Diagnostic I

Multiple Choice

Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

____    1.   The various networks that are linked to form the Internet pass data around in chunks called ____.

____    2.   A(n) ____ is a formal collection of people and other resources established to accomplish a set of goals.

____    3.   The duplication of data in separate files is known as ____.

____    4.   An organization that keeps the application and database on different computers is using an architecture called a ____ architecture.

____    5.   A(n) ____ is a network based on Web technologies that allows selected outsiders, such as business partners and customers, to access authorized information resources of the company.

____    6.   A ____ processing strategy is being used when data processing activities are conducted at various remote locations without communication between the locations.

____    7.   A ____ application is one that directly interacts with people or users.

____    8.   ____ is the standard page description language for Web pages.

____    9.   A good indicator of information's value to an organization is ____.

____   10.   The Internet is a “platform” for the World Wide Web because ____

____   11.   The ____ approach to data management was a more efficient and effective means of organizing data than what had been previously available.

____   12.   Software functions to ____

____   13.   Programs that help users solve particular information-based problems are called ____.

____   14.   The overriding, major reason for having information systems is to ____

____   15.   The goal of having TCP/IP is to ____

____  16. Flora is concerned that the figures on an order form don’t check with stock on hand and the pre-recorded reorder level.  This is an example of a violation of the law of ____

____  17. Clint makes reads the membership file and deletes the names of people he doesn’t like.  This is an example of a violation of the law of ____

____  18.   Talia notices figures in a report with no obvious source.  This is an example of a violation of the law of ____

____  19.  Tomas is reviewing a job application form.  Information on gender is requested, but so far as he  knows this isn’t taken into account anywhere in the hiring process. This is an example of a violation of the law of ____

____  20.  Disintermediation is ____

Diagnostic I

Answer Section

MULTIPLE CHOICE

            1.   ANS:  A

A packet is simply a standardized chunk of a message, generally in lengths from 80 to 1000 characters.

REF:   149

            2.   ANS:  D

An organization exists to coordinate the activities of people and the necessary resources towards a set of goals.  Businesses are particular kinds of organizations, as are information systems and, as well, computer-based information systems.

REF:   21

            3.   ANS:  C

Data redndancy means to have data appear in multiple places.  Integrity means guaranteeing that the data are valid and reliable.  Knowledge management is a set of integrated activities aimed at collecting and distributing knowledge within an organization; it probably involves databases of such knowledge.

REF:   99

            4.   ANS:  D

Client/server architecture segregates user (i.e., application or goal-directed) activity from centralized (servere) activities.  A file server is a particular kind of client-server role.

REF:   143

            5.   ANS:  A

An extranet is simply an intranet that includes selected other individuals (generally customers, suppliers, or partners).  These individuals function in many ways as thought they were intranet users.

REF:   11

            6.   ANS:  D

Decentralized processing allows processing to take place all around a network without dependencies among those nodes; distributed processing allows communication and dependencies among the nodes, whereas centralized processing has all processing taking place at a single, generally “central” location.  A WAN is a kind of network upon which all of these strategies could take place.

REF:   142

            7.   ANS:  D

Front-end applications are those that are used directly by those for whom the results are salient.  Back-end applications produce results based on what the direct users tell it, but these results are not salient to the users.

REF:   115

            8.   ANS:  C

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the common “code” for creating web pages that makes them readable on “standard” web browsers.  XML is a generalization of HTML which makes it possible to create specialized versions of HTML.  Java is a programming language which can be “invoked” when a web page is accessed by a browser and SQL is a standard access language for querying data bases.

REF:   154

            9.   ANS:  B

Information is useful only in pursuing organizational goals.  Speed, the need for preserving information and whether or not information is of use to customers are only incidental to this goal, which is generally related to decision making.

REF:   6

           10.   ANS:  A

The WWW uses the technical capabilities of the Internet to provide access to the documents that comprise the WWW.  It is true that the WWW could not function without SOMETHING LIKE the Internet, but of course the Internet is only one possible configuration of technical resources that might make the WWW possible.  The WWW’s goal IS to make a “world” of documents available, but the Internet is merely a means to that end.

           11.   ANS:  D

Data management relates to all of data; a data base is an organized set of data.  Network and hierarchical are two kinds of organization.

REF:   100

           12.   ANS:  A

A general-purpose computer is “generally” useless, because although it has capabilities, these capabilities are not put to any particular use.  Software directs the hardware to operate in a directed fashion, towards specific goals, by forcing execution of commands in a particular order.

           13.   ANS:  C

Application software is software generally aimed at solving problems of a non-system related nature.

REF:   65

           14.   ANS:  A

Managers have to engage in many activities and most of them are subject to uncertainty and doubt, which increases anxiety and raises risk.  Information systems make these activities more “data based”, more grounded in reality and in reason.

           15.   ANS:  D

TCP/IP is a set of protocols that make it possible for the Internet to appear “transparent” to users, who will not have to know how to send and route messages into, through, and across networks and interconnected networks.

           16.   ANS:  C

Logically, information coming out of a process must be “computable” based on the information going into the process; otherwise there is an error occurring within the process.

           17.   ANS:  D

Information in data stores shouldn’t be arbitrarily changed without some process at least handling it and, in most cases, keeping track of the changes.

           18.   ANS:  A

Information cannot come from nowhere.  All information must ultimately be traceable to data sources outside the system itself.

           19.   ANS:  B

Collecting information or data that is not used is inefficient and wasteful of resources and can lead, later, to security threats.

           20.   ANS:  B

Disintermediation occurs when customers take over functions that a business “used to” perform.  This can only occur if they have the skills to do so and the opportunity or access.