CIS 235
Introduction to Information Systems
Fall 2019
Final Exam Study Guide
Please review the HW assignments, and their related class materials.
You may have ER Diagram, Excel, Python and SQL related exam questions on top of
the concepts summarized below
Knowledge Content Sources
Class Presentations/Discussion (In-class slides, activities, and the dialogue surrounding
them)
Introduction to Information Systems Textbook
Assignments: HW, Quizzes
Please keep in mind that while not all of the content in a given reading or assignment
was covered in class, it is still valid. Similarly, not all material discussed in class was
covered in a reading or assignment, but it is still valid as well.
For any concept or content covered, do not simply demonstrate an abstract
understanding of a concept or idea. It is necessary, but not sufficient, to simply know
“what” something is or “how” to do something. The important, integrative learning
occurs when you can contextualize and answer, in addition to how and what, the
“why” of a subject. Why do these things matter and why are they so important to
business and the world in general?
PLEASE NOTE: These are only examples of questions. This is by no means a
comprehensive list. There will be questions on the exam that examine different areas
of the subjects covered than what are listed here. These are only a guide for you to
use in preparing yourself for the exam.
CIS 235
Introduction to Information Systems
Fall 2018
Please read your Class Slides, Notes and Textbook Chapter
Chapter 10 – IT and the Organization
1. What are Information/Organizational Silos, why do they occur, what kind of problems can they
cause, and how can they be "solved"?
2. How do we define “transaction”?
3. What are the functions and characteristics of ERP?
4. Define ERP and EAI. How does each work, and how do they compare (e.g. why might you choose
one vs. another)?
5. What are the benefits vs. challenges of ERP implementations?
6. What are four primary challenges that can inhibit successful adoption of an Enterprise System
and how might they be mitigated?
Chapter 11 – IT and Partners
1. What are the 4 phases of Customer Life Cycle? Do you know the order of the phases?
2. How does CRM work along Customer Lifecycle?
3. What are the CRM components that are used for solicitation/lead tracking and relationship
management?
4. What is the fundamental difference between top line and bottom line initiatives? How does this
impact our strategic decision-making regarding CRM systems and their implementation?
5. What is a supply chain?
6. What is supply chain management (SCM)?
7. What steps or organization types or typically involved in a supply chain?
8. What is Disintermediation in regards to strategic use of SCM?
9. What is Just-in-time (JIT), and why do organizations want to implement this practice?
10. What are some of the ways IS can improve a supply chain?
11. What factors affect its performance?
12. What is the “Bullwhip effect”?
13. What are the trade-offs of sharing information with other members of your supply chain and
why is this relevant to the Bullwhip Effect?
14. Can you briefly explain Kanban and why it is important?
Chapter 13 – Development, Deployment, and Project Management
1. What is an Information System?
2. How can technology adjust a break-even analysis?
3. What are our options for employing a new system?
4. What are the key differences between insourcing, selfsourcing, and outsourcing systems
development?
5. What are the phases of the SDLC?
6. In which phase do we need to complete the feasibility analysis and come up with a project plan?
7. What are the 4 feasibility analyses that need to be completed?
8. List the activities that are performed within each of the phases of the SDLC
9. What is the role of system analysts in the planning/investigation phase?
CIS 235
Introduction to Information Systems
Fall 2018
10. What are the four ways organizations can implement a system conversion?
11. What are the major differences between small projects and large projects?
12. How/Why is the “waterfall nature of SDLC” is problematic?
13. What is a JAD session?
14. How do new approaches on system developments value individuals and interactions?
15. What is agile? How does it compare to waterfall? What is users’ role in agile?
16. In the context of agile systems development, what is an iteration?
17. Can all projects be run in agile development?
18. Can you briefly describe Scrum
19. Between what dimensions are the key trade-offs in Project Management?
20. What is a “Definition of Done”?
Chapter 7 – Ecommerce
1. What is E-commerce?
2. What were some of the predecessors of E-commerce?
3. What are the different types of E-commerce models?
4. What are the different iterations of Web Technology (1.0-4.0) and what are examples of each?
5. What is the difference between a forward auction and a reverse auction, how are those services
typically implemented online, and what are example of online services that use similar functions
but do not actually provide auctions?
6. How can E-commerce affect the supply chain?
7. What is the Long Tail, and how does E-commerce make it possible?
8. What is Crowdfunding, and how does E-commerce make it possible?
Chapter 9 – Social Media
1. What is a Social Media Information System (SMIS)? How is it used?
2. What is a “Defender of Belief”?
3. What is a “Seeker of the Truth”?
4. What is SLATES in relationship to SMIS and Enterprise 2.0?
5. What is a Folksonomy? Can you provide an example?
6. What are examples of SMIS that are used across an organization’s Value Chain?
7. How has the Customer Decision Journey changed in the presence of Social Media?
8. What are some fundamental ways that marketing has changed in the presence of Social
Media?
9. What are some potential pitfalls of engaging with customers via Social Media?
Chapter 12, Chapter 5 – Business Intelligence
1. What are the four phases of the Rational Model of Decision Making?
2. What is a Pareto Analysis? SWOT Analysis? Management By Objectives (MBO)?
3. What is the purpose of business intelligence?
4. What is dirty data? Coarse data?
5. What is a Data Warehouse?
6. What is a data mart? How is it different from a data warehouse?
7. What is data mining?
CIS 235
Introduction to Information Systems
Fall 2018
9. How is supervised data mining different from unsupervised data mining?
10. What is Predictive Modeling?
11. How do reporting systems create information from data?
12. What is a KPI? A Critical Success Factor (CSF)?
13. What is the difference between Structured, Semistructured, and Unstructured decision-making?
14. What is a “measure”?
15. What is a “dimension”? A dimensional hierarchy?
16. What is OLAP?
17. Why is OLAP different than OLTP?
18. Excel PivotTables – rows, columns, data area, filter, drill down
Chapter 5 – Big Data
1. What is a HiPPO?
2. How can the balance between data and opinion driven decision-making be impacted?
3. How does Big Data impact decision-making?
4. What are the three V’s of Big Data?
5. What is Hadoop?
6. What is MapReduce and why is it needed?
7. What is “42”?
Others:
1. Given a table and a set of SQL commands, what is the expected output?
2. Given a table and the desired output, what SQL commands would you use?
3. Please practice SQL using the web sites we used in class and for your homework.
4. Be able to read and/or identify key elements in an existing ER Diagram
5. Excel: Be able to explain or execute basic functions and cell references
6. What is “Digital Darwinism”?
7. Can you write a simple Python script produce given output?
8. Can you debug a simple Python script that is not functioning properly (or at all)?
9. What is the difference between sentinel- and counter-controlled repetition?
10. What does it mean to “cast” a variable’s value in Python?
11. What are the various operators we discussed in this class for use in Python?
12. How do conditional statements work in programming?
13. What is an algorithm?
14. Can you craft an algorithm to solve a simple problem programmatically?
15. What is a PivotTable? A PivotChart? A Slicer? Why do we need these things? What do they have
to do with OLAP?
16. Can you construct a PivotTable and make an analysis and recommendation based on a simple
dataset?
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