NOTE: There are 11
Questions in all.
Question 1 is compulsory and carries 16 marks. Answer to Q. 1. must
be written in the space provided for it in the answer book supplied and nowhere
else.
Answer any THREE Questions each from Part I and Part II. Each of
these questions carries 14 marks.
Any required data not explicitly given, may be suitably assumed and
stated.
Q.1 Choose the correct or best alternative in
the following: (2x8)
a. With in the context of an information system, which one of the following would be considered a typical managerial end user?
(A) Any manager who personally uses information systems.
(B) Entrepreneurs and managerial level professionals.
(C) Senior management only.
(D) All of the above.
b. The transmission of data through telecommunications lines in scrambled form is known as
(A) Encryption transmission. (B) Parity checking transmission.
(C) System security transmission. (D) Fail-safe transmission.
c. The data manipulation tool that helps define formats of reports on information you want to see in a report is
(A) a view. (B) a report generator.
(C) a query-by-example tool. (D) structured query language.
d. Decision-making that involves implementing organizational policies is called
(A) Strategic. (B) Tactical.
(C) Operational. (D) Day-to-day.
e. Determining whether expected cost savings, increased profits, and other benefits exceed the cost of developing and operating a system is related to
(A) Economic feasibility. (B) Functional feasibility.
(C) Operational feasibility. (D) System feasibility
f. The steps in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) are
(A) Investigation, analysis, testing, design and maintenance.
(B) Analysis, testing, investigation, implementation and maintenance.
(C) Analysis, testing, design, implementation and maintenance.
(D) Investigation, analysis, design, implementation and maintenance.
g. A terabyte (TB) is used to express which one of the following approximate measures?
(A) 1,000 bytes of storage (B) 1,000,000 bytes of storage
(C) 1,000,000,000 bytes of storage (D) 1,000,000,000,000 bytes of storage
h. A network that covers a large geographic area is most commonly referred to as a(n)
(A) Local area network. (B) Wide area network.
(C) Inter network. (D) Intranet.
Answer any THREE Questions. Each question carries 14 marks.
Q.2 a. What
are the main purpose of MIS (Management Information System)? (7)
b. How has the management
structure of many business changed in the past decade largely due to
re-engineering? (7)
Q.3 a. List and describe five basic types of data. How much space would it take to store a typical example of each type of data? (7)
b. What is meant by concurrency and why is it a problem in a multiuser environment? (7)
Q.4 a. How
does data independence make it easier to design and maintain computer
applications? (7)
b. What are the advantages of a database management approach to organize, access and manage an organizations data resources? Give examples to illustrate your answer. (7)
Q.5 a. How
does a data warehouse support integration?
Why are they needed in many organizations? (7)
b. What is meant by the
concept of integrating information in business? Give an example of problems that can arise if business
information is not integrated. (7)
Q.6 a. List and describe major components of a DSS. (7)
b. What are the major steps involved in building
or using a model to solve a problem and explain them briefly. (7)
Answer any THREE Questions. Each question carries 14 marks.
Q.7 a. What
steps are involved in creating an expert system? How are expert systems used in e-business? (7)
b. What are the major differences
between a decision support system and an expert system? (7)
Q.8 a. Briefly describe four techniques that can be used to gain
competitive advantage over other firms in the industry. (7)
b. What
role is played by information systems in improving the quality of products? (7)
Q.9 a. What
fundamental methods are available to build information systems? Explain briefly these methods. (7)
b. What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the systems development life cycle (SDLC) methodology? (7)
b. What
are the potential advantages of outsourcing computer facilities? What are the drawbacks? (7)
b. How is trend towards open systems,
connectivity and interoperability related to business use of the internet,
intranets and extranets? (7)