I

I'lflflllBln UNIVERSITY

OF SCIENCE HI'ID TECHI‘IOLUGY

Faculty of Computing and Informatics

DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATICS

QUALIFICATION: BACHELOR OF INFORMATICS, BACHELOR OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, BACHELOR

OF LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHANIN MANAGEMENT

QUALIFICATION CODE: 07BACS, O7BAIF,_

O7BLSMLEVEL. 5

COURSE: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

SYSTEMSCOURSE CODE. MNS511S

DATE:June 2017 SESSION: 1

DURATION: 3 hours MARKS: 100

FIRST OPPORTUNITY EXAMINATION QUESTION PAPER

EXAMINER(S) Prof. Nomusa Dlodlo

Mr. Nkululeko Mthembo

Mr. Munyaradzi Maravanyika

Ms. Sinte Mutelo

Mr. Pardon Maoneke

Mr. Jude Osakwe

Ms. MarIy Samuel

MODERATOR;Mr. Admire Kachepa

THIS QUESTION PAPER CONSISTS OF 7 PAGES

(Excluding this front page)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Answer ALL the questions.

2. Write clearly and neatly.

3. Number the answers clearly.

SECTION A [20 marks]

Answer TRUE or FALSE (Each question carries 1 mark)

1.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

Capturing a customer order into a transaction file is one example of a business

process.

Transaction Processing Systems are most commonly used by Senior Managers.

Information systems technology can be viewed as a factor of production that can be

substituted for traditional capital and labour from the point of view of economies.

An organisation’s MIS and D55 supply an ESS with summarized information.

The competitive forces model cannot be used to analyse modern digital

organisations which face new competitive forces that are not true of traditional

organisations

Two computers using TCP/IP can communicate even if they are based on different

hardware and software platforms.

Any changes to an organisation’s strategic and business objectives have to be

supported by changes in hardware, software, databases and telecommunications.

Every computer on a network has its own address so that it can be found by other

computers on the network.

Price transparency refers to the ability of consumers to discover what merchants

actually pay for products.

In the affiliate revenue model, organisations derive revenue by selling information

or services through partner eCommerce sites.

Information asymmetry exists when there is more information about one productthan there is about a similar product.

Expert systems capture the knowledge of skilled employees in the form of a set of

rules in a software system that can be used by others in the organisation.

CRM software can help organisations identify high-value customers for preferential

treatment.

In a push—based model of SCM systems, production master schedules are based on

forecast of demands for products.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

The ethical guideline that asks you to put yourself in the place of others, and think

of yourself as the object of the decision is called the Utalitarian Principle.

Computer abuse refers to acts involving the computer that may not be illegal but

are considered unethical.

Wireless networks are more difficult for hackers to gain access to because radio

frequency bands are difficult to scan.

The number of cycles per second that can be sent through any telecommunication

medium is measured in kilobytes.

While systems such as KWS can manage semi—structured and unstructured

information, enterprise-wide content management systems are designed to manage

a firm’s structured information.

Switching costs are the merchants’ costs of changing prices.

SECTION B [20 marks]

Select the correct answer (Each question carries 1 mark)

1. The internet raises the bargaining power of customers by:

3) Creating new opportunities for building loyal customer bases

b) Making more products available

c) Making information available to everyone

d) Lowering transaction costs

e) Enabling the development of new services

2. Data mining is a tool allowing users to:

a) Quickly compare transaction data gathered over many years

b) Find hidden relationships in data

c) Obtain online answers to ad-hoc questions in a rapid amount of time

d) Summarise massive amounts of data into much smaller traditional reports

e) Access the vast amounts of data in a data warehouse

3. Bandwidth is the :

a) Number of frequencies that can be broadcast through a medium

b) Number of cycles per second that can be sent through a medium

c) Difference between the highest and lowest frequencies that can be

accommodated on a single channel

d) Total number of bytes that can be sent through a medium per second

e) Geographical distance spanned by a network

4. According to research on organisational resistance, the four components that must

be changed in an organisation in order to successfully implement a new information

system are:

a) Environment, organisation, structure and tasks

b) Technology, people, culture and structure

c) Organisation, culture, management and environment

d) Tasks, technology, people and structure

e) Costs, tasks, structure and management

5. The term ’Management Information Systems” designates a specific category of

information systems serving:

3) Integrated data processing throughout the firm

b) Transaction process reporting

c) Employees with online access to historical records

d) The information technology function

e) Middle management functions

LIJ

6.

10.

The value chain model:

a) Categorises five related advantages for adding value to a firm’s products or

services

b) Sees the supply chain as the primary activity for adding value

c) Categorises four basic strategies an organisation can use to enhance its value

chain

d) Highlights specific activities in the business where competitive strategies can

be applied

e) Enables more effective product differentiation

Compared to digital markets, traditional markets have:

a) Lower search costs

b) Stronger network effects

c) Higher delayed gratification effects

d) Reduced asymmetry

e) Higher transaction costs

refers to businesses selling goods and services electronically to

individuals:

a) BZC eCommerce

b) Social eCommerce

c) CZC eCommerce

d) Disintermediation

e) mCommerce

In the revenue models, a firm offers some services for free but charges a

subscription fee for premium services:

a) Free/Freemium

b) Subscription

c) Transaction fee

d) Affiliate

e) Sales

Which of the following are the three major types of Knowledge Management

Systems?

a) Management Information Systems, Decision Support Systems and

Transaction Processing Systems

b) Enterprise Systems, Customer Support Systems, Supply Chain Management

Systems

c) Database Management Systems, Customer Support Systems, Supply Chain

Management Systems

d) Database Management Systems, Knowledge Work Systems, Expert Systems

e) Enterprise-wide Knowledge Management Systems, Knowledge Work Systems

and Intelligent Techniques

f) KMS, LMS, KWS

11. A suite of integrated software modules for finance and accounting, human

resources, manufacturing and production, and sales and marketing that allows data

to be used by multiple functions and business processes best describes:

a) Process Management Software

b) ERP systems

c) Groupware

d) Application Software

e) Supply Chain Management Systems

12. A network of organisations and business processes for procuring raw materials,

transforming these materials into intermediate and finished products, and

distributing the finished products to customers is called a(n):

a) Distribution channel

b) Supply chain

c) Value chain

d) Marketing channel

e) Information system

13. A peer at work takes small amounts of office supplies for her own use at home,

saying that this is a tiny loss to the company. You tell her that if everyone were to

take office supplies, then the loss would no longer be minimal. Your rationale

expresses which historical ethical principle?

a) Kant’s Categorical Imperative

b) The Golden Rule

c) The Risk Aversion Principle

d) The ’no-free lunch” rule

e) The slippery slope rule

14. Which of the following best describes intellectual property?

a) Intangible property created by individuals or corporations

b) Unique creative work or ideas

c) Tangible or intangible property created from a unique idea

d) The expression of an intangible idea

e) Any tangible or intangible property within the creative arts

15. A salesperson clicks repeatedly on the online ads of a competitor’s in order to drive

the competitor’s advertising costs up. This is an example of:

a) Phishing

b) Pharming

c) Spoofing

d) Evil twins

e) Click fraud

UI

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

Application controls:

a) Can be classified as input controls, processing controls and output controls

b) Govern the design, security and use of computer programs and the security

of data files in general throughout the organisation

c) Apply to all computerized applications and consist of a combination of

hardware, software, and manual procedures that create an overall control

environment

d) Include software controls, computer operations controls and

implementation controls

e) Monitor the use of systems software and prevent unauthorized access to

software and programs

All the following are advantages of cloud computing to an organisation except:

3) Ability to support mobile computing

b) Ability to support remote work

c) Ability to improve communication

d) Ability to rely on markets to build value

e) Ability to reduce data storage costs

A household appliances manufacturer has hired you to help analyse their social

media datasets to determine which of their refrigerators are seen as the most

reliable. Which of the following tools would you use to analyse this data?

a) Text mining tools

b) Sentiment analysis software

c) Web usage mining technologies

d) Data mining software for identifying associations

e) Data mining software for forecasting

The expenses incurred by a customer or company in lost time and resources when

changing from one supplier or system to a competing supplier or system are known

as:

a) Retention costs

b) Preservation costs

c) Differentiation costs

cl) Switching costs

e) Variation costs

A relocation control system that reports summaries on the total moving, house

hunting and home financing costs for employees in all company divisions would fall

into the category of:

a) Knowledge Management Systems

b) Transaction Processing Systems

c) Executive Support Systems

d) Management Information Systems

e) Decision Support Systems

SECTION C [60 marks]

Answer all questions from this section (Each question carries 12 Marks)

Question 1

a) What is cloud computing? [2]

b) Identify and briefly explain five (5) characteristics of cloud computing infrastructures

[10]

Question 2

a) What is a Total Cost of Ownership Model (TCO)? [2]

b) Identify and briefly explain five (5) components of the Total Cost of Ownershipmodel [10]

Question 3

a) What is the definition of eCommerce? [2]

b) Identify and briefly explain five (5) benefits of eCommerce to an organisation

[10]

Question 4

a) What is an organisation? [2]

b) What is the role of Porter’s Competitive Forces Model? [2]

c) Identify four (4) Porters’ Competitive Forces [4]

d) Identify four (4) strategies for dealing with Porter’s Competitive Forces [4]

Question 5

a) Define the security of information systems [2]

b) Identify and briefly explain five tools for safeguarding lS resources in an organisation

[10]

End of exam

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