Ch2 - Information Systems and Databases

Question 1

What are the seven Information Processes?

Answer 1

Collecting
Organising
Analysing
Storing and Retrieving
Processing
Transmitting and Receiving
Displaying

Question 2

What are the five elements of an Information System?

Answer 2

Input
Output
Storage
Processing
Control

Question 3

What are the two characteristics of Information Systems?

Answer 3

Organisation of data into information.

Analysis of information to give knowledge.

Question 4

What is data?

Answer 4

Raw facts

Question 5

What is information?

Answer 5

Data which has been organised in some way to give it meaning.

Question 6

What is knowledge?

Answer 6

Insights derived from information which are of value.

Question 7

What are the five types of information systems?

Answer 7

Transaction processing systems
Decision support systems
Expert systems
Management information systems
Office automation systems

Question 8

What is a transaction processing system?

Answer 8

A system which collects, stores, modifies and retrieves the details about certain activities.

Question 9

What is a Decision Support System?

Answer 9

A system which provides information, models and analysis tools to help people make better decisions.

Question 10

What is an Expert System?

Answer 10

A system which takes in pieces of data and uses it to come to a decision on your behalf.

Question 11

What is a Management information system?

Answer 11

Presents information about the performance of an organisation to assist managers in managing the organisation effectively.

Question 12

What is an Office automation system?

Answer 12

Technology which streamlines and automates common tasks which need to be performed.

Question 13

What is the difference between a Database Information System and a Database Management System (DBMS)?

Answer 13

A Database Information System is an Information system which uses the data in a database.
A DBMS is management software which is used to access the data in a database.

Question 14

What is the relationship between a database and a database management system (DBMS)?

Answer 14

A database is the file which holds the actual data. A DBMS is the software that you use to access the data in the database.

Question 15

What is hypermedia?

Answer 15

A combination of media whose locations are linked electronically to provide an easy way to navigate.

Question 16

What is hypertext?

Answer 16

A system which allows documents to be cross linked by way of clicking on links.

Question 17

What does URL stand for?

Answer 17

Uniform Resource Locator

Question 18

What are the sections of a URL?

Answer 18

• Protocol
• Domain name
• File path

Question 19

What is meta data in HTML?

Answer 19

Data which is not displayed but helps to put the content in context.

Question 20

List the tasks of a DBMS

Answer 20

• Organise data by way of a data dictionary
• Show relationships between entities by way of a schematic diagram
• check for errors in data entry
• facilitate changing of the database structure
• restrict access to authorised people onle
• provide information about performance of the database

Question 21

What are the two methods of accessing data?

Answer 21

• Sequential access

- Direct access (also called relative access)

Question 22

Describe sequential access

Answer 22

Records are of varying length so you have to read each record one after the other to locate a particular record. Efficient disk space usage but slow access.

Question 23

Describe direct (relative) access

Answer 23

Records are of fixed length so you can jump to any record directly. Fast access but can be poor use of disk space.

Question 24

What is an index with respect to direct access?

Answer 24

A table which is at the beginning of the set of records with information to help you locate where data is.

Question 25

What is a distributed database?

Answer 25

A database which is distributed over several geographic locations to facilitate more effective access to the data.