IS 300 – Autumn 94Page 1
Exam 1
Note that question point values are shown in parentheses.
1.(8) Microsoft sells two different versions of Excel 5.0 for the Macintosh. One version is for a PowerMac which uses the PowerPC RISC CPU. The other version is for all other Macintoshes that use the Motorola 680x0 CPU family.
Explain why it is necessary to have two versions.
2.(8) Assume that you are in the market for an external hard disk for your computer and that you have a maximum of $400 to spend. You have identified two drives from different suppliers that are comparable as far as access times and transfer rates are concerned. Drive A has a 500 mb capacity and costs $350. Drive B has a 420 mb capacity and costs $315.
Assuming that either capacity is adequate and that you want to get the best deal, which drive would you select? Briefly justify your decision.
3.(9) The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L & I) supports the Worker’s Compensation Program in the State of Washington. In this capacity, they deal with thousands of claims that result from workers being injured while on the job.
Their old system used microfiche to store images of the approximately 25,000 pages of documents they received each day. When someone (a worker, a doctor, etc.) would call L & I to inquire about the status of a claim, a claims manager would request a copy of the appropriate microfiche. It would take 2-3 days for the copy to be delivered at which time the claims manager would call the individual back to answer the question.
L & I evaluated alternative ways of managing their paperwork and decided that they would scan the documents they received and store the images on an optical disk. With this new technology, a claims manager could access documents online and respond to inquiries during the initial telephone conversation.
Given these facts, indicate whether L & I was focusing primarily on efficiency or effectiveness. Briefly explain you choice.
4.(8) Would a CPU that is rated at 66 MHz also be likely to achieve 66 MIPS? Briefly explain. Would RISC/CISC technology have any relevance in this situation? Briefly explain.
5.(8) Explain why you might need a computer with moderate to high computational capability if your primary use of the computer is word processing? What hardware component in the computer impacts its computational capability?
6.(9) Assume that Microsoft recommends that memory for Excel 5.0 for the PowerMac computer (like the computers in the Balmer lab) be set at 10 mb. However, all the PowerMacs in the lab have only 8 mb of RAM. Since you know that Excel works on those machines, what feature of the Mac operating system is making this possible? Briefly (one or two sentences) explain how this feature works. What is the possible negative side effect?
7.(9) The ABC Corporation is currently in the process of defining the requirements for a database to support management decision making. This database will be used by a number of managers to help define marketing strategies. The database will use internal operating data as well as data about customers and the firm’s competition.
The company has determined that the database should be able to support a variety of queries. They have identified a number of queries that would typically be made but they also have determined that many queries will be hard to anticipate in advance. Each individual manager will have her/his own decision-making style which will require a variety of different queries.
In the typical use of the database, a manager or group of managers will use the database to support a decision-making process that will take from one to three months to complete. During this process, various questions will be raised and the database will be used to help answer these questions.
Given this information, what type of database model (hierarchical, relational, or network) makes the most sense? Using specific factors from the scenario above, justify your answer.
8.(9) In a “traditional, file-oriented” system, there are a number of potential problems that arise. One of these problems is the “multiple update” problem.
What is the multiple update problem? What causes this problem? What is the most serious consequence of not handling the problem correctly?
9.(8) Give an example of how telecommunication technology can be used by a firm to improve its efficiency. Give an example of how telecommunication technology can be used by a firm to improve its effectiveness. Do not use the examples presented in class.
10.(8) How is a local area network that uses a file server (such as in the Balmer labs) different from a network that has uses the client/server model?
11.(8) Assume that you want to purchase hardware and software that will allow you to connect your computer at your home to the Internet computer network. You go to a computer store and explain this to a salesperson. You also tell the salesperson that you must rely on him for a recommendation because you do not really know that much about the hardware/software required for this type of connection.
The salesperson recommends a specific network card (an ethernet card) and a software package. You buy these products and take them home. While installing the network card, you come to the realization that it is not designed to be connected to a phone line (which is what you have available at your house). You return the products to the store but the salesperson refuses to take them back. He states that all sales are final.
What legal remedy do you have? Be very specific for full credit.
12.(8) Assume that you buy a modem that can transmit data at a rate of 2,400 bits per second. When you start using it, you discover that data is being transmitted at an average rate of 960 characters per second.
Is this possible? Explain.
IS 300 – Autumn 94Page 1
Exam 1 Key
1.The PowerPC CPU and the 680x0 CPU are two different CPUs with different machine languages. Since Excel is supplied in object code form (machine language), Microsoft needs to supply two different versions, one for each different CPU.
2.To compare these two disks, the cost per megabyte must be calculated. Drive A is $.70/mb ($350/500 mb). Drive B is $.75/mb ($315/420 mb) . Since both drives are within budget and since either capacity is adequate, the lower cost per megabyte option is best. Thus, Drive A is the best choice.
3.The focus of the new system is on reducing the time it takes for a claims manager to respond to an inquiry regarding a claim. This means that they are attempting to provide better service. Better service is a measure of effectiveness.
The problem does not provide any information to support an argument that L & I is trying to process more claims with the same staff or process the same number of claims with less staff. This type of information would be necessary to support an efficiency argument.
Thus, L & I is focusing primarily on effectiveness.
4.No. For a CPU rated at 66 MHz to achieve 66 MIPS, it would have to be able to execute one instruction per cycle. Since this is not the case, the MIPS rating will be less than 66 MIPS.
RISC technology, where the instruction set is reduced to simple instructions, would have an impact. This is because the simple instructions require fewer cycles to execute. Thus, the MIPS rating would go up with a RISC processor compared to a CISC processor.
5.Most computers use intelligent fonts (TrueType or PostScript). These fonts are represented with mathematical formulas. Thus, each character requires math calculations to produce the image. A slow CPU impacts the ability of the system to create and display the fonts in a word processing application.
6.The operating system feature that allows a 10 mb application run on a computer with 8 mb of RAM is virtual memory. Virtual memory breaks a program into small pages and only needs a subset of the pages in RAM at one time. It automatically moves pages between RAM and disk as necessary. The possible negative side effect of this process is slow performance because moving pages between RAM and a disk is relatively slow.
7.The relational model makes the most sense. The system will have to support ad hoc queries (“queries will be hard to anticipate in advance”). Response time is not critical since the “decision-making process will take from one to three months to complete”.
8.The multiple update problem is having to update multiple copies of the same data stored in a system. This is caused by redundant data used for different applications. The most serious consequence of this situation is the potential for data inconsistencies that could result from failure to update all copies. Thus, the data in one copy might be different (inconsistent) from the data in another copy.
9.This is an open-ended question. A correct answer for efficiency will demonstrate that productivity is improved by doing more with the same resources or doing the same with less resources (or a combination of the two). A correct answer for effectiveness will show that a product or service will be improved from the customer or consumer’s perspective.
10.The main difference is where the processing takes place. On a client/server system, processing is shared between the clients and the server. On a simple file server network, the client machine does all the actual processing.
11.You relied on the expertise of the salesperson. This means that the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is applicable.
12.Yes, this is possible. If the modem is performing data compression, then the number of bits being transferred is reduced. This results in a higher character per second transfer rate. For example, if a 10,000 byte file (80,000 bits) is compressed to 40,000 bits, then only 50% of the bits have to be transmitted. This increases the effective transmission rate by a factor of 2.