IT01 Study Questions Revised July 2, 2009

Decision Support Systems:

Turban, E., Leidner, D, McLean, E. & Wetherbe, J. (2008). Information Technology for Management, 6th ed. New York: Wiley and Sons, Inc. Chapters 3, 10, 11. Haag, S. & Cummings, M. (2008). Management Information Systems for the Information Age, 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5

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A Decision Support System a highly flexible and interactive IT system that is design to support decision making when the problem is not structured. The three components of a DSS are model management, data management and user interface management. An Artificial Intelligence system exploits the science of making machines Imitate human thinking and behavior. What are the four phases of Decision Making? Intelligence, design, choice, implementation.

- Which phases does Decision Support Systems support? Intelligence, design, and choice. What is the bottom line business benefit in the use of a Decision Support System? Help management make better decisions more quickly by providing valid and relevant information. Developing DSS systems - What kind of database is required for a DSS? Relational. - What is normalization? Removing data redundancy to help ensure data integrity across updates, changes, and time. Is this used in setting up a database for a DSS? Yes. Why or why not? Yes, to ensure data integrity (at setup). Aspects may later be de-normalized to enhance speed or responsiveness. - What is redundancy? Backup or duplicate data and systems.

What role does the user play in the design of a DSS? Defining the requirements.

Supporting a DSS - What are the managerial issues in supporting a DSS? Cost Benefits may be hard to define. Documenting (especially small systems, e.g. The spreadsheet I use to manage customer contacts) Security Custom vs. off-the-shelf Technology choice Ethical issues Failure planning and risk management. - What is data cleansing? Finding and correcting corrupt, incorrect, or outdated information. - How does redundancy affect data quality? Redundancy can improve access times and reliability. Redundancy can also introduce inconsistencies within the data. Securing a DSS - What is a backup plan? Systematic approach to duplicating a system and/or its data, typically as a snapshot, for archival or disaster recovery purposes. - What is a disaster recovery plan? A systematic approach to recover some or all of a system and its data in the event part or all of the system is rendered inoperable, corrupt, or destroyed. Should have regimented practice. - What is a business continuity plan? The business approach to risk management and mitigation in the event of a partial or total failure of a DSS; how the business will continue operations until the DSS is restored. Using a DSS - What kind of DSS would a financial analyst use? An modeling system that might assist with market analysis, or spreadsheets designed to assist with investment decisions, refinancing costs, and risk assessment. - What kind would a marketing manager use? Budgeting software, intelligent agents that provide data mining tools for market analysis, and customer relationship management software. - What kind would an operations manager use? Scheduling, production, and inventory management and modeling systems. - Why would a business supplier use a DSS?

To help facilitate their customer service, delivery, and marketing efforts. Would a DSS help in: - Tracking merchandise through a supply chain? Yes. - Helping to understand a business process? No. - Modeling a what-if scenario? Yes. - Determining what merchandise to buy for a retail chain? Yes. - Determining what office supplies to buy for a financial consulting company? Technically yes, but probably not. - Making complex decisions? Yes. - Forecasting finances for the next year? Yes. - Monitoring competitive product over the internet? Yes.

IT Strategy
Turban, E., Leidner, D, McLean, E. & Wetherbe, J. (2008). Information Technology for Management, 6th ed. New York: Wiley and Sons, Inc. Chapters 13 & 16. Haag, S. & Cummings, M. (2008). Management Information Systems for the Information Age, 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Chapters 7 & 8 What is the goal of IS Strategic Alignment? To align IS strategy with organizational strategy. - How is this different from IS Alignment? The purpose of IS Alignment is to align IS structure, strategy, and processes with those of the business units. What are Porters Five Forces Model? 1. Threat of new entrants. 2. Bargaining power of suppliers. 3. Bargaining power of customers. 4. Threat of a substitute. 5. Rivalry/competition amongst existing firms in the industry. - Which would be most affected by a new item introduced by a competitor that is close to a business existing item? Threat of a substitute. - Which would be most affected by a customer loyalty program?

Bargaining power of customers. Which would be most affected by a new business Internet web site for customers (purchases and information)? Rivalry.

Creating an IT Strategic Plan - What is the goal in creating an IT Strategic Plan? To ensure that IT stays aligned with the rest of an organization and its goals, and continues to provide value to the organization. The plan should be a high-level, long-range plan that sets the overall direction in terms of infrastructure and resource requirements for a five to ten year period. - How is this different from an IT Plan? This is a shorter term plan that actually lists out specific plans and projects. - Who from the IT team and from the business organization should be involved in creating an IT Strategic Plan? CIO; other upper-level business management from the different operational groups. - What key areas are reviewed in the development? Critical success factors. - How would IT use a corporate strategy in the development of the IT Strategic Plan IT would make sure that the overall strategy supports the corporate strategy. - Would IT use the business strategy (i.e. functional area strategies) to build its IT Strategic Plan? No. - Would it use it in developing the IT Plan? Yes. o What is the goal in designing an IT system for a functional area? Support that areas structure, strategy, and processes. - What is SWOT analysis? Planning method to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a project. Communicating the IT Strategic Plan - Name three teams that should receive the IT Strategic Plan. IT, C-level, Operations. - How should it be delivered to each? Tailored to their specific needs; IT should probably have an in-person meeting with extensive documentation; C-level should have a summary document with brief email or telephone follow-up; operations should be a summary document with a brief in-person or virtual meeting to discuss. - What is the key to having the IT Strategic Plan approved by upper management? To ensure there is actual alignment with business needs/strategy, as well as buy-in and support of the plan by the business side. IT Plan - What is the purpose for an IT Plan? A specific (project) plan to support a unit or strategy. - How does an IT plan support the business? By providing the necessary technical infrastructure to enact, implement, or support a strategy or project. - What would be in an IT plan that would support the IT infrastructure?

Resource allocation Budget Success factors. Expansion. Integration. Control. System & data administration. Ongoing - How is an IT Plan and an IT Strategic Plan updated? As necessary in conjunction with other business unit strategy planning; some organizations have an IT steering committee. - What is the role of an IS Governance Committee? Ensure the effectiveness of the IS strategy and plan.

Project Management: NOTE: Diane, these questions are identical to the first set that you sent, so I am not going to fill them in.
Marchewka, J. (2006). Information Technology Project Management, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley & Sons, Inc. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9 Fill in the blanks: - A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to accomplish a unique product, service or result. - Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Define the following roles: - Project Manager - Project Sponsor - Project Stakeholder - Project Management Officer (PMO) SDLC is a type of project life cycle. - What are the five stages? - What is the Waterfall development method? - What is a Spiral development method? - What is Prototyping? - What is extreme programming? - Which of the above (Waterfall, Spiral or Prototyping) employs an iterative approach? What are the three types of project organizations? In which organization type: - Does the project manager have more power?

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Does the functional manager have more power? Are the team members relationships short? a project charter and project scope: Which one defines all the work to be completed in the project? Which one will be used by the sponsor to sign off on the project deliverables? Which one gives the project manager authority to begin the project? Which one defines the business objectives that are to be met by the project? project scheduling tools: What is a network diagram and what is it used for? What is the critical path method? What is a Pert Chart? (What is the pert equation to estimate time?) What is a Gantt chart? What is the purpose of a project schedule? a project schedule: What is the difference between lag and lead time? What is resource leveling? What is slack time? What are a predecessor and a successor activity?

What is the difference between (and which one must be completed on time?) - Critical activity - Milestone - Check point activity In managing a project, when would you use: - Project crashing? - Resource leveling? - Fast-Tracking? - Prototyping? What are the five process groups as defined by the PMI Institute in the PMBOK? What are the nine performance areas? In which performance area is the task: - Direct & Manage Project Execution? - Perform integrated change control? - Report Performance? - Distribute Information? - Select outside contractors / consultants/ software? - Create contingent response strategies? Of communications in a project: - What Performance Area covers communications? - How does stakeholder analysis aid the project manager to communicate status most effectively?

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Name four ways to communicate status. Which one(s) would you use for senior management? Risk Management Which of the Performance Areas cover risk analysis and management? How is risk assessed and managed in a project? What is the difference between mitigating, transferring, avoiding, and accepting a risk?

Project Reporting: - What is Earned Value? - What is Actual Cost? - What is Cost Variance how do you calculate it? - What is shared at a project status meeting? o Who attends? o Is the status written or verbal or both? - What are the various forms of information distribution? - What is the best way to communicate to project stakeholders? What element of project planning does Goldratt assert is a hindrance to timely project completion?