System Fundamentals

Question 1

Why could a new system be created?

Answer 1

a new system could be created to replace one that is no longer suitable for its purpose: It is outdated, inefficient or redundant

Question 2

What is the process of planning

Answer 2

the process of planning is to think about various details and organising the activities required to reach the desired goal

Question 3

List 5 things that may have an impact on planning

Answer 3

-lack of stakeholders and end user anticipation
-lack of end user ownership to a system
-lack of attention to required training
-lack of attention to various organisation issues
-lack of guiding organisation and business strategies

Question 4

What is a feasibility report?

Answer 4

a report that analyses and evaluates a project and its potential, based on the technical, economic, legal, operational and schedule criteria. This decides whether a project will be pursued

Question 5

Explain the 5 types of feasibility that would be

Answer 5

technical-can existing tech work in the new system
economic- is it cost effective
legal- does it follow laws
operational- do existing practices and procedures support the maintenance and operation of the new system
schedule- how long will it take

Question 6

What is change Management?

Answer 6

the process of moving individuals, departments and organisations from the current state to the desired state

Question 7

What is the goal of change management?

Answer 7

maximise benefits and limit negative impacts of change on individuals

Question 8

What is a legacy system and what about it needs to be paid attention to by administrators?

Answer 8

a legacy system is old hardware, computer systems and application programs
The exchange of data between new systems and legacy systems

Question 9

Give 2 reasons why legacy systems may be used

Answer 9

data can not be converted to newer formats
apps cannot be updated

Question 10

What is a business merger?

Answer 10

the combining of 2 or more business entities

Question 11

Give 4 strategies of integration.
give a con for each

Answer 11

-develop both to have the same function(high maintenance)
-select the best systems from each and combine them (difficult for employees)
-select 1 and drop the other (policy issues)
-replace both with a new one(high initial cost)

Question 12

What is software incompatibility?

Answer 12

when business entities or systems cannot operate satisfactorily

Question 13

What is change over?

Answer 13

changeover is the purpose of retiring the old system and implementing the new system

Question 14

explain these changeover methods:
parallel
big bang/direct

Answer 14

parallel- both systems run at the same time for a while, very popular due to limited risk. However, it is not very cost efficient
big bang- the new system is implemented and the old system is terminated at the same time has a very high risk, the system may not work as expected

Question 15

explain these changeover methods:
pilot
phased

Answer 15

pilot- only used in large organisations that have multiple sites. One site tests it and if it is liked it is extended to the other sites via direct changeover
phased- one module of the system at a time is changed. This method is very slow

Question 16

What can business systems operate on

Answer 16

locally hosted system-can be used for larger and complex systems
remote hosted system-most appropriate when there is no necessary hardware

Question 17

What is SaaS?

Answer 17

a method that allows software and data to be hosted and managed centrally on a remote datacentre-users pay a subscription. This is on the cloud and requires internet access.

Question 18

Give 3 benefits of SaaS

Answer 18

-cheaper than other options: low initial cost and low maintenance
- a wide range of devices support it
-few software updates and few it technicians required

Question 19

Give 3 limitations of SaaS

Answer 19

-data loss if the provider goes out of business
-integration with other SaaS solutions or Software is difficult
- the performance of a browser when using SaaS is lower

Question 20

List 3 things that may happen without proper user documentation

Answer 20

-programs and systems may become increasingly complex as their aim becomes more complicated
-the product functions may not be as clear for the user(user and developer think differently)
-Users may not know how to use the product to its full capacity

Question 21

List 4 things that proper internal documentation should include

Answer 21

• appropriate use of constant identifiers
• appropriate module headers
  -appropriate code structuring
  -appropriate comments

Question 22

List all the 7 methods of user documentation

Answer 22

-FAQ’S
-User/Embedded assistance
-email support
- Live chat sessions
-remote desktop connections
-Manuals
-online/web portals

Question 23

Explain the 2 types of testing

Answer 23

-Functional testing: tests individual parts of the data such as menu functions to see that they all work properly
- Data testing- testing extreme, abnormal and normal data in the system

Question 24

List the 4 possible outcomes of data testing

Answer 24

-normal: data that should be accepted
- abnormal data: data that is not expected to be entered
- data at the limits: data that is at the boundary of being accepted
-extreme: should be rejected when tested

Question 25

What is Validation?

Answer 25

the process of evaluating whether data input follows

Question 26

What is Verification?