Final Exam Management 104

Define the term DSS and briefly describe the basic capabilities of a DSS.

A DSS is an organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases, and devices used to help make decisions that solve problems. DSS systems are more flexible than MIS systems and have the potential to help decision makers in a variety of situations. A DSS can assist with all problem solving phases, decision frequencies, and varying degrees of problem structure. They can provide support for decision makers at various levels in the organization.

Briefly describe the various types of project feasibility that must be evaluated.

A feasibility study is performed by a company when they want to know whether a project is possible given certain circumstances. Feasibility studies are undertaken under many circumstances - to find out whether a company has enough money for a project, to find out whether the product being created will sell, or to see if there are enough human resources for the project. A good feasibility study will show the strengths and deficits before the project is planned or budgeted for. By doing the research beforehand, companies can save money and resources in the long run by avoiding projects that are not feasible. Technical Feasibility - Does the company have the technological resources to undertake the project? Are the processes and procedures conducive to project success? Schedule Feasibility - Does the company currently have the time resources to undertake the project? Can the project be completed in the available time? Economic Feasibility - Given the financial resources of the company, is the project something that can be completed? The economic feasibility study is more commonly called the cost/benefit analysis. Cultural Feasibility - What will be the impact on both local and general cultures? What sort of environmental implications does the feasibility study have? Legal/Ethical Feasibility - What are the legal implications of the project? What sort of ethical considerations are there? You need to make sure that any project undertaken will meet all legal and ethical requirements before the project is on the table.

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of agile development.

Agile software development describes a set of values and principles for software development under which requirements and solutions evolve through the collaborative effort of self-organizing cross-functional teams. Advantages of Agile model: Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software. People and interactions are emphasized rather than process and tools. Customers, developers and testers constantly interact with each other. Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than months). Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design. Regular adaptation to changing circumstances. Even late changes in requirements are welcomed Disadvantages of Agile model: In case of some software deliverables, especially the large ones, it is difficult to assess the effort required at the beginning of the software development life cycle. There is lack of emphasis on necessary designing and documentation. The project can easily get taken off track if the customer representative is not clear what final outcome that they want. Only senior programmers are capable of taking the kind of decisions required during the development process. Hence it has no place for newbie programmers, unless combined with experienced resources.

Why are SMEs interested in trying the hosted software model?

Also referred to as on-demand software or even software as a service, hosted software is most commonly used by SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) who have a fairly small IT department. This software solution makes it easier for smaller companies to maintain and update applications from a central location, while also offering a cost-effective solution that can be used by entire departments.

Define artificial intelligence system and list the characteristics of intelligent behavior.

Artificial intelligence systems include the people, procedures, hardware, software, data, and knowl-edge needed to develop computer systems and machines that demonstrate characteristics of human in-telligence. The characteristics include the ability to: 1) learn from experience and apply the knowledge acquired from experience, 2) handle complex situations, 3) solve problems when important informa-tion is missing, 4) determine what is important, 5) react quickly and correctly to a new situation, 6) un-derstand visual images, 7) process and manipulate symbols, and 7) be creative and imaginative.

In which of the following forms of e-commerce, is there much room for negotiation on price, payment and delivery options, quantity, quality, and options and features?

Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce

The ______ is a security technique associated with the use of credit cards at the time of purchase that checks additional digits printed on the back of the credit cards.

Card Verification Number

_____ is an inflammation of the nerve that connects the forearm to the palm of the wrist.

Carpal tunnel syndrom (CTS)

Which of the following forms of e-commerce has created an opportunity for many people to make a living out of selling items on auction Web sites?

Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce

_____ requires unbiased and careful questioning of whether system elements are related in the most effective ways, considering new or different relationships among system elements, and possibly introducing new elements into the system.

Critical analysis

Define the term CRM system and state its fundamental purpose.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving business relationships with customers, assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth.

What is meant by cutover? Briefly explain four cutover strategies.

Cutover is the process of planning, managing and executing ALL of the tasks and activities that allow the impacted business/function to 'cutover' to the SAP system.

Identify and briefly discuss three key challenges to e-commerce.

Defining an effective e-commerce model and strategy Dealing with business process change requirements Channel conflicts Dealing with consumer privacy and security concerns Deal with legal issues Overcoming consumers' lack of trust Overcoming global issues Digital Divide

______ will help avoid a common cause of failed ERP implementation.

Defining metrics to assess the progress of the project

_____ is a structured, interactive, iterative decision-making method that relies on input from a panel of experts.

Delphi approach

Which of the following is a disadvantage of a traditional systems development life cycle (SDLC)?

Documentation is expensive and time consuming to create.

Define electronic commerce and identify its various subsets.

E-commerce is a subset of e-business and is the purchasing, selling and exchanging of goods and services online.

_____ is the creation, modification, or extension of software by people who are nonprofessional software developers.

End-user systems development

Identify the role of the project sponsor and list his or her key responsibilities.

Executive sponsor (sometimes called project sponsor or senior responsible owner) is a role in project management, usually the senior member of the project board and often the chair. The project sponsor will be a senior executive in a corporation (often at or just below board level) who is responsible to the business for the success of the project. The responsibilities for which the sponsor is accountable to the board are: Provides leadership on culture and values Owns the business case Keeps project aligned with organization's strategy and portfolio direction Governs project risk Works with other sponsors Focuses on realization of benefits Recommends opportunities to optimize cost/benefits Ensures continuity of sponsorship Provides assurance Provides feedback and lessons learnt

Identify and briefly define several specialty areas of artificial intelligence.

Expert systems consist of hardware and software that stores knowledge and makes inferences, similar to those of a human expert. Robotics involves developing mechanical or computer devices that can paint cars, make precision welds, and perform other tasks that require a high degree of precision or that are tedious or hazardous for humans. Vision systems include hardware and software that permit com-puters to capture, store, and manipulate visual images. Natural language processing also a computer to understand and react to statements and commands made in a natural language. Learning systems are a combination of software and hardware that allows a computer to change how it functions or reacts to situations based on feedback that it receives. A neural network is a computer system that can act like or simulate the functioning of the human brain.

_____ is an approach used to capture user-provided information, such as information from warranties, surveys, user registrations, and contest-entry forms completed online.

Explicit personalization technique

Under the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998, the _____ is assigned responsibility to help victims restore their credit and erase the impact of the imposter.

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Which of the following is a advantage of a traditional systems development life cycle (SDLC)?

Formal review at the end of each phase allows maximum management control.

The _____ requires all financial institutions to protect and secure customers' nonpublic data from unauthorized access or use.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

Define the scope of a Product Lifecycle Management system and identify the type of data stored in such a system.

In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from inception, through engineering design and manufacture, to service and disposal of manufactured products.

Which of the following statements is true of retargeting?

It employs personalized ads to direct shoppers back to a retailer's Web site they previously abandoned.

Which of these is a disadvantage of agile development?

It requires a larger percentage of stakeholders' and users' time than other approaches.

Which of the following statements is true of the E-Government Act of 2002?

It requires federal agencies to post machine-readable privacy policies on their Web sites and to perform privacy impact assessments on all new collections of data of ten or more people.

_____ is a structured meeting process that can accelerate and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of not only the investigation phase, but also the analysis and design phases of a systems development project.

Joint application development

_____ is a standard that spells out measures and security procedures to safeguard a card issuer, a cardholder, and a merchant.

Payment Card Industry (PCI)

Identify and briefly describe the various kinds of reports frequently produced by an MIS.

Scheduled reports are produced periodically, such as daily, weekly, or monthly. A key indicator report summarizes the previous day's critical activities and is typically available at the start of the workday. Demand reports are developed to provide certain information upon request. Exception reports are reports automatically produced when a situation is unusual or requires management action. Drill down reports provide increasing detailed data about a situation.

Briefly describe the five stage decision making process.

Step 1: Identify Your Goal. One of the most effective decision making strategies is to keep an eye on your goal. Step 2: Gather Information for Weighing Your Options. Step 3: Consider the Consequences. Step 4: Make Your Decision. Step 5: Evaluate Your Decision.

_____includes the planning, execution, and control of all activities involved in raw material sourcing and procurement, conversions of raw materials to finished products, and the warehousing and delivery of finished product to customers.

Supply chain management

Briefly explain the difference between system testing and user acceptance testing (UAT).

System Integration Testing (SIT) ensures that individual modules, product set-ups, batch operations, basic reporting functionalities and key interfaces of an application-under-test (AUT) work well. ... UAT is performed by testers and business analysts whereas SIT is performed by testers and/or developers.

What is system maintenance? List the reasons for systems maintenance.

System maintenance is an ongoing activity, which covers a wide variety of activities, including removing program and design errors, updating documentation and test data and updating user support. For the purpose of convenience, maintenance may be categorized into three classes, namely: i) Corrective, ii) Adaptive, and iii) Perfective. i) Corrective Maintenance: - This type of maintenance implies removing errors in a program, which might have crept in the system due to faulty design or wrong assumptions. Thus, in corrective maintenance, processing or performance failures are repaired. ii) Adaptive Maintenance: - In adaptive maintenance, program functions are changed to enable the information system to satisfy the information needs of the user. This type of maintenance may become necessary because of organizational changes which may include: a) Change in the organizational procedures, b) Change in organizational objectives, goals, policies, etc. c) Change in forms, d) Change in information needs of managers. e) Change in system controls and security needs, etc. iii) Perfective Maintenance: - Perfective maintenance means adding new programs or modifying the existing programs to enhance the performance of the information system. This type of maintenance undertaken to respond to user's additional needs which may be due to the changes within or outside of the organization. Outside changes are primarily environmental changes, which may in the absence of system maintenance, render the information system ineffective and inefficient. These environmental changes include: a) Changes in governmental policies, laws, etc., b) Economic and competitive conditions, and c) New technology. The results obtained from the evaluation process help the organization to determine whether its information systems are effective and efficient or otherwise. The process of monitoring, evaluating, and modifying of existing information systems to make required or desirable improvements may be termed as System Maintenance.

Which of the following statements is true of federal laws?

They permit employers to monitor instant messages sent and received by employees.

Which of the following statements is true of user acceptance testing (UAT)?

UAT must be completed successfully before newly developed software can be rolled out to the market.

The _____ requires telephone companies to turn over customer information, including numbers called, without a court order, if the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) claims that the records are relevant to a terrorism investigation.

USA Patriot Act of 2001

Which of these is an advantage of prototyping?

Users can try the system and provide constructive feedback during development.

_____ is a file conversion program that can be used to compress multimedia files to make them easier to download from the Internet or send as an e-mail attachment.

WinZip

The _____ is a standard set of specifications for Internet applications that run on handheld, wireless devices that effectively serves as a Web browser for such devices.

Wireless Application Protocol

Explain the role of the project manager in systems development.

a system analyst with a general set of skills who is responsible for initiating, planning, executing, and closing down a project.

By upgrading and standardizing on its technology infrastructure, an organization can _____.

a. eliminate a hodgepodge of multiple hardware platforms,operating systems, and databases b. reduce ongoing hardware and software maintenance c. reduce the training load for those people who must support the infrastructure

As an organization's purchasing systems generate purchase orders and the items ordered are received, information is sent to the _____ system to manage the amounts owed by the organization.

accounts payable

______ is an example of a transaction processing system.

accounts payable

_____ is a popular and sophisticated software package that can be used to edit photographs and other visual images.

adobe photoshop

_____ is an iterative system development process that develops a system in "sprint" increments lasting from two weeks to two months.

agile development

_____ is a limited internal acceptance test where employees of a software development organization and a limited number of other "friendlies" use the software and provide feedback.

alpha testing

Decision support systems:

are used for operational, tactical, and strategic decision making.

_____ include the people, procedures, hardware, software, data, and knowledge needed to develop computer systems and machines that can simulate human intelligence processes, including learning, reasoning, and self-correction.

artificial intelligence systems

_____ is a wide range of adaptive and rehabilitative devices to help people with disabilities perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish or had great difficulty accomplishing.

assertive technology

_____ has the potential to superimpose digital data over real photos so that GPS maps can be combined with real pictures of stores and streets to help people locate their position.

augmented reality

With _____, business transactions are accumulated over a period of time for processing in a single unit.

batch processing

The essential characteristic of a _____ is that there is some delay between an event and the eventual processing of the related transaction to update the organization's records.

batch processing system

The processes used by leading companies to complete a business process in the most efficient and effective manner are called _____.

best practices

A digital certificate verifies ______.

both purchaser and supplier identities

Based on a Supreme Court ruling, an Internet-based merchant needs to charge sales tax only when _____.

buyers live in a state where the merchant has a physical presence

Which of the following is NOT one of the three basic components of a successful e-commerce model?

capital

The _____ stage of the problem solving process requires selecting a course of action.

choice

A _____ is a group of people with common interests who come together to create, store, and share knowledge of a specific topic.

community of practice (COP)

The goal of _____ is to tie together all aspects of production, including order processing, product design, manufacturing, inspection and quality control, and shipping.

computer integrated manufacturing

_____ refer to errors, failures, and other computer problems that make computer output incorrect or not useful.

computer-related mistakes

Authentication technologies are used by many organizations to _____.

confirm the identity of a user requesting access to information or assets

_____ is a form of e-commerce in which the length of the sales process varies from a few hours to a few days, and there are one or two people involved in the decision-making process.

consumer to consumer (C2C) e commerce

_____ is a subset of e-commerce that involves electronic transactions between consumers using a third party to facilitate the process.

consumer to consumer (C2C) e-commerce

The growth of _____ is responsible for reducing the use of the classified pages of newspapers to advertise and sell personal items, so it has a negative impact on that industry.

consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce

The predominant pricing model used in a blind advertising network and abbreviated CPC is _____.

cost per click

A(n) _____ is a computer savvy person who attempts to gain unauthorized or illegal access to computer systems to steal passwords, corrupt files or programs, or even transfer money.

cracker

The process of switching from an old information system to a replacement system is called _____.

cutover

A(n) _____ is a single Web site that offers many products and services at one Internet location.

cybermall

_____ involves capturing and gathering all data necessary to complete the processing of transactions.

data collection

The _____ stage is the second stage in the problem solving process during which alternative solutions to the problem are developed and their feasibility is evaluated.

design

The _____ refines the production plan defined by the demand management process to develop a detailed production schedule specifying details such as which item to produce first and when production should be switched from one item to another.

detailed scheduling plan

Subsystems for the marketing MIS and their outputs help marketing managers and executives to _____.

develop plans for future products

A typical DSS includes many components such as the _____ that allows decision makers to easily access and manipulate the DSS and to use common business terms and phrases.

dialogue manager

_____ refers to the use of any of several technologies to enforce policies for controlling access to digital media, such as movies, music, and software.

digital rights management

The elimination of organizations that operate between the producer and the consumer is called _____.

disintermediation

A(n) _____ is a Web site that offers personalized shopping consultations for shoppers interested in upscale, contemporary clothing and accessories.

e-boutique

​_____ determines whether the expected benefits associated with a project outweigh the expected costs sufficiently to make the project financially attractive.

economic feasibility

The focus of a DSS is on decision-making _____ when faced with unstructured or semistructured business problems.

effectiveness

A(n) _____ system is central to a system and ensures that information can be shared across all business functions and all levels of management to support running and managing of a business.

enterprise

_____ reports are management reports that are automatically produced when a situation is unusual or requires management action.

exception

The _____ allows an expert system user to understand how the system arrived at its results.

explanation facility

If convicted for copyright infringement, software pirates could be sentenced to jail for up to _____ years.

five

_____ is a mathematical theory for developing strategies that maximize gains and minimize losses while adhering to a given set of rules and constraints.

game theory

The _____ approach forces members of a decision making group to reach a unanimous decision.

group consensus

Developers of _____ try to build on the advantages of individual support systems while adding new approaches unique to group decision making.

group support systems

​A(n) _____ is a duplicate operational hardware system or immediate access to one through a specialized vendor.

hot site

An effective _____ MIS enables an organization to keep personnel costs at a minimum while serving the required business processes needed to achieve corporate goals.

human resource

Conversion to an e-commerce or m-commerce system enables organizations to:

improve the level of customer service.

In an expert system, the _____ is the component that delivers the expert advice.

inference engine

The _____ is NOT a component of the typical DSS.

inference engine

_____ is the combination of information technology with traditional disciplines such as medicine or science while considering the impact on individuals, organizations, and society.

informatics

_____ have extra knowledge that make them especially dangerous-they know logon IDs, passwords, and company procedures that help them evade detection.

insiders

A useful guideline to protect corporate computers from criminal hackers is to:

install antivirus software on all computers.

Site preparation can include _____.

installing special wiring and air conditioning

When a(n) _____ arrives from a supplier, it is matched to the original order and the receiving report and a check is generated if all data is complete and consistent.

invoice

A key feature on an enterprise resource planning system is that _____.

it employs a database of key operational and planning information that can be shared by all

An advantage of using the nominal group technique is that:

it encourages participation from everyone.

A(n) _____ report is the management report that summarizes the previous day's critical activities and is typically available at the start of each workday

key-indicator

_____ is the awareness and understanding of a set of information and the ways that information can be made useful to support a specific task or reach a decision.

knowledge

The _____ stores all relevant information, data, rules, cases, and relationships that an expert system uses.

knowledge base

A(n) _____ is a person who has training or experience in the design, development, implementation, and maintenance of an expert system, including training or experience with expert system shells.

knowledge engineer

_____ do not need any previous training in computers or expert systems.

knowledge users

The ______ Web-based service system is one of several information systems used by law enforcement to recover stolen property.

leads online

A _____ is a type of Trojan horse that executes when specific conditions occur.

logic bomb

The _____ MIS subsystems and outputs are used to monitor and control the flow of materials, products, and services through the organization.

manufacturing

_____ divides the pool of potential customers into subgroups usually defined in terms of demographic characteristics.

market segmentation

A _____ MIS uses data gathered from both internal and external sources to provide reporting and aid decision making in areas of product development, distribution, pricing, and promotions.

marketing

Purchasing uses the information from the _____ to place purchase orders for raw materials.

materials requirement plan

A(n) _____ is an HTML code, not visible on a displayed Web page, that contains keywords representing the Web site's content, which search engines use to build indexes pointing to the Web site.

meta tag

The practice of disguising illegally gained funds so that they seem legal is called _____.

money laundering

_____ can process many pieces of data at the same time and learn to recognize patterns.

neural networks

A _____ is a small program hidden in a network or computer system that records identification numbers.

password sniffer

A _____ is a minor change to correct a problem or make a small enhancement.

patch

Sophisticated computer systems require an extension of understanding visual images. This is called a _____ system.

perceptive

A reason for the growth in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is that online B2C shoppers have the ability to design a _____ product.

personalized

_____ involves running a complete new system for one group of users rather than all users.

pilot start-up

​_____ begins during systems analysis and identifies the two or three strongest contenders among the vendors.

preliminary evaluation

The performance of decision support systems is typically a function of decision quality, decision-making speed, and _____.

problem complexity

A _____ is an independent business unit that is treated as a distinct entity enabling its revenues and expenses to be determined and its profitability to be measured.

profit center

A _____ is a critical date for completing a major part of a project, such as program design, coding, testing, and cutover.

project milestone

A _____ is a detailed description of when project activities are performed.

project schedule

The _____ is a key member and leader of a steering team who plays such a critical role that lack of this essential individual raises the probability of project failure.​

project sponsor

The ability to _____ is a function of a financial MIS.

provide easy access to financial data through use of a corporate intranet to access corporate Web pages

In the context of system performance, _____ is the hours a system is actually available for use divided by the hours the system is scheduled to be available and is expressed as a percentage.

reliability

​A(n) _____ is a formal document that outlines an organization's hardware or software needs and requests vendors to develop a detailed plan of how they would meet those needs and at what cost.

request for proposal

A _____ is a set of programs that enables its user to gain administrator level access to a computer or network.

rootkit

A _____ is a conditional statement that links conditions to actions or outcomes.

rule

The _____ plan takes demand and current inventory levels into account and determines specific product items that need to be produced and when in order to meet the forecast future demand.

sales and operation plan

Manufacturing ERP systems follow a systemic process for developing a production plan that starts with _______.

sales forecasting

CRM is used primarily by people in ______.

sales, marketing, and customer service

Proper use of antivirus software requires:

scanning all removable media before copying programs from them.

​_____ determines whether a project can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.

schedule feasibility

A _____ is a description of the logical and physical structure of data and the relationships among the data for each user.

schema

The temptation to add more features and functionality to the original range of the system is called _____.

scope creep

_____ document key points, issues, next steps, and decisions throughout a joint application development (JAD) session.

scribes

_____ is a scam that attempts to steal an individual's private information by having them respond to a text message.

smishing

_____ is often conducted by phone with a hacker imitating someone in a position of authority and attempting to gradually draw information out of a user.

social engineering attack

When video files are played while being downloaded from the Internet, it is called _____.

streaming video

_____ are ones where the variables that comprise the decision are known and can be measured quantitatively.

structured decisions

During the _____ phase of the systems development life cycle, people attempt to answer the questions, "What must the information system do to solve the problem?"

system analysis

A professional who specializes in analyzing and designing business systems is called a(n) ____.

system analyst

_____ converts a system design into an operational system by acquiring and installing hardware and software, coding and testing software programs, creating and loading data into databases, and performing initial program testing.

system construction

_____ involves testing the complete, integrated system (hardware, software, databases, people, and procedures) to validate that an information system meets all specified requirements.

system testing

​_____ creates a complete set of technical specifications that can be used to construct an information system.

systems design

_____ involves using a new or modified system under all kinds of operating conditions.

systems operations

_____ is the process of analyzing systems to make sure they are operating as intended.

systems review

_____ knowledge is hard to measure and document and typically is not objective or formalized.

tacit

_____ explains the purpose of every major piece of computer code and also identifies and describes key variables.

technical documentation

_____ is used when the decision frequency is low and the location of group members is distant.

teleconferencing

The Internet Crime Computer Center (IC3) is an alliance between ______.

the White Collar Crime Center and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

The number of mobile Web sites worldwide is expected to grow rapidly because of:

the development of new and useful applications.

An expert system's knowledge acquisition facility serves as an interface between _____.

the experts and the knowledge base

Who among the following has final approval of all requests for changes in project scope, budget, and schedule?

the project sponsor

A genetic algorithm is an approach to solving problems based on the _____.

theory of evolution

Ideally, how many members should be there in a steering team for systems development?

three to five

The haptic interface relays the sense of _____ in the virtual world.

touch

The _____ is a sequential multistage process where work on the next stage cannot begin until the results of the previous stage are reviewed and approved or modified as necessary.​

traditional systems development life cycle

Organizations expect their _____ to ensure that data is processed accurately and completely, avoid processing fraudulent transactions, and reduce clerical and other labor requirements.

transaction processing systems

Testing that ideally forces an individual program to execute all of its various functions and user features is known as _____.

unit testing

The ability to _____ is a characteristic of an MIS system

use internal data stored in the computer system

_____ is also known as beta testing and application testing.

user acceptance testing

_____ consists of written descriptions developed for people who use a program.

user documentation

The process of readying managers, decision makers, employees, system users, and stakeholders to accept and use the new system is called _____.

user preparation

_____ are the people who will regularly interact with a system as they complete their work. ​

users

A _____ is a modified version of a virus that is produced by the virus's author or another person by amending the original virus code.

variant

The most significant internal data sources for an MIS are the organization's _____.

various TPS and ERP systems and related databases

A new _____ is a major program change, typically encompassing many new features.

version

_____ involves converting sound waves into words.

voice recognition

The goals of _____ are to determine the work load at which systems performance begins to degrade and to identify and eliminate any issues that prevent the system from reaching its required system-level performance.

volume testing

Which of the following forms of e-commerce offers customers the ability to design a personalized product?

​Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce

_____ is a technique used primarily during the investigation phase of systems development to define the business processes included within the scope of a system.

​Functional decomposition