S249/111C

DUBLIN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

KEVIN STREET, DUBLIN 8.
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Higher Certificate in Computing

Year 1
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SEMESTER 2 EXAMINATIONS 2010

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Information Systems in Organisations –

SOLUTIONS with MARKING SCHEME

Question 1

(a) List four structure types which are used to structure organisations.

Solution:
There are four commonly recognised structures for organisations that are sometimes
defined as ‘types’:
– Functional
(1 mark)
– Product (sometimes referred to as ‘Project’ as an alternative)
(2 marks)
– Bureaucratic
(1 mark)
– Matrix
(1 mark)
(5 marks)

(b) List five examples of business organisations. How do business information

systems relate to ‘information flow’?

Solution:
Business organisations vary in size from huge international companies to private
individuals, including;
– manufacturing and commercial companies,

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 – central and local government departments,
– financial institutions,
– administrative organisations,
– service agencies,
(5 marks)

• Product flow is the flow of raw materials to finished goods.

• Information flow is the creation and movement of the administrative and
operational documentation necessary for product flow and for providing a
service.
• Business Information Systems support information flow and provide information
to companies to assist in achieving their aims.
(5 marks)
(10 marks)

(c) Describe the purpose of management information in relation to an

organisation’s functional monitoring and control.

Solution:
Management Information for monitoring and control:
– Answers questions like “Of what (product/service) are we selling most?”
or “Are the sales team meeting their targets?”
(2 marks)
– Needs to be condensed and summarised information in the form of
reports, graphs and tables, forecasts.
(2 marks)
– Is usually derived from information collected at operational level.
(1 mark)
(5 marks)

(d) List five features of an Executive Information System.

Solution:
Executive Information Systems provide - (any five of);
– decision support, (DSS)
– information retrieval from corporate databases, ad hoc reporting,
– powerful display and multimedia capabilities,
– presentation facilities, e.g. PowerPoint,
– communications, e.g. e-mail, fax,
– organisational support, electronic diary, etc.
(5 x 1 mark)
(5 marks)

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Question 2

(a) Compare the terms, ‘data’, ‘information’ and ‘knowledge’. Show how these
are positioned on an Information Pyramid.

Solution:
Data are streams of raw facts representing events occurring in an organisation or its
environment before they are arranged in a form that people understand and use.
Information is data that has been shaped into a format that is meaningful and useful to
human beings.

Data Converted to Information

(3 marks)

• Knowledge
– New knowledge may be created from existing knowledge using logical
inference.
(2 marks)

• Information = Data + Meaning

• Knowledge = Information + Processing

Wisdom

Knowledge

Information

Data

(5 marks)

(10 marks)

(b) Draw a diagram that represents a system, then comment on each of the
activities associated with a system.

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Solution:

Input Processing Output

Feedback

(5 marks)

Input
Capture and collection of raw data from within an organisation or from its environment.

Processing
Conversion, manipulation and analysis into a meaningful format

Output
Distribution of processed information to people or activities where it will be used.

Feedback
Output that is returned to the appropriate members of an organisation to help them
evaluate or correct input.
(5 marks)
(10 marks)

(c) Briefly describe how and why an identifiable strategy might be adopted by an
organisation.

Solution:
Strategy: A broad-based formula for how an organisation (such as a business) is going to
compete, what its goals should be, and what plans and policies will be needed to achieve
those goals. Strategy is also about making decisions about what not to do.
(2 marks)

Strategy is focused on questions about:

• organisational fit
• trade-offs
• profitability (or efficiency)
• value
(3 marks)
(5 marks)

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Question 3
(a) Expand on the term ‘Business Process Reengineering’. Give four reasons for
its use in an organisation.

Solution:
Business Process Reengineering (known to many as BPR) is a fancy term for changing
the organisation radically by, for example;
(1 mark)

– Reducing the ‘cycle time’ (CT) for production, customer service, etcetera.
– The empowering of employees (giving them more autonomy)
– Taking a ‘customer-focused approach’
– Restructuring the organisation or departments with, for example, a team-
based structure
(4 marks)
(5 marks)

(b) Briefly describe the job of Systems Analyst and list some of the tasks that a
systems analyst might carry out.

Solution:
Systems analysts bridge the gap between the various stakeholders to accurately define
technical requirements and define the Information Systems scope.
The systems analyst is skilled at working with end-users to determine what their
computational needs are.
The systems analyst has some organisational experience which is useful in determining if
a user's requests are feasible – but, really, their perspective is mainly that of the
technology.
(4 marks)

What a systems analyst does

• Conducts feasibility studies (with alternatives)
• Liaises with users and determines requirements
• Finds out facts important to the design of the proposed system
• Determines human and computer procedures that will make up the new system
• Designs data storage (files) and interfaces
• Writes program specifications
• Tests programs and systems
• Designs implementation procedures
• Documents the system
• Plans, monitors and controls the systems development
• Reviews how successful the project was
• Oversees the maintenance of the system
(6 marks)
(10 marks)

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 (c) Give an account of Supply Chain Management (SCM), including the goals of
this type of management and the causes of potential problems when an
organisation uses SCM.
Solution:
Supply Chain Management is a cross-functional inter-enterprise system to help support
and manage the links between a company’s key business processes and those of its
suppliers, customers and business partners.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) can be viewed as an application to match strategic
objectives for many firms -
– The right products
– The right place
– The right time
– In the proper quantity
– At an acceptable cost
(5 marks)

SCM Software helps organisations reengineer and integrate the functional SCM
processes
The goals of SCM is to establish fast, efficient, low-cost network of business relationships
or a supply chain to get a company’s products from concept to market.
A supply chain is made up of interrelationships with suppliers, customers, distributors,
and other businesses that are needed to design, build and sell a product.
Causes of problems with SCM:
• Lack of proper demand-planning knowledge, tools and guidelines
• Inaccurate or over-optimistic demand forecasts
• Inaccurate production, inventory and other data
• Lack of adequate collaboration within the company and between partners
• SCM software considered immature, incomplete and hard to implement
(5 marks)
(10 marks)

Question 4

(a) Describe the main principles of Selection and Acquisition of information

systems by an organisation.

Solution:
Selection of Information Systems is a managerial task when (or where) the hardware and
software of a new Information System need to be decided upon. The task of ‘acquisition’
follows these decisions – it can be seen as the ‘buying in’ of hardware and software to
match the choices made.
(3 marks)

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Selection of hardware and software can be made in any order; you might choose
hardware for particular reasons and choose software to ‘go with’ the hardware.
Alternatively, one could choose the software and follow up by looking for hardware to
suit it.
(2 marks)
(5 marks)

(b) What are the negative issues associated with acquiring/buying in standard
packaged software or ‘off-the-shelf’ software?

Solution:
If considering modification of a bought standard package…
– Ownership could be retained by the vendor.
– Your changes may compromise your current licence if your software is
licenced.
– Changes may not be covered by technical support.
– They may not be supported in upgrades.
(2 marks)

Upgrade trap
– Where vendors only support most recent versions of software. (A sales
strategy on their part.)
(2 marks)

Vendor lock-in
– New systems may be difficult to replace in the future.
(2 marks)

Training costs
– There may be a need to train in-house staff to support and maintain the
bought-in system.
(2 marks)

(The big question) Is the selected system software and application software best
suited this hardware?
(2 marks)
(10 marks)

(c) Outline five factors that ought to be considered when acquiring hardware.

Solution:
Hardware – evaluated with a view to selection will have the following factors examined
(any five if the following six):
– Performance

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 • Speed, capacity, throughput
– Cost
• Lease or purchase price
• Cost of operations and maintenance
– Reliability
• Any risk of malfunction and maintenance requirements will be
identifued
• Error control and diagnostic features will be specified
– Compatibility
• With existing hardware and software?
• With hardware and software provided by alternative vendors?
– Future proof’?
• What is the speculated product life cycle?
• Does it use a new, untested technology?
• Does it run the risk of obsolescence?
– Ergonomics
• Is the equipment “human factors engineered”?
• Is the hardware user-friendly?
• Is the hardware safe, comfortable and easy to use?
(5 x 2 marks)
(10 marks)

Question 5

(a) Briefly describe the responsibilities of an Information Technology Department

when establishing an information system within an organisation.

Solution:
The IT Department is responsible for organisation-level and shared resources and for
using IT to solve end users’ application problems. End users are responsible for their
own computing resources and departmental resources.
(2 marks)

The IT Department and end users often work together as partners to manage the IT
resources. The IT Department has changed from a purely technical support role to a
more managerial and strategic one.
(2 marks)

In many modern cases, the IT Manager’s role has changed from a technical manager to
a senior executive called the Chief Information Officer (CIO).
(1 mark)

(5 marks)

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 (b) What are the operational activities associated with managing information
systems operations, including the activities of managers and the Chief
Information Officer (CIO)?

Solution:
Managing information systems operations:
Operational activities requiring management include:
• Computer systems operations
• Network management
• Systems and services production control
• Systems and services production support
(3 marks)

Managers must take part in system performance monitoring:

• Monitor the processing of computer jobs
• Helps develop a planned schedule
• Produces detailed statistics for planning and control of computing
capacity
• Help control chargeback systems
• Help Process Control
(3 marks)

The Chief Information Officer (CIO):

Oversees all use of IT in many organisations.
Brings the IT function into alignment with organisational goals and strategies
Concentrates on business/IT planning and strategy
Helps develop strategic uses of IT in e-business and e-commerce
(4 marks)
(10 marks)

(c) Describe a system security programme that ought to be established by an

Information Systems Department and the goals of this kind of programme.

Solution:
Integrated security and privacy requirements are critical to IT management and
protecting an organisation’s information An organisation may be required by
organisational policy or compliance to the law to have an information security
programme in place. A security programme may be put in place to insure against
identified problems or risks. A security programme may be managed by named
individuals in Management positions in any part of the organisation.
(5 marks)

In this context information security is cited with the IT Department through the proper
implementation of information systems. The goal of a security programme is to provide
assurance that there exists security to:

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 • Provide for timely and reliable availability of information and systems
• Preserve confidentiality of data
• Safeguard integrity of data
A security control is a specific action or procedure provided to protect confidentiality,
integrity and availability of information/systems.
(5 marks)
(10 marks)

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