IT Flashcards
According to the COBIT model, what are the seven desirable properties of info?
Effectiveness efficiency confidentiality integrity availability compliance reliability
Accoridng to the COBIT model, what are the 4 IT domains
Planning and organizing
Acquisition and implementation
Delivery and support
Monitoring
what are the 3 major components of the COBIT model
Domains and processes
Info Criteria
IT resources
According to the COBIT model, what are the five physical resources that, together, comprise an IT system?
People Data Technology Applications Facilities
What are enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) ?
These systems provide transaction processing, management support, and decision-making support in a single, integrated package. By integrating all data and processes of an organization into a unified system, ERPs attempt to eliminate many of the problems faced by organizations when they attempt to consolidate information from operations in multiple departments, regions, or divisions.
Define Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
Use of the cloud to access virtual hardware, such as computers and storage. Examples include Amazon Web Services and Carbonite.
Define Software as a Service (SaaS).
Remote access to software. Office 365, a suite of office productivity programs, is an example of SaaS.
Define online transaction processing system (OLTP).
ERP modules that comprise the core business functions: sales, production, purchasing, payroll, financial reporting, etc. These functions collect the operational data for the organization and provide the fundamental motivation for the purchase of an ERP.
Define Platform as a Service (PaaS).
Creating cloud-based software and programs Salesforce.com’s Force.com is an example of PaaS.
What 3 functions in IT should be segregated?
Applications Development
Systems Admin and programming
Computer Operations
The data control clerk is responsible for
managing the flow of documents and reports in and out of the Computer Operations department.
Office automation systems include
the software tools of daily work, including word processing programs, spreadsheets, email, and electronic calendars.
What are decision support systems (DSSs)?
These systems provide information to mid- and upper-level management to assist them in managing nonroutine problems and in long-range planning. Unlike MISs, DSSs frequently include external data in addition to summarized information from the TPS and include significant analytical and statistical capabilities.
What is a data warehouse?
A database for organizational decision making. Data from the live databases are copied to the warehouse so that data can be queried without reducing the performance (i.e., speed) or stability (i.e., reliability) of the live systems.
What is the purpose of executive support systems (ESS) and strategic support systems (SSS)?
A subset of decision support systems (DSS) especially designed for forecasting and making long-range, strategic decisions. As such, they have a greater emphasis on external data. Sometimes called “DSS for dummies.”
What is data mining?
Searching data in a warehouse to discover patterns and relationships in historical data.
What are operational systems?
These systems support the day-to-day activities of the business (purchasing of goods and services, manufacturing activities, sales to customers, cash collections, payroll, etc.) Also known as transaction processing systems (TPS).
What is a knowledge work system?
facilitate the work activities of professional-level employees (engineers, accountants, attorneys, etc.) by providing information relevant to their day-to-day activities (e.g., how the company has handled specific types of audit exceptions) and/or by automating some of their routine functions (e.g., computer-aided systems engineering [CASE] packages used by programmers to automated some programming functions).
Define management information systems.
Systems designed to support routine management problems based primarily on data from transaction processing systems.
Describe the concept of knowledge management (KM).
Attempts to ensure that the right information is available at the right time to the right user. A variety of practices attempt to electronically capture and disseminate information throughout the organization. Knowledge management practices seek specific outcomes, including shared intelligence, improved performance, competitive advantage, and more innovation.
Describe a flat file system.
Early information technology systems used flat file technology. Flat files are characterized by independent programs and data sets, high degrees of data redundancy, and difficulty in achieving cross functional reporting. This is bad.
Define “data mart”.
A specialized version of a data warehouse that contains data that is pre-configured to meet the needs of specific departments. Companies often support multiple data marts within their organization.
Define a “bit” (binary digit).
An individual zero or one; the smallest piece of information that can be represented.
Define “byte.”
A group of (usually) eight bits that are used to represent alphabetic and numeric characters and other symbols (3, g, X, ?, etc.). Several coding systems are used to assign specific bytes to characters. ASCII and EBCIDIC are the two most commonly used coding systems. Each system defines the sequence of zeros and ones that represent each character.
Define “field.”
A group of characters (bytes) that identify a characteristic of an entity. A data value is a specific value found in a field. Fields can consist of a single character (Y, N) but usually consist of a group of characters. Each field is defined as a specific data type. Date, Text and Number are common data types.
Define “record.”
A group of related fields (or attributes) that describe an individual instance of an entity (a specific invoice, a particular customer, an individual product).
Define “file.”
A collection of records for one specific entity (an Invoice File, a Customer File, a Product File). In a relational database environment, files are also known as tables.
Software that performs a variety of general technical computer-controlling operations is a(n)
Operating system. controls the execution of computer programs and may provide various services.
What are magnetic disks?
These are random access devices. Data can be stored on, and retrieved from, the disk in any order. This is the most efficient way to store and retrieve individual records. Magnetic disks are the most commonly used form of secondary storage.
What is a “central processing unit (CPU)”?
The CPU is the control center of the computer system. It has three principal components: Control Unit, Arithmetic Unit, and Logic Unit
Define “batch processing.”
Periodic transaction processing method in which transactions are processed in groups.
What are point-of-sale (POS) systems?
Combine on-line, real-time processing with automated data capture technology, resulting in a system that is highly accurate, reliable, and timely.
What are “time lags” in batch processing systems?
This is an inherent part of batch processing. There is always a time delay between the time the transaction occurs, the time that the transaction is recorded, and the time that the master file is updated.
What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
The widespread connection of electronic devices, which monitor physical processes (e.g., humans, animals, production processes), to the Internet
Describe four necessities of an IT policy.
Linked to the entity’s strategy and objectives
Has an owner who ensures operation and updating
Has a specified process for updates
Includes a title, purpose, scope and context, statement of responsibilities, and time for updating
Describe a values and service culture IT policy.
Specifies expectations of IT function personnel in their interactions with clients and others.
Describe four considerations in monitoring IT policies.
- monitoring for compliance and success
- monitoring by internal auditing staff
- continuous or periodic monitoring, or both, depending on policy importance and the risks of noncompliance
- monitoring of IT help calls and operational reports to provide evidence of noncompliance.
Describe an IT Contractors, Employees, and Sourcing policy
This policy addresses why, when, and how an entity selects IT human resources from among employees or outside contractors (i.e., the IT sourcing and outsourcing policy).
Describe an IT use and connection policy.
Policy that states the entity’s position on the use of personal devices and applications in the workplace and connection to the entity’s systems. May also specify allowable devices and uses of these devices on the entity’s systems.
A key aspect of supply chain management is
the sharing of key information from the point of sale to the consumer back to the manufacturer, the manufacturer’s suppliers, and the supplier’s suppliers.
Define “supply chain management (SCM).”
The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain: the process of transforming raw materials into a finished product and delivering that product to the consumer. Supply chain management incorporates all activities from the purchase and storage of raw materials, through the production process, into finished goods through to the point-of-consumption.
Define “electronic data interchange (EDI).”
The system-to-system exchange of business data (e.g., purchase orders, confirmations, invoices, etc.) in structured formats that allow direct processing of the data by the receiving system.
What are customer relationship management (CRM) systems?
Technologies that facilitate managing e-relationships with clients. Both biographic and transaction information about existing and potential customers is collected and stored in a database. The CRM provides tools to analyze the information and develop personalized marketing plans for individual customers.
what is the primary advantage of using a value-added network (VAN)?
It provides increased security for data transmissions.
Describe three considerations in adopting cloud-based storage.
The supported business processes (e.g., sales, product development)
the deployment model, i.e., public, hybrid, private
the service delivery model (i.e., SAAS, PAAS, IAAS).
