paper 5 Information Analysis June 1999 Module C Certificate Stage Question Paper This paper is divided into two sections

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1 Module C Certificate Stage Information Analysis June 1999 Question Paper Time allowed This paper is divided into two sections Section A Section B 3 hours ALL FOUR questions are compulsory and MUST be answered THREE questions ONLY to be answered paper 5

2 Section A All FOUR questions in this section are compulsory and MUST be attempted. Scenario CAET plc is a large manufacturing company. It has traditionally developed many of its information systems in-house and the data processing (DP) department currently employs about 100 staff. The following main applications are currently supported. Application Package / Bespoke Year implemented Development language Process control Bespoke 1989 FORTRAN Integrated accounts Package 1995 Payroll Package 1996 Order processing Bespoke 1991 COBOL Quality control Bespoke 1993 COBOL Marketing information Bespoke GL There are approximately 20 smaller applications developed in-house to respond to the needs of individual departments. However, the DP department does not have a good reputation. User departments frequently complain about missed deadlines, poor quality software and lack of functionality. A new IT director has recently been appointed. He believes that most of the problems have been caused by the organisation s emphasis on building bespoke solutions. His view is that Packages are the way forward. We can no longer afford the luxury of building our own systems. He is also critical of the systems development life cycle in place at CAET. He claims that We have made the mistake of forcing all our system developments whether they are bespoke systems, application packages or small one-off systems through a standard systems development life cycle (SDLC). This SDLC (listed below) has led to unnecessarily long elapsed times on projects. Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6 Feasibility study Systems specification Programming and unit testing Systems testing User-acceptance testing Implementation 2

3 The new IT director proposes that all future systems will be implemented using standard application software packages. He claims that; Standard packages offer cost and time savings as well as guaranteed quality. We will be looking for packages that fit 80% or more of our business requirements. We will not be commissioning any changes to the functionality of the package. If the package does not exactly fit the business then the business must change to fit the package. We have already successfully implemented packages for accounts and payroll. We must now repeat that success in other areas of the business. The IT director has agreed that staffing will be kept at the current level for the foreseeable future. He states that: We obviously need staff to implement our package policy, although I will be looking for a significant contribution from the user areas. We also have to recognise that three of our main established systems process control, order processing and quality control are not year 2000 compliant and this must be addressed as quickly as possible or else we will be in a very serious situation. 3 [P.T.O.

4 1 (a) Briefly explain what is meant by a software package bespoke solution (b) The IT director identifies three benefits of adopting the application software package approach. Standard packages offer cost and time savings as well as guaranteed quality. Briefly explain how the software package approach can offer each of these three benefits to CAET plc. Cost savings Time savings Guaranteed quality 2 The managing director of CAET plc is concerned about the IT director s new approach. Before he agrees to the approach he asks you to: (a) Identify and explain two risks of adopting the software package approach suggested by the IT director compared with the internal bespoke systems development approach traditionally used in the company. (b) For each risk identified in part (a) suggest solutions to reduce or remove its possible effect. (8 marks) (14 marks) 3 The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) adopted by the department for bespoke systems development is described in the case study scenario. (a) Briefly describe each stage in the SDLC. (9 marks) (b) Explain how each stage might be changed (if at all) by the adoption of the application software package approach suggested by the IT director. 4 The IT director states that much of the maintenance work required is to make the established systems year 2000 compliant. (a) Briefly explain: (i) what is meant by year 2000 compliance (2 marks) (ii) why these systems were not made year 2000 compliant when they were developed (iii) what work is required to make them year 2000 compliant (2 marks) (2 marks) (b) The IT director s view is that the business should change its processes to fit the software. Briefly outline your argument either in support of, or against, the IT director s view. (11 marks) 4

5 Section B THREE questions ONLY to be answered. 5 An insurance company has a set of standards for each stage in its Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). In the analysis stage, analysts are required to define insurance premium calculation processes in Structured English. A systems analyst has recorded the following information in an interview with an insurance clerk. Interview notes Insurance calculation process The process needs to calculate the motor vehicle insurance premium for a particular applicant. The clerk will enter the make and model of the vehicle into the system and the usual insurance premium for this make and model will be displayed on the screen. Applicants who are aged under 25 will be charged an extra 10% of the basic insurance premium. This also applies to applicants aged over 60. The final insurance amount for this applicant will then be displayed on the screen. The analyst is required to express this process in Structured English. The following standard should be applied. Standard The Structured English should have the following constructs Sequence: DO ENDDO Selection: IF..ENDIF The analyst has produced the following Structured English from the the interview with the insurance clerk.. DO Calculation of Vehicle Insurance premium Enter make and model of vehicle Retrieve insurance premium for this make and model of vehicle Display this insurance premium on the screen Enter age of applicant IF age<25 AND age>60 Add 10% to basic insurance premium ENDDO Display applicant insurance premium on the screen ENDDO The Structured English has to be checked by the user to ensure that it is functionally correct and by the internal auditor to ensure that it follows the required standards. (a) The Structured English standard is an example of a standard used in the systems development process. Briefly explain the role of standards in systems development. (9 marks) (b) The Structured English produced by the analyst has one functional error and one error in applying the standards. Identify each error and explain how you would correct it. 5 [P.T.O.

6 6 Rees Investments invests money on behalf of its customers. The company guarantees its customers a favourable interest rate in return for long-term investments. Mark Rees started the company five years ago and he was originally the only investment analyst, making all the investment decisions. The company was initially very successful due to a combination of Rees expertise and a favourable world economic climate. Specialising in investing in the emerging markets of Asia and Africa, Rees Investments achieved excellent returns on their investments which allowed them to meet guarantees given to clients as well as funding the expansion of the company itself. The company has grown and it currently employs 60 staff of whom 12 are investment analysts. However, investment returns have declined and the company is now having problems providing its guaranteed return to investors. Consequently, Mark Rees is reviewing investment procedures and exploring options for returning the company to the profitability it enjoyed in its early years. (a) Explain the difference between a structured, a semi-structured and an unstructured decision. Would you consider the investment decisions made by Mark Rees and his fellow analysts to be structured, semi-structured or unstructured? (b) One of the options Mark Rees is considering is the use of a decision support system to help his investment analysts make appropriate investment decisions. Briefly describe what is meant by a decision support system and comment on its possible contribution to the investment decisions made by analysts at Rees Investments. (c) Mark Rees is also considering the development of an expert system. Briefly describe what is meant by an expert system and comment on its possible contribution to the investment decisions made by analysts at Rees Investments. 6

7 7 The following extract from a report shows information about stock levels. The report has two main purposes. To highlight products that are below their re-order level. To compare the total value at re-order level with the total stock value. The organisation requires that total stock value should not exceed total value at re-order level by more than 10%. Report extract Stock level report Page 14 Product code Cost per unit Units in stock Stock value Re-order level Below re-order level Value at re-order level ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** ******** 390 Total Required: (a) Most organisations have standards for the layout of such reports. For example, the standards may require that each report should have a title (as in stock level report). List five further standard items that might apply to any system generated report. These standards may or may not have been adhered to by the stock level report extract. (b) Briefly describe three ways in which the usability of the stock level report might be improved taking into account the main purposes of the report. (Credit will not be given for standards issues already listed in part (a) of this question.) (c) The accurate data entry of stock information is essential. It has been suggested that the product code should have a check digit attached to it to assist in accurate data entry. Explain what is meant by a check digit and identify what types of input error it should prevent. (4 marks) 7 [P.T.O.

8 8 A company distributes product information to its customers using a simple computer system written 10 years ago. Customer information in the current computer system is held in one data file CUSTOMER. The file structure of this CUSTOMER file is as follows: CUSTOMER Customer-code, customer-name, customer-address, customer-type-code, customer-type-description, region-code, regiondescription. There are 36,000 records held in the CUSTOMER data file. The key field of the file is Customer-code -code. The organisation is proposing to convert to a new database system where customer details will be stored in three data files CUSTOMER, CUSTOMER TYPE and REGION. The proposed layout of these three files (with volumes) is shown below. CUSTOMER (36,000 records) Customer-code, customer-forename, customer-last name, customer-address, sex, customer-type-code, region-code CUSTOMER TYPE (12 records) Customer-type-code, customer-type-description REGION (30 records) Region-code, region-description. The key fields of the three files are shown in bold type. The new database system will run on the same hardware as the current single-file system. Required: Your manager has been told that converting data from the current to the proposed system is no problem. However, he is not convinced and has consulted you. Write a short report that (a) Describes three problems you would anticipate in converting data from the current computer system to the proposed computer system. (9 marks) (b) Briefly explains three advantages to the organisation of the new three-file structure over the old single customer file. 8

9 9 An analyst has recorded the following information at an interview. Interview 1 Orders are received directly from customers. The order details are checked to ensure that the product and payment-type are valid values. Rejected orders are sent back to the customer. Accepted order details are stored on an order file. At the end of the day, despatch notes are raised for all orders received that day. A copy of the despatch note is sent to the customer and a second copy is sent to the warehouse. The despatch-date is noted on the order file. At the end of the week an invoice is raised and sent to the customer. The invoice-date is noted on the order file. The analyst has documented this information in the following data flow diagram. Required: (a) Identify three errors in the diagram and explain how each error should be corrected. The analyst undertakes a second interview and records the following information. Interview 2 The check on product was not understood correctly at the first interview. Only part of the order details check is concerned with ensuring that the product is a valid value. The check also looks to see if there is sufficient of the product in stock to fulfil the order. If not, the whole order is put on hold and an explanatory letter is sent to the customer. These on-hold orders are fulfilled as soon as sufficient stock has been received to fulfil the whole of the order. A goods received note is raised for each delivery of stock from a supplier. Once all the order has been despatched then the on-hold order is converted into an ordinary order. (b) Re-draw the data flow diagram to reflect this new information as well as the corrections to the errors in the original diagram. (9 marks) End of Question Paper 9 [P.T.O.