object that has either a physical or conceptual existence Entity conflict //............. discrepancies in the labeling of entity sets in different views; may result from synonyms (same entity set given two different labels) or homonyms (different entity sets given the same label) Entity integrity //........... a principle in the relational database model that requires the primary key of each tuple (row) to contain a non-null value; guarantees the uniqueness of entity instances and enables proper referencing of primary key values by foreign key values Equi-join //.......... a join that combines the tables together based on a common attribute, keeping only those rows for which the data values of the common attribute match exactly; also called an inner join; accomplishes a set intersection of the tables Equipment //............. a resource that gets partially consumed in machine operations in the conversion process Equity financing //........... a mechanism for acquiring cash whereby the enterprise issues shares of stock in exchange for cash ERP system software // .............. Internally developed or packaged software (such as SAP, PeopleSoft/JD Edwards, or Oracle Applications) that aims to provide one integrated enterprise-wide system with a common database Error //.............. an unintended mistake on the part of an employee or external business partner Event // an activity within an enterprise that needs to be planned, controlled, executed, and evaluated Event activity roll-up //............... the aggregation of a group of event records into a single summary entry; an implementation compromise made at the physical level after transaction data is entered into the database once the historical detail is no longer needed Exchange //............ a trade or swap of resources between two parties Exposure //............ the potential impact of a threat of loss on an enterprise, i.e., uncontrolled risk Expression builder (in Microsoft Access) //........... an application within Microsoft Access that assists the user in creating horizontal calculations within queries Extended business process level REA model //............ the business process level of the REA enterprise ontology that includes commitment events, instigation events, and appropriate relationships in which those types of events participate Extension //............... the rows in a relational database table; they represent the specific instances that are members of the entity or relationship set External agent //........... a person or organization with which an enterprise trades resources; also called external business partner External business partner //............ a person or organization with which an enterprise trades resources; also called external agent Fact //........... the pairing of a candidate key data value with another attribute data value; facts are found in a table's extension (rows) Field //.............. a column in a relational database table Field or mode check //.............. an instruction in a computer program that verifies the entered data type is the appropriate mode (e.g., text, numeric, date) for the field into which the data is entered Field property (in Microsoft Access) //............. defines the type of data that is allowed to be entered into a column of a database table Financial officer //.............. internal agent who authorizes events in the financing process Financing process //............. transaction cycle in which cash is exchanged for cash at a later point in time; may include debt and/or equity financing Finished goods //................ the resource(s) produced in a production run event in the conversion process; the type of inventory into which raw materials, labor, and equipment are transformed Firm infrastructure //............. support value activities in Porter's generic value chain; activities that support the entire value chain (e.g., general management, planning, finance, accounting, legal, government affairs, quality management) Flowcharting conventions //............ guidelines to be followed in preparing a system flowchart Flowcharting symbols //............... specific notations used to communicate constructs on a system flowchart; numerous symbols are used to represent different constructs Flow line //.............. a symbol on a flowchart used to indicate the movement of a document, a physical object, or data to the next point in a system Foreign key //............... an attribute from one relational database table that is added as a column in another relational database table to establish a link between the two tables Fraud an intentional effort to cause harm to an enterprise; an irregularity Front-office systems //.............. systems and activities that are typically visible to external partners such as customers and vendors Fulfillment relationship //.............. associations between instigation and commitment events whereby the commitment events fulfill the instigation events, and associations between commitment events and economic events whereby the economic events fulfill the commitment events General controls //............. all controls over data center operations, access security, systems software acquisition and maintenance, and application system development and maintenance Generalization //............. a relationship between a supertype and its subtype entities; often called an "is-a" relationship Grandparent-parent-child approach //............... a backup and file reconstruction procedure generally used with batch processing that maintains at least three generations of both event/maintenance data and master reference data; if the current version (the "child" copy) of the master reference file is destroyed or lost, the enterprise can reconstruct it by rerunning the appropriate event/maintenance data against the prior copy of the reference data (the "parent" copy); if a problem occurs during that reconstruction run, the backup data "grandparent" copy may be used to reconstruct the parent file; the parent is then used to reconstruct the child, and processing continues normally Group by //.......... a querying function used to create subgroups to which aggregations may be applied; a means for creating subtotals Homonym //............. a word used to designate multiple different things Horizontal calculation //............... a row computation in a query that combines data from two or more separate columns of one or more tables Horizontal subset of a table //............. a part of a table that includes only some of the table's rows, but includes all the columns Human resource management //.............. support value activities in Porter's generic value chain; activities involved in recruiting, hiring, training, developing, and compensating all types of personnel Human resources process //............. transaction cycle in which cash is exchanged with employees for labor; also called the payroll cycle Implementation compromise //........... deviation from the identified ideal information system design due to practical considerations, insufficient measurement techniques, and other constraints Imprest cash account //.............. a checking account that normally maintains a zero balance and is often used for payroll; enterprise transfers total payroll amount from a regular checking account to an imprest account; individual paychecks are drawn on the imprest account; a positive balance indicates employees haven't cashed paychecks; a negative balance indicates a mistake likely occurred; either situation warrants investigation Inbound logistics // ............ primary value activities in Porter's generic value chain; activities associated with receiving, storing, and disseminating inputs to the products or services Independent checks on performance //............... verification of accuracy of an employee's performance by a different employee (or by an automated procedure) Industry risks //............ threats of loss associated with factors that affect an enterprise's industry, and control activities that mitigate such threats Inflow //............ the flowing in (receipt) of a resource to an enterprise Information and communication //.............. one of COSO's five interrelated components of an internal control system; prescribes features of the information system to ensure information quality and also prescribes open channels of communication to ensure employees understand what is expected of them in achieving internal control objectives Information event //.......... a workflow activity that records, maintains, or reports information about one or more operating events Information need //.......... a situation for which data is required, e.g., as input to a decision Information process risks //............. Risks associated with recording, maintaining, and reporting information about resources, events, and agents and controls to mitigate those risks Information retrieval //........... repossession or capture of data that was previously entered into a database or other data storage structure Information system //............. the network of all communication channels used within an organization, including all paths by which enterprise employees and business partners impart and receive information (e.g., telephone conversations, written documents, fax transmittals, computer technology) Inner join //............ a join that combines the tables together based on a common attribute, keeping only those rows for which the data values of the common attribute match exactly; also called an equi-join; accomplishes a set intersection of the tables Instigation event //............ an activity in which need for a resource is identified; typically the event that starts a transaction cycle Integration // .............. the combination of parts into a whole Intension //............. the columns in a relational database table; they represent the attributes of the entity or relationship set; also called the schema of the table Inter-enterprise integration //............... the connection of separate systems across two or more enterprises Internal agent //.............. an individual, department, or division within an enterprise that participates in the control and/or execution of one or more events Internal business process //............... a series of activities that achieve a business objective within an enterprise; a transaction cycle within an enterprise Internal control //................. an activity performed to minimize or eliminate risk Intra-enterprise integration //............ the connection of separate systems within an enterprise Inventory //............ a resource; goods purchased or manufactured by an enterprise and offered for sale to customers Inventory type //............. a resource type; a category of goods purchased or manufactured by an enterprise and offered for sale to customers Investor //............ an external agent with whom the enterprise exchanges partial ownership of the enterprise for cash Irregularity //.............. an intentional effort to cause harm to an enterprise; a fraud Job time ticket //.............. a document that indicates starting and stopping times and descriptions for labor operations performed on a specific date by a specific employee; the document's number often serves as an identifier for the labor operation event; also called a time track document Join // to combine separate but related tables by linking them on their common attributes; one of the three primary relational algebra operators discussed in this book Join properties window (in Microsoft Access) a screen that appears when a user double-clicks on a join line to reveal whether the join is an inner join, a left join, or a right join; a user can change the join type in this window Key verification (rekeying) //.......... the keying of input data twice, with the computer comparing the two entries and highlighting any discrepancies for correction .

المسحوبات الشخصيه drawings هي المبالغ التي يسحبها مالكي المنشاه من صندوق المنشاه او البنك او من البضاعه الموجوده بالمنشاه للاستخام الخاص وتظهر اهميه احتفاظ المنشاه بالمسحوبات الشخصيه لمالكي المنشاه في ان مبادئ المحاسبه تقضي بالفصل التام بين العمليات المتعلقه بالمنشاه والعمليات المتعلقه بمالكيها وهناك نوعان من السحوبات مسحوبات نقديه / وتمثل اي مبالغ نقديه cash تصرف من المنشاه لاصحابها من صندوق المنشاه او البنك لاستخدامها في الاغراض الخاصه و القيد يكون من ح/المسحوبات الشخصيه . ..... الي ح/الصندوق او البنك ويمكن ان تكون المسحبات في شكل بضاعه goods يتم في هذه الحاله تقويم البضاعه علي حسب الاتفاق مع باقي مالكي المنشاه اما بسعر الشراء وفي هذه الحاله يكون القيد كالتالي من ح/ المشحوبات الشخصيه .... الي ح/ المخزون واما بسعر البيع . ويكون القيد من ح/ المسحوبات الشخصيه ....... الي ح/ المبيعات نلاحظ ان المسحوبات الشخصيه دائما في الجانب المدين .

هذا الموضوع مهم جدا و اتمنى ان يشارك اكبر عدد من الاعضاء بارائهم حتى تتجدد الثقة في امكانية انطلاقة هذه الفكرة البناءة و التي لها نفع كبير على الجميع من محاسبين و مبرمجين .

اسرار المحسابة متعلقة في نظري باسرار الحسابات الهامة التي تخفي في طياتها الكثير من المعلوات و لتمييز الحسابات الهامة عن غيرها يجب ان نعرف انها تتصرف بطريقة مغايرة عن غيرها كمثال على هذه الحسابات نذكر حساب مرتجعات المشتريات و حساب مرتجعات المبيعات و لكي نعرف انها حسابات مهمة يكفي ان نذكر بان لها مكان مميز في قائمة الدخل

النظم المحاسبية المتخصصة يمكن ان نعرف منها نوعان النوع الاول الذي يتبع تقنيات نظم الخبرة EXPERT SYSTEMS النوع الثاني الذي يتبع تقنيات ادارة قواعد المعرفة KM knowlefdge management و ليس قواعد البيانات .

طرح الاخ المشرف حميد سؤالا رائعا . ما الدي يريده المحاسب من برنامج الحسابات طبعا لكل محاسب نقاط قوة و نقاط ضعف و قد يتمنى اي محاسب ان يعالج البرنامج نقاط ضعفه حتى يستند الى البرنامج كلما اعترضت طريقه مشكلة من النوع الدي يؤرقه . و في الحقيقة لا توجد اية مشكلة عصية على الحل في حالة اتباع خطوات الحل بالطريقة الملائمة و في وجهة نظري فان البرنامج الهدف هو برنامج للوصول الى المعالجة المحاسبية بطريقة احترافية بمعنى الاستناد الى المعايير و الاعراف و المبادئ و المحددات و كافة اسس المحاسبة من اجل تسجبل العملية المالية .

اشكر كافة الاعضاء على الحوار الدي اعتبره حوار في الصميم . حتى نفهم اهمية التحليل المعلوماتي بالنسبة للمشاريع البرمجية نفترض مثلا بان شركة من 10 موظفين تريد تنظيم عملها في اطار نظام معلومات يعمل على خادم و 9 حواسيب. في حالة ابتعادها عن التحليل و قيامها بطريقة ما بجلب مبرمجين و انجاز البرمجة دون تحليل فان النتيجة ستكون ان دلك النظام لا يستطيع ان يحقق اهداف مستخدميه .و لن يتمكن احد من تنفيد اية مهمة بواسطة تلك البرمجيات التي لا يمكن ان يطلق عليها اسم نظام معلومات . و السبب هو ان المبرمج عمله تقني و مرتبط بالبيانات و هيكلة البيانات و الخوارزم و ما يشبهها . و لا يستطيع المبرمج -الا في حالات خاصة - ان يفهم حاجيات المستخدمين لان تلك ليست مهنته اما المحلل فهو عموما اكثر دراية بما يجري داخل الشركات و يفهم جيدا الدورات المستندية و قد يستطيع المحلل فهم نظرية القيد المزدوج و ايظا فهم مبادئ المحاسبة و اسسها حتى يستطيع التاكد من ان كل العمليات المحاسبية قد ترجمت الى قيود وفقا للمعايير المتبعة

شكرا للمشرف حميد على الحوار الغني جدا جدا من وجهة نظري فمعظم المحاسبين يعتقدون بان تحليل الحلول المحاسبية هو امر لا يعنيهم و لا اهمية له و لكن على العكس تماما فان تحليل و تصميم الحلول المحاسبية اصبح في صميم مهنتهم حيث ان تمكن المحاسب من فهم ماهية التحليل فانه سيكون قادرا على الحوار و الجدال مع المبرمجين حتى يتمكن من مراقبة تنفيدهم للحل مع التقيد بالمتطلبات المهنية و التقنية التي تم بحثها في مرحلة التحليل .