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 role of structured programming in Object-Oriented programming. Be sure to address Class development, Wrapper development, testing, and long term maintenance.

2. Describe in detail the Interaction Diagram (also called the Message-Trace diagram). Describe the use and applicability of this diagram in Analysis, Design, Coding, Testing, and long term maintenance.

• Your consulting company does a lot of work in the healthcare industry. In the past few years, the idea of electronic medical records (EMR) has become increasingly popular. EMR software enables a patient's medical history, medical diagnoses, prescriptions, x-rays, medical tests, and insurance information to be stored electronically. When a patient visits a new doctor, the information can be shared electronically rather than via fax and mail. This should lower costs for the healthcare industry and increase the quality of patient care. This has the potential to be a very lucrative with both Google (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23391425/) and Microsoft (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21133769/) developing different products in this domain.

  Your consulting company has been contracted by NebMed, an organization that owns multiple hospitals and medical clinics in Nebraska. They would like your company to develop middleware that will enable the information currently stored in NebMed's information systems to be integrated with the EMR software. In addition, this software would need to be able to receive input from other doctor offices and hospitals that may use different EMR software and convert to the system adopted by NebMed. If you are awarded the contract, your company would be responsible for the complete development of the middleware, all the way from requirements analysis through design to implementation and post-implementation follow-up.

  At this point, NebMed has not decided what EMR software they will use. They are considering Microsoft's HealthVault, Google Health, and other EMR software. They do want to make sure that they have a flexible middleware that will allow them to convert data for any system with only minor modifications. In their bid solicitation, NebMed provided the following over-arching objectives for the system to be developed:

  • The system will function as the central point for integrating data from the current NebMed systems as well as from the EMR software.
  • Different hospital systems, doctor offices, and insurance companies will be providing input for the middleware, e.g., insurance companies might provide input on the payment policies for certain medical procedures, local pharmacies may provide information on the prescriptions the patient has had filled as well as any potential drug interactions.
  • The middleware must be available for real-time updates of medical information, so that anyone who needs it may have a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of the patient's medical history.
  • The middleware must be seamlessly integrated with NebMed's current and future software as well as other systems. Day-to-day users should never really be aware that this middleware is working behind the scenes.
  • The system must be HIPPA compliant and secure to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of sensitive medical information.

  A key consideration is that there will be a need for your consulting agency to interview and speak with a variety of people in the healthcare domain that have knowledge about medical records, but not necessarily technology. You have been told that the project team will have complete access to anyone that needs to provide input, but it is not clear at the moment who will take responsibility for making the tough choices on the final requirements for the system.

  Exam Question:

  Write an evaluation for your boss to determine whether you should bid on this proposal. Identify the ambiguities and omissions in this proposal and the means that may be applied to overcome these deficiencies. You need to use understandable language while communicating technical concerns and solutions.

  Use summary tables or figures where appropriate, in order to make your paper more readable. Be as specific as possible in your recommendation and discussion. That is, use and apply the details of the scenario and be clear in justifying your choices in relation to the scenario, rather than just providing generic discussion. If you need to make assumptions in writing your answer, be sure that you specify your assumptions clearly. Structure your report according to the following outline and provide a thorough discussion of each point.

  1. Introduction - This section should provide an overview of your recommendation.
  2. Analysis of the Situation - This section should provide a careful analysis of the situation in terms of the elements that must be considered when bidding on this proposal. This section is also where you make explicit any assumptions you made about the situation.
  3. Systems Development Methodology - This section should describe the system development method, or combination of methods, that your company might employ for this particular project to offset the identified deficiencies.
  4. Justification for Chosen Methodology - This section should justify why you have chosen the specific method or combination of methods. Include a discussion of the potential risks of your choice(s) and how you might mitigate those risks. Name at least four risks for this scenario.
  5. Critical Project Management Requirements - This section should discuss the key project management issues for this project and what must be done to ensure the success of this project, if undertaken. Discuss at least four project management issues for this scenario.
  6. Conclusion - This section should integrate the discussion and summarize your recommendation.
  7. References - Cite all references that you used in developing your recommendation.

1. One type of network in use today is ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode). ATM was created by the phone company to provide an infrastructure capable of providing a variety of services (i.e. data, video, etc. -not just traditional voice services). Answer the following questions regarding ATM networks:
   1. Why was ATM developed? What problems were the phone company facing that lead to the development of ATM? How did the design characteristics solve the need for which ATM was developed?
   2. Describe the ATM technology. What basic network topology does ATM use? What is a virtual path identifier/virtual channel identifier (VPI/VCI)? What is a switched virtual circuit (SVC)? What is a permanent virtual circuit (PVC)?
   3. Using a switched virtual circuit as an example, how does ATM use a VPI/VCI to send a packet (ATM cell) from a sending host computer to receiving host computer? Assume, in your answer, that the cell is sent across multiple ATM switches (e.g., 3 switches) in its path to the receiving host. Explain the entire process, at each step of the way, from beginning to end.
   4. Explain the criticisms of ATM networks and describe the advantages of ATM networks.

2. Welcome to I've Bean There Coffee Emporium. This is a shop that orders coffee beans from all over the world, roasts them and sells them through their 10 shops that are located through out the United States. I've Bean There Coffee Emporium keeps a full inventory of beams at each store and roasts their beans locally to ensure freshness. The over arching goal of the business is to deliver to their customers the best beans, fresh from the roaster. Now they want to expand to more markets and have decided on a two-phased approach:
   1. hey plan on adding five new shops in cities where they are not currently located (with more to follow).
   2. They want to develop a web presence to show what they have available and to market beans. The desire here is to fulfill the order for the beans from the store that is closest to the place they will be shipped in order to ensure freshness and limit shipping costs.

   You have been hired as a consultant to establish a distributed environment that will be able to support the expansion objectives mentioned above as well as manage the inventory of beans for each store.

ISQA 8380 - MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

1. Integrating data and transactions between different systems can sometimes involve user interface middleware. This middleware is sometimes referred as "screen scraping middleware." It has been used for years to integrate with legacy systems and has received a new life by being used to integrate with third party web applications. Explain how user interface middleware works to integrate with a legacy application to turn transactions done on a screen into a web service. Also explain how user interface middleware works to integrate with third party web applications to turn transactions done in a browser into a web service. Explain how you would handle security using this method.

2. A bank has decided to partner with an insurance company to offer term life insurance policies. The bank will be a reseller of the insurance policies that are underwritten by the life insurance company. The insurance company will provide a customizable web site for the bank to use as a part of their internet banking site, their branch offices and in the bank call center. The bank web application is written in Java and is running on a Jboss server. It also uses an Oracle database. The insurance web site is then linked to the following systems to underwrite and process the life insurance.
   1. Credit Bureau to check the credit of the life insurance applicant.
   2. Medical Information Bureau to check past health records (permission must be given by the application before this can be done).
   3. State motor vehicle report clearinghouse to check the driving record of the applicant (again, permission must be given before this can be done).
   4. Email system to send emails updating the applicant on the status of the loan and insurance policy.
   5. An integration with the above bank if the applicant elects to pay for the insurance by having the money be deducted from a checking account (payroll deduction option).
   6. Credit card company integration if the applicant elects to pay for the life insurance by credit card.
   7. Rule engine to help decide if the insurance policy should be issued and at what price.

   You are on the project team to develop this offering as a partnership of the bank and the insurance company. You will need to explain how you will the 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 web application is written in Java and is running in Jboss on Linux servers. It uses an Oracle database.
   2. The 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.
   3. 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.
   4. 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.
   5. Email services will be provided by a Microsoft Exchange server.
   6. 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.
   7. The credit card company provides a secure web service which uses SSL encryption for the transactions
   8. 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.
   9. The insurance company uses Microsoft's Active Directory for it's LDAP directory.

   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. 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?

1. You are the CIO of a publicly traded company. This year the company has decided to include the Board of Directors in the annual strategic planning conference. .Several of the board members are fairly new and do not have a thorough understanding of the company.

   In a recent staff meeting, the CEO explained that to educate the Board members, he is planning to use a series of questions that he affectionately calls "frequently asked questions. For example, he says one for the most common questions he gets from new Board members is who are our competitors.

   The CEO asks each of you as senior staff members to follow a similar format in the presentation that each of you will make to the board.

   You have been allotted 30 minutes for your presentation and the CEO has asked to see the questions you plan to present together with a justification of why you chose this question. He also asked that you help him understand better the IS function by including several key points that you will make under each question.

   You are to prepare the questions, justification, and key points detailed in the preceding paragraph.

2. You are the Information Systems Director for a medium manufacturing company. There are 100 persons in your IS organization and recently you have returned to centralized processing for the dispersed locations of the company.

   In order to grow, your company is considering purchasing another manufacturing firm that is in your same industry segment and is about the same size as your firm. There IS staff is smaller than yours and they have outsourced some of their IS functions. You have been selected to be a member of the due diligence team charged with assessing the utility of acquiring the other company and in determining a fair price to pay for the company.

   The due diligence team leader has requested that you and each member of the team develop questions you would ask the company you are considering acquiring. He has also asked that you justify or explain why you need answers to the questions you propose.

• This former MS in MIS Core Requirements was not included on this exam.