11.
Information Systems, Organization, Management & Strategy
January-2004 [24]
1. Give
brief (one or two sentence) answers to the following questions:
i) Show by diagram only
flow of information in an organization. [2]
Ans: 
j) Differentiate between software and
hardware requirement for an efficient information system. [2]
Ans: Software requirement includes the required program, instructions,
procedure and documentations of computer system that is use to achieve the goal
of an efficient information system.
Hardware
requirement includes the physical component like CD, printer etc which are
required by an efficient information system to carry out their work.
k) What is knowledge
management system? [2]
Ans: Knowledge Management System
(KM System)
refers to a (generally IT based) system for managing knowledge in
organizations for supporting creation, capture, storage and dissemination of
information. It can comprise a part (neither necessary or sufficient) of a
Knowledge Management initiative.
A KM system
could be any of the following:
1. Document based.
2.
Ontology/Taxonomy based
3. Based on AI technologies
4. Provide network maps
5. Increasingly social computing
tools
KMS systems
deal with information so they are a class of information system and may build
on, or utilize other information sources.
7.
a) Define decision support
system and how it is different from expert system? [7]
Ans: A
Decision Support Systems (DSS) is a class of information systems (including but
not limited to computerized systems) that support business and organizational
decision-making activities. A properly designed DSS is an interactive
software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful
information from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or
business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present are:
- an inventory of all of your current information assets (including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts),
- comparative sales figures between one week and the next,
- projected revenue figures based on new product sales assumptions;
DSS VS EXPERT SYSTEM
•DSS aid in
problem solving by allowing for manipulation of data & models whereas ES
allow experts to 'teach' computers about their field so that the system may
support more of the decision making process for less expert decision makers. •
DSS most often contain equations that the system uses to solve problems or update reports immediately, and the users makes the final decisions on the basis of the information whereas an expert system works from a much larger set of modeling rules,uses concepts from AI to process and store the knowledge base & scans base to suggest a final decision decision through inference.
•DSS only supports the decision making process
& a human user is required to weigh all the factors in making a decision
whereas ES must acquire knowledge from an expert and apply a large but standard
set of probability based rules to make a decision in a specific problem setting.
b) What is spreadsheet? How is it useful
for a manager in decision making? Support your answer with suitable examples. [6]
Ans: A spreadsheet is a computer application that
simulates a paper worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a
grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric
text or numeric values. A spreadsheet cell may alternatively contain a formula
that defines how the contents of that cell is to be calculated from the
contents of any other cell (or combination of cells) each time any cell is
updated. Spreadsheets are frequently used for financial information because of
their ability to re-calculate the entire sheet automatically after a change to
a single cell is made.
The uses of spreadsheet to manager to make decision
are as follows:
a.
Accountants
need to keep track of all of the money coming into the business and all of the
payments going out.
b.
They
need to be able to calculate profits and forecast how well they think the
business will do during the next year.
c.
They
also need to calculate the wages of all the staff each month.
d.
Sales
people use spreadsheets to keep track of the items they sell, the value of the
items, the profit made on each item and more importantly, the commission they
have earned!
e.
They
use spreadsheets to help them to analyze what happened with the experiment and
also to predict what might happen if they were to change one variable.
f.
Supermarkets
use spreadsheets to keep track of finances i.e. sales, losses and money spent.
g.
Market
researchers collect data from shoppers about their spending habits and their
awareness of different brands. All of this data has to be collated and analyzed
in order to provide the company with a detailed report of what customers think
about their products.
c) Differentiate between
data, information and knowledge. [5]
Ans:
|
Data
|
Information
|
Knowledge
|
|
a. Data are groups of
information that represent the qualitative or quantitative attributes of a
variable or set of variables.
b. Data are often
viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which information
and knowledge
are derived.
c. Data
is/are the facts of the
World.
d. Data... data is raw
e. Data:
symbols
|
a. Information
is closely related to notions of data, knowledge, instruction etc.
b. It is not.
c.
Information allows us to expand our knowledge beyond the range of our senses
d.
Information is data that has been given meaning by way of relational
connection.
e. Information:
data that are processed to be useful; provides answers to "who",
"what", "where", and "when" questions
|
a.
Knowledge
is defined as expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience
or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject
b. It is not.
c. Knowledge is the outcome of information.
d.
knowledge is the appropriate collection of information
e. Knowledge: application of data and
information; answers "how" questions
|
July-2004 [24]
1. Give very brief (2-3 lines) answers to
the following questions:
k) Explain flow of information in an
organization. [2]
Ans:
l) Explain Role of IT in Business Performance.
[2]
n) What is Transaction Processing System? [2]
Ans: A Transaction Processing
System or Transaction Processing Monitor is a set of information
which process the data transaction in database system that monitors transaction
programs (a special kind of program). The essence of a transaction program
is that it manages data that must be left in a consistent state. E.g. if an
electronic payment is made, the amount must be either both withdrawn from one
account and added to the other, or none at all. In case of a failure preventing
transaction completion, the partially executed transaction must be 'rolled back' by
the TPS.
6.
a) Explain role of IT in decision-making
process. [6]
b) Differentiate between MIS and DSS. [6]
c) Explain Knowledge Management System. [6]
January-2005 [8]
1.
iv) State
the role of an expert system in business decision-making. [2]
Ans: An
expert system is software that attempts to provide an answer to a
problem, or clarify uncertainties where normally one or more human experts
would need to be consulted. Expert systems are most common in a specific
problem domain, and is a traditional application and/or subfield of artificial
intelligence. A wide variety of methods can be used to simulate the performance
of the expert however common to most or all are 1) the creation of a so-called "knowledgebase"
which uses some knowledge representation formalism to capture the Subject
Matter Expert's (SME) knowledge and 2) a process of gathering that knowledge
from the SME and codifying it according to the formalism, which is called knowledge
engineering.
b) Define the following:
iii)
MIS [1]
c) Distinguish between
iii) Decision Support System and Expert
System [2]
7.
b) Write short notes on any three of
the following:
iii) Transaction Processing System [3]
July-2005 [10]
6.
a) List and explain the six major types of
information systems in organization. Who are the users of each of these six
systems? [10]
Ans
:
Six major types of information
system are:
A good way to think about an ESS is to imagine the senior management team in an aircraft cockpit - with the instrument panel showing them the status of all the key business activities. ESS typically involve lots of data analysis and modelling tools such as "what-if" analysis to help strategic decision-making.
Decision Support Systems (DSS) : Decision-support systems
("DSS") are specifically designed to help management make decisions
in situations where there is uncertainty about the possible outcomes of those
decisions. DSS comprise tools and techniques to help gather relevant
information and analyse the options and alternatives. DSS often involves use of
complex spreadsheet and databases to create "what-if" models.
Management Information Systems (MIS) : A management information system
("MIS") is mainly concerned with internal sources of
information. MIS usually take data from the transaction processing systems (see
below) and summarise it into a series of management reports.MIS reports tend to be used by middle management and operational supervisors.
- Billing systems to send invoices to customers
- Systems to calculate the weekly and monthly payroll and tax payments
- Production and purchasing systems to calculate raw material requirements
- Stock control systems to process all movements into, within and out of the business
KMS are built around systems which allow efficient categorisation and distribution of knowledge. For example, the knowledge itself might be contained in word processing documents, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations. internet pages or whatever. To share the knowledge, a KMS would use group collaboration systems such as an intranet.
Office Automation Systems: Office Automation Systems
are systems that try to improve the productivity of employees who need to
process data and information. Perhaps the best example is the wide range of
software systems that exist to improve the productivity of employees working in
an office (e.g. Microsoft Office XP) or systems that allow employees to work
from home or whilst on the move.
January-2006 [30]
4.
b) How can information system support strategies at the firm
level? [5]
c) Define-
iii) DSS [1]
d) Specify any two informational needs of a finance manager
that can be satisfied through a suitable information system. [2]
Ans: 1) ACCESSING RELIABLE,
ACCURATE DATA
2) REDUCING HR DEPARTMENT AND WORKFORCE
COSTS
6.
a) What is information? What is the need of information? What
is information technology? Discuss properties and scope of information. [10]
Ans: Properties
of information technology are:
a.
Reliable
b.
Faster
c.
Accurate
d.
Secure
e.
Store
lager amount of data
f.
Data
management
g.
Computation
Scope of information technology includes:
a.
Make
the information available everywhere.
b.
Provide
faster transformation of information.
c.
Reduce
the cost of transformation.
d.
Reduce
the time consuming.
e.
Provide
accurate information for decision making.
c) What is knowledge based expert system? Discuss. [3]
7.
a) Discus briefly Technical Approach, Behavioural Approach and
Socio-Technical Approach to information systems. [9]
July-2006[26]
1.
g) Explain the types of Decisional Support
Systems. [4]
4.
c) Explain Knowledge Management System in
brief. [4]
6.
a) Define Management Information System
(MIS). What are the pre-requisites of an effective MIS?
Ans: [10]
Management Information System (M.I.S.) is basically
concerned with processing data into information which is then communicated to
the various Departments in an organization for appropriate decision-making.
DataàInformationàCommunicationàDecisions
An MIS should be designed to achieve the
following goals:
•
Enhance communication among employees.
•
Deliver complex material throughout the
institution.
•
Provide an objective system for recording and
aggregating information.
•
Reduce expenses related to labor-intensive manual
activities.
•
Support the organization's strategic goals and
direction.
The pre-requisites of an effective MIS are:
a.) Timeliness : To simplify prompt decision
making, an institution's MIS
should be capable of providing and distributing current information to
appropriate users.
b.)Accuracy: A sound system of automated and manual
internal controls must exist throughout all information systems processing
activities. Information should
receive appropriate editing, balancing, and
internal control checks. A
comprehensive internal and external audit program
should be employed to
ensure the adequacy of internal controls
c.) Consistency: To be reliable, data should be
processed and compiled consistently and uniformly. Variations in how data is
collected and reported can distort information and trend analysis.
d) Completeness: Decision makers need complete and
pertinent information in a summarized form. Reports should be designed to
eliminate clutter and voluminous detail, thereby avoiding "information
overload."
e)
Relevance: Information provided to management must be relevant.
Information that is inappropriate, unnecessary, or too detailed for effective decision making has no value. MIS must be appropriate to support the
management level using it.
7.
b) Describe the phases of System
Development Life cycle. [8]
Ans:
Systems
Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is any logical process used by a systems analyst
to develop an information system, including requirements, validation, training,
and user ownership. Any SDLC should result in a high quality system that meets
or exceeds customer expectations, reaches completion within time and cost
estimates, works effectively and efficiently in the current and planned
Information Technology infrastructure, and is inexpensive to maintain and
cost-effective to enhance.[2]
The steps can be characterized and divided in
several steps. These are
a)Initiation/planning: To generate a high-level view of the intended project and determine the goals of the project. The feasibility study is sometimes used to present the project to upper management in an attempt to gain funding.
b) Requirements gathering and analysis: The goal of systems analysis is to determine where the problem is in an attempt to fix the system. This step involves breaking down the system in different pieces and drawing diagrams to analyze the situation.
c) Design : In systems design functions and operations are described in detail, including screen layouts, business rules, process diagrams and other documentation. The output of this stage will describe the new system as a collection of modules or subsystems.
d) Build or coding: Modular and subsystem programming code will be accomplished during this stage. Unit testing and module testing are done in this stage by the developers. This stage is intermingled with the next in that individual modules will need testing before integration to the main project.
e) Testing: The code is tested at various levels in software testing. Unit, system and user acceptance testing are often performed.
f) Operations and maintenance: The deployment of the system includes changes and enhancements before the decommissioning or sunset of the system. Maintaining the system is an important aspect of SDLC
January-2007 [30]
1.
a) What are the objectives of MIS?
Discuss. [4]
e) Explain the decision support system
concept and how it differs from traditional MIS. [4]
g) What is Knowledge Management Systems? [4]
2.
a) Define expert system. Discuss
knowledge-based expert system. [9]
Ans
:
Expert System
Component Facts :
·
Rule Based Reasoning
·
Databases
·
Inference Engine
·
Knowledge Base (rule
base)
·
Knowledge
Engineering Facts
·
Case-Based
Reasoning (Method in which to create a Knowledge Base)
Advantages are:
·
Permanence
·
Reproducibility - Many copies of an expert system
can be made,
·
Efficiency - can increase throughput and decrease
personnel costs
- Consistency - With expert systems similar transactions handled in the same way. The system will make comparable recommendations for like situations.
- Documentation - An expert system can provide permanent documentation of the decision process
- Completeness - An expert system can review all the transactions, a human expert can only review a sample.
- Timeliness - Fraud and/or errors can be prevented. Information is available sooner for decision making.
- Entry barriers - Expert systems can help a firm create entry barriers for potential competitors
- Differentiation - In some cases, an expert system can differentiate a product or can be related to the focus of the firm
Knowledge-Based
Systems
focuses on systems that use knowledge-based techniques to support human
decision-making, learning and action. Such systems are capable of cooperating
with human users and so the quality of support given and the manner of its
presentation are important issues. The emphasis of the journal is on the
practical significance of such systems in modern computer development and
usage.
An Expert
(Knowledge Based) System is a problem solving and decision
making system based on
knowledge of it’s task and logical rules or
procedures for using knowledge. Both the knowledge and
the logic is obtained from the experience of a
specialist in the area (Business Expert)
5.
a) Give examples of several ways of expert systems that can be
used in business decision-making situations. [9]
July-2007 [34]
1.
g) Explain in brief about Transaction
Processing System (TPS). [4]
4.
b) What are characteristics of a Decision
Support System? How do they differ from those of Executive Support System? [6]
c) What is the role of a sound
‘Information System’ in decision-making in modern originations? [6]
6.
a) What do you mean by information system?
Illustrate various types of Information Systems.
[10]
b) Explain the flow of Information in an
organization?
[8]
January-2008 [28]
1.
b) What is Knowledge Management System?
How will it help an organization? [4]
2.
c) Explain the role of an expert system in
business decision making. [6]
4.
b) Describe different phases of System
Development Life cycle. [6]
ans:----- The SDLC process was designed to ensure end-state
solutions meet user requirements in support of business strategic goals and
objectives. In addition, the SDLC also provides a detailed guide to help
Program Managers with ALL aspects of IT system development, regardless of the
system size and scope. The SDLC contains a comprehensive checklist of the rules
and regulations governing IT systems, and is one way to ensure system
developers comply with all applicable Government regulations, because the
consequences of not doing so are high and wide ranging. This is especially true
in the post 9/11 environment where larger amounts of information are considered
sensitive in nature, and are shared among commercial, international, Federal,
state, and local partners.
The
seven-step process contains a procedural checklist and the systematic
progression required to evolve an IT system from conception to disposition. The
following descriptions briefly explain each of the seven phases of the SDLC:
1.
Conceptual Planning. This phase is the first step of any system's life cycle.
It is during this phase that a need to acquire or significantly enhance a
system is identified, its feasibility and costs are assessed, and the risks and
various project-planning approaches are defined. Roles and responsibilities for
the Asset Manager, Sponsor's Representative, System Development Agent (SDA),
System Support Agent (SSA), and other parties in SDLC policy are designated
during this stage and updated throughout the system's life cycle.
2.
Planning and Requirements Definition. This phase begins after the project has
been defined and appropriate resources have been committed. The first portion
of this phase involves collecting, defining and validating functional, support
and training requirements. The second part is developing initial life cycle
management plans, including project planning, project management, Configuration
Management (CM), support, operations, and training management.
3.
Design. During this phase, functional, support and training requirements are
translated into preliminary and detailed designs. Decisions are made to address
how the system will meet functional requirements. A preliminary (general)
system design, emphasizing the functional features of the system, is produced
as a high-level guide. Then a final (detailed) system design is produced that
expands the design by specifying all the technical detail needed to develop the
system.
4.
Development and Testing. During this phase, systems are developed or acquired
based on detailed design specifications. The system is validated through a
sequence of unit, integration, performance, system, and acceptance testing. The
objective is to ensure that the system functions as expected and that sponsor's
requirements are satisfied. All system components, communications,
applications, procedures, and associated documentation are eveloped/acquired,
tested, and integrated. This phase requires strong user participation in order
to verify thorough testing of all requirements and to meet all business needs.
5.
Implementation. During this phase, the new or enhanced system is installed in
the production environment, users are trained, data is converted (as needed),
the system is turned over to the sponsor, and business processes are evaluated.
This phase includes efforts required to implement, resolve system problems
identified during the implementation process, and plan for sustainment.
6.
Operations and Maintenance. The system becomes operational during this phase.
The emphasis during this phase is to ensure that sponsor needs continue to be
met and that the system continues to perform according to specifications.
Routine hardware and software maintenance and upgrades are performed to ensure
effective system operations. User training continues during this phase, as
needed, to acquaint new users to the system or to introduce new features to
current users. Additional user support is provided, as an ongoing activity, to
help resolve reported problems.
7. Disposition. This phase
represents the end of the system's life cycle. It provides for the systematic
termination of a system to ensure that vital information is preserved for
potential future access and/or reactivation. The system, when placed in the
Disposition Phase, has been declared surplus and/or obsolete and has been
scheduled for shutdown. The emphasis of this phase is to ensure that the system
(e.g., equipment, parts, software, data, procedures, and documentation) is
packaged and disposed of in accordance with appropriate regulations and
requirements.
6.
b) What is case-based reasoning? How does
it differ from an expert system? [6]
Ans: Case-based reasoning (CBR), broadly construed,
is the process of solving new problems based on the solutions of similar past
problems. An auto mechanic who fixes an engine by recalling another car that
exhibited similar symptoms is using case-based reasoning. Case-based reasoning
is a prominent kind of analogy making.
Case-based reasoning has
been formalized for purposes of computer reasoning as a four step process—
- Retrieve: Given a target problem, retrieve cases from memory that are relevant to solving it. A case consists of a problem, its solution, and, typically, annotations about how the solution was derived.
- Reuse: Map the solution from the previous case to the target problem. This may involve adapting the solution as needed to fit the new situation.
- Revise: Having mapped the previous solution to the target situation, test the new solution in the real world (or a simulation) and, if necessary, revise.
- Retain: After the solution has been successfully adapted to the target problem, store the resulting experience as a new case in memory.
7.
a) Explain briefly Transaction Processing
System (TPS). What is OLTP? [6]
This term is also known as transaction processing or real-time processing.
Techopedia explains Transaction Process System (TPS)
A transaction process system and transaction processing are often contrasted with a batch process system and batch processing, where many requests are executed all at one time. The former requires the interaction of a user. Whereas batch processing does not require a user to be present. Also, in batch processing the results of each transaction are not immediately available. And, there is a delay while the many requests are being organized, stored and eventually executed. In transaction processing there is no delay and the results of each transaction are immediately available. During the delay time for batch processing, errors can occur. By contrast, and although errors can occur in transaction processing, they are infrequent and tolerated, but do not warrant shutting down the entire system.To achieve performance, reliability and consistency, data must be readily accessible in a data warehouse, backup procedures must be in place and the recovery process must be in place to deal with system failure, human failure, computer viruses, software applications or natural disasters.
Online transaction processing, or OLTP, refers to
a class of systems that facilitate and manage transaction-oriented
applications, typically for data entry and retrieval transaction processing.
OLTP has also been used to refer to processing in which the system responds
immediately to user requests. An automatic teller machine (ATM) for a bank is
an example of a commercial transaction processing application.
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