MIS Final Review102 PDF

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MIS Final ReviewCHAPTER 55-1. What is IT infrastructure and what are the stages and drivers of IT infrastructureevolution?● Define IT infrastructure from both a technology and a services perspective. The technical perspective is defined as the shared technology resources that provide the platform fo...

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MIS Final Review CHAPTER 5 5-1. What is IT infrastructure and what are the stages and drivers of IT infrastructure evolution?

● Define IT infrastructure from both a technology and a services perspective. -

The technical perspective is defined as the shared technology resources that provide the platform for the firm's specific information system applications. It consists of a set of physical devices and software applications that are required to operate the entire enterprise.

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The services perspective of IT infrastructure defines it as a set of firm-wide services budgeted by management and comprising both human and technical capabilities. It provides the foundation for serving customers, working with vendors, and managing internal firm business processes.

● List each of the eras in IT infrastructure evolution and describe its distinguishing characteristics. The IT infrastructure in organizations today is an outgrowth of more than 50 years of evolution in computing platforms. There have been five stages in this evolution, each representing a different configuration of computing power and infrastructure elements (see Figure 5.2). The five eras are general-purpose mainframe and minicomputer computing, personal computers, client/server networks, enterprise computing, and cloud and mobile computing

- General-purpose mainframe and minicomputer era (1959 to present): a period of highly centralized computing under the control of professional programmers and systems operators (usually in a corporate data center), with most elements of infrastructure provided by a single vendor, the manufacturer of the hardware and the software. - Personal computer era (1981 to present): Stand-alone desktop computers with office productivity tools.

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Client/server era (1983 to present): desktop or laptop clients networked to more powerful server computers that handle most of the data management and processing.

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Enterprise computing era (1992 to present): large numbers of PCs linked together into local area networks and growing use of standards and software to link disparate networks and devices into an enterprise-wide network so that information can flow freely across the organization.

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Cloud and mobile computing era (2000 to present): computing power and software applications provided over the Internet.

● Define and describe the following: Web server, application server, multitiered client/server architecture. Web server: software that manages requests for web pages on the computer where they are stored and that delivers the page to the user's computer. Application server: software that handles all application operations between browser-based computers and a company's back-end business applications or databases. Multitiered client/server architecture: client/server network in which the work of the entire network is balanced over several different levels of servers.

● Describe Moore’s Law and the Law of Mass Digital Storage Moore's Law: assertion that the number of components on a chip doubles each year. Law of Mass Digital Storage: the amount of digital information is roughly doubling every year.

● Describe how network economics, declining communications costs, and technology standards affect IT infrastructure. Network economics: Metcalfe and others point to the increasing returns to scale that network members receive as more and more people join the network. As the number of members in a network grows linearly, the value of the entire system grows exponentially and continues to grow as members increase. Declining communications costs: As communication costs fall toward a very small number and approach zero, utilization of communication and computing facilities explode.

Technology standards: Specifications that establish the compatibility of products and the ability to communicate in a network. Technology standards unleash powerful economies of scale and result in price declines as manufacturers focus on the products built to a single standard. Without these economies of scale, computing of any sort would be far more expensive than is currently the case.

5-2 What are the components of IT infrastructure? 

List and describe the components of IT infrastructure that firms need to manage.

There are seven major components that must be coordinated to provide the firm with a coherent IT infrastructure. Computer hardware platforms: ex. IBM, Oracle Sun, HP, Apple operating system platforms: ex. Microsoft Windows, Unix, Linux, MacOS, Chrome, Android, iOS enterprise software platforms: ex. SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM network and telecommunication platforms: ex. Microsoft Windows Server, Linux, Cisco, AT&T, Verizon database management software: ex. IBM, DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, Sybase, MySQL, Apache, Hadoop internet platforms: ex. Apache, Microsoft IIS, .NET, Unix, Cisco, Java consulting services and system integrators: ex. IBM, HP, Accenture

5-3 What are the current trends in computer hardware platforms?

● Describe the evolving mobile platform, consumerization of IT, and cloud computing. evolving mobile platform: smartphones and tablets are becoming the primary means of accessing the Internet and are increasingly used for business computing as well as for consumer applications. consumerization of IT: new information technology originating in the consumer market that spreads to business organizations. cloud computing: a model of computing in which computer processing, storage, software, and other services are provided as a shared pool of virtualized resources over a network, primarily the Internet.

● Explain how businesses can benefit from virtualization, green computing, and multicore processors. Virtualization refers to the use of virtual servers, using one physical computer to provide the capabilities of multiple servers, possibly running different operating environments. It means that servers can be accessed without regard to physical location. It allows organizations to reduce costs and to run multiple operating systems (possibly for legacy systems) without additional hardware. Green computing, or green IT, refers to practices and technologies for designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated devices such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems to minimize impact on the environment.

5-4 What are the current computer software platforms and trends? ● Define and describe open-source software and Linux and explain their business benefits. A multicore processor is technology that allows multiple processors to be used in one CPU. This enhances performance, reduces power requirements and allows for more efficient processing.

● Define Java and HTML5 and explain why they are important.

Java: A programming language that can deliver only the software functionality needed for a particular task, such as a small applet downloaded from a network; can run on any computer and operating system. Java is important because of the dramatic growth of Web applications. HTML5: Next evolution of HTML, which makes it possible to embed images, video, and audio directly into a document without add-on software. Solves the problem of add-ons requiring additional programming and putting strains on computer processing.

● Define and describe web services and the role played by XML. Web services refer to a Set of universal standards using Internet technology for integrating different applications from different sources without time-consuming custom coding. Used for linking systems of different organizations or for linking disparate systems within the same organization. XML (Extensible Markup Language): The foundation technology for web services. A generalpurpose language that describes the structure of a document and can perform the presentation, communication, and storage of data, allowing data to be manipulated by the computer.

● Name and describe the three external sources for software. 1. Software Packages and Enterprise Software: software packages from a commercial software vendor (most ERP systems) - A software package is a prewritten commercially available set of software programs that eliminates the need for a firm to write its own software programs for certain functions, such as payroll processing or order handling. 2. Software outsourcing custom application development to an external vendor (which may or may not be offshore) - Software outsourcing enables a firm to contract custom software development or maintenance of existing legacy programs to outside firms, which often operate offshore in low-wage areas of the world. 3. cloud-based software services and tools (SaaS/PaaS) - Cloud-based software and the data it uses are hosted on powerful servers in data centers and can be accessed with an Internet connection and standard web browser. In addition to free or low-cost tools for individuals and small businesses provided by Google or Yahoo, enterprise software and other complex business functions are available as services from the major commercial software vendors.

● Define and describe software mashups and apps. Software mashups: composite software applications that depend on high-speed networks, universal communication standards, and open-source code. Apps: small, specialized software programs that run on the Internet, on your computer, or on your mobile phone or tablet and are generally delivered over the Internet.

5-5 What are the challenges of managing IT infrastructure and management solutions? ● Name and describe the management challenges posed by IT infrastructure. Creating and managing a coherent IT infrastructure raises multiple challenges: dealing with platform and technology change (including cloud and mobile computing), management and governance, and making wise infrastructure investments. -

Dealing with scalability and technology change: As firms grow, they can quickly outgrow their infrastructure. As firms shrink, they can get stuck with excessive infrastructure purchased in better times. Scalability refers to the ability of a computer, product, or system to expand to serve a larger number of users without breaking down.

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Management and governance: Responsibility for controlling and managing the firm's IT infrastructure.

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Making wise infrastructure investments: IT infrastructure is a major capital investment for the firm. If too much is spent on infrastructure, it lies idle and constitutes a drag on firm financial performance. If too little is spent, important business services cannot be delivered, and the firm's competitors will outperform the under-investing firm.

● Explain how using a competitive forces model and calculating the TCO of technology assets help firms make good infrastructure investments. The competitive forces model can be used to determine how much to spend on IT infrastructure and where to make strategic infrastructure investments, starting out new infrastructure initiatives

with small experimental pilot projects and establishing the total cost of ownership of information technology assets. The total cost of owning technology resources includes not only the original cost of acquiring and installing hardware and software—it also includes the ongoing administration costs for hardware and upgrades, maintenance, technical support, training, and even utility and real estate costs for running and housing the technology. The TCO model can be used to analyze these direct and indirect costs to help firms determine the actual cost of specific technology implementations.

Case Study: Is BYOD Good for Business? 5-14 What are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing employees to use their personal smartphones for work? 5-15 What management, organization, and technology factors should be addressed when deciding whether to allow employees to use their personal smartphones for work? 5-16 Evaluate how the companies described in this case study dealt with the challenges of BYOD. 5-16 Allowing employees to use their own smartphones for work will save the company money. Do you agree? Why or why not?

CHAPTER 6 6-1 What are the problems of managing data resources in a traditional file environment? ●

List and describe each of the components in the data hierarchy.

The data hierarchy includes bits, bytes, fields, records, files, and databases. Data are organized in a hierarchy that starts with the bit, which is represented by either a 0 (off) or a 1 (on). Bits can be grouped to form a byte to represent one character, number, or symbol. Bytes can be grouped to form a field, such as a name or date, and related fields can be grouped to form a record. Related records can be collected to form files, and related files can be organized into a database.

● Define and explain the significance of entities, attributes, and key fields. Entity: a person, place, thing, or event about which information must be kept. Attribute: a piece of information describing a particular entity. Key field: a field in a record that uniquely identifies instances of that record so that it can be retrieved, updated, or sorted.

● List and describe the problems of the traditional file environment. 1) Data redundancy and inconsistency. Data redundancy is the presence of duplicate data in multiple data files. In this situation, inconsistencies arise because the data can have different meanings in different files. 2) Program-data dependence. Program-data dependence is the tight relationship between data stored in files and the specific programs required to update and maintain those files. This dependency is very inefficient, resulting in the need to make changes in many programs when a common piece of data, such as the postal code structure, changes. 3) Lack of flexibility. Lack of flexibility refers to the fact that it is very difficult to create new reports from data when needed. Ad-hoc reports are impossible to generate; a new report could require several weeks of

work by more than one programmer and the creation of intermediate files to combine data from disparate files. 4) Poor security. Poor security results from the lack of control over the data because the data are so widespread. 5) Lack of data sharing and availability. Data sharing can be virtually impossible if data are distributed in so many different files around the organization.

6-2 What are the major capabilities of database management systems (DBMS) and why is a relational DBMS so powerful? ●

Define a database and a database management system.

Database: a group of related files: a collection of data organized to serve many applications efficiently by centralizing the data and controlling redundant data.. Database management system: special software to create and maintain a database and enable individual business applications to extract the data they need without having to create separate files or data definitions in their computer programs.

● Name and briefly describe the capabilities of a DBMS. - The DBMS acts as an interface between application programs and the physical data files. - The DBMS relieves the programmer or end user from the task of understanding where and how the data are actually stored by separating the logical and physical views of the data. - The database management software makes the physical database available for different logical views required by users.

● Define a relational DBMS and explain how it organizes data. Relation DBMS: a type of logical database model that treats data as if they were stored in twodimensional tables. It can relate data stored in one table to data in another as long as the two tables share a common data element.

● List and describe the three operations of a relational DBMS. In a relational database, three basic operations, as shown in Figure 6.5, are used to develop useful sets of data: select, join, and project. The select operation creates a subset consisting of all records in the file that meet stated criteria. Select creates, in other words, a subset of rows that meet certain criteria. The join operation combines relational tables to provide the user with more information than is available in individual tables. The project operation creates a subset consisting of columns in a table, permitting the user to create new tables that contain only the information required.

● Explain why non-relational databases are useful. Non-relational database management systems use a more flexible data model and are designed for managing large data sets across many distributed machines and for easily scaling up or down. They are useful for accelerating simple queries against large volumes of structured and unstructured data, including web, social media, graphics, and other forms of data that are difficult to analyze with traditional SQL-based tools. Non-relational databases are ideal for storing data that may be changed frequently or for applications that handle many different kinds of data. They can support rapidly developing applications requiring a dynamic database able to change quickly and to accommodate large amounts of complex, unstructured data.

● Define and describe normalization and referential integrity and explain how they contribute to a well-designed relational database. Normalization: the process of creating small stable data structures from complex groups of data when designing a relational database - minimizes redundant data Referential integrity: rules to ensure that relationships between coupled database tables remain consistent

● Define and describe an entity-relationship diagram and explain its role in database design. Entity-relationship diagram: a methodology for documenting databases illustrating the relationship between various entities in the database The boxes represent entities. The lines connecting the boxes represent relationships. A line connecting two entities that ends in two short marks designates a one-to-one relationship. A line connecting two entities that ends with a crow's foot topped by a short mark indicates a one-tomany relationship. It can't be emphasized enough: If the business doesn't get its data model right, the system won't be able to serve the business well. The company’s sysems will not be as effective as they could be because they’ll have to work with data that may be inaccurate, incomplete, or difficult to retrieve. Understanding the organization’s data and how they should be represented in a database is perhaps the most important lesson you can learn from this course.

6-3 What are the principal tools and technologies for accessing information from databases to improve business performance and decision making? ● Define big data and describe the technologies for managing and analyzing it. Big data: Data sets with volumes so huge that they are beyond the ability of typical relational DBMS to capture, store, and analyze. The data are often unstructured or semi-structured. To derive business value from these data, organizations need new technologies and tools capable of managing and analyzing nontraditional data along with their traditional enterprise data. They also need to know what questions to ask of the data and limitations of big data. Capturing, storing, and analyzing big data can be expensive, and information from big data may not necessarily help decision makers. It’s important to have a clear understanding of the problem big data will solve for the business.

● List and describe the components of a contemporary business intelligence infrastructure. A contemporary infrastructure for business intelligence has an array of tools for obtaining useful information from all the different types of data used by businesses today, including semistructured and unstructured big data in vast quantities. These capabilities include data warehouses an...