MIS 301

System

A group of components that interact to achieve some purpose is referred to as a(n)

What is a business process?

A standardized set of activities that accomplish a specific task

The following is/are true about a diamond shape in a business process model:

A. Represents a decision that needs to be made B. More than one alternative path will emerge from this shape in the model C. Represents a task in the model D. All of the above are true Right E. Only (a) and (b) are true

Which of the following is/are true about variables? A. Including variables can make it easier to find relationships between different items of data in the dataset B. A data item/characteristic that stands for a value that changes or varies over time C. Variables make datasets scalable D. All of the above are true about variables E. Only (b) and (c) are true about variables

All of the above are true about variables

What is a business-to-business marketplace?

An Internet-based service that brings together many buyers and sellers

Which of the following is not a type of organizational information system?

Analysis processing system

In a manufacturing assembly line, human employees are replaced by robotic arms, which are responsible for the one task of hammering nails into the product being manufactured. This is an example of:

Automation

Which of the following is considered information?

Best-selling item by month

What is information collected from multiple sources such as suppliers, customers, competitors, partners, and industries that analyzes patterns, trends, and relationships for strategic decision making?

Business intelligence

Which of the following forces is commonly reduced through the use of a loyalty program?

Buyer power

___ support unstructured decision making within organizations drawing upon both internal and external data sources.

Decision support systems

What integrates information from multiple components and presents it in a unified display?

Digital dashboards

Which of the following represents the top-down (executives to analysts) organizational levels of information technology systems?

EIS, DSS, TPS

___ integrate different organizational processes into a unified system for the entire organization.

Enterprise resource planning systems

What is a system that can be used to support the type of decisions that draws largely on the decision-maker's intuition and "gut-feeling?"

Executive information systems

A customer switches from Product A to a higher-priced Product B. The customer's switching cost is the price difference between Product A and Product B.

False

A doctor is an example of a knowledge worker but is not an example of an information worker.

False

A nonlinear relationship is one in which there is no correlation between the factor and the outcome of interest.

False

A reverse auction tends to lower buyer power.

False

A set of data (e.g., student name, ID, age, major, etc.) can yield only one piece of information.

False

All classes in a university are required to consist only of 40 students - no more, no less. The concept of 'class size' in this university would be an example of a variable.

False

An 'unstructured' decision is one in which a process for making the decision does not even exist, let alone whether this process is standardized or not.

False

Business analysts integrate the work of the programmers, testers, and users.

False

For a member of the custodial staff, the Audio/Visual systems in classrooms would be considered as data.

False

Fulfilling an order is an example of an intra-departmental process.

False

Sensitivity analysis should be used to answer the question "How many customers are required to purchase our new product line to increase gross profits to $5 million?"

False

Streamlining focuses on replacing a manual task with a technology-enabled task in a process.

False

Streamlining represents top-down change driven by senior executives in the company.

False

Switching cost raises the threat of substitute products or services in an industry.

False

The best way to deal with the problem of your computer monitor going blank is to just throw it out and get a new one.

False

The goals and scope of a new information system are determined during the requirements analysis phase of the systems development life cycle.

False

The security needs of an information system are determined during the component design phase of the systems development life cycle.

False

The terms 'system' and 'systems thinking' refer to the same concept.

False

Would you recommend individual departments in an organization to go out and purchase best-in-class departmental information systems from different vendors and platforms?

False

Costco sells low-cost inventory in large bulk quantities in a members-only manner. Costco follows which generic strategy?

Focused Low Cost

Which of the following statements is TRUE of systems development?

It requires business knowledge and an understanding of group dynamics.

If you know what data you have but you do not have the personal expertise and skills to apply this data, what are you missing?

Knowledge

Compared to first-mover advantage, second-mover advantage offers:

Lower risk, lower return

Which of the following is/are true about business process reengineering? A. Creating a new process from scratch B. Applies to all core processes that are broken or obsolete C. The integration of all departments and functions throughout an organization into a single IT system so that employees can make decisions by viewing enterprise wide information on all business operations D. Impacts the organization on a strategic level E. All of the above F. Only (a), (b), and (d)

Only (a), (b), and (d)

All of the following are common tools used to create and maintain competitive advantage, except:

Porter's Competitive Analysis Model

While processing a customer order, the sales department and the accounting department both check customers' credit history. This is an example of:

Redundancy

When an insurance company creates a mobile claims processing system that drastically reduces processing time from one month to a few hours, this represents:

Reengineering

What type of analysis can tell us the impact, on the decision outcome, of making a small incremental change in the input factor?

Sensitivity Analysis

Which of the following provides an example of information?

The worst-selling product

A business process model would typically identify the people/departments that would perform the process.

True

A dotted line arrow represents a data flow in a business process model.

True

A transaction is the smallest unit of change that is allowed to happen on a database.

True

Accessible information and secure information are similar in that they are both available only to authorized users, but accessible information must be available also at the right time and in the right form while secure information is not subject to those constraints.

True

Automation involves establishing metrics for evaluating the performance of individual tasks within a process, and tracking performance data on the tasks in the process.

True

Consistency is a characteristic that ensures a valid state of the database after a transaction is completed.

True

For a company like Toyota, setting up relationships and negotiating contracts with suppliers for the purpose of purchasing raw materials for the manufacturing assembly line is an example of a support value activity.

True

Goal-seeking involves identifying the combination of inputs that yields the desired/chosen output in a decision model.

True

In a business process model, a 'control flow' is something that is likely to be found connecting two tasks.

True

In a dataset, "Walmart" is more likely to represent a constant value but "Customer" is more likely to represent a variable value.

True

In the Business Intelligence landscape, "querying" the data is something that is more likely to be performed in the 'Reporting and Analysis Environment.'

True

In value chain analysis, the concept of "value margin" is the same as that of profit in general business terms, at least in terms of how value margin is calculated.

True

Information systems involve people and procedures, so they can never be off-the-shelf.

True

Interviews are conducted with system users in the requirements analysis phase of the systems development life cycle.

True

It is essential to estimate a system's cost to calculate its rate of return.

True

Knowledge represents the decision-maker's individual intellectual resources gained through experience and expertise.

True

MIS assist in determining whether organizations are doing things in line with pre-defined goals.

True

Online Analytical Processing (OLAP), also known as 'slice-and-dice', is one of the capabilities offered by Executive Information Systems.

True

Systems thinking is a marketable skill.

True

The IT department in a typical manufacturing firm would represent a support value activity.

True

The description of fixes and new requirements is the input to a system maintenance phase of a systems development life cycle.

True

The logistics involved in actually receiving raw materials from a supplier company qualifies as a primary value activity in value chain analysis.

True

The project plan resulting from system definition is the input for requirement analysis.

True

Systems Thinking

_______ is the ability to model the components of a unit to connect the inputs and outputs among those components into a sensible whole that reflects the structure and dynamics of the phenomenon observed.

Which of the following would be an example of a blue-collar worker? A. Carpenter B. Doctor C. Administrative Assistant D. None of the above

a

Which of the following would qualify as both an input and an output component of an ATM transaction? A. The customer's ATM card B. The customer's pin number C. Accessing the bank's database D. The receipt

a

Which of the following steps in the systems definition process aims to eliminate obviously nonsensible projects?

assess the project feasibility

When compared to program development, systems development is ________.

broader in scope

All of the following are examples of systems, EXCEPT: A. The human body B. An assembly line manufacturing process C. A block of wood D. A classroom E. All of the above are examples of systems

c

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of valuable information? A. Not overly complex B. Timely C. Accessible to all users in the organization regardless of authorization D. Less costly compared to the benefits it will provide E. All of the above are characteristics of valuable information

c

The bargaining power of ________ is one of the five competitive forces in Porter's five forces model.

customers

Which of the following is considered a business process? (NOTE: The word "business" in business process is to be taken loosely to refer to any organization, not just a commercial or for-profit business) A. Processing a customer's order B. Writing code for software C. Admitting patients to a hospital D. All of the above

d

Which of the following considerations, in which organizational members routinely engage, would benefit from a systems thinking approach? A. Making sure that newly designed information systems are compatible with other systems - current and future - and with the needs of the organization. B. Taking sick leave or vacations. C. Planning for a sales call. D. Fixing a problem in an information system. E. All of the above would benefit from a systems thinking approach. F. Some, but not all, of the above choices (a-d) would benefit from a systems thinking approach.

e

According to Brooks' Law, adding more people to a late project ________.

makes the project later

Porter developed the five forces model to help organizations determine the ________.

potential profitability of an industry

Which of the following is the first phase of the systems development life cycle?

system definition

The process of creating and maintaining information systems is called ________.

systems development

The ________ is the traditional process used to develop information systems.

systems development life cycle (SDLC)

A given component of an information system can fall within more than one category of the input-process-output-feedback framework for representing information systems.

true

A single ATM technology can be a part of many different systems, depending on who is using it and for what purpose.

true

Receiving the right amount of cash from an ATM is an example of the feedback component.

true

Receiving the wrong amount of cash from an ATM is an example of the feedback component.

true

Systems thinking emphasizes the connections between components in making decisions and solving problems.

true