Module 9

Question 1

What is the justification for the implementation of IT applications?

Answer 1

The need for information systems is usually related to organizational planning and to the analysis of the organization’s performance vis-à-vis its competitors

Question 2

What is the cost-benefit justification of IT applications?

Answer 2

It must determine whether investing in a specific IT application is preferable to spending the funds on alternative projects

Question 3

What is the strategic plan of IT?

Answer 3

It is a set of long-range goals that describe the IT infrastructure and identify the major IT initiatives needed to achieve the organization’s goals

Question 4

What are the 3 main objectives of IT strategic plans?

Answer 4

Be part of the organization’s strategic plan
Provide an overall IT architecture that seamlessly networks users, applications, and databases
Efficiently allocate IS development resources among competing projects so that the projects can be completed on time and within budget and still have the required functionality

Question 5

What fundamental business decisions must companies make for acquiring IT applications?

Answer 5

How much computer code does the company want to write?
How will the company pay for the application
Where will the application run?
Where will the application originate?

Question 6

What are the strategies for acquiring IT applications?

Answer 6

Purchase a prewritten application
Customize a prewritten application
Lease the application
Use application service providers and software-as-a-service vendors
Use outsourcing
Use continuous development
Use custom development

Question 7

What is the SDLC?

Answer 7

It is a structured framework that consists of sequential processes

Question 8

What are the sequential processes of SDLC?

Answer 8

Systems investigation
Systems analysis
Systems design
Programming and testing
Implementation
Operation and maintenance

Question 9

What are the alternative methods and tools for systems development?

Answer 9

Joint application design (JAD)
Rapid application development (RAD)
Agile development
End-user development

Question 10

What is one critical component in developing and implementing the IT strategic plan?

Answer 10

The IT steering comittee

Question 11

What is the IT committee’s major tasks?

Answer 11

To link corporate strategy with IT strategy
To approve the allocation of resources for the MIS function
To establish performance measures for the MIS function
Ensure that the performance standards are met

Question 12

What is the IS operational plan?

Answer 12

The IS operational plan consists of a clear set of projects that the IS department and the functional area managers will execute in support of the IT strategic plan

Question 13

What are the main elements that a typical IS operational plan contain?

Answer 13

Mission
IT environment
Objectives of the IT function
Constraints of the IT function
Application portfolio
Resource allocation and project management

Question 14

What does justifying IT investment involve?

Answer 14

Assessing the costs (fixed costs, future costs)
Assessing the benefits
Intangible benefits
Comparing the two

Question 15

What are the four common approaches of conducting the cost-benefit analysis?

Answer 15

Net present value (NPV)
Return on investment (ROI)
Breakeven analysis
Business case approache

Question 16

What are the advantages of buying IT applications?

Answer 16

Many choices
Test software early
Save time
Familiar product
Eliminate need to hire specialized personnel

Question 17

What are the disadvantages of buying IT applications?

Answer 17

May not meet needs
Difficult to modify
No control over content
Difficult to integrate
May be discontinued
Controlled by another company
No knowledge of underlying technology

Question 18

What does the feasibility study (the main task of the Systems Investigation phase) help organizations do?

Answer 18

It helps them choose from three options:
Do nothing and continue to use the existing system unchanged
Modify or enhance the existing system
Develop a new system

Question 19

What is technical feasibility?

Answer 19

Determines whether the company can develop and/or acquire the hardware, software, and communications components needed to solve the business problem

Question 20

What is economic feasibility?

Answer 20

Determines whether the project is an acceptable financial risk and, if so, whether the organizations has the necessary time and money to successfully complete the project

Question 21

What is behavioural feasibility?

Answer 21

Addresses the human issues of the systems development project

Question 22

What is system analysis?

Answer 22

The examination of the business problem that the organization plans to solve with an information system

Question 23

What is the main purpose of System Analysis?

Answer 23

Main purpose is to gather information about existing system to determine requirements for the new or improved system.

Question 24

What is a deliverable?

Answer 24

It is a set of system requirements, also called user requirements
It specifies the following:
System outputs, inputs, calculations or processing, and user interfaces
Hardware, software, databases, telecommunications, personnel, and procedures
A blueprint of how these components are integrated

Question 25

What are user requirements?

Answer 25

Identify the specific requirements that the system must satisfy

Question 26

What is systems design?

Answer 26

It describes how the system will resolve the business problem

Question 27

What does programming involve?

Answer 27

It involves the translation of a system’s design specification into computer code

Question 28

What is testing?

Answer 28

It checks to see if the computer code will produce the expected and desired results under certain conditions
Testing is designed to delete errors (bugs) in the computer code

Question 29

What is systems implementation?

Answer 29

It is a use of conversion strategy:
Direct conversion
Pilot conversion
Phased conversion
Parallel or Historic Parallel convresion

Question 30

What is SDLC operation and maintenance?

Answer 30

Audits are performed to assess the system’s capabilities and to determine if it is being used correctly
Systems need several types of maintenance: debugging, updating, adding new functions or updating systems (maintenance)

Question 31

RAD versus SDLC

Answer 31

The development process in RAD is iterative, similar to prototyping: that is, requirements, designs, and the system itself are developed and then undergo a series, or sequence of improvements
RAD uses ICASE tools to quickly structure requirements and develop prototypes
As the prototypes are developed and refined, users review them in additional JAD sessions
RAD produces the functional components of a final system, rather than prototypes

Question 32

What is agile development?

Answer 32

Agile development uses the scrum approach. A key principle of scrum is that during a project users can change their minds about what they want and need. Scrum acknowledges that a development problem cannot be fully understood or defined from the start

Question 33

What is the scrum approach?

Answer 33

It contains sets of practices and predefined roles.

Question 34

What are the predefined roles of scrum?

Answer 34

The Scrum Master: maintains the processes (typically replaces a project manager)
The Product Owner: represents the business users and any other stakeholders in the project
The Team: a cross-functional group of about seven people who perform the actual analysis, design, coding, implementation, testing, etc

Question 35

What are the tools for systems development?

Answer 35

Prototyping
Integrated Computer-Assisted Software Engineering Tools (ICASE)
Component-Based Development
Object-Oriented Development