Management Information Systems (MC261) : January 2007

Section A : Basic Concepts (30 Marks)
1.The plastic card, that stores digital information like identification data, telephone numbers, and at times serves as “electronic purse” is
(a)Identity card (b)Ration card (c)Smart card (d)Playing card (e)All of the above.
2.‘CASE’ tools stands for
(a)Complex Algorithms for Software Engineering
(b)Computer – Aided Software Engineering
(c)Computer – Aided Software Estimation
(d)Complex Algorithms for Software Estimation
(e)Computer Algorithms for Selection and Evaluation.
3.A digital code attached to an electronically transmitted message that is used to verify the origin and contents of the message is
(a)Encryption (b)Parity bit (c)Profiling (d)Digital signature (e)Prototyping.
4.Plans for the restoration of computing and communications services after they have been disrupted by an event such as an earthquake, flood or terrorist attack is
(a)Calamity rehabilitation planning (b)Disaster recovery planning (c)Tsunami Warning system (d)Early Warning system (e)Data redundancy system.
5.Which of the following is not a step in prototyping?
(a)Identify the user’s basic requirements (b)Develop an initial prototype
(c)Cost estimation of the complete project (d)Use the prototype
(e)Revise and enhance the prototype.
6.The process of turning over an organization’s computer operation, telecommunication networks or application development to external vendors is called
(a)Resourcing (b)Outsourcing (c)Vendor development (d)Vendor management
(e)End - user management.
7.A specific measure of quality representing 3.4 defects per million opportunities, used to designate a set of methodologies and techniques for improving quality and reducing costs is
(a)Black belt (b)Seven sigma (c)Six sigma (d)Benchmarking (e)Business process Re-engineering. 8.Which of the following is not a challenge of managing the new information technology infrastructure?
(a)Loss of management control
(b)Connectivity and application integration challenges
(c)Hidden cost of enterprise computing
(d)Market share
(e)Scalability, Reliability and Security.
9.Private and multipath data – only third party managed network that multiple organizations use on a subscription basis is
(a)LAN (b)WAN (c)VAN (d)Twisted pair cables (e)Optical fibre.
10.A database, with reporting and query tools, that stores current and historical data extracted from various operational systems and consolidated for management reporting and analysis
(a)Data (b)Data base (c)Data Warehouse (d)Information (e)Report.
11.A form of distributed processing, that links computer via private networks or internet, so that they can share processing tasks is
(a)Grid computing (b)Parallel processing (c)Peer – to – peer computing
(d)Computing (e)Centralised processing.
12.Computer systems at any level of the organization that change goals, operations, products, services or environmental relationships to heep the organization gain a competitive advantage is
(a)Decision Support System (b)Market Information System (c)Personnel Information System (d)Strategic Information System (e)Financial Accounting System.
13.An analysis of organization – wide information requirements that examines the entire organization in terms of the organizationsal units, function, processes and data elements and helps to identify the key entities and attributes in the organisation’s data is
(a)System Analysis (b)Enterprise Analysis (c)Market Analysis (d)Self Analysis (e)SWOT Analysis.
14.Which of the following is not a Decision Model Classification?
(a)Deterministic (b)Stochastic (c)Opportunistic (d)Simulation (e)Domain specific.
15.Which of the following does not form the four basic levels of MDM (Multiparticipant Decision Maker) technology?
(a)Organisational Decision Support System (ODSS)
(b)Group Support System and Groupware (GSSG)
(c)Group Decision Support System (GDSS)
(d)Decision Support System (DSS)
(e)Single Support System (SSS).
16.Which of the following is not a method for determining Executive Information needs?
(a)Null method (b)Key indicator method (c)Total study method
(d)Budget method (e)Critical success factor method.
17. Which of the following is not a Taxonomy of knowledge types?
(a) Descriptive (b) Procedural (c) Linguistic (d) Art (e) Reasoning.
18. The characteristic of a Data Warehouse, where all inconsistencies regarding naming convention and value representations are removed is
(a) Subject Orientation (b) Integration (c) Summarization (d) Time Variance (e) Non Volatality.
19. Which of the following is not an advantage of “Simulation” method in Decision Support Systems?
(a) A great amount of time compression can be attained
(b) It is descriptive rather than normative, helping the user to pose ‘what-if’ question
(c) It automatically produces many important performance measures
(d) It can generally handle an extremely wide variety of problem types
(e) It is built for one particular problem and typically cannot handle any other problem.
20. Which of the following is a limitation of Decision Support Systems?
(a) Extend the decision maker’s ability to process information and knowledge
(b) Extend the decision maker’s ability to tackle large-scale, time consuming, complex problem
(c) Shorten the time associated with a decision making
(d) Cannot yet be designed to contain definitely human decision making talents such as creativity, imagination or intuition
(e) Improve the reliability of a decision process or outcome.
21. When designing a Decision Support System, the set of specifications that focuses on its capacity for the storage, record and production of knowledge useful to the problem context is
(a) Interface requirements (b) Coordination requirements (c) Functional requirements (d) Stationary requirements (e) Standard requirements.
22. In DSS, many type of tools help in building complex, systems. Which of the following come under complex system tools?
I. Knowledge Disposal.
II. Knowledge Acquisition.
III. Knowledge Validation.
IV. Knowledge Responsiveness.
V. Knowledge Verification.
(a) (I), (II) and (III) above
(b) (I), (II) and (IV) above
(c) (II), (III) and (IV) above
(d) (II), (III) and (V) above
(e) (I), (II) and (V) above.
23. Who among the following is considered as Doctor of DSS?
(a) Ralph Kimbell (b) Alter (c) Hosapple (d) Sprague (e) Carlson.
24. Which of the following decision making styles that describe people who approach a problem by structuring it in terms of some formal method?
(a) Systematic decision-making (b) Congnitive style (c) Rational model
(d) Intuitive decision makers (e) “Garbage can” model.
25. A decision support system should not be such that:
(a) The user is in a position to access the database easily
(b) It supports an interactive testing of solutions
(c) It helps the manager arrive at the most optimum solution
(d) It involves everyone in the organization in the decision-making process
(e) It helps to structure the problems and provide a systematized approach.
26. There is no pre-established decision procedure for
(a) Pre-planned decision (b) Adhoc decision (c) Structured decision
(d) Unstructured decision (e) Planned decision.
27. “Decision makers make use of past experience to evaluate the importance of a variance and don’t rely on just percentages or absolute difference,” said
(a) Lewis and Simon (b) Newell and Simon (c) Simon and Cummings
(d) Judd, Paddock and Wetherbe (e) Charles Babbage.
28. The assurance that stored data will remain unaltered is termed as
(a) Reliability (b) Authenticity (c) Integrity (d) Privacy (e) Scalability.
29. In which phase of the Herbert-Simon model, is the raw data collected, processed and examined?
(a) Intelligence (b) Design (c) Choice (d) Collection (e) All of the above.
30. Structured, programmable decisions
(a) Can be pre-specified (b) Cannot be pre-specified (c) Are very complex
(d) Are very simple (e) None of the above.
Section B : Problems/Caselets (50 Marks)
1. Atlas Limited wants to develop information system that meets its needs. The general manager of the company wants to develop it from a scratch, while the CEO wants to use an existing system as a reference for developing the new system. Which of these approaches is right? Do you suggest a mixture of the two approaches? (10 marks)
Caselet 1
Read the caselet carefully and answer following questions:
2. What are the business benefits of Maxwealth’s intranet? (10 marks)
3. How does Maxwealth’s extranet help strengthen its ties with its agents? (10 marks)
Maxwealth India Ltd, a Rs. 3000 crore diversified property and casuality insurer, largely bypassed client/server technology on its way to the intranet. It did so partly because of the insurance industry’s conservative stance on technology. However, the intranet’s simple application deployment and its potential as a competitive business tool drew Maxwealth’s attention. The web provided Maxwealth with the opportunity to distinguish itself with better, more informed services in an otherwise mature market. That meant a way to strengthen ties with its independent agent network. “This has always been a relationship business,” says the director of collaboration solutions.
MaxNet, Maxwealth’s first intranet application, was an enterprise wide risk management application that went up last year. It allows over 900 customer service representatives to track the account status and identify risk exposures by consulting a reference database of 40,000 policies and information from content experts on specific types of litigation or claims awards. Users make predefined queries, which offer 10 to 20 variables, against a SQL server database; that in turn accesses a DB2 database on the mainframe.
When this system worked well, Maxwealth developed an extranet application for agents selling worker’s compensation insurance. In insurance, where the name of the game is getting quick quotes, Maxwealth’s extranet guarantees response time of 10 minutes or less, compared to hours or days in the old way. The company is also planning an extranet admission system for worker’s compensation claims to streamline a costly process bogged down by paperwork.
And for its top customers, Maxwealth is considering adding a premium service extranet involving virtual private networks to get around the uncertain performance of public networks.
Caselet 2
Read the caselet carefully and answer following questions:
4. Why is Paradigm splitting its top information systems job into two positions? (10 marks)
5. Should other companies appoint CIO and CTO executive to manage their use of information technology? What are the limitations and benefits of this approach? (10 marks)
Most Chief Information Officers (CIOs) dream of creating innovative business applications so that their company gains a competitive advantage. However, they end up spending most of their time dealing with legacy systems maintenance. At Paradigm Consultants, management decided that one executive simply couldn’t shoulder the burden of IT strategy and infrastructure as the company sought to explore new growth opportunities. Hence, Paradigm Consultants split the top technologist position into the position of CIO and the position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co., General Motors, and GE Capital Corporation have had CIOs setting and aligning business goals and strategies. But chief technology officers (CTOs) typically handled day-to-day operations.
Paradigm Consultants, split the duties of the CIOs because the time and resource constraints that weighted on them were just too much. Now Paradigm Consultants is in a position to leverage new business opportunities. It can make effective use of the terabytes of data it has on 25 million households and also try to expand the company’s catalog customers.
Paradigm Consultants is in the early stages of bolstering Paradigm Consultants Online with more products and services for sale. According to analysts, the company is also considered to be a technology leader because of its innovative use of database marketing and data mining capabilities.
Section C : Applied Theory (20 Marks)
6. Decisions differ with the structures that are used for making them. A highly structured decision, unlike a highly unstructured decision, may be pre-planned or pre-specified. Explain structured and unstructured decision making. (10 marks)
7. Management’s contribution and participation is indispensable for an effective MIS implementation. What role does managerial participation play in the implementation of MIS?
(10 marks)
Suggested Answers 1.
Answer : (c)
Reason : The plastic card, that stores digital information like identification data, telephone numbers, and at times serves as “electronic purse” is smart card.
2.
Answer : (b)
Reason : CASE’ tools stands for Computer – aided software engineering.
3.
Answer : (d)
Reason : A digital code attached to an electronically transmitted message that is used to verify the origins and contents of the message is Digital signature.
4.
Answer : (b)
Reason : Plans for the restoration of computing and communications services after they have been disrupted by an event such as an earthquake, flood or terrorist attack is Disaster recovery planning.
5.
Answer : (c)
Reason : Cost estimation of the complete project is not a step in prototyping.
6.
Answer : (b)
Reason : The process of turning over an organization’s computer operation, telecommunication networks or application development to external verndors is called outsourcing.
7.
Answer : (c)
Reason : A specific measure of quality representing 3.4 defects per million opportunities, used to designate a set of methodologies and techniques for improving quality and reducing costs is Six sigma.
8.
Answer : (d)
Reason : Market share is not a challenge of managing the new information technology infrastructure.
9.
Answer : (c)
Reason : Private, Multipath, data – only third party managed network that multiple organizations use on a subscription basis is VAN (Value Added Networks).
10.
Answer : (c)
Reason : A database, with reporting and query tools, that stores current and historical data extracted from various operational systems and consolidated for management reporting and analysis is known as Data Warehouse.
11.
Answer : (c)
Reason : A form of distributed processing, that links computer via private networks or internet, so that they can share processing tasks is Peer – to – peer computing.
12.
Answer : (d)
Reason : Computer systems at any level of the organization that change goals, operations, products, services or environmental relationships to heep the organization gain a competitive advantage is Strategic Information System.
13.
Answer : (b)
Reason : An Analysis of organization – wide information requirements that examines the entire organization in terms of the organizations units, function, processes and data elements and helps to identify the key entities and attributes in the organisation’s data is Enterprise Analysis.
14.
Answer : (c)
Reason : Opportunistic is not a Decision Model Classification.
15.
Answer : (e)
Reason : Support System (SSS) does not form the four basic levels of MDM (Multiparticipant Decision Maker) technology.
16.
Answer : (d)
Reason : Budget method is not a method for determining Executive Information.
17.
Answer : (d)
Reason: Art is not a Taxonrmy of knowledge type.
18.
Answer : (b)
Reason : The characteristic of a Data Warehouse, where all inconsistencies regarding naming convention and value representations are removed is integration.
19.
Answer : (e)
Reason : One of the disadvantage of “Simulation” method in Decision Support Systems It is built for one particular problem and typically cannot handle any other problem.
20.
Answer : (d)
Reason : Cannot yet be designed to contain definitely human decision making talents such as creativity, imagination or intuition is a limitation of Decision Support Systems.
21.
Answer : (c)
Reason : When designing a Decision Support System, the set of specifications that focuses on its capacity for the storage, record and production of knowledge useful to the problem context is Functional requirements.
22.
Answer : (d)
Reason : Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Validation; Knowledge Verification are the complete system tools that help in building a complete DSS.
23.
Answer : (a)
Reason : Ralph Kimbell is considered as doctor of DSS.
24.
Answer : (a)
Reason : Systematic decision-making describe people who approach a problem by structuring it in terms of some formal method.
25.
Answer : (d)
Reason : A decision support system should not be such that It involves everyone in the organization in the decision-making process.
26.
Answer : (d)
Reason : There is no pre-established decision procedure for Unstructured decision.
27.
Answer : (d)
Reason : “Decision makers make use of past experience to evaluate the importance of a variance and don’t rely on just percentages or absolute difference,” was said by Judd, Paddock and Wetherbe.
28.
Answer : (c)
Reason : The assurance that stored data will remain unaltered is termed integrity.
29.
Answer : (a)
Reason : In Intelligence phase of the Herbert-Simon model, is the raw data collected, processed and examined.
30.
Answer : (a)
Reason : Structured, programmable decisions Can be pre-specified.