ISQA 8060 - RESEARCH IN MIS

1. For the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) presentation below, 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). 10%
   3. Based on the answers above, develop a schematic diagram. 15%
   4. Develop five testable hypotheses and state each in the null and in the alternate form. 10%
   5. How would you establish the scientific quality of this research? 20%
   6. Would the research be basic or applied? Why? 10%
   7. Explain your research design decisions. 25%

   ETC

   In the 1990s, a task force was formed among executives of seven regional transportation agencies in the New York-New Jersey area. The mission of the task force was to implement an electronic toll collection (ETC) for the inter-regional roadways of the area. Electronic toll collection is accomplished by providing commuters with small transceivers (tags) that emit a tuned radio signal. Receivers placed at toll booths are able to receive the radio signal and identify the commuter associated with the particular signal. Commuters establish ETC accounts that are debited for each use of a toll road or facility, thus eliminating the need for the commuter to pay by cash or token. Because the radio signal can be read from a car in motion, ETC can reduce traffic jams at toll plazas by allowing tag holders to pass through at moderate speeds. The task force decided that customer demand impacted customer use and then customer use impacted successful implementation of an ETC. Service charge, price of the tag, and number of lanes available for use of the tag were each thought to be related to customer demand.

   The task force decided to implement ETC on a limited basis and to hire you to study the success of the implementation.

2. You have been asked to develop an appropriate research proposal and design for a new LastDance Health Care database system. Answer the following questions:
   1. Explain the management problem? 10%
   2. Present an outline of a research proposal that you would submit to LastDance. Explain each section of the outline. 45%
   3. Thoroughly discuss the research design decisions you would make. 45%

   LastDance Health Care Database System

   Senior citizens have different health care needs than the rest of the population. Today there are more seniors living in the United States than ever before. As baby boomers grow older, it is anticipated that the baby boomer generation will have higher standards of quality in healthcare and higher customer service expectations than previous generations. LastDance is a managed care provider in the North Central region of the country. LastDance managers want to be prepared for any changes in expectations so that they can increase their customer service levels and retain their image as a top-quality managed care provider. LastDance is interested in designing a database to track health care delivery and service expectations of consumers 55 and older. They also want to compare the expectations of consumers age 55-64 with those of consumers age 65 and older. LastDance has hired you to design and implement the database. But they do not know exactly what information they need to have in the database. In the database LastDance wants information stored on the changing health care delivery and service expectations of consumers 55 and older. They have given you some examples of these expectations, but LastDance does not know what all the consumer expectations are. Some examples of consumer expectations are:

   1. What is the acceptable length of time to be spent in a waiting room at a doctor's clinic?
   2. What is the expectation regarding the ability to select a primary care doctor, rather than having one assigned?
   3. What is the expected background of a primary care doctor?
   4. What is the acceptable length of time to wait for an appointment to see a doctor?

   In order for you to design the database, you first must conduct a study to determine the health care delivery and service expectations of consumers 55 and older. The four expectations listed above are a good start. You need to develop a more thorough list. So you have decided to submit a research proposal to LastDance to determine the health care delivery and service expectations of consumers 55 and older.

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

2. Describe in detail the concepts of cohesion and coupling and the effects of each in designing computer programs. Be sure to include examples of each type of cohesion and coupling so that the reader will understand exactly what each is.

• The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has become enormously popular as a modeling language for representing information systems. Similarly, the Unified Process (UP) has also achieved widespread popularity as a system development methodology. Indeed, some textbook authors say there is absolutely no reason to teach anything else these days. As a critical observer and student of system development, you need to be aware of new trends at the same time that you know the proven best practices from the past.

  Assume that you work for a Fortune 500 company, as the person in charge of keeping the CIO up to date on leading-edge trends in systems development and project management. Your CIO has charged you with writing a white paper about what is happening on the frontier of systems development and IS project management techniques, and to make some recommendations on what needs to be retained and what the company needs to change.

  Your company is similar to most large companies these days, in that they have a very complex mix of systems in place and in various stages of development, including traditional transaction processing systems, ERP, CRM, EDI, decision support, knowledge management, e-commerce, intranet, etc. You name it, they've got it. As you might imagine, integration is a major issue. The company also uses a variety of development methods, including rapid prototyping, structured methods, object programming (in some projects, but not widespread), and packaged (COTS) software. The company has a strong commitment to standards and professionalism as well.

  Write your take-home paper as a report to your company's CIO. Your report should consist of the following parts:

  1. Discussion of leading-edge methods and techniques for systems development and project management. Start by describing the leading-edge methods and techniques, then discuss their advantages and potential for benefit to the organization, and finally their limitations or potential drawbacks.
  2. Discussion of the criteria for choosing a new method or technique. This section should include a list of criteria that should be used for deciding whether a new technique or method should be introduced. Briefly discuss and justify each criterion.
  3. Presentation of plan for adopting three specific new methods or techniques and how they should be phased in. This part should specify which three new techniques or methods you are recommending and then describe a detailed plan for how to go about introducing them into the IS development group in an effective way.

  Remember to use summary tables where appropriate, in order to make your paper more readable.

1. 1. Designers of modern data communications systems are implementing new technologies and tools to upgrade their networks. Discuss the following data communications applications:
      1. Coping with Rapid Changes in Data Communications Technologies. How are IT managers able to incorporate new Data Communications hardware, software, and interface technologies into their work applications?
      2. Interacting with Groups of Internet-based Systems. How are IT managers able to interact with the Internet-based systems to improve their efficiency and productivity?
      3. Measuring Service Quality of Data Communication Systems. How can IT managers measure service quality of data communication systems?

   2. Explain how the above applications are used to enhance transition of voice and data through modern networks. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each in optimizing secure electronic transmissions?

2. Internet Protocol (IP) plays a central role in forwarding packets to destination hosts on the Internet. To accomplish this goal a number of IP mechanisms are used. Among these are the addressing scheme used by IP, "best effort" delivery, and datagram routing.
   1. Explain the addressing scheme used by IP. In particular, explain:
      1. class-based addressing
      2. classless addressing (why is this used, advantages?) Give an example of classless addressing that illustrates its advantages over class-based addressing.

   2. IP uses what is described as "best effort" delivery of datagrams. Explain what "best effort" means. How does IP rely on ICMP to promote "best effort" delivery of datagrams? Give examples.

   3. Explain the process of datagram routing. That is, what occurs when a datagram arrives at a router? Discuss not only the steps of determining the next hop, but also what must occur in order for the datagram to actually be sent to the next hop (i.e., on a specific type of network hardware).

ISQA 8380 - MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

1. XML has emerged as a very important concept in recent years, with a rather wide spectrum of uses. Provide a tutorial-like discussion of XML, including some definitions, a discussion of the kinds of problems XML may help solve, some current uses of XML, related technologies and standards, and some challenges presented by the use of XML.

2. There are many kinds of middleware that can contribute to an E-Commerce implementation. Suggest an architecture for a basic electronic commerce site for a small enterprise. Identify all of the middleware components in your architecture and outline some of the alternatives available for the function provided by each component, discussing their pros and cons.

1. Norges Skiforbund is the Norwegian Ski Association. To promote skiing among children (0-12 years old), the Association would like to set up a web site where children can log their ski mileage and earn awards for themselves and participate in friendly competition among organizations they are involved in, such as schools and clubs. To participate, a child must be registered on the web site. The log-on name will be an e-mail address, and the (system generated) password is sent to that e-mail address at which point it can be used to log in. The following data are collected during registration: first name, last name, date of birth, address (street, city, state, zipcode), and gender. The child can be associated with one school and one club, each of which have a name and are located in a particular city and state. Based on the student's date of birth, the system places them in an age group. Each age group has a minimum age and a maximum age as well as a name. To earn awards, children ski and log their kilometers. A single log entry specifies the type of ski trip (cross-country, downhill, ski-jump), the date, a description (e.g. location or event), and the number of kilometers. Members are on the honor system for logging kilometers. How many kilometers they must ski to earn particular awards depends on the age group. Thus, children in the 11-12 ('Pacers') age group must ski 100 km for a bronze award, 200 km for a silver, and 300 km for a gold. Children in the 5-6 age group ('Striders') need only ski 25 km for a bronze, 50 km for a silver, and 75 km for a gold. The database must store how many kilometers are required for each award for each age group. When a child earns a particular award, the database stores the date on which the child earned the award. The awards are given on a season-by-season basis. Thus, a child could earn a silver award this year and a bronze next year, but only one of each type per season.

   Since both schools and clubs are associated with individual cities, it is possible to generate statistics such as: the total number of km skied, by school; for each city, the average number of km skied by a child, etc.

   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.
   3. Based on your tables, formulate SQL queries that will do the following:
      1. Create the CHILD table, with appropriate constraints. Make common-sense assumptions regarding the data types.
      2. List all the ski trips taken for a particular child. The output should list the date, description, type, and kilometers of the trip as well as the child's full name.
      3. List the total number of kilometers skied during the current season for a particular child.
      4. List the total number of kilometers skied, by school, for all schools in the city of Kristiansand with more than 200 total kilometers.
      5. Create a view showing for each club, the total number of kilometers skied and the total number of children contributing to that total.

2. What is a transaction, and what role does it play in the life of a database? Define the ACID properties of transactions, and discuss the mechanisms a DBMS might use to preserve them.

1. You are the CIO of a medium-sized manufacturing company that sells directly to the consumer. You are attending the annual strategic planning retreat with the other senior managers of the company. In one of the sessions, a discussion of outsourcing came up. You have been asked to present your evaluation about outsourcing the information systems functions of the company.

   You are to take a position-outsource or insource-and justify your position.

2. One of the strategic directions of your firm is to grow by acquisition. Several of the firms in your industry segment have implemented ERP while your firm has not made a decision on this issue.

   What factors should you consider in making the decision to implement ERP or to stay with other systems?

1. Define the role of a project manger from project initiation through project closure. Explain how this role is different from a functional management role?

2. Integration management is one of the lightly discussed knowledge areas. Describe how each of the other 8 knowledge areas is related to integration management and how the products of the other knowledge areas assist the project manager in integration management or add to his burden. Be sure to begin your discussion with a definition of what integration management is.