Corporate Planning and LAN

AcknowledgmentsIntroductionPrelude The ForumChapter I Corporations as Systems and Open Communication: The Forum Information System Here we Present the Forum Information System (FIS) from its Theoretical and Normative Origins. General Systems Theory Provides Four Corporate Planning Areas: Budget, Operations, Maintenance, and Strategic Planning. Normative Issues Center Around the Empowerment of Executives, Managers, Owners, and Employees Enshrined in Johnstone's Basic Imperative—in Each Act of Communication, One is to Enhance Rather than Suppress the Ability to Persuade and be Persuaded, whether the Ability is yours or Another's.Chapter 2 Organizations and Computers: The Formal Language Structure of Corporations There was a Paradigm Shift in Corporate Information Systems which Occurred with the Large Scale Use of Computers, and which Can be Completed when the Corporate Information System Mirrors the Corporate Information Structure, as with the FIS.Chapter 3 Master Budget: Process and ProductThe Master Budget is Presented in Sufficient Detail to Show how it Organizes the Particulars of all the Other Budgets that Affect Every Aspect of the life of the Corporation.Chapter 4 The Master Budget as the Basis of a Relational Database Design Procedure With the Inputs into the Master Budget a Procedure is Presented to Create a Fully Normalized Relational Database.Chapter 5 Capital Budgeting: Process and Product The Capital Budget Process with its Use of Present Value Theory is Shown to be the Context where Decisions are Made to Purchase any Large Capital Items for Operations or Maintenance.Chapter 6 An Operational Forum Given the Three Sorts of for-Profit Corporation—Manufacturing, Merchandising, Service—Producing a Product is Seen as a Procedure which is Captured by the Structure of a Prolog Expert System, with Scheduled Maintenance Considered as a Part of Operations and its Budget.Chapter 7 Maintenance and Inquiry: A Maintenance Forum Maintenance in a Corporation is Presented as the Product of Inquiry into Problems Observed by People who are in Daily Contact with Various Aspects of the Company.Chapter 8 Strategic Forum The Strategic Forum is Presented in Terms of a Procedure, with Templates and Instructions, with the Possibility of Including Emplyees and Owners in an Effective Manner.Chapter 9 Hypertext/Windows Prototype of the FIS Asymetrix Toolbook is Used as an Example of Programming a Hypertext/Windows Prototype of the Four Forums.Chapter 10 The Forum LAN System: Organizational Issues Discussed here are the Organizational Issues that Come About when Interpreting Existing Corporate Practice in Terms of the FIS. Organizational Learning is Critical to the Use of the System.GlossaryReferencesIndex