Intranet is a private network using Internet technologies that’s available only to employees;

access is controlled by a software program called a firewall. The information available on an

intranet varies by company but may include internal job postings, written company policies, and
proprietary information, such as price lists meant for internal use only.

An intranet is a set of Internet services (for example a web server) inside a local network, i.e. only
accessible from workstations of a local network, or rather a set of well-defined networks that are
invisible (or inaccessible) from the outside.

An extranet is an extension of the information system of the company to its partners located
outside of the network. This is an intranet that’s partially available to certain parties outside the
organization, such as its suppliers.

Each can be used by the four business functions to support the organization’s business processes
and operations, business decision-making, and strategic competitive advantage. Major application
categories of information systems include operations support systems, such as transaction
processing systems, process control systems, and enterprise collaboration systems, and
management support systems, such as management information systems, decision support
systems, and executive information systems. Other major categories are expert systems,
knowledge management systems, strategic information systems, and functional business systems.
However, in the real world most application categories are combined into cross-functional
information systems that provide information and support for decision-making and also perform
operational information processing activities.

Each major functional area of the company such as marketing, production, finance, human
resources need to plan, organize, coordinate and control their activities in their department, in
order to achieve the firm´s goal they need information from other departments, this is where the
intranet can be used to share information among workers, this will allow everyone to have access
to the same information, and and avoid duplication of information and functions.

Also these areas to achieve some of their activities need information from outside parterns
such as suppliers, or authorized vendors, this is where we see the use of the extranet, that
will provide with the information necessary to each area in order to plan and organize its
activities, and to coordinate and control so they can provide the product or service
necessary.

http://www.cluteinstitute-onlinejournals.com/PDFs/200257.pdf
Date redundancy is the presence of duplicate in a multiple data files so that the same data are
stored in more than place or location. Data redundancy occurs when different groups in an
organization independently collect the same piece of data and store it independently of each
other. Data inconsistency is where the same attribute may have different values. An exapme of
the ineffiency unnecessary duplicate data would be in the use of layout components just within a
database system itself. For example, if a multiple report that incorporates common element such
as logos, company address information, phone numbers, URL, it becomes a monumental task to
consistently update every layout to reflect such changes. Unnecessary data can occur when an
organization stores several copies of similar information about the same in multiple departments
within an organization.

Program data dependence is another condition that can contribute data redundancy. This referes
to coupling of data stored in files and the specific programs required to update and maintain those
files such that changes in programs require changes to data. Every traditional computer program
has to describe the location and nature of data with which it works.

Lack of Flexibility -- this is where a traditional file system can deliver routine scheduled reports
after extensive programming efforts, but it cannot deliver ad hoc reports or respond to
uanticipated information requirements in a timely fashion. The information required by ad hoc
requests is somewhere in the system but may be too expensive to retrieve.

Lack of Data Sharing and availability- This is where pieces of information in different files and
different part of the organization cannot be related to one another, it is virtually impossible for
information to be shared or accessed in a timely manner. Information cannot flow freely across
different parts of the company.