Unit 3 : Information Systems. Assignment 2 - Issues surrounding collecting and processing information. By Zeeshan Akhlaq.

Introduction:

There are many issues that organisations can face revolving around the storage of information. The three main issues I will be talking about will include legal issues, ethical issues and operational issues. These will cover all the main points that clients will need to know about which can affect an organisation.

Legal issues:

These are very important for organisations as certain laws revolving around computers protects what they have from other people. These laws include the Data protection act (1998), Freedom of information act (2000) and Computer misuse act (1990). These acts are in place to provide organisations with guidelines on how to protect their data and what they can do with it.

Data Protection Act (1998):

This data protection act includes data which is taken from computers, this includes everything such as personal records about employees, business files and other things that link to the organisation.

This protection act was put in to place so that only relevant organisation data could be processed fairly through the law, this data cannot be shown to the public as the organisation has to abide by the law. This also means that people personal details which are not obligated to be in the organisation can be taken out and deleted. For this organisations can be sued or worse due to keeping information from people.

As I said before only relevant data is stored, but this also means for a certain time as well, if it is not needed in the next few weeks it needs to be deleted by then. This protection act strictly mentions that no other data should be kept by organisations which will provide no use and probably waste time and money. Also this will breach the act and the organisation will be in a lot of trouble.

The data given to the organisation has to be secure and should not contain any malware, corrupted or unsafe files which can cause danger to the organisations computer servers. This is also covers the accidental loss of data, through hard drive corruptions or blackouts.

Freedom of Information Act (2000):

This information act allows people to gain public access to information which is supplied by public services. This includes education tools from school’s colleges, universities and more. This also includes other services like healthcare information, government and council information.

However, if someone has written about and organisation specifically then the information will be held under the data protection act and definitely not the freedom of information because this is private information that is only linked to the organisation.

In this act everything you are able to access should be free, you should not have to charge or pay for anything that should be available free to you. But if certain data is secure or not allowed to be accessed by certain public classes then the public ‘body’ must give a good reason why you are not able to access the information needed.

If you are refused to be given data by a website or someone that is free you can appeal to have the information by contacting the independent information commissioner. They will be able to sort out these issues as they will have experience on what happens next.

So if an organisation makes data free it will have to stay free otherwise they could breach the act and could be in a lot of trouble by being sued or even closed down due to no specific reasons given.

Computer Misuse Act (1990):

This misuse act will cover three points which include:

• ·         Unauthorised access to computer files
• ·         Unauthorised access with intent to facilitate other offences
• ·         Unauthorised changes of computer files

So unauthorised access to computer files would include access any data on the computer system you are not allowed to access. Say you are a guest on a windows operating system, the administrator has stopped you from accessing the C:\ drive of the computer so you cannot bypass the system. If you find a way out of this loophole and you access those files you breach the act.

Similarly, unauthorised changes to computer files would go one step further by maybe deleting the files on the C:\ drive causing a fatal system error, modifying files into corrupted malicious files which will then infect the whole system and maybe the network server.

Similarly, unauthorised access with intent to commit other offences would include ransom-ware, when people inject viruses into the system of the computer and encrypt the data which stops you from accessing the data. From this a program pops up telling you to pay the price for your data to be decrypted, which surprisingly does not work all the time and is just a scam.

Ethical Issues:

Using emails:

The organisation has certain rules in place so that you only access the internet and emails which are worked based activities. Employees are only allowed to access their own personal data or emails in the break times given where you are allowed to do so by the organisation. This guarantees that employees will do work based activities in their work time and their own activities in the break time.

Internet:

The organisation also has certain rules applied on the internet which prohibits you from accessing inappropriate websites during work time and even in break time as you are in an organisation working. This also includes social media sites like Twitter or Facebook, although the organisation may not say anything this will reduce the work you do in the day.

Whistleblowing:

This is a very serious action taken into consideration as the employee raises concerns of certain practices that happen inside the organisation which should not be allowed. These certain practices can mean anything from small crimes to dangerous activities.

Organisational Policies:

The organisation may have certain polices in place which allow a more ethical way in handling data such as making sure that important information which includes the management of marketing or business sales is handled fairly.

Information Ownership:

When you are working in an organisation you will be subject to create data for the organisation by using your own knowledge, this means that you have to take ownership of that data and have the right to protect this data from other people in the organisation.

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Operational Issues:

This will include three main points I will emphasise on and discuss to include the pass task further; they are:

• ·         Security
• ·         Organisation polices
• ·         Costs

Security

Backups:

Many organisations do make backups but not regularly when they should do, this is important so that if there is a blackout in the area the data is still in safe hands inside the organisation all backed up. This can be done easily and frequently by adding in a backup server in a different area from the original data server, this is so that if there is a power outage the other server is still running. An example is that the power has now gone down in the upper section of the building due to a short circuit, the basement backup servers are online and need accessing, a switch is in place so that data flow from the original server can be switched to the backup one. Therefore, business can return as usual in the building as all the data is back online for employees to use.

Health and Safety:

This rarely happens but it could be that the equipment the organisation has is not safe to use, it can be a danger to your life, it can cause issues to arise after long periods of time etc. This can include eye strain from computer monitors, having a fixed monitor to a desk will not work with everyone, some people get eye strain after looking at a monitor too long. This can be corrected by adding adjustable monitors, having wrist mats so that people do not get wrist sprains and have comfortable chairs so people do not develop spinal issues in the long run. So an example is an employee is having trouble seeing certain fonts on a white background, the background has been adjusted but the screen is reflective which makes it even harder to see. The screen can then be moved by the employee at a certain angle so that the reflection of the outside window does not meet the computer monitor anymore. It is as simple as that.

Organisation polices

Business continuity:

This is a backup plan which is put in place if the organisations original plan does not go as planned, this plan allows business to continue as normal in the organisation, it also means that the employees are always working and not wasting their time. Even if there are faults in the original plan the backup plan is made to work around those faults that have occurred or allows employees to take a different approach all together. So an example could be that certain software is not available for employees to access so instead of doing that task through the computer they can think about it and produce their own findings from that. (Ideally this would be something similar which would benefit the organisation greatly in the future).

Costs

Impact of increasing sophistication of systems:

This would have a big impact on employees if they are used to having to work with one application throughout their work carrier. Employees would find it difficult to learn a new complex computer system software as it would be unfamiliar for them. By training staff accordingly beforehand this impact can be stopped greatly so that employees can continue doing work throughout their time at work even with a new complex system in place. So an example could be that the organisation updates the software of all the computers to Windows 8 from Windows XP. The employees will have no clue on how to use it due to it having its own live screen, live tiles etc. There is no start button for users to click on. So therefore, the employees would need to be trained on how to navigate through the live start bar so they can access the previous applications they use.

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Effects on the organisation

Legal Issues:

Legal issues would affect the software house in a good way by the database solutions they provide, this is because the data they provide will be their own or from public services, and they would not have taken it from other sources. Having all these protection acts, such as the data protection act and freedom of information act stop organisations, e.g. the software house, from taking information which is not rightfully theirs. So the database solutions will always be 100% from the company or part of public services and from no one else, this increases the clients trust with the company as they are abiding by the laws put in place. This also makes it easier for organisation like software house to handle solutions because if they find public ones this saves them time and money. An example of this is Kevin who works in the data management section finds a public database solution, after scanning the files thoroughly for viruses he opens the files and uses them to come up with a database solution for the client, he came up with the solution in half the time allocated to him which has saved his time.

Legal issues can also affect the software house in a bad way if the database solutions are being taken from public services as they will need to give the public ‘body’ a good reason as to why they need this database solution. Sometimes the software house may not get the solution in the end even after waiting several days for it. With these types of laws there are bound to be delays which means it takes longer to create solutions for clients. Another thing to take into consideration is that public documents may not be 100% safe, they could be malicious and could cause viruses on your computer once opened. This is why it is better for the software house to make its own database solutions even if it had the chance to use some from the public. Only trusted public sources should be used if it is really necessary. Also any data the software house has had which no longer belongs to them and belongs to an employee cannot be kept. An example of this is Kevin works in the data management section at the software house, he makes a database solution on his OWN computer and gives it to the company. He has the rights to take this database back if he gets fired etc. This can cause more setbacks in the organisation.

Ethical Issues:

Ethical issues would affect the software house in a good way as it will keep employees at the software house restricted from getting distracted when working. This means that certain sites on the internet are blocked, such as social media websites and inappropriate ones too. It also means that there are strict rules in place for employees on when they have their own free time as employees cannot continuously work like computers. These rules are also implemented into accessing emails, you have to give a good reason why you sent an email to your friend etc. These polices and rules are in place so data can be handled in a more ethical way, important information is provided first to the company before anything else. An example of an ethical issue is: Kevin is trying to access Facebook but he gets an ‘Access Denied’ message instead. After a while he stops trying and gets back to work. Once people know there limitations, like Kevin just found out they will not try to deviate from their work.

Ethical issues can also affect the software house in a bad way, one reason for this is because of whistle blowing, and this is where an employee will raise some concerns to the authorities about the organisations actions. These actions could be small or big crimes being taken place illegally. If the authorities catch an organisation like the software house doing things like this then they will have to close down for good. This is why the software house has to also keep its workers happy and do things by the book without having to turn to illegal actions. Another bad affect is that the information that employees produce cannot be used to help other employees. The information they have produced using their own knowledge can only be used by the organisation as this is what employees work for. So if anything happens to the organisation involving your data you have to take ownership of it as you created it. This is one reason why confidential documents exist. An example of this is: Kevin asks his employees for help and they give some data to him. Kevin opens the data and tries to copy from it, the security people monitoring the computers find this out and he is promptly fired from his job.

Operation Issues:

Operation issues would affect the software house in a good way as employee data would be backed up onto several servers so they do not lose any data. All data that employees work on is on a server which is very useful because the work is online and not on the computer as there is a chance the computer may potentially fail in the future. Usually health and safety is taken into consideration in organisations like the software house. This means that certain specialised equipment is used for computers, such as an anti-glare computer screen which has a swivel so it can move freely to remove any eye strain you have. Also wrist mats can be put in place to stop uncomfortable wrist sprains which can lead to injuries later on. Another good affect would be that there are always backup plans that have been made by the company just in case something does not go to plan, which may happen frequently depending on the company. An example of this at the software house is: Kevin cannot access one of the databases he has made, the software to open it has been deleted. The organisation give him a laptop with the software on, he transfers the data to the laptop and works of the laptop instead. This means he can get the work done in the time allocated even with a few changes to the original plan.

Operational issues could affect the software house in a bad way a reason for this being that the cost of the equipment needed is increasing. An organisation like the software house may not be able to keep up with the sophistication's of the computer systems if they do not have a big supply of government funds. Applications for making database solutions can be demanding which is why the best hardware and software is needed to create them so that the client gets the best possible solution. Another bad effect, if funds are low at the software house, could be that the health and safety of the employees are at risk, this may be because of the cheap monitors used, and wires might be dangling from the ceiling etc. An example of the bad effects is: Kevin needs to make a database solution for a client, he updates the program software for it but experiences some major lag when using the software. The program crashes telling him the computer needs a RAM and processor upgrade, which is exactly what the software house does not have.