MIS 3320 Final
What is an information system? - ANS-a set of interrelated computer components that
collects, processes, stores, and provides as output the information needed to complete
business tasks
What are the roles and skills of a system analyst? - ANS-organizational role most
responsible for analysis and design of information systems; like an architect; What are
the necessary skills for a systems analyst? technical - DB, programming, computer
hardware, networking, operating systems, utilities, communication and collaborative
technologies, SDLC techniques; business - organizational knowledge, management
techniques, and functional work processes; people - communication skills, interpersonal
skills, roles: negotiator, teacher, mentor, collaborator, and manager
What are the six core processes in the SDLC? Make sure in the correct order. -
ANS-Project initiation (identify the the problem/need and obtain approval)
Planning (plan and monitor the project)
Analysis (discover and understand the details)
Design (design the system components)
Implementation (build, test, and integrate system components)
Deployment (complete system tests and deploy solution)
What is agile development? - ANS-a guiding philosophy and set of guidelines for :
developing information systems
in an unknown
rapidly changing environment; complements Adaptive SDLCs & Methodologies - makes
sure developers are fast to respond to changes; value responding to change over
following a plan; value individuals and interactions over processes and tools; value
working software over comprehensive documentation; value customer collaboration
over contract negotiation
What is iterative development? - ANS-iterative approach; systems is built in small
increments and partially deployed in certain steps; some parts are deployed before the
end of the project, so some functionality gets into the user's hands much earlier
What are the different types of requirements including FURPS? - ANS-specifications
that define the new system; functional requirements - activities the system must
perform; non-functional requirements - constraints and performance goals (how the
system should behave - quality attributes for a system); FURPS [Functional
,requirements, usability requirements (UI design, navigation, help doc.), reliability
requirements (available reqs., detection, backup, and recovery), performance
requirements (response time - real time or batch), security requirements (data storage,
data transmission, and encryption)]
What are the different information gathering techniques? - ANS-
What is data flow diagramming? - ANS-a process modeling technique; represent
processes that capture, manipulate, store, & distribute data; represent processes
between a system & its environment; represent processes among system components
What is a process in a DFD? - ANS-any action that occurs (verb phrase, distinct #)
What is a data flow in a DFD? - ANS-shows data in motion; moving from one place to
another; adj + object; verified payment
What is a data store in a DFD? - ANS-data at rest; data to be used later; adj + object;
FilingCabinet
What is an external agent in a DFD? - ANS-anything outside our system that our system
must communicate with (can be a person, another system, department, or company);
adj + object; Insurance Company
What is a sink? Source? - ANS-source - an external agent that gives us something
sink - an external agent that gets stuff from us
What is a connector in a DFD? - ANS-process number that connects to a process on
another diagram; shows that the data flow continues to another process
What are the different naming conventions for DFDs? - ANS-context diagram - defines
scope of program; only one process, external agents, and data flows between those two
level 0 diagram - breaks up context diagram into more detail; 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, etc.
level 1 diagram - one for each process; 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.
What are some rules of a DFD? - ANS-processes must have both inputs & outputs; at
least one output must be different; data flow - has only one direction; cannot return
directly to the process
; when retrieving something from a data store you don't need to show how you get to
something
, What does it mean to balance a DFD? - ANS-the concept of balancing states that all the
incoming flows to a process and all the outgoing flows from a process in the parent
diagram should be preserved at the next level of decomposition.
What is meant by functional decomposition? - ANS-division of systems and subsystems
into processes (in DFD it breaks up context diagram into more detail and so on)
What is the User Goal Technique? - ANS-ask the users what they need the system to
do; good technique for identification; identify the users, interview them, create the list of
use cases, watch out for duplicates, inconsistencies; some users may need the same
use case; verify the list with the users
What is the Event Decomposition Technique? - ANS-identify the events that occur to
which the system must respond; event - an occurrence at a specific time & place which
needs to be remembered; use case - what the system does when the event occurs
What is the CRUD technique? - ANS-can be a tool for: use case identification and/or
validation; ensure that there are use cases to cover the CRUD (create, read, update,
delete)
What are the different types of events? - ANS-external events (humans), temporal
events (based off of time), state events (based off of changes in data - automatically
trigger use case)
What is a use case? - ANS-an activity that the system performs; usually in response to
a request by a user; functional requirements; Verb + Noun (Place order,
Issue complaint)
What is the purpose of a use case diagram? - ANS-to show who interacts with your
system, and the main goals they achieve with it.
What do ERDs model? - ANS-a data modeling technique; focuses on nouns (from
various sources including current system (forms, reports, procedures), interviews, and
use cases)
What is an entity? - ANS-a "thing" (in the scope); person, place, object, event, etc.;
ultimately a table in a database
What are attributes? Candidate key? Primary key? - ANS-a characteristic; information
about the entity that is within the scope; we don't want composite attributes i.e. address
