ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS BASED ON DATA FLOW DIAGRAM

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1 A H P B D 1 Substitute: 1 ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS BASED ON DATA FLOW DIAGRAM

2 A H P B D 2 1. Describe analytical hierarchy technique? When there is more than one system configuration available for implementation, deciding which configuration to select becomes a crucial task. Such decisions are very important as it may largely affect the process of implementation. Appropriate selection of configuration may be very difficult in large systems because of the number of subsystems and basic components available. Some techniques are available to assist such decision making. For this purpose tools like AHP are available(borovitis& Neumann,1979). The analytical hierarchy technique helps to divide the problem into a hierarchy of problems which can be more easily evaluated. The technique can be explained as below; The problem is decomposed into a series of goal, criteria, sub criteria, and alternatives. This constitutes a hierarchy in which elements of one level are related to elements of another element below it which percolates down to the lowest level. Two processes are linked in such a way so as to make comparisons possible. Data are collected from experts corresponding to hierarchy structure. Experts range these comparisons as equal, marginally strong, strong and very strong. The pair wise comparisons that are obtained are organized into a square matrix. The principal eigenvalue and corresponding normalized Eigen vector of comparison matrix provides relative importance of various criterions being compared. Consistency of order n is evaluated. Consistency is ensured by redundancy of this method. Consistency index is calculated in this method. Ratings obtained for each alternative is multiplied by the weights of sub criteria and local ratings with respect to each criterion is calculated. These local rating are multiplied with weights of criteria to get global ratings. These ratings help to select the best alternative from the remaining. 2. Summarize how data flow diagrams can be used with these techniques to make a choice The analytical hierarchy process based on data flow diagram is an advanced method to help the decision maker to choose the best alternative. The DFD consists of symbols representing processes, data stores and external entities connected by direct arcs representing data flows between them. DFD s identifies the main concepts of a system and the relation between them. The AHPDFD consistsof three major steps; DFD generated is mapped into a hierarchy known as Data flow hierarchy (DFH) Decision variables and alternatives are incorporated into the DFH to produce Alternative evaluation hierarchy (AEH) AHP is applied to AEH to identify best configuration and AHPDFD is compared to AHPTF.

3 A H P B D 3 To associate decision variable and system configuration alternative with subsystems and basic components AEH is created. This AEH obtained is considered as standard decision hierarchy in AHP. Consistency ratio is used to measure consistency of evaluation process(satty,1980). 3. Give a simple example of how this method can be used to select a post graduate course. Firstly the problems are decomposed into a hierarchy of criteria and alternatives. For this it is important to accomplish these three steps: State the objective: In this case it is to select a post graduate course. Define the criteria: This includes area of interest, scope, etc. Pick the alternatives: Alternative courses catering similar needs This information is then arranged into a hierarchical tree. After which the information is synthesized to determine relative rankings of alternatives. A pair wise comparison of the alternatives helps to provide relative importance of one criterion over another. These rankings are then converted into a matrix. To convert this matrix into a ranking criterion by raising the pair wise matrix to powers that is successively squared each time. Row sums are then calculated and normalized. Eigenvector is calculated that gives us the relative ranking of our criterion (Joslin,1972). This entire system will help us to select best possible post graduate course from other desirable alternatives.

4 A H P B D 4 SUBSTITUTE: 2 AN EMPERICAL EXAMINATION OF COBIT

5 A H P B D 5 1. Briefly describe the CobiT framework. There are two distinct classes of models available. First one is of business control model class and the second one is more focused control models for IT. CobiT bridges the gap between the two. To satisfy business objectives, information need to match certain standard criteria s which CobiT refers to as business requirements for information. To find the list of requirements CobiT combines the principles of known reference models like quality, cost delivery, effectiveness and efficiency. Using these preestablished principles seven distinct categories were extracted. These are effectiveness, efficiency, confidentiality, integrity, availability, compliance, reliability and information (Cameron&Trivedi,1998). The CobiT framework consists of high level control objectives and a structure for their classification. The framework structure consists of activities and tasks at the bottom. Processes are defined one layer up as series of joined activities and tasks with control breaks. At highest level processes are naturally grouped into domains and are consistent with management cycle. Thus the conceptual frameworks can be approached from 3 points; information criteria, IT resources and IT processes. Using these four broad domains are identified; planning and organization, acquisition and implementation, delivery and support, and monitoring. It thus addresses management s oversight over organization s control process and internal and external audit. 2. Summarize the author s assessment of author s weakness and strengths of CobiT. CobiT s model is internally consistent and useful when used in auditing IT controls. CobiT provides highly needed evidence to policy makers. The framework is significantly related to the overall risk assessment of the CobiT process. It is also useful in predicting the auditor s behavior in terms of giving IT audit related help. Although CobiT provides a large no. of advantages in auditing process it also encompasses some limitations. Seven of thirty four CobiT processes have no associated listserv posting. Furthermore 5 IT resources and 7 information criteria do not load cleanly on their respective categories. Because of this limitation its primary use in management has changed to mere use of its framework in audit process. The CobiT content is also very wide so it takes a lot of time for the auditor to grasp the contents, and hence requires high level of expertise. Moreover CobiT does a good job on high level processes but does not cover all the technical details and hence cannot be used alone. 3. Comment on the quality of the study. That is to what extent is it a valid test of CobiT? The study considers two separate sources of data to examine CobiT. But the limitation is that the survey data is limited as the participants are in a hypothetical context and so might respond differently than it would have in practical situation. Additionally the archival data is limited only to the data that are available. However the study tries to overcome this limitation by using combination of data sources. This helps to provide results that are consistent and gives results that reflect actual auditor s behavior. Remarkable co-relations are obtained when the two sources of data are combined and superimposed on CobiT s model(messier, Glover&Prawitt,2003).

6 A H P B D 6 It thus provides consistent and compelling evidence that CobiT s conceptual model is internally consistent and useful when applied to IT audit control. Analysis reported in this paper is exploratory and based on a relatively small sample. The study also suggests that CobiT needs additional work in an audit setting. It also highlights some significant variables that impact audit risk for IT processes that may be missing from the framework. Thus this framework highlights some important aspects of CobiT. It gives a detailed analysis of the merits and loopholes in CobiT as a management as well as an audit tool. This study proves to be comprehensive, validated and practical and attempts to make a good analysis of CobiT and its framework (Colbert& Bowen,1996).

7 A H P B D 7 REFERENCES: 1. Borovitis, S.& Neumann, P. (1979).Computer system performance evaluation.new York: Lexington books. 2. Satty,T.L. (1980).The analytical hierarchy process.new York: Mc-Graw hill. 3. Joslin,E.O. (1972).Analysis, design and selection of computer systems.arlington, V.A.: College readings 4. Cameron, A. C. &Trivedi, P.K. (1998).Regression analysis of count data, econometric society. monograph no: 30, Cambridge university press, pp Messier,jr W. F., Glover, S.M. &Prawitt, D.F. (2003).Auditing and assurance services: a systematic approach.5th edition. New York: New York publication 6. Colbert, J.L. & Bowen, P. L. (1996).A comparison of internal controls, IS audit control.

MULTIPLE-OBJECTIVE DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUE Analytical Hierarchy Process

MULTIPLE-OBJECTIVE DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUE Analytical Hierarchy Process Business Intelligence and Decision Making Professor Jason Chen The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is a systematic procedure