MIS简答题.doc

窗体顶端 MIS简答题Chapter1 SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (p. 33)1. What is the relationship between management information systems (MIS) and information technology (IT)?ANSWER: MIS is a broad business function and the study of the use of IT. IT is a set of tools and a resource within MIS.2. What four steps should an organization follow in determining which technologies to use?ANSWER: The four steps are: (1) assess the state of competition and industry pressures, (2) determine business strategies, (3) identify important business processes, and (4) align technology tools with the business processes. 3. What is the relationship between data, information, business intelligence (BI), and knowledge?ANSWER: Each build on the previous. Data are raw facts, while information is data that has meaning. Business intelligence is collective information that gives you the ability to make strategic business decisions. Finally, knowledge is a broad term that can encompass BI context, how to affect BI, patents and trademarks, and organizational know-how. 4. How does the granularity of information change as it moves from lower to upper organizational levels?ANSWER: At the lowest levels, information granularity is very fine because people need tremendous detail to perform their jobs. As information moves up through the organization, it becomes more coarse because people dont need as much detail but rather aggregations of information. 5. What is the difference between a technology-literate knowledge worker and an information-literate knowledge worker?ANSWER: A technology-literate knowledge worker knows how and when to apply technology; that is, he/she understands the value and role of technology. An information-literate knowledge worker knows all about information; that is, he/she understands the value and role of information. 6. How do ethics differ from laws?ANSWER: Laws either clearly require or prohibit an action. Ethics are more subjective, more a matter of personal or cultural interpretation. 7. What role does the Five Forces Model play?ANSWER: Porters Five Forces Model helps business people understand the relative attractiveness of an industry and the industrys competitive pressures in terms of buyer power, supplier power, threat of substitute products or services, threat of new entrants, and rivalry among existing competitors. 8. Why are competitive advantages never permanent?ANSWER: Once an organization creates a competitive advantage, all competitors move to offer similar or even better competitive advantages, thus nullifying the competitive advantage of the first organization. 9. What are the three generic strategies according to Michael Porter?ANSWER: The three generic strategies according to Michael Porter are: overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. 10. How are Porters three generic strategies, an above-the-line versus a below-the-line approach, and the RGT framework similar?ANSWER: They are similar as follows: (1) run = overall cost leadership = bottom line, (2) grow = focus and differentiation = top line, and (3) transform = (new) differentiation = top line (when the focus is innovation). 11. What is the role of value-chain analysis?ANSWER: Value-chain analysis is a systematic approach to assessing and improving the value of business processes within your organization to further increase it competitive strengths. So, value-chain analysis helps you identify important business processes and how technology might help support them. Chapter2SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (p. 59)1. Why is the traditional buy-hold-sell inventory model an expensive and potentially risky one?ANSWER: The traditional inventory model requires that (1) you create inventory without a known demand, (2) you keep a lot of inventory throughout the supply chain, and (3) you sell off obsolete inventory at a very low price. 2. What is the role of a supply chain management (SCM) system?ANSWER: The role of a supply chain management (SCM) system is to support supply chain management activities by automating the tracking of inventory and information among business processes and across companies. 3. How does SCM fit into Porters three generic strategies?ANSWER: SCM is most commonly associated with the overall cost leadership generic strategy. 4. What are the typical functions in a CRM system?ANSWER: The typical functions in a CRM system include sales force automation, customer service and support, and marketing campaign management and analysis. 5. How does CRM fit into the RGT framework?ANSWER: CRM is most commonly associated with growing the organization in the RGT framework. 6. What is the difference between front office and back office systems?ANSWER: A front office system is the primary interface to a customer and a sales channel, while a back office system is used to fulfill and support customer orders. 7. For what five things does e-collaboration provide support?ANSWER: E-collaboration supports (1) work activities within integrated collaboration environments, (2) knowledge management with knowledge management systems, (3) social networking with social networking systems, (4) learning with e-learning tools, and (5) informal collaboration to support open-source information. 8. What is the difference between a social networking site and a social networking system?ANSWER: A social networking site (e.g., Myspace) is a site on which you post information about yourself, create a network of friends, share content, and so on. A social networking system is an IT system that links you to people you know and, from there, to people your contacts know. 9. What is open-source information?ANSWER: Open-source information is content that is publicly available (in a broad sense), free of charge, and most often updateable by anyone. 10. What are the three most common ways in which the IT function can be placed within an organization?ANSWER: The three most common ways in which the IT functions can be placed are: top-down silo, matrix, and fully integrated. 11. How are the structuring of the IT function and the philosophical approach to IT interrelated?ANSWER: They are interrelated in that the philosophical approach is most often implemented as a specific structure. Wait-and-see organizations tend to centralize the IT function in a top-down silo approach, while early IT adopters tend to disperse the IT function (i.e., either matrix or fully integrated). 12. What is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system?ANSWER: An ERP system is a collection of integrated software for business management, accounting, finance, HR, project and inventory management, supply chain, customer relationship management, e-collaboration, etc. Chapter3SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (p. 90)1. What is business intelligence? Why it is more than just information?ANSWER: Business intelligence is knowledge knowledge about your customers, your competitors, your partners, your competitive environment, and your own internal operations. It is more than just information because it combines various types of information to allow you to make better decisions and operate more productively. 2. What is online transaction processing (OLTP)?ANSWER: OLTP is the gathering of input information, processing that information, and updating existing information to reflect the gathered and processed information. 3. What is online analytical processing (OLAP)?ANSWER: Online analytical processing (OLAP) is the manipulation of information to support decision making. It differs from OLTP in that it does not process transactions but rather manipulates existing information to support the making of a decision. 4. What is the most popular database model?ANSWER: The most popular database model is the relational database model. 5. How are primary and foreign keys different?ANSWER: A primary key is a field that uniquely identifies a record in a relation of a database while a foreign key is a primary key of one file that appears in another file. So, primary keys must be unique in a given relation while foreign keys do not have to be. They are the same in that both are used to enforce integrity constraints. 6. What are the five software components of a database management system?ANSWER: The five important software components of a DBMS are (1) DBMS engine, (2) data definition subsystem, (3) data manipulation subsystem, (4) application generation subsystem, and (5) data administration subsystem. 7. How are QBE tools and SQL similar? How are they different?ANSWER: QBE tools and SQL are similar in that they both give you the ability to create queries to find information in a database. They are different in that QBE tools provide a GUI interface while SQL requires that you create your query in statement form. 8. What is a data warehouse? How does it differ from a database?ANSWER: The four types of information according to what information describes are internal, external, objective, and subjective. 9. What are the four major types of data-mining tools?ANSWER: The four major types of data mining tools are intelligent agents, query-and-reporting tools, multidimensional analysis tools, and statistical tools. 10. What is a data mart? How is it similar to a data warehouse?ANSWER: A data mart is a subset of a data warehouse in which only a focused portion of the data warehoused information is kept. Chapter4SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (p. 123)11. What are the four types of decision discussed in this chapter? Give an example of each.ANSWER: Nonrecurring, or ad hoc, decision is one that you make infrequently (perhaps only once) and you may even have different criteria for determining the best solution each time. A merger with another company is an example. Recurring decisions are decisions that you have to make repeatedly and often periodically, whether weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. An example would be which route to take to go to work. Nonstructured decision is a decision for which there may be several “right” answers and there is no precise way to get a right answer. An example would be whether to change a companys strategy. Structured decision is a decision where processing a certain kind of information in a specified way so that you will always get the right answer. An example would be deciding how much to pay employees. p. 9512. What are the four steps in making a decision?ANSWER: The four steps are intelligence, design, choice, and implementation. p. 9613. What is a DSS? Describe its components.?ANSWER: A decision support system (DSS) is a highly flexible and interactive IT system that is designed to support decision making when the problem is not structured. The components of a decision support system are the model management component, the data management component, and the user interface management component. p. 9814. What is a geographic information system used for?ANSWER: A geographic information system is used for any type of information that can be represented spatially. p. 10315. How is information represented in a geographic information system?ANSWER: A geographic information system represents information in overlapping layers. p. 103.16. What is artificial intelligence? Name the artificial intelligence systems used widely in business?ANSWER: Artificial intelligence (AI) is the science of making machines imitate human thinking and behavior. The types of artificial intelligence widely used in business are expert systems, neural networks, genetic algorithms, and intelligent agents. p. 10417. What are four advantages of an expert system?ANSWER: Four advantages would be their ability to handle large amounts of data; to reduce errors; to aggregate information from various sources; and to improve customer service. p. 10618. What sort of problems is an expert system used for?ANSWER: An expert system is used or diagnostic (whats wrong?) and prescriptive (what to do?) types of problems. p. 10519. What sort of problem does a neural network solve?ANSWER: A neural network solves problems involving the recognition and differentiation of pattersn. p. 108 20. What three concepts of evolution are used by the genetic algorithm?ANSWER: The three concepts are selection, mutation, and crossover. Selection is the feature of a genetic algorithm that give preference to better outcomes. Mutation is a feature of a genetic algorithm; its the process of trying combinations and evaluating the success (or failure) of the outcome. Crossover is the feature of a genetic algorithm where portions of good outcomes are combined in the hope of creating an even better outcome. p. 11221. What are intelligent agents? What tasks can they perform?ANSWER: Intelligent agents are software that assists you, or act on your behalf, in performing repetitive computer-related tasks. They can find good deals on the Internet, monitor computer networks for failures, fill out forms, play computer games, and so on. p. 11312. What is a multi-agent system?ANSWER: A multi-agent system is a group of intelligent agents that each has the ability to work independently and to interact with others. p. 11613. What do monitoring-and-surveillance agents do?ANSWER: Monitoring-and-surveillance agents (or predictive agents) are intelligent agents that observe and report on equipment. p. 114Chapter5SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (p. 155)1. What is electronic commerce? ANSWER: Electronic commerce is commerce, but it is commerce accelerated and enhanced by IT, in particular the Internet.2. How can use you a B2B e-marketplace to reduce your dependency on a particular supplier?ANSWER: You can use a B2B e-marketplace to find other suppliers and also participate in reverse auctions to find the best supplier with the best price. 3. How do convenience and specialty items differ in the B2C e-commerce business model?ANSWER: Convenience items are lower-priced but something needed on a frequent basis. Specialty items are higher-priced, ordered on a less frequent basis, and often require customization. 4. Why do commoditylike and digital items sell well in the B2C e-commerce business model?ANSWER: Commoditylike items work well because they are the same no matter where you buy them. Digital products work well because there is no real associated shipping or storage costs. 5. What is mass customization?ANSWER: Mass customization is the ability of an organization to give its customers the opportunity to tailor its product or service to the customers specifications. 6. How does a reverse auction work?ANSWER: In a reverse auction, you place a request for products and/or services and suppliers continually submit lower bids until there is only one supplier left. 7. How are vertical and horizontal e-marketplaces different?ANSWER: Vertical e-marketplaces connect buyers and sellers in a given industry while horizontal e-marketplaces connect buyers and sellers across many industries. 8. What can a marketing mix include for a B2C e-commerce business?ANSWER: A marketing mix for a B2C business can include registering with search engines, online ads, viral marketing, and affiliate programs. 9. What are the major types of B2C e-commerce payment systems?ANSWER: The major types of B2C e-commerce payment systems include credit cards, smart cards, financial cybermediaries, electronic checks, and Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment.10. What is the difference between a client-side digital wallet and a server-side digital wallet?ANSWER: You keep a client-side digital wallet on your personal computer while a server-side digital wallet is stored on a Web server. 11. How are Secure Sockets Layers (SSLs) and Secure Electronic Transactions (SETs) different? How are they the same?ANSWER: SSLs and SETs are different in that SETs also provide a mechanism for ensuring the legitimacy of the user of the payment device. They are both the same in that they create a secure connection between the client and the server computers. Chapter6SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS (p. 189)1. What are the three primary groups of people who undertake the systems development process?ANSWER: The three primary groups of people who undertake the systems development process are in-house IT specialists (insourcing), end users (selfsourcing), and another organization (outsourcing).2. What is the systems development life cycle?ANSWER: The SDLC is a structured step-by-step approach for developing information systems.3. What are scope creep and feature creep?ANSWER: Scope creep occurs when the scope of the project increases beyond its original intentions. Feature creep occurs when developers (and end users) add extra features that were not part of the initial requirements.4. How do the four implementation methods differ?ANSWER: Parallel implementation uses both the old and new systems until the new system is verified. Plunge implementation immediately ceases using the old system and begins using the new system. Pilot implementation converts only a group of users until the new system is verified. Phased implementation converts only a portion of the system until it can be verified.5. What is component-based development?ANSWER: Component-based development is a general approach to systems development that focuses on building small self-contained b locks of code (components) that can be reused across a variety of applications within an organization.6. How are component-based development and a service-oriented architecture related?ANSWER: Component-based development is a technical implementation of a service-oriented architecture (S