INFS5000 AIS Flashcards - Topic 2 & Topic 3

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Data Processing Cycles, ERP Systems, Database Concepts, ER Diagrams, Normalisation, Anomalies, and SQL components from INFS5000 Topic 2 and Topic 3.

Data Processing Cycle

The four basic operations performed on data to generate meaningful, relevant information: Data Input, Data Storage, Data Processing, and Information Output.

Source Documents

Documents that capture transaction details at initiation or result, serving as internal control and audit trail evidence.

Picking List

A revenue cycle document originated by the warehouse to guide the selection of items from the warehouse.

Bill of Lading

A revenue cycle document originated by shipping that specifies freight items for the carrier.

Remittance Advice

A revenue cycle document originated by the customer to accompany cash or EFT payments received by receivables.

Credit Memo

A revenue cycle document originated by receivables to adjust customer accounts for returns, discounts, or write-offs.

Purchase Requisition

An expenditure cycle document originated by a user department to request materials or services from purchasing.

Purchase Order

An expenditure cycle document originated by purchasing that specifies items ordered and freight terms sent to the vendor.

Receiving Report

An expenditure cycle document originated by receiving/stores confirming that goods were received in good condition.

General Ledger (G/L)

A ledger containing summary-level data for every asset, liability, equity, revenue, and expense account.

Subsidiary Ledgers

Ledgers containing detailed sub-account data for G/L accounts that have many sub-accounts, such as individual customers or vendors.

Chart of Accounts (CoA)

A structured list of all G/L accounts, each with a unique code, enabling efficient capture, classification, coding, and analysis of transactions.

Entity

An object, person, place, event, or concept in a database that information is stored about.

Attribute

An identified characteristic or property of interest describing an entity type.

Field

The physical space in a data record where a specific data value is stored.

Record

A row of fields containing data about a single specific instance of an entity.

Master File

A basic file type storing relatively stable, permanent data that is reused across multiple transactions.

Transaction File

A basic file type containing individual records of specific business events or activities.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System

An integrated, enterprise-wide software solution with a common database and modular architecture that supports cross-functional business processes.

Silo Architecture

An information architecture where each department maintains its own separate database, application, and interface, leading to data duplication and re-keying.

Spaghetti Code

Fragile and complex point-to-point custom integrations created between siloed systems to reduce manual data re-keying.

3-Tier ERP Architecture

System architecture consisting of Tier 1 (User Tier client devices), Tier 2 (Application Server hosting modules and business logic), and Tier 3 (Database Tier hosting a shared RDBMS).

Master Data (ERP)

Relatively stable data created once and reused across many transactions, such as customer, vendor, and material records.

Transaction Data (ERP)

Data generated by a specific business event or activity, such as purchase orders, invoices, and payments.

Organizational Data

ERP data that defines the structure of an organization, such as company codes, business units, plants, and cost centres.

Database

A set of interrelated, centrally controlled data files stored with minimal data redundancy.

Logical View

The user-level (external) view of data that allows interaction with system outputs and interfaces without modifying underlying storage structures.

Physical View

The internal-level view of database structure showing how data is physically arranged and stored on storage hardware.

Entity Relationship (ER) Model

A widely used conceptual data model representing real-world database structures through entities, attributes, and relationships.

Composite Key

A primary key formed by combining two or more fields to create a unique identifier when no single column is sufficient.

Cardinality

The maximum number of times an instance of one entity can relate to instances of another entity.

Primary Key

An attribute or combination of attributes that uniquely identifies a specific row in a database table.

Foreign Key

An attribute in a table that is also the primary key in another table, used to link tables and sustain data integrity.

Normalisation

A bottom-up database design process that assigns attributes to entities according to rules to eliminate repeating groups and redundancy.

Deletion Anomaly

An un-normalised database error where deleting a record accidentally destroys unrelated data.

Update Anomaly

An un-normalised database error where modifying duplicated data in one location leaves identical data unchanged elsewhere.

Insertion Anomaly

An un-normalised database error where data about one entity cannot be recorded without first creating a record for another entity.

Data Definition Language (DDL)

A DBMS language component used to create databases, build data dictionaries, define logical views, and set security constraints (e.g., CREATE).

Data Manipulation Language (DML)

A DBMS language component used to alter database content, including updating, inserting, and deleting records (e.g., UPDATE).

Data Query Language (DQL)

A DBMS language component used to retrieve, sort, order, and display database records (e.g., SELECT).

Data Dictionary

A DBMS repository that documents details for every data element, including field type, length, source, usage, and user permissions.

Entity Integrity Rule

A relational database constraint stating that primary key fields cannot be null or empty.

Referential Integrity

A relational database rule specifying that foreign keys, if not null, must match an existing primary key value in another table.