1
Test Bank for Introduction to Information Systems, Fourth Canadian Edition
WILEY
,Case Appendix 2
Case Appendix
Case Distribution and Index
The following provides a list of the cases provided in this Appendix, and the Chapters or Technology Guides to
which the case pertains. Use these cases as assignments, midterm questions or final examination questions.
The Case Appendix contains the entire case with references to the chapters or technology guides to which they
pertain. You will find a suggested solutions below.
Case Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 TG TG TG TG TG5
1 2 3 4
BestPay x X X X
Camelot Industries X X X
East General Hospital X
Globoha Company X
Internal Audit Summer Job x X X
x
Lovely Hands Company X X X X
Men R US X
Note that these cases have questions that apply to multiple chapters. Suggested solutions are provided below. Cases
are listed below alphabetically by case name.
, 3
BestPay
BestPay Inc. is an online service provider of payroll processing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with over 125,000
customers. A review of the web site reveals that the organization is full service: you can purchase payroll software,
or access systems online. BestPay provides payroll, human resources, retirement planning and tax services.
Employees can even log on and use the systems as an internet-based time clock.
Required:
A) For each of the five strategies for competitive advantage, describe the strategy, and explain how BestPay could
implement the strategy. (10 marks, 20 minutes)
Suggested Solution: Chapter 2, Competitive Advantages and Strategic Information Systems
Level: Medium
Strategy for Competitive Advantage - description How BestPay could implement the strategy -- lots
of possible examples – some are shown below
Cost leadership strategy - Produce products and/or Use IT where possible to offer products and services,
services at the lowest cost in the industry to continue to provide full and excellent service to
customers with both time and cost efficiency
Differentiation strategy - Offer different products, Offer all the company’s systems to customers by cloud
services, or product features than your competitors computing. Emphasize not only the cost effectiveness
of pay-per-use, but also the flexibility of use anywhere,
anytime capability to meet the needs of busy, dispersed
or mobile clients.
Innovation strategy - Introduce new products and In addition to the above example for Differentiation,
services, add new features to existing products and offer additional, cloud-based HR services such as self-
services, or develop new ways to produce them serve employee benefits systems, HR records storage
and other IT systems. Bestpay could also make their
Cloud based services available to businesses and
organizations of all sizes.
Operational effectiveness strategy - Improve the BestPay could make use of CRM systems to help them
manner in which a firm executes its internal business better manage customer accounts, deal with customer
processes so that it performs these activities more inquiries and problems
effectively than its rivals
Customer orientation strategy - Concentrate on making Refer to examples for Operational Effectiveness,
customers happy Differentiation and Innovation strategies
B) You have been asked to assist with the design of the payroll database for BestPay Inc. Explain the purpose of
each of the following components of the database design and provide an example of how they would apply to the
payroll database. (10 marks, 20 minutes)
, Case Appendix 4
• Data model
• Entity
• Attribute
• Primary Key
• Secondary Key
Suggested Solution: Chapter 5 The Database Approach
Level: Medium
Component Purpose of the component Example of how the component would apply to
the payroll database
Data model A diagram that represents the entities in the The payroll data model would show the
database and the relationships among them relationships between the Employee entity and
the entities used to calculate and distribute
payroll, such as Pay-scales, Job Types, Banking
Information
Entity A person, place, thing or event about which Employee
an organization maintains information
Attribute Each characteristic or quality of a particular Employee name, or Employee number, or Job
entity title (John Smith is an Account Manager)
Primary Key One field/attribute that uniquely identifies a Employee number: 518634291
record/instance of an entity
Secondary Key A field that has some identifying Employee name: John Smith
information but does not identify the or job title: Account Manager
record/entity with complete accuracy
C) Your company is a small employer with ten employees that uses BestPay Inc. for payroll processing. Explain to
your boss the different types of anti-malware protection that are available and their purpose. (5 marks, 10 minutes)
Suggested Solution: Chapter 4, Information Security Controls, Technology Guide 5, Computer-Based Actions
Level: Medium
Answers could include some discussion of Ch 4’s coverage of Anti-malware systems, firewalls, whitelisting and
blacklisting, as well as touch upon TG5’s recommended actions to prevent malware infections, as summarized
below:
Anti-malware systems, also called antivirus (AV) software, are software packages that attempt to identify and
eliminate viruses and worms, and other malicious software (which is known as malware). AV software is
implemented at the organizational level by the IS department. Anti-malware systems are generally reactive, filtering
network traffic according to a database of specific problems. These systems create definitions, or signatures, of
various types of malware and then update these signatures in their products. The anti-malware software then
examines suspicious computer code to determine whether it matches a known signature. If the software identifies a
match, then it removes the code. For this reason, organizations regularly update their malware definitions using
online updates. Because malware is such a serious problem, the leading vendors are rapidly developing anti-
malware systems that function proactively as well as reactively. These systems evaluate behaviour rather than
relying entirely on signature matching. In theory, therefore, it is possible to catch malware before it can infect
systems.
Test Bank for Introduction to Information Systems, Fourth Canadian Edition
WILEY
,Case Appendix 2
Case Appendix
Case Distribution and Index
The following provides a list of the cases provided in this Appendix, and the Chapters or Technology Guides to
which the case pertains. Use these cases as assignments, midterm questions or final examination questions.
The Case Appendix contains the entire case with references to the chapters or technology guides to which they
pertain. You will find a suggested solutions below.
Case Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 TG TG TG TG TG5
1 2 3 4
BestPay x X X X
Camelot Industries X X X
East General Hospital X
Globoha Company X
Internal Audit Summer Job x X X
x
Lovely Hands Company X X X X
Men R US X
Note that these cases have questions that apply to multiple chapters. Suggested solutions are provided below. Cases
are listed below alphabetically by case name.
, 3
BestPay
BestPay Inc. is an online service provider of payroll processing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with over 125,000
customers. A review of the web site reveals that the organization is full service: you can purchase payroll software,
or access systems online. BestPay provides payroll, human resources, retirement planning and tax services.
Employees can even log on and use the systems as an internet-based time clock.
Required:
A) For each of the five strategies for competitive advantage, describe the strategy, and explain how BestPay could
implement the strategy. (10 marks, 20 minutes)
Suggested Solution: Chapter 2, Competitive Advantages and Strategic Information Systems
Level: Medium
Strategy for Competitive Advantage - description How BestPay could implement the strategy -- lots
of possible examples – some are shown below
Cost leadership strategy - Produce products and/or Use IT where possible to offer products and services,
services at the lowest cost in the industry to continue to provide full and excellent service to
customers with both time and cost efficiency
Differentiation strategy - Offer different products, Offer all the company’s systems to customers by cloud
services, or product features than your competitors computing. Emphasize not only the cost effectiveness
of pay-per-use, but also the flexibility of use anywhere,
anytime capability to meet the needs of busy, dispersed
or mobile clients.
Innovation strategy - Introduce new products and In addition to the above example for Differentiation,
services, add new features to existing products and offer additional, cloud-based HR services such as self-
services, or develop new ways to produce them serve employee benefits systems, HR records storage
and other IT systems. Bestpay could also make their
Cloud based services available to businesses and
organizations of all sizes.
Operational effectiveness strategy - Improve the BestPay could make use of CRM systems to help them
manner in which a firm executes its internal business better manage customer accounts, deal with customer
processes so that it performs these activities more inquiries and problems
effectively than its rivals
Customer orientation strategy - Concentrate on making Refer to examples for Operational Effectiveness,
customers happy Differentiation and Innovation strategies
B) You have been asked to assist with the design of the payroll database for BestPay Inc. Explain the purpose of
each of the following components of the database design and provide an example of how they would apply to the
payroll database. (10 marks, 20 minutes)
, Case Appendix 4
• Data model
• Entity
• Attribute
• Primary Key
• Secondary Key
Suggested Solution: Chapter 5 The Database Approach
Level: Medium
Component Purpose of the component Example of how the component would apply to
the payroll database
Data model A diagram that represents the entities in the The payroll data model would show the
database and the relationships among them relationships between the Employee entity and
the entities used to calculate and distribute
payroll, such as Pay-scales, Job Types, Banking
Information
Entity A person, place, thing or event about which Employee
an organization maintains information
Attribute Each characteristic or quality of a particular Employee name, or Employee number, or Job
entity title (John Smith is an Account Manager)
Primary Key One field/attribute that uniquely identifies a Employee number: 518634291
record/instance of an entity
Secondary Key A field that has some identifying Employee name: John Smith
information but does not identify the or job title: Account Manager
record/entity with complete accuracy
C) Your company is a small employer with ten employees that uses BestPay Inc. for payroll processing. Explain to
your boss the different types of anti-malware protection that are available and their purpose. (5 marks, 10 minutes)
Suggested Solution: Chapter 4, Information Security Controls, Technology Guide 5, Computer-Based Actions
Level: Medium
Answers could include some discussion of Ch 4’s coverage of Anti-malware systems, firewalls, whitelisting and
blacklisting, as well as touch upon TG5’s recommended actions to prevent malware infections, as summarized
below:
Anti-malware systems, also called antivirus (AV) software, are software packages that attempt to identify and
eliminate viruses and worms, and other malicious software (which is known as malware). AV software is
implemented at the organizational level by the IS department. Anti-malware systems are generally reactive, filtering
network traffic according to a database of specific problems. These systems create definitions, or signatures, of
various types of malware and then update these signatures in their products. The anti-malware software then
examines suspicious computer code to determine whether it matches a known signature. If the software identifies a
match, then it removes the code. For this reason, organizations regularly update their malware definitions using
online updates. Because malware is such a serious problem, the leading vendors are rapidly developing anti-
malware systems that function proactively as well as reactively. These systems evaluate behaviour rather than
relying entirely on signature matching. In theory, therefore, it is possible to catch malware before it can infect
systems.
