ISM3004 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND VERIFIED
ACCURATE ANSWERS
How does a manager avoid "putting the cart before the horse" when selecting software?
- Answers - You FIRST, determine your needs, THEN you choose your software
(application), & then FINALLY, you choose the rest of your platform.
How are system software and application software different? - Answers - System
software: collection of programs that are needed for the smooth functioning of a
computers & its peripheral devices. Application software: helps you accomplish a task
(the programs that do the real work).
What is the layer cake metaphor? Why is it valuable? - Answers - Software is
architected in layers; USER is the top layer, then APPLICATION, OS & HARDWARE.
Each layer can only interact with the layer directly above or below it. This is valuable
because it makes each layer simpler, makes the process more reliable & less expensive
& makes development easier.
Operating Systems - Why do we need them? What do they do for us? - Answers - OS is
an absolute necessity: it gives us device drivers (gateway to the hardware).
What is a Development Platform? - Answers - Development platform: set of tools that let
programmers interact with the hardware so they can create apps for us.
Control: the OS controls access to the hardware.
GUI: Users can interact with the system.
File System: Organize storage capacity.
What are general characteristics of Desktop & Enterprise application software? -
Answers - Desktop software: a single user program typically installed right on the
individuals computer system.
Enterprise software: exact same program installed on some powerful shared system
that the organization uses.
SCM Definition - What does it do? How does it help an organization? - Answers -
Supply Chain Management - manages the supply chain to make sure that the right
ingredients get to the right place at the right time, to deliver the end product to the
customer.
CRM Definition - What does it do? How does it help an organization? What is a privacy
concern? - Answers - Customer Relationship Management - organizes data about
customers and can add social CRM.
, Privacy is a concern because your customers will not be happy if their data gets
published out to the world.
ERP Definition - What are the components of an ERP system? How can it help an
organization? - Answers - Enterprise Resource Planning: A technology strategy that
integrates a set of business functions like finance, HR, purchasing and operational
aspects, such as manufacturing or distribution, through tight linkages from operational
business transactions to financial records.
Components: modules - mix/match, huge code base, customization - more $,
integration.
What are OOTB business processes? What's the alternative? Why might an
organization use or not use them? - Answers - OOTB: Out of the box business
processes is where the software is already programmed for business to operate in a
certain way.
An alternative is is custom business processes.
An org might use OOTB if their business processes are badly defined or implemented.
Conversely, if an org's business processes are unique & give them a competitive
advantage, they might not want to use OOTB.
Desktop applications - What are their characteristics? Pros? Cons? - Answers -
Characteristics: local resources (CPU, memory, storage)
Pros: if you need a faster application, spend some money to get a faster PC. Also,
laptop is portable.
Cons: if you require more power to do the job then any laptop or desktop has. Also, if
you don't backup your device, you can lose info + difficult to share/collaborate with
others.
What are the characteristics of distributed computing? - Answers - Distributed
resources/client devices:each user has a client device/servers.
Distributed computing - what are the roles of the client and the server? - Answers -
Client: accept input from the user and display the results. Input is sent to the server.
Server: stores the data, processes and analyzes the data, does all the work and sends
the results back to the client, where your able to see those results.
3 Client Examples: Web browser, Outlook desktop application, Mail app on mobile
device.
What are the pros and cons of distributed computing? - Answers - Pros: highly scalable,
the data is being managed by professionals in a data center, is protected with security,
backup generators, etc.
ACCURATE ANSWERS
How does a manager avoid "putting the cart before the horse" when selecting software?
- Answers - You FIRST, determine your needs, THEN you choose your software
(application), & then FINALLY, you choose the rest of your platform.
How are system software and application software different? - Answers - System
software: collection of programs that are needed for the smooth functioning of a
computers & its peripheral devices. Application software: helps you accomplish a task
(the programs that do the real work).
What is the layer cake metaphor? Why is it valuable? - Answers - Software is
architected in layers; USER is the top layer, then APPLICATION, OS & HARDWARE.
Each layer can only interact with the layer directly above or below it. This is valuable
because it makes each layer simpler, makes the process more reliable & less expensive
& makes development easier.
Operating Systems - Why do we need them? What do they do for us? - Answers - OS is
an absolute necessity: it gives us device drivers (gateway to the hardware).
What is a Development Platform? - Answers - Development platform: set of tools that let
programmers interact with the hardware so they can create apps for us.
Control: the OS controls access to the hardware.
GUI: Users can interact with the system.
File System: Organize storage capacity.
What are general characteristics of Desktop & Enterprise application software? -
Answers - Desktop software: a single user program typically installed right on the
individuals computer system.
Enterprise software: exact same program installed on some powerful shared system
that the organization uses.
SCM Definition - What does it do? How does it help an organization? - Answers -
Supply Chain Management - manages the supply chain to make sure that the right
ingredients get to the right place at the right time, to deliver the end product to the
customer.
CRM Definition - What does it do? How does it help an organization? What is a privacy
concern? - Answers - Customer Relationship Management - organizes data about
customers and can add social CRM.
, Privacy is a concern because your customers will not be happy if their data gets
published out to the world.
ERP Definition - What are the components of an ERP system? How can it help an
organization? - Answers - Enterprise Resource Planning: A technology strategy that
integrates a set of business functions like finance, HR, purchasing and operational
aspects, such as manufacturing or distribution, through tight linkages from operational
business transactions to financial records.
Components: modules - mix/match, huge code base, customization - more $,
integration.
What are OOTB business processes? What's the alternative? Why might an
organization use or not use them? - Answers - OOTB: Out of the box business
processes is where the software is already programmed for business to operate in a
certain way.
An alternative is is custom business processes.
An org might use OOTB if their business processes are badly defined or implemented.
Conversely, if an org's business processes are unique & give them a competitive
advantage, they might not want to use OOTB.
Desktop applications - What are their characteristics? Pros? Cons? - Answers -
Characteristics: local resources (CPU, memory, storage)
Pros: if you need a faster application, spend some money to get a faster PC. Also,
laptop is portable.
Cons: if you require more power to do the job then any laptop or desktop has. Also, if
you don't backup your device, you can lose info + difficult to share/collaborate with
others.
What are the characteristics of distributed computing? - Answers - Distributed
resources/client devices:each user has a client device/servers.
Distributed computing - what are the roles of the client and the server? - Answers -
Client: accept input from the user and display the results. Input is sent to the server.
Server: stores the data, processes and analyzes the data, does all the work and sends
the results back to the client, where your able to see those results.
3 Client Examples: Web browser, Outlook desktop application, Mail app on mobile
device.
What are the pros and cons of distributed computing? - Answers - Pros: highly scalable,
the data is being managed by professionals in a data center, is protected with security,
backup generators, etc.
