COMP1750 Business Information Systems Exam Flashcards

A complete set of 80 vocabulary flashcards derived from the COMP1750 Business Information Systems lecture notes, covering IS components, Porter's Five Forces, database management, cloud hosting, Excel functions, Microsoft Access, and HTML/CSS web fundamentals.

Five Components of an Information System

Hardware, Software, Data, Procedures, and People.

Overlooked IS Components

People and Procedures

Data in the Information System Framework

Raw facts stored and processed by the system (e.g. customer names, sales figures).

Procedures in the context of an IS

Rules and instructions for using the system (e.g. log out after use, backup policies).

Five Characteristics of Good Information

Accurate, Timely, Relevant, Just sufficient, Worth its cost.

Just sufficient Information Quality

Not too much and not too little — only what is needed for the decision at hand.

Worth its cost (Information)

The value the information provides must outweigh the cost to produce it.

Competitive Advantage

Doing something better than rivals so customers choose you — through lower cost, better service, or unique capabilities.

Porter's Five Forces

$1$) Rivalry among competitors $2$) Threat of new entrants $3$) Threat of substitutes $4$) Bargaining power of buyers $5$) Bargaining power of suppliers.

Impact of Strong Five Forces

Profitability is lower — the industry is highly competitive and harder to succeed in.

Reducing Buyer Bargaining Power via IS

By creating loyalty programs or switching costs that make it harder for customers to leave.

Thick Client

A computer that does most processing locally on the device and needs powerful hardware (e.g. a desktop running installed software).

Thin Client

A simple device that relies on a central server for processing; cheap and easy to maintain.

Thin Client Maintenance Advantage

You only update the server once instead of updating every individual device.

Virtualisation

Running multiple virtual machines on one physical machine — saves cost and improves hardware resource use.

Difference between HTML and CSS

HTML defines structure (headings, links, images) and is the skeleton; CSS defines styling (colours, fonts, layout) and is the clothing.

Web Accessibility Practices

Adding alt text to images for screen readers and ensuring sufficient colour contrast for visually impaired users.

Business Importance of Web Accessibility

Legal obligations, wider audience reach, and a better experience for all users.

DBMS

Database Management System — software that stores, retrieves, and organises data (e.g. Microsoft Access, MySQL).

Primary Key

A field that uniquely identifies each row in a table where no duplicates and no blanks are allowed (e.g. StudentID).

Foreign Key

A field in one table that links to the Primary Key of another table, creating a relationship between them.

Referential Integrity

A rule ensuring Foreign Key values always match a valid Primary Key so no orphan records can exist.

Advantages of Cloud Hosting

Lower upfront cost, easy to scale, vendor handles maintenance, accessible from anywhere, and automatic backups.

Disadvantages of Cloud Hosting

Ongoing subscription costs, dependent on internet, less control over data, security/privacy risks, and vendor lock-in.

Vendor lock-in

Becoming so dependent on one cloud provider that switching to another is costly or difficult.

Information Silo

When departments use separate systems that don't share data, leading to incomplete decisions and duplicated effort.

CRM

Customer Relationship Management — manages customer interactions, tracks sales, support and marketing to improve retention.

ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning — integrates all core business processes into one system to eliminate information silos.

EAI

Enterprise Application Integration — middleware connecting separate systems to share data without replacing them, which is cheaper than a full ERP.

Customer Life Cycle Five Stages

$1$) Reach $2$) Acquire $3$) Develop $4$) Retain $5$) Lose.

Social Capital (Business IS context)

Value created from relationships and networks; IS, especially social media, builds this by connecting people and fostering trust.

Business Intelligence (BI)

Using data to make better business decisions through collection, analysis, and reporting.

Four Main BI Activities

$1$) Data acquisition $2$) Data analysis $3$) Publishing results $4$) Decision making.

Three Categories of IS Safeguards

Technical safeguards, Data safeguards, and Human safeguards.

Technical Safeguards

Firewalls, encryption, antivirus, strong passwords, and multi-factor authentication.

Human Safeguards

Staff security training, security policies, background checks, and data handling procedures.

Biggest Security Threat to an IS

People — through phishing, weak passwords, or insider threats — rather than just external hackers.

Outsourcing in IS

Hiring an external company to manage IT infrastructure or develop software that could be done internally.

Advantages of IS Outsourcing

Cost savings, access to specialist expertise, focus on core business, flexibility, and scalability.

Disadvantages of IS Outsourcing

Loss of control, security/privacy risks, communication issues, vendor dependency, and hidden costs.

Systems development life cycle

a structured process for building information systems.

Five Phases of the SDLC

$1$) Planning $2$) Analysis $3$) Design $4$) Implementation $5$) Maintenance.

Direct Cutover System Conversion

Switching from old to new system overnight; fast and cheap but risky as there is no fallback.

Parallel Running Conversion

Running old and new systems simultaneously; safe but expensive and resource-heavy.

Phased System Conversion

Rolling out the new system gradually by module or department to reduce risk.

Pilot System Conversion

Testing the new system with one group first before full rollout to limit risk to a small audience.

Relative Cell Reference

A reference like $=A1$ that shifts relative to where it is pasted when you copy the formula.

Absolute Cell Reference

A reference like =$A$1 that is fully locked and always points to the same cell no matter where the formula is copied.

Mixed Cell Reference

A reference with one part locked and one part moving, such as =$A1 (locks column) or =A$1 (locks row).

Single Cell vs. Range Reference

A single cell reference (e.g., $=A1$) refers to one cell, while a range reference (e.g., $=A1:A10$) refers to a block of cells.

COUNT Function

Counts cells containing numbers; empty cells and text are ignored.

COUNTIF and COUNTIFS

COUNTIF applies one condition; COUNTIFS applies multiple conditions simultaneously.

SUMIF and SUMIFS Syntax

SUMIF: (range, criteria, sum_range). SUMIFS: (sum_range, criteria_range1, criteria1, …), putting the sum_range first.

AVERAGE and Empty Cells

Empty cells are ignored and not included in the count used for the average calculation.

AVERAGEIFS Usage

Used when you need to average values that meet two or more conditions at the same time.

MINIFS and MAXIFS Functions

Find the smallest ($MINIFS$) or largest ($MAXIFS$) value in a range that meets multiple conditions.

Filter Tool

Hides rows that don't match criteria; data still exists but is not visible.

Filtering by Values vs. Rules

By values: ticking specific items from a list. By rules: setting conditions like 'greater than $100$' or 'contains Sales'.

Sort Tool

Rearranges rows in ascending or descending order based on a chosen column.

Multilevel vs. Single-column Sort

In single-column sort, each new sort overwrites the previous one; multilevel sort applies all criteria together to break ties.

Conditional Formatting

Highlights cells based on rules (e.g., red if value $< 0$) to change visual appearance without changing data.

Pivot Table

Used for dynamically summarising large datasets by grouping, counting, summing, or averaging data by category.

Common Chart Information

Title, axis labels, legend, and data labels (though pie charts have no axes and scatter charts need two value axes).

Four Objects in Microsoft Access

Table (stores data), Form (data entry interface), Query (retrieves/filters data), and Report (formats data for printing).

Access Field criteria

A column in a table representing one attribute of the data, such as CustomerName or OrderDate.

Access Data Type

Defines what kind of data a field holds (text, number, date, currency, etc.) to prevent errors and ensure correct calculation.

Access Query Criteria

A condition used to filter records, such as 'Sydney', $>100$, or values between two dates.

Query Design View Layout

The top half shows tables; the bottom half shows fields, sort order, visibility, and criteria applied.

Query Design View Columns

Each column represents one field, with rows specifying the sort, visibility, and criteria for that specific field.

Referential Integrity in Access

Ensures every Foreign Key value matches a valid Primary Key so you cannot point to a non-existent record.

Hyperlink HTML Tag

The tag with an href attribute pointing to the URL and link text between the tags.

Numbered List HTML Tags

The

tag wraps the list while each item uses
1. inside it.

HTML Table without Column Headings

A table created using

, , and

tags only, omitting the	tags.

vs.

is a bold, centred header cell; is a regular data cell.

Dual Use of HTML and CSS

HTML defines structure while CSS defines appearance; separating them allows for restyling without touching content.

Three Types of CSS Priority

External (lowest) -> Internal (overrides external) -> Inline (highest priority).

Inline CSS Usage

Used for a one-off style change on a single element to override external and internal styles.

Default Webpage Loading

Servers are usually configured to load index.html automatically when no filename is specified in the URL.

Tag Requirements for HTML

Requires a src attribute for the image path and an alt attribute describing the image for accessibility.