Four Steps to Becoming a Social Business

Edelman's David Armano, an expert in idea conceptualization, has put together a chart that lets you graph your progress as a social media high-flyer in four steps: crawling, walking, running and flying. At which point might you find yourself? If you feel you're still in the crawling stage, never fear: We all know learning to fly doesn't happen overnight!

Let's break Armano's themes down, and consider some hints for moving up to the next stage:

Crawling: People, Process, Procedure. The first stage of evolution is admitting you have a problem, and acknowledging that it can't be solved by plugging "social media" into one function (marketing). Crawling involves producing infrastructure in preparation for an organizational redesign. Educating your teams, standardizing procedures and active listening are crucial at this stage.

Walking: Managing Your Properties. Define your engagement strategy across multiple departments, from customer care to outbound marketing. Assets such as meaningful content become especially important because they're less risky than over-engaging too quickly.

Running: Ecosystem Engagement at Scale. By now you should have external and internal designs in place, with multiple social initiatives running (fairly smoothly). "At the running stage, multiple ecosystems are also connected," Armano writes—"for example, the process and tools for managing scores of social networks have been formalized."

Flying: Social Innovation and Organizational Integration. Although many companies want to get to this stage, few actually do. Here, "social" is integrated in everything the organization does: Intelligence gathered through social media is improving business, resulting in new products and services, and improving the company's ability to predict potential outcomes in the market. "Flying" organizations have a social mindset reflected at all touchpoints and business functions.

The Po!nt: Going social doesn't happen overnight, so don't expect it to. Gauge where you are and take the necessary steps to solidify your current position—or advance it.

Management Information Systems: 9ed, By James A. O’Brien & Geroge Marakas_ Glossary

Computer-Based Information System	An information system that uses computer hardware and software to perform its information processing activities.
Control	(1) The systems component that evaluates feedback to determine whether the system is moving toward the achievement of its goal and then makes any necessary adjustments to the input and processing components of the system to ensure that proper output is produced. (2) A management function that involves observing and measuring organizational performance and environmental activities and modifying the plans and activities of the organization when necessary.
Data	Facts or observations about physical phenomena or business transactions. More specifically, data are objective measurements of the attributes (characteristics) of entities such as people, places, things, and events.
Electronic Business (e-Business)	The use of Internet technologies to internetwork and empower business
Electronic Commerce (e-Commerce)	The buying and selling, marketing and servicing, and delivery and payment of products, services, and information over the Internet, intranets, extranets, and other networks, between an internetworked enterprise and its prospects, customers, suppliers, and other business partners. Includes business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce.
End User	Anyone who uses an information system or the information it produces.
Enterprise Collaboration Systems	The use of groupware tools and the Internet, intranets, extranets, and other computer networks to support and enhance
Extranet	A network that links selected resources of a company with its customers, suppliers, and other business partners, using the Internet or private networks to link the organizations’ intranets.
Feedback	(1) Data or information concerning the components and operations of a system. (2) The use of part of the output of a system as input to the system.
Information	Information is data placed in a meaningful and useful context for an end user.
Information System	(1) A set of people, procedures, and resources that collects, transforms, and disseminates information in an organization. (2) A system that accepts data resources as input and processes them into information products as output.
Information System Model	A conceptual framework that views an information system as a system that uses the resources of hardware (machines and media), software (programs and procedures), people (users and specialists), and networks (communications media and network support) to perform input, processing, output, storage, and control activities that transform data resources (databases and knowledge bases) into information products.
Information Technology (IT)	Hardware, software, telecommunications, database management, and other information processing technologies used in computer-based information systems.
Intranet	An Internet-like network within an organization. Web browser software provides easy access to internal websites established by business units, teams, and individuals, and other network resources and applications.
Knowledge Workers	People whose primary work activities include creating, using, and distributing information.
System	(1) A group of interrelated or interacting elements forming a unified whole. (2) A group of interrelated components working together toward a common goal by accepting inputs and producing outputs in an organized transformation process. (3) An assembly of methods, procedures, or techniques unified by regulated interaction to form an organized whole. (4) An organized collection of people, machines, and methods required to accomplish a set of specific functions.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)	Restructuring and transforming a business process by a fundamental rethinking and redesign to achieve dramatic improvements in cost, quality, speed, and so on.
Competitive Forces	A firm must confront (1) rivalry of competitors within its industry, (2) threats of new entrants, (3) threats of substitutes, (4) the bargaining power of customers, and (5) the bargaining power of suppliers.
Competitive advantage	providing a product or service in a way that customers value more than the competition's.
Competitive Strategies	A firm can develop cost leadership, product differentiation, and business innovation strategies to confront its competitive forces.
Locking in Customers and Suppliers	Building valuable relationships with customers and suppliers that deter them from abandoning a firm for its competitors or intimidating it into accepting less-profitable relationships.
Strategic Information Systems	Information systems that provide a firm with competitive products and services that give it a strategic advantage over its competitors in the marketplace. Also, information systems that promote business innovation, improve business processes, and build strategic information resources for a firm.
Total Quality Management	Planning and implementing programs of continuous quality improvement, where quality is defined as meeting or exceeding the requirements and expectations of customers for a product or service.
Value Chain	Viewing a firm as a series, chain, or network of basic activities that add value to its products and services and thus add a margin of value to the firm.
Virtual Company	A form of organization that uses telecommunications networks and other information technologies to link the people, assets, and ideas of a variety of business partners, no matter where they may be located, in order to exploit a business opportunity.

Data Dictionary	A software module and database containing descriptions and definitions concerning the structure, data elements, interrelationships, and other characteristics of a database.
Data Mining	Using special-purpose software to analyze data from a data warehouse to find hidden patterns and trends.
Data Modeling	A process where the relationships between data elements are identified and defined to develop data models.
Data Planning	A corporate planning and analysis function that focuses on data resource management. It includes the responsibility for developing an overall information policy and data architecture for the firm’s data resources.
Data Resource Management	A managerial activity that applies information systems technology and management tools to the task of managing an organization’s data resources. Its three major components are database administration, data administration, and data planning.
Database Administration	A data resource management function that includes responsibility for developing and maintaining the organization’s data dictionary, designing and monitoring the performance of databases, and enforcing standards for database use and security.
Database Administrator	A specialist responsible for maintaining standards for the development, maintenance, and security of an organization’s databases.
Database Management Approach	An approach to the storage and processing of data in which independent files are consolidated into a common pool, or database, of records available to different application programs and end users for processing and data retrieval.
Database Management System (DBMS)	A set of computer programs that controls the creation, maintenance, and utilization of the databases of an organization.
Logical Data Elements	Data elements that are independent of the physical data media on which they are recorded.
Metadata	Data about data; data describing the structure, data elements, interrelationships, and other characteristics of a database.
Query Language	A high-level, humanlike language provided by a database management system that enables users to easily extract data and information from a database.
Report Generator	A feature of database management system packages that allows an end user to quickly specify a report format for the display of information retrieved from a database.

Cellular Phone Systems	A radio communications technology that divides a metropolitan area into a honeycomb of cells to greatly increase the number of frequencies and thus the users that can take advantage of mobile phone service.
Client/Server Network	A computer network where end user workstations (clients) are connected via telecommunications links to network servers and possibly to mainframe superservers.
Coaxial Cable	A sturdy copper or aluminum wire wrapped with spacers to insulate and protect it. Groups of coaxial cables may also be bundled together in a bigger cable for ease of installation.
Communications Satellite	Earth satellites placed in stationary orbits above the equator that serve as relay stations for communications signals transmitted from earth stations.
Downsizing	Moving to smaller computing platforms, such as from mainframe systems to networks of personal computers and servers.
Extranet	A network that links selected resources of a company with its customers, suppliers, and other business partners, using the Internet or private networks to link the organizations’ intranets.
Fiber Optics	The technology that uses cables consisting of very thin filaments of glass fibers that can conduct the light generated by lasers for high-speed telecommunications.
Internetwork Processor	Communications processors used by local area networks to interconnect them with other local area and wide area networks. Examples include switches, routers, hubs, and gateways.
Intranet	An Internet-like network within an organization. Web browser software provides easy access to internal websites established by business units, teams, and individuals, and other network resources and applications.
Legacy Systems	The older, traditional mainframe-based business information systems of an organization.
Modem	(MOdulator-DEModulator) A device that converts the digital signals from input/output devices into appropriate frequencies at a transmission terminal and converts them back into digital signals at a receiving terminal.
Multiplexer	An electronic device that allows a single communications channel to carry simultaneous data transmissions from many terminals.
Network Architecture	A master plan designed to promote an open, simple, flexible, and efficient telecommunications environment through the use of standard protocols, standard communications hardware and software interfaces, and the design of a standard multilevel telecommunications interface between end users and computer systems.
Network Computing	A network-centric view of computing in which “the network is the computer,” that is, the view that computer networks are the central computing resource of any computing environment.
Open Systems	Information systems that use common standards for hardware, software, applications, and networking to create a computing environment that allows easy access by end users and their networked computer systems.
Peer-to-Peer Network (P2P)	Computing environments where end user computers connect, communicate, and collaborate directly with each other via the Internet or other telecommunications network links.
Protocol	A set of rules and procedures for the control of communications in a communications network.
Telecommunications Channel	The part of a telecommunications network that connects the message source with the message receiver. It includes the hardware, software, and media used to connect one network location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.
Telecommunications Processors	Internetwork processors such as switches and routers, and other devices such as multiplexers and communications controllers that allow a communications channel to carry simultaneous data transmissions from many terminals. They may also perform error monitoring, diagnostics and correction, modulation-demodulation, data compression, data coding and decoding, message switching, port contention, and buffer storage.
Virtual Private Network	A secure network that uses the Internet as its main backbone network to connect the intranets of a company’s different locations, or to establish extranet links between a company and its customers, suppliers, or other business partners.
Wide Area Network (WAN)	A data communications network covering a large geographic area.
Wireless LANs	Using radio or infrared transmissions to link devices in a local area network.
Wireless Technologies	Using radio wave, microwave, infrared, and laser technologies to transport digital communications without wires between communications devices. Examples include terrestrial microwave, communications satellites, cellular and PCS phone and pager systems, mobile data radio, and various wireless Internet technologies.

Batch Processing	A category of data processing in which data are accumulated into batches and processed periodically. Contrast with Realtime Processing.
Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM)	The use of computers to automate the production process and operations of a manufacturing plant. Also called factory automation. (See page(s) 162)
Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM)	An overall concept that stresses that the goals of computer use in factory automation should be to simplify, automate, and integrate production processes and other aspects of manufacturing. (See page(s) 180)
Electronic Business (e-Business)	The use of Internet technologies to internetwork and empower business processes, electronic commerce, and enterprise communication and collaboration within a company and with its customers, suppliers, and other business stakeholders.
Enterprise Application Integration (EAI)	A cross-functional e-business application that integrates front-office applications like customer relationship management with back-office applications like enterprise resource management.
Enterprise Collaboration Systems	The use of groupware tools and the Internet, intranets, extranets, and other computer networks to support and enhance communication, coordination, collaboration, and resource sharing among teams and workgroups in an internetworked enterprise.
Financial Management Systems	Information systems that support financial managers in the financing of a business and the allocation and control of financial resources. These include cash and securities management, capital budgeting, financial forecasting, and financial planning.
Functional Business Systems	Information systems within a business organization that support one of the traditional functions of business such as marketing, finance, or production. Functional business systems can be either operations or management information systems.
Interactive Marketing	A dynamic collaborative process of creating, purchasing, and improving products and services that builds close relationships between a business and its customers, using a variety of services on the Internet, intranets, and extranets.
Process Control	The use of a computer to control an ongoing physical process, such as petrochemical production.
Real-Time Processing	Data processing in which data are processed immediately rather than periodically. Also called online processing. Contrast with Batch Processing.
Transaction Processing Cycle	A cycle of basic transaction processing activities including data entry, transaction processing, database maintenance, document and report generation, and inquiry processing.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)	A cross-functional e-business application that integrates and automates many customer serving processes in sales, direct marketing, account and order management, and customer service and support.
EDI: Electronic Data Interchange	The automatic electronic exchange of business documents between the computers of different organizations.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)	Integrated cross-functional software that reengineers manufacturing, distribution, finance, human resources and other basic business processes of a company to improve its efficiency, agility, and profitability.
Supply Chain	The network of business processes and interrelationships among businesses that are needed to build, sell, and deliver a product to its final customer.
Supply Chain Management	Integrating management practices and information technology to optimize information and product flows among the processes and business partners within a supply chain.

Electronic Commerce (e-Commerce)	The buying and selling, marketing and servicing, and delivery and payment of products, services, and information over the Internet, intranets, extranets, and other networks, between an internetworked enterprise and its prospects, customers, suppliers, and other business partners. Includes business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B), and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce.
Infomediaries	Third-party market-maker companies who serve as intermediaries to bring buyers and sellers together by developing and hosting electronic catalog, exchange, and auction markets to accomplish e-commerce transactions.

Analytical Modeling	Interactive use of computer-based mathematical models to explore decision alternatives using what-if analysis, sensitivity analysis, goal-seeking analysis, and optimization analysis.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)	A science and technology whose goal is to develop computers that can think, as well as see, hear, walk, talk, and feel. A major thrust is the development of computer functions normally associated with human intelligence, for example, reasoning, inference, learning, and problem solving.
Data Mining	Using special-purpose software to analyze data from a data warehouse to find hidden patterns and trends.
Decision Support System (DSS)	An information system that utilizes decision models, a database, and a decision maker’s own insights in an ad hoc, interactive analytical modeling process to reach a specific decision by a specific decision maker.
Enterprise Information Portal	A customized and personalized Web-based interface for corporate intranets and extranets that gives qualified users access to a variety of internal and external e-business and e-commerce applications, databases, software tools, and information services.
Enterprise Knowledge Portal	An enterprise information portal that serves as a knowledge management system by providing users with access to enterprise knowledge bases.
Executive Information Systems (EIS)	An information system that provides strategic information tailored to the needs of executives and other decision makers.
Expert System (ES)	A computer-based information system that uses its knowledge about a specific complex application area to act as an expert consultant to users. The system consists of a knowledge base and software modules that perform inferences on the knowledge and communicate answers to a user’s questions.
Genetic Algorithm	An application of artificial intelligence software that uses Darwinian (survival of the fittest) randomizing and other functions to simulate an evolutionary process that can yield increasingly better solutions to a problem.
Inference Engine	The software component of an expert system, which processes the rules and facts related to a specific problem and makes associations and inferences resulting in recommended courses of action.
Intelligent Agent	A special-purpose knowledge-based system that serves as a software surrogate to accomplish specific tasks for end users.
Knowledge Base	A computer-accessible collection of knowledge about a subject in a variety of forms, such as facts and rules of inference, frames, and objects.
Knowledge Engineer	A specialist who works with experts to capture the knowledge they possess in order to develop a knowledge base for expert systems and other knowledge-based systems.
Management Information System (MIS)	A management support system that produces prespecified reports, displays, and responses on a periodic, exception, demand, or push reporting basis.
Model Base	An organized software collection of conceptual, mathematical, and logical models that express business relationships, computational routines, or analytical techniques.
Neural Networks	Computer processors or software whose architecture is based on the human brain’s meshlike neuron structure. Neural networks can process many pieces of information simultaneously and can learn to recognize patterns and programs themselves to solve related problems on their own.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)	A capability of some management, decision support, and executive information systems that supports interactive examination and manipulation of large amounts of data from many perspectives.
Robotics	The technology of building machines (robots) with computer intelligence and humanlike physical capabilities.
Virtual Reality	The use of multisensory human/computer interfaces that enable human users to experience computer-simulated objects, entities, spaces, and “worlds” as if they actually existed.

Change Management	Managing the process of implementing major changes in information technology, business processes, organizational structures, and job assignments to reduce the risks and costs of change, and optimize its benefits.
Information Technology Architecture	A conceptual blueprint that specifies the components and interrelationships of a company’s technology infrastructure, data resources, applications architecture, and IT organization.

Cost/Benefit Analysis	Identifying the advantages or benefits and the disadvantages or costs of a proposed solution.
Documentation	A collection of documents or information that describes a computer program, information system, or required data processing operations.
Economic Feasibility	Whether expected cost savings, increased revenue, increased profits, and reductions in required investment exceed the costs of developing and operating a proposed system.
Feasibility Study	A preliminary study that investigates the information needs of end users and the objectives, constraints, basic resource requirements, cost/benefits, and feasibility of proposed projects.
Operational Feasibility	The willingness and ability of management, employees, customers, and suppliers to operate, use, and support a proposed system.
Postimplementation Review	Monitoring and evaluating the results of an implemented solution or system.
Prototype	A working model. In particular, a working model of an information system that includes tentative versions of user input and output, databases and files, control methods, and processing routines.
Prototyping	The rapid development and testing of working models, or prototypes, of new information system applications in an interactive, iterative process involving both systems analysts and end users.
Systems Analysis	(1) Analyzing in detail the components and requirements of a system. (2) Analyzing in detail the information needs of an organization, the characteristics and components of presently utilized information systems, and the functional requirements of proposed information systems.
Systems Approach	A systematic process of problem solving that defines problems and opportunities in a systems context. Data are gathered describing the problem or opportunity, and alternative solutions are identified and evaluated. Then the best solution is selected and implemented, and its success evaluated.
Systems Design	Deciding how a proposed information system will meet the information needs of end users. Includes logical and physical design activities, and user interface, data, and process design activities that produce system specifications that satisfy the system requirements developed in the systems analysis stage.
Systems Implementation	The stage of systems development in which hardware and software are acquired, developed, and installed; the system is tested and documented; people are trained to operate and use the system; and an organization converts to the use of a newly developed system.
Systems Investigation	The screening, selection, and preliminary study of a proposed information system solution to a business problem.
Systems Maintenance	The monitoring, evaluating, and modifying of a system to make desirable or necessary improvements.
System Specifications	The product of the systems design stage. It consists of specifications for the hardware, software, facilities, personnel, databases, and the user interface of a proposed information system.
Systems Thinking	Recognizing systems, subsystems, components of systems, and system interrelationships in a situation. Also known as a systems context or a systemic view of a situation.
Technical Feasibility	Whether reliable hardware and software capable of meeting the needs of a proposed system can be acquired or developed by an organization in the required time.
User Interface Design	Designing the interactions between end users and computer systems, including input/output methods and the conversion of data between human-readable and machine-readable forms.

Audit Trail	The presence of media and procedures that allow a transaction to be traced through all stages of information processing, beginning with its appearance on a source document and ending with its transformation into information on a final output document.
Business Ethics	An area of philosophy concerned with developing ethical principles and promoting ethical behavior and practices in the accomplishment of business tasks and decision making.
Computer Crime	Criminal actions accomplished through the use of computer systems, especially with intent to defraud, destroy, or make unauthorized use of computer system resources.
Computer Matching	Using computers to screen and match data about individual characteristics provided by a variety of computer-based information systems and databases in order to identify individuals for business, government, or other purposes.
Computer Monitoring	Using computers to monitor the behavior and productivity of workers on the job and in the workplace.
Computer Virus or Worm	Program code that copies its destructive program routines into the computer systems of anyone who accesses computer systems that have used the program, or anyone who uses copies of data or programs taken from such computers. This spreads the destruction of data and programs among many computer users. Technically, a virus will not run unaided, but must be inserted into another program, while a worm is a distinct program that can run unaided.
Disaster Recovery	Methods for ensuring that an organization recovers from natural and human-caused disasters that have affected its computer-based operations.
Encryption	To scramble data or convert it, prior to transmission, to a secret code that masks the meaning of the data to unauthorized recipients. Similar to enciphering.
Ergonomics	The science and technology emphasizing the safety, comfort, and ease of use of human-operated machines such as computers. The goal of ergonomics is to produce systems that are user-friendly: safe, comfortable, and easy to use. Ergonomics is also called human factors engineering.
Hacking	(1) Obsessive use of a computer. (2) The unauthorized access and use of computer systems.
Security Management	Protecting the accuracy, integrity, and safety of the processes and resources of an internetworked e-business enterprise against computer crime, accidental or malicious destruction, and natural disasters, using security measures such as encryption, fire walls, antivirus software, fault-tolerant computers, and security monitors.
Software Piracy	Unauthorized copying of software.

Chargeback Systems	Methods of allocating costs to end user departments based on the information services rendered and information system resources utilized.
Chief Information Officer	A senior management position that oversees all information technology for a firm concentrating on long-range information system planning and strategy.
Data Center	An organizational unit that uses centralized computing resources to perform information processing activities for an organization. Also known as a computer center.
Downsizing	Moving to smaller computing platforms, such as from mainframe systems to networks of personal computers and servers.
Technology Management	The organizational responsibilities to identify, introduce, and monitor the assimilation of new information system technologies into organizations.
Transborder Data Flows (TDF)	The flow of business data over telecommunications networks across international borders.
Transnational Strategy	A management approach in which an organization integrates its global business activities through close cooperation and interdependence among its headquarters, operations, and international subsidiaries, and its use of appropriate global information technologies.

Central Processing Unit (CPU)	The unit of a computer system that includes the circuits that control the interpretation and execution of instructions. In many computer systems, the CPU includes the arithmetic-logic unit, the control unit, and the primary storage unit.
Computer System	Computer hardware as a system of input, processing, output, storage, and control components. Thus a computer system consists of input and output devices, primary and secondary storage devices, the central processing unit, the control unit within the CPU, and other peripheral devices.
Computer Terminal	Any input/output device connected by telecommunications links to a computer.
Direct Access	A method of storage where each storage position has a unique address and can be individually accessed in approximately the same period of time without having to search through other storage positions. Same as Random Access. Contrast with Sequential Access.
Information Appliance	Small Web-enabled microcomputer devices with specialized functions, such as hand-held PDAs, TV set-top boxes, game consoles, cellular and PCS phones, wired telephone appliances, and other Web-enabled home appliances.
Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs)	Electronic visual displays that form characters by applying an electrical charge to selected silicon crystals.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)	The machine recognition of characters printed with magnetic ink. Primarily used for check processing by the banking industry.
Magnetic Tape	A plastic tape with a magnetic surface on which data can be stored by selective magnetization of portions of the surface.
Microcomputer	A very small computer, ranging in size from a “computer on a chip” to hand-held, laptop, and desktop units, and servers.
Microprocessor	A microcomputer central processing unit (CPU) on a chip. Without input/output or primary storage capabilities in most types.
Midrange Computer	A computer category between microcomputers and mainframes. Examples include minicomputers, network servers, and technical workstations.
Minicomputer	A type of midrange computer.
Network Computer	A low-cost networked microcomputer with no or minimal disk storage, which depends on Internet or intranet servers for its operating system and Web browser, Java-enabled application software, and data access and storage.
Offline	Pertaining to equipment or devices not under control of the central processing unit.
Online	Pertaining to equipment or devices under control of the central processing unit.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)	The machine identification of printed characters through the use of light-sensitive devices.
Peripheral Devices	In a computer system, any unit of equipment, distinct from the central processing unit, that provides the system with input, output, or storage capabilities.
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)	Hand-held microcomputer devices that enable you to manage information such as appointments, to-do lists, and sales contacts, send and receive e-mail, access the Web, and exchange such information with your desktop PC or network server.
Pointing Devices	Devices that allow end users to issue commands or make choices by moving a cursor on the display screen.
Secondary Storage	Storage that supplements the primary storage of a computer. Synonymous with Auxiliary Storage.
Semiconductor Memory	Microelectronic storage circuitry etched on tiny chips of silicon or other semiconducting material. The primary storage of most modern computers consists of microelectronic semiconductor storage chips for random access memory (RAM) and read only memory (ROM).
Sequential Access	A sequential method of storing and retrieving data from a file. Contrast with Random Access and Direct Access.
Speech Recognition	Direct conversion of spoken data into electronic form suitable for entry into a computer system. Also called voice data entry.
Supercomputer	A special category of large computer systems that are the most powerful available. They are designed to solve massive computational problems.
Touch-Sensitive Screen	An input device that accepts data input by the placement of a finger on or close to the CRT screen.
Transaction Terminals	Terminals used in banks, retail stores, factories, and other work sites that are used to capture transaction data at their point of origin. Examples are point-of-sale (POS) terminals and automated teller machines (ATMs).
Wand	A hand-held optical character recognition device used for data entry by many transaction terminals.
Workstation	(1) A computer system designed to support the work of one person. (2) A high-powered computer to support the work of professionals in engineering, science, and other areas that require extensive computing power and graphics capabilities.

Application Server	System software that provides a middleware interface between an operating system and the application programs of users.
Application Software	Programs that specify the information processing activities required for the completion of specific tasks of computer users. Examples are electronic spreadsheet and word processing programs or inventory or payroll programs.
Application-Specific Programs	Application software packages that support specific applications of end users in business, science and engineering, and other areas.
Assembler Language	A programming language that utilizes symbols to represent operation codes and storage locations.
Desktop Publishing	The use of microcomputers, laser printers, and page-makeup software to produce a variety of printed materials that were formerly produced only by professional printers.
Electronic Mail	Sending and receiving text messages between networked PCs over telecommunications networks. E-mail can also include data files, software, and multimedia messages and documents as attachments.
File Management	Controlling the creation, deletion, access, and use of files of data and programs.
Fourth-Generation Languages (4GL)	Programming languages that are easier to use than high-level languages like BASIC, COBOL, or FORTRAN. They are also known as nonprocedural, natural, or very-high-level languages.
General-Purpose Application Programs	Programs that can perform information processing jobs for users from all application areas. For example, word processing programs, electronic spreadsheet programs, and graphics programs can be used by individuals for home, education, business, scientific, and many other purposes.
Graphical User Interface	A software interface that relies on icons, bars, buttons, boxes, and other images to initiate computer-based tasks for users.
Groupware	Software to support and enhance the communication, coordination, and collaboration among networked teams and workgroups, including software tools for electronic communications, electronic conferencing, and cooperative work management.
High-Level Language	A programming language that utilizes macro instructions and statements that closely resemble human language or mathematical notation to describe the problem to be solved or the procedure to be used. Also called a compiler language.
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)	A popular page description language for creating hypertext and hypermedia documents for World Wide Web and intranet websites.
Integrated Packages	Software that combines the ability to do several general-purpose applications (such as word processing, electronic spreadsheet, and graphics) into one program.
Java	An object-oriented programming language designed for programming real-time, interactive, Web-based applications in the form of applets for use on clients and servers on the Internet, intranets, and extranets.
Language Translator Program	A program that converts the programming language instructions in a computer program into machine language code. Major types include assemblers, compilers, and interpreters.
Machine Language	A programming language where instructions are expressed in the binary code of the computer.
Multitasking	The concurrent use of the same computer to accomplish several different information processing tasks. Each task may require the use of a different program, or the concurrent use of the same copy of a program by several users.
Natural Language	A programming language that is very close to human language. Also called very-high-level language.
Nonprocedural Languages	Programming languages that allow users and professional programmers to specify the results they want without specifying how to solve the problem.
Object-Oriented Language	An object-oriented programming (OOP) language used to develop programs that create and use objects to perform information processing tasks.
Operating System	The main control program of a computer system. It is a system of programs that controls the execution of computer programs and may provide scheduling, debugging, input/output control, system accounting, compilation, storage assignment, data management, and related services.
Personal Information Manager (PIM)	A software package that helps end users store, organize, and retrieve text and numerical data in the form of notes, lists, memos, and a variety of other forms.
Programming Tools	Software packages or modules that provide editing and diagnostic capabilities and other support facilities to assist the programming process.
Resource Management	An operating system function that controls the use of computer system resources such as primary storage, secondary storage, CPU processing time, and input/output devices by other system software and application software packages.
Software Suites	A combination of individual software packages that share a common graphical user interface and are designed for easy transfer of data between applications.
System Software	Programs that control and support operations of a computer system. System software includes a variety of programs, such as operating systems, database management systems, communications control programs, service and utility programs, and programming language translators.
Task Management	A basic operating system function that manages the accomplishment of the computing tasks of users by a computer system.
User Interface	That part of an operating system or other program that allows users to communicate with it to load programs, access files, and accomplish other computing tasks.
Utility Program	A standard set of routines that assists in the operation of a computer system by performing some frequently required process such as copying, sorting, or merging.
Virtual Memory	The use of secondary storage devices as an extension of the primary storage of the computer, thus giving the appearance of a larger main memory than actually exists.
Web Browser	A software package that provides the user interface for accessing Internet, intranet, and extranet websites. Browsers are becoming multifunction universal clients for sending and receiving e-mail, downloading files, accessing Java applets, participating in discussion groups, developing Web pages, and other Internet, intranet, and extranet applications.