New World Hospital offers preventive medicine and traditional medical care. In your role as an IT consultant, you will help New World Hospital develop a new information system.

Background The New World Hospital associates accepted your interface, output, input, and data designs and your recommendation to install a server and four personal computers as clients on a local area network. The network will include a tape backup unit and Internet access via a modem that can exchange data with insurance companies. A high-speed laser printer and an impact printer for multipart forms will be accessible by any of the four PCs. Now you will determine system architecture for the New World Hospital system. When you create ERDs and record designs for New World Hospital, you should consider whether to use a file-processing or database approach. As you know, each strategy has advantages and disadvantages, depending on the specific hardware and software environment and business requirements. At this point, you must decide which way to proceed, and management will accept your recommendation. You should start by making the DFDs and object-oriented diagrams (the systems analysis phase), and the ERDs and table designs. (the systems design phase.)

1. What would be the advantages of selecting an Internet-based architecture for the New Century system?
2. Should the New Century system be based on file-server or client/server architecture? Why?
3. Could the New Century system use both online and batch processing? How?
4. Prepare an outline for a system design specification and describe the contents of each section.