END TERM EXAMINATION

YEAR 2018-MBA

INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR MANAGERS

1a) Describe the different „Informational‟ managerial roles in details with examples? [6]

Ans: Monitor; Disseminator; Spokesperson (explain and give example)

1b)What are the characteristics of Operational-level information system? [6]

Ans: Repetitiveness; Predictability; Emphasis on the past; Detailed nature; Internal origin;
Structured form; Great accuracy;

2a)Write short notes on: open systems,closed systems, business process with examples. [6]

Ans:

Open system operate in an external environment and exchange information and material with
that environment. (Example)

Closed system is self-contained and does not exchange information with its environment.
(Example).

Business process is a logically related set of activities that defines how specific tasks are
performed.

2b)Illustrate and explain Time/Space collaboration and social tool matrix. [7]

Ans: Fig 2.8, Pg 72, Chapter 2 of Loudon and Loudon Book.

3. a. Briefly explain the service models offered by Cloud Computing (6) ( one and half
pages)

Ans: Three types of service models are defined by the NIST namely (i) IaaS (Infrastructure as a
Service) (ii) PaaS (Platform as a service) (iii) SaaS (Software as a service).
(i) IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
In this type of model, the infrastructural resources such as Compute, Storage and Network are
provided to the users on rental basis. A Compute resource consists of processor (central
processing unit), main memory, input and output devices and it is used for executing the
applications that belong to the clients (client applications). A Storage resource consists of disk
storage and it is used for storing the data generated by the client applications. A Network
resource provides communication facility between compute and compute or between compute
and storage. The client applications running in the cloud can communicate with another
application using this resource. These physical resources are converted into virtual resources by
using virtualization technique for the efficient utilizations of the same. These virtualized
resources (Virtual Machine (Compute), Virtual Storage and Virtual Network) are allocated to/
released from the client applications. Users can develop and deploy software using these
resources and they will be charged based on the usage.
Example: (a) Amazon EC2 provides computing (Compute) as a service (b) Amazon S3 provides
Storage as service.

(ii) PaaS (Platform as a Service)

A set of hardware and software tools used for development of software (Application
development environment-ADE) is known as platform. In PaaS, such a type of ADE is provided
as a service to the users. Users can develop applications using this environment and the
necessary infrastructure resources required for ADE is provided by IaaS. The users will be
charged based on the usage.
Example: (a) Microsoft Azure provides .NET development environment as a service using its
public cloud (b) Google Application Engine provides JAVA or PYTHON development
environment as a service using its cloud infrastructure.

(iii) SaaS (Software as a service)

In this type of model, application software deployed in the cloud environment is provided as a
service. The required infrastructure, system software and run time environment for the execution
of the application software are provided by the cloud vendor. In this model also, the users are
charged based on the usage of resources.
Example: Googledocs is the word processing software provided as a service to the users by
Google. Using this software, users can develop any document and store the same in the cloud.
Facebook, the social media website is deployed in a public cloud and provided as a service to the
users.
SaaS IaaS, and PaaS are together known as SIP model of cloud computing.

b. Table below gives the sales order quantity of six salesmen for year 2015.

Use appropriate function and write steps to get sales order figure of salesman mentioned in C16
and the month in C17 ( query inputs). The result ( query output) should be displayed in D17.
 (7) (half page)

A B C D E F G
1 2015 Salesman-1 Salesman-2 Salesman-3 Salesman-4 Salesman-5 Salesman-6
2 Jan 234 456 341 564 453 457
3 Feb 456 543 675 398 459 756
4 Mar 457 234 987 456 765 874
5 Apr 567 657 876 456 786 742
6 May 341 564 453 457 234 987
7 Jun 675 398 459 567 657 876
8 July 987 456 765 341 564 453
9 Aug 876 456 786 675 398 459
10 Sep 457 234 987 341 564 453
11 Oct 567 657 876 675 398 459
12 Nov 341 564 453 987 456 765
13 Dec 675 398 459 876 456 786
14
15
16 Salesman Salesman-3 sales
17 Month Aug

Ans: Index and Match function is suitable for this example.

Use match function to get position of input at C17 in range A2:A13. ( absolute reference)-Row
number

Similarly use match function to get the position of input at C16 in the range B1:G1 ( absolute
reference) by selecting type to exact match(“0‟)- column number

Use these two numbers as row number and column number in Index function with array as
B2:G13( absolute reference)

Function at D17 will be

=Index($B$2:$G$13,Match($C$17,$A$2:$A$13,0),Match($C$16,$B$1:$G$1,0))

Note: Match functions can be used in separate cells and use that cell references in Index
function.

4. a. Following is the list rates offered by 15 different vendors for a commodity. Use
appropriate excel function and list the steps to Rank them with respect to the price ( lowest
 price being the 1st rank) and place rank in Column C(C2 to C16). Use appropriate excel
function to count number of vendors who offered price less than Rs 500 ( result in C18) (6)--
-( half page)

A B C
1 Vendor List Price(Rs) Rank
2 V-1 456
3 V-2 567
4 V-3 789
5 V-4 345
---- ---
-- --

16 V-15 578
17
18 No.of vendors offering less than Rs
500

Ans: at C2 use function =Rank(B2,$B$2:$B$16,1) which will rank of B2 wrt range of values
from B2 to B16 in ascending order. Drag the function down till C16. Ranks will be displayed.

Absolute reference is a must for range of cells B2 to B16.

Use function at C18 as =Countif(B2:B16,”<500”)

b. Explain with suitable example how “Data Table” under what-if-analysis can be used as
a DSS.(6) ( one page)

Ans: Data Table allows option of multiple values to two variables of the function. The function
result can be displayed with different combination of values of these two variables. We can
choose possible values for these variables and see the effect of these variations in the final value
of the function. The result table can be analysed to select the best suited combination of values
for variables to get desired result. For example PMT function has three independent variables
namely rate, number of installments and the principle value. For one set of combination of these
values say 12% interest rate per year with 120 installments( months) for a principle value of Rs
1000000 will give PMT or EMI as Rs “X”. The value of “X” can be obtained by dofferent rates
of interest like 8%, 10%,12%,15% etc which will be placed in column fasion below the PMT
function but in same column. Similarly different number of installments say 108,112,116,120
and 126 will be entered in row fashion from next cell of PMT function but in same row. Now
select complete table of PMT function, different values of rate and different values of
installments . In data tab select data table under what-if-analysis of “data Tools‟ group. Enter
cell address of Nper in row input cell and that of rate in column input cell choose Ok and the
results of PMT will be displayed in the table for different combinations.
5.A.

RollNo Name Course

1001 A ISM
1002 A BC
1003 A BI
1004 A FA

Advantage of 1NF

• Contains only atomic values

• There are no repeating groups.

An atomic value is a value that cannot be divided.

5.B. Data warehouses typically have schemas that are designed for data analysis, using tools
such as OLAP tools. Thus, the data are usually multidimensional data, with dimension attributes
and measure attributes. Tables containing multidimensional data are called fact tables and are
usually very large.

A table recording sales information for a retail store, with one tuple for each item that is sold, is a
typical example of a fact table.

The dimensions of the sales table would include what the date ,when the item is sold, which
location (store) the item was sold from, which customer bought the item, and so on.

To minimize storage requirements, dimension attributes are usually short identifiers that are
foreign keys into other tables called dimension tables.

For instance, a fact table sales would have attributes item id, store id, customer id, and date, and
measure attributes number and price. The attribute store id is a foreign key into a dimension
table store, which has other attributes such as store location (city, state, country). The resultant
schema appears in Figure Such a schema, with a fact table, multiple dimension tables, and foreign
keys from the fact table to the dimension tables, is called a star schema.
6. A. Managers and Decision making in the Real world :

Mangers play key role in organizations. Their responsible range from making decisions, to
writing reports , to attending meeting.

Mint berg found that managerial roles fill into three categories:

1.Interpersonal roles : Mangers act as figurehead for the organization when they responsible
their companies to the outside world and perform symbolic duties:

Such as giving out employee awards, he act as a leader, motive the employee, and support
subordinates.

2. Information role: Mangers act as the center of the organization receiving the most concrete,
up-to-date information and redistributing if those who need to be aware of it.

Mangers are therefore information disseminators and spokesperson for their organizations

3.Decision Roles : Mangers make decisions they handle disturbance arising in the organization
they allocate resources to staff members who need them. Tab 1. shows all mint berg's role
classified for mangers.
6.B. BI and analytics capabilities:

BI and analytics promise to deliver correct nearly real time information to decision makers and
the analytic tool help them quickly understand the information and take action.

There are 5 analytical functionalities that BI system deliver to achieve these ends:

1. Production Reports :

These are predefined reports based on industry specific requirements.

2. Parameterized reports:

Users enter several parameters as in a pivot table to filter data and isolate impacts of
parameters.

3. Dashboards/Scorecards:

These are visual tools for presenting performance data defined by users.

4. Adhoc query/search/report creation:

These allows the users to create their own report based on quires and searches.

5.DrillDown:

This is the ability to move from a high-level summary to a more detailed view.

6. Forecasts, scenarios, models:

 These includes the ability to perform liner forecasting, what-if-scenario analysis and analyze
data using standard statistical tools.

Q7a: (6marks, 1 page)Describe the different stages in knowledge management value chain

A:Knowledge management value chain has different stages that add value to raw data and
information as they are transformed into usable knowledge. The different stages are

– Knowledge acquisition

– Knowledge storage

– Knowledge dissemination

– Knowledge application

Knowledge acquisition consists of

– Documenting tacit and explicit knowledge

• Storing documents, reports, presentations, best practices

• Unstructured documents (e.g., e-mails)

• Developing online expert networks

– Creating knowledge

– Tracking data from TPS and external sources

Knowledge storage consists of

– Databases

– Document management systems

– Role of management is to

• Support development of planned knowledge storage systems

• Encourage development of corporate-wide schemas for indexing

documents

• Reward employees for taking time to update and store documents properly

Knowledge dissemination

– Portals
 – Push e-mail reports

– Search engines

– Collaboration tools

– A deluge of information?

• Training programs, informal networks, and shared management

experience help managers focus attention on important information

Knowledge application

– To provide return on investment, organizational knowledge must become

systematic part of management decision making and become situated in decision-
support systems

• New business practices

• New products and services

• New markets

Q7b: (6marks, 1 page)Describe the different stages in system development process.

A:

The different stages in system development process are:

– Systems analysis

– Systems design

– Programming

– Testing

– Conversion

– Production and maintenance

– Systems analysis

– Analysis of problem to be solved by new system

– Defining the problem and identifying causes

– Specifying solutions
 – Identifying information requirements

– Includes feasibility study

– Systems design

– Describes system specifications that will deliver functions identified during

systems analysis

– Should address all managerial, organizational, and technological components of

system solution

– Programming:

– System specifications from design stage are translated into software program code

– Testing

– Ensures system produces right results

– Unit testing: Tests each program in system separately

– System testing: Test functioning of system as a whole

– Acceptance testing: Makes sure system is ready to be used in production setting

– Test plan: All preparations for series of tests

– Conversion

– Process of changing from old system to new system

– Production and maintenance

– System reviewed to determine if revisions needed

– May include post-implementation audit document

– Maintenance

Q8a: (6marks, 1 page)Describe the unique features of e-commerce.

A:

 Ubiquity
o Internet/Web technology available everywhere: work, home, etc., anytime
  Global reach
o The technology reaches across national boundaries, around Earth
 Universal standards
o One set of technology standards: Internet standards
 Richness
o Supports video, audio, and text messages
 Interactivity
o The technology works through interaction with the user
 Information density
o Large increases in information density—the total amount and quality of
information available to all market participants
 Personalization / Customization
o Technology permits modification of messages, goods
 Social technology
o The technology promotes user content generation and social networking

8b: (7 marks, 1 page)What are the types of controls for information security.

A:

Types of controls for information security are

– Software controls

– Hardware controls

– Computer operations controls

– Data security controls

– Implementation controls

– Administrative controls

– Application controls