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Page 1 of 16 Dr.

Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 1 pp29 The Systems Development Environment


1. What is information systems analysis and design? 2. How has systems analysis and design changed over the past four decades? 3. List the different classes of information systems described in this chapter. How do they differ from each other? 4. List and explain the different phases in the SDLC. 5. List and explain some of the problems with the traditional waterfall SDLC. 6. What is prototyping? 7. What is JAD? 8. What are CASE tools? 9. Describe each major component of a comprehensive CASE system. Is any component more important than any other? 10. Describe how CASE is used to support each phase of the SDLC. 11. What is RAD? 12. Explain what is meant by Agile Methodologies. 13. What is extreme Programming? 14. What is object-oriented analysis and design?

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 2 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 2 pp45 The Origins of Software


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Describe and compare the various sources of software. What are the differences between ASPs and MSPs? How can you decide among various off-the-shelf software options? What criteria should you use? What is an RFP and how do analysts use one to gather information on hardware and system software? What methods can a systems analyst employ to verify vendor claims about a software package? What are ERP systems? What are the benefits and disadvantages of such systems as a design strategy? Explain reuse, its advantages and disadvantages. Compare and contrast the four approaches to reuse.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 3 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 3 pp79 Managing the Information Systems Project


1. Contrast the following terms: a. Critical path scheduling, Gantt, network diagramming, slack time. b. Project, project management, project manager. c. Project initiation, project planning, project execution, project closedown. d. project workbook, resources, work breakdown structure . 2. Discuss the reason why organizations undertake information systems projects. 3. List and describe the common skills and activities of a project manager. Which skill do you think is most important? Why? 4. Describe the activities performed by project manager during project initiation. 5. Describe the activities performed by project manager during project planning. 6. Describe the activities performed by project manager during project execution. 7. List various project team communication methods and describe an example of the type of information that might be shared among team members using each method. 8. Describe the activities performed by project manager during project closedown. 9. What characteristics must a project have in order for critical path scheduling to be applicable? 10. Describe the steps involved in making a Gantt chart. 11. Describe the steps involved in making a network diagram. 12. In which phase of the SDLC dose project planning typically occur? In which phase dose project management occur? 13. What are some reasons why one activity can begin? In other words, what causes precedence relationships between project activities?

Chapter 3 pp88 Appendix: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design: Project Management


1. Describe the unique characteristics of OOSAD projects that have ramifications for how these projects are managed.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 4 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 4 pp122 Identifying and Selecting Systems Development Projects


1. Contrast the following terms: a. Mission; objective statements; competitive strategy b. Corporate strategic planning; information systems planning c. Top-down planning; bottom-up planning d. Low-cost producer; product differentiation; product focus or niche Data entity; information system 2. Describe the project identification and selection process. 3. Describe several project evaluation criteria. 4. Describe value chain analysis and how organizations use this technique to evaluate and compare projects. 5. Discuss several factors that provide evidence for the need for improved information systems planning today. 6. Describe the steps involved in corporate strategic planning. 7. what are three generic competitive strategies? 8. Describe what is meant by information systems planning and the steps involved in the process. 9. List and describe the advantages of top-down planning over other planning approaches. 10. Briefly describe nine planning matrices that are used in information systems planning and project identification and selection. 11. Discuss some of the factors that must be considered when designing and building Internet applications.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 5 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 5 pp160 Initiating and Planning Systems Development Projects


1. Contrast the following terms: a. Break-even analysis, present value, net present value, return on investment b. Economic feasibility, legal and contractual feasibility, operational feasibility, political feasibility, schedule feasibility. c. Intangible benefit, tangible benefit. e. Intangible cost, tangible cost. 1. List and describe the steps in the project initiation and planning process. 2. What is contained in a Baseline Project plan? Are the content and format of all Baseline plans the same? Why or why not? 3. Describe three commonly used methods for performing economic cost-benefit analysis. 4. List and discuss the different type of project feasibility factors. Is any factor most important? Why or why not? 5. What are the potential consequences of not assessing the technical risks associated with an information systems development project? 6. In what ways could you identify that one IS project is riskier than another? 7. What are the type or categories of benefit of an IS project? 8. What intangible benefits might an organization obtain from the development of an information system? 9. Describe the concept of the time value of money. How does the discount rate affect the value of $1 today versus one year from today? 10. Describe the structured walkthrough process. What roles need to be performed during a walkthrough?

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 6 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 6 pp201 Determining System Requirements


1. Describe systems analysis and the major activities that occur during this phase of the systems development life cycle. 2. Describe four traditional techniques for collecting information during analysis. When might one be better than another? 3. What is JAD? How is it better than traditional information-gathering techniques? What are its weaknesses? 4. How has computing been used to support requirements determination? 5. How can NGT be used for requirements determination? 6. How can CASE tools be used to support requirements determination? Which type of CASE tools are appropriate for use during requirements determination? 7. Describe how prototyping can be used during requirements determination. How is it better or worse than traditional methods? 8. When conducting a business process reengineering study, what should you look for when trying to identify business processes to change? Why? 9. What are disruptive technologies and how do they enable organizations to radically change their business processes? 10. Why is continual user involvement a useful way to discover system requirements? Under what conditions might it be used? Under what conditions might it not be used? 11. Describe Agile Usage-Centered Design. Describe the planning Game. Compare and contrast these two requirements determination techniques.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 7 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 7 pp234 Structuring System Process Requirements


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. What is a data flow diagram? Why do systems analysts use data flow diagrams? Explain the rules for drawing good data flow diagrams. What is decomposition? What is balancing? How can you determine if DFDs are not balanced? Explain the convention for naming different levels of data flow diagrams. What are the primary differences between current physical and current logical data flow diagrams? Why don't analysts usually draw four complete sets of DFDs? How can data flow diagrams be used as analysis tools? Explain the guidelines for deciding when to stop decomposing DFDs. How do you decide if a system component should be represented as a source / sink or as a process? What unique rules apply to drawing context diagrams?

Chapter 7 pp247 Appendix: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design: Use Cases


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. What are use cases? What is use case diagram? What is a use case diagram? What is a written use case and how does it compare to a use case diagram? Explain an include relationship. Explain an extend relationship. Compare data flow diagrams with use case diagrams.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 8 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 8 pp265 Structuring System Data Requirements


1. What is the purpose of logic modeling? Which techniques are used to model decision logic and which techniques are used to model temporal logic? 2. What is structured English? How can structured English be used to represent sequence, conditional statements, and repetition in an information system process? 3. What is the difference between structured English and pseudo code? 4. What are the steps in creating a decision table? How do you reduce the size and complexity of a decision table? 5. How do you know when to use structured English or decision tables? Which is best for what situation? 6. What verbs are used in structured English? What types of words are not used in structured English? 7. What does the term limited entry mean in a decision table? 8. What is the formula that is used to calculate the number of rules a decision table must cover?

Chapter 8 pp278 Appendix: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design: Sequence Diagrams and Activity Diagrams
1. Contrast the following terms (you will have to use what you learned in the object-oriented sections of chapters7 and 8 to answer all of these questions): a. Actor use case b. Extends relationship uses relationship c. Object class; object d. Attribute; operation e. Operation; method f. Query operation; update operation g. Abstract class; concrete class h. Class diagram; object diagram i. Association; aggregation j. Generalization; aggregation k. Aggregation; composition l. Generic sequence diagram; instance sequence diagram m. Synchronous message; asynchronous message n. Sequence diagram; activity diagram 2. State the activities involved in each of the following phases of the object-oriented development life cycle; object-oriented analysis, object-oriented design, and object-oriented implementation. 3. Compare and contrast the object-oriented analysis and design models with the structured analysis and design models.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 9 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 9 pp316 Structuring System Data Requirements


1. Discuss why some systems developers believe that a data model is one of the most important parts of the statement of information system requirements. 2. Distinguish between the data modeling done during information systems planning, project initiation and planning, and the analysis phases of the systems development life cycle. 3. What elements of a data flow diagram should be analyzed as part of data modeling? 4. Explain why a ternary relationship is not the same as three binary relationships. 5. When must a many-to-many relationship be modeled as an associative entity? 6. What is the significance of triggering operations and business rules in the analysis and design of an information system? 7. Which of the following types of relationships can have attributes associated with them: one-toone, one-to-many, many-to-many? 8. what are the linkages between data flow diagrams, decision tables, and entity-relationship diagrams? 9. What is the degree of a relationship? Give an example of each of the relationship degrees illustrated in this chapter. 10. Give an example of each of a ternary relationship ( different from any example in this chapter ). 11. List the deliverables from the conceptual data modeling part of the analysis phase of the systems development process.

Chapter 9 pp335 Appendix: Object-Oriented Analysis and Design: Object Modeling Class Diagrams
1. Give an example of aggregation. Your example should include at least one aggregate object and three component objects. Specify the multiplicities at each end of all the aggregation relationships. 2. Contrast the following terms: a. Object class; object b. Abstract class; concrete class

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 10 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 10 pp382 Designing Databases


1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What is the purpose of normalization? List five properties of relations. What problems can arise when merging relations (view integration)? How are relationships between entities represented in the relational data model? What is the relationship between the primary key of a relation and the functional dependencies among all attributes within that relation? 6. How is a foreign key represented in relational notation? 7. Can instances of a relation (sample data ) prove the existence of a functional dependency? Why or why not?

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 11 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 11 pp411 Designing Forms and Reports


1. Describe the prototyping process of designing forms and reports. What deliverables are produced from this process? Are these deliverables the same for all types of system projects? Why or why not? 2. What initial questions must be answered for an analyst to build an initial prototype of a system output? 3. When can highlighting be used to convey special information to users? 4. Discuss the benefits, problems, and general design process for the use of color when designing system output. 5. How should textual information be formatted on a help screen? 6. What type of labeling can you use in a table or list to improve its usability? 7. What column, row, and text formatting issues are important when designing tables and lists? 8. Describe how numeric, textual, and alphanumeric data should be formatted in a table or list. 9. What is meant by usability and what characteristics of an interface are used to assess a system's usability? 10. What measures do many development groups use to assess a system's usability? 11. List and describe common Web site design errors. 12. Provide some example where variations in users, tasks, systems, and environmental characteristics might impact the design of system forms and reports.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 12 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 12 pp450 Designing Interfaces and Dialogues


1. Contrast the following terms: a. Dialogue, interface. b. Command language interaction, from interaction, menu interaction, natural language interaction, object-based interaction. c. Drop-down menu, pop-up menu. 2. Describe the process of designing interfaces and dialogues. What deliverables are produced from this process? Are these deliverables the same for all types of system projects? Why or why not? 3. Describe five methods of interacting with a system. Is one method better then all others? Why or why not? 4. Describe several input devices for interacting with a system. Is one device better than all others? Why or why not? 5. Describe the general guidelines for the design of menus. Can you think of any instances when it would be appropriate to violate these guidelines? 6. List and describe the general sections of a typical business form. Do computer-based and paperbased forms have the same components? Why or why not? 7. List and describe the functional capabilities needed in an interface for effective entry and navigation. Which capabilities are most important? Why? Will this be the same for all systems? Why or why not? 8. Describe the general guidelines for structuring data entry fields. Can you think of any instances when it would be appropriate to violate these guidelines? 9. Describe four types of data errors? 10. Describe the methods used to enhance the validity of data input. 11. Describe the types of system feedback. Is any form of feedback more important than the others? Why or why not? 12. Describe the general guidelines for designing usable help. Can you think of any instances when it would be appropriate to violate these guidelines? 13. What steps do you need to follow when designing a dialogue? Of the guidelines for designing a dialogue, which is most important? Why? 14. Describe the properties of windows and forms in a graphical user interface environment. Which property do you feel is most important? Why? 15. List and describe the common interface and dialogue design errors found on Web sites.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 13 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 13 pp474 System Implementation


1. What is a design specification? What role does it play in the design phase of the SDLC? 2. What are the characteristics of a quality requirement? Of a quality requirements statement? What is the difference between a requirement and a requirements statement? 3. What is a requirements management tool? What purpose does it serve? 4. What is a structure chart's role in physical information system design? 5. What is the difference between a data couple and a flag? 6. What is pseudo code and what is its purpose? 7. What is the difference between evolutionary and throwaway prototyping? 8. How are design specifications captured in RAD? 9. How are design specifications captured in eXtreme Programming? Explain. 10. Explain how design specifications can be captured for Web-based information systems.

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 14 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 14 pp511 Maintaining Information Systems


1. Contrast the following terms: a. File server, client/server architecture, local area network (LAN) b. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), domain naming system (BIND). c. Cascading Style Sheets (CSSs), Extensible Style Language (XSL). d. Personalization, customization. e. Operational system, informational system. f. Integration depth, organizational depth. g. Online transaction processing (OLTP), online analytical processing (OLAP) . h. Data warehouse, enterprise data warehouse, data mart. 2. Describe the limitations of a file server architecture. 3. Describe the advantage of a client/server architecture. 4. Summarize the six possible architectures for client/server systems 5. Summarize the reasons for using a three-tiered client/server architecture. 6. Explain the role middleware in client/server computing. 7. In what ways do Internet standards such as BIND, HTTP, and HTML assist designers in building Internet-based systems? 8. Why is it important to separate content from display when designing an Internet-based electronic commerce system? 9. How can Cascading Style Sheets (CSSs), Extensible Style Language (XSL) help to ensure design consistency when designing an Internet-based electronic commerce system? 10. Discuss how you can instill customer loyalty and trust-worthiness when designing an Internetbased electronic commerce system. 11. Why is important that "Web pages live forever" when designing an Internet-based electronic commerce system. 12. Why do many commercial Web sites have both operational and information systems? 13. Briefly describe and contrast the components of a two-tier versus a three-tier data warehouse. 14. What is a data mart and why do some organizations use these to support organizational decision making?

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 15 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 15 pp554 System Implementation


1. What are the deliverables from coding, testing, and installation? 2. Explain the code-testing process. 3. What are structured walkthroughs for code? What is their purpose? How are they conducted? How are they different from code inspections? 4. What are the four approaches to installation? Which is the most expensive? Which is the most risky? How does an organization decide which approach to use? 5. What is the conventional wisdom about implementation success? 6. List and define the factors that are important to successful implementation efforts. 7. Explain Lucas's model of implementation success. 8. What is the difference between system documentation and user documentation? 9. What are the common methods of computer training? 10. What is self-training? 11. What is e-learning? 12. What proof do you have that individual differences matter in computer training? 13. Why do corporations rely so heavily on vendor support? 14. Describe the delivery methods many vendors employ for providing support. 15. Describe the various roles typically found in a help desk function. 16. What are the common security threats to systems? How can they be addressed?

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

Page 16 of 16 Dr. Husam Al Hamad

IT 340 Information Systems Analysis and Design Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall. Review Questions

Chapter 16 pp577 Maintaining Information Systems


1. Contrast the following terms: a. Adaptive maintenance, corrective maintenance, perfective maintenance, preventive maintenance. b. Baseline modules, build routines, system librarian. c. Maintenance, maintainability. 2. List the steps in the maintenance process and contrast them with the phases of the systems development life cycle. 3. What are the different types of maintenance and how do they differ? 4. Describe the factors that influence the cost of maintenance. Are any factors more important than others? Why? 5. Describe three ways for organizing maintenance personnel and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. 6. What types of measurements must be taken to gain an understanding of the effectiveness of maintenance? Why is tracking mean time between failures an important measurement? 7. What managerial issues can be better understood by measuring maintenance effectiveness? 8. Describe the process for controlling maintenance requests. Should all requests be handled in the same way or are there situations when you should be able to circumvent the process? If so, when and why? 9. What is meant by configuration management? Why do you think organizations have adopted the approach of using a systems librarian? 10. How are CASE tools used in the maintenance of information systems? 11. What is the difference between reverse engineering and reengineering CASE tools? 12. What are some special maintenance issues and procedures that are especially relevant for Web sites?

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Textbook: Modern System Analysis & Design, 5th edition, 2007, Jeffrey A. Hoffer, Prentice Hall.

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