Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm

BAM 509
Management Information Systems

Multiple Choice Questions (Enter your answers on the enclosed answer sheet)
The three activities in an information system that produce the information organizations use to 
control operations are:
input, output, and feedback.
input, processing, and output.
data analysis, processi ng, and feed back.
information retrieval, research, and analysis.
2. Converting raw data into a more meaningful form is called:
processi ng.
organizing.
capturing.
feedback.
The fundamental set of assumptions, values, and ways of doing things that has been accepted 
by most of a company’s members is called its:
atmosphere.
environment.
culture.
values.
4. The hardware and software used to transfer data in an organization is called:
networking and telecommunications technology.
data management technology.
networking and data management technology.
data and telecommunications technology.
Networking and telecommunications technologies, along with computer hardware, software, 
data management technology, and the people required to run and manage them, constitute an 
organization’s:
networked environment.
data management environment.
information system.
IT infrastructure.
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6. An example of a business using information systems for customer and supplier intimacy is:
Wal-Mart’s RetailLink system.
the Mandarin Oriental hotel’s customer-preference tracking system.
Apple Inc.’s iPod.
Verizon’s Web-based digital dashboard.
A corporation that funds a political action committee, which in turn promotes and funds a 
political candidate who agrees with the values of that corporation, could be seen as investing in 
which main category of complementary assets?
Social
Organizational
Governmental
Managerial
Apple Computer dominates the online legal music sales industry primarily because of a failure 
of recording label companies to:
modernize their information value chain.
adopt a new business model.
invest in technology.
invest in complementary assets.
9. Disciplines that contribute to the technical approach to information systems are:
engineering, utilization management, and computer science.
management science, computer science, and engineering.
computer science, engineering, and networking.
operations research, management science, and computer science.
Which field of study focuses on both a behavioral and technical understanding of information 
systems?
Management information systems
Economics
Operations research
Sociology
    11. Identifying customers is a responsibility of the     function.
finance and accounting
sales and marketing
manufacturing and production
human resources
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12. All of the following statements regarding Lotus Notes are true except for:
It began as an e-mail and messaging client.
It is the most widely used collaboration tool at Fortune 1000 companies.
It provides tools for e-mail, calendars, help desk, CRM, blogs, and wikis.
Firmwide installations at a large company require specialized servers and may cost 
millions of dollars per year.
Which type of system would you use to determine what trends in your supplier’s industry will 
affect your firm the most in five years?
ESS
DSS
MIS
TPS
14. What is the most important function of an enterprise application?
Enabling a company to work collaboratively with customers and suppliers
Enabl i ng cost-effective e-busi ness processes
Increasing speed of communicating
Enabling business functions and departments to share information
The point-of-sale Pulse system used by Domino’s to maintain consistent and efficient 
management functions in its restaurants is best categorized as which type of system?
DSS
CRM
TPS
more than one of the above
In Domi no’s upgraded Pulse Evol ution system, it incorporated a Pizza Tracker functional ity 
that shows the progression of individual pizza orders. This is an example of using information 
systems to achieve which business objective?
Improved decision making
Operational excellence
Survival
Customer and supplier intimacy
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17. The four major enterprise appl ications are:
SCMs, CRMs, DSSs, and KMSs.
enterprise systems, SCMs, CRMs, and KMSs.
enterprise systems, SCMs, DSSs, and CRMs.
SCMs, CRMs, ESSs, and KMSs.
You are planning the launch of your new company, an application service provider that 
provides an online timesheet and project tracking application. To best communicate with and 
manage your relationship with your users, you would want to implement atn).
CMS.
KMS.
intranet.
extra n et.
Which of the following types of system helps expedite the flow of information between the firm 
and its suppliers and customers?
KMS
extra net
intranet
TPS
The use of digital technology and the Internet to execute the major business processes in the 
enterprise is called:
enterprise applications.
e-commerce.
MIS.
e-business.
21. The CPO is responsi ble for:
overseeing the use of information technology in the firm.
making better use of existing knowledge in organizational and management processes.
enforcing the firm’s information security policy.
ensuring that the company complies with existing data privacy laws.
22. Wh ich of the followi ng is not one of the fifteen categories of collaborative software tools?
Event scheduling
White boarding
File sharing
Extranets
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As discussed in the chapter opening case, which of the four generic strategies did Verizon 
employ to combat the competition offered by AT&T?
Customer and supplier intimacy
Product differentiation
Focus on market niche
Low-cost leadership
How does the technical view of organizations fall short of understanding the full impacts of 
information systems in a firm?
It sees the organization as a social structure similar to a machine.
It sees information systems as a way to rearrange the inputs and outputs of the 
organ ization.
It sees the inputs and outputs, labor and capital, as being infinitely malleable.
It sees capital and labor as primary production factors.
According to the     definition of organizations, an organization is seen as a means by
which primary production factors are transformed into outputs consumed by the environment.
microeconomic
behavioral
sociotechnical
macroeconomic
All of the following are major features of organizations that impact the use of information 
systems EXCEPT for:
goals.
environments.
agency costs.
busi ness processes.
27. Business processes are collections of:
routines.
formalized and documented practices.
informal practices and behaviors.
rights and privi leges.
According to Leavitt’s model of organizational resistance, the four components that must be 
changed in an organization in order to successfully implement a new information system are:
tasks, technology, people, and structure.
technology, people, culture, and structure.
organization, culture, management, and environment
environment, organization, structure, tasks.
7

Amazon’s use of the Internet as a platform to sell books more efficiently than traditional 
bookstores illustrates which type of competitive strategy:
marketi ng effectiveness.
strengthening supplier intimacy.
focusi ng on market niche.
low-cost leadership.
Hilton Hotels’ use of customer information software to identify the most profitable customers 
to direct services to is an example of using information systems to:
strengthen customer intimacy.
differentiate their service.
increase efficiency.
focus on market niche.
31. An example of synergy in business is:
Blockbuster combining traditional video rental with online video rental.
Wal-Mart’s order entry and inventory management system to coordinate with suppliers.
Amazon’s use of the Internet to sell books.
JP Morgan Chase’s mergers with other banks that provided JP Morgan with a network 
of retail branches in new regions.
32. A virtual company:
uses Internet technology to maintain a networked community of users.
uses Internet technology to maintain a virtual storefront.
provides entirely Internet-driven services, or virtual products.
uses the capabilities of other companies without being physically tied to those 
companies.
33. Which of the following best describes how new information systems result in legal gray areas?
They work with networked, electronic data, which are more difficult to control than
information stored man ually.
They are implemented by technicians rather than managers.
They result in new situations that are not covered by old laws.
They are created from sets of logical and technological rules rather than social or 
organ izational mores.
Which of the five moral dimensions of the information age do the central business activities of 
ChoicePoint raise?
System quality
Property rights and obi igations
I nformation rights and obi igations
Accountability and control
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35. The feature of social institutions that means mechanisms are in place to determine 
responsibility for an action is called:
the judicial system.
the courts of appeal.
due process.
accountability.
Which of the following is not one of the five steps discussed in the chapter as a process for 
analyzing an ethical issue?
Identify the stakeholders.
Identify and clearly describe the facts.
Assign responsibility.
Identify the options you can reasonably take.
37. The Federal Trade Commission FIP principle of Notice/Awareness states that:
data collectors must take responsible steps to assure that consumer information is 
accurate and secure from unauthorized use.
customers must be allowed to choose how their information will be used for secondary 
purposes other than the supporting transaction.
Web sites must disclose their information practices before collecting data.
there is a mechanism in place to enforce FIP principles.
    38. European privacy protection is     than in the United States.
much more stringent
less liable to laws
less far-reaching
much less stringent
What legal mechanism protects the owners of intellectual property from having their work 
copied by others?
Patent protection
Fair use doctrine
Intellectual property law
Copyright law
40. Two of the three principal sources of poor system performance are:
hardware or facility failures and malware.
software bugs and errors and outdated standards.
hardware or facility failures and poor input data quality.
poor input data quality and insufficient integration with legacy systems.
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41. CVS refers to:
eyestrain related to computer display screen use.
wrist injuries brought about by incorrect hand position when using a keyboard.
carpal vision syndrome.
stress induced by technology.
42. Which of the following is NOT an IT infrastructure service component?
Physical facility management to manage the facilities housing physical components
Computing platforms to provide a coherent digital environment
IT management services to plan and develop the infrastructure and provide 
project management
Operating system software
43. In a multi-tiered network:
processing is split between clients and servers.
processing is handled by multiple, geographically remote clients.
the work of the entire network is centralized.
the work of the entire network is balanced over several levels of servers.
    44.     unleash powerful economies of scale and result in declines in manufactured
computer products.
CI ientlserver tech nologies
I nternet and web technologies
Technology standards
Linux and open-source software
    45. A SAN is a     network.
server area
service-oriented arch itecture
scalable architecture
storage area
46. The leading networking hardware providers include:
Dell, HP/Compaq, and IBM.
IBM, Oracle, and Sun.
Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nortel.
Seagate, Maxtor, and Western Digital.
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47. Which of the following is NOT an example of the emerging mobile computing platforms?
netbooks
CRM
cell phones
the Kindle
48. Linux is:
an example of open-source software.
especially useful for processing numeric data.
designed for specific machines and specific microprocessors.
primarily concerned with the tasks of end users.
49. What is the foundation technology for Web services?
HTML
UDDI
SOAP
XML
Which of the following is NOT one of the main six factors to consider when evaluating how 
much your firm should spend on IT infrastructure?
Your firm’s organizational culture
Your firm’s business strategy
Market demand for your firm’s services
The IT investments made by competitor firms
51. Which of the following non-digital data storage items is most similar to a database?
Cash register receipt
Library card catalog
List of sales totals on a spreadsheet
Doctor’s office invoice
52. DBMS for midrange computers include all of the following EXCEPT:
DB2.
Microsoft SQL Server.
Oracle.
Microsoft Access.
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An automated or manual file that stores information about data elements and data 
characteristics such as usage, physical representation, ownership, authorization, and security 
is the:
data definition diagram.
data dictionary.
entity-relationship diagram.
relationship dictionary.
54. The most prominent data manipulation language today is:
Access.
SQL.

55. OBMSs typically include report-generating tools in order to:
retrieve and display data.
display data in an easier-to-read format.
perform predictive analysis.
display data in graphs.
56. Which of the following is not one of the techniques used in Web mining?
User mining
Content mining
Usage mining
Structure mining
57. A data warehouse is composed of:
historic and current internal data.
historical data from legacy systems.
internal and external data sources.
current data.
    58.     tools are used to analyze large unstructured data sets, such as e-mail, memos,
survey responses, etc., to discover patterns and relationships.

Text mining Web content mining
Web mining
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The special organizational function whose responsibilities include the technical and 
operational aspects of managing data, including physical database design and maintenance, 
is called:
database administration.
data auditing.
information policy administration.
data administration.
60. In TCP/IP, IP is responsible for:
disassembling and reassembling of packets during transmission.
movi ng packets over the network.
establishing an Internet connection between two computers.
sequencing the transfer of packets.
61. Which signal types are represented by a continuous waveform?
Laser
Optical
Analog
Digital
    62. All network components connect to a single hub in a     topology.
domain
peer-to-peer
bus
star
63. A network that covers broad geographical regions is most commonly referred to as atn).
intranet.
local area network.
wide area network.
peer-to-peer network.
64. Passive RFID tags:
are used in automated toll-collection systems.
enable data to be rewritten and modified.
have their own power source.
have a range of several feet.
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Inputting data into a poorly programmed Web form in order to disrupt a company’s systems 
and networks is called:
key logging.
a Trojan horse.
a DDoS attack.
an SQL injection attack.
66. The I nternet poses specific security problems because:
Internet data is not run over secure lines.
it changes so rapidly.
Internet standards are universal.
it was designed to be easily accessible.
An independent computer program that copies itself from one computer to another over a 
network is called a:
Trojan horse.
worm.
pest.
bug.
Using numerous computers to inundate and overwhelm the network from numerous launch
    points is called a     attack.

DDos
SQL injection
DoS
69. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act:
specifies best practices in information systems security and control.
outlines medical security and privacy rules.
requires financial institutions to ensure the security of customer data.
imposes responsibility on companies and management to safeguard the accuracy of 
financial information.
70. The most common type of electronic evidence is:
voice mail.
instant messages.
spreadsheets.
e-mail.
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7l. Rigorous password systems:
are one of the most effective security tools.
may hinder employee productivity.
are often disregarded by employees.
are costly to implement.
72. Why is overstocking warehouses not an effective solution for a problem of low availability?
It increases inventory costs.
It increases sales costs.
It does not speed product time to market.
It is an inefficient use of raw materials.
Customer relationship management systems typically provide software and online tools for 
sales, customer service, and:
account management.
marketing.
advertising.
public relations.
74. Customer service modules in CRM systems provide tools for:
managing sales prospect and contact information.
capturing prospect and customer data.
identifying profitable and unprofitable customers.
assigning and managing customer service requests.
Which of the following is an important capability for sales processes that is found in most 
major CRM software products?
Returns management
Events management
Channel promotions management
Lead management
76. Analytical CRM applications:
provide consolidated data for operational CRM applications.
provide customer-facing applications.
are based on data warehouses consol idated from operational CR M appl ications.
include tools for marketing automation.
15

How are the Internet and e-commerce causing severe disruption to the existing advertising 
business model?
New methods of advertising, such as blog advertising, are emerging.
Ties between customer and businesses are being rethought.
Technology players such as Yahoo! seek to dominate online advertising and expand into 
offl i ne ad brokerage.
The market entry costs for online advertising services are extremely low.
78. I nformation density refers to the:
total amount and quality of information available to all market participants.
total amount and quantity of information delivered to consumers by merchants.
richness, complexity and content of a message.
amount of information available to reduce price transparency.
79. Digital goods are goods that are:
delivered digitally.
sold over digital networks.
used with digital equipment.
produced digitally.
In a phenomenon called     , some argue that large numbers of people can make better
decisions about a wide range of topics or products than a single person or even a small 
committee of experts.
crowdsourcing
the wisdom of crowds
outsourci ng
social networki ng
Netflix’s public announcement of a reward for a technology solution to its movie 
recommendation system is an example of:
crowdsourcing.
behavioral targeting.
long-tail marketing.
prediction markets.
82. In the United States, m-commerce:
now represents a major fraction of total e-commerce transactions.
is still in its infancy.
is growing slowly.
has become widely adopted.
16

What type of knowledge management system did Canadian Tire implement in order to improve 
the communications with dealers?
Knowledge network system
Digital asset management system
Learning management system
Content management system
Changing organizational behavior by sensing and responding to new experience and 
knowledge is called:
organ izational learn ing.
change management.
the knowledge value chain.
knowledge networking.
85. Fuzzy logic is a type of:
business intelligence.
intelligent technique.
neural network.
data mining.
Once a knowledge taxonomy is developed, documents are all     with the proper
classification.
tagged
referenced
linked
tupled
87. An inference engine is:
a strategy for searching the rule base in case-based reasoning.
a strategy used to search through the rule base in an expert system by forward chaining 
or backward chaining.
a method of organizing expert system knowledge into chunks.
the programming environment of an expert system.
The type of decision that can made by following a definite procedure is called atn)     _
decision.
structured
semistructured
procedural
unstructured
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As discussed in the chapter text, the three main reasons that investments in information 
technology do not always produce positive results are:
information qual ity, information integrity, and information accuracy.
management support, technical logistics, and user compliance.
organization, environment, culture.
information quality, organizational culture, and management filters.
Which of the following is a disadvantage of high-velocity, automated decision-making 
systems?
Inability to handle structured decisions
I nabi I ity to hand led semi-structured decisions
Inability to handle high volumes of decisions
Inability to control themselves and respond to new environments
The information system used by Caesar’s Entertai nment, which combi nes data from internal 
TPS with information from financial systems and external sources to deliver reports such as 
profit-loss statements, impact analyses, is an example of:
CDSS.
MIS.
DSS.
ESS.
    92.     are visual tools for presenting performance data in a BI system.
Scenarios and models
Reports and the drill-down feature
Paramaterized reports
Dashboards and scorecards
The four kinds of structural organizational change enabled by IT, in order from least to most 
risky, are:
rationalization, automation, reengineering, and paradigm shift.
automation, redesigning, restructuring, and paradigm shift.
automation, rationalization, reengineering, and paradigm shift.
rationalization, automation, reengineering, and redesigning.
94. What is the greatest barrier to successful business process change?
usability of implemented solution
selecting the correct process to change
ineffective project management
organizational culture
18

Compared to the use of proprietary components, Web services promise to be less expensive 
and less difficult to implement because of:
their ability to integrate seamlessly with legacy systems.
the ability to reuse Web services components.
the ubiquity of the Internet.
the use of universal standards.
    96.     development focuses on rapid delivery of working software by breaking a large
project into a series of small sub-projects that are completed in short periods of time using 
iteration and continuous feedback.
Agile
Object-oriented
Rapid application
Joint application
On average, private sector IT projects underestimated budget and delivery time of systems by 
___ percent.
60
40 
c.30 
d. 50
At the top of the management structure for information systems projects in a large company 
is:
the corporate strategic planning group.
the cia.
the IS steering committee.
project management.
A road map indicating the direction of systems development, the rationale, the current 
systems, new developments to consider, the management strategy, the implementation plan, 
and the budget is called atn):
information systems plan.
portfolio analysis.
enterprise analysis.
project plan.
100. Which method would you use is used to develop risk profiles for a firm’s information system 
projects and assets?

CSF
scoring model
portfolio analysis
information systems plan