Oberon High School

Information Systems 3

 

Building Information Systems - Fitzpatrick, Keane, Montgomery  1.7 Exercises p38

 

1. What is an information system?

An information system consists of hardware, software, people, data, and procedures.

2.Define the term information?

Information is data that has been organised in some way so that it has meaning and usefulness.

3.Define the term data?  

Data is an unorganised collection of facts with little or no meaning.

4. What are the components of an information system?

The components of an information system are data, input, processing and storage, personnel and procedures

5. Name the nine major steps of information processing.

The nine major steps of information processing (the Information Processing cycle) are: Acquisition, Input, Validation, Processing, Storage, Retrieval, Output, Communication, Disposal.

6. Use an example of data processing to illustrate the nine steps.

Running a school swimming sports - collect results, input place-getters, check things such as age group, sort into stroke and age groupings, save data to disk, retrieve winners and house points, print details, read out results, delete data after appropriate time.

7. Name the stages of the System Development Life Cycle.

Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation

8. What is the relationship between the SDLC and the Program Development Life Cycle?

Special-purpose software may need to be developed. This is produced using the stages of the PDLC which in turn is part of the Implementation stage of the SDLC.

9. What is the difference between a physical and logical design of an information system?

A logical design contains the broad aims and objectives of the new system. The physical design specifies the hardware and software to be purchased, the supplier/s, whether off-the-shelf or custom-written software will be used, and the testing plan and test data are devised.

10. Name the stages of the Program Development Life Cycle.

Analysis, Design, Coding, Debugging, Testing, Implementation, Documentation.

11. How can conflicts between software developers and users happen?

There may be conflict about:

Privacy of personal information collected

The ability to not make backup copies of software

The quality of the results of the program not being what was expected

12. What is the definition of a program in the Australian Copyright Act?

A program is defined as ‘a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result’.

13. What does copyright protect? How can copyright be infringed? What copying is allowed in the Copyright Act?

Copyright protects programs, pseudocode, flowcharts, part of a program, a website or part of a website. Copyright is infringed when a person uses, sells or directs a person to use or sell a program or substantial part of a program without obtaining permission of the copyright owner.

Copyright does not protect the function of a program.

14. What are the legal and ethical obligations for programmers to produce ‘safe’ programs?

The programmer is required to produce a program that works properly and must ensure that no damage or harm can come from the use of the program.

15. Why are some programs called , ‘bad’ or malicious?

‘Bad’ or malicious programs are those that leave a ‘back door’ so someone can bypass security features to gain access to a system, or those that install a hidden function on the user’s computer that can monitor a machine’s use. Virus generating programs and ‘cookies’ and also be a problem.

16. What are the privacy principles in the Privacy Act?

There are 10 principles. These include issues such as collecting only the data and information that is needed, allowing an individual to view the information collected about them.

17. What are the steps to be followed for solving ethical dilemmas?

Describe the situation and the problem

Identify the stakeholders.

Identify and describe any ethical principles/laws that apply to the situation

List the various ways of solving the problem

Evaluate solutions

Make a decision

18. What is the difference between organisational goals, operational objectives, and mission statements?

A mission statement lists the goals of an individual of an organisation. Organisational goals include such things increasing market share, offering a superior product or service, using resources wisely, providing a high standard of customer service, employment related goals and social, educational and environmental goals. Operational objectives are concerned with the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations of the organisation or the work of the individual.

19. What types of tasks do operational personnel do in organisations?

Operational personnel perform information tasks, service tasks and production tasks.

20. What are the usual types of information systems used by operational personnel?

Most operational personnel use office automation systems (OA).

21. What is a transaction processing system used for? Give an example.

TPS record and keep track of all the data involved in transactions such as sales and production.  Phone-based ordering or payment is an example of a TPS.

22. What is the difference between batch and on-line processing? Give examples.

On-line processing is real time. Batch processing does not involve input. An example would be the preparation of a company's pay cheques.

23. What is an embedded system.? Give examples.

An embedded system is an IS that is embedded in equipment and with which people do not have direct contact with eg. the computerised management system in a car.

24. What are expert systems and neural networks used for?

These are used on a day-to-day basis to automate problem solving in different ways.

25. What information systems do the different types of managers use? Give examples.

Managers use Management Information Systems (MIS) and Decision Support Systems (DSS). These help managers see trends in their business or help them to make decisions eg. what-if calculations using a spreadsheet.

26. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using networked information systems, especially in a global environment.

The most important effect is enhanced communications and sharing of data and equipment.

27. What are the different types of e-commerce? What are the benefits of e-commerce. What are the problems that can come from the use of networked information systems?

Business-to-business

Business-to-consumer

Consumer-to-consumer

Business-to-employee

28. List the six different types of factors that can affect the development of information systems?

Technical requirements, economic factors, operational factors, security and access factors, social factors, health and safety factors

29. Give one example of an information system where each of the six factors has had a major influence on the development of the systems.

The information system used by the TAB.