Question 1 of 5: (12 points)
Part A: (5 points)
1. Systems analyst 2. Data structure
3. Bipolar closed questions 4. Logical data structures
5. Context diagram 6. Data store
7. Agile approach 8. Funnel structure
9. Level-0 diagram 10. Systems analysis and design
11. Object-oriented systems analysis & design 12. Prototyping
13. Data flow diagram 14. Physical data structures
15. Probes 16. Sampling
17. Open-ended questions 18. Closed-ended questions
19. Agile modeling 20. Ajax
21. Data element 22. Questionnaire
23. External entity 24. Child diagram
25. Joint application design 26. Systems consultant
27. Human-computer interaction 28. Data dictionary
29. Systems development life cycle 30. Application service provider
Match any of the key terms above with the definition that best fits it (Ignore any
key terms that do not fit.)
A ___________________ is composed of related elements.
______________________is a picture of the movement of data between external entities and the processes and the data stores within a system.
__________________ is the organizational role most responsible for the analysis and design of information systems.
___________________________ are questions in interviews that ask those responding to choose from among a set of specified responses.
___________________ is a data flow diagram that represents a system’s major processes, data flows, and data stores at a high level of detail.
___________________ is a data flow diagram of the scope of an organizational system that shows the system boundaries, external entities that interact with a system, and the major information flows between entities and the system.
___________________________ include additional elements necessary for implementing the system
_________________________ are usually used to probe for information when you cannot anticipate all possible responses or when you do not know the precise questions to ask.
_____________________________ is a structured process in which users, managers, and analysts work together for several days in a series of intensive meetings to specify or review system requirements.
____________________ is a reference work of data about data compiled by systems analysts.
Part B: Short answer (7 points)
Please response to the following questions
1. Company A has 500 employees. Company B has 800 employees. Would the analyst working with company B need to interview more employees than the analyst working with Company A? Why or why not? (2 points)
2. Does the diamond structure have the advantage of taking less interviewer time?
Why or why not? (1 point)
3. Label each question as either closed-ended (CE) question or open-ended (OE) question. (4 points)
How many personal computers do you have in this department? ___________________
Why do you perform the task that way? ________________________________________
How many customers ordered products from the Web site last month? ____________
How are the checks reconciled? _______________________________________________
Is the calculation procedure described in the manual? ________________________
Do you review the reports before they are sent out? __________________________
How many employees are there in shipping? ____________________________________
How are back-orders handled? _________________________________________________
Question 2 of 5: (20 points)
Part A: (10 points)
An analyst needs an organized method for collecting facts. Some systems analysts will frequently jump right into interviews. They believe, “Go to the people. That’s where the real facts are!” Wrong! This approach fails to recognize an important fact of life: People must complete their day-to-day jobs. You may be thinking, “But I thought you’ve been seen saying that the system is for people and that direct end user involvement in systems development is essential. Aren’t you contradicting yourselves?”
Write a paragraph to offer your opinion on the issue described in the above statement.
*** For this question, please limit you response to a maximum of one page.
Part B: (10 points)
Given that you can use all seven information-gathering techniques: (1) investigation, (2) build prototypes, (3) conduct interviews and discussion with users, (4) observe the work environment and document business processes, (5) distribute and collect questionnaires, (6) review existing reports, forms, procedure descriptions, and databases, and (7) conduct joint application design (JAD) sessions.
Using all of these seven techniques, propose a general step-by-step strategy (which technique goes first and which technique goes next) to discover information system requirements and provide an explanation of your strategy decision.
*** For this question, please limit you response to a maximum of one page.
Question 3 of 5: (22 points)
A summary of business activities for registering courses for enrolled students
and for registering class lists for faculty members and administrators at an
online university is as follows:
Students log into a system with their “user name and password” that is validated by a secure logon system handled by a “Network and Security” department. Students then send in a course registration form consisting of their personal information and their desired courses. The system checks that the courses are available and that the student is academically qualified to take the course.
Students could pay for their courses by credit cards or they could pay through the Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), if qualified. For the FAFSA students, the system checks with the “Business” department to see if the student is financially qualified to take the course. For credit cards, the system validates students’ credit card information through a credit card company and generated appropriate status message to students.
Based on the checking results, the system will send to the student a confirmation and/or rejection letter for each requesting course with detailed information of what to do next in either case. In addition, for any rejection cases, the system will also notify the Counselor department so students could arrange appointments to talk with their counselors to resolve their issues, if possible. Faculty members and administrators will receive registering class lists when the registration period is complete.
Draw a context diagram for the “Courses Registration” system.
Question 4 of 5: (21 points)
Create an entity-relationship diagram (ERD) for the faculty-course teaching system based on the following information.
A course can have many course sections offered in each semester, but for some semesters, a course might not be offered.
A faculty member could teach many course sections and in some semesters a faculty member might not teach any. However, at least one faculty member is assigned to teach a course section.
In order to make sure that all course sections are similar, one faculty member is appointed as a course director to manage the course, and each course director member can manage many courses.
Identify reasonable entities for the system. (6 points)
Identify relationships (one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many) using the crow’s foot notation described in Chapter 2 of Kendall & Kendall 9th textbook
among these entities. (9 points)
Write sentences explaining the left-to-right and right-to-left relationships
for each relationship. (6 points)
Question 5 of 5: (25 points)
A summary of business activities for ordering clothes through an Internet shopping site for current customers of the Affordable Clothes Inc. is as follows:
Customers log into a system with their “user name and password” that
is validated by a secure logon system handled by a “Network and Security” department. Customers could look up for item availability and create
orders. In response, the system checks to see if the items are available
and generates appropriate responses to customers. When customers are ready
to place orders, they have options to choose a type of credit card to be charged. The system validates customers’ credit card information through
a credit card company and generated appropriate status message to customers. The system then generates a shipping order to the shipping department. At
the end of each business day, the system sends order summary reports to the management department and produces transaction summary reports to the accounting department.
Draw the logical data flow diagram level 0 for the “order-entry” system showing
all the major processes using the following “recommended” items (but you can
develop your own processes, if preferred):
Process names:
(1) Secure Log In
(2) Look up item availability
(3) Create an order
(4) Produce order summary reports
(5) Produce transaction summary reports
Data stores: Derived from the above narrative
External entities: Derived from the above narrative
Data flows: Derived from the above narrative.
