Business Information Systems 5th Edition Paul Bocij - Solutions

Give three reasons for a company’s initiating an information systems project. Give a brief example of each.
Define information systems outsourcing.
Give examples of two tangible costs and two intangible costs that may be incurred during an information systems development project.
What are the most important factors you would consider when comparing alternative software packages?
understand the main elements of the project management approach;
relate the concept of project management to the creation of BIS;
assess the significance of the different tasks of the project manager;
outline different techniques for project management.
What are the success criteria for a BIS project?
What are the attributes of a successful project manager?
Which project management activities and techniques should be performed by the project manager for a successful outcome?
What are the main elements of the project management process?
What are the main project aims of the PRINCE2 methodology?
What information is required for the construction of a critical path diagram?
What information do the Gantt chart and the PERT chart convey?
What is the difference between effort time and elapsed time?
Draw a Gantt chart for the following AON network (Figure 9.11).
‘One of the most difficult parts of project management is getting the estimates right.’ Discuss.Figure 9.11 Activity-on-node network 2 7 A300 3 332 62 B150 1 00 15 C3015 4 015 45 G745 5 162 69 E1045 5 045 55 F1455 6 055 69 D1545 6 954 69 H1469 8 069 83 EN 083 83 START 083 83
Explore the features of a project management computer package such as Microsoft Project.Evaluate its use in the project management process.
Compare the different alternatives that are available for the critical path method of network analysis.
What is the most effective method of estimating the duration of an information systems development project?
Evaluate the roles undertaken by people in a project organisation.
What are the main elements in the project management process?
Evaluate the use of the PRINCE2 project management methodology.
Explain the difference between portraying a project plan as a Gantt chart and as a PERT chart.
What is the importance of conducting monitoring and control when managing a project?
Why is it difficult and often impossible for a software project manager to balance the three constraints of time, budget and quality? You should relate your answer to two different aspects of the quality of the delivered information system.
What is the difference between elapsed time and effort time? How are the two factors related in terms of the availability and work rate of different staff? Describe this in words, or using an equation or an example.
define the importance of conducting the analysis phase to the overall success of the system;
choose appropriate techniques for analysing users’ requirements for an information system;
construct appropriate textual descriptions and diagrams to assist in summarising the requirements as an input to the design phase.
Which different aspects of the system must be summarised in the requirements document?
Which diagramming tools are appropriate to summarise the operation of the existing and proposed systems?
What is the difference between the ‘funnel’ and ‘pyramid’ approaches to structuring an interview?
Why can closed questions still be useful in an interview?
Assess the relative effectiveness of interviews versus questionnaires when attempting to establish user requirements.
In an information flow diagram, why should we not record information flows that lie completely outside the system boundary?
What are the main differences between an information flow diagram and a dataflow diagram?
What is meant by the term ‘levelling’ in dataflow diagrams?
In a sales order processing system, which of the following are not entities? Customer, colour, size, product, telephone number, sales order, salesperson, order date.
Why might the construction of an ERD still be useful even if an off-the-shelf package was going to be purchased?
Use a simple example with no more than five processes or ten information flows to examine the differences between the information flow diagram and the dataflow diagram. Which would be more effective for explaining deficiencies with an existing system to:(a) a business manager;(b) a systems
Compare the effectiveness of ‘soft’ methods of acquiring information such as interviews and questionnaires and ‘hard’ methods of gathering information such as document analysis and observation of staff. In which order do you think these analysis activities should be conducted and on which
‘For producing a database, the only type of diagram from the analysis phase that needs to be produced is the entity relationship diagram. Dataflow diagrams are not relevant.’ Discuss.
Compare and contrast alternative fact-finding methods and analysis documentation tools as they might relate to bespoke software development and the purchase of off-the-shelf packages.
Errors in the analysis stage of a systems development project are far more costly to fix than those that occur later in the systems development lifecycle. Why do some organisations seem to devalue the analysis process by seeking to get to the system build as quickly as possible?
Compare and contrast the relative effectiveness of the use of information flow diagrams, dataflow diagrams and entity relationship diagrams by a business analyst to demonstrate inefficiency in a company’s existing information management processes. Use examples to illustrate your answer.
Briefly review the arguments for and against using interviewing as a means of determining system requirements.
Explain the relationship between the initiation and analysis phases of the systems development lifecycle.
Briefly explain (in one or two sentences) the purpose of each of the following diagramming methods:(a) information flow diagram;(b) context diagram;(c) dataflow diagram;(d) entity relationship diagram.
Draw a diagram showing each of the following relationships on an ERD:(a) The customer places many orders. Each order is received from one customer.(b) The customer order may contain many requests for products. Each product will feature on many customer orders.(c) Each customer has a single customer
The final examination question is based on a detailed case study for Megatoys and is to be found on the companion web site.
define the difference between analysis and design and the overlap between them;
synthesise the relationship between good design and goodquality information systems;
define the way relational databases are designed;
evaluate the importance of the different elements of design for different applications.
What different types of design need to be conducted for a quality BIS to be developed?
What are the key aspects of design for an e-business system?
How do we create an effective information architecture for our organisation?
Define systems design.
What distinguishes systems design from systems analysis?
Describe the purpose of validation and verification.
What are process modelling and data modelling? Which diagrams used to summarise requirements at the analysis phase are useful in each of these types of modelling?
Explain the client/server model of computing.
What parts of the system need to be designed at the detailed design stage?
Describe the purpose of normalisation.
Explain insertion, update and deletion anomalies.
What are the differences between the sequential and direct (random) file access methods? In which business applications might they be used? What is the purpose of a file index?
Explain the difference between a batch and a real-time system. Which would be the more appropriate design for each of the following situations:1 periodic updating of a data warehouse from an operational database;2 capturing information on customer sales transactions?
What are the different types of input validation that must be considered in the design of a user input form?
Describe the main differences between the analysis and design phases within the systems development lifecycle.
‘The client/server model of computing has many disadvantages, but these do not outweigh the advantages.’ Discuss.
‘The distinction between system design and detailed design is an artificial one since a bottom-up approach to design is inevitable.’ Discuss.
Explain, using an example from a human resources management database, the normalisation process from unnormalised data to third normal form (3NF).
Table 11.7, from a relational database, contains a number of rows and columns. When data are entered into the table, all columns must have data entered. Information about product descriptions, prices, product groups and rack locations is not held elsewhere. Explain how, because of its design, the
A business-to-consumer company (B2C), a kitchenware retailer, wants to set up an e-commerce site, but first wants to produce a prototype in Microsoft Access. The data analysis has been performed and is shown in the expanded entity relationship diagram in Figure 11.22. Produce this database in
Explain the difference between validation and verification. Why are they important elements of systems design?
What benefits does three-tier client/server offer over two-tier client/server?
What are the main elements of system design?
Explain normalisation and how it can help remove different types of anomaly when modifying a database.
Which criteria are important in deciding whether to use a batch or real-time system?
What are the important aspects of user interface design?
Which different types of validation need to occur on data input to a system to ensure information quality?
What are the four main attributes of information security which need to be attained in an information system?
What is meant by the terms ‘input design’, ‘output design’ and ‘database design’? Illustrate each of them with an example.
define approaches for integrating IS strategy with business strategy;
apply simple strategic analysis tools to determine IS strategy
Which process can we follow to develop an IS strategy?
How can we ensure the IS strategy supports the business strategy?
What analysis tools are available to assess current use of IS within the organisation and its environment and formulate IS strategy?
Where should we locate the IS function and to what extent should some services be outsourced?
How do strategic systems differ from high-potential projects?
Why do information systems projects fail?
Explain the difference between project size and project complexity when evaluating information systems risk.
Why might the mechanistic approach to strategy formulation be considered inadequate?
How might Porter’s five forces model be helpful in determining information systems requirements?
Explain how a fast-food restaurant may use Porter’s value chain analysis to help determine its information system needs.
How might Nolan’s stage model be useful to an organisation that is struggling with spiralling IS costs?
Identify three critical success factors for the maternity department of a busy hospital. How do those CSFs translate into key decisions and then information requirements?
‘The millennium bug has demonstrated that organisations, more often than not, take a shortterm view in their approach to information systems rather than a strategic one.’ Discuss.

Showing 100 - 200 of 1204

Business Information Systems 5th Edition Paul Bocij - Solutions

Step by Step Answers