Which term describes a system designed to support a specific task rather than general business processes?

• A. Turnkey system
• B. Office automation system
• C. Special-purpose system
• D. Enterprise resource planning system

Answer: (C)

This item focuses on system scope: whether a system is built for a single task or for broad, end-to-end business processes. A special-purpose system is designed to handle a particular task or narrowly defined function, with features, data structures, and workflows tailored to that task. This targeted focus makes it efficient and effective for that specific work, without trying to coordinate the entire set of processes across the organization. For example, a system built solely to manage payroll or to control a specific manufacturing step concentrates on the data and operations relevant to that task.

In contrast, a turnkey system is about deployment readiness—it describes how quickly a system can be put into operation, not the breadth of its task coverage. An office automation system supports typical office tasks like document creation and communication, which are broad activities within a workplace rather than a single, narrowly defined task. An enterprise resource planning system aims to integrate and manage core processes across an entire enterprise, which is the opposite of being limited to one specific task. Therefore, the term that best fits “designed to support a specific task rather than general business processes” is special-purpose system.