Deck 20: Systems Operations and Support

Question 1

Systems support is the on-going technical support for users, as well as the maintenance required to fix any errors, omissions or new requirements that may arise.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Systems operation is the on-going technical support for users, as well as the maintenance required to fix any errors, omissions or new requirements that may arise.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Program libraries store the actual application programs that have been placed into production.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The central repository stores all system models and detailed specifications.

Question 5

The four types of systems support activities are building and testing networks and databases, preparing the conversion plan, installing databases, and training users.

Question 6

The first task of the systems analyst or programmer when working with a program bug is to validate the problem.

Question 7

System testing ensures that the stand-alone program not only fixes the bug, but does so without side effects.

Question 8

Unit testing ensures that the entire application, of which the modified program was a part, still works.

Question 9

Regression testing extrapolates the impact of the changes on program and application throughput and response time from the before and after results using the test data.

Question 10

Version control is the process whereby a librarian (usually software-based) keeps track of changes made to programs thus allowing recovery of prior versions of the programs in the event that new versions cause unexpected problems.

Question 11

The central repository stores the actual application programs that have been placed into production.

Question 12

In most installations a software-based librarian will track changes to stored programs and maintain several previous versions of the programs.

Question 13

The high cost of system maintenance is largely due to failure to update system knowledge (in the repository) and program source code documentation (in the program library).

Question 14

If a system crash occurs in the middle of a transaction, then any transactional updates to the database the occurred before the crash must be undone. This is called a roll back.

Question 15

Cycle complexity is an example of software metrics.

Question 16

Code slicing cuts out a piece of a program to create a separate program or subprogram.

Question 17

Code slicing is relatively easy to do.

Question 18

Poor maintenance can cause program understanding can take considerable time.

Question 19

Usually the original programmer of the software is the person making the changes.

Question 20

Systems operation and support occur in parallel.

Question 21

With proper system maintenance a system will always remain cost-effective to support and maintain.

Question 22

Some system enhancements can be accomplished quickly by writing new simple programs or making very simple changes to existing programs.

Question 23

The systems analyst is generally on call to assist users with the day-to-day use of specific applications. In mission-critical applications, the analyst must be on call day and night.

Question 24

Two types of adaptive maintenance are system enhancement and systems reengineering.

Question 25

Some system enhancements can be accomplished quickly b y writing new simple programs or making very simple changes to existing programs.

Question 26

Which of the following extrapolates the impact of the changes on program and application throughput and response time from the before and after results using the test data?

A) unit testing
B) system testing
C) regression testing
D) alpha testing
E) beta testing

Question 27

Which of the following terms means to modify or expand the application system in response to constantly changing requirements?

A) system requirements
B) system modifications
C) system changes
D) system maintenance
E) system enhancement

Question 28

The on-going maintenance of a system(s) after it has been placed into operation, including program maintenance and system improvements is called:

A) systems planning
B) systems analysis
C) systems support
D) systems design
E) systems implementation

Question 29

System maintenance typically involves the following tasks:

A) study and debug the program, test the program, make the quick fix, retrain users
B) validate the problem, benchmark the program, analyze enhancement request, make the quick fix
C) benchmark the program, study and debug the program, test the program, make the quick fix
D) validate the problem, benchmark the program, study and debug the program, test the program
E) none of these

Question 30

System enhancement typically involves the following tasks:

A) study and debug the program, test the program, make the quick fix
B) analyze enhancement request, make the quick fix, recover existing physical system
C) benchmark the program, test the program, make the quick fix
D) validate the problem, make the quick fix, recover existing physical system
E) none of these

Question 31

Which of the following is NOT a support activity?

A) technical support
B) user training
C) program maintenance
D) system recovery
E) system enhancement

Question 32

Which of the following is NOT a cause of program bugs?

A) misinterpreted requirements
B) poorly communicated requirements
C) poorly validated requirements
D) incorrectly implemented requirements
E) all of these can cause bugs

Question 33

System enhancement can be done in response to all of the following events EXCEPT:

A) new business requirements
B) new business problems
C) new design requirements
D) new technology requirements
E) new recovery requirements

Question 34

Which kind of program restructuring is done to eliminate control flow knots and reduce cycle complexity?

A) code slicing
B) code conversion
C) code reorganization
D) both B and C
E) all of these

Question 35

Which of the following is NOT a task of systems maintenance?

A) validate problems
B) benchmark the program
C) study and debug the program
D) recover the system
E) test the program

Question 36

When after a system crash, partially completed transactions must be undone, it is called a:

A) roll back
B) roll forward
C) ABEND
D) version control
E) none of these

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT a possible system recovery activity?

A) rebooting the user's computer
B) calling network administration to fix a networking problem
C) calling vendor service representatives to fix hardware problems
D) isolate and trap a software bug
E) all of these are possible system recovery activities

Question 38

Which of the following is NOT a reason why understanding applications can be slow?

A) poor modular structure
B) inadequate testing
C) prior maintenance (quick fixes and poorly designed extensions)
D) dead code
E) poor or inadequate documentation

Question 39

Which of the following ensures that the stand-alone program not only fixes the bug, but does so without side effects?

A) unit testing
B) system testing
C) regression testing
D) alpha testing
E) beta testing

Question 40

Where are system models and specifications stored?

A) repository
B) program library
C) business data
D) model store
E) system library

Question 41

When after a system crash, transactions must be recovered that occurred between the last backup and the database's recovery, it is called a:

A) roll back
B) roll forward
C) ABEND
D) version control
E) none of these

Question 42

Which of the following ensures that the entire application, of which the modified program was a part, still works?

A) unit testing
B) system testing
C) regression testing
D) alpha testing
E) beta testing

Question 43

The _________________________ is a data store(s) of accumulated system knowledge - system models, detailed specifications, and any other documentation that has been accumulated during the systems development.

Question 44

The __________________________ is a data store of all application programs. The source code for these programs must be maintained for the life of the system.

Question 45

The __________________________ includes all the actual data created and maintained by production application programs. This includes conventional files, relational databases, data warehouses and any object databases.

Question 46

___________________________________ is where software defects or bugs that were not detected during systems testing are corrected.

Question 47

________________________ is performed when a system failure that may result in a program "crash" and/or loss of data occurs. Human error or a hardware or software failure may have caused the error condition. The systems analyst or technical support specialists may be called upon to restore a system's files and databases and to restart the system.

Question 48

________________________________ is performed when new requirements (business or technology) must be added to the system.

Question 49

Test data can be automatically captured using a software-testing tool. As users enter test data. That data is recorded in a special type of repository as a _________________________.

Question 50

____________________________ ensures that the stand-alone program fixes the bug without undesirable side effects to the program. The test data and current performance you recovered, created, edited or generated when the programs were benchmarked are used here.

Question 51

_____________________________ ensures that the entire application, of which the modified program was a part, still works. Again, test data and current performance are used here.

Question 52

_______________________________ extrapolates the impact of the changes on program and application throughput and response time from the before and after results using the test data and current performance.

Question 53

______________________________ is a process whereby a librarian (usually software based) keeps track of changes made to programs. This allows recovery of prior versions of the programs if new versions cause unexpected problems. It allows users to return to a previously accepted version of the system.

Question 54

____________________________________ are mathematically proven measurements of software quality and productivity.

Question 55

___________________________________ is the number of times logic paths cross one another. Ideally, a program should have zero.

Question 56

________________________________ is the number of unique paths through a program. Ideally, the fewer, the better.

Question 57

_________________________________ restructures the modular organization and/or logic of the program. Logic may be restructured to eliminate control flow knots and reduce cycle complexity.

Question 58

_______________________________ translates the code from one language to another. Typically this translation is from one language version to another.

Question 59

________________________ factors out existing, redundant code into subprograms that are easier to maintain.

Question 60

As an adaptive process, ________________________ can be in response to the following events: new business problems, new business requirements, new technology requirements.

Question 61

Before making changes in a program to fix a bug, the analyst should ________________ the program to establish a baseline against which the modified programs and applications can later be measured.

Question 62

___________________________ is the ongoing technical support for users, as well as the maintenance to fix any errors, omissions, or new requirements that may arise.

Question 63

______________________________ is the day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month and year-to-year execution of an information system's business processes and application programs.