Exam 5: Information Systems Concepts

Raul was leading a team charged with developing a new system for budgeting. At what point will the system be ready for the fifth step in the systems development life cycle?

Robert is the president and CEO of Computer Solutions; the firm's main activity is installing enterprise resource planning software. When a client calls Robert, he does an "intake interview" where he assesses the client's needs and learns about their company. Robert tries to interview at least a dozen people at each client, including top management and mid- and lower-level employees.At what point would Robert be best equipped to submit a project budget to his client?

Liam has developed a good process for safeguarding his company's information technology assets. He has talked about his methodology with some of his co-workers and has created a schedule for applying his process to various kinds of information technology assets. Using the capability maturity model, the process is best described as:

In the systems development life cycle, which step immediately follows requirements analysis?

Consider the business processes described below. For each one, indicate which level of the capability maturity model most clearly applies. Circle the phrase that led you to your choice. A. Joe tried various ways to process purchase orders to see which one would work best. B. Marie, an independent consultant, was trying to develop a better way for her client to monitor inventory. She interviewed several employees and looked at the company's historical records for guidance. C. Mark led monthly discussion groups focused on how to improve various business processes throughout the company. D. Mark prepared a list of common documents used in his job as an accounts receivable clerk; the list also indicated how many copies of each document were normally required. Mark kept the list in his desk. E. The CEO of Marie's client explained to her that the new inventory monitoring system could cost no more than $500 per month to use.

One advantage of the systems development life cycle is its opportunity for user input. It therefore shares some commonalities with which elements of the COSO enterprise risk management framework?

Anna and Melinda were choosing a new general ledger system for the company they own. They decided to use three factors for the evaluation: adaptability, strategic fit and training. They considered training three times more important than strategic fit; they considered adaptability twice as important as strategic fit. To keep their evaluation simple, they assigned a weight of "1" to strategic fit. If software package B had scores of 3 on adaptability, 6 on strategic fit and 8 on training, its score using the weighted-rating technique will be:

Robert is the president and CEO of Computer Solutions; the firm's main activity is installing enterprise resource planning software. When a client calls Robert, he does an "intake interview" where he assesses the client's needs and learns about their company. Robert tries to interview at least a dozen people at each client, including top management and mid- and lower-level employees.In the preceding case, who would complete the first step in the systems development life cycle?

Sylla and Wen suggested a three-stage process for evaluating information technology investments. At which step in their process would you expect to address each of the following items? A. Ability to do things more efficiently b. Better use of organizational resources c. Encouragement from top management d. Fire suppression systems e. Impact on a company's market share f. Need to change the company in a fundamental way g. Opportunities for fraud h. Opportunity to do things more effectively i. Producing more with less j. Secure storage for the new IT asset

Macro-level factors to consider when choosing information technology for the accounting information system include: (i) need, (ii) cost, (iii) strategic fit.

Which level of the capability maturity model best describes each of the following business processes? A. After consulting the company procedures manual and her supervisor for guidance, Lindsay developed a more detailed description of the invoice payment process. B. After developing a rigorous description of the purchase order process, Joe set a goal of processing each one in no more than one day. C. After figuring out the best way to process purchase orders, Joe developed a schedule indicating what tasks he should complete each day. He did not share the schedule or the process with anyone else. D. Although CPK Corporation had a process for paying vendor invoices, Lindsay thought it didn't work well. So, she used her own system without telling her supervisor or co-workers. E. Employees of the purchasing department all attended a seminar on how to make the purchasing department more efficient and effective.

Please consider these independent cases as you respond to the next question: • Austin is the managing partner of a small CPA firm. In an effort to standardize certain internal business processes, Austin formed a team that developed a set of guidelines for tasks such as expense reimbursements and information technology purchases. After developing the guidelines, the team devised ways to determine if the processes are performing as expected.• Julie is the chief financial officer of PSC Corporation. She recently worked with a team to develop a broad set of principles that should characterize PSC's business processes. The team has applied those principles to some tasks in the accounting department; their next task is to teach other PSC employees about the principles.• Rob is an accountant at CTR Company. The owners of CTR, Lynn and Mark, don't know much about accounting, so Rob completes accounting tasks in whatever way seems best to him.Which level of the capability maturity model best describes Julie's company?

MCL Corporation recently hired a consultant to design and implement a new information system. The consultant was trying to decide whether to discard the old system all at once and put the new system in its place, or to make the transition more gradual. After making that choice, which of the following should the consultant do based on the steps in the systems development life cycle?

Fran was unhappy with her firm's transaction processing software. Which of the following tools would be most useful to her in making it better?

All of the following are levels of the capability maturity model except:

Please consider these independent cases as you respond to the next question: • Austin is the managing partner of a small CPA firm. In an effort to standardize certain internal business processes, Austin formed a team that developed a set of guidelines for tasks such as expense reimbursements and information technology purchases. After developing the guidelines, the team devised ways to determine if the processes are performing as expected.• Julie is the chief financial officer of PSC Corporation. She recently worked with a team to develop a broad set of principles that should characterize PSC's business processes. The team has applied those principles to some tasks in the accounting department; their next task is to teach other PSC employees about the principles.• Rob is an accountant at CTR Company. The owners of CTR, Lynn and Mark, don't know much about accounting, so Rob completes accounting tasks in whatever way seems best to him.Based on the levels of the capability maturity model, which of the following statements is most true?

Which of the following statements best represents a disadvantage of using the systems development life cycle?

IRM Corporation had an outdated, ineffective system for monitoring its fixed assets. You have been asked by the CEO to develop a new system; you have decided to use the systems development life cycle to accomplish the task. For each fixed asset, the system should include the following items: identification code, name, date placed in service, cost, estimated life, estimated salvage value, depreciation method, and condition. For each step in the SDLC, indicate one question you would ask / action you would take to develop the new system. Ensure that your responses are specific to the fixed asset system. A. Initiation / planning: _______________________________________________ b. Requirements analysis: ____________________________________________ c. Design: _________________________________________________________ d. Build: ___________________________________________________________ e. Test: ___________________________________________________________ f. Implementation: __________________________________________________ g. Operations / maintenance: __________________________________________

As part of your company's effort to design an enterprise risk management plan using the COSO framework, you have been asked to develop an information technology tool that will monitor the plan. Use the steps in the systems development life cycle to explain how you would proceed; ensure that your discussion includes ideas specific to monitoring the ERM plan.

Which of the following statements would you expect to read in a company memo advocating the use of the systems development life cycle to select general ledger software?