Chapter: Chapter 02: Information Technologies: Concepts, Types, and IT Support
Multiple Choice
1. Mary Kay transformed itself from traditional modes of operation to a business model that enabled rapid growth into new markets by doing all of the following except:
a) networking various applications so they communicate with each other
b) using business service management to connect to consultants.
c) using social computing for marketing
d) outsourcing its IT infrastructure
Ans: d
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: Introduction
AACSB: Use of information technology
2. A(n) ______is a computer program designed to support a specific task or a business process, such as processing the payroll.
a) application program
b) database program
c) file system
d) operating system
Ans: a
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.1 Information Systems: Concepts and Definitions
AACSB:
3. ______consists of stored numeric, alphanumeric, figures, sounds, or images organized for retrieval.
a) Data
b) A database
c) Information
d) Knowledge
Ans: b
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.1 Information Systems: Concepts and Definitions
AACSB:
4. ______refers to a basic description of things, events, activities, and transactions that are recorded, classified, and stored, but not organized.
a) Data
b) Database
c) Information
d) Knowledge
Ans: a
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.1 Information Systems: Concepts and Definitions
AACSB:
5. A student’s grade point average is an example of ______.
a) data
b) a database
c) information
d) knowledge
Ans: c
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.1 Information Systems: Concepts and Definitions
AACSB:
6. An employee’s performance rating in comparison with the performance ratings of other employees is an example of ______.
a) Data
b) Database
c) Information
d) Knowledge
Ans: d
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.1 Information Systems: Concepts and Definitions
AACSB: Critical thinking
7. ______support functional managers by providing them with periodic reports, such as weekly sales volume and comparisons of actual expenses to budgeted expenses.
a) Personal information managements
b) Transaction processing systems
c) Management information systems
d) Enterprise systems
Ans: c
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB:
8. ______are critical to an enterprise because they support core operations, such as order processing, billing, payroll, and shipping.
a) Personal information managements
b) Transaction processing systems
c) Management information systems
d) Enterprise systems
Ans: b
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
9. Business processes that involve taking orders from customers and fulfilling them after buying materials from a supplier are supported by which type of information system?
a) Personal information management
b) Transaction processing system
c) Management information system
d) Enterprise system
Ans: c
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
10. ______deal in general with middle-management activities such as short-term planning, organizing, and control and may involve BI systems with reporting and query capabilities.
a) Operational activities
b) Managerial activities
c) Strategic activities
d) Supply chain activities
Ans: b
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.3 How IT Supports People
AACSB: Critical thinking
11. ______are short-term activities mainly supported by TPSs, MISs, and mobile systems.
a) Operational activities
b) Managerial activities
c) Strategic activities
d) Supply chain activities
Ans: a
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.3 How IT Supports People
AACSB:
12. Major support for executives and managers is derived from ______.
a) System development
b) Data management
c) Managing security and risk
d) Business intelligence
Ans: d
Difficulty: Hard
Section Ref: 2.3 How IT Supports People
AACSB: Use of information technology
13. Many professional workers are classified as ______because they create information and knowledge as part of their work and integrate it into the business.
a) data workers
b) information workers
c) knowledge workers
d) digital workers
Ans: c
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.3 How IT Supports People
AACSB:
14. The main support provided by IT for the ______is to improve procurement activities and relationships with suppliers.
a) downstream supply chain
b) industry supply chain
c) interorganizational supply chain
d) upstream supply chain
Ans: d
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.4 How IT Supports Supply Chains and Business Processes
AACSB:
15. What type of software helps in managing both the internal and external relationships with business partners?
a) enterprise resource planning
b) industry-specific systems
c) transaction processing systems
d) data systems
Ans: a
Difficulty: Hard
Section Ref: 2.4 How IT Supports Supply Chains and Business Processes
AACSB:
16. ______software helps in decision making related both to internal segments and to relationships with external segments.
a) CRM
b) MIS
c) SCM
d) TPS
Ans: c
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.4 How IT Supports Supply Chains and Business Processes
AACSB:
17. Which of the following is not a major component of an enterprise’s information infrastructure?
a) physical facilities
b) the Internet
c) operation, and documentation services
d) management of shared computing resources
Ans: b
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
18. Which of the following is not true of SaaS (software-as-a-service)?
a) It is on-demand computing.
b) Users can access applications over a network, with an Internet browser being the only necessity.
c) It has become the way all software is sold, delivered and used.
d) It enables companies to meet fluctuating demands on IT resources efficiently.
Ans: c
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
19. The concept of grid computing takes advantage of:
a) unused processing capabilities of all computers in a network.
b) ever-increasing traffic of Web servers.
c) application software providers.
d) wireless infrastructure.
Ans: a
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
20. All of the following describe hardware virtualization except:
a) It combines the available resources in a network by splitting the network load into manageable parts.
b) It allows a piece of hardware to run multiple operating system images at once.
c) It is the use of software to emulate hardware or a total computer environment other than the one the software is actually running in.
d) It is also known as a virtual machine.
Ans: a
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
21. ______tools help determine the probable future outcome for an event or the likelihood of a situation occurring.
a) Intelligent control
b) Grid computing
c) Predictive analysis
d) Pervasive computing
Ans: c
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.6 Innovative and Futuristic Information Systems
AACSB:
True/False
22. Information systems can be organized according to organizational hierarchy (e.g., departmental, enterprisewide, and interorganizational) or by the nature of supported task (e.g., operational, managerial, and strategic).
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB:
23. The data collected in a TPS provides the input data for other support systems.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB:
24. TPS and POS are the main IT support systems.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
25. Managerial activities, decisions, and the information systems that support them can be classified as operational, tactical, and strategic.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
26. The intranet refers to the shared information resources (such as corporate networks, databases) and their linkages, operation, maintenance, and management.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
27. Transaction processing systems are critical because they support business operations, such as purchasing of materials, billing customers, payroll, and shipping.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
28. The U.S. Army uses video games, virtual worlds, and avatars to teach soldiers negotiation skills and cultural awareness for combat environments at lower costs than with manual training.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
29. Business analytics are visual presentations of critical data; and a major component in business intelligence (BI).
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB:
30. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) approach is based on the trend for developing applications in-house rather than buying them.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
31. Service-oriented architecture (SOA) refers to architecture that assembles small information systems, one for each business service, to create new applications, usually by using Web Services technology.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Hard
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
32. A supply chain is the flow of materials, information, money, and services from raw material suppliers through factories and warehouses to the end customers.
Ans: True
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.4 How IT Supports Supply Chains and Business Processes
AACSB: Use of information technology
33. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is wireless technology that uses bar codes to uniquely identify objects.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.4 How IT Supports Supply Chains and Business Processes
AA CSB: Use of information technology
34. The upstream part of the supply chain includes all the activities involved in delivering the products to the final customers.
Ans: False
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.4 How IT Supports Supply Chains and Business Processes
AACSB: Use of information technology
Short Answer
35. ______are small systems or tools, such as PDAs, designed to increase the productivity of individuals.
Ans: Personal information management
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
36. A(n) ______is a collection of activities performed to accomplish a clearly defined goal.
Ans: business process
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB:
37. Interorganizational information systems that connect companies located in two or more countries are referred to as ______systems.
Ans: global information
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.2 Classification and Types of Information Systems
AACSB: Use of information technology
38. Among clerical workers, those who use, manipulate, or disseminate information are referred to as ______.
Ans: data workers
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.3 How IT Supports People
AACSB:
39. ______is a high-level plan of an enterprise’s information assets, including the physical design of the building that holds the hardware.
Ans: Information technology architecture
Difficulty: Hard
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
40. An ______is a network of interactions and relationships over which information, products, services, and payments are exchanged.
Ans: electronic market
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
41. An increasingly popular enterprise model in which computing resources are made available to the user when the resources are needed is the ______model.
Ans: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
Difficulty: Hard
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
42. ______is computing that is as available, reliable, and secure as electricity, water, and telephony.
Ans: Utility computing
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB:
43. Networks can be used to support ______, in which the unused processing cycles of computers in a given network are harnessed to create powerful computing capabilities.
Ans: grid computing
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
44. ______commerce refers to the buying and selling of goods and services in a wireless environment, such as through cellular telephones and PDAs.
Ans: Mobile
Difficulty: Easy
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
45. The basic idea of ______is to reuse and reconnect existing IT assets or services rather than more time consuming and costly development of new systems.
Ans: SOA
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
46. ______are self-contained, self-describing modular applications delivered over the Internet, that enable users to share data and services.
Ans: Web services
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
47. ______increases the flexibility of IT assets by enabling companies to pool resources such as networks and hardware.
Ans: Virtualization
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
Essay
48. Describe an information infrastructure and list the five major components of the infrastructure.
Ans: An information infrastructure consists of the physical facilities, services, and management that support all shared computing resources in an organization.
The five major components of the infrastructure are: (1) computer hardware, (2) software, (3) networks and communication facilities, (4) databases and data workers, and (5) information management personnel.
Difficulty: Medium
Section Ref: 2.5 Information Systems Infrastructure, Architecture, and Emerging Computing Environments
AACSB: Use of information technology
49. Identify three major managerial activities that are supported or enabled by IT.
Ans: Three of the major IT-supported managerial activities are (1) improving supply chain operations, (2) integrating departmental systems with ERP, and (3) introducing a variety of customer relationship management activities. IT is a major enabler of all of these.
Difficulty: Medium