Solved Assignments

Assignment A

1. Briefly explain the procedure and make up of the post-implementation review. Can one perform maintenance on a system without a post-implementation review? Why?
2. How does normalization reduce data redundancy? Illustrate
3. What do you mean by system audit? Explain.
4. How functional dependency is related to database table design?
5. What are some of the advantages of top-down design? Elaborate.

Solved Assignments

Assignment B

1. Please answer the following:

1. What are the pros & cons of waterfall model?

2. Summarize the advantages and limitations of Interviews and Questionnaires.

3. Discuss the multifaceted role of the system analyst.

4. Explain the major activities in conversion. Which activity is the most important? Why?

5. Discuss the concepts of MIS and DSS. How are they related? How do they differ?

 

2. An international airline initiated a frequent traveler program designed to encourage passengers to fly regularly and earn awards based on miles flown. The airline policy is as follows:

 

Passengers who fly more than 1 lakh miles per calendar year and, in addition, pay cash for tickets or have been flying the airline regularly for more than 5 years are to receive a free round-trip ticket around the world. Passengers who fly less than 1 lakh miles per calendar year and have been flying the airline regularly for more than 5 years also get a free round trip ticket around the world.

 

Draw a decision table based on the above.

 

 

Solved Assignments

Case Study

A problematic conversion to a new software system for managing staff and Shipping operations at Sealine Inc. to a halt, resulting in passengers stranded in cities such as New York, Detroit and Palm Beach, Florida. The system-wide problems forced the Fort Lauderdale, Florida – based discount shipping to book all available hotel rooms in many markets and to institute a nationwide disaster response program.

 

Sealine Inc president and CEO Thomas konchesky said the crisis wasn’t touched off by the new system crashing or other technical problem. Instead, the problem were caused by a lack of familiarity with the software on the part of Sealine’s employees-situation that snowballed at the Shipping after winter storms affected sea travel in the northeast.

 

While the new scheduling system had been run in parallel with the sealine old one from August through the end of the last year, Thomas said users could not negotiate the software fast enough to keep pace after the storms began forcing Ship cancellations. “The people who operated the software were not longer as fast with it, even though they were proficient and they were trained”, Thomas said “It’s one of those situations where your fingers are not connected to your brain anymore, and we were not prepared for that”. Ships were also booked to capacity because of the crush of holiday travellers, making it more difficult to accommodate stranded passengers after the problems emerged, he said.

Compounding the situation even further was the fact that Sealines’s CIO post is vacant, said Thomas, who held that position until he was promoted to CEO in mid-2000. The Shipping began interviewing potential CIO candidates last month but has yet to hire a replacement. A hands-on IT executive might have been able to foresee the impending crisis and steer Sealine’s crew staffing department away from doing the software conversion at such a busy travel time, Thomas said. “The only way we could have avoided this problem was to have called off the conversion”, he said. “But we obviously didn’t see the problem coming”.

 

Paul harnandez, an analyst at Forrester Research who follows the travel industry, faulted Sealine for its timing. “You never want to do a cutover to a new software system during a peak travel period”, he said. Sealine’s staffing department wanted the conversion to occur January 1 because the Sealine needs to track Captain and crew Sail hours on a calendar bases in order to ensure that workers don’t exceed sailing limits set by the U.S. federal Sail Administration. Making the switch a week or two later would have required the initial records for this year to be moved from the old system to the new one.

“Up until now, it’s been our policy to let individual departments manage their own projects and not involve the IT department”, Thomas said. “That’s going to change. We need to have our tech people more involved”. Paul said such a hang-off IT policy is receipt for danger. “You don’t mess around the technology”, he said. “It is not kind to the people who don’t understand it”.

 

Thomas said the Sealine will have to spend at least the rest of month trying to win back passengers who were inconvenienced by the problems. Sealine, the largest privately held shiping in the U.S, carried more than 2,00,000 passengers last year.

 

The Sealine will also have to mend its relationship with the New York and the New Jersey Port authority, which is considering pulling Sealine’s docking permits at the LaGuardia and Newark docks in the back of the ordeal. Port authority spokesman Stewon Coleman said that at one point. New York police were called to La Guardia to claim an unruly crowd of disgruntled passengers. “There were some near fist fights between some of the passengers who’d just had enough”, he said.

 

The crisis also will lead to organizational restructuring at Sealine. Konchesky said, although he added that specific changes haven’t been decided on. A week ago, the sealine announced that it had returned to “business-as-usual operation”. Thomas said the new software remains in place. “It was a matter of knowing how to use it”, he said.

 

 

Questions:

 

1. What major problems in system implementation and conversion practices do you recognize in this case? What major management problems do you recognize in this case?

 

2. What should Sealine Shipping’s have done to avoid its system problems? What steps should they take now?

 

 

Assignment C

 

1. ·How many steps are in the systems development life cycle (SDLC)?

A. 4

B. 5

C. 6

D. 10

 

 

2. ·The first step in the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is:

A. Analysis.

B. Design.

C. Problem/Opportunity Identification.

D. Development and Documentation.

 

 

3. ·Most modern software applications enable you to customize and automate various features using small custom-built miniprograms called:

A. macros.

B. code.

C. routines.

D. subroutines.

 

 

4. ·The organized process or set of steps that needs to be followed to develop an information system is known as the:

A. analytical cycle.

B. design cycle.

C. program specification.

D. system development life cycle.

 

 

5. ·How many steps are in the program development life cycle (PDLC)?

A. 4

B. 5

C. 6

D. 10

 

 

6. ·The make-or-buy decision is associated with the ____________ step in the SDLC.

A. Problem/Opportunity Identification

B. Design

C. Analysis

D. Development and Documentation

 

 

 

7. ·In the Analysis phase, the development of the ____________ occurs, which is a clear statement of the goals and objectives of the project.

A. documentation

B. flowchart

C. program specification

D. design

 

 

8. ·Actual programming of software code is done during the ____________ step in the SDLC.

A. Maintenance and Evaluation

B. Design

C. Analysis

D. Development and Documentation

 

 

9. ·Enhancements, upgrades, and bug fixes are done during the ____________ step in the SDLC.

A. Maintenance and Evaluation

B. Problem/Opportunity Identification

C. Design

D. Development and Documentation

 

 

10. ·The ____________ determines whether the project should go forward.

A. feasibility assessment

B. opportunity identification

C. system evaluation

D. program specification

 

 

11. ·Technical writers generally provide the ____________ for the new system.

A. programs

B. network

C. analysis

D. documentation

 

 

12. ·____________ design and implement database structures.

A. Programmers

B. Project managers

C. Technical writers

D. Database administrators

 

 

13. ·____________ spend most of their time in the beginning stages of the SDLC, talking with end-users, gathering information, documenting systems, and proposing solutions.

A. Systems analysts

B. Project managers

C. Network engineers

D. Database administrators

 

14. ·Which of the following could not be considered an organisational goal?

A. Increase company profit margin.

B. Expand customer base.

C. Provide quality service.

D. Complete backups every Friday.

 

 

15. ·An organisations goal is to improve the communication of events to members. Which of the following strategies would best achieve this aim?

A. Reduce labour costs.

B. Produce a regular newsletter.

C. Make sure all membership information is accurate.

D. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of finances.

 

 

16. ·The profile of an audience can include its

A. Employment category, income level and average age.

B. Employment category, favourite colour and average age.

C. Tax file number, income level and years of employment.

D. Educational level, Medicare number and name of doctor.

 

 

17. ·Which of the following is not a component of an information system?

A. Equipment

B. End-user

C. Organisational goals

D. Procedures

 

 

18. ·____________ manage the system development, assign staff, manage the budget and reporting, and ensure that deadlines are met.

A. Project managers

B. Network engineers

C. Graphic designers

D. Systems analysts

 

 

19. ·____________ is the process of translating a task into a series of commands that a computer will use to perform that task.

A. Project design

B. Installation

C. Systems analysis

D. Programming

 

 

20. ·Debugging is:

A. creating program code.

B. finding and correcting errors in the program code.

C. identifying the task to be computerized.

D. creating the algorithm.

21. ·Translating the problem statement into a series of sequential steps describing what the program must do is known as:

A. coding.

B. debugging.

C. creating the algorithm.

D. writing documentation.

 

 

22. ·Translating the algorithm into a programming language occurs at the ____________ step of the PDLC.

A. Debugging

B. Coding

C. Testing and Documentation

D. Algorithm Development

 

 

23. ·The problem statement should include all of the following EXCEPT:

A. input.

B. output.

C. processing.

D. storage.

 

 

24. ·The problem statement includes the ____________, which lists specific input numbers a program would typically expect the user to enter and precise output values that a perfect program would return for those input values.

A. testing plan

B. error handler

C. IPO cycle

D. input-output specification

 

 

25. ·Which step of SDLC performs cost/benefit analysis?
A) Feasibility Study
B) Analysis
C) Design
D) None of the above

 

 

26. ·System maintenance is necessary because:
A) Human never gets it right the first time.
B) The deployment may change over time.
C) The user’s needs may change over time.
D) All of the above.

 

27. ·A person-machine system and a highly integrated grouping of information-processing
functions designed to provide management with a comprehensive picture of specific
operation is called:
A) DSS
B) MIS
C) IIS
D) All of the above.

 

 

28. ·Which is the most creative and challenging phase of SDLC?

 

29. · Costs that are known to exist but whose financial value cannot be accurately measured are referred to as

A. Intangible

B. Tangible

C. Direct

D. Indirect

 

30. The parts of the organization or computer system depend on one another is called:
    A) Interaction
    B) Interdependence
    C) Integration
    D) All of the above

 

31. Which of the following Normal forms states that a non-key attribute depends on a key attribute or concatenated key:
    1. First Normal Form
    2. Second Normal Form
    3. Third Normal Form
    4. BCNF

 

32. _________ means adding, modifying or redeveloping the code to support change in any specifications.

A. Enhancement

B. Maintenance

C. Implementation

D. All of the above

33. Which symbol of DFD represents a Data Store?
    1. Circle
    2. Square
    3. Open-ended Rectangle
    4. Triangle

 

34. System maintenance is necessary because:
    A) Human never gets it right the first time.
    B) The deployment may change over time.
    C) The user’s needs may change over time.
    D) All of the above.

 

35. A person-machine system and a highly integrated grouping of information-processing
    functions designed to provide management with a comprehensive picture of specific
    operation is called:
    A) DSS
    B) MIS
    C) IIS
    D) All of the above.

 

36. ·The parts of the organization or computer system depend on one another is called:
A) Interaction
B) Interdependence
C) Integration
D) All of the above

 

37. What kind of information comes under user staff category of information?

a) Policies

b) Authority relationship

c) Objectives

d) Work schedules

 

38. Primary external source of information is:

a) Financial report

b) Electronic data process

c) Government documents

d) Personal stuff

 

39. In which step of feasibility study people resist to change:

a) Technical feasibility

b) Behavioural feasibility

c) Economical feasibility

d) None of the above

 

40. Evaluation criteria for the best candidate system:

a) Performance and cost

b) Observation

c) User feedback

d) None of the above