BSAD 141, Spring 2014 Final Exam Study Guide NOTE: you are responsible for the material in any chapters, chapter extensions, handouts, and online reading. It would be beneficial to read everything prior to the test. It could be beneficial to reread the chapters and focus on specific definitions. It really depends on your comfort level. The notes do not exactly mirror the chapters. I didn t just reproduce the material in the chapter. Some lectures more closely mirror the book than others. Material from Test #1 Lecture 1 1/21 (BDIS 1.1: pages 2-12): Business Driven Management Information Systems Data, Information, Business Intelligence, and Knowledge AND Appendix A: Hardware and Software Basics Define IT and IS and in relationship to the five components of the IS model Hardware versus software Describe what the CPU is and identify the two components of the CPU and what their responsibilities are Define a bit and a byte Clock speed, word length, and bus width Parallel versus serial bus Define / describe the 3 components of primary storage (RAM, ROM, cache) Define / describe Virtual Memory, why it is important, how it works, what a page file is, and what a fragmentation error is Define / describe secondary storage and give examples of magnetic and optical secondary storage devices What is the difference between BluRay and a DVD? Storage/size units of storage definitions which term represents the largest size? Example, MB vs GB Define / describe the three types of system software (OS, utility, drivers) and provide some examples What are three different OS? Define / describe application software and some examples Define / describe data versus information Define MIS Lecture 2 1/23: (BDIS 7.1 and 7.2: pages 241-274) Networks and Connectivity AND Appendix B: Networks and Telecommunications from the back of the book Define LAN and WAN and state the differences between a LAN and WAN Define networking technology and give examples
What are the most popular LAN technologies? Differences between Bluetooth, wireless and Wi-Fi What are some of the drawbacks to WiFi (wireless network connectivity)? Define what a router does Define what a switch does What is the difference between a router and a switch? Define / discuss what a network interface card is Define and differentiate between bandwidth and throughput Explain what your ISP means when they use the term broadband Identify and differentiate between the 3) network access technologies for corporate connectivity and the 3 for home connectivity What are the differences between shared and dedicated networks and between public and private networks? The basics of how VPN works and why it is a popular remote networking connectivity option Define what a network protocol is and what networking standards are What are the two most popular protocols in the Internet protocol stack? Describe the basic characteristics of each What is the format of an IP address and can you identify one? How is the Internet different from the WWW? What is a URL? What does network convergence refer to? Lecture 3 1/28 (BDIS 6.1: pages 207-217) Data, Information, and Databases What is meant by granularity? Discuss the 5 characteristics of high quality information and define each Identify examples of how data can be of low quality Differentiate between a database (DB) and a database management system (DBMS) slides related to DBMS and RDBMS Define and differentiate between an entity set and an entity (rows contain entities) Differentiate between attribute and record Define and differentiate between primary key and foreign key Describe four advantages of RDBMS What is a DB schema and how does it impact the user view of the data? Define and differentiate between data redundancy and information integrity give examples of each and how problems can occur Define the lost-update problem in general. Why would this be an issue? How is it addressed? Lecture 4 1/30 (online reading) Data modeling, Entity-relationship Diagrams (ERDs), characteristics of relationships You are responsible for the online reading
Define a data model Define ERD Describe relational databases and what the benefits of RDBMS are. What is the fundamental component of an RDBMS? What is the programming or query language used in RDBMS? Review terminology for RDBMs Identify requirements for primary keys Types of attributes composite, simple, primary key, single valued, multi-valued Define attribute domain Define relationship degree, relationship connectivity, and relationship existence Differentiate between mandatory and optional existence what are implications when entering data? Interpret relationship connectivity: 1:1, 1:M, M:M Primary key, foreign key, and linking two tables using a FK in a 1:M relationship Lecture 5 2/4: More on data modeling, ERDs 1:M and M:M examples This lecture provided detailed examples on relationship connectivity, re-emphasized definitions, how PKs and FKs work, and I walked you though a 1:M and M:M example using tables. I explained the consequences of implementing a M:M incorrectly using the student class section example Lecture 6 2/6: Introduction to MS Access, building tables, creating keys, linking tables, using MS Access built-in relationships GUI, discussion (examples) of integrity issues Building an ERD using basic information Know the ERD notation used in the class and be able to draw an ERD using CORRECT notation Describe 2 types of integrity entity and referential. When does a violation of each occur? Why is each important? You might want to go through the Project-Manager example and build these tables in Access Make sure you can interpret error messages in Access Define normalization As DB becomes more normalized, what are some of the potential implications with respect to performance (query processing speeds)? We went through working examples of both types of integrity in Access and we looked at a flat file simple data problem and converted it through a first level normalization processing into two tables with a relationship between those 2 tables using M:M Employee-Project example Lecture 7 2/11: in-class normalization exercise where I gave you some data associated with the M:M Employee-Project example. Given some small set of data in a flat file format (like a giant Excel spreadsheet), be able to identify the entities in the table and convert those entities into tables. Be able to place attributes in the appropriate table. We worked through Employee-
Project example in detail. We used data to build an ERD and then implemented the ERD in Access this was a M:M example Lecture 8 2/13: in-class exercise Material from Test #2 Lecture 9 2/20 and Lecture 10-2/25: Database queries and reports You need to know the basics of relational databases and how to use keys to understand queries. Some of this material builds on material covered during Test #1. It could be beneficial to work through Tech Plug In 7 using the SlopeSideBikes data I have also posted a query HW if you want to practice. There is a database called NorthWindSimple2007.accdb and the solutions are implemented in NorthWindSimplesol.accdb. We covered a variety of topics during the lecture: What a query is Using the different views to build and view a query We looked at the SQL view We build queries using both the wizard and the design view We discussed all the rows and columns in the design view and specifically what each row does We set various criteria We used sorting We used the wildcard character We created several variables We build a query from a query You are not responsible for pivot charts or tables Lecture 11 2/27: Downloading Web-based data into MS Excel and manipulating data using the Data Analysis plugin You should have worked through the data analysis exercise. If not, you can go through the exercise before the test I have posted a completed spreadsheet as well as an example of an answer to the last question I ask My expectation is that you would be able to interpret basic descriptive statistics and be able to define kurtosis and skewness (as well as how they might be used in analyses)
Lecture 12 3/11 Using MS Excel for linear regression modeling exercise You should have worked through the posted exercise and we able to answer all questions We did one example in class and then I gave you another example to do on your own. I posted the solutions to the questions. You should be able to interpret the regression output and interpret basic scatter plots (both of the regression variables and of the residuals) Any information contained in the exercise is fair game Lecture 13 3/18 Basic linear programming exercise + power points Go over the PowerPoints so you understand what linear programming is and how it is used Know what the objective function (OF) is and how to state a basic objective function consistent with the example used in class Know what constraints are and how to state basic constraints consistent with the example used in class Interpret the Answer Report Interpret the Sensitivity Report Interpret the shadow price and allowable increase / decrease associated with the OF coefficients Interpret the shadow price and allowable increase / decrease associated with the RHS constraint coefficients (the interpretation is slightly different from the OF) Given some basic information consistent with the lecture, be able to set up a basic linear programming problem Lecture 14 3/20 Investment LP example There really shouldn t be any new material here I do not intend to ask you questions using a more complex problem. The problem will be in line with Lecture 13 Lecture 15 3/25: (Car Loan Payment worksheet and discussion of Index, Payment, Vlookup, and IF functions) You should be able to answer questions about any of the functions that we use. For example, if I give you a small Excel table and show you a particular function, identify what they function would return. I could ask questions on the construction of a function and how you would use it. I will give handouts in class Material since Test #2 Lecture 16 4/3: IS, Organizational Strategy and Competitive Advantage. BDIS 1.2: pages 13-26 Define / describe business strategy can you give an example? Why is developing and understanding what a business strategy is important? Differentiate between goals and objectives and provide examples of each
Define / describe competitive advantage, competitive intelligence, and first-mover advantage Understand competitive strategy matrix and examples for cost and differentiation strategies Name components of Porter s 5 forces model and be able to give examples of situations where each of the components is either high or low i.e. understand the different forces in the model and give examples of the force effects Define / describe business process and be able to give examples of business processes Define / describe value chain analysis Name the 5 primary activities of a value chain and 4 secondary activities and give examples Describe how MIS fits into the value chain discussion Differentiate between supply chain and value chain Why might subcontracting certain functions within an organization (or even interacting with other organizations) be difficult to manage from the perspective of optimizing the value chain of a single organization? Lecture 17 4/8: Decision Making and Business Process Management. BDIS Chapter 2: pages 42-77 + online readings Name the two general types of decision: structure and unstructured and identify the common characteristics of both Define 3 different levels of management decisions and how they fit into organizational pyramid be able to give examples of the different types of decisions Relationship between org. pyramid, management decision level, information requirements, and type of decision (slide 7 from Lecture 3) Describe / characterize the information requirements for each type of decision Name which basic type of information system is used at each of the three levels in the organizational pyramid What is a TPS and what does it do? Define / describe metric, critical success factor (CSF), and key performance indicator (KPI) and give examples of each be able to link these with goals Define / describe efficiency and effectiveness and give examples of each. By looking at the table of efficiency vs- effectiveness, which is a more subjective measure? Define / describe a benchmark and the benchmarking process Define BPM Differentiate between BPM and CIP, TQM, and Six Sigma Identify the three types of BP changes associated with MIS and map them to the different managerial levels Differentiate between front-office and back-office systems Define the three types of process scopes What are some of the problems / difficulties associated with BPM?
Lecture 18 4/10: (started the in-class Causeway DFD example also some online reading): Entity / activity (EA) tables, context diagrams, and physical DFDs What is a DFD? What are the three types of DFDs and how are they different? What is a context diagram? Rules for CD Physical vs- logical DFDs Define what a balanced DFD is Physical DFD rules How to create an EA table What is an external entity? Internal entity? What is the difference and how can you tell from your EA table? Define information processing activity Lecture 19 4/15: In-class Causeway example + introduction to MS Visio Lecture 20 4/17: In-class Application Screening process example Lecture 21 4/21: Information and Ethics, Information Security and malicious programs. BDIS 4.1: pages 131-144. BDIS 4.2: pages 144-15 + online reading What is the only ethical component of MIS? You do NOT need to know the details associated with the 6 organizational information management polices identified in slide 10 (and discussed in slides 11-20) Differentiate between virus and worm and be able to define what a virus is What are the different types of viruses that were mentioned? In terms of information security know that people (and the development of policies) are the first line of defense and technology is the second line of defense Define and differentiate between authentication and authorization Define and differentiate between asymmetric / public key and symmetric / private key encryption Define encryption In general be able to explain how public key encryption works Differentiate between public key encryption and a digital signature In general be able to explain how a digital signature works Define a certificate authority and what it does Lecture 22 4/24: what makes a technology sustainable? Virtualization and the cloud. BDIS 5.1: pages 167-178. BDIS 5.2: pages 178-190 What are the 3 components / pillars of sustainability? What is the difference between a client and a server? What is an example of a network service that would be hosted on a server? Why is the client-server architecture important? Define cloud computing what is it?
What is the difference between the public cloud and a private data center? What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of each? Differentiate between the 3 types of backup What is the difference between a backup plan and a disaster recovery plan? Identify and describe each of the 6 components of an agile MIS infrastructure Define EWaste What are examples of cost-effective approaches to environmental sustainability? Define virtualization Lecture 23 4/29: Decision Support Systems What is a decision-support system and how are these systems used?