Accy 310 Exam 1

Primary Key criteria

- must uniquely identify each instance of the class. The designer should avoid anything that could be duplicated, such as names. - cannot be null (blank) under any circumstances. - cannot change over time - Should be controlled by the organization that assigns it - Sequential values - All else equal, shorter primary key values are better than long ones, because shorter keys ease data entry indexing and retrieval

Basic Requirements of Tables

-Entity integrity rule- the primary key of a table must have data values (Cannot be null) - Referential integrity rule- the data value for a foreign key must either be null or match one of the data values that already exist in the corresponding table - Each attribute in a table must have a unique name - Values of a specific attribute must be of the same type - Each attribute (column) of a record (row) must be single-valued - All other nonkey attributes in a table must describe a characteristic of the class (table) identified by the primary key

Advantages of relational data models

1. Flexibility and scalability 2. Simplicity 3. Reduced information redundancy

Value Chain

A chain of business processes for a firm. Products pass through all activities of the chain in order; at each activity, the product is expected to gain some value. It is important not to confuse the concept with the actual cost of performing those activities.

Database

A collection of data that is stored in related files. Used in a business setting often to maintain information about various types of objects.

Entity Relationship Diagram

A graphical view of a database's contents and how tables are related to each other.

Subsystem

A part of a system. For example I-55 is part of the interstate highway system

Queries

A tool used to retrieve and display data derived from records stored within the database.

Business analysts

Accountants have a role as ____________. That is, they gather information to solve business problems or address business opportunities.

Preparing for new roles

Accountants must prepare for new roles -Understand the business and how it collects summarizes and communicates business information -Understand how the business delivers value to its customers -Understand the risks that the business faces and the internal controls in place to mitigate those risks -Understand how accounting information systems collect summarize and report business process information

Business Value

All items, events, and interactions that determine the financial health and/or well-being of the firm. IT may come from suppliers, customers, or employees or even from information systems. It does not necessarily need to be determined by stock price or net income.

Annotations

Allow the analyst to add descriptive information to the diagram (a bracket)

Enterprise System (ES)

An AIS within a firm is usually the foundation for an ________________________, a centralized database that collects data from throughout the firm. This includes data from orders, customers, sales, inventory, and employees. This data is then accumulated in the centralized database and made available to all users.

Sequence Flows

An arrow shows the normal order of activities in a business process diagram

Primary Key (PK)

An attribute or combination of attibutes that uniquely identifies each instance in a class or row in a table. Can be modeled as a part of the attribute list for each class on the UML class diagram; often, however, they are defined in the supporting documentation.

Foreign Key (FK)

An attribute or combination of attributes that allows tables to be linked together. A foreign key is linked to the primary key of another table to support a defined association

Class

Any separately identifiable collection of things (objects) about which the organization wants to collect and store information. Classes can represent organization resources, persons, events, and conceptual structures. Classes are typically implemented as tables in a relational database, where individual instances of objects are represented as rows in the table.

Strategic roles for IT investments

Automate, Informate-up, Informate-down, transform

Pool

BPMN provides notation to identify both the organizations and the departments or individual actors participating in a process. The organization is identified by a _________. Every diagram contains at least one, but if there is only one, it may be represented without a boundary.

Gateways

Control the branching and merging of flow paths in the business process. (a diamond)

Attributes

Data elements that describe the instances in a class. Customers: [Customer_Number(PK), Customer_Name, Customer_City, Customer_state]

Association

Depicts the relationship between two classes. For example, customers (class) participate in sales(class). Association names are verbs or verb phrases that indicate why instances of one class relate to instances of another class.

Structure Models

Describe the data and information structures inherent in a business process or processes. The primary purpose of these models is to create a blueprint for the development of a relational database to support the collection, aggregation, and communication of process information. They are tools for planning, documenting, discussing, and implementing databases; however, they also facilitate the use of databases after they are implemented.

Data Dictionary

Describes the data fields in each database record such as field description, field length, field type, and so on

Customer relationship management

Describes the software used to manage and nurture a firm's interactions with its current and potential clients. Often includes the use of database marketing tools to learn more about customers and to develop strong firm-to-customer relationships.

Cardinality

Determines the numeric relationship between entities i.e., One sale can have how many items? An item can be associated with how many sales? Many-to-many i.e., One-to-many. One sale can be associated with how many customers? One customer can be associated with how many sales? i.e., One-to-one. One person can be associated with how many Social Security Cards? One Social Security Card can be associated with how many people?

Relationships between entities - direct vs. indirect

Direct relationship: Sale-> Inventory, Sale -> Customer Indirect relationship: Customer -> Inventory (the sale event is an intermediary)

Corporate Value Chain

Has both primary activities and support activities. Primary activities directly provide value to the customer and include 5 activities, inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales activities, and service activities

Changing Roles of Accountants

In the past accountants focused on -Stewardship and reporting functions -Preparing financial reports -Auditing Now accountants also take active role in -Helping enterprises optimize processes -Achieving competitive advantage -Maximizing shareholder value

Database Considerations

Information stored in databases has value Can be very large in volume Maintain complex relationships between pieces of data Privacy issues Data may be irreplaceable Data must be complete, comprehensive, and accurate Essential to most Internet activities Allows normalization-central store allows update throughout the system

Discretionary Information

Managerial accounting information is generally produced for internal information purposes. There is no law requiring that it be provided to management. Management simply decides what information they need to track and build an information system to track it.

Managing Complexity

Models are simpler than the processes and systems they depict, but they incorporate the essential elements

Reconciling viewpoints

Models can combine various local views into one integrated view. Some models an be used to simulate potential outcomes from a change to better assess the impact of the change

Eliciting requirements

Models offer a communications tool that can be used to interview involved parties and discuss the impact of possible changes

Mandatory Information

Much of the financial and tax accounting information is produced for external information purposes. Is usually produced at the lowest cost possible to comply with the laws of the regulators.

Class Diagrams

One type of diagram within UML and are similar in many ways to entity-relationship diagrams. They describe the logical structure of a database system.

Changes in Technology

Rapid changes in technology increase availability of data. -Business intelligence systems / ERP systems -Information produced by systems must support the information requirements of the enterprise's decision makers. -Accountants involved in supporting evidence-based decision making --Strategic planning / Process improvement / Compliance management

Data

Raw facts that describe the characteristics of an event that, in isolation, have little meaning

Supply Chain

Refers to the flow of materials, information, payments, and services from raw materials suppliers, through factories and warehouses, all the way to the final customers of the firm's products.

Evaluator

The accountant as ____________ of accounting information systems (IT auditor, assessor of internal controls, tax advisor, general auditor, consultant)

Manager

The accountant as a ___________ of accounting information systems.

Designer

The accountant as the ___________ of accounting information systems.

REA Diagram

The accounting profession has adopted REA as a primary model for AIS databases. Resources->Events ->Agents

Message flows

The activities withing a pool are organized by sequential flow, but the interactions between pools are represented as _____________________. (a dashed arrow with a small circle at the starting end) o--------->

Swimlanes

The departments are identified by _____________.

Information Overload

The difficulty a person faces in understanding a problem and making a decision as a consequence of too much information. Therefore, an AIS must be carefully designed to provide that information that is most useful without overwhelming the user.

Constraints

The full specification of attributes would also include data type, default value (if any), ___________ on the value (such as minimum and maximum possible values), and other descriptive information.

Information Value Chain

The overall transformation from a business need and business event (like each sale of a US flag) to the collection of data and information to an ultimate decision Business Need/ Event -> Data-> Information -> Knowledge -> Decision

Supply chain management (SCM) software

The software used to connect the focal firm with its suppliers. Addresses specific segments of the supply chain, especially in manufacturing, scheduling, inventory control and transportation. The software is designed to facilitate decision making and optimize the required levels of inventory to be ordered and held in stock.

Fundamentals of Relational Databases

There are three main constructs in a relational database: tables, attributes, and records. The primary construct is called a table or relation for data storage, with rows and columns much like a spreadsheet. Each table in a database represents either a class or a relationship among classes. Tables need to be properly linked to make a relational database.The columns in a table are called fields and represent the attributes or characteristics of the class or relationship. The rows in a table are called records or tuples. A record represents all the specific data values that are associated with one instance.

Support activities

These five primary activities are supported by: firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology, and procurement

Events

Things that happen; they affect the flow of the business process when they occur. Include start, intermediate, and end events. (circles, start circles have one outline, intermediate has two, and end has a bold outline)

Allowed

This rule form says what is allowed under what conditions. Credit card payments are allowed if the card is American Express

Prohibited

This rule form states what should not occur. No payments by check.

Obligatory

This rule form states what should occur. Paymet should be made in US dollars.

Attributes of Useful Information

To be most useful to decision makers, information from an AIS must be both relevant and reliable and have both 1. Relevance and 2. Reliability

User

To recognize the needed competencies for accountants with respect to information technology, it is important to recognize the potential role of accountants in accounting information systems, including: The accountant as a ________ of accounting information systems - whether it be inputting journal entries into an accounting system, using a financial spreadsheet to calculate the costs of a product, or using anti-virus.

Flowcharts

Visualizations of a process activity. Three types are often used by accountants. 1. Systems flowcharts- provide an overall view of a system, including the inputs, activities, and outputs of the process 2. Process maps- use the basic set of flowchart symbols to provide a representation of the steps within a business process. Conceptually similar to business process diagrams created with BPMN. 3. Document flowcharts- present the flow of documents through an entity, often describing the areas within the entity with responsibility for particular tasks.

Activities

Where the work takes place; they can represent processes, sub-processes, or tasks depending on the diagram's level of detail. (a rounded rectangle)

Composition

____________ relationships are a form of aggregation. In this case, however, chapters do not exist separately from the books.

Generalization

___________________ relationships allows grouping of things that share common characteristics. It reduces redundancy because the shared characteristics only need to be modeled once. For example, sports cars, sedans, and SUV's are all autos.

Aggregation

___________________ relationships describe classes that are often considered together. Although players could exist separately from a team, they are part of a team.

Structure Model

a conceptual depiction of a database, such as UML class model or an entity relationship model.

Relational Data Model

a data model that stores information in the form of related two-dimensional tables. It allows designers and users to identify relationships at the time the database is created or much later whenever new informational requirements from the data model are desired. While hierarchical and network data models require relationships to be formed at the database creation, these can be made up as needed.

Business Process

a defined sequence of business activities that use resources to transform specific inputs into specific outputs to achieve a business goal.

Network Data Model

a flexible model representing objects and their relationships. Allows each record to have multiple parent and child records or M:N mapping, also known as many-to-many relationships. These form a lattice structure (often looking like a big net) connecting parent and child records together

Business Model

a simple abstract representation of one or more business processes.

Business Model

a simple, abstract representation of one or more business processes.

Relevance

a. Predictive value (helps with forecasting the future) b. Feedback value (corrects or confirms what and been predicted in the past) c. Timeliness (available when needed or in time to have an impact on a decision.)

Reliability

a. Verifiable (can be confirmed by an independent party) b. Representational faithfulness (reports what actually happened) c. Neutrality (information is not biased)

Technology

activities include all of the technologies necessary to support value-creating activities. These technologies also include research and development to develop new products or determine ways to produce products at a cheaper price.

Human resource management

activities include recruiting, hiring, training, and compensating employees.

Procurement

activities involve purchasing inputs such as raw materials, supplies, and equipment

Firm Infrastructure

all of the activities needed to support the firm, including the CEO and the finance, accounting, and legal departments

System

an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole. Example: interstate highway system.

Information

data being organized in a meaningful way to be useful to the user. Often processed and then combined with the appropriate context. Required for decision makers to make decisions.

Database management System (DBMS)

defined as a computer program that creates, modifies, and queries the database. Specifically, the DBMS is designed to manage a database's storage and retrieval of information

Accounting information system (AIS)

defined as a system that records, processes, and reports on transactions to provide financial and nonfinancial information to make decisions and have appropriate levels of internal controls for those transactions

Multiplicities

describe the minimum and maximum number of times instances in one class can be associated with instances in another class. Multiplicities for a class are represented by a pair of numbers placed on the opposite side of the association

Activity Models

describe the sequence of workflow in a business process or processes. While the purpose of structure models is to create a blueprint for the development of a relational database to support the collection, aggregation, and communication of process information, the purpose of _______________ is to represent the sequential flow and control logic of a set of related activities.

Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)

employed for activity models, although the concepts also apply to other modeling notations such as UML activity diagrams and data flow diagrams.

Documentation

explains how business processes and business systems work; a tool for information transmission and communication

Transform

fundamentally redefine business processes and relationships

Marketing and sales activities

identify the needs and wants of customers to help attract them to the firm's products and, thus, buy them.

Database administrator

is responsible for the design, implementation, repair, and security of a firm's database

Specifying requirements

models can be the basis for documentation of the changed process or system. Additionally, some models can be used to generate working software directly.

Informate-down

provide information about business activities to employees across the firm

Informate-UP

provide information about business activities to senior management

Service activities

provide the support of customers after the products and services are sold to them.

Automate

replace human labor in automating business processes

Data flow diagram (DFD)

represents graphically the flow of data through a system such as one or more business processes. Often used to perform structured systems analysis and design, whereby a system is described at increasing levels of detail to facilitate new systems design. DFDs have no start and end symbols, which is also unlike flowcharts and BPMN business process diagrams. Instead, dataflow diagrams present the external sources of- or destinations for- the data.

Business Rules

succinct statements of constraints on business processes; they provide the logic that guide the behavior of the business in specific situations. Typically written in text, not modeled; however, they influence the structure and flow of models. Business rules establish multiplicities in class models, and they set criteria for branching in activity models.

Inbound logistics

the activities associated with receiving and storing raw materials and other partially completed materials and distributing those materials to manufacturing when and where they are needed.

Operations

the activities that transform inputs into finished goods and services

Outbound logistics

the activities that warehouse and distribute the finished goods to the customers

Business Analysis

the process of defining business process requirements and evaluating potential improvements. Involves ascertaining, documenting, and communicating information about current and future business processes using business process modeling and related tools.

Reports

used to integrate data from one or more queries and tables to provide useful information to decision makers. Unlike a form, the report does not allow users to edit database information.

Data Models

used to represent the conceptual contents of databases to communicate with the users of the databases. A model of logical database structures must be able to describe: 1. The entities or things in the domain of interest 2. The relationships among those things 3. The cardinalities that describe how many instances of one entity can be related to another 4. The attributes or characteristics of the entities and relationships

Forms

utilized by users to enter data into tables and view existing records.

Hierarchical Data models

were widely used in mainframe database management systems. Organize data into a tree-like structure that allows repeating information using defined parent/child relationships. (ex: financial statements)