Deck 12: Information Systems Development

Question 1

The ________ is the traditional process used to develop information systems.

A)rapid application development (RAD)
B)object-oriented design (OOD)
C)systems development life cycle (SDLC)
D)extreme programming (XP)

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Explain how diseconomies of scale can affect systems development.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, as development teams become larger, the average contribution per worker decreases.This is True because, as staff size increases, more meetings and other coordinating activities are required to keep everyone in sync.There are economies of scale up to a point, but beyond a workgroup of, say, 20 employees, diseconomies of scale begin to take over.Brooks' Law points out a related problem: The addition of more people to a late project makes the project later.Brooks' Law is True not only because a larger staff requires increased coordination, but also because new people need training.The only people who can train the new employees are the existing team members, who are thus taken off productive tasks.The costs of training new people can overwhelm the benefit of their contribution.

Question 3

According to Brooks' Law, which of the following is a consequence of adding more people to late projects?

A)The work allocation per team member increases.
B)The costs of training new people can overwhelm the benefits of their contribution.
C)Beyond a workgroup of about 20 employees, economies of scale begin to take over.
D)It allows the managers to extend the timeline of the project.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is the first phase of the systems development life cycle?

A)requirements analysis
B)business planning process
C)implementation
D)system definition

Question 5

Information systems involve people and procedures, so they can never be off-the-shelf.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is true of systems development?

A)It has little need for human relations skills as tasks are performed by individuals and not by groups.
B)It is a technical task undertaken exclusively by programmers and hardware specialists.
C)It has lesser scope than computer program development.
D)It requires business knowledge and an understanding of group dynamics.

Question 7

What is systems development? How is it different from program development?

Question 8

One of the major challenges in systems development is changing technology.

Question 9

As development teams become larger, the average contribution per worker decreases.

Question 10

It is essential to estimate a system's cost to calculate its rate of return.

Question 11

Information systems cannot be tailor-made.

Question 12

Which of the following statements is true of systems development for bigger systems and longer projects?

A)The diseconomies of scale are reduced.
B)The changes in requirements are increased.
C)The average contribution per worker is increased.
D)The project budgeting and scheduling becomes easy.

Question 13

Why is systems development difficult and risky?

Question 14

In the ________ phase of the systems development life cycle, developers use management's statement of the system needs in order to develop a new information system.

A)system definition
B)requirements analysis
C)component design
D)implementation

Question 15

When compared to program development, systems development is ________.

A)narrower in focus
B)less comprehensive
C)broader in scope
D)more technical

Question 16

Brooks' Law holds true because a larger staff requires decreased coordination.

Question 17

Systems development is easy and risk-free.

Question 18

The process of creating and maintaining information systems is called ________.

A)systems development
B)systems acquisition
C)systems definition
D)systems configuration

Question 19

Which of the following statements is true of information systems?

A)They are off-the-shelf software without adaptation.
B)They can be adapted to fit business needs.
C)They can be purchased as off-the-shelf software.
D)They cannot be tailor-made.

Question 20

According to Brooks' Law, adding more people to a late project ________.

A)makes the project later
B)decreases the overall cost
C)requires decreased staff coordination
D)increases the project's timeline

Question 21

During design and implementation, a development team will be heavy with ________.

A)business analysts
B)business users
C)programmers
D)senior managers

Question 22

Explain the tasks performed during the system definition phase of the systems development life cycle.

Question 23

The goals and scope of a new information system are determined during the requirements analysis phase of the systems development life cycle.

Question 24

Which of the following is the first step in defining a new information system?

A)assess the feasibility of the project
B)explain the goals and scope of the project
C)determine the schedule and budget for the project
D)form the project team

Question 25

In which of the following phases of the systems development life cycle do developers identify the particular features and functions of a new system?

A)system definition
B)requirements analysis
C)component design
D)implementation

Question 26

If a new system involves a new database or substantial changes to an existing database, then the development team will have to create a(n)________.

A)data model
B)replica
C)archetype
D)test plan

Question 27

Business analysts integrate the work of the programmers, testers, and users.

Question 28

Define the terms cost feasibility, technical feasibility, and organizational feasibility.

Question 29

The cost feasibility of a systems development project depends on the scope of the project.

Question 30

Which of the following steps in the systems definition process aims to eliminate obviously nonsensible projects?

A)define the system goals and scope
B)form the project team
C)assess the project feasibility
D)plan the project requirements

Question 31

What are the five phases of the systems development life cycle (SDLC)?

Question 32

A development team's composition changes over time.

Question 33

Which of the following is the most important phase in the SDLC?

A)define the goals and scope of the new information system
B)implement the information system
C)determine the system's requirements
D)adapt systems to changes in requirements

Question 34

________ feasibility concerns whether a new information system fits within a company's customs, culture, charter, or legal requirements.

A)Technical
B)Cost
C)Schedule
D)Organizational

Question 35

Who are the members of a systems project team? Explain the roles of business analysts and systems analysts.

Question 36

Which of the following statements is true of the composition of a development team over the different phases of the systems development life cycle?

A)During conversion, the team will be heavy with database designers.
B)During requirements definition, the team will be heavy with testers and database designers.
C)During integrated testing and conversion, the team will be augmented with business users.
D)During design and implementation, the team will be augmented with business users.

Question 37

The description of fixes and new requirements is the input to a system maintenance phase of a systems development life cycle.

Question 38

Organizational feasibility refers to estimating the time it will take to complete a project.

Question 39

During requirements definition, a development team's composition will be typically heavy with ________.

A)systems analysts
B)programmers
C)business users
D)beta testers

Question 40

The project plan resulting from system definition is the input for requirement analysis.

Question 41

Mock-ups of forms and reports can generate similar benefits as a working prototype.

Question 42

During the ________ phase of the systems development life cycle process, developers construct, install, and test the components of the information system.

A)requirements analysis
B)database design
C)feasibility assessment
D)implementation

Question 43

The security needs of an information system are determined during the component design phase of the systems development life cycle.

Question 44

Which of the following is the most expensive style of system conversion?

A)pilot installation
B)phased installation
C)parallel installation
D)plunge installation

Question 45

Interviews are conducted with system users in the requirements analysis phase of the systems development life cycle.

Question 46

System ________ refers to the process of changing business activity from an old information system to a new system.

A)definition
B)testing
C)analysis
D)conversion

Question 47

In a ________ installation, a new system runs alongside the old one until the new one has been tested and is fully operational.

A)pilot
B)parallel
C)phased
D)plunge

Question 48

While designing ________, a development team must produce design documentation for writing program code.

A)off-the-shelf with alteration software
B)custom-developed programs
C)off-the-shelf software
D)cloud-based programs

Question 49

In a ________ installation, an organization implements an entire system on a limited portion of the business.

A)phased
B)parallel
C)pilot
D)plunge

Question 50

Olive Inc., a chain of retail outlets, is converting its existing billing systems to a more robust online tool.In this process, the organization runs both the old and the new systems to compare their performances.In this case, the company is implementing the new system using ________ installation.

A)parallel
B)pilot
C)plunge
D)phased

Question 51

A comprehensive test plan should ________.

A)not include incorrect actions that users take
B)cause every line of program code to be executed
C)cause only critical error messages to be displayed
D)be constructed by only product quality assurance (PQA)personnel

Question 52

The easiest and cheapest time to alter an information system is in the ________ phase of the systems development life cycle.

A)requirements analysis
B)system definition
C)component design
D)implementation

Question 53

Which of the following personnel in a development team has the final say on whether a system is ready for use?

A)managers
B)systems analysts
C)users
D)PQA personnel

Question 54

Procedures for a business information system are designed usually by ________.

A)testers
B)programmers
C)systems analysts
D)business analysts

Question 55

________ testing is the process of allowing future system users to try out a new system on their own.

A)Unit
B)Alpha
C)Integration
D)Beta

Question 56

Which of the following is a typical concern for developers while using prototypes?

A)comparing a system's features with requirements
B)understanding a system's complete requirements
C)assessing a system's technical feasibility
D)developing a uniform funding solution for the system

Question 57

In terms of software design for custom-developed programs, a development team identifies off-the-shelf products and then determines the alterations required.

Question 58

Explain the importance of the requirements analysis phase of the systems development life cycle (SDLC).

Question 59

Explain how the software component of an information system is designed.

Question 60

Normal processing procedures for operations personnel involve procedures for ________.

A)continuing operations when the system fails
B)backing up data and other resources
C)using the system to accomplish business tasks
D)starting, stopping, and operating the system

Question 61

Testing is often called product quality assurance (PQA).

Question 62

In pilot installation, a new system is installed in phases across an organization.

Question 63

Which of the following styles of system conversion shuts off the old system and starts a new system?

A)plunge installation
B)parallel installation
C)pilot installation
D)phased installation

Question 64

What are the tasks of system maintenance?

Question 65

Software developers group the fixes for high-priority failures into a group that can be applied to all copies of a given product called a ________.

A)service pack
B)bug
C)patch
D)product key

Question 66

Estimates of labor hours and completion dates are accurate for large, multiyear projects.

Question 67

Plunge installation is sometimes called direct installation.

Question 68

Which of the following statements is true of system maintenance?

A)Software developers usually bundle fixes for low-priority problems into a patch.
B)Information systems (IS)personnel prioritize system problems on a first-come-first-served basis.
C)All commercial software products are shipped with known failures.
D)Service packs are developed to fix a single problem at a time.

Question 69

Which of the following is a major concern for developers in a systems development life cycle process?

A)having to work with a team of specialists
B)moving through the unstructured phases of the cycle
C)agreeing on the basic tasks to be performed to build a system
D)performing repetitive tasks of a completed phase

Question 70

Explain the problems caused due to the waterfall nature of the systems development life cycle.

Question 71

Projects are said to be in analysis paralysis if so much time is spent ________.

A)in the system definition phase of the systems development life cycle (SDLC)
B)on project scheduling
C)documenting the requirements
D)designing the system components

Question 72

Software vendors usually bundle fixes of low-priority problems into larger groups called ________.

A)patches
B)service packs
C)bugs
D)product keys

Question 73

What are the four ways in which organizations can implement a system conversion?

Question 74

What is beta testing?

Question 75

What are patches and service packs?

Question 76

Beta testing is the last phase of a testing process.

Question 77

What is a test plan?

Question 78

Actual systems development generally works in accordance with the waterfall nature of the systems development life cycle.

Question 79

The systems development life cycle process is supposed to operate in a sequence of nonrepetitive phases.

Question 80

The maintenance phase can start another cycle of the systems development life cycle (SLDC).