MIS 2010 Book Notes Flashcards
1
Q
Information Systems
A
The Combination of people, information technology, and business processes to accomplish a business objective
2
Q
Information Systems Triangle
A
Every information system consists of people, business processes, and information technology
3
Q
User Centered Design
A
Designing websites and applications to meet the needs of the user. While this may seem to be common sense, in practice it does not often happen, especially in internal corporate settings.
4
Q
Usability
A
Describes how easy the system is to use and navigate, especially for novice users
5
Q
Graphic Design
A
Describes the visual appeal and organization of the user interface.
6
Q
Analytical Design
A
Describes how best to represent information, especially quantitative information, so that it communicates clearly and truthfully.
7
Q
Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
A
A method for designing information systems. The life cycle proceeds through the following stages: an analysis of the current state, development of requirement, design of a solution, development from the design, and finally to implementation or roll out of the solution.
8
Q
Screen Mockups
A
Non-functioning pages of a website or app that are generated in a drawing program such as Photoshop, Omnigraffle, or even PowerPoint.
9
Q
Systems Architecture Diagram
A
A diagram that shows the organization of a website or app. A systems architecture diagram is sometimes also called a site map.
10
Q
Wireframe
A
A sketch of what the website or app page will look like. A wireframe has less detail filled in that mockup.
11
Q
Information Systems Architecture
A
The high level view of corporate systems, usually divided into enterprise systems, knowledge management/ collaboration systems, and business intelligence systems.
12
Q
Enterprise Systems
A
Systems that manage day to day transactions of the business
13
Q
Supply Chain Management
A
Controlling the flow of raw materials and finished products into and out of the business.
14
Q
Customer Relationship Management
A
Controlling communications with the customer to advance marketing goals
15
Q
Enterprise Resource Planning
A
The largest systems of all. ERP systems tie together all aspects of the business from accounting to the shop floor
16
Q
Data Warehouse
A
A repository of corporate data collected from many corporate databases
17
Q
Business Intelligence
A
The process of analyzing data to spot trends and opportunities.
18
Q
Data Mining
A
A form of Business Intelligence that automatically looks for trends or patterns in the data.
19
Q
Knowledge Management Systems
A
Capture and index knowledge from past projects usually in text form
20
Q
Collaboration Systems
A
Allow multiple users to work on projects together, even when geographically separated.
21
Q
Business Process
A
A set of goal directed activities
22
Q
As-Is Process
A
The way the process functions right now before any intervention or redesign.
23
Q
To-Be Process
A
The way the process will function after the redesign.
24
Q
Business Process Diagram
A
Business processes may be represented by process diagrams containing actors in swim lanes and actions connected by arrows. Decision points in a business process are represented by diamonds.
25
Swim Lane
A vertical portion of a business process diagram
26
Actor
A person or computer who takes actions or makes decisions in a business process
27
Contrast
The use of type, color, weight, and so forth to draw attention to specific elements on the page
28
Four Graphic Design Principles
C.R.A.P.
29
C.R.A.P
Contrast
Repetition
Alignment
Proximity
30
Visual Weight
The amount of ink dedicated to an element on the page. The more ink, the more contrast that is created.
31
Affinity
The opposite of contrast. Layouts demonstrating affinity show subtle variations in color or brightness.
32
Conflicting Layout
A layout in which type is very similar but different. The effect is disturbing to the eye, as though an error has taken place.
33
Serif
The ornamental strokes at the end of the letters.
34
Sans Serif
Without Serifs
35
Color Palette
A group of colors used in a composition that harmonize in some way.
36
RGB
Red, Green, Blue values on a palette
37
Alignment
Arrangement items on a page so that they touch common imaginary vertical or horizontal lines to convey organization, polish, and strength.
38
Proximity
Arranging items on a page so that similar items are grouped together to establish their relationship.
39
Hotspot
Your cell phone becomes a hotspot through a process called tethering.
40
App
An application or app is a computer program that runs on the iPhone .
41
Demographics
A way to categorize groups of people using age, income, gender, education level, home ownership, and so forth
42
Market Segment
A group of potential customers for a product or service.
43
Promotional Campaign
The marketing communications that is aimed at the target market
44
Target Market
The segment that is chosen or targeted by the company.
45
Majority Fallacy
The targeting of only the largest segment or group of segments, when a smaller loyal segment could be more profitable.
46
Niche Market
A narrow and highly defined target market
47
Brand Power
Narrowly defining a product or service so that it provokes a single positive image in the mind of the consumer, such as "cool" for Apple Computer
48
User Centered Design
Changing the design to fit the user rather than asking the user to accommodate the design.
49
Usability
How easily a product is to use
50
User Experience (UX)
A person's perceptions and responses that result from the use or anticipated use of a product, system or service.
51
Persona
A fictional person from the target market created by the designer to help influence design choice.
52
Differentiate
A marketing term that refers to the ability of a brand to stand out from the crowd.
53
Singularity
The idea that a brand's power depends on its uniqueness.
54
Build vs. Buy
The classic decision on whether to program or purchase an information systems solution. It is usually better to buy.
55
Website Authorizing Tools
Programs that greatly simplify the process of building a website.
56
Design View
The what you see is what you get view of authorizing websites. The design tool functions like a word processor.
57
Code View
The HTML code that is built behind the design view. Most authorizing tools provide a code view.
58
Client Side Development
Running development software such as Dreamweaver on your workstation. The major advantage is that it runs very fast while running locally.
59
Cloud Development
Accessing development software that lives in the cloud. The major advantage is that the process tends to be greatly simplified.
60
Site Template
A pre-built site with placeholder text, images, and a pre-selected theme. Site templates are the closest thing to an instant website.
61
Theme
Similar to a template but without the placeholder text and images. A theme specifies formatting - layout colors, and fonts
62
Layers
Website elements that lay on top of one another to create a layered look on the page
63
Page Template
Whether or not a given page will have collaboration elements on it.
64
Content Area
The portion of the page where you write your content. You can specify layouts for each content area.
65
Gadgets
Mini services that exist in the cloud and can be snapped into your webpage.
66
Database
A collection of one or more related tables of data stored in rows or columns
67
Form
A user-friendly way to get information into a database
68
Database Integration
The ability to capture and store information gathered from a form into a database. Database information also refers to the ability to extract and display information from a database on a website.
69
Business Analyst
This is a job title typical for an IS graduate. Business analyst work both with business units such as Human Resources and the programmers. They discover the needs of the business unit and then translate those needs into documentation for the programmers. Business analyst also test the completed system and supervise its roll out.
70
Outsourcing
Hiring another firm to do a job that traditionally might have been done in-house
71
Onshoring
Outsourcing to a firm that resides in your own country
72
Offshoring
Outsourcing to a firm that resides in a foreign country
73
Competitive Advantage
An attribute that allows a firm to best the competition in some way.
74
Doing Business As (DBA) License
The cheapest way to start a business. It is just you doing business under another name. However, you are personally liable for business debts.
75
Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)
Usually the recommended way to start a small business. If the business goes under, you are not personally liable for the business debts.
76
Apple Developer
A developer registered with Apple. Only Apple Developers can list apps on the iTunes Store
77
Fixed Cost
A cost that the business must pay whether or not they sell anything. Examples include rent, legal fees, development costs and so forth.
78
Variable Cost
A cost that a business incurs on each sale. For apps, the variable cost is the iTunes store commission.
79
Contribution Margin
What you make on every sale after subtracting variable costs.
80
Information
Data that has been processes in a meaningful way.
81
Landscape Orientation
Printing horizontally instead of vertically on a piece of paper. The normal way to print is portrait or vertical orientation.
82
Assumptions Area
A part of the spreadsheet, usually at the top, where key variables are given their variables
83
Formula
A mathematical operation that normally references the values contained in other cells in the spreadsheet. If the cells are referenced by name, then their values will not change when copied. If the cells are referenced by location, then the values will change when copied as Excel tries to guess a pattern.
84
Name Box
The box located just above cell A1. It is used to give names to spreadsheet cells. The names are variables, so they may not contain spaces. Also, remember to hit Enter after typing the name or it will not stick.
85
Camelback Notation
Variable names created by capitalizing the first letter of each word and eliminating the spaces between words.
86
Sensitivity Analysis
An analysis of how the outputs will change as the inputs from the assumptions area vary. You are literally trying to discover how sensitive the outputs are to changes in the inputs. The analysis helps to determine how the inputs must be varied to achieve a desired result
87
Data Table
A tool used to perform a sensitivity analysis. A data table allows you to vary two of the inputs and record changes to one of the outputs. Amazingly the data table performs all of the computations for each combination of inputs.
88
Startup Costs
These are fixed costs associated with starting a business. Often refers to one-time costs
89
Payment (PMT) Function
A built in Excel function that calculates loan payments. Inputs to the function include the loan amount, the interest rate, and the number of loan payments.
90
Function
A function is similar to a stored formula. However, functions usually hide details of the formula from the user. For example, we can use the PMT function to calculate loan payment without ever knowing the mathematical formula behind the function.
91
Sum Function
The sum function adds up a column or row of numbers.
92
Finance Charge
The total interest paid over the life of the loan. The finance charge is calculated by adding up all of the loan payments and the subtracting from this total the amount originally borrowed.
93
Industry Analysis
An analysis of the attractiveness of the industry in which the company operates
94
Company Analysis
The analysis of the competitive position of a company within an industry
95
S.W.O.T. Analysis
An analysis of a company's strengths and weaknesses and of the industry's opportunities and threats.
96
Porter's Five Forces
An analysis of five key forces which profiles the attractiveness of an industry. These include the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, barriers to entry, threat of substitutes, and the competitive rivalry of firms already in the industry.
97
Bar Graph
Compares discrete (distinct) categories on a common measure.
98
Line Graph
Compares continuous categories such as time on a common measure.
99
Pie Chart
Compares discrete categories on a common measure
100
Scatterplot
Suggests causality by plotting independent and dependent variables on a graph.
101
Microfinance
Making very small loans (typically under $500) to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Most loans are repaid in six months to a year.
102
Business Intelligence
The delivery of accurate, useful information to the appropriate decision makers within the necessary time frame to support effective decision making.
103
Static Reports
A form of BI reporting with which we are most familiar - Summary reports distributed at regular intervals
104
Dynamic Reports
Look like standard reports but with major difference. They are interactive and allow the user to drill down to discover the source for the summary numbers.
105
Dashboard
A high level management overview of the data - Sometimes depicted using dials and needles similar to an automobile dashboard. In a car you might now need to know your exact RPMs but you do need to know if you are red lining. Similarly, upper management might not need to know exact sales figures but they do need to know if sales are out of the normal range.
106
Drill Down
The process of uncovering the numbers that contribute to creating a summary number. Drill down is like being shocked at your ATM balance and then calling the bank to get a list of the withdrawals and payments made against your account.
107
Data Mining
The process of fishing for patterns in the data using computing power because you really do not know what to look for.
108
Relational Database
A database that consists of related tables and nothing but tables. The relationships among tables are established by repeating key fields. For example, the customer ID field would be repeated in the account table for a bank.
109
Primary Key
One or more fields that together uniquely identify each record in a table
110
Parent and Child Tables
To avoid duplicate data, store information common to each child in the parent table. Parent tables point to child tables in a diagram. However, the real link between them is made using a foreign key.
111
Foreign Key
Repeat the primary key from the parent table in each corresponding record of the child table as a foreign key to link tables together,
112
Duplicate Data
Storing some fact about the world more than once. It is the number one sin in database design because duplicate data might become inconsistent.
113
One to Many Relationship
The type of relationship formed between parent and child tables. One parent record has zero or more child tables.
114
Form
A way to get information into a database. Often a report will gather information together from multiple tables and present it as a single table.
115
Report
A way to get information out of a database. Often a report will gather information together from multiple tables and present it as a single table.
116
SQL
Structured Query Language (SQL) is the language used by most relational database management systems. It requires very little code to accomplish powerful operations.
117
Pivot Table
A visual query tool in Excel that allows you to easily group and summarize data.
118
Data Warehouse
A giant database that contains periodic dumps from many databases throughout the company. BI systems query the data warehouse to spot patterns and trends.
119
Exact, Transform, Load (ETL)
The process of copying data from many databases throughout the enterprise into the data warehouse.
120
Latency
The amount of time between the occurrence and the loading of that transaction's information into the business intelligence system.
121
Schematic Report
A business presentation combining concise text and graphics. Schematic reports should be brief, well organized, and easy to navigate. Though usually designed in PowerPoint, schematic reports are intended primarily to be read rather than projected. The term was coined by Robert Heckman of Syracuse University
122
Pitchbook
A PowerPoint template well suited for creating schematic reports because of its small font size and versatile layouts.
123
PowerPoint Presentation
A presentation primarily designed to be projected which combines brief text and graphics. Presentations use few words and large fonts for audience readability.
124
Theme
Defines a set of background elements, colors, and fonts as well as a set of slide layouts
125
Layout
The organization of items on a page. For example, a 2up layout consists of two blacks of images and/or text
126
Master
Model slides that define the theme elements. The slide master defines the background elements, colors, and fonts. The layout masters provide a menu of possible layouts to apply to a slide.
127
Template
A model report in which the theme is predefined. In some templates even some of the slides are already created. For example, the pitchbook template includes a title slide, a table of contents slide, and a section heading slide.
