Which one of these BEST describes the role of a manager?
Attending meetings, attending corporate luncheons, disciplining staff, representing the company.
Planning, organising, co-ordinating, making decisions, controlling.
Maintaining a rigid position in the hierarchy to prevent customer complaints from coming to the attention of the Board.
Supervising the work of junior staff.
Which one of these statements describes the role of a management information system?
Software that makes decisions based on external and internal data.
Software that provides information to enable a manager to make decisions based on internal data.
Software that provides information to enable a manager to make decisions based on external data.
Software that provides information to enable a manager to make decisions based on internal and external data.
Which one of these statements describes a function that is NOT carried out by a mangement information system.
Recording the sale of an item to a customer.
Recording information about the products produced by a competitor.
Calculating the financial implication for the company form a rise in the minimum wage.
Modelling the impact on the business of a new piece of Government legislation.
Which one of these statements best describes a formal flow of information.
An article written in a trade paper.
A chance comment in a telephone conversation
Data that are collected from a data collection agency.
A conclusion drawn while thinking about a particular problem
A manager has to make an unstructured decision, which means that:
the decision has a definite procedure to deal with the problem.
the manager has to use judgement based on previous experience, insight and careful evaluation.
the decision will result in no correct course of action.
no decision can be made.
Which one of these features is desirable in a management information system?
It takes up little space on the computer.
It can make decisions for the manager
The manager recieves all the data that are stored by the company in as tables of numbers.
It can be interrupted so that the manager can come back at a later stage
Why do computer projects in MIS need to be carefully managed?
Computer professionals are rather disorganised people.
Many specialist skills are needed, which have to be coordinated.
MIS systems are powerful bits of software that make decisions.
The hardware is complex to set up.
Which one of these statements describes the waterfall model of project management?
Each stage is completed before the next stage is undertaken.
The next stage is undertaken after completion of the previous stage, but it is possible to rework previous stages in the light of experience gained at later stages.
A model is made of the system that allows the end user to have an input into the new system.
It is a scornful description of a project that has failed.
A drawback of prototyping is:
that the end user is involved in the project.
the end user notices the missing functions, which can be an embarrassment to a computer professional.
the software is more susceptible to viruses.
that the project management can be sloppy.
Which one of these statements correctly describes parallel conversion?
The old system is stopped and the new is implemented.
Data within the new system are transmitted along parallel lines rather than serially. This is done by a serial to parallel converter.
The old system is run alongside the new system.
The new system is introduced into a few branches of the organisation
Which one of the following statements correctly describes the feasibility study?
It is carried out by a senior analyst and the client organisation before any further work is done, regardless of the project management model.
It is carried out by a senior analyst and the client organisation but only after the design work is done, using the waterfall model.
It should only be done by a senior analyst without reference to the client organisation before any further work is done according to the systems life cycle model.
It is unneccessary if the project is being carried out according to the prototyping model
How is information collected for the requirements analysis in a new IT project?
A quick discussion with the managing director on the telephone.
Detailed discussion with board members and other members of senior management.
Interviewing all staff at all levels, sending out questionnaires, detailed examination of documentation and information flows, and observation of company practice.
Discussion with the network manager and the IT technicians
When a system is designed, it is put together with a modular design structure. This means that:
system is constrcuted according to the prototype model.
the software is made up of sub-units and put together to make a finished unit.
the hardware is made up of sub-units that are put together,
the implementation will be in phases.
Which one of the following does NOT happen during the implementation stage?
A data flow diagram is drawn up.
Hardware is installed.
Users are trained
Files are converted.
Which one of the following statements would indicate that a new MIS was successfully implemented?