VTU - 1st SEM MBA – Management Information Systems - Dec 2009/ Jan

2010

Q8 b ) Insert in Pg E 74 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A: A Data Flow Diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation normally designed by a

system analyst and is used as a reference point by the programmer which portrays the
"flow" of data through an information system. It is primarily used for the visualization
of data processing for the structured design of an information system. It is common
practice for a database designer to begin the process by drawing a context-level DFD,
which shows the interaction between the system and outside entities. This context-
level DFD is then "exploded" to show more detail of the system that is being
modeled.

• This is also called a bubble chart.

• It has four symbols: Square (defines sources), arrow (defines data flow), circle
(defines process) and open rectangle (defines data store)
• It is the starting point in the system design that decomposes requirements to
the lowest level of detail.
• It identifies major transformations that eventually become programs in system
design.
• It consists of a series of bubbles joined by lines. Bubbles represent
transformations and the lines represent the data flows in the system.

Advantages of DFD are as follows -

When it comes to conveying how information data flows through systems and how
that data is transformed in the process, data flow diagrams (DFDs) are the method of
choice over technical descriptions for three principal reasons.
1. DFDs are easier to understand by technical and nontechnical audiences
2. DFDs can provide a high level system overview, complete with boundaries and
connections to other systems
 3. DFDs can provide a detailed representation of system components.
4. Represents data flows
5. May be used at high or low level of analysis. For instance, if the DRE is low
during analysis and design, it means you should spend time improving the way you
conduct formal technical reviews.
6. Provides good system documentation.
Process bubbles can be hierarchically decomposed into sub-DFDs; the inputs and
outputs must match at all levels of decomposition, so the design has validation

DFDs help system designers and others during initial analysis stages visualize a
current system or one that may be necessary to meet new requirements. Systems
analysts prefer working with DFDs, particularly when they require a clear
understanding of the boundary between existing systems and postulated systems.
As we have seen, the DFD method is an element of object-oriented analysis and is
widely used. Use of DFDs promotes quick and relatively easy project code
development. DFDs are easy to learn with their few-and simple-to-understand
symbols (once you decide on a particular DFD model). The syntax used for designing
DFDs is simple, employing English nouns or noun-adjective-verb constructs.

Disadvantages –

• Weak in its display of input and output details.

Q7c Insert in Pg E 35 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A: The Components of Enterprise management Systems are as follows -

Asset Management: An automated process for tracking ICT assets during their life
cycles, including data on inventory, maintenance, costs and upgrades or other
changes. Reports are generated periodically and on demand.
Software Inventory: A listing kept current at all times with detailed information
about all software installed within an organization. Reports are generated periodically
and on demand.

Hardware Inventory: A listing kept current at all times with detailed information
about all hardware components, including end user computers, peripherals, servers
and network devices. Reports are generated periodically and on demand.

Software Distribution: An automated process for installing software on client

computers and network components from a centralized location. The process can
accommodate mobile devices and retry after failures. Reports detailing status can be
generated on demand.

Virus Management: An automated process that detects viruses on the network and
on individual devices, alerts system operators to attacks and repairs problems when
found. Typical reports include periodic status updates and incident reports.

Systems Event Management: An automated event management system that notifies

system operators of impending and actual failures, capacity issues, traffic issues and
other system and network events. Reports include system status and alarm tabulations.

Server-Based Client Image Control: The ability for a system administrator to create
a downloadable configuration used to set up end user computers and standardize
configurations.

User State Management and Restoration: The ability to mirror end user computers
on the server for rapid, automatic restoration after a system failure.

Unattended Power Up: The ability for an end user computer to be powered up
remotely on the network so that system administration functions can be performed
even when the user has powered off the system.

Client Hardware Event Management: The ability for devices on the network to
transmit information to systems operators about hardware-based abnormal
performance conditions and failures, such as temperature fluctuations or electrical
spikes.

Automated Backup and Restore: provides backup for all systems to a centralized
data repository.

Service Desk Problem Management and Resolution: An automated process for

generating trouble tickets, tracking status, dispatching technicians and reporting on
problem resolution. A knowledge database expedites diagnosis of common problems.

Client Remote Control: The ability for a service desk technician to take control of an
end user's computer from another computer on the network

Q2 b Insert in Pg E 40 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A: An extranet can add value to your company by helping you communicate and
collaborate more effectively with clients, customers, and partners. Particularly in the
business-to-business market, an extranet can give your company an edge over the
competition and save you money by streamlining traditional business functions and
cutting overhead costs.

The strategic advantage by using extranet for a company is as follows -

Increased productivity. As you automate processes that were traditionally done

manually, bottlenecks will disappear and your company's productivity will increase.
Critical information won't get lost in the mail or buried in an e-mail inbox, and busy
employees won't miss or forget key events. An extranet can, for example, monitor
business activities and trigger specific actions, such as automatically placing an order
with a supplier when your inventory drops below a certain level.

Reduced margin of error. An extranet can reduce your margin of error, especially
when you use it to give specific groups access to internal applications. This could
involve something as simple as giving customers access to their order histories, or
something as complex as processing orders from distributors and suppliers.
Flexibility. When you use an extranet to make information and applications available
to partners, clients, and customers, everyone can operate when and where it's most
convenient. This self-serve approach frees you from unnecessary meetings and phone
tag, and it cuts down on the costs associated with in-person information exchanges.
For example, an extranet may allow you to provide customer-service information
outside of regular business hours.

Timely and accurate information. On an extranet you can instantly change, edit,
and update sensitive information such as price lists or inventory information.
Compared to typical paper-based publishing processes, an extranet offers a unique
opportunity to get hot information into the right hands before it cools -- and before it's
out-of-date.

Shorter time to market. If your business is not moving at "Internet speed," you risk
being left behind. An extranet can help you get your products to market more quickly
by making proposals and specifications available to suppliers, and giving clients and
partners up-to-date information on current projects.

Reduced inventory. One of the hallmarks of a business-to-business extranet is its

impact on supply-chain management. By linking your inventory system directly to a
supplier, you can process orders as soon as the system knows you need them, thus
reducing the stock you keep on hand and making the procurement process more
efficient.

Build customer loyalty. Extranets make business easier for your customers. The
more you make timely, accurate information available to your customers, the more
likely it is you'll keep their business.

As these examples demonstrate, an extranet can help you spend less on supplies,
staffing, and other overhead costs. Given the investment an extranet requires, it may
take time for savings to become apparent. Over a period of weeks or months,
however, eliminating even one paper-based process can yield dramatic savings.

Q2a Insert in Pg E 37 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A: Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with
references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually
by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may
contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the underlying
concept defining the structure of theWorld Wide Web, making it an easy-to-use and
flexible format to share information over the Internet.

Q3a Insert in Pg E 88 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A: The translation of data into a secret code. Encryption is the most effective way to
achieve data security. To read an encrypted file, you must have access to a
secret key or password that enables you to decrypt it. Unencrypted data is called plain
text ; encrypted data is referred to as cipher text. There are two main types of
encryption: asymmetric encryption (also called public-key encryption) and symmetric
encryption.

Q3c Insert in Pg E 74 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A: The factors for evaluating Software are as follows –

Understandability
Clarity of purpose. This goes further than just a statement of purpose; all of
the design and user documentation must be clearly written so that it is easily
understandable. This is obviously subjective in that the user context must be
taken into account: for instance, if the software product is to be used by
software engineers it is not required to be understandable to the layman.
Completeness
Presence of all constituent parts, with each part fully developed. This means
that if the code calls a subroutine from an external library, the software
package must provide reference to that library and all required parameters
must be passed. All required input data must also be available.
Conciseness
Minimization of excessive or redundant information or processing. This is
important where memory capacity is limited, and it is generally considered
good practice to keep lines of code to a minimum. It can be improved by
 replacing repeated functionality by one subroutine or function which achieves
that functionality. It also applies to documents.
Portability
Ability to be run well and easily on multiple computer configurations.
Portability can mean both between different hardware—such as running on a
PC as well as a smartphone—and between different operating systems—such
as running on both Mac OS X and GNU/Linux.
Consistency
Uniformity in notation, symbology, appearance, and terminology within itself.
Maintainability
Propensity to facilitate updates to satisfy new requirements. Thus the software
product that is maintainable should be well-documented, should not be
complex, and should have spare capacity for memory, storage and processor
utilization and other resources.
Testability
Disposition to support acceptance criteria and evaluation of performance. Such
a characteristic must be built-in during the design phase if the product is to be
easily testable; a complex design leads to poor testability.
Usability
Convenience and practicality of use. This is affected by such things as the
human-computer interface. The component of the software that has most
impact on this is the user interface (UI), which for best usability is usually
graphical (i.e. a GUI).
Reliability
Ability to be expected to perform its intended functions satisfactorily. This
implies a time factor in that a reliable product is expected to perform correctly
over a period of time. It also encompasses environmental considerations in
that the product is required to perform correctly in whatever conditions it finds
itself (sometimes termed robustness).
Efficiency
Fulfillment of purpose without waste of resources, such as memory, space and
processor utilization, network bandwidth, time, etc.
Security
 Ability to protect data against unauthorized access and to withstand malicious
or inadvertent interference with its operations. Besides the presence of
appropriate security mechanisms such as authentication, access control and
encryption, security also implies resilience in the face of malicious, intelligent
and adaptive attackers.

The factors for evaluating Hardware are as follows –

Conduct hardware inventory and evaluation

Evaluate the requirements of your new manufacturing software system
and it’s supporting technologies along with determining training
requirements for internal staff necessary to fully utilize and support the
new system.
Identify any enhancements, upgrades or changes
Identify any enhancements, upgrades or training required to support
your selected manufacturing information system.
Implement and administer enhancements
Implement and administer the chosen hardware and infrastructure
enhancements along with managing the training component.

Q4 a Insert in Pg E 59 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A: A specialized language for requesting information from a database. For example,

the query

SELECT ALL WHERE age > 30 AND name = "Smith"

requests all records in which the name-field is "Smith" and the Age field has a value
greater than 30. The de facto standard for query languages is SQL.

Q5a Insert in Pg E 59 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A : An exception report is where data is not normal or not within expected
parameters. For example, you might forecast a spend of 400$ per month on
something with a variation of 20%. On the report generated by your computer system
you could have the data within the 'normal' range displayed in black whereas an
exception above or below the normal range could be displayed in red. Alternatively
you could have the report program provide you with information that was outwith
your normal expectations.

In other words you only get told about a spend when it is exceeding or likely to
exceed your forecast. This principle can be applied to many situations to alert
managers about a situation that they need to corrective action on. With today's
technology it is possible to send an 'alert' to the manager via an email or text message.
Exception reporting is a concept designed to save time by alerting interested
parties to a given situation. The alternative would be to search for this information
where it is mixed in with a lot of 'normal' data and therefore more difficult to find.

In Project Management, an exception report is a short report mainly highlighting the

differences between the planned results and the actual results. Usually this report is
prepared when such differences are substantial.

Q6 a Insert in Pg E 18 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A : An inference engine is a computer program that tries to derive answers from

aknowledge base. It is the "brain" that expert systems use to reason about the
information in the knowledge base for the ultimate purpose of formulating new
conclusions. Inference engines are considered to be a special case of reasoning
engines, which can use more general methods of reasoning.
Q6b Insert in Pg E 27 MBA 1st SEM MBA edition 2009

A : The terms Business rule , Formula, algorithm and Heuristics are extensively used
in DSS. The meaning of these terms are as follows –

1. Business rules – Business rules syntax allows for a great deal of flexibility that
you cannot replicate in traditional programming languages. Rules may be written
with English phrases such as 'If customer's age exceeds 65, then set customer's
discount to .05'.
Business rules or business rulesets describe the operations, definitions and constraints
that apply to an organization in achieving its goals. For example a business rule might
state that no credit check is to be performed on return customers. Others could define
a tenant in terms of solvency or list preferred suppliers and supply schedules. These
rules are then used to help the organization to better achieve goals, communicate
among principals and agents, communicate between the organization and interested
third parties, demonstrate fulfillment of legal obligations, operate more efficiently,
automate operations, perform analysis on current practices, etc.

A business rule defines or constrains one aspect of your business that is intended to
assert business structure or influence the behavior of your business. Business rules
often focus on access control issues, for example, professors are allowed to input and
modify the marks of the students taking the seminars they instruct, but not the marks
of students in other seminars. Business rules may also pertain to business calculations,
for example, how to convert a percentage mark (for example, 91 percent) that a
student receives in a seminar into a letter grade (for example, A-). Some business
rules focus on the policies of your organization, perhaps the university policy is to
expel for one year anyone who fails more than two courses in the same semester."

2. Formula – Formula is a database object, which is a calculation, rule or other

expression for manipulating the data within a multi-dimensional database.
Formulae define relationships among members. Formulae are used by OLAP
database builders to provide great richness of content to the server database.
 Formulae are used by end users to model enterprise relationships and to
personalize the data for greater visualization and insight.

3. Algorithm - A set of rules for calculating results or solving problems that has
been programmed for use in a model-driven DSS.
4. Heuristics - Heuristics encompass the knowledge of how to solve problems
efficiently and effectively, how to plan steps in solving a complex problem,
how to improve performance, and so forth.