Deck 2: The Origins of Software

Question 1

Hardware manufacturers,packaged software producers,custom software producers,enterprisewide solutions,application server providers,and in-house developers are sources of software.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Outsourcing is an alternative analysts need to be aware of.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Internal corporate information systems departments now spend a smaller portion of their time and effort on developing systems from scratch.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Software companies will test their systems in actual organizations to determine whether there are any problems or if any improvements can be made,and until this testing is complete,the system is not offered for sale to the general public.

Question 5

Hiring a company to run your applications on your own computers is an example of outsourcing.

Question 6

Sun and Hitachi are well known for their enterprisewide solutions.

Question 7

A company may consider outsourcing if it feels that its core mission does not involve managing an information systems unit and that it might achieve more effective computing by turning over all of its operations to a more experienced,computer-oriented company.

Question 8

In general,custom software producers do not use the same methodologies,techniques,and tools that companies use to develop systems in house.

Question 9

An organization may move to outsourcing for political reasons.

Question 10

All off-the-shelf software systems can be modified to meet the specific,individual needs of a particular organization.

Question 11

The first administrative information system was General Electric's payroll system.

Question 12

Third-party sourcing is the practice of turning over responsibility of some to all of an organization's information systems applications and operations to an outside firm.

Question 13

Reducing time to market is one reason for outsourcing.

Question 14

Based on 2007 total revenues,the number one global software company is IBM.

Question 15

SAP AG,PeopleSoft,and Oracle are vendors of enterprise solution software.

Question 16

Hardware manufacturers are one source of software.

Question 17

Based on 2007 total revenues,the number one global software company is Microsoft.

Question 18

Properly designed turnkey systems will perfectly match the way an organization does business.

Question 19

A reasonable estimate is that off-the-shelf software can at best meet 70 percent of an organization's needs.

Question 20

In many instances,off-the-shelf software can meet an organization's needs over 80 percent of the time.

Question 21

A turnkey system integrates individual,traditional business functions into a series of modules so that a single transaction occurs seamlessly within a single information system rather than several separate systems.

Question 22

Advantages to cloud computing include gaining access to applications faster than via internal development,and achieving lower-cost access to corporate-quality applications.

Question 23

Purchasing application software is a substitute for conducting the systems analysis phase.

Question 24

Purchasing software is part of one design strategy for acquiring the system identified during analysis.

Question 25

Functionality refers to the tasks the software can perform and the mandatory,essential,and desired system features.

Question 26

Functionality refers to how easy it is for you,or the vendor,to customize the software.

Question 27

Using enterprise software solutions,a firm can integrate all parts of a business process in a unified information system.

Question 28

A disadvantage of cloud computing is the increased need for internal information technology staff.

Question 29

When choosing off-the-shelf software,cost,functionality,response time,and ease of installation are some of the common criteria that should be considered.

Question 30

Another method for organizations to obtain applications is to rent them or license them from third-party providers who run the applications at remote sites.

Question 31

Referencing enterprise solutions,the difference between the modules and traditional approaches is that the modules are integrated to focus on the business functional areas,rather than on business processes.

Question 32

Open source software is different because it is freely available,not just the final product but the source code itself.

Question 33

IBM captured a large share of the ERP market through its own financial systems and through the acquisition of other ERP vendors.

Question 34

One of the primary benefits of using an enterprise software solution is the short time period required for implementation.

Question 35

The benefits of the enterprise solutions approach include a single repository of data for all aspects of a business process and the flexibility of the separate systems.

Question 36

The choice to acquire software from outside sources is made at the end of the systems design phase.

Question 37

Lack of in-house expertise is a disadvantage associated with enterprise solutions software.

Question 38

When choosing off-the-shelf software,the two most important criteria are functionality and ease of installation.

Question 39

Cloud computing refers to the provision of applications over the Internet.

Question 40

Hybrid solutions involving some purchased and some in-house software components are not very common.

Question 41

The practice of turning over responsibility of some to all of an organization's information systems applications and operations to an outside firm is referred to as:

A)realignment
B)downsizing
C)outsourcing
D)time sharing

Question 42

Baan is a software testing and abstracting service that periodically evaluates software and collects user opinions.

Question 43

A request for proposal is a document provided to vendors that asks them to propose hardware and system software that will meet the requirements of a new system.

Question 44

Reuse refers to the use of previously written software resources,especially objects and components,in new applications.

Question 45

SAP AG is a(n):

A)hardware manufacturer
B)application service provider
C)enterprise solution software provider
D)custom software producer

Question 46

The first administrative information system was:

A)General Motor's order tracking system
B)Ford Motor Company's order tracking system
C)General Electric's payroll system
D)Coca-Cola's payroll system

Question 47

According to a study cited in the textbook,most organizations cannot compete economically with established commercial organizations that focus on selling components as their main line of business.

Question 48

Flexibility refers to how long it takes the software package to respond to the user's requests in an interactive session.

Question 49

A system that integrates individual traditional business functions into a series of modules so that a single transaction occurs seamlessly within a single information system rather than several separate systems best describes:

A)enterprise resource planning
B)application service
C)storage area network
D)packaged software

Question 50

One method for validating purchased software information is to contact current users of the software.

Question 51

Based on 2007 services revenue,which of the following companies is the top global software company?

A)Compaq
B)Microsoft
C)Accenture
D)IBM

Question 52

Reasons for outsourcing include:

A)freeing up internal resources
B)increasing processing efficiencies
C)reducing time to market
D)all of the above

Question 53

Based on 2007 total revenues,which of the following top global software companies had the highest revenues?

A)Accenture
B)IBM
C)Microsoft
D)NTT Data Corporation

Question 54

Sources of software include:

A)information technology services firm
B)packaged software providers
C)application service providers
D)all of the above

Question 55

Which of the following companies are ranked in the 2007 top global software companies?

A)IBM
B)Microsoft
C)Capgemmi
D)all of the above

Question 56

Hiring a company to run your applications at your site on your computers is an example of:

A)a turnkey system
B)outsourcing
C)downsizing
D)realignment

Question 57

Which of the following is a true statement regarding in-house development?

A)In-house development of information systems has increased by a factor of 3 in the last three years.
B)In-house development of information systems has increased by 42 percent in the last three years.
C)In-house development of information systems has progressively become a smaller piece of all the systems development work that takes place in and for organizations.
D)When developing administrative systems,in-house development of information systems is still the best choice.

Question 58

Off-the-shelf software systems that cannot be modified to meet the specific needs of a particular organization are sometimes called:

A)custom software systems
B)in-house developed systems
C)turnkey systems
D)standard systems

Question 59

One way to get all of the information you want about a software package is to collect it from the vendor.

Question 60

Based on total revenues for 2007,which of the following global software companies ranks fourth?

A)Microsoft
B)IBM
C)Accenture
D)EDS

Question 61

Which of the following are ways of validating purchased software information?

A)reviewing software documentation and technical marketing literature
B)sending prospective vendors a questionnaire asking specific questions about their packages
C)using the software yourself and running it through a series of tests based on the criteria for selecting software
D)all of the above

Question 62

Which of the following software criteria determines whether the software package can perform all or just some of the software tasks your users need?

A)cost
B)vendor viability
C)functionality
D)flexibility

Question 63

When choosing off-the-shelf software,which of the following are the two most important criteria?

A)vendor viability and vendor support
B)cost and functionality
C)documentation and response time
D)flexibility and functionality

Question 64

Which of the following software producers is generally not a source of application software?

A)custom software producers
B)enterprise solution producers
C)packaged software producers
D)in-house developers

Question 65

The document sent to vendors asking them to propose hardware and software that will meet the requirements of your new system is called a:

A)requirements statement
B)request for proposal
C)baseline project plan
D)business case

Question 66

Some of the most well-known and popular open source software names are:

A)Linux
B)mySQL
C)Firefox
D)all of the above

Question 67

One of the top three reasons for choosing to go with cloud computing is:

A)having internal IT staff run the application
B)hosting the application internally
C)having IT staff install and upgrade
D)freeing internal IT staff

Question 68

Which of the following software evaluation criteria refers to the ease with which you or the vendor can customize the software?

A)cost
B)vendor viability
C)functionality
D)flexibility

Question 69

Which of the following software criteria refers to the tasks the software can perform and the mandatory,essential,and desired system features?

A)cost
B)vendor viability
C)functionality
D)flexibility

Question 70

Displays and reports may be easily redesigned if the modules are written in:

A)fourth-generation language
B)third-generation language
C)object-oriented language
D)English language

Question 71

Benefits of enterprise solutions do not include:

A)the flexibility of modules
B)ease of implementation and less implementation time
C)being an inexpensive alternative to custom development
D)not requiring the company to change how it does business

Question 72

The choice to acquire software from outside sources should be made:

A)at the beginning of the analysis phase
B)at the middle of the analysis phase
C)at the end of the analysis phase
D)at the end of the design phase

Question 73

Which of the following describes the internal staffing requirements when software components are acquired from enterprise wide solutions providers?

A)Some internal staff are necessary,but mostly consultants are needed.
B)Some IS and user staff to define requirements and evaluate packages are needed.
C)Internal staff may be needed,depending on the application.
D)Internal staffing requirements vary.

Question 74

Which of the following describes the internal staffing requirements when software components are acquired from packaged software producers?

A)Some internal staff are necessary,but mostly consultants are needed.
B)Some IS and user staff to define requirements and evaluate packages are needed.
C)Internal staff may be needed,depending on the application.
D)Internal staffing requirements vary.

Question 75

A major vendor that provides enterprise solution software is:

A)Microsoft
B)SAP AG
C)Macromedia
D)Adobe

Question 76

Vendor support can take the form of:

A)providing assistance to install software
B)training users and system staff on the software
C)providing help as problems arise after installation
D)all of the above

Question 77

Which of the software evaluation criteria refers to how long it takes the software package to respond to the user's requests in an interactive session?

A)functionality
B)return rate
C)response time
D)flexibility

Question 78

Which of the following software evaluation criteria measures the difficulty of loading the software and making it operational?

A)ease of installation
B)installation viability
C)functionality
D)flexibility

Question 79

When purchasing off-the-shelf software,you should consider:

A)flexibility
B)response time
C)vendor viability
D)all of the above

Question 80

According to a study cited in the textbook,which of the following development methods can lead to a larger maintenance burden?

A)in-house development
B)packaged software
C)outsourcing
D)enterprisewide solutions