CS 331 final review

Organizations that utilize the file processing approach spend as much as ________ of their IS development budget on maintenance

80 percent

Which of the following is software used to create, maintain, and provide controlled access to databases?

Database management system (DBMS)

Given the following entities, which of the choices below would be the most complicated?

Define one vehicle entity type to hold all entities.

An enterprise data model describes the scope of data for only one information system.

False

Database development begins with the design of the database.

False

Database development projects are never done in a bottom-up fashion.

False

Databases were developed as the first application of computers to data processing.

False

Organizational commitment to a database project is not necessary for its success.

False

Organizations that utilize the file processing approach spend only 20 percent of development time on maintenance.

False

Personal databases are designed to support a small group of individuals working together on a project.

False

Reduced program maintenance is an advantage of file processing systems.

False

Repositories are always used in file processing systems.

False

The steps of the systems development life cycle can only be viewed as a linear process.

False

The term legacy system refers to a newly installed database management system.

False

With the traditional file processing approach, each application shares data files, thus enabling much data sharing.

False

Which of the following is NOT a cost and/or risk of the database approach?

Improved responsiveness

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a good business rule?

Inconsistent

Which of the following is an entity type on which a strong entity depends?

None of the above

Which organizational function should set database standards?

None of the above

The need for consensus on data definitions is an example of which type of risk in the database environment?

Organizational conflict

In the figure below, which of the following are subtypes of patient?

Outpatient

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of database systems?

Redundant data

Which of the following is NOT a good characteristic of a data name?

Relates to a technical characteristic of the system

________ are established between entities in a well-structured database so that the desired information can be retrieved.

Relationships

________ is a tool even non-programmers can use to access information from a database

Structured query language

Which of the following is a generic entity type that has a relationship with one or more subtypes?

Supertype

Which of the following is a completeness constraint?

Total specialization

A constraint is a rule in a database system that can be violated by users.

True

A modern database management system automates more of the backup and recovery tasks than a file system.

True

A user view is how the user sees the data when it is produced.

True

Cost and complexity are just two of the disadvantages of database processing.

True

Development starts from scratch with the traditional file processing approach because new file formats, descriptions, and file access logic must be designed for each new program.

True

End users can often retrieve and display data easily with a relational database.

True

Enterprise modeling sets the range and general contents of organizational databases.

True

File processing systems have been replaced by database systems in most critical business applications today.

True

In practice, databases today may contain either data or information.

True

Information is processed data.

True

Many of the disadvantages of file processing systems can also be limitations of databases.

True

Metadata are data that describe the properties of other data.

True

One reason for improved application development productivity with the database approach is that file design and low-level implementation details do not need to be handled by the application programmer.

True

The data repository assists database administrators in enforcing standards.

True

The failure to implement a strong database administrative function is the most common source of database failures in organizations.

True

The systems development life cycle is the traditional methodology used to develop, maintain, and replace information systems.

True

The user interface includes languages, menus, and other facilities by which users interact with various system components.

True

Unplanned duplicate data files are the rule rather than the exception in file processing systems.

True

In the figure below, to which of the following entities are the entities "CAR" and "TRUCK" generalized?

Vehicle

The following figure shows an example of:

a composite attribute.

A user view is:

a logical description of some portion of the database

The following figure shows an example of:

a strong entity and its associated weak entity.

Which of the following types of data can be stored in a database?

all of the above

A business rule:

all of the above.

Databases may be more expensive to maintain than files because of:

all of the above.

The common types of entities are:

all of the above.

In a file processing environment, descriptions for data and the logic for accessing the data are built into:

application programs.

An entity type name should be all of the following EXCEPT:

as short as possible.

The property by which subtype entities possess the values of all attributes of a supertype is called:

attribute inheritance.

A property or characteristic of an entity type that is of interest to the organization is called a(n):

attribute.

A person's name, birthday, and social security number are all examples of:

attributes.

A ________ constraint is a type of constraint that addresses whether an instance of a supertype must also be an instance of at least one subtype.

completeness

An attribute that can be broken down into smaller parts is called a(n) ________ attribute.

composite

A rule that CANNOT be violated by database users is called a:

constraint.

Data modeling may be the most important part of the systems development process because:

data characteristics are important in the design of programs and other systems components

A graphical system used to capture the nature and relationships among data is called a(n)

data model

One application of data warehouses is:

decision support

The ________ rule specifies that an entity can be a member of only one subtype at a time.

disjoint

Customers, cars, and parts are examples of:

entities.

A person, place, an object , an event or concept about which the organization wishes to maintain data is called a(n):

entity

The logical representation of an organization's data is called a(n):

entity-relationship model.

The most common source of database failures in organizations is:

failure to implement a strong database administration function.

Program-data dependence is caused by:

file descriptors being stored in each application

The process of defining a more general entity type from a set of more specialized entity types is called:

generalization.

A(n) ________ is the relationship between a weak entity type and its owner.

identifying relationship

Data processed in a way that increases a user's knowledge is

information

Older systems that often contain data of poor quality are called ________ systems

legacy

One disadvantage of file processing systems is

limited data sharing

A database is an organized collection of ________ related data

logically

Business policies and rules govern all of the following EXCEPT:

managing employees.

In the figure below, a student:

must be a graduate student, an undergraduate, a special student or some other type of student.

Data that describe the properties of other data are

none of the above (Metadata)

The ________ rule specifies that an entity instance of a supertype is allowed not to belong to any subtype.

partial specialization

All of the following are properties of metadata EXCEPT

processing logic

All of the following are primary purposes of a database management system (DBMS) EXCEPT:

providing an integrated development environment

Relational databases establish the relationships between entities by means of common fields included in a file called a(n):

relation

With the database approach, data descriptions are stored in a central location known as a(n):

repository

A knowledge base of information on facts about an enterprise is called a(n):

repository.

An attribute of an entity that must have a value for each entity instance is a(n):

required attribute.

An attribute that must have a value for every entity (or relationship) instance is a(n):

required attribute.

The process of defining one or more subtypes of a supertype and forming relationships is called:

specialization.

A fact is an association between two or more:

terms.

Subtypes should be used when:

there are attributes that apply to some but not all instances of an entity type.

The ________ rule specifies that each entity instance of the supertype must be a member of some subtype in the relationship.

total specialization

The following figure is an example of:

total specialization

The following figure is an example of:

total specialization.

In an E-R diagram, there are ________ business rule(s) for every relationship

two

Because applications are often developed independently in file processing systems

unplanned duplicate data files are the rule rather than the exception

A(n) ________ is often developed by identifying a form or report that a user needs on a regular basis.

user view

An entity type whose existence depends on another entity type is called a ________ entity.

weak

A good data definition will describe all of the characteristics of a data object EXCEPT:

who can delete the data.