MIS Prelims

data

a number, statement, image, or video that may represent specific data

• business transactions and raw facts

• objective measurements of the characteristics of entities

these are two examples of data

• sale of goods and services

• payment of payables to suppliers

• investment of cash by the owners

• internal and external transactions

these are some examples under business transactions and raw facts

people, places, things, events, etc.

these are some examples of objective measurements of the characteristics of entities

information

a collection of data, such as words, numbers, images, or graphics

information

produced data that contains useful context for some users that may need it

true

(T/F) in an information system, any input and output that may display in the system must be accurate and understandable on every end user

• timeliness

• appropriateness

• accuracy

• conciseness

• understandability

• completeness

these are the 6 characteristics of information to be able to understand what the things are needed for specific end users

timeliness

every information must be up to date based on the requirements — not too early and not too late for the end user

appropriateness

a system must have appropriate and relevant information in every module, relevant to the user using it

accuracy

information must be correct or precise. for example, systems performing calculations must produce the exact values

conciseness

not all information must be displayed in the system. should only contain the minimum detail that is appropriate to the user

understandability

any information should be understandable, format and how information is presented are important.

true

(T/F) under understandability, using colors can enhance the presented information to make it easier for the user to understand

completeness

any information must be complete based on the requirements. if incomplete, it may lead to bad decisions

system

refers to the components that are interrelated, working together with a common goal to accept inputs and outputs

• input

• processing

• output

• feedback

• control

these are the 5 components of a system

input

is the information or data a user adds in the system

processing

is the efficiency of data processing which enables an organization to process millions of data

output

refers to the data or information that has been processed and displayed to the end users

feedback

refers to the comments or suggestions in the system used to improve or make any process more manageable for end users

control

is about managing the operations in every process of the system

system boundaries

is the scope of activities in which it is limited for viewing or accessing any module of a system

yes, for example, the person responsible for inventory can only access the inventory module, while the manager has access to all modules of the system

does every user of the system have specific access on each module?

subsystems

every system consists of ___ that have different objectives and interactions based on the given requirements

true

(T/F) all subsystems uses the given resources to meet the given objective

subsystem interface

refers to the connection of each system or subsystem boundaries and serves as the connection to display the output from 1 system to the input of another system

system environment

this refers to the people, organizations, and other systems that give and receive data from the system

system feedback

• helps system to do its job and to process accurately based on the requirements

• helps the system to continue adjusting its activities to assure that it can achieve its goals

information systems

refers to a set of interrelated components that collect any information or data, process, store, and display the output to support decision-making

true

(T/F) IS in an organization may consist of hardware, software, people, procedures, and telecommunication

• organization’s structure

• business processes

• culture

• environment

• management decisions

these are 5 factors in the interaction of IS and organization

• transaction procession system

• supply chain management system

• customer relationship management system

• business intelligence systems

• decision support system

• expert support system

these are 6 different types of IS which are based on the business needs and management levels of an organization

transaction procession system

the most widely used IS. records data which are collected at the boundaries of organizations, as well as transactions inside the org

supply chain management system

this IS includes marketing, manufacturing and assembly, packing and shipping, and billing and collection

it refers to the sequence of activities

what does supply chain refer to?

customer relationship management system

this IS manages the relationship of the organization to its customer

true

(T/F) service representatives use the customer relationship management system to talk to their customers via phone

business intelligence systems

most of the organizations use this IS to compete better with other organizations, as it accesses massive data, usually larger databases (warehouses)

decision support system

this IS helps to find actions and answers most of the questions llke “what if?”

expert support system

this IS uses AI to be able to preserve the knowledge of an expert and to solve problems

systems development life cycle (SDLC)

consists of well-defined phases that are followed methodically

waterfall development

what is SLDC known as?

systems life cycle

is the oldest method when building information systems

systems life cycle

is a phased approach in creating or building a system by dividing systems development into formal stages

yes, for systems that require a formal requirements analysis, predefined specifications, and tight control in the process of creating a system

is the systems life cycle still used by large complex systems?

true

(T/F) every step or stage in the system life cycle has a corresponding activity, which are sequential and happen during the process of developing a system

• systems analysis

• system design

• programming

• testing

• implementation

• production and maintenance

these are the 6 stages and activities in the systems life cycle

systems analysis

the first stage in a system life cycle that has certain steps to come up on the data. requires analyzing the data, identifying the problems, and determining the information requirements and objectives of the system

• investigation

• technical feasibility study

• economic feasibility study

• operational feasibility study

• requirements definition

these are the 5 steps for identifying the possible needs to create a system

• what is the business process needed to support a system?

• what problems do you want to solve?

under investigation, these are the questions to be asked

• is the technology available to create the system?

• which of the available technologies should be used?

under technical feasibility study, these are the questions to be asked

• what are the resources needed to implement the system?

• will the system’s benefits outweigh its costs?

under economic feasibility study, these are the questions to be asked

• will the system be used to its full capacity?

• will the system be used appropriately by its intended users?

under operational feasibility study, these are the questions to be asked

• does it support other systems such as web and mobile technologies?

under requirements definition, these are the questions to be asked

system design

in this phase, the system design shows how the system will fulfill the objectives based on the requirements that have come up

designer of the system

the ___ will be responsible for giving the details of the system specification, which will deliver all the functions that have been identified in the system analysis phase

• description of the functions or components and how they will work

• construction

• testing

the system design phase has three steps, which are?

data flow diagram (DFD)

under system design, to communicate ideas about the data that have been gathered, systems analysts and programmers use convention symbols, such as this:

they are suitable for describing any IS even if this is not computer-based

what are DFD symbols suitable for?

it has limitations like any diagramming metho and cannot describe a system completely

while DFDs are easy to learn and use, what are its limitations?

unified modeling language (UML)

aside from DFD, what is another way to communicate ideas in the system design phase?

unified modeling language (UML)

is a graphical standard for visualizing, specifying, and documenting software

to communicate and logically validate desired features in the design phases of software development projects

UML helps developers to do what?

it consists of diagrams that describe the case, class, interaction, activity, and physical components

what does UML consist of?

programming

in this stage, the system specifications that were prepared during the design stage are translated into program code or software

the most respected phase in systems development

the testing phase is known as what?

no. rather, it is important to test the entire system

does testing each module in every simulation mean that the functionalities are in good condition?

attempts to get the system to fail and to violate processes and security controls

what kind of attempts should testing include?

• unit testing

• systems testing

• acceptance testing

these are the 3 types of testing that should be performed

implementation

this phase consists of conversion and training

delivery

in the new IS, implementation is referred to as ___

conversion

this takes place when an operation in an organization switches from using an existing or old system to the new system

production

when the new system is installed, it is said to be in ___

the system will be reviewed by both users and technical specialists to check if it meets the original objectives

what happens in the production phase?

if the system is fine and meets all the objectives

how will the developers know when a system should be maintained?

maintenance

if there are some changes or new requirements in software or hardware, or if there is an improvement of the process, it is called ___

• ad-hoc development

• waterfall model

• prototyping

• spiral model

• agile development

these are the 5 common approaches in system development

ad-hoc development

this approach relies on the skills and experience of the individual staff

• only small projects at which the staff is skilled

waterfall method

this method is the most common and the earliest structured system development and is still widely used

prototyping

it is developed on the assumption that it knows all the requirements at the beginning of the project

only a simplified version of the proposed system and presents it to the client for feedback

in prototyping, what does the developer build?

• requirements definition

• design

• prototype creation

• assessment

• prototype refinement

• system implementation

these are the 6 steps of prototyping

requirements definition

a prototyping step, this is where the client needs are gathered for developing the software. requirements are defined in detail

design

a prototyping step, a simple design of the software is created, which gives a brief idea of the system to the user

prototype creation

a prototyping step, an actual prototype is designed based on the information gathered from the design phase

assessment

a prototyping step, a proposed system is presented to the client, who will look for the strength and weaknesses of the created software

prototype refinement

a prototyping step, if the client is not satisfied, the software needs to undergo this according to the client’s feedback and suggestion

system implementation

a prototyping step, the final system is developed based on the final prototype. it is already tested and deployed to production, then undergoes routine maintenance

spiral model

this approach is designed to include the best features from the waterfall and prototype models.

it also describes the process that is followed as the development takes place

• project objectives

• risk assessment

• production

• planning and management

these are the 4 steps in a spiral model

project objectives

a spiral model step, requirements are gathered from the customers. and the objectives are identified

risk assessment

a spiral model step, during the second quadrant, all the possible solutions are evaluated to select the best possible solution, then risks associated with that solution are identified and resolved using the best possible strategy

production

a spiral model step, the identified features are developed and verified through testing

planning and management

a spiral model step, customers evaluate the developed version of the software and check for improvements

they also manage the developed software while looking for possibilities of errors

agile development

this approach focuses on the fast delivery of the working software by dividing a large project into a series of small subprojects, which will be competed in short periods using iteration and continuous feefback

database management system (DBMS)

a software that allows an organization to collect and manage data efficiently

it acts as an interface between data resources and application programs

the DBMS acts as what?

because transferring from a traditional file environment into a database environment can be a costly long-term process

why is it important to understand the managerial and organizational requirements as well as the technologies for managing data?

• sequential file organization

• direct/random file organization

when accessing records within the database records of an organization, there are 2 kinds of files that are accessible, which are?