Week 8 : Exams
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Grading Summary
These are the automatically computed results of your exam. Grades for essay questions, and comments from your instructor, are in the "Details" section below. / Date Taken: / 2/24/2014Time Spent: / 2 h , 58 min , 08 secs
Points Received: / 200 / 200 (100%)
Question Type: / # Of Questions: / # Correct:
Multiple Choice / 20 / 20
Essay / 10 / N/A
Grade Details - All Questions
Page: / 1 2Question 1. / Question : / (TCO 1) When developing information systems, an organization could use:
Student Answer: / an information technology services firm.
open-source software.
cloud computing.
in-house development.
/ all of the above.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: chapter 2 page 29
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 2. / Question : / (TCO 1) The practice of turning over responsibility of some or all of an organization's information systems applications and operations to an outside firm is referred to as:
Student Answer: / realignment.
downsizing.
/ outsourcing.
time sharing.
system reassignment and deployment.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: chapter 2 page 28
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 3. / Question : / (TCO 2) Identifying, assessing, and managing the risks and day-to-day changes that occur during a project best defines which of the following project manager activities?
Student Answer: / Conflict management
/ Risk and change management
Team management
Customer relations
Technical problem solving
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 3 page 49
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 4. / Question : / (TCO 2) Which of the following is NOT a project management phase?
Student Answer: / Closing down the project
Planning the project
Executing the project
Initiating a project
/ Implementing the project
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 3 page 48
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 5. / Question : / (TCO 2) Which of the following would be classified as an intangible cost?
Student Answer: / Hardware costs
Labor costs
/ Employee morale
Operational costs
Internet service setup fee
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 4 page 93
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 6. / Question : / (TCO 2) The primary deliverable from the project identification and selection phase is:
Student Answer: / a context data flow diagram.
at least three substantively different system design strategies for building the replacement information system.
the development of a new version of the software and new versions of all design documents.
an entity relationship diagram.
/ a schedule of specific IS development projects.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 4 page 87
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 7. / Question : / (TCO 3) The term that refers to systems development projects bogged down in an abundance of analysis work is:
Student Answer: / information overload.
/ analysis paralysis.
analysis overload.
information abundance.
disruptive analysis.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 5 page 126
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 8. / Question : / (TCO 3) Good interview guidelines consist of:
Student Answer: / phrasing the question to illicit the correct response.
typing your notes within two weeks of the interview.
establishing expectation levels about the new system.
/ seeking a variety of perspectives from the interviews.
using as much time as you need.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 5 page 130
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 9. / Question : / (TCO 3) The search for, and implementation of, radical change in business processes to achieve breakthrough improvements in products and services best defines:
Student Answer: / joint application design.
rapid application development.
structured programming.
/ business process reengineering.
disruptive design.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 5 page 141
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 10. / Question : / (TCO 3) The purpose of requirements structuring is to:
Student Answer: / enable the analysts to gather information on what the system should do from as many sources as possible.
enable the analysts to develop a baseline project plan quickly.
/ enable the large amount of information gathered during requirements determination to be organized.
enable the analysts to identify several feasible alternatives.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 5 page 126
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 11. / Question : / (TCO 4) The diagram that shows the scope of the system, indicating what elements are inside and outside the system, is called a:
Student Answer: / / context diagram.
level-2 diagram.
referencing diagram.
representative diagram.
decomposition diagram.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 6 page 158
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 12. / Question : / (TCO 5) The number of instances of entity B that can (or must) be associated with each instance of entity A refers to:
Student Answer: / / cardinality.
domain.
ternary occurrence.
participation level.
join level.
Instructor Explanation: / Chapter 7 page 203
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 13. / Question : / (TCO 6) Shaping alternative system design strategies involves:
Student Answer: / enumerating different potential implementation environments.
proposing different ways to source or acquire the various sets of capabilities for the different implementation environments.
dividing requirements into different sets of capabilities.
/ all of the above.
none of the above.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 7 page 213
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 14. / Question : / (TCO 7) Which of the following are general guidelines for displaying tables and lists?
Student Answer: / All columns and rows should have meaningful labels.
Place a blank line between every five rows in long columns.
Use the same family of typefaces within and across displays and reports.
Allow white space on printed reports for the user to write notes.
/ All of the above are guidelines for displaying tables and lists.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 8 page 244
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 15. / Question : / (TCO 7) Which of the following is a guideline for displaying text?
Student Answer: / Use double spacing if space permits.
Do not hyphenate words between lines.
Left-justify text and leave a ragged right margin.
Display text in mixed upper and lowercase and use conventional punctuation.
/ All of the above are guidelines for displaying text.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 8 page 242
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 16. / Question : / (TCO 7) Reversing the sequence of one or more characters in a field is called:
Student Answer: / / transposing.
transcripting.
appending.
truncating.
hashing.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 8 page 252
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 17. / Question : / (TCO 8) A notation that allows the modeler to specify, visualize, and construct the artifacts of software systems, as well as business models, best defines:
Student Answer: / / Unified Modeling Language.
Structured English.
pseudocode.
logic modeling.
structured design.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Appendix A page 362
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 18. / Question : / (TCO 8) Benefits of the object-oriented modeling approach include:
Student Answer: / the ability to tackle more challenging problem domains.
improved communication among users, analysts, designers, and programmers.
reusability of analysis, design, and programming results.
increased consistency among the models developed during object-oriented analysis, design, and programming.
/ all of the above.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Appendix A page 361
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 19. / Question : / (TCO 9) System documentation that is part of the program source code or is generated at compile time best defines:
Student Answer: / system documentation.
user documentation.
/ internal documentation.
external documentation.
embedded documentation.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 10 page 333
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Question 20. / Question : / (TCO 9) User testing of a completed information system using simulated data refers to:
Student Answer: / acceptance testing.
/ alpha testing.
beta testing.
system testing.
stub testing.
Instructor Explanation: / Ref: Chapter 10 page 329
Points Received: / 5 of 5
Comments:
Page: / 1 2
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Top of Form
Grading Summary
These are the automatically computed results of your exam. Grades for essay questions, and comments from your instructor, are in the "Details" section below. / Date Taken: / 2/24/2014Time Spent: / 2 h , 58 min , 08 secs
Points Received: / 200 / 200 (100%)
Question Type: / # Of Questions: / # Correct:
Multiple Choice / 20 / 20
Essay / 10 / N/A
Grade Details - All Questions
Page: / 1 2Question 1. / Question : / (TCO 1) Describe the role of a systems analyst.
Student Answer: / System Analyst is a very critical job position for every company. System Analyst is the guy that has to deal with high-level problems that affect company's performance. Mainly he deals with software related problems (updating existing or buying / developing a new from scratch). A successful Systems Analyst must be well aware of company's structure and processes in order to identify sectors that need modifications to reach higher performance levels. It is a job position that requires analytical and managerial skills, as communication is a key feature to successful completeness. One might have been a Systems Analyst before, even he wasn't aware of that (he wasn't assigned the role of Systems Analyst)! A System Analyst may be involved with the following: 1.application software development 2.designs new IT solutions to improve business efficiency and productivity
Instructor Explanation: / A systems analyst has the primary role to study the problems and needs of an organization to determine how to best combine people, methods and information technology in order to improve the organization. In addition, he or she helps users and business managers define their requirements for a project.
Ref: Chapter 1 page 11
Points Received: / 10 of 10
Comments: / A systems analyst has the primary role to study the problems and needs of an organization to determine how to best combine people, methods and information technology in order to improve the organization. In addition, he or she helps users and business managers define their requirements for a project. Ref: Chapter 1 page 11
Question 2. / Question : / (TCO 2) Discuss the six major categories of feasibility.
Student Answer: / All projects are feasible if they are given unlimited time and resources. Unfortunately, this is not feasible! The project manager has to consider carefully all factors that could make a project feasible or destined to failure. The six major categories of feasibility are: 1.operational: It is the process of assessing how much the new system is going to solve business problems or take advantage of business opportunities. What problems is the new system going to solve? How will it be integrated in organization's infrastructure? 2.economic: It is the process used to identify the financial benefits and costs associated with a project. It is often called "cost-benefit analysis" and its result is if the project worth it. For instance, having a team of 100 people working for months on a big project, just to have a profit of $1,000 for the company is a waste of resources and time 3.political: It is the process which evaluates how organization's stakeholders view the new system. Will the stakeholders appreciate the new system? Will it make their life easier and their working life more amusing? 4.legal and contractual: The process which deals with legal and contractual staff concerning the new system. Issues regarding government laws, copyright, labor laws and many more have to be addressed. 5.technical: It is the process of assessing the development organization's ability to construct a new system. Details about the hardware, software, operating systems to be used, system's size and complexity must be assessed at this kind of feasibility 6.schedule: It is the process that identifies if the new system can be constructed in the proposed time frame and if completion dates for project's major activities meet organizational due dates.
Instructor Explanation: / The six feasibility categories are economic, technical, operational, schedule, legal and contractual, and political. The specifics of a particular project will determine the emphasis placed on each of the feasibility criteria. Economic feasibility seeks to identify the financial benefits and costs associated with the project. Technical feasibility seeks to determine if the organization is capable of developing the new system. Operational feasibility examines the degree of likelihood that the candidate system will be able to solve the business problem or take advantage of opportunities. Schedule feasibility examines the likelihood that all potential time frame and completion date schedules can be met. Legal and contractual feasibility tries to assess the potential legal ramifications due to the construction of the new system. Determining stakeholder's views of the candidate system is the intent of political feasibility.
Ref: Chapter 4 pages 98-99
Points Received: / 10 of 10
Comments: / The six feasibility categories are economic, technical, operational, schedule, legal and contractual, and political. The specifics of a particular project will determine the emphasis placed on each of the feasibility criteria. Economic feasibility seeks to identify the financial benefits and costs associated with the project. Technical feasibility seeks to determine if the organization is capable of developing the new system. Operational feasibility examines the degree of likelihood that the candidate system will be able to solve the business problem or take advantage of opportunities. Schedule feasibility examines the likelihood that all potential time frame and completion date schedules can be met. Legal and contractual feasibility tries to assess the potential legal ramifications due to the construction of the new system. Determining stakeholder's views of the candidate system is the intent of political feasibility. Ref: Chapter 4 pages 98-99
Question 3. / Question : / (TCO 3) Identify and describe the traditional methods for determining requirements.
Student Answer: / Traditional methods that have been used for many years in our effort to determine system's requirements are: 1.Interviews with individuals Having a face-to-face communication with stakeholders can reveal many requirements for the new system, even unnecessary ones. Different thoughts and beliefs are going to be recorded by the interviewer who should afterwards evaluate individuals' thoughts. With interviews the system analyst will have a better understanding of organization, its processes and needs, what shall be fixed and what should remain untouched. Information may be gathered by body language or emotions as well. 2.Observation of workers Observing workers in their real environment is a great tool to collect and define requirements. The big challenge here is to stay as hidden as it gets. If the system analyst intervenes in workers' job, this process won't be very beneficial. The analyst must be only an observer to get the most out of this process. By observing them in traffic working hours can lead to useful information about what needs to be done to ease their work and enhance their performance 3.Business documents Studying business documents can be beneficial too. In these documents, company's processes must be written in detail. Information about what needs to be done and maybe how this is to be accomplished, can turn into a new requirement. Although not as direct method as interview, it still has much to offer. Policies, rules, directions are issues that can hardly be revealed by the two other traditional methods.
Instructor Explanation: / The traditional methods for collecting system requirements are interviews, observations, and document analysis.
Ref: Chapter 5 pages 126, 131, 132
Points Received: / 10 of 10
Comments: / The traditional methods for collecting system requirements are interviews, observations, and document analysis. Ref: Chapter 5 pages 126, 131, 132
Question 4. / Question : / (TCO 4) What is gap analysis? Why is gap analysis useful?
Student Answer: / Gap analysis is the process which discovers discrepancies between sets of data-flow diagrams. These discrepancies may occur within a single DFD as well. Gap analysis is a very important process, because it uncovers gaps in our analysis, which will result crucial problems later during implementation phase. We may have named the same entity with different names, data mentioned but not used in the system and so on. A System Analyst should have analytical skills to cover these potential holes in our system. The sooner this is achieved the better for us. It is time consuming to go back and forth between programmers and analysts in an effort to do things that should have been arranged a month ago. CASE tools are used nowadays to ease System Analysts' job.
Instructor Explanation: / Gap analysis is the process of discovering discrepancies between two or more sets of data-flow diagrams or discrepancies within a single DFD. Gap analysis is used to identify inconsistencies with DFDs, determine which processes should be added or revised, and compare alternative logical DFDs.
Ref: Chapter 6 page 169
Points Received: / 10 of 10
Comments: / Gap analysis is the process of discovering discrepancies between two or more sets of data-flow diagrams or discrepancies within a single DFD. Gap analysis is used to identify inconsistencies with DFDs, determine which processes should be added or revised, and compare alternative logical DFDs. Ref: Chapter 6 page 169
Question 5. / Question : / (TCO 5) Contrast data modeling to process modeling and logic modeling.
Student Answer: / On one hand, logic and process modeling represent data movement and usage. on the other hand, data modeling represents what the data means and how it is structured. Moreover, a data model is usually a more permanent representation of data requirements compared to logic and process modeling. With these different models, we can view the same system from different views and gain the most out of each model. Nevertheless, we shall guarantee there will be consistency among the models to have the comprehensive and useful outcomes possible.
Instructor Explanation: / Data modeling focuses on the data that must be stored by the system. Data-flow diagrams and the processing logic techniques demonstrate how, where, and when data are used or modified by the system. However, these techniques do not illustrate the definition, structure, and relationships within the data. By providing this view, data modeling complements the process modeling and logic modeling techniques.
Ref: Chapter 7 pages 194-195
Points Received: / 10 of 10
Comments: / Data modeling focuses on the data that must be stored by the system. Data-flow diagrams and the processing logic techniques demonstrate how, where, and when data are used or modified by the system. However, these techniques do not illustrate the definition, structure, and relationships within the data. By providing this view, data modeling complements the process modeling and logic modeling techniques. Ref: Chapter 7 pages 194-195
Question 6. / Question : / (TCO 6) Suppose that an analysis team did not generate alternative design strategies for consideration by a project steering committee or client. What might the consequences be of having only one design strategy? What might happen during the oral presentation of project progress if only one design strategy is offered?