Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Sri Lanka

Transcription

1 Copyright Reserved Serial No Operational Level Pilot Paper Instructions to Candidates 1. Time allowed is three (3) hours (with an additional reading time of 15 minutes & candidates are advised to devote 30 min. approximately for Part I). 2. Answer all questions in Part I and four (4) questions from Part II selecting two (2) question from each of the Sections A and B. 3. Section A: Operations Management and Section B: Information Systems Management. 4. The answers should be given in the English Language. Subject Subject Code Operations and Information Systems Management (OIM / OL 3) PART I Question No. 01 (15 Marks) Answer all parts of Question No.1. Select the most correct answer to each question. Write the number of the selected answer in your answer booklet with the English letter. E.g. (1), (2) etc (1) A lay-out is an arrangement based on the sequence of operations that are performed during the manufacturing of a good or the delivery of a service. Product. Group. Process. (d) Fixed position. (2) Which approach is most appropriate for forecasting demand for a new product? Time series models. Delphi Method. Sales force forecasting. (d) Regression Models. (3) A pull system Requires high levels of finished goods inventory. Relies heavily on accurate sales forecasts. Waits for customer orders. (d) Necessitates standardize products. 1

2 (4) is a systematic technique that seeks to identify the cause and effect of product/service failures. Fishbone Diagram. Pareto Diagram. Relationship charts. (d) Histogram. (5) Which of the following statements is true about order winners and order qualifiers? There is no difference between them. Order qualifiers become order winners. These two concepts are heavily used in inventory management. (d) Order winners become order qualifiers. (6) In its simplest form, a system consists of all the following except: A group of cooperative users A set of interrelated components A clearly defined boundary (d) A common set of objectives (7) A strategic information system can be any kind of information system that uses information technology to help an organization Gain a competitive advantage. Reduce a competitive disadvantage. Meet strategic enterprise objectives. (d) All of the choices are correct. (8) Which of the following applications focuses on the efficiency of a firm's internal production, distribution, and financial processes? Customer relationship management. Enterprise resource planning. Knowledge management. (d) Supply chain management. (9) planning involves the setting of objectives and the development of procedures, rules, schedules, and budgets. Strategic. Operational. Tactical. (d) All of the choices are correct. (10) As a business professional, you have a responsibility to promote ethical uses of information technology in the workplace. This responsibility includes: Performing your role as a vital business resource by participating on every development team. Using the Internet only during breaks and after-work hours. Performing your role as a vital human resource in the business systems you help develop and use in your organization. (d) Documenting all employee electronic mail usage and Internet searches. (10 2 Marks = Total 20 Marks) End of Part I 2

3 PART II Section A: Operations Management Answer any 2 questions Question No. 02 (20 Marks) Mr. A. Anurup Galpatha is the owner of AA Group of companies (AAGC) which he commenced twenty years ago. AAGC has expanded and at present it owns 2 large bakeries, a medium size hospital and a large retail fashion shop. You are required to: Explain four differences between goods and services using examples from AAGC. Focusing on the bakery owned by AAGC, identify its inputs, process and outputs. Explain the relationship between the department which deals with accounting and finance work and the operations division of AAGC s bakery. Question No. 03 (20 Marks) AlphaByte Ltd. assembles and sells a branded computer under licence from a well known computer manufacturer in Taiwan. The local company assembles more than 150,000 computers per annum and produces other accessories such as pen-drives and hard disks, for the local and the export market. AlphaBytes owns a large factory in Piliyandala where assembly is carried out. Differentiate the concepts order winners and order qualifiers with reference to computers, their key products. During a particular week, 250 employees in a small assembly line that is dedicated to produce hard disks worked for 6 days to produce 220 hard disks. Each day employees worked from 8 a: m. to 5 p: m. and were given a 45-minutes lunch break and two 10 minutes tea breaks. However, due to quality problems in the product 42 of the hard disks were sold as B grade products at a unit price of Rs.3,200/-. The rest were sold at Rs.4,800/- per hard disk. Calculate the labour productivity of this manufacturing process? In manufacturing items, AlphaByte Ltd. uses the mass production process. Explain three salient features of the mass production process. Question No. 04 (20 Marks) Care-well Hospital is a large private sector hospital in Sri Lanka. Care-well is located in Colombo and at present, they are planning to expand into other parts of the country, including the Northern Province. Describe the typical layout used in a hospital? Justify your answer. (04 Marks) Identify four important factors to be considered in locating the new branch in the Northern Province. Explain what is meant by vertical integration? Illustrate the concepts of backward and forward integration with reference to Care-well hospital. End of Section A 3

4 Section B: Information Systems Management Answer any 2 questions Question No. 05 (20 Marks) Information systems can be viewed from either a functional perspective or a level of management perspective. Explain why functional perceptive of information systems is important? (04 Marks) Compare and contrast management information systems and decision support systems. Fragmentation of data in hundreds of separate systems degrades organizational efficiency and business performance. Explain how enterprise systems solve this problem. (10 Marks) Question No. 06 (20 Marks) Ananda Ltd is a long established manufacturing organisation which primarily produces goods for the domestic market. However, at present, due to the cheap imports, especially from China, it faces severe competition in the market place. The management of the company is now reviewing its production process with the objective of using information technology to bring in structural organizational change. They are currently exploring two kinds of structural organizational changes enabled by information technology, i.e. automation and business process reengineering. Discuss how automation and business process reengineering would enable Ananda Ltd to improve its production process. (07 Marks) Ananda Ltd has a unique set of customers who requires various product modifications based on their specifications. This product customization has created many problems in terms of cost determination and pricing. The company is now planning to replace its existing accounting information system to a new advanced system with the expectation of improved product costing and better pricing. However, Ananda Ltd does not have a separate information technology division for the development of this advanced accounting system. After assessing application software packages and outsourcing as methods for developing the new accounting information systems, Ananda Ltd decided to outsource it. Describe the different ways in which Ananda Ltd can convert its old accounting information system to the new information system. (07 Marks) Discuss the suitability of outsourcing as a means of developing the new accounting information systems for Ananda Ltd. 4

5 Question No. 07 (20 Marks) Organizations tend to use a file processing system called traditional file processing systems in the past. Some organizations still use it. Describe the problems a business organization may face if it uses traditional file processing systems. (10 Marks) Internal employees of an organization may pose serious security problems for their information systems. Explain two such instances. (04 Marks) Organizations are expected to take different measures to overcome from a variety of disasters that they may encounter. Explain the measures an organization should take to restore their information systems from a disaster. End of Section B End of Part II End of Question Paper 5