BSAD 8020 / ISQA 8060 - RESEARCH IN MIS

1. Depict through a diagram and describe the cycle of the research process, from the time when a broad area of research interest is identified to the report and mangerial decision making based on the report.

2. Explain the basic scientific research design elements or perspectives. Include a discussion of types of investigations, types of purposes for a study, extent of researcher interference, types of study settings, types of units of analysis, and time horizon issues.

1. Define and describe structured programming; be sure to cite Djikstra. Compare and contrast the advantages of structured programming over unstructured programming from the design phase throughout the software life cycle until the retirement of the software.

2. Describe the Jacobson interaction diagram (called a message-trace diagram by Price). Describe its use in CRC Analysis, CRC Design, O-O coding, testing, and in software maintenance.

• Your company is considering the adoption of standards in its software development process. The company is a large insurance company that has been developing its applications in house for many years. The company has a wide variety of systems that require support, ranging from mainframe-based COBOL applications to web systems. The systems development organization has been using structured methods and techniques, following a generic life-cycle process. Many different tools are used within the systems development group, including modeling and drawing tools, programming environments, database management systems, and project management tools. The CIO feels that it is time to develop a set of standards that are both usable and comprehensive. The CIO has considered the IEEE standards for different aspects of software engineering and has asked you to write an executive briefing on this issue. Write your take-home paper as an executive briefing to your CIO, being sure to include a discussion of the following issues:
  1. Overview of IEEE standards that are relevant to software engineering and software project management.
  2. Alternatives to the IEEE standards.
  3. Advantages and disadvantages of adopting standards for systems development and project management, summarized in a table format.
  4. Recommendations for a process by which standards should be introduced and diffused throughout your software development organization.

1. The TCP/IP protocol stack represents a group of communication protocols designed to facilitate the transmission of data and information across the Internet. Describe the structure of the TCP/IP protocol stack. That is, described the ordering of layers within the stack. Next, describe the function of each layer. What is its primary role in transmitting data across the Internet? At what levels do TCP and IP reside? Describe in detail the key functions of TCP and IP. Also, describe the relationship of each layer in the TCP/IP stack to one another: on the sending host, and on the receiving host.

2. Modern datacommunications systems are implementing new technologies and tools to upgrade their networks. Discuss the following technology applications in transmitting voice and data through modern communications systems:
   1. Web Channels in E-commerce for Multimedia Interworking Applications.
   2. Communications Management Tools for Data Communication Networks.
   3. Ultra High Density Data Storage Applications in modern Data Communication Systems.

   Explain how these technologies and tools are used to transmit voice and data through modern networks. What are the advantages, or disadvantages, of each one of these technologies and tools in optimizing securing electronic transmissions?

1. The concept of a transaction lies at the heart of many business processes and applications. Begin by defining what a transaction is, and why it is so significant a concept, both in the business world and in the computing world. Then, consider a large-scale electronic commerce site of a sporting-goods chain. A customer purchase involves the customers' browsing a web site, making selections, and placing an order. On the back-end, processing this order involves making updates to a master customer-order database, packing and shipping the products with a corresponding update to an inventory database located at a product warehouse, and notifying the customer via e-mail of the order's status. Identify the transaction management issues that would have to be solved in such a distributed environment, including, but not limited to, the nature of a transaction in this context and the ACID properties. How might each of these issues be solved? Discuss the technological alternatives (plural) available today that might be brought to bear on this problem, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, and any other issues that might be relevant to a systems architect.

2. A great variety of technologies exist today for enabling access to data in a distributed context: ODBC, JDBC, ADO, OLE DB, DRDA, message queuing, XML, SQL gateways. Yet these technologies are not equally well suited for all kinds of data access problems. Briefly describe each of these technologies, and identify the kinds of data access problems or scenarios for which each is appropriate. Your answer should make it clear to the reader when to use which technology.

1. A small city has recently created a symphony orchestra which aspires to great things. Consequently, the president of the board of trustees has hired you to design a database that would enable the symphony to manage its schedule with optimum efficiency. Having completed a rigorous database management course, you are exceptionally well prepared for this task… For the scenario presented below, do the following:
   1. Create a conceptual data model using E-R or UML notation.
   2. Create a relational schema based on your diagram.
   3. Provide SQL queries that will do the following:
      1. List all of the Soloists who have performed a composition by Verde.
      2. Create the COMPOSITION table.
      3. List the compositions that have been performed in more than one concert season.
      4. List the name of the ticket-holder who has had a season ticket the longest.

   A concert season consists of one or more concerts. Each concert season has a year designation (e.g. 2001-2002) and an opening date, which is unique among all concert seasons. In addition, each season has a theme (e.g. "Mainly Mozart"). Within each season, each concert is given a concert number (e.g. #1, #2, etc.) Each concert has one or more performances, each scheduled for a particular date and time. If a concert has more than one performance, the compositions, conductor, and soloists for each performance are identical. One or more compositions are performed at each concert. A given composition can be performed in more than one concert. Each composition has a name, a composition date (which may be null, or unknown), a composer, and a genre (e.g. vocal, orchestral, etc.). Each concert is conducted by one conductor, who has a name and a title. A conductor may conduct many concerts, or none at all. When a composition is performed during a concert, there may be one or more soloists performing the piece. Each soloist has a name and a voice (e.g. soprano, alto, tenor, bass). A soloist may perform several compositions during the same concert, or different concerts. Finally, the orchestra sells season tickets that include tickets to each concert within a particular concert season. Each season ticket has a row/seat, a section (balcony, center, right, left), and a cost. A ticket-holder has a name, address, telephone number, and year in which the individual first bought the season ticket. You may make reasonable assumptions to fill in gaps in the business rules presented here.

2. Discuss security from a DBMS-centric perspective. In this context, what do we mean by 'security'? What kinds of issues must be addressed in making a DBMS 'secure'? Discuss in depth the nature of these issues and the mechanisms available within a DBMS to address them. Also identify any security policy considerations that might be associated with each issue you discuss.

1. A project management system using earned value , generally referred to as the earned value system, is based on three fundamental metrics, which are simultaneously evaluated at a given point in time. Define these three metrics and explain the meaning of the metrics and how they are evaluated by the project manager.

2. Describe the development of a PERT schedule for a project, beginning with the requirements statement and ending with a completed schedule, including a risk analysis for the project's schedule.