Amman University College for Financial & Administrative Sciences

MIS comprehensive exam

Topics included in the comprehensive exam

|Page1

Module: systems analysis and design

Text and reading materials
The Required texts are:
Kendall and kendall,2009,Systems Analysis and Design, Sixth Edition
Gary B. Shelly and Harry J. Rosenblatt(2012), Systems Analysis and Design, Eighth Edition:Video
Enhanced
Various types of information systems and explain who uses them

Transaction processing systems

Office automation systems and knowledge work systems
Management information systems
Decision support systems
Expert systems
Group decision support systems
Executive support systems

Systems development life cycle (SDLC):

Stages/phases
Case tools: upper and lower case tools
Alternative approaches: agile approach, object oriented approach

Depicting systems graphically:

E-R diagrams: basics such as entites, attributes and relationships

DFD diagrams: context diagram, diagram 0 (next level), child diagram, partitioning
Usecases and usecase scenarios

Prototyping and rapid application development (RAD):

Kinds of prototypes
Prototyping stages, guidelines, advantages and disadvantages
Phases of RAD
Comparing RAD to the SDLC

|Page2

Module: Organization theory

Text and reading materials
The Required text is:
Jones, G. (2001). Organizational Theory: Text and Cases, 3rd Edition. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey.
#

Topics

Learning Objectives
1. Explain why organizations exist and the purposes they serve.

Chapter
Chap. 1

2. Describe the relationship between organizational theory and

organizational design and change, and differentiate between
Organizations &
1

organizational
effectiveness

organizational structure and culture.

3. Understand how managers can utilize the principles of
organizational theory to design and change their organizations to
increase organizational effectiveness.
4. Identify the three principal ways in which managers assess and
measure organizational effectiveness.
5. Appreciate the way in which several contingency factors
influence the design of organizations.
1. Identify the various stakeholder groups and their interests or

Chap. 2

claims on an organization.
2. Understand the choices and problems inherent in distributing
the value an organization creates.
Organizational
2

stakeholders
Managers and
ethics

3. Appreciate who has authority and responsibility at the top of

an organization, and distinguish between different levels of
management.
4. Describe the agency problem that exists in all authority
relationships and the various mechanisms, such as the board of
directors and stock options, which can be used to help control
illegal and unethical managerial behavior.
5. Discuss the vital role that ethics plays in constraining
managers and employees to pursue the goals that lead to long-run
organizational effectiveness.

Managing in a

1. List the forces in an organizations specific and general

changing Global

environment that give rise to opportunities and threats.

environment

2. Identify why uncertainty exists in the environment.

Chap. 3

3. Describe how and why an organization seeks to adapt to and

|Page3

Topics

Learning Objectives

Chapter

control these forces to reduce uncertainty.

4. Understand how resource dependence theory and transaction
cost explain why organizations choose different kinds of interorganizational strategies to manage their environments to gain
the resources they need to achieve their goals and create value
for their stakeholders.

1. Describe the four basic organizational design challenges

Chap. 4

confronting managers and consultants

2. Discuss the way in which these challenges must be
addressed simultaneously if a high-performing

Basic challenges of
organizational
design

organizational structure is to be created

3. Distinguish among the design choices that underlie the
creation of either a mechanistic or an organic structure
4. Recognize how to use contingency theory to design a
structure that fits an organizations environment

1. Explain why a hierarchy of authority emerges in an

A. Designing
organizational

organization, and the process of vertical differentiation

B. Designing

coordinate and motivate organizational behavior most

effectively
2. Discuss the way in which the design challenges discussed
in Chapter 4 provide methods of control that substitute

organizational

for the direct, personal control that managers provide and

structure:
Specialization and
coordination

5,6

1. Discuss the issues involved in designing a hierarchy to

structure: authority
and control

Chap.

affect the design of the organizational hierarchy

3.
4. Appreciate the principles of bureaucratic structure and
explain their implications for the design of effective
organizational hierarchies
|Page4

Topics

Learning Objectives

Chapter

5. Explain why organizations are flattening their hierarchies

and making more use of empowered teams of employees,
both inside and across different functions

Module: Decision support systems

Text and reading materials
The Required text is:
Turban, G. (2009), Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems (9th Edition)
,#
Topics
Learning Objectives
1. Understand todays turbulent business
environment and describe how organizations
survive and even excel in such an
environment (solving problems and
exploring opportunities)
2. Understand the need for computerized
support of managerial decision making
3. Understand an early framework for
managerial decision making
4. Learn the conceptual foundations of the
1
decision support systems (DSS)
Decision Support Systems and
methodology
Business Intelligence
5. Describe the business intelligence (BI)
methodology and concepts and relate them to
DSS
6. Describe the concept of work systems and its
relationship to decision support
7. List the major tools of computerized decision
support
8. Understand the major issues in implementing
computerized support systems

Decision Making, Systems,

Modeling, and Support

1. Understand the conceptual foundations

of decision making
2. Understand Simons four phases of
decision making: intelligence, design,
choice, and implementation
3. Recognize the concepts of rationality and
bounded rationality and how they relate
to decision making

Chapter

Chap. 1

Chap. 2

|Page5

,#

Topics

Decision Support Systems Concepts,

Methodologies, and Technologies:
An Overview

Learning Objectives
4. Differentiate between the concepts of
making a choice and establishing a
principle of choice
5. Learn how DSS support for decision
making can be provided in practice
6. Understand the systems approach
1. Understand possible decision support
system (DSS) configurations
2. Understand the key differences and
similarities between DSS and business
intelligence (BI) systems
3. Describe DSS characteristics and
capabilities
4. Understand the essential definition of
DSS
5. Understand DSS components and how
they integrate
6. Describe the components and structure of
each DSS component: the data
management subsystem, the model
management subsystem, the userinterface (dialog) subsystem, the
knowledge-based management
subsystem, and the user
7. Explain Internet impacts on DSS and
vice versa
8. Explain the unique role of the user in DSS
versus management information systems
(MIS)
9. Describe DSS hardware and software
platforms
10. Understand important DSS
classifications
11. Become familiar with some DSS
application areas and applications
12. Understand important, current DSS
issues

Chapter

Chap. 3

Chap. 4
4

Modeling and Analysis

1. Understand the basic concepts of

management support system (MSS) modeling
2. Describe how MSS models interact with
data and the user
3. Understand some different, well-known
|Page6

,#

Topics

Learning Objectives
model classes
4. Understand how to structure decision
making with a few alternatives
5. Describe how spreadsheets can be used for
MSS modeling and solution
6. Explain the basic concepts of optimization,
simulation, and heuristics, and when to use
them
7. Describe how to structure a linear
programming model
8. Understand how search methods are used to
solve MSS models
9. Explain the differences among algorithms,
blind search, and heuristics
10. Describe how to handle multiple goals
11. Explain what is meant by sensitivity
analysis, what-if analysis, and goal seeking
12. Describe the key issues of model
management

Chapter

|Page7

Module: strategic Information systems

Text and reading materials
The Required texts are:

Fred. (2012), Strategic Management, 13th Edition, by David (Prentice Hall)

Keri e. Pearlson and carol s. Saunders (2010), Managing and Using Information
Systems: A Strategic Approach
,#

Topics
1.
2.

The nature of
strategic
management

3.
4.
5.
6.
1.
2.

The business
vision and
mission

3.
4.
5.
6.

The
Information
Systems
Strategy
Triangle

Strategic Use of
Information
Resources

Learning Objectives
Describe the strategic-management process.
Explain the need for integrating analysis and intuition in
strategic management.
Define and give examples of key terms in strategic
management.
Discuss the nature of strategy formulation, implementation,
and evaluation activities.
Describe the benefits of good strategic management.
Discuss how a firm may achieve sustained competitive
advantage.
Describe the nature and role of vision and mission
statements in strategic management.
Discuss why the process of developing a mission statement
is as important as the resulting document.
Identify the components of mission statements.
Discuss how clear vision and mission statements can benefit
other strategic-management activities.
Evaluate mission statements of different organizations.
Write good vision and mission statements.

1. Determine the role general managers must take in decisions

about IS.
2. Define and explain the Information Systems Strategy Triangle.
3. Identify and define the various business strategy frameworks.
4. Explain the information system strategy matrix.
Understand and apply these models to different organizations.
1. List the identifying factors of the eras of information usage.
2. Know what makes an information resource valuable.
3. Explain how information resources are used strategically in
context of the 5-forces model.
4. Understand how information resources can be used to alter the
value chain.
5. Explain the importance of strategic alliances.
Know the risks of information resources.

Chapter

Chap. 1

Chap. 2

Chap. 1
Reading2

Chap. 2
Reading2

|Page8

,#

Topics
1.
2.

Organizational
Impacts of
Information
Systems Use

3.
4.
5.

Learning Objectives
Understand how the use of information technology impacts an
organization.
Identify the type of organizational structure that tends to be most
willing to embrace technological change and sophistication.
List the advantages and disadvantages of the networked
organizational structure.
Discuss how IT has changed the way managers monitor and
evaluate
Define and explain the concept and importance of virtual
organizations.
Identify the challenges that are faced by virtual teams

Chapter
Chap. 3
Reading2

|Page9