ISQA 8060 - RESEARCH IN MIS

1. Please answer all parts of this question. Clearly state and explain all assumptions. Appended below is a proposed research project that you are planning to conduct. To further expand this proposal, you need to answer the following questions.
   1. Please describe the phenomenon that needs to be investigated and state what you think still needs to be known about this phenomenon?... 10%
   2. State or define the problem under investigation… 10%.
   3. What are the key concepts that need to be investigated in this study?... 20%.
   4. Based on the answers above, describe what concepts and relationships between these concepts you would use to investigate the research problem … 20%.
   5. Please design a research project to investigate the research problem. Be sure to clearly explain your research strategy, method(s), tools and techniques … 20%.
   6. Would this be qualitative or quantitative research? Briefly describe the deliverables of this research and how, or under what circumstances, this very same research could become the opposite of whatever your answer is… 20%.

   A fundamental change that is unfolding before us is the growth of the Internet and the opening up of opportunities for business. Drucker (1993) explains that the growth of e-commerce is to the Information Revolution what the new railroad was to the Industrial Revolution. In the mental geography of e-commerce distance has been eliminated; one economy, one market. Servon (2002) adds that while information technology has wrought fundamental changes throughout society, it benefits and hinders the progress of social and economic development. In addition to altering commerce, education, government, and communications, information and communication technology (ICT) affects the construction of and response to social problems such as poverty and inequality.

   The very existence of the "digital divide" - or lack of access to ICT to certain segments of the population - exacerbates inequalities (Servon, 2002). At the same time ICT can bring education to people, healthcare to disadvantaged communities, promote civic engagement and better management of natural resources. Norris (2001) provides us with a distinct view of the digital divides. She suggests that the digital divide is a multidimensional phenomenon that encompasses three distinct aspects. The global divide refers to the divergence of Internet access between industrialized and developing societies. The social divide refers to the gap between the information rich and information poor in each nation. Within the online community, the democratic divide signifies the difference between those who do and those who do not use digital resources to engage, mobilize, and participate in public life (Norris, 2001). While the digital divide is large, the gap is decreasing rapidly (Sciadas, 2004).

2. 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

1. Describe the inputs to, the outputs from, and the decisions made in the CRC Card design phase.

2. What is information hiding? What is its value (be sure to address all phases of the software life cycle)? Discuss how information hiding is implemented in a procedural language like C.

• Within the domain of software development, there have been many tools or techniques that have been touted as the solution to problems associated with software development. Object-oriented programming, CASE (Computer Aided Systems Engineering) tools, and agile programming methods are examples of widely hyped solutions for issues associated with software development. Today, simulation packages, such as iRise, are now considered one of the new tools that may improve upon the current software development process (see http://www.cio.com/article/print/28501).

  Assume that you work as a software project manager for a large health care organization that manages hospitals, HealthCo. HealthCo has a large number of legacy systems that maintain customer information and perform transaction processing that will eventually need to be upgraded. Your organization has recently worked on and is currently undertaking customer-facing web-based applications to be used by patients, doctors, and insurance companies. There is a large mix of applications, platforms, and technologies at your firm as well as a wide range of skills among project managers, software developments, and other members of the IS department.

  Write your take-home paper as if you are presenting a report to the company's chief information officer. This report should include:

  1. A discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of using simulations for software projects within this particular organization. This discussion should consider the nature of the organization and the likely context of systems to be developed. Include at least four advantages and four disadvantages. You may make any assumptions, but be specific in stating your assumptions.
  2. A description of at least two alternatives to the use of simulations for software projects. Explain why these are alternatives to simulation and how these two alternatives are better or worse than the use of simulations.
  3. A description of at least three criteria you would use to decide when simulation would be an appropriate choice for a given software development project at your organization.
  4. A proposal on whether or not your organization should use simulations. Include a discussion on how the use of simulations will affect the software development and project management process. Provide at least three potential issues that may arise (positive or negative) for software development and three issues for project management. Explain how you would address these issues.

1. Both the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) and Internet Model include the Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, and Application Layers. The OSI model also included the Presentation and Session Layers. In general, from the Network layer on up, the focus is on the transmission of blocks of data over the network and is designed to be independent of the network architecture. On the other hand, the lower layers are specific to the type of network and the hardware and wiring used. Referring specifically to the OSI model, the Data Link Layer can be further decomposed as in the IEEE 802 Reference Model into the Logical Link Control (LLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) sub-layers. With-in the LAN protocol architecture:
   1. Discuss why there are two sub-layers. Within your answer, list and provide a description of the functions of both the LLC and MAC sub-layers
   2. Draw a diagram of the MAC frame that identifies all of the frame format elements. Give a brief description of each of the elements.
   3. In addition to 2 above, further define the MAC address. Define not only what the MAC address is, but describe its function and how it works. How does the MAC address map to a higher layer address such as an IP address and how does the MAC address attach to the physical hardware?

2. It the area of data communication we have protocol stacks. Why do we need protocol stacks? The current architecture is TCP/IP. Please describe:
   • the evolution of the protocol stack,
   • the five layers,
   • what each layer does,
   • the PDU,
   • and the addressing associated w/ each layer.

ISQA 8380 - MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

1. Integrating data and transactions between different systems can sometimes involve a message broker (or enterprise service bus) and sometimes involves ETL tools (extract, transform and load tools). Compare and contrast the message broker and the ETL tool. When should you use a message broker to solve an integration problem and when to use an ETL tool. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of these tools?

2. A company has the idea of developing an automobile loan clearinghouse. The idea behind the loan clearinghouse is to pre-qualify potential loan customers with the clearinghouse system by checking credit, driving record, etc… Assuming these are acceptable, the data on the loan, the credit score and driving record data is sent to 6 different financial institutions to have them determine what rate and terms they would provide for the customer. The customer can then decide which institution they want to use to provide the loan. The clearinghouse is paid by the bank for bringing in the business and doing the pre-qualifying work. The applicant applies on line and provides all the information needed. They then receive an email thanking then for applying and notifying them of the results of the prequalification results. If they qualified for a loan, they are then submitted to the banks and their results are returned to the clearinghouse. Emails are then sent when the banks provide their proposed loan rates and terms. The customer logs on to the web site again to check on these rates and terms and then decides which bank they will choose. The clearinghouse notifies all banks of the decision and the customer receives a third email from the "winning" bank inviting them to their website on details of how the money will be transferred to their bank account. Behind the scenes, the online banking website sends the data in an XML format to several systems listed below:
   1. Credit Bureau to check the credit of the loan applicant.
   2. State motor vehicle report clearinghouse to check the driving record of the applicant.
   3. Email system to send emails updating the applicant on the status of the loan and insurance policy.
   4. The six banks that are partners with the loan clearinghouse.
   5. Rule engine to help decide if the loan should be granted and if the policy should be issued and at what price.

   You are on the project team to develop this new auto loan clearinghouse website. You will need to explain how you will build distributed system which integrates the systems described below and any additional software you will need to ensure that the system can handle all possible situations. The systems involved include:

   1. The clearinghouse processing system and customer/partner website is a UNIX system running on a SUN server. It is written in Java and runs in a BEA Weblogic application server.
   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. Email services will be provided by a Microsoft Exchange server.
   5. Three of the banks use web services to exchange transactions between the clearinghouse and the bank loan processing systems. The web services can all go through the internet using separate virtual private network (VPN) connections to the clearinghouse system.
   6. One bank that used an AS400 minicomputer required a dedicated line between the bank and the clearinghouse. It uses IBM MQ Series messaging for transaction interchange.
   7. Finally, two large banks also required dedicate lines sine their only approach to integration was to provide the clearinghouse with a 3270 dumb terminal interface. Both of these banking systems were running on IBM Mainframes and use VSAM files.

   Draw a diagram of how you would integrate these systems and accomplish the goals described above. 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.

1. Staples to Zimbabwe

   Under the inept leadership of Robert Mugabe, the economy of Zimbabwe has been destroyed. To support citizens still in the country, expatriates have established web sites that enable people to order products such as food, fuel, cable TV subscriptions, and phone cards which are picked up by recipients in neighboring South Africa. When an order is placed and payment confirmed, a voucher code is sent via text message to the mobile phone of the recipient. The recipient takes this code to a pick-up location and picks up the order.

   To use this online service, an individual must create an account. Creating an account involves providing a name, address, phone number (fixed line & cell numbers), date of birth, e-mail. In addition, the individual specifies a username and password. The account e-mail is validated by send to the e-mail address a web link which, when clicked, confirms the validity of the address. Once an account is created, the user browses the web site adding products to an order. There are but a few basic products: fuel, a food pack (consisting of a collection of different foods packed into a single box and treated as a single product), various cable TV subscriptions, and various telephone SIM cards. Each product has a name, unit price, description, and delivery time (in days). For each product ordered, the individual specifies the number of units desired and the system calculates the extended price (#units * unit price).

   As part of placing an order, the individual must specify a recipient in Zimbabwe. Specifying a mobile phone is mandatory (so that a text message can be sent with a voucher code and a pickup location). Also, the recipient name, address (4 address lines are possible), and e-mail are specified.

   In addition, when fuel is ordered, the individual must specify some official documentation identification, such as a passport number. The recipient must claim the fuel in person and show the correct documentation in addition to a valid voucher. The documentation type and number should be stored in the system. When a cable TV subscription is ordered, the individual must specify the name and current cable account number of the subscription holder.

   Finally, the system must track the voucher number and shipping status of the order.

   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 orders for the individual with account username pwolcott. The listing should show the order number, order date, order total, ship status.
      2. List the name and e-mail address of each individual who has ordered more than 500 liters of fuel on a single order.
      3. List the name and e-mail address of each individual who has ordered a TOTAL of more than 500 liters of fuel.
      4. Create an index on the e-mail column of the ACCOUNT table
      5. Create a view that shows each product and the total number of orders placed for that order and the total number of units.

2. Data Governance

   Many changes have taken place, both technical and non-technical, that impact the practice of data management. In particular, many businesses feel the need for improved data governance. What is data governance? What factors are heightening the need for good data governance? In formulating a data governance plan, what kinds of issues does an organization need to consider. Pick one of these issues and describe in some detail how this issue might be addressed.

1. Your company is a world-wide supplier of software for medical equipment used in hospitals and medical clinics. Growth over the past several years has been unusually good and has stretched the entire company to maintain the quality and responsiveness the customers have come to expect.

   As the CIO, your organization has implemented an ERP system, has a help desk service, and supports the "back-room" administrative functions of the firm. Recently, it has been hard to recruit qualified IS professionals to your firm.

   You have decided that it may be necessary to outsource all or part of the IS function. The decision has been made to prepare a request for proposal (RFP) and send it to three vendors that you feel could provide the support you need. You have also decided to have your deputy respond to the RFP in an "in-sourcing" approach.

   To ensure that you do an "apples-to-apples" comparison between the three vendors and your in-house response, you are tasked to develop a list of questions to be included in the RFP. These questions will also indicate whether you feel it appropriate to outsource all or part of the IS functions. Since the corporate lawyers, who are not computer literate, will have to review the questions, you need to provide justification for each question.

2. 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 and that you include a justification for each question.

   You are to respond to the president's request.

1. There are three life cycles that a Project Manager must be understand. What are the three life cycles and how are they interrelated?

2. Define the term Work Break Down Structure (WBS). What is the purpose of the WBS and during what life cycle phase of the project management life cycle is it created? The WBS can be used to perform many tasks, name three.