Q1-Rainbow's End Interview

Your interview seemed to go well, but you did not get the job.During the meeting,
the interviewer mentioned that they use structured analysis and rely heavily on
modeling, prototyping, and CASE tools. Thinking back, you realize that you did not
fully understand those terms. As you prepare for an interview with Rainbow's End, a
large retail chain, you decide to review some IT terms and concepts. You want to be
ready for the following questions:

Tasks

1. What are the main differences between structured, O-O, and agile development
methods? Which method do you think is best, and why?

2. What is a CASE tool and what does it do? What are two CASE tool examples?

3. What is modeling and how is it done?

4. What is prototyping and why is it important? What industries are likely to use
prototyping?

Q2-Will computer-based transactions and expanded e-commerce eventually replace person-tp-

person contact? From a customer's point of view, is this better? Why or why not?

Q3-The vice president of accounting says to you, the IT director, "This systems development life
cycle stuff takes too long." She tells you that her people know what they are doing and that all
systems requests coming from her department are necessary and important to the organization.
She suggests that the IT department bypass the initial steps for any accounting department
request and immediately get to work at the solution. What would you say to her?
Q4-Last Chance Securities

The IT director opened the department staff meeting today by saying, “I’ve got some
good news and some bad news. The good news is that management approved the
payroll system project this morning.  The new system will reduce clerical time and
errors, improve morale in the payroll department, and avoid  possible fines and
penalties for noncompliance. The bad news is that the system must be installed by
January 1st in order to meet new federal reporting rules, all expenses from now on
must be approved in advance, the system should have a modular design if possible,
and the vice president of finance would like to announce the new system in a year-
end report if it is ready by mid-December.”

Tasks

1. Why is it important to define the project scope? How would you define the scope
of the payroll  project in this case?

2. Review each constraint and identify its characteristics: present versus future,
internal versus external, and mandatory versus desirable.

3. What questions would you ask to determine the feasibility of this project?

4. Given the time constraints, could you shorten any of the typical steps in the preliminary
investigation? Which ones? Explain your answer.

Q5- During this week, please participate in the following discussion:

1. Knowledge workers dominate today's business environment. However, many industries

still need workers who do not fall into the category of knowledge workers. What
industries still need skilled workers? Can you see a time when these jobs will be replaced
by knowledge workers?
2. As an information-literate knowledge worker for a local distributor of imported foods and
spices, you've been asked to prepare a customer mailing list that will be sold to
international cuisine restaurants in your area. If you do, would you be acting ethically? If
you don't consider the proposal ethical, what if your boss threatened to fire you if you
didn't prepare the list? Do you believe you would have any legal recourse if you didn't
prepare the list and were subsequently fired?
Q6-Porter's Five Forces Model
One hotly contested and highly competitive industry is the movie rental business. You can rent videos
from local video rental stores ( a dying breed), you can order pay-per-view from the comfort of your
own home, and you can rent and stream videos from the Web at such sites as NetFlix. 

Using Porter’s Five Forces Model, evaluate the relative attractiveness of entering the movie rental
business.  Is buyer power low or high?  Is supplier power low or high?  Which substitute products and
services are perceived as threats?  Can new entrants easily enter the market?  What are the barriers to
entry?  What is the level of rivalry among existing competitors?  What is your overall view of the movie
rental industry?  Is it a good or bad industry to enter?

Research the above questions and write a three page paper exploring all nine of the questions posed.