Deck 14: Construct, Deliver, and Maintain Systems Project

Question 1

Compare and contrast the structured design approach and the object-oriented design approach. Which do you feel is most beneficial? Why?

Answer 1

Structured and Object-oriented Design Approach
Structured Design Approach:
• This is the approach in which the focus of the program is completely on designing and connecting modules.
• This employs a top-down approach of the programming that is the modules are defined first and the module which is called in main program by providing sufficient inputs is executed.
• Data, here, is not so safe.
• Any of the modules can change it because no grouping of modules is there. This approach is fast in designing because no much linking is needed.
Object-oriented Approach:
• This approach focuses on the safety of data.
• The related modules and data are grouped in a unit called class. The class is instantiated by objects.
• The only modules which are the members of the object can access and the data defined in the object.
• The access of that data is prohibited for the methods which are defined in another object. It is assumed that if the inputs are kept safe then the process results more perfect.
• This approach also provides the overloading and reusability features. A class can inherit the non-private members of another to extend that.
More beneficial approach:
• For designing small (or practice programs) programs, structured approach is beneficial because it is fast and easy to design.
• In critical system development, the object oriented approach must be used as it provides various safety and reusability provisions. It is beneficial for designing huge amount of code and also maintaining that.

Question 2

Who should select the contact user group-the vendor or the prospective user? Why?

Answer 2

Selection of contact user group
• The contact user group refers the current user list which is an important source of information.
• The prospective user selects a contact user group which includes a sample of users with the latest version of the package and required configuration of the computer.
• Some standardized questions are asked to these users for getting feedback that can help in the comparison packages.
• The selection is done by prospective user, not by vendor since more objective appraisal could be provided and the chances of getting biased information could be reduced.

Question 3

Why is it necessary to decompose the DFD to a level of high detail before preparing the structure diagram? How do you know when to stop this process?

Answer 3

Decomposing DFD
• In general design phase, context-level DFDs are prepared which show the abstract view of the system's processes. But in going to defining the system processes this basic DFD needs to be decomposed to present the processes in more detail, known as intermediate level DFD.
• At last all the intermediate level DFDs are decomposed further to describe each element and process of each module in detail, known as elementary level DFD. This last DFD creates the basis for structure diagram.
• When all the modules are have been described in detail in elementary level DFDs, the decomposition process is stopped.
• Structure diagram is like a blueprint for writing the codes for the modules of actual program.
• It is prepared on the elementary level DFD because the need of knowing the modules in detail occurs.
• Structure diagram analyses the DFD to divide the processes into the functions of input, process and output.

Question 4

How might the decision to use CASE tools affect the choice of a programming language?

Question 5

Why is the quality of the paper a major consideration in the design of a hard-copy input?

Question 6

What documents do accountants and auditors need for the new system that other stakeholders typically do not?

Question 7

Many firms have formal, structured walk-throughs by an independent quality control group. Who is least likely to be a member of the group?

A) application programmers
B) systems analysts
C) end users
D) external auditors
E) all would be members of the group

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT an output attribute?

A) relevance
B) exception orientation
C) zones
D) accuracy

Question 9

At which stage are errors most costly to correct?

A) programming
B) conceptual design
C) analysis
D) detailed design
E) implementation

Question 10

Distinguish between turnkey and backbone systems. Which is more flexible?

Question 11

What are the two classes of design input views?

Question 12

What very important precautions must be taken during the data conversion procedures?

Question 13

DESIGN INPUT VIEW
During the system design phase of the SDLC, input interfaces or input views must be sketched out so programmers can specify the necessary elements when they program the user interfaces for the system. Figure 14-12 presents an interface for a Reorder Report. Sketch a similar interface that could be used to program a sales invoice interface. Include areas for a document heading, customer information, shipping information, sales employee information, and items sold.

Question 14

DATA FLOW DIAGRAM
The detailed data flow diagram in Figure 14-16 decomposes the DFD for the expenditure cycle in Figure 14-15. Further decompose the process numbered 1.4.4, Receive Invoice, in detail.

Question 15

CMA 786 5-Y6
PERT Chart
Silver Aviation assembles small aircraft for commercial use. The majority of Silver's business is with small freight airlines serving areas where the airport does not accommodate larger planes. The remainder of Silver's customers are commuter airlines and individuals who use planes in their businesses. Silver recently expanded into Central and South America and expects to double its sales over the next three years.
To schedule work and keep track of all projects, Silver uses the PERT. The PERT diagram for the construction of a single cargo plane is shown in the diagram for Problem 12. The PERT diagram shows that there are four alternative paths, with the critical path being ABGEFJK.
Bob Peterson, president of Coastal Airlines, has recently placed an order with Silver Aviation for five cargo planes. At the time of contract negotiations, Peterson agreed to a delivery time of 13 weeks (5 working days per week) for the first plane, with the balance of the planes being delivered at the rate of one every 4 weeks. Because of problems with some of the aircraft Coastal is using, Peterson has contacted Grace Vander, sales manager for Silver Aviation, to ask about improving the delivery date of the first cargo plane. Vander replied that she believed the schedule could be shortened by as much as 10 working days, or 2 weeks, but the cost of construction would increase as a result. Peterson said he would be willing to consider the increased costs, and they agreed to meet the following day to review a revised schedule that Vander would prepare.
Because Silver Aviation has assembled aircraft on an accelerated basis before, the company has compiled a list of crash costs for this purpose. Vander used the data shown in the Crash Cost Listing table at the middle of the diagram for Problem 12 to develop a plan to cut 10 working days from the schedule at a minimal increase in cost to Coastal Airlines.
Upon completing her plan, Vander was pleased that she could report to Peterson that Silver would be able to cut 10 working days from the schedule. The associated increase in cost would be $6,600. Presented at the bottom of the diagram for Problem 12 is Vander's plan for the accelerated delivery of the cargo plane, starting from the regularly scheduled days and costs.
Required
a. PERT is a form of network analysis.
1. Explain how the expected regular times for each activity are derived in using PERT.
2. Define the term critical path and explain why path ABGEFJK is the critical path in this situation.

b. Evaluate the accelerated delivery schedule that Grace Vander prepared.
1. Explain why Vander's plan as presented is unsatisfactory.
2. Revise the accelerated delivery schedule so that Coastal Airlines will take delivery of the first plane 2 weeks (10 working days) ahead of schedule at the least incremental cost to Coastal.
3. Calculate the incremental costs Bob Peterson will have to pay for this revised accelerated delivery.

Question 16

What are the three implementation (cutover) methods? Which appears to be the most costly up front? Which could very likely end up being the most costly in the long run?

Question 17

What are zones?

Question 18

What is a central repository in a CASE system?

Question 19

Is pseudocode programming language-specific? How about the coding model?

Question 20

Contrast the advantages and disadvantages of CASE tools. What should determine whether CASE is used?

Question 21

What are the four steps involved in choosing a package?

Question 22

In what form should embedded instructions be written-active or passive voice? Why?

Question 23

Data flow diagrams are often described as exploding from one level to the next. What is meant by "exploding"? Also, data flow diagrams must reconcile from the general level to the next level of detail. What is meant by "reconcile"? How do you think CASE tools help in this procedure?

Question 24

If a firm decides early to go with a special-purpose system, such as SAP, based upon the recommendations of the external audit firm, should the SDLC be bypassed?

Question 25

What processes should be used to develop useful and meaningful output? Who should be involved in the development process?

Question 26

A good structure diagram should be loosely coupled yet strongly cohesive. How can you achieve both characteristics simultaneously? What implications do these characteristics have on errorprone problems during maintenance?

Question 27

Who conducts the post-implementation review? When should it be conducted? If an outside consulting firm were hired to design and implement the new system, or a canned software package were purchased, would a post-implementation review still be useful?

Question 28

What are the relative merits of input from source documents and direct input?

Question 29

Which sequence of events bests describes the activities in the systems development life cycle?
a. design, analysis, implementation, and operation
b. design, implementation, analysis, and operation
c. analysis, design, implementation, and operation
d. programming, analysis, implementation, and operation

Question 30

Which of the following is NOT part of the systems implementation process?

A) converting databases
B) documentation
C) systems design
D) testing and correction

Question 31

What is the name given to the systems development approach used to quickly produce a model of user interfaces, user interactions with the system, and process logic?

A) neural networking
B) prototyping
C) reengineering
D) application generation

Question 32

DETAILED SYSTEMS DESIGN
Refer to the diagram for Problem 13 for the expenditure cycle.
Required
a. List the entity database tables, and describe which entities need representing from an AIS perspective.
b. For each item identified as relevant to AIS, prepare a list of database tables along with primary and embedded foreign keys.
c. Prepare database tables showing attributes in normalized form.

Question 33

What is an RFP?

Question 34

What is pseudocode? Are end users or systems designers involved in this process?

Question 35

CASE TOOLS
Reeve Lumber Company has a small information systems department consisting of five people. A backlog of approximately 15 months exists for requests for new systems applications to even be considered. Both information users and systems personnel are unhappy with this state of affairs. The users feel that the systems department is not responsive enough to their needs, while the systems personnel feel overworked, frustrated, and unappreciated.
Janet Hubert, the manager of the systems department, has decided that she needs to take a proactive measure. She is requesting the funds to purchase a CASE system for approximately $75,000 that requires about two months to install and train workers to use it. The president of the company, Mike Cassidy, initially responded by questioning the wisdom of taking the systems personnel away from their duties when they are backlogged so they can learn a system. Prepare a memo from Hubert to Cassidy. In the memo, outline the expected benefits of purchasing and using a CASE system, and address Cassidy's concern regarding the two-month training and implementation period.

Question 36

SYSTEMS DESIGN
Robin Alper, a manager of the credit collections department for ACME Building Supplies, is extremely unhappy with a new system that was installed three months ago. Her complaint is that the data flows from the billing and accounts receivable departments are not occurring in the manner originally requested. Further, the updates to the database files are not occurring as frequently as she had envisioned. Thus, the hope that the new system would provide more current and timely information has not materialized. She claims that the systems analysts spent three days interviewing her and other workers. During that time, she and the other workers thought they had clearly conveyed their needs. She feels as if their needs were ignored and their time was wasted.
Required
What went wrong during the systems design process? What suggestions would you make for future projects?

Question 37

PERT CHART
The Peabody Coal Corporation recently completed the final feasibility report for a new general ledger accounting system. It has hired a consulting firm to program and install the new system. The consulting firm is charging $350,000 for the remaining tasks to be performed. These tasks are to be performed over the next 10 months, as detailed in the Gantt chart in the diagram for Problem 9. The consulting firm is extremely concerned with the project staying on schedule because it is receiving a flat fee. The release of the final payment is contingent upon the system performing as stated in the contract and upon Pea-body receiving appropriate documentation of the system.
Required
a. Prepare a PERT diagram and indicate the critical path.
b. What happens to the time frame of the implementation of the project if the manufacturer is four weeks late shipping the hardware?
c. What happens if the data conversion does not go smoothly and takes an additional three weeks?
d. Who should conduct the post-implementation review? What activities should be conducted during this review? Do you think enough time has been allotted for this activity?

Question 38

What is an object, and what are its characteristics in the object-oriented approach? Give two examples.

Question 39

Discuss the importance of involving accountants in the detailed design and implementation phases. What tasks should they perform?

Question 40

What are the controls designated in the systems controls stage?

Question 41

How does a prototype differ from the final product? Why discard the prototype? What role does the end user play in prototyping?

Question 42

How can program code be reused?

Question 43

What is the difference between source code and machine code? Why is it preferable to have the CASE tools convert the structure diagrams into machine code rather than source code?

Question 44

Why bother with pseudocode? Why not spend the time developing actual source code?

Question 45

Discuss the relative merits of in-house programs versus commercially developed software.

Question 46

Typically, which is more difficult to detect and more costly to fix-a design flaw in the processes or a programming error?

Question 47

What issues are accountants concerned with when determining their preference for CASE tools that convert structure diagrams into machine code or source code? What are the costs associated with each?

Question 48

Explain how benchmarking works. Should this be conducted on the vendor's computer or the customer's computer? What about technical presentations by the vendor? Why?

Question 49

Are input requirements or output requirements examined to determine the attributes of tables? Should all of these attributes physically be in the data file? Why or why not?

Question 50

CONCEPTUAL DESIGN
Vince Malloy and Katy Smith, both systems personnel at Shamrock Steelworks, are designing a new expenditure cycle system. Vince has worked for Shamrock for 12 years and has been involved in many systems development projects. Katy recently began working for Shamrock. She has four years of experience in systems development with another comparably sized organization. Yesterday, Vince and Katy met to determine their plan for approaching the conceptual system design.
Following is an excerpt of some dialogue that occurred in that meeting.
Katy: I really think that the new system can be designed more efficiently if we use an object-oriented design approach. Further, future enhancements and maintenance will be easier if we use an object approach.
Vince: The method you are suggesting is a creation of modules. I do not have a problem with that concept in general. I just prefer using a top-down approach to design the system. We have been using that system for the past 12 years, and it has worked out OK.
Katy: Sure, your systems have worked for you, but perhaps they can be developed more efficiently, not to mention maintaining them. Further, we have approximately a two-year backlog of projects. Changing to amore efficient design system may help us to reduce that wait.
Vince: We may not end up with the system we want if we do not consider the big picture. I am afraid if we get too tied to using existing modules for future projects, we may design suboptimal systems that will require more maintenance and have shorter lives in the long run. What good will the more efficient system do us then?
Required
Prepare Katy's response and develop a strategy for systems design that will address both of their concerns.

Question 51

List, in sequential order, the system components that are designed in the detailed design phase.

Question 52

Who is included in the quality assurance group? What are their tasks? What documents do they need to perform their tasks?

Question 53

Which of the following sets of application characteristics of an accounting application might influence the selection of data entry devices and media for a computerized accounting system?

A) timing of feedback needs relative to input, need for documentation of an activity, and the necessity for reliability and accuracy
B) cost considerations, volume of input, complexity of activity, and liquidity of assets involved
C) need for documentation, necessity for accuracy and reliability, volume of output, and cost considerations
D) relevancy of data, volume of input, cost considerations, volume of output, and timing of feedback needs relative to input
E) type of file used, reliability of manufacturer's service, volume of output, and cost considerations

Question 54

What is the critical path in the PERT method for network analysis?

A) shortest path through the network
B) longest path through the network
C) path with the most slack
D) path with the most variability in estimated times
E) least cost path

Question 55

Which of the following is the most risky strategy for converting from a legacy system to a new system? a. phased cutover
b. parallel operation
c. pilot conversion
d. cold turkey cutover
e. none of the above

Question 56

Distinguish between object classes and instances.

Question 57

What is data modeling? What is its primary tool?

Question 58

Which activities during the systems implementation phase have the greatest implications for accountants and auditors?

Question 59

DATA FLOW DIAGRAMS
Sawicki Music Supply is a mail-order business that accepts merchandise orders by telephone and mail. All payments must be prepaid with a major credit card. Once an order is received, either the item is found in inventory and shipped immediately, the item is not found in inventory and is ordered from the manufacturer, or a notice is sent to the customer indicating that the item is no longer stocked.
Required
Prepare a context-, intermediate-, and elementary-level data flow diagram for Sawicki Music Supply. For the elementary-level diagram, explode the inventory function.

Question 60

ATTRIBUTES AND OPERATIONS
Prepare a list of attributes and operations for the following items:
a. general ledger
b. accounts payable ledger
c. accounts receivable ledger
d. fixed assets ledger
e. inventory ledger

Question 61

PERT AND GANTT CHARTS
The lottery commission of a state with about $500 million a year in revenue has looked to modern technology for increasing lottery sales. The strategy is to place self-service sales machines around the state. Customers simply fill out the bubbles on the form and insert the form into the computer. If they wish, they may enter their numbers directly in the computer and skip the form altogether. The machine accepts cash and automatic teller machine cards. The lottery commission is very excited about this project because it thinks it could boost lottery ticket sales by as much as 30 percent.
The systems department has finished the final feasibility report and has determined the following estimates for implementing the system. It plans on purchasing a larger, more powerful mainframe computer to handle the processing of the transactions. The manufacturer has promised a delivery date of three months from the time the order is placed. The lottery sales machines must be special ordered and require a lead time of five months. The plan is to initially order 15 machines and test them for 12 weeks. If all goes well, the lottery commission will order a total of 500 machines, with 20 delivered and installed each month. This order will not be placed until the results of the pilot test have been analyzed.
The writing of the programs is expected to take six weeks. The testing of the programs on the mainframe is expected to take four weeks, with an additional three weeks once the sales machines have been received. The state gaming commission is expected to test for another two weeks. The design of the databases is expected to take only two weeks. Not much data transfer is expected to be necessary, so only three weeks is budgeted for this task.
An estimated 20 employees need to be hired and trained to install and maintain these machines around the state. The hiring process is expected to take six weeks, and the training should take an additional six weeks. The documentation should take about three months and should be completed before the training of the new employees. As soon as the gaming commission signs off on the programs, the 15 machines are to be installed at test sites around the state. Four weeks are allotted for this installation procedure. A one-week testing period is planned, with commission employees going to the sites and using the machines. An additional week is planned to review the results of these tests. The pilot test then begins and runs for eight weeks. The data will be analyzed for four weeks after the pilot test. The final order for the additional machines will be placed after the data analysis is conducted, and the demand for the number of machines is more accurately determined.
Required
a. Prepare a PERT chart for the process described. Identify the critical path.
b. Prepare a Gantt chart for the process described.

Question 62

During a test data procedure, why should the developers bother testing bad data?

Question 63

What are the three basic symbols in an ER diagram?

Question 64

Which chart, a PERT or a Gantt, shows the project status at a glance for a given point in time? Which method illustrates the critical path at a glance?

Question 65

What functions do CASE tools serve?

Question 66

What is a data flow diagram? What are the different levels from most general to most detailed? Draw the common symbols used.

Question 67

What is the iceberg effect? How can CASE tools help to minimize this phenomenon?

Question 68

What is meant by inheritance? Give an example.

Question 69

Distinguish between primary and foreign keys.

Question 70

Discuss the relative merits and drawbacks to 3GL How might changing technology affect some of these issues in the future?

Question 71

What documentation techniques are used in the structured design approach to conceptual design? What is the purpose of each of these documentation techniques, and how do they vary from each other? How much detail is provided?

Question 72

Discuss the importance of the weights assigned to factors in the final selection process. What method might you suggest be used to investigate the appropriateness of the weights?

Question 73

Are direct input systems (i.e., point-of-sale using bar codes) error free? Why or why not?

Question 74

During implementation, if the system is behind schedule and if each program module is tested and no problems are found, is it necessary to test all modules in conjunction with one another? Why or why not?

Question 75

What is a data dictionary?

Question 76

What is a hybrid language?

Question 77

The following are principle features of a PERT chart except

A) paths
B) events
C) starting and ending dates
D) activities

Question 78

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of commercial software?

A) lower overall cost compared to in-house development
B) thoroughly tested and reliable
C) rapid implementation
D) ease of modification to meet specific needs
E) all of the above are advantages

Question 79

Which of the following is the least risky strategy for converting from a legacy system to a new system?
a. file conversion
b. parallel conversion
c. pilot conversion
d. big bang conversion
e. direct conversion

Question 80

Why is the object-oriented approach particularly suited to ERP system design?