Chapter 4

Matrices of the target or "future" situation are sometimes called:

"to be" matrices

A business objective statement is a statement that makes it clear what business the company is in.

False

To maintain consistency, top management or a steering committee should classify and rank projects, not the IS group or individual business units.

False

Which of the following best describes the top-down planning approach advantage, improved integration?

If not viewed from the top, totally new management information systems may be implemented rather than planning how to evolve existing systems.

________ is a matrix that identifies which data are captured, used, updated, or deleted within each process.

Process-to-data entity

________ is the competitive strategy that reflects capitalizing on a key product criterion requested by the market.

Product differentiation

________ is the competitive strategy that is similar to both low-cost and differentiation strategies but with a much narrower market focus.

Product focus or niche

A schedule of specific IS development projects is the primary deliverable from the project identification and selection phase.

True

A unit-to-function matrix identifies the relationship between organizational entities and each business function.

True

An IS manager, a formal planning group, a user department, and a development group are possible sources for information systems development projects.

True

EDI is the use of telecommunications technologies to transfer business documents directly between organizations.

True

Which of the following is a CASE tool feature that can help you make sense out of matrices?

all of the above

Research has found that projects identified by individual departments or business units most often:

have a narrow, tactical focus

Which of the following is the first ISP step?

Assess current IS-related assets

The matrix that identifies the relationships between organizational entities and each business function is:

unit-to-function

Mission statements are a series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position.

False

Mission statements are often referred to as critical success factors.

False

Projects identified by top management have a cross-functional focus.

False

Systems requirements planning is an orderly means of assessing the information needs of an organization and defining the systems, databases, and technologies that will best satisfy those needs.

False

Once a company has defined its mission and objectives:

a competitive strategy can be formulated

If the project team and organizational officials reassess the project after each subsequent SDLC phase to determine if the business conditions have changed or if a more detailed understanding of a system's costs, benefits, and risks suggest that the project is not as worthy as previously thought, they are:

adhering to the incremental commitment principle

The process of arranging planning matrix information so that clusters of information with some predetermined level or type of affinity are placed next to each other on a matrix report defines:

affinity clustering

Potential development projects can be identified by:

all of the above

The extent to which the project is viewed as helping the organization achieve its strategic objectives and long-term goals describes:

strategic alignment

Which of the following possible project sources most often reflects the broader needs of the organization?

top management

Which of the following is a true statement regarding a planning-based approach?

A major advantage of this approach is that an organization's informational needs are less likely to change (or will change more slowly) than its business processes.

When identifying and selecting projects, the development group is very concerned with cost-benefit analysis.

False

Which of the following is a competitive strategy?

all of the above

Which of the following is an advantage to the top-down planning approach over other planning approaches?

all of the above

Which of the following is a way projects can be identified?

both A and C

A generic information systems planning methodology that identifies and defines IS development projects based on solving operational business problems or taking advantage of some business opportunities defines:

bottom-up planning

The third activity in the ISP process is:

developing a transition strategy and plans

Which of the following characteristics is associated with the steering committee selection method?

greater organizational change

An advantage of the bottom-up planning approach is:

identifying pressing organizational problems

This approach begins by conducting an extensive analysis of the organization's mission, objectives, and strategy and determining the information requirements needed to meet each objective:

top-down planning

________ is the competitive strategy that reflects competing in an industry on the basis of product or service cost to the consumer.

Low-cost producer

A company should define its competitive strategy and then define its mission and objectives.

False

A location-to-function matrix identifies which organizational units are located in or interact with a specific business function.

False

The criteria used to evaluate projects will vary by organization.

True

This approach requires the identification of business problems and opportunities used to define projects:

bottom-up planning

The second activity in the ISP process is:

describe the target situation, trends, and constraints

Analyzing an organization's activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred best describes:

value chain analysis

Requirements determination and requirements structuring are two processes that can significantly improve the quality of project identification and selection decisions.

False

Which of the following is an advantage of the bottom-up planning approach?

IS plans can be created faster and are less costly to develop than using the top-down approach.

A competitive strategy is the method by which an organization attempts to achieve its mission and objectives.

True

A disciplined approach, driven by top management commitment, is a prerequisite to most effectively apply information systems in order to reach organizational objectives.

True

A low-cost producer competitive strategy reflects competing in an industry on the basis of product or service cost to the consumer.

True

Bottom-up planning is an ISP methodology that identifies and defines IS development projects based upon solving operational business problems.

True

Objective statements are a series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position.

True

Organizations that have Intranets dictate what applications will run over the Intranet and the speed and quality of the hardware connected to the Intranet.

True

The Internet is a large worldwide network of networks that use a common protocol to communicate with each other.

True

When classifying and ranking projects, resource availability, potential benefits, and project size/duration are possible evaluation criteria.

True

Gaining a clear idea of where an organization is, its vision of where it wants to be in the future, and a plan of how to make the transition to its desired state is:

a prerequisite to making effective project selection decisions

Which of the following is not a component on the typical information systems plan?

corporation history

________, ________, and ________ are the three unknowns that must be dealt with when designing and building Internet applications.

User, connection speed, access method

________ refers to analyzing an organization's activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred for doing so; usually also includes a comparison with the activities, added value, and costs of other organizations for the purpose of making improvements in the organization's operations and performance.

Value chain analysis

________ is an ongoing process that defines the mission, objectives, and strategies of an organization.

Corporate strategic planning

An Intranet refers to the use of the Internet between firms.

False

Corporate analysis is an ongoing process that defines the mission, objectives, and strategies of an organization.

False

Due to the principle of incremental commitment, a selected project will result in a working system.

False

Potential benefits are the process of analyzing an organization's activities to determine where value is added to products and/or services and the costs incurred for doing so; this process usually also includes a comparison with the activities, added value, and costs of other organizations for the purpose of making improvements in the organization's operations and performance.

False

Research has found that projects identified by top management more often:

have a strategic, organizational focus

Which of the following is one of the three primary activities associated with identifying and selecting IS development projects?

identification of potential development projects

A department head deciding which project requests to submit is an example of:

identifying potential development projects

An orderly means of assessing the information needs of an organization and defining the systems, databases, and technologies that will best satisfy those needs best defines:

information systems planning

Requirements structuring is the first activity of the project identification and selection phase.

False

Systems analysis is the first phase of the systems development life cycle.

False

The Baseline Project Plan is the primary deliverable from the project identification and selection phase.

False

The South Korean-produced Hyundai uses a product focus competitive strategy.

False

The bottom-up approach always views the informational needs of the entire organization and thus results in the creation of cohesive information systems.

False

Top-down planning is an ISP methodology which attempts to gain a specific understanding of the information system needs of a part of the organization.

False

When comparing alternative methods for making information systems identification and selection decisions, top management has the smallest project size and a cross-functional focus.

False

When determining how to allocate IS resources, organizations have traditionally used a systematic planning process.

False

________ is a strategy in systems analysis and design in which the project is reviewed after each phase and continuation of the project is rejustified.

Incremental commitment

The second planning process that can play a significant role in the quality of project identification and selection decisions is called:

information systems planning

"We are in the business of designing, fabricating, and selling to retail stores high-quality wood furniture" is what kind of statement?

mission statement

A ________ is a statement that makes it clear what business a company is in.

mission statement

A statement that makes it clear what business a company is in is called a:

mission statement

Briefly describe three of the ten types of matrices that are beneficial during information systems planning.

Location-to-function, location-to-unit, and unit-to-function are three of the ten types of matrices. The location-to-function matrix identifies which business functions are being performed at various organizational locations. The location-to-unit matrix identifies which organizational units are located in or interact with a specific function. The unit-to-function matrix identifies the relationships between organizational entities and each business function. Additional matrices are mentioned in the textbook.

________ refers to the number of individuals and the length of time needed to complete the project.

Project/size duration

________ is the amount and type of resources the project requires and their availability.

Resource availability

________ refers to the level of technical difficulty to successfully complete the project within given time and resource constraints.

Technical difficulty/risks

A series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position best defines:

objective statements

The extent to which the project is viewed as improving profits, customer service, etc., and the duration of these benefits best defines which of the following evaluation criteria?

potential benefits

Identification and assessment of all possible systems development projects that an organization unit can undertake is conducted during:

project identification and selection

Data redundancy and users having little confidence in the quality of data are reasons why improved information systems project identification and selection is needed.

True

During ISP, the current and future organizational needs are modeled, and strategies and project plans to migrate the current information systems and technologies to their desired future state are developed.

True

During corporate strategic planning, executives typically develop a mission statement, statements of future corporate objectives, and strategies designed to help the organization reach its objectives.

True

During project identification and selection, all possible systems development projects that an organizational unit can undertake are identified and assessed.

True

Nonintegrated systems used in the past are being replaced with cooperative, integrated enterprise systems that can easily support information sharing.

True

Project selection is a process of considering both short- and long-term projects and selecting those most likely to achieve business objectives.

True

Promoting your product as having an ingredient that competing products do not, setting the product apart from the competition, best exemplifies the product differentiation competitive strategy.

True

The product focus or niche competitive strategy is similar to both the low-cost and differentiation strategies, but with a much narrower market focus.

True

The rising costs of information systems is one reason why improved information systems project identification and selection is needed.

True

The systems identification and selection process for an Internet-based electronic commerce application is no different than the process followed for other applications.

True

The target situation must be developed in light of technology and business trends, in addition to organizational constraints.

True

To benefit from a planning-based approach for identifying and selecting projects, an organization must analyze its information needs and plan its projects carefully.

True

To build the most effective information systems, an organization must clearly understand its mission, objectives, and strategy.

True

When developing an Internet EC application, developers must deal with several unknown factors, including the user, connection speed, and access method.

True

When developing either a B2E or B2B application, developers know who the users are, what applications will be used, the speed of the network connection, and the type of communication devices.

True

A generic information systems planning methodology that attempts to gain a broad understanding of the information system needs of the entire organization defines:

top-down planning

"Baker's Fitness Center will increase market share and profitability" is an example of a mission statement.

False

A major disadvantage to the planning-based approach is that an organization's informational needs are more likely to change than its business processes.

False

Using any business as an example, provide one example each for its organizational locations, units, functions, processes, and information systems.

A national insurance company is a good example. Organizational locations include the home office and its various branch locations. Most finance and accounting functions are handled at the home office, while the local branches are responsible, to some degree, for marketing and sales. Customer enrollment and billing are processes. Payroll processing, accounts payable, and accounts receivable are information systems. The insurance company would keep information about its customers, branch locations, and insurance plans.

What is a top-down planning approach? Identify four advantages to the top-down planning approach over other planning approaches.

A top-down planning approach is a generic information systems planning methodology that attempts to gain a broad understanding of the information system needs of the entire organization. Broader perspective, improved integration, improved management support, and better understanding are four advantages.

________ is the process of arranging planning matrix information so the clusters of information with some predetermined level or type of affinity are placed next to each other on a matrix report.

Affinity clustering

Which of the following is a true statement regarding ISP?

All of the above.

Which of the following is a true statement regarding the IS plan?

All of the above.

An Internet-based communication that supports business-to-business activities best describes:

B2B

________ is a generic information systems planning methodology that identifies and defines IS development projects based upon solving operational business problems or taking advantage of some business opportunities.

Bottom-up planning

Which of the following is a need for improved information systems project identification and selection?

Data redundancy is often out of control, and users may have little confidence in the quality of the data.

________ refers to Internet-based communication to support day-to-day business activities.

Electronic commerce

________ is the use of telecommunications technologies to directly transfer business documents between organizations.

Electronic data interchange

Define and briefly discuss information systems planning.

ISP is an orderly means of assessing the information needs of an organization, and defining the systems, databases, and technologies that will best satisfy those needs. During ISP, current and future organization informational needs will be modeled. Also, strategies and project plans to move the current information system and technologies to their desired future state will be developed. ISP looks at information systems and technologies in terms of how they can help the business achieve its objectives defined during corporate planning. ISP includes three key activities. The first activity involves assessing current IS-related assets; the second step involves developing target blueprints of the resources; a series of scheduled projects is defined in the third step.

Which of the following best describes the top-down planning approach advantage, better understanding?

If not viewed from the top, planners may lack the understanding necessary to implement information systems across the entire business rather than simply to individual operating units.

What is incremental commitment? Does it always result in a working system? Why or why not?

Incremental commitment is a systems analysis and design strategy in which the project is reviewed after each phase and continuation of the project is rejustified in each of these reviews. Incremental commitment does not always result in a working system. Incremental commitment permits management and the project team to reevaluate the system's costs, benefits, and risks in light of changing business conditions. If business conditions, system costs, system benefits, and/or risks have changed, the project may be cancelled.

Identify six reasons why improved information systems project identification and selection is needed.

Information systems costs continue to rise, the inability of systems to handle applications that cross organizational boundaries, systems not addressing the critical problems of the business as a whole nor supporting strategic planning applications, data redundancy and lack of user confidence in the quality of data, out-of-control system maintenance costs, and lengthy application backlogs are six reasons why improvements in the information systems project identification and selection process are necessary.

________ is an orderly means of assessing the information needs of an organization and defining the systems, databases, and technologies that will best satisfy those needs.

Information systems planning

The ________ is a large worldwide network of networks that use a common protocol to communicate with each other.

Internet

_______ and ________ are the two general classes of Internet EC applications.

Internets, intranets

An ________ is Internet-based communication to support business activities within a single organization.

Intranet

Briefly discuss three generic competitive strategies. Provide an example of each.

Low-cost producer, product differentiation, and product focus or niche are three generic competitive strategies. A low-cost producer strategy reflects competing in an industry on the basis of product or service cost to the consumer. South Korean-produced Hyundai is the example mentioned in the textbook. The product differentiation strategy reflects capitalizing on a key product criterion requested by the market. An example is an automobile manufacturer suggesting that its line of trucks provides the quietest and most comfortable ride. The product focus or niche strategy is similar to both the low-cost and differentiation strategies but with a much narrower market focus. An example of this strategy is a fitness center that caters exclusively to women.

________ are a series of statements that express an organization's qualitative and quantitative goals for reaching a desired future position.

Objective statements

________ are the extent to which the project is viewed as improving profits, customer service, and so forth and the duration of these benefits.

Potential benefits

________ is the extent to which the project is viewed as helping the organization achieve its strategic objectives and long-term goals.

Strategic alignment

List and briefly identify the three primary activities of the project identification and selection phase.

The first phase of the SDLC is project identification and selection. During this phase, all possible systems development projects are identified and assessed. Project identification and selection consists of three primary activities: identify potential development projects, classifying and ranking projects, and selecting projects for development. During the first activity, projects can be identified by a variety of sources. A key member of top-management, a steering committee, user departments, and the development group are possible sources. Classifying and ranking IS development projects, the second major activity, focuses on assessing the relative merit of potential projects. Various criteria (strategic alignment, potential benefits, resource availability, project size/duration, and technical difficulty/risks) can be used to evaluate the projects. The last activity, selecting IS development projects, is the actual selection of projects for further development. Consideration is given to both short- and long-term projects. Projects most likely to achieve business objectives are selected. Numerous factors (perceived organizational needs, existing systems and ongoing projects, resource availability, evaluation criteria, current business conditions, and decision maker perceptions) impact the selection process. Acceptance, rejection, and conditional acceptance are possible outcomes for this activity.

Define and briefly discuss corporate strategic planning.

To make effective project selection decisions, a corporation must know where it is, where it is going, and the path it will take to get there. Corporate strategic planning is based on this premise. Corporate strategic planning can be viewed as a three step process: (1) current enterprise, (2) future enterprise, and (3) strategic plan. During corporate strategic planning, mission statements, statements of future corporate objectives, and strategies are developed.

________ is a generic information systems planning methodology that attempts to gain a broad understanding of the information system needs of the entire organization.

Top-down planning

Define top-down planning and bottom-up planning.

Top-down planning is a generic information systems planning methodology that attempts to gain a broad understanding of the information system needs of the entire organization. Bottom-up planning is a generic information systems planning methodology that identifies and defines IS development projects based upon solving operational business problems or taking advantage of some business opportunities.

"We are in the business of selling high-quality men's shoes" is an example of a mission statement.

True

"What information requirements will satisfy our business's decision-making needs today and well into the future?" is a question that might be asked by a planning-based approach to project identification and selection.

True

Which of the following describes the product differentiation strategy?

capitalizing on a key product criteria requested by the market

Which of the following is a strategy for a low-cost producer?

competing in an industry on the basis of product or service cost to the consumer

A ________ is the method by which an organization attempts to achieve its mission and objectives.

competitive strategy

If Kia Motors is attempting to achieve its mission and objectives by providing a low-priced line of cars, this is referred to as its:

competitive strategy

The method by which an organization attempts to achieve its mission and objectives best defines:

competitive strategy

An ongoing process that defines the mission, objectives, and strategies of an organization refers to:

corporate strategic planning

The matrix that identifies which data are created, updated, accessed, or deleted in each system is:

data entity-to-information system

The use of telecommunications technologies to directly transfer business documents between organizations best defines:

electronic data interchange