Input output timing in information systems

摘要

Designing an information system includes, among many other decisions, one about the timing of its inputs and outputs. This means deciding on the arrival time of the inputs and the production time of its outputs. Although often the timing decision is implicit in specification of the requirements, we regard it as an important design decision which should be explicitly made during the architectural design phase.In this paper, we identify this decision and show its relationship to the specifications. We also present a method to compute output production times from input arrival times, and vice versa. The method is applied to the timing decision, showing how design alternatives can be obtained. Some simplifying hypothesis, valid for many practical applications, are also suggested.