ISYS 363 Ch. 9

Question 1

What is the purpose of making a business case for an information system?

Define the legal requirements of the new system.

Define the hardware infrastructure that will support the new system.

Define what the organization needs from the new system.

Define the value expected from the investment in the system.

Define the approach to take in acquiring the information system.

Answer 1

Define the value expected from the investment in the system.

Question 2

“Making the business case” is best defined as ________ the value provided by a system.

identifying and limiting

limiting and presenting

describing

describing and presenting

identifying, quantifying, and presenting

Answer 2

identifying, quantifying, and presenting

Question 3

Which of the following terms refers to the difficulty of showing that information system investments generate significant productivity gains?

Tangible cost phenomenon

Proxy variability

Inverted cost curve

Productivity paradox

Statistical anomaly

Answer 3

Productivity paradox

Question 4

________________ is(are) sometimes attributed for productivity challenges related to the time when an organization makes an investment until benefits are actually realized.

Time lags

Time cycles

Liabilities

Assets

Downtime

Answer 4

Time lags

Question 5

When examining overall IS productivity in an industry, ______________ occurs when benefits are difficult to identify because innovations may be beneficial for individual firms, but not the industry as a whole.

redistribution

mismanagement

measurement

competition

lag times

Answer 5

redistribution

Question 6

When the system fails to improve productivity because of poor design and implementation, the cause is often _______________________.

intangible costs

measurement problems

mismanagement

time lags

redistribution

Answer 6

mismanagement

Question 7

The three types of arguments typically made in the business case for an information system are ________.

costs, benefits, and facts

facts, fear, and costs

faith, fear, and facts

fear, benefits, and competition

faith, data, and profits

Answer 7

faith, fear, and facts

Question 8

The business case for a new information system includes this argument: “We must have this new system to keep up with our competition.” This is an example of a _________-based argument.

faith

fact

benefit

fear

profit

Answer 8

fear

Question 9

The financial analysis associated with investing in a new information system should include ______________________, which includes all acquisition, use, and maintenance costs.

intangible benefits

recurring costs

intangible costs

the total cost of ownership

both intangible costs and benefits

Answer 9

the total cost of ownership

Question 10

A ___________ analysis is used to determine when the costs of a new training program are equal to the benefits to the organization.

net present value

risk-assessment

break-even

systems

weighted multicriteria

Answer 10

break-even

Question 11

The _____________ is used to decide which of several different IS investments is the most desirable for the organization to accept.

internal rate of return

discount rate

cost-benefit analysis

break-even point

weighted multicriteria analysis

Answer 11

weighted multicriteria analysis

Question 12

Which of the following is a process that a company like Netflix would use to develop, build, and maintain a system to improve movie recommendations?

Net present value analysis

Weighted multicriteria analysis

Systems analysis and design

Break-even analysis

Risk analysis

Answer 12

Systems analysis and design

Question 13

When a company has a unique software need that cannot be satisfied by generic technologies, it will usually choose a(n) ____________ software option.

embedded

customized

off-the-shelf

generic

personal productivity

Answer 13

customized

Question 14

The ________________ has primary responsibility in a systems development project.

database analyst

data scientist

infrastructure analyst

systems analyst

network administrator

Answer 14

systems analyst

Question 15

The phases of the systems development life cycle (SDLC), in order, are:

planning and selection; analysis; design; implementation and operation

analysis; design; planning and selection

design; analysis; planning and selection; implementation and operations

analysis; planning and selection; implementation and operation.

design; planning and selection; implementation and operation.

Answer 15

planning and selection; analysis; design; implementation and operation

Question 16

A critical task in the systems analysis phase of the SDLC is _________________.

requirements collection

estimating tangible benefits

usability testing

estimating tangible costs

human-computer interaction design

Answer 16

requirements collection

Question 17

The type of testing that involves actual system users performing tests of the new system with actual data is called ___________ testing.

beta

developmental

alpha

usability

performance

Answer 17

beta

Question 18

Which type of systems maintenance is performed to enable the system to accommodate changes in functionality due to changing business needs?

Adaptive maintenance

Corrective maintenance

Intuitive maintenance

Preventative maintenance

Perfective maintenance

Answer 18

Adaptive maintenance

Question 19

When a company purchases an existing system from an outside vendor, it is obtaining the system through ______________.

end-user development

insourcing

external acquisition

in-house development

outsourcing

Answer 19

external acquisition

Question 20

Which of the following is NOT a recommended part of making an external acquisition of an information system?

Prototyping

Developing a request for proposal

Vendor selection

Systems planning and selection

Systems analysis

Answer 20

Prototyping

Question 21

Which of the following statements best characterizes the purpose of a request for proposal?

Request a list of the vendor’s employees.

Convey requirements to prospective vendors and invite them to submit a proposal to meet those requirements.

Request a list of the vendor’s previous clients.

Request that a vendor send in information on its qualifications.

Request some general information about a vendor’s services.

Answer 21

Convey requirements to prospective vendors and invite them to submit a proposal to meet those requirements.

Question 22

As a way to reduce the burden of managing the software infrastructure, firms may choose to use _______________ to access applications in the cloud on an as-needed basis using standard Web-enabled interfaces.

software asset management

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

FTP

embedded software

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Answer 22

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Question 23

Which of the following involves using an external firm to provide some or all of an organization’s information systems development?

Rapid application development

Outsourcing

Franchising

Prototyping

Benchmarking

Answer 23

Outsourcing

Question 24

A software license that allows users to use the software without restrictions is called ______________.

private domain software

non-protective open source

public domain software

proprietary

open source

Answer 24

public domain software

Question 25

The most critical aspect of a successful outsourcing project’s success is:

limited interactions between the outsourcing firm and management

casually-defined performance measures

on-going management of the outsourcing alliance.

a vague outsourcing contract.

a weak CIO

Answer 25

on-going management of the outsourcing alliance.

Question 26

the observation that productivity increases at a rate that is lower than expected when new technologies are introduced

Answer 26

productivity paradox

Question 27

techniques that contrast the total expected tangible costs versus the tangible benefits of an investment

Answer 27

cost–benefit analysis

Question 28

a type of cost–benefit analysis to identify at what point (if ever) tangible benefits equal tangible costs

Answer 28

break-even analysis

Question 29

a type of cost–benefit analysis of the cash flow streams associated with an investment

Answer 29

net-present-value analysis

Question 30

a method for deciding among different information systems investments or alternative designs for a given system in which requirements and constraints are weighted on the basis of their importance

Answer 30

weighted multicriteria analysis