BEC X - IT Definitions

Question 1

What is a transaction processing system (TPS)?

Answer 1

converts economic events into financial transactions. A TPS typically covers three main transaction cycles: sales cycle, conversion cycle, and expenditure cycle

Question 2

What is a financial reporting system (FRS)?

Answer 2

aggregates daily financial information from the TPS to enable timely reporting

Question 3

What is management reporting system (MRS)?

Answer 3

a MRS provides internal financial information to solve day to day business problems

Question 4

What is the difference between Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM)?

Answer 4

ERP - utilized to support different business functions and integrates information across departments

EPM - software programs designed to help executives make strategic decisions; enables leaders to plan, budget, and forecast business processes; it is MORE management process focused; whereas ERP is more focused on operational processes and IT integration

Question 5

Whats the difference between data velocity, data variety, and data veracity?

Answer 5

Data Velocity - refers to the speed of data accumulation or data processing

Data variety - refers to the range of data types being processed or analyzed. Three general categories are: structured data, unstructured data, and semi structured data

data veracity - represents the reliability, quality, or integrity of the data

Question 6

What are relational databases?

Answer 6

they allow data stored in different tables to be linked through relationships using key fields

Question 7

What are primary vs foreign keys?

Answer 7

primary keys are unique identifiers

foreign keys are attributes in one table that are primary keys in another table

Question 8

What are the different database views?

Answer 8

logical view - how the data appears to a user. it is what the user sees

physical view - how the data is actually stored within a database

Question 9

What are descriptive analytics?

Answer 9

indicates what happened; summarizes the activity that has occurred within a given data set by observing measures such as the min, max, mean, or by sorting data to reveal patterns

Question 10

What are diagnostic analytics?

Answer 10

they reveal why an event happened; goes a step beyond descriptive analytics and attempts to uncover correlations, patterns, and relationships within a data set to explain an event or result

Question 11

What are predictive analytics?

Answer 11

helps forecast future data by transforming insight into foresight and protect what will happen based on historical information; examples are regression analysis, classification analysis, and decision trees

Question 12

What are prescriptive analytics?

Answer 12

reveal how to achieve a desired event by prescribing what course of action should be in order to reach that outcome; takes the probability learned from predictive analytics and turns that into recommendations and optimal paths; examples are AI and scenario modeling

Question 13

What are the components of Enterprise Risk Management?

Answer 13

Think of the acronym “GO Pro”

G- Governance and Culture
O - Strategy & Objective Setting
P - Performance
R - Review and Revision
O - (Ongoing) Information, Communication, and Reporting

Question 14

What are the components of Governance and Culture?

Answer 14

Think of the acronym “DOVES”

D - defines Desired Culture
O - exercises board Oversight
V- demonstrates commitment to core Values
E - attracts, develops, and retains capable Indvidual (Employees)
S - established operating Structure

Question 15

What are the components of Strategy and Objective Setting?

Answer 15

think of the acronym SOAR

S - evaluate alternative Strategies
O - formulate business Objectives
A - Analyze business context
R - defines Risk appetite

Question 16

What are the components of Performance?

Answer 16

think of the acronym VAPIR

V - develop a portfolio View
A - Assesses severity of risk
P - Prioritizes risk
I - Identifies risks (events)
R - Implements risk Responses (accept, pursue, reduce, share, avoid)

Question 17

What are the components of Review and Revision?

Answer 17

think of the acronym SIR

S - assesses Substantial change
I - pursues Improvement in ERM
R - Reviews risk and performance

Question 18

What are the components of Information, Communications, and Reporting (Ongoing)?

Answer 18

think of the acronym TIP

T - leverages information and Technology
I - communicate risk Information
P - reports on risk culture and Performance

Question 19

A value-added network (VAN) is a privately owned network that performs which of the following functions?

A. Provide additional accuracy for data transmissions.
B. Route data within a company’s multiple networks.
C. Route data transactions between trading partners.
D. Provide services to send marketing data to customers.

Answer 19

C. Route data transactions between trading partners.

Value-added networks (VANs) are private networks that provide their customers with reliable, high-speed, secure transmission of data. To compete with the Internet, these third-party networks add value by providing their customers with error detection and correction services, electronic mailbox facilities for EDI purposes, EDI translation, and security for email and data transmissions.

Question 20

Kelly Corporation needs an internal communication network that provides high speed communication among nodes. Which of the following is appropriate for Kelly?

A. Wide area network (WAN).
B. File server.
C. Local area network (LAN).
D. Value-added network (VAN).

Answer 20

C. Local area network (LAN).

Local area networks are privately owned networks that provide high-speed communication among nodes. They are usually restricted to limited areas, such as a particular floor of an office building.

Question 21

According to the COSO ERM framework, which of following best describes the difference between strategy and business objectives?

A. Business objectives are broader in scope than strategy.
B. Business objectives are the steps to achieve strategy.
C. Strategy is the organization’s core purpose, and business objectives are what the organization aspires to achieve over time.
D. Strategy is the plan to achieve business objectives.

Answer 21

B. Business objectives are the steps to achieve strategy.

Strategy is the plan to achieve the entity’s mission and vision and apply its core values. Business objectives are the measurable steps taken to achieve the entity’s strategy.