CI-490: Final Exam

http://members.tripod.com/~ci490 Instructor: Ed Quigley 724.774.2088

CI-490 Final Exam

• This page contains the Final exam for CI-490.
• Brevity is a virtue.
• In Part One, you must define 8 terms; each definition has three segments.
• In Part Two, you must answer any four of the six questions.

Part One of Two (40%)

• explain what the term is,
• a cursory description of the alternatives (opposites) to the term are,
• and how the term matters in S-IS.

Part Two of Two (60%)

2-A. Information Systems (hopefully) meet the needs of several distinct audiences- operational personnel, middle managers, and executives. Each group faces different challenges, situations, and problems. Describe the types of different problems these three groups face, and what an IS needs to provide each group.

2-B. You work in an internal IT shop. The IT department has grown along with the rest of the company, and historically the company grew its own computer staffers. Most applications now in use were custom produced in-house. There are several legacy systems, internal networks, web applications, and desktop support functions. As new management located in L.A. focuses on the bottom line, several outside vendors are submitting proposals to perform some or all of the IT function. The new management has announced that nothing is sacred and that all IT operations must be cost-efficient. Outsourcing represents a competitive threat to the existing internal IT shop.

• What are the business advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing?
• What liabilities does the internal IT department have when faced with an external competitor?
• How can the IT department avoid/minimize the outsourcing threat?
• How can the IT department adapt the outsourcing initiative for continued success of the internal shop?

2-C. We have talked about systems which accept input, perform a process, store data/ information/ knowledge, and produce output. We have also talked about Strategic Systems, which can change the business model, change the company, and change the world.

• What are the inputs into a strategic information system?
• Where will the inputs come from?
• What processes will the SIS perform?
• What content is likely to be in a Strategic Information System?
• What benefits will come out of a successful SIS?
• Where will the output go to?
• How will the SIS be cost-justified?

2-D. This question deals with your personal preparations for Y2K, but focuses more on your career preparations rather than stockpiling firewood, toilet paper, etc.

• Scenario Assumption: Y2K will produce very few significant outages for critical systems, one oil refinery in Louisiana will explode, the cellphone system will be out for ten days, and the whole thing will be over by Feb 1, 2000. There will be a mini-baby boom in late September, called the Y2Ka-Boom.
• The IT industry, the financial world, and the business community are focused on the Y2K issue. Although it is likely that Y2K work will continue for some limited period into the new year, it seems probable that Y2K work will sharply diminish in the next quarter. This represents a huge change for the IT world.
• On Feb 2, 2000, networks will face a real challenge as IT professionals all rush to update their resumes on the good laser printer. The Y2K departments of major IT shops will shut down. There will be a reduction of resources and a re-allocation of money, people, and priorities. Historians will note that the real Y2K disaster was the huge surplus of IT people in the job market.
• With 45 days to go before the Y2K+1 IT glut begins, you begin to to anticipate the trends and consider how you will feed yourself and those that rely upon you in 60 days. Answer these four questions:
  • Who will be the losers in this change?
  • Who will be the winners?
  • What opportunities are available in this change?
  • What will be the next next big thing?
  • How will you position yourself for it?

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