Tutorial 10

Section A
1. ____ is the initial phase in the development of a new or modified business
information system whose purpose is to gain a clear understanding of the specifics of
the problem to solve or the opportunity to address.

2. Which of the following are steps of the system investigation process? (Choose all that
apply.)
a. Perform investigation
b. Feasibility analysis
c. Develop systems report
d. Draft investigative report

3. ____ is a structured meeting process that can accelerate and improve the efficiency
and effectiveness of the investigation, analysis, and design phases of a system
development project.

4. Which of the following is the process of determining how a system will be accepted
by people and how well it will meet various system performance expectations?
a. operational feasibility
b. economic feasibility
c. legal feasibility
d. technical feasibility

5. ____ processes play a pivotal role in an organization’s continued operations and goal
attainment.

6. Which of the following is a duplicate, operational hardware system or immediate

access to one through a specialized vendor?
a. cold site
b. critical site
c. hot site
d. data site

7. Which of the following is a computer environment that includes rooms, electrical

service, telecommunications links, data storage devices, and the like?
a. cold site
b. critical site
c. hot site
d. data site

8. A(n) ____ is a documented process to recover an organization’s business information

system assets including hardware, software, data, networks, and facilities in the event
of a disaster.

9. ____ is written details used by computer operators to execute the program and by
analysts and programmers to solve problems or modify the program.

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 10. Which of the following is the process of switching from an old information system to
a replacement system?
a. crossover
b. installation
c. transfer
d. cutover

11. Which of the following is the testing of individual components of code (subroutines,
modules, and programs) to verify that each unit performs as designed?
a. unit testing
b. system testing
c. single testing
d. limit testing

12. ____ is the process of readying managers, decision makers, employees, other users,
and stakeholders to accept and use the new system.

13. ____ is an iterative system development process that develops the system in "sprint"
increments lasting from two weeks to two months.

14. Which of the following is an agile development framework that emphasizes a team-
based approach to keep the development effort focused and moving quickly?
a. crossover
b. master plan
c. scrum
d. matrix

15. Which of the following is the practice of blending the tasks performed by the
development and IT operations groups to enable faster and more reliable software
releases?
a. agile
b. scrum
c. DevOps
d. sprint

16. ____ is a form of agile software development that promotes incremental development
of a system using short development cycles to improve productivity and to
accommodate new customer requirements

Section B
1. What are primary characteristics of the waterfall system development process? What
is the rationale for using the term “waterfall” to describe it?

2. Identify and state the purpose of each of the six phases of the waterfall system
development process.

3. Why do many organizations have a formal processfor requesting a system

investigation?

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 4. What are the four different kinds of feasibility that must be assessed? Why is the
feasibility of a system reviewed during the investigation, analysis, and design phases?

5. What is the difference between tangible and intangible benefits? Identify five tangible
benefits that are frequently associated with an information system.

6. What are the key elements of a system investigation report?

7. What is the purpose of studying the existing system during the analysis phase?

8. Identify several areas for which system security and control requirements need to be
defined.

9. Identify and briefly describe six system performance factors.

10. What is a business continuity plan? What is a disaster recovery plan?

11. Identify and briefly describe four types of testing that are conducted during the
integration and testing phase.

12. Define the terms slipstream upgrade, patch, release, and version as they relate to
system maintenance.

13. What is the difference between the roles and responsibilities of a scrum master and
product owner?

14. What is extreme programming (XP)? What is its goal?

15. An organization has selected and is now implementing a software package. Identify
three key factors that will determine the cost and time required for implementation.

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 Tutorial 10 Answer

Section A
1. system investigation
2. a. Perform investigation, b. Feasibility analysis, d. Draft investigative report
3. joint application development (JAD)
4. operational feasibility
5. Mission-critical
6. c. hot site
7. a. cold site
8. disaster recovery plan
9. technical documentation
10. d. cutover
11. a. unit testing
12. user preparation
13. agile development
14. c. scrum
15. c. DevOps
16. extreme programming (XP)

Section B
1. The waterfall system development process is a sequential, multistage system development
process in which work on the next stage cannot begin until the results of the current stage
are reviewed and approved or modified as necessary. It is referred to as a waterfall
process because progress is seen as flowing steadily downward (like a waterfall) through
the various phases of development.

2. The six stages of the waterfall system development process include:

 Investigation – Purpose is to gain a clear understanding of the specifics of the problem
to solve or the opportunity to address.
 Analysis – Focuses on gathering data on the existing system, determining the
requirements for the new system, considering alternatives within identified
constraints, and investigating the feasibility of alternative solutions.
 Design – Answers the question, “How will the information system solve a problem?”
 Construction – Converts the system design into an operational system by acquiring
and installing hardware and software, coding and testing software programs, creating
and loading data into databases, and performing initial program testing.
 Integration and Testing – Includes several types of testing that must be conducted
before a new or modified information system is ready to be put into production.
 Implementation – Includes user preparation, site preparation, installation and cutover.

3. Because system development requests can require considerable time and effort to
investigate, many organizations have adopted a formal procedure for initiating a system
investigation.

4. Students can list any four of the following: technical, economic, legal, operational, and
schedule feasibility. The feasibility assessment is repeated with more accuracy during the
analysis and design phases, when more details about the system and its requirements are
known.

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5. Tangible benefits can be quantified in dollars while intangible benefits are difficult to
quantify in dollars. Tangible benefits can include:
 Reduction in current staff
 Reduction in inventory levels
 Reduction in computer hardware costs
 Reduction in software costs
 Increase in sales from reaching new customers
 Increase in sales from charging more
 Acceleration in cash flow

6. The system investigation report summarizes the results of the system investigation and
recommends a course of action: continue on to system analysis, modify the project in
some manner and perhaps repeat the system investigation, or drop the project altogether.

7. The purpose of studying the existing system is to identify its strengths and weaknesses
and examine current inputs, outputs, processes, security and controls, and system
performance.

8. The following list provides examples of areas for which security and control requirements
might need to be defined:
 Access controls, including controls to authenticate and permit access only to
authorized individuals
 Encryption of electronic customer information, including while in transit or in storage
on networks or systems to which unauthorized individuals may have access
 Dual control procedures, segregation of duties, and employee background checks for
employees with responsibilities for or access to customer, employee, or organization-
sensitive information
 Monitoring systems and procedures to detect actual and attempted attacks on or
intrusions into information systems
 Measures to protect against destruction, loss, or damage of customer, employee, or
organization-sensitive data due to potential environmental hazards, such as fire and
water damage, technological failures, or disasters such as hurricanes and terrorism
 Business resumption procedures to get the system up and running with no major
business disruption and with no loss of data in the event of a disaster (e.g., fire,
hurricane, terrorism)
9. System performance is usually determined by factors such as the following:
 Timeliness of output. Is the system generating output in time to meet organizational
goals and operational objectives? Since GEICO began advertising that you can save
15 percent on auto insurance in just 15 minutes, speed has become a major factor in
selecting an insurance company.
 Ease of use. Developing applications that managers and employees can easily learn
and use is essential to ensure that people will work with the applications productively.
 Scalability. A scalable information system can handle business growth and increased
business volume without a noticeable degradation in performance.
 System response time. The average response time for frequent online transactions is
an important factor in determining worker productivity and customer service.
 Availability. Availability measures the hours per month the system is scheduled to be
available for use. Systems typically must be unavailable a few hours a week to allow
for software upgrades and maintenance.

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  Reliability. Reliability is the hours the system is actually available for use divided by
the hours the system is scheduled to be available and is expressed as a percentage.

10. A business continuity plan includes a disaster recovery plan, an occupant emergency plan,
a continuity of operations plan, and an incident management plan. A disaster recovery
plan is a documented process to recover an organization’s business information system
assets including hardware, software, data, networks, and facilities in the event of a
disaster.

11. During the integration and testing phase the following types of tests take place:
 Integration testing – Integration testing involves linking individual components
together and testing them as a group to uncover any defects in the interface between
one component and another.
 System testing – System testing involves testing the complete, integrated system
(hardware, software, databases, people, and procedures) to validate that the
information system meets all specified requirements.
 Volume testing – Volume testing involves evaluating the performance of the
information system under varying yet realistic work volume and operating conditions
(e.g., database size, number of concurrent users, number of transactions, and number
of queries).
 User acceptance testing – UAT is performed by trained system users to verify that the
system can complete required tasks in a real-world operating environment and
perform according to the system design specifications.

12. A slipstream upgrade is a minor system upgrade-typically a code adjustment or minor bug
fix; it usually requires recompiling all the code, and in so doing, it can create entirely new
bugs.

A patch is a minor system change to correct a problem or make a small enhancement; it is

usually an addition to an existing program.

A release is a significant program change that often requires changes in the

documentation of the software.

A version is a major program change, typically encompassing many new features.

13. A scrum master is the person who coordinates all scrum activities, and a scrum team
consists of a dozen or fewer people who perform all system development activities from
investigation to testing so there is less personnel turnover than on the typical waterfall
system development project.

A product owner is a person who represents the project stakeholders and is responsible
for communicating and aligning project priorities between the stakeholders and
development team.

14. Extreme programming (XP) is a form of agile software development that promotes
incremental development of a system using short development cycles to improve
productivity and to accommodate new customer requirements.

15. When implementing a software package some factors that will determine cost and time

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 requirements include: who will do the necessary modifications, how long will they take,
and how much will they cost.

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