The Information Factory

The main job of TESS is to look after the information which the TEC acquires. The TEC is an "information factory" - accumulates data and turns it into valuable information. TESS supports the business processes.

What Can Happen Without TESS

To understand how TESS works we need to consider the position without TESS. There might be separate systems. They do not communicate and have their own sources of data. This is a problem because the information requirements of many Business Processes overlap. This leads to a problem termed "islands of information". Each user has his/her own information. This could well be different, for example, a Contracts Management System might well have different numbers in it compared to the Accounts System. Different parts of organisation could have different names on mailing lists.

The Benefits of Integrated Data

TESS has a central source of data. The TESS system integrates and makes use of Windows based Office Applications. Separate systems access the same source of data. TESS consists of a number of applications which access the database. The menu driven applications, which include COMAS, TrainTrack and BIS, help to manage the entry of data and the data itself. These systems assist with key business processes such as making payments, keeping track of money and so on.

Management Information

Another type of application uses Summary information drawn from the data in the database. A spreadsheet such as Excel is a tool to manage and control this information. The user will use the tool to analyse the data and turn it into useful information to help with Management. An Enterprise Information System is a type of application which makes use of key information which can be used to investigate the overall status of the Enterprise