The following questions were contained in the Summer 2009 Comprehensive Exam.

ISQA 8060 - RESEARCH IN MIS

1. You are asked to develop a research proposal and design for the US Government. Please cover the following in your presentation.
   1. What is the phenomenon you observe in this case… 10%
   2. What concepts would you use to help you understand this phenomenon?... 20%
   3. Please design a research project to investigate the problem being posed in this company… 30%
   4. Present an outline of a research proposal you would submit to Signal International. Explain each section of the outline… 30%
   5. What would be the deliverables(s) of this research project …10%

   Information Technology at the FBI

   Experts are disputing Attorney General John Ashcroft's claims that a decade of deficient information technology funding hampered the FBI's intelligence gathering prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In a high-profile appearance Tuesday before the commission charged with investigating the deadly assaults, Ashcroft warned that through the 1990s, "the FBI's information infrastructure had been starved, and by Sept. 11, it collapsed from budgetary neglect." The analysis drew a skeptical response from government watchdogs, who painted it as a typical bureaucratic reflex: Blame the budget rather than management. Ashcroft's comments come, as President George W. Bush is seeking an FBI funding increase of about $500 million, or 11.4 percent, for next year--part of a request for $22.1 billion in total Department of Justice funding.

   "The bureau essentially had 42 separate information systems, none of which were connected. Agents lacked even the most basic Internet technology...(These problems) hindered information sharing with the Justice Department, the intelligence community, and state and local law enforcement," Ashcroft told the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Longtime observers of the FBI acknowledge that the bureau's hardware and networks were indeed shabby in 2001, but they argue that the real explanation is more complicated than Ashcroft indicated: The bureau's top management just didn't care about IT. For more than a decade, they say, the FBI's experiences with IT have been plagued by budget overruns, slipped deadlines and devastating critiques from outside auditors.

   Trilogy

   A massive FBI technology upgrade called Trilogy is designed to usher the bureau into the 21st century. The push, which has been in the planning stages since the mid-1990s, specifies that FBI employees will receive new hardware, better software and speedier communication links. A Web-based portion called the Virtual Case File is designed to provide access to more commercial and internal government databases, along with one easy-to-use search engine for all FBI files in the system.

   But internal Justice Department reports show that Congress was worried about giving the FBI a blank check because of the bureau's "lack of credibility," after projects like the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System and the National Crime Information Center were completed millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. "The FBI's inability to effectively complete IT projects within budget and schedule reduced the FBI's credibility in the eyes of Congress," a December 2002 audit from the Justice Department's inspector general said. "The lack of credibility contributed to delays in the FBI receiving congressional funding to upgrade its IT infrastructure."

   In November 2000, Congress wrote a check for $100.7 million to pay for the first year of the $379.8 million Trilogy project. in January 2002, responding to the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress handed over the remainder and an extra $78 million to speed things up. Other portions of the FBI's budget also jumped after the attacks. The FBI's budget had gradually grown from $680.7 million in 1981 to $1.79 billion in 1991 to $3.4 billion in 2001. Immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, though, it leaped to $4.49 billion for the federal government's 2002 fiscal year.

   Post 9/11

   One big change at the FBI took place on Sept. 5, 2001, when Robert Mueller succeeded Freeh as the sixth director of the largest federal police agency. Through his work as the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco, Mueller had gained a reputation as being more tech-savvy. "Every FBI manager--indeed, every agent--needs to be computer-literate," Mueller said at his Senate confirmation hearing. "Not a computer programmer--but aware of what computers can and cannot do to assist them with their jobs."

   But even Mueller and the influx of cash hasn't seemed to help the FBI fix its IT problems. A September 2003 report from Congress' auditing arm said "the FBI has yet to develop (a master IT architecture plan), and it does not have the requisite means in place to effectively develop, maintain and implement one. The state of the bureau's architecture efforts is attributable to the level of management priority and commitment that the bureau has assigned to this effort."

   Trilogy's deadlines kept slipping, the General Accounting Office (GAO) noted, and the FBI did not meet its July 2002 deadline. The GAO gave the FBI a 1-out-of-5 rating, with 5 being highest. The FBI, the auditors concluded, had failed to appoint a chief information architect, create a master IT plan and establish an "architecture-steering committee"--all of which are required to achieve even a modest rating of 2 out of 5. Now, the FBI is racing to meet a revised April 30 deadline for upgrading its antique computers. The portion of Trilogy that dealt with upgrading networks was finally finished in March 2003, but the Virtual Case File software currently in development has been repeatedly delayed.

   Excerpts are from: "Critics: Management, not IT money, is FBI problem"By Declan McCullagh, CNET News.com, Published on ZDNet News: April 14, 2004, 2:37 PM PT

2. Please answer all parts of this question. Clearly state and explain all assumptions. Appended on the following page is the introduction section of a proposed research project that you are planning to conduct. Based on this proposal, your assignment is to answer the following questions:
   1. State or define the problem under investigation… 10%.
   2. Specify all concepts and explain why you consider them to be a dependent variable, independent variable(s), intervening variable(s), and moderating variable(s)… 20%.
   3. Based on the answers above, now develop a complete theoretical framework and draw a schematic diagram. Provide a brief rationale for any relationships you may establish in your model… 10%.
   4. Develop four testable hypotheses and state each, both in the null and in the alternate forms... 20%.
   5. How would you establish the "scientific" quality of this research? … 10%.
   6. Would this be basic or applied research? Briefly state how, or under what circumstances, this very same research could become the opposite of whatever your answer is… 10%.
   7. Which research design would you use? Be sure to clearly explain your reasoning… 20%.

   PROPOSED RESEARCH STUDIES USER ACCEPTANCE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

   Understanding why people accept or reject computers has proven to be one of the most challenging issues in information systems (IS) research. Researchers and practitioners alike are working on finding some way to predict and explain future user behavior from simple measures taken after a very brief period of interaction with a system. Researchers have posited that two particular user-related beliefs, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are key determinants of attitude towards using a system, which in turn influences actual system use. Perceived usefulness is defined as the "prospective user's subjective probability that using a specific application system will increase his or her job performance within an organizational context." Perceived ease of use refers to "the degree to which the prospective user expects the target system to be free of effort."

   Studies have also found evidence to show that people's actual system use can be predicted reasonably well from their behavioral intentions (to use the system) and that perceived usefulness is also a major determinant of people's intention to use the system. In fact, there is empirical evidence to show that attitudes (towards computer use) mediate the effects of beliefs on intentions. In other words, attitudes towards use influences people's behavioral intention to use the system, which in turn impacts actual system use, in that causal sequence. It has also been found that perceived ease of use is a significant secondary determinant of people's intentions to use systems. Finally, IS researchers have also reported that any other external variables that influence user behavior do so indirectly by influencing perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. [This description is based on published research works including Davis et al. (1989), Davis (1989), and Vishwanath & Davis (1996).] The description has been designed as an exercise and is the authors' interpretation of the cited works.

   References:

   Davis, F.D., Bagozzi, R.P. and Warshaw, P.R. (1989). "User Acceptance of Computer Technology: A Comparison of Two Theoretical Models," Management Science, 35:8 (August), pp. 982-1003.

   Davis, F.D. (1989). "Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology," MIS Quarterly, 13:3, pp. 319-341. Vishwanath, V. and Davis, F.D. (1996). "A Model of the Antecedents of Perceived Ease of Use: Development and Test," Decision Sciences, 27:3, pp. 451-481.

ISQA 8110 - MODERN SOFTWARE DESIGN

• This course was not included on this administration of the comprehensive exam.

ISQA 8210 - SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGEMENT & ISQA 8220 - SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN (take home portion)

• Suppose that you have just been hired as a project manager at ApparelCo, a large apparel manufacturing firm that has been in business for decades. ApparelCo has many large-scale and complex information systems using both newer technologies and languages (such as .NET and Java) and more established platforms (such as AS400 mainframes and RPG). These systems are developed and maintained by a large department of in-house information systems professionals. For decades, the IS department has been using a structured systems development method that relies heavily on control, documentation, user sign-off, carefully specified processes and deliverables, and classic techniques of data flow diagramming and entity-relationship modeling.

  Studies have suggested that agile methods can outperform traditional methods of software development, particularly if the agile methods used are combined and tailored to organizational needs (Source: http://tur-www1.massey.ac.nz/~hryu/IFIPagile%20final%20draft.pdf). Your CIO is now re-thinking the current software development methods. He is considering introducing one (or more) agile development methods, but has some concerns about how to go about doing so. After all, there are sure to be training costs involved and the CIO is unsure how this would affect the well-established software project management processes at ApparelCo.

  There is one more complication to the idea of moving toward a more agile software development method. Over the past few years, more and more of the developers are telecommuting either part-time or full-time. Some IS employees at Apparel have had to relocate for various reasons. Rather than losing a good employee, ApparelCo has allowed these employees to work virtually. Many IS employees that work in the corporate office have also begun experimenting with telecommuting one to three days a week. Currently, about 20% of employees telecommute either part-time or full-time. This number is expected to increase in the future.

  Write your take-home paper as a report to the company's CIO. At a minimum, the report should include:

  1. A description of the agile software development method(s) that you feel would be most suited to this organization and how it differs from your current structured systems development approach. Justify your choice of agile method(s). Consider both the history of the firm described above as well as the fact some employees work virtually. Make whatever assumptions you need to make, but be sure to clearly state those assumptions in your paper.
  2. Five advantages and five disadvantages of moving to an agile software development method for your organization. Be sure your discussion of the advantages and disadvantages takes into account the nature of the organization and the likely context of systems to be developed. Again, make whatever assumptions you need to, but make clear what they are.
  3. Three implications for the project management process when moving from a structured method to an agile method.
  4. A recommendation as to whether the firm should adopt agile methods given the context of the firm.

ISQA 8310 - DATA COMMUNICATIONS

1. The Domain Name System (DNS) is an important component of the TCP/IP architecture. Answer the following questions about DNS.
   1. What is the purpose of DNS? Why is it needed?
   2. Give some examples of domain names within organizations. Identify the components (levels) of a domain name. What do the different levels signify? Why do some domain names have more levels than others?
   3. Organizations may choose different DNS server architectures based on organization size, structure, and other contextual factors. Some organizations, for example, use only a single DNS server. Others may use multiple servers. Explain why this is the case. On what bases do organizations make this type of decision?
   4. Discuss the process of name resolution using DNS. Provide examples. Distinguish between iterative resolution and recursive resolution.
   5. What is DNS caching? DNS replication? Why are they used?
   6. DNS uses several different types of records. First, describe the contents of a basic DNS record (i.e., the data elements). Second, explain what is meant by each of the following DNS record types: type-A record, MX record, and CNAME record. Give examples of each type.
2. You have been asked to create a distributed environment that would support a home-based call center operation. You will have 100-150 operators working from their homes across the U.S. The purpose is to take advantage of time zones as well as communications. Each operator will have a PC and a high-speed line (you specify the capacity) in their homes. They will have to access customer and product information located at your headquarters in Omaha, NE. You need to design the network that would support the allocation of calls to theses individuals and support their access to the systems. Please explain the elements that would have to be in place to make this environment functional, including: application location, synchronization, fault tolerance, speed and type of connections,… etc.

ISQA 8380 - MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

1. There are several forms web services. One is the more structured web service the uses a WSDL and often uses SOAP as a form messaging protocol between service provider and service requester. A second form of web service this is gaining in popularity is a REST based web service. Explain, using diagrams how each of these web services transport information between a service requester and a service consumer during a transaction. Contrast each type of service. Where are they used the most today? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these two types of web services?

2. National Financial Services is a leading financial services company that provides banking and brokerage services for their customers The Company is experiencing low customer satisfaction and are beginning to loose more customers than they are gaining. Part of the problem has been traced back to call center interactions with customers and the many web sites for each of their financial offerings. Today, if a customer is a banking customer, they must sign up at a separate web site to do brokerage services with National. When a customer calls the call center, they must tell the call center what accounts they have before they can get help. There is no single customer database of all their customers and their interactions with the company. The call center representative must then go into different systems to solve the customer problem. Senior management believes they will continue to lose customers if they do not implement some level of integration between the financial administrative systems in the company and external systems that also are used to help then sell and service, Banking, Brokerage and Insurance Services. They also want to move from several different websites to one financial services website. The existing systems of the company and the external systems that are used to do business are listed below. You are part of a systems integration team to create a single customer information system of all relevant customer information of all the customers of the Bank, Broker and Insurance products. This needs to feed in near real time from the web and call center to maintain key transactions of the customer. They also need to integrate these systems into a single web presence for the company that can be used as a single customer service web site and by call center staff to quickly identify customers and answer most of their questions from the consolidated application.

   Here are the existing systems you need to integrate with the new customer system you are creating as a part this integration effort:

   Inside the company:

   1. The banking system that you need to integrate with runs on an AS400 minicomputer and outside systems can communicate to it though a set of industry standard web services. You can also communicate to the banking system via MQ series.
   2. The brokerage system is running on a mainframe computer can you can integrate with it by using MQ Services Messaging.
   3. The current web applications are written in Java and running in Jboss on Linux servers. It uses an Oracle database.
   4. Email services will be provided by a Microsoft Exchange server.
   5. LDAP services is provides by Microsoft Active Directory.
   6. The rule engine is written in Java and is running on a Linux server and uses a MySQL database. Your application can communicate to the run engine via web services.

   Outside the company:

   1. A partner insurance company uses an insurance administrative system that is used to issue the policy is written in COBOl and runs on an IBM mainframe computer. It access data stored in VSAM files and has a 3270 interface.
   2. The credit bureau is a java based application and runs on a IBM AIX UNIX server with an Oracle database. It is external to the company and can be accessed via a secure web service.
   3. The motor vehicle report clearinghouse is also external to the company and can be reached via MQ series messaging. The clearinghouse is running on an IBM AS400 and uses a DB2 database.
   4. The partner credit card company provides a secure web service which uses SSL encryption for the transactions.

   Draw a diagram of how you would integrate these systems and accomplish the goals described above. This should include how this new approach to accessing information from the web or in the call center data and keeping the customer information up to date within seconds of a transaction. Don't forget about security. Be sure to show all firewalls needed to protect data for this system. Show the high level integration protocols on the arrows such as "web service" "odbc sql" etc…Describe how data moves from one system to another in a paragraph and defend your approach.

ISQA 8410 - DATABASE MANAGEMENT

1. MAPLight.org

   In this election season, record amounts of money are being contributed to the candidates. To make the role of money in the democratic processes more transparent, you are to design the database for a website that will track contributions by various contributors to legislators. Each legislator is elected to a particular house (House of Representatives or Senate) in a particular year. The legislator has a party affiliation (Democrat, Republican, Independent, etc.) and is elected from a particular state and district. The name and e-mail for the legislator is also to be stored. A legislator receives contributions. Each contribution is made on a specific date in a paricular amount, usually $100-1000. The database is to record this contribution information, as well as the name of the contributor. Contributors are classified into interest groups (e.g. 'retired', 'physician', 'defense contractor', 'environmentalist'). Each contributor is classified into a single interest group.

   An interest group may have a position (support, oppose) on a particular bill. A bill is a piece of proposed legislation. It has a unique identifying number (e.g. H.R. 2206) and an official title (e.g. 'U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Act, 2007). A bill is sponsored by one or more legislators, has a date on which it is introduced, and has a current status (e.g. 'The bill has become law', 'a veto override was attempted', etc.).

   Each bill is subject to one or more actions. Examples of actions are: 'Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 261', 'The previous question was considered pursuant to this rule', 'Considered as unfinished business', 'vote', etc. Each action takes place on a specific day. A vote is a special kind of action. A vote takes place on a particular day, and legislator's may cast their individual votes. A legislator may have a vote of 'yes', 'no', 'abstain', or may not vote at all. Based on a tally of the individual votes, the vote may have a result of 'passed', 'not passed'.

   1. Create a conceptual or logical data model for this scenario. Please feel free to make (and write down) any assumptions that do not contradict the text above.
   2. Design a set of appropriately normalized relations (tables) that is consistent with your data model. Choose one primary key that you created, and explain why your choice is a good one.
   3. Based on your tables, formulate SQL queries that will do the following:
      1. List all of the contributions to John McCain during 2007. Show the name of the contributor, the contribution date, and the contribution amount.
      2. For Barack Obama, list the total contributes broken down by interest group.
      3. Create a view that lists the legislators who have received more than $1,000,000 from a particular interest group. The view should show the name of the legislator and the interest group, and the aggregate amount contributed by that group.
      4. Create the CONTRIBUTION table. Include any appropriate constraints.
      5. List all legislators and their vote on H.R. 2206. Include those legislators who did not cast any vote.
2. XML

   Compare and contrast XML and the relational model as models of data storage. Identify the assumptions they make about the data, explain the terminology used, and list some properties of the underlying structure (e.g. what properties must a relational table have to conform to the relational model?). What questions would you ask about data to determine whether the data is best stored in a relational structure or an XML structure?

ISQA 8420 - MANAGING THE IS FUNCTION

1. Your firm has fallen on hard times. As a result there have been several competitors who have approached your firm's management about a merger or a buy out.

   The president of your firm has asked that you develop a list of questions that a potential acquiring firm might ask about the IS function with a reason for each question. He asks you to target these questions at the CIO of the potential acquiring firm.

   You are to respond to the president's request.

2. Recent events in your area have highlighted the need to review the disaster recovery plan for your company. Your firm validates and processes medical claims for several insurance carriers. The doctor/patient submits the bill to your firm where it is review by a para-professional to determine if the charges meet the guidelines implemented by the insurance carrier.

   You are preparing a briefing for the management group concerning your disaster recovery plan. List the issues would you include in your briefing and the reason for including each issue.

ISQA 8810 - IT PROJECT FUNDAMENTALS

• This course was not included on this administration of the comprehensive exam.