ITM 100 Class 3 (5.1) Midterm Review Key Terms 2025/2026

accessibility

Refers to the varying levels that define what a user can access, view, or perform when operating a system.

administrator access

Unrestricted access to the entire system.

agile MIS infrastructure

Includes the hardware, software, and telecommunications equipment that, when combined, provides the underlying foundation to support the organization’s goals.

availability

Refers to the time frames when the system is operational.

backup

An exact copy of a system’s information.

business continuity planning (BCP)

Details how a company recovers and restores critical business operations and systems after a disaster or extended disruption.

business impact analysis

A process that identifies all critical business functions and the effect that a specific disaster may have upon them.

capacity

Represents the maximum throughput a system can deliver; for example, the capacity of a hard drive represents the size or volume.

capacity planning

Determines future environmental infrastructure requirements to ensure high-quality system performance.

client

Computer that is designed to request information from a server.

cold site

A separate facility that does not have any computer equipment, but is a place where employees can move after a disaster.

disaster recovery cost curve

Charts (1) the cost to the organization of the unavailability of information and technology and (2) the cost to the organization of recovering from a disaster over time.

disaster recovery plan

A detailed process for recovering information or a system in the event of a catastrophic disaster.

emergency

A sudden, unexpected event requiring immediate action due to potential threat to health and safety, the environment, or property.

emergency notification service

An infrastructure built for notifying people in the event of an emergency.

emergency preparedness

Ensures a company is ready to respond to an emergency in an organized, timely, and effective manner.

enterprise architect

A person grounded in technology, fluent in business, and able to provide the important bridge between MIS and the business.

failback

Occurs when the primary machine recovers and resumes operations, taking over from the secondary server.

failover

Occurs when a redundant storage server offers an exact replica of the real-time data, and if the primary server crashes, the users are automatically directed to the secondary server or backup server.

fault tolerance

The ability for a system to respond to unexpected failures or system crashes as the backup system immediately and automatically takes over with no loss of service.

hardware

Consists of the physical devices associated with a computer system.

high availability

Occurs when a system is continuously operational at all times.

hot site

A separate and fully equipped facility where the company can move immediately after a disaster and resume business.

incident

Unplanned interruption of a service.

incident management

The process responsible for managing how incidents are identified and corrected.

incident record

Contains all of the details of an incident.

information MIS infrastructure

Identifies where and how important information, such as customer records, is maintained and secured.

maintainability (or flexibility)

Refers to how quickly a system can transform to support environmental changes.

MIS infrastructure

Includes the plans for how a firm will build, deploy, use, and share its data, processes, and MIS assets.

network

A communications system created by linking two or more devices and establishing a standard methodology in which they can communicate.

performance

Measures how quickly a system performs a certain process or transaction.

portability

Refers to the ability of an application to operate on different devices or software platforms, such as different operating systems.

recovery

The ability to get a system up and running in the event of a system crash or failure and includes restoring the information backup.

reliability (or accuracy)

Ensures all systems are functioning correctly and providing accurate information.

scalability

Describes how well a system can scale up, or adapt to the increased demands of growth.

server

Computer that is dedicated to providing information in response to external requests.

serviceability

How quickly a third party or vendor can change a system to ensure it meets user needs and the terms of any contracts, including agreed levels of reliability, maintainability, or availability.

software

The set of instructions that the hardware executes to carry out specific tasks.

sustainable MIS infrastructure

Identifies ways that a company can grow in terms of computing resources while simultaneously becoming less dependent on hardware and energy consumption.

technology failure

Occurs when the ability of a company to operate is impaired because of a hardware, software, or data outage.

technology recovery strategies

Focus specifically on prioritizing the order for restoring hardware, software, and data across the organization that best meets business recovery requirements.

unavailable

When a system is not operating or cannot be used.

usability

The degree to which a system is easy to learn, efficient, and satisfying to use.

vulnerability

A system weakness that can be exploited by a threat; for example, a password that is never changed or a system left on while an employee goes to lunch.

warm site

A separate facility with computer equipment that requires installation and configuration.

web accessibility

Means that people with disabilities—including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities—can use the web.

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Brings together people from industry, disability organizations, government, and research labs from around the world to develop guidelines and resources to help make the web accessible to people with disabilities, including auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual disabilitie