Chap 1 AIS Questions and Answers

Chap 1 AIS Questions and Answers What are the two major functions of an information system? -Assists management with daily operations -supports all activities undertaken by management What factors distinguish data from information? Data is bare form of fact and figures. Information takes data and puts it into relevant terms that can be used to make decisions. What are the qualities of information presented in this chapter? Explain each quality in your own words and give an example of each. Effectiveness - deals with information being relevant and pertinent to the business process as well as timely, consistent, and correct. Understandability - enables users to perceive the information's significance Comparability - enables users to perceive the information's significance Accuracy - the correspondence or agreement between the information and the actual events or objects that the info represents Completeness - the degree to which information data about every relevant object or event necessary to make a decision and includes information only once What are the three steps in decision making? Intelligence, Design, Choice Refer to Figure 1.9. Characterize the horizontal information flows and the vertical information flows. Horizontal info flows consist of detailed and concise information relating to business events. This sets the basis for vertical information flow. The upper managers don't need to know as much detail when it comes to numbers and are more forward/future looking. The more vertical we go the broader the information provided. What factors distinguish the types of information required by strategic managers, by tactical managers, and by operational managers? tactical - info based on relevant operation units and can be broader in scope. accuracy over timeliness. strategic - assesses the external environment to forecast business events and potential conditions. Broader scope, longer time period, and long term effectiveness. operations - contains collection of data that is related to multiple business event. What three roles can an accountant fill in relation to the AIS? Describe them. Designer - determines the way and when info will be recorded, the necessary controls to prevent errors and what kind of reports to produce. User - participate in the design process and give feedback from beta testing the operating system. Auditor - focuses mainly on the reliability of the data received and reports that are produced by the system. they will run their own tests to determine efficiency Why must you have knowledge of a system's objectives to study that system? the way some systems and subsystems are organized is relevant. You must understand structure of how it's set up to understand the end goal. Must know what type of system is in place before maintaining it. Examine Figure 1.9 (pg. 25). Discuss the importance of horizontal information flows to the daily operations of a manufacturing entity. Between relevance and reliability, which information quality is most important? Support your answer with examples. reliability is more important because it is received in a timely manner. Information may not have relevance to the decision at hand and if information is needed and not received, it can lose its value over time. Describe two structured decisions and two unstructured decisions. Discuss the relative amount of structure in each decision. Structured decision - consists of phases of intelligence, design, and choice, in which the decision is routine or repetitive. Unstructured decisions example is when a manager or CEO decides whether or not to give a public speech about his company decision.