Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Uttar Pradesh
India 201303
ASSIGNMENTS
PROGRAM: BSc IT
SEMESTER-IV
Subject Name
Study COUNTRY
Roll Number (Reg.No.)
Student Name
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:
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INSTRUCTIONS
a) Students are required to submit all three assignment sets.
ASSIGNMENT
Assignment A
Assignment B
Assignment C
DETAILS
Five Subjective Questions
Three Subjective Questions + Case Study
Objective or one line Questions
MARKS
10
10
10
b)
c)
d)
e)
Signature :
Date
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_________________________________
_________________________________
Assignment B
Case Study
A problematic conversion to a new software system for managing staff and Shipping operations
at Sealine Inc. to a halt, resulting in passengers stranded in cities such as New York, Detroit and
Palm Beach, Florida. The system-wide problems forced the Fort Lauderdale, Florida - based
discount shipping to book all available hotel rooms in many markets and to institute a nationwide
disaster response program.
Sealine Inc president and CEO Thomas konchesky said the crisis wasn't touched off by the new
system crashing or other technical problem. Instead, the problem were caused by a lack of
familiarity with the software on the part of Sealine's employees-situation that snowballed at the
Shipping after winter storms affected sea travel in the northeast.
While the new scheduling system had been run in parallel with the sealine old one from August
through the end of the last year, Thomas said users could not negotiate the software fast enough
to keep pace after the storms began forcing Ship cancellations. "The people who operated the
software were not longer as fast with it, even though they were proficient and they were trained",
Thomas said "It's one of those situations where your fingers are not connected to your brain
anymore, and we were not prepared for that". Ships were also booked to capacity because of the
crush of holiday travellers, making it more difficult to accommodate stranded passengers after
the problems emerged, he said.
Compounding the situation even further was the fact that Sealines's CIO post is vacant, said
Thomas, who held that position until he was promoted to CEO in mid-2000. The Shipping began
interviewing potential CIO candidates last month but has yet to hire a replacement. A hands-on
IT executive might have been able to foresee the impending crisis and steer Sealine's crew
staffing department away from doing the software conversion at such a busy travel time, Thomas
said. "The only way we could have avoided this problem was to have called off the conversion",
he said. "But we obviously didn't see the problem coming".
Paul harnandez, an analyst at Forrester Research who follows the travel industry, faulted Sealine
for its timing. "You never want to do a cutover to a new software system during a peak travel
period", he said. Sealine's staffing department wanted the conversion to occur January 1 because
the Sealine needs to track Captain and crew Sail hours on a calendar bases in order to ensure that
workers don't exceed sailing limits set by the U.S. federal Sail Administration. Making the
switch a week or two later would have required the initial records for this year to be moved from
the old system to the new one.
"Up until now, it's been our policy to let individual departments manage their own projects and
not involve the IT department", Thomas said. "That's going to change. We need to have our tech
people more involved". Paul said such a hang-off IT policy is receipt for danger. "You don't mess
around the technology", he said. "It is not kind to the people who don't understand it".
Thomas said the Sealine will have to spend at least the rest of month trying to win back
passengers who were inconvenienced by the problems. Sealine, the largest privately held shiping
in the U.S, carried more than 2,00,000 passengers last year.
The Sealine will also have to mend its relationship with the New York and the New Jersey Port
authority, which is considering pulling Sealine's docking permits at the LaGuardia and Newark
docks in the back of the ordeal. Port authority spokesman Stewon Coleman said that at one point.
New York police were called to La Guardia to claim an unruly crowd of disgruntled passengers.
"There were some near fist fights between some of the passengers who'd just had enough", he
said.
The crisis also will lead to organizational restructuring at Sealine. Konchesky said, although he
added that specific changes haven't been decided on. A week ago, the sealine announced that it
had returned to "business-as-usual operation". Thomas said the new software remains in place.
"It was a matter of knowing how to use it", he said.
Questions:
1. What major problems in system implementation and conversion practices do you recognize in
this case? What major management problems do you recognize in this case?
2. What should Sealine Shippings have done to avoid its system problems? What steps should
they take now?
Assignment C
1. How many steps are in the systems development life cycle (SDLC)?
A. 4
B. 5
C. 6
D. 10
2. The first step in the systems development life cycle (SDLC) is:
A. Analysis.
B. Design.
C. Problem/Opportunity Identification.
D. Development and Documentation.
3. Most modern software applications enable you to customize and automate various
features using small custom-built miniprograms called:
A. macros.
B. code.
C. routines.
D. subroutines.
4. The organized process or set of steps that needs to be followed to develop an information
system is known as the:
A. analytical cycle.
B. design cycle.
C. program specification.
D. system development life cycle.
5. How many steps are in the program development life cycle (PDLC)?
A. 4
B. 5
C. 6
D. 10
6. The make-or-buy decision is associated with the ____________ step in the SDLC.
A. Problem/Opportunity Identification
B. Design
C. Analysis
D. Development and Documentation
7. In the Analysis phase, the development of the ____________ occurs, which is a clear
statement of the goals and objectives of the project.
A. documentation
B. flowchart
C. program specification
D. design
8. Actual programming of software code is done during the ____________ step in the
SDLC.
A. Maintenance and Evaluation
B. Design
C. Analysis
D. Development and Documentation
9. Enhancements, upgrades, and bug fixes are done during the ____________ step in the
SDLC.
A. Maintenance and Evaluation
B. Problem/Opportunity Identification
C. Design
D. Development and Documentation
10. The ____________ determines whether the project should go forward.
A. feasibility assessment
B. opportunity identification
C. system evaluation
D. program specification
11. Technical writers generally provide the ____________ for the new system.
A. programs
B. network
C. analysis
D. documentation
12. ____________ design and implement database structures.
A. Programmers
B. Project managers
C. Technical writers
D. Database administrators
13. ____________ spend most of their time in the beginning stages of the SDLC, talking
with end-users, gathering information, documenting systems, and proposing solutions.
A. Systems analysts
B. Project managers
C. Network engineers
D. Database administrators
14. Which of the following could not be considered an organisational goal?
A. Increase company profit margin.
B. Expand customer base.
C. Provide quality service.
D. Complete backups every Friday.
15. An organisations goal is to improve the communication of events to members. Which of
the following strategies would best achieve this aim?
A. Reduce labour costs.
B. Produce a regular newsletter.
C. Make sure all membership information is accurate.
D. Use a spreadsheet to keep track of finances.
16. The profile of an audience can include its
A. Employment category, income level and average age.
B. Employment category, favourite colour and average age.
C. Tax file number, income level and years of employment.
D. Educational level, Medicare number and name of doctor.
17. Which of the following is not a component of an information system?
A. Equipment
B. End-user
C. Organisational goals
D. Procedures
18. ____________ manage the system development, assign staff, manage the budget and
reporting, and ensure that deadlines are met.
A. Project managers
B. Network engineers
C. Graphic designers
D. Systems analysts
19. ____________ is the process of translating a task into a series of commands that a
computer will use to perform that task.
A.
B.
C.
D.
Project design
Installation
Systems analysis
Programming
C) Design
D) None of the above
26. System maintenance is necessary because:
A) Human never gets it right the first time.
B) The deployment may change over time.
C) The users needs may change over time.
D) All of the above.
27. A person-machine system and a highly integrated grouping of information-processing
functions designed to provide management with a comprehensive picture of specific
operation is called:
A) DSS
B) MIS
C) IIS
D) All of the above.
28. Which is the most creative and challenging phase of SDLC?
A. Analysis
B. Design
C. Implementation
D. Feasibility Study
29. Costs that are known to exist but whose financial value cannot be accurately measured
are referred to as
A. Intangible
B. Tangible
C. Direct
D. Indirect
30. The parts of the organization or computer system depend on one another is called:
A) Interaction
B) Interdependence
C) Integration
D) All of the above
31. Which of the following Normal forms states that a non-key attribute depends on a key
attribute or concatenated key:
A. First Normal Form
B. Second Normal Form
32. _________ means adding, modifying or redeveloping the code to support change in any
specifications.
A. Enhancement
B. Maintenance
C. Implementation
D. All of the above
33. Which symbol of DFD represents a Data Store?
A. Circle
B. Square
C. Open-ended Rectangle
D. Triangle
34. System maintenance is necessary because:
A) Human never gets it right the first time.
B) The deployment may change over time.
C) The users needs may change over time.
D) All of the above.
36. The parts of the organization or computer system depend on one another is called:
A) Interaction
B) Interdependence
C) Integration
D) All of the above
37. What kind of information comes under user staff category of information?
a) Policies
b) Authority relationship
c) Objectives
d) Work schedules