, Application Exercises
Chapter 1
AE1-1 The spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel file Ch01Ex01_U11e.xlsx contains
records of employee activity on special projects. Open this workbook and
examine the data that you find in the three spreadsheets it contains. Assess the
accuracy, relevancy, and sufficiency of this data to the following people and
problems.
a. You manage the Denver plant, and you want to know how much time your
employees are spending on special projects.
The answer to this question is given directly on the Denver worksheet, so this data
is accurate, relevant, and sufficient for the purposes of the Denver plant manager.
(LO: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to
assist in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
b. You manage the Reno plant, and you want to know how much time your
employees are spending on special projects.
The answer to this question is given directly on the Reno worksheet, so this data
is accurate, relevant, and sufficient for the purposes of the Reno plant manager. (L
O: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist
in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
c. You manage the Quota Computation project in Chicago, and you want to know
how much time your employees have spent on that project.
The project manager will have to manipulate the data on the Chicago worksheet
to produce the answer of interest. The worksheet rows could be sorted by project,
and then a sum computed of the hours worked for the Quota Computation rows.
The data is sufficient, but must be manipulated to produce the relevant result, and
because of that manipulation, the accuracy of the result might be questionable. (L
O: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist
in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
d. You manage the Quota Computation project for all three plants, and you want to
know the total time employees have spent on your project.
,This project manager will have considerable work to do to find the result needed.
On each sheet, the worksheet rows will have to be sorted by project, a sum will
have to be computed for the Quota Computation project, and then this sum will
have to be added to a total for all three plants. The data provided is sufficient to
, Kroenke & Boyle - Using MIS 11th Ed - Instructor’s Manual 2
produce the desired result, but its relevancy is questionable because of the amount
of effort required to find the answer of interest to the manager, and there is a
significant risk of inaccuracy resulting from all the manipulations that are
required. (LO: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be
used to assist in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
e. You manage the Quota Computation project for all three plants, and you want to
know the total labor cost for all employees on your project.
This information is not available at all, because there is no data regarding labor
cost in the workbook. Therefore, although the data provided may be accurate and
somewhat relevant, it is not sufficient to produce the desired result. (LO: 6,
Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist in
decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
f. You manage the Quota Computation project for all three plants, and you want to
know how the labor-hour total for that project compares to the labor-hour totals
for the other special projects.
This result can be found with some effort. If the manager produced the answer in
part d above, then this can be subtracted from the total hours worked on all
projects for all three plants to find the total hours worked on all other special
projects. The data provided is sufficient to produce the desired result, but its
relevancy is questionable because of the amount of effort required to find the
answer of interest to the manager, and there is a significant risk of inaccuracy
resulting from all the manipulations that are required. (LO: 6, Learning Outcome:
Explain how information systems can be used to assist in decision making, AACS
B: Information Technology)
g. What conclusions can you make from this exercise?
The data in the workbook do provide us with the ability to answer questions about
labor hours worked on special projects, so the data is sufficient. As the data is
grouped on individual sheets by plant, it becomes more difficult to answer
questions that span more than one plant. So, the data’s relevance decreases
because we can’t find answers without some work. As more manipulation has to
be done to find answers to questions, there is more of a chance of introducing
errors in the answers, thus lowering the accuracy of the data. (LO: 6, Learning
Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist in decision
making, AACSB: Information Technology)
Chapter 1
AE1-1 The spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel file Ch01Ex01_U11e.xlsx contains
records of employee activity on special projects. Open this workbook and
examine the data that you find in the three spreadsheets it contains. Assess the
accuracy, relevancy, and sufficiency of this data to the following people and
problems.
a. You manage the Denver plant, and you want to know how much time your
employees are spending on special projects.
The answer to this question is given directly on the Denver worksheet, so this data
is accurate, relevant, and sufficient for the purposes of the Denver plant manager.
(LO: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to
assist in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
b. You manage the Reno plant, and you want to know how much time your
employees are spending on special projects.
The answer to this question is given directly on the Reno worksheet, so this data
is accurate, relevant, and sufficient for the purposes of the Reno plant manager. (L
O: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist
in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
c. You manage the Quota Computation project in Chicago, and you want to know
how much time your employees have spent on that project.
The project manager will have to manipulate the data on the Chicago worksheet
to produce the answer of interest. The worksheet rows could be sorted by project,
and then a sum computed of the hours worked for the Quota Computation rows.
The data is sufficient, but must be manipulated to produce the relevant result, and
because of that manipulation, the accuracy of the result might be questionable. (L
O: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist
in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
d. You manage the Quota Computation project for all three plants, and you want to
know the total time employees have spent on your project.
,This project manager will have considerable work to do to find the result needed.
On each sheet, the worksheet rows will have to be sorted by project, a sum will
have to be computed for the Quota Computation project, and then this sum will
have to be added to a total for all three plants. The data provided is sufficient to
, Kroenke & Boyle - Using MIS 11th Ed - Instructor’s Manual 2
produce the desired result, but its relevancy is questionable because of the amount
of effort required to find the answer of interest to the manager, and there is a
significant risk of inaccuracy resulting from all the manipulations that are
required. (LO: 6, Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be
used to assist in decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
e. You manage the Quota Computation project for all three plants, and you want to
know the total labor cost for all employees on your project.
This information is not available at all, because there is no data regarding labor
cost in the workbook. Therefore, although the data provided may be accurate and
somewhat relevant, it is not sufficient to produce the desired result. (LO: 6,
Learning Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist in
decision making, AACSB: Information Technology)
f. You manage the Quota Computation project for all three plants, and you want to
know how the labor-hour total for that project compares to the labor-hour totals
for the other special projects.
This result can be found with some effort. If the manager produced the answer in
part d above, then this can be subtracted from the total hours worked on all
projects for all three plants to find the total hours worked on all other special
projects. The data provided is sufficient to produce the desired result, but its
relevancy is questionable because of the amount of effort required to find the
answer of interest to the manager, and there is a significant risk of inaccuracy
resulting from all the manipulations that are required. (LO: 6, Learning Outcome:
Explain how information systems can be used to assist in decision making, AACS
B: Information Technology)
g. What conclusions can you make from this exercise?
The data in the workbook do provide us with the ability to answer questions about
labor hours worked on special projects, so the data is sufficient. As the data is
grouped on individual sheets by plant, it becomes more difficult to answer
questions that span more than one plant. So, the data’s relevance decreases
because we can’t find answers without some work. As more manipulation has to
be done to find answers to questions, there is more of a chance of introducing
errors in the answers, thus lowering the accuracy of the data. (LO: 6, Learning
Outcome: Explain how information systems can be used to assist in decision
making, AACSB: Information Technology)
