ISQA 8060 - RESEARCH IN MIS

1. 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 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.

2. Please answer all parts of this question. Clearly state and explain all assumptions. Appended is an extended abstract of a research project submitted by the Good Research Company, Incorporated to the President of PKI Corporation. It offers a good idea of how the research was done. Based on this you need to write a critique: (a) Discuss how 'good' or 'bad' the research is. (Hint: Include a discussion of the various components of a scientific inquiry such as problem definition, measures, sampling design, data collection methods, results of data analysis, inferences and conclusions, etc.) (b) Ideally, how would you as a researcher, do things differently so as to get rid of the 'bad' points, if any.
   EXTENDED ABSTRACT: THE MORALE OF IS EMPLOYEES
   THE PKI CORPORATION STUDY

   The PKI Corp. is a multi-million dollar company with 25 offices all over the U.S. It has over 5000 white collar workers and about 20,000 blue collar workers throughout the country. At the insistence of the President of the Company, Ms. Lynne Jones, this research team undertook the study of morale and the factors affecting morale in the PKI Corp.

   An extensive literature survey indicated that six factors are primarily important in influencing staff morale. They are: (1) pay, (2) company policies, (3) working environment, (4) good supervision, (5) appropriate grievance procedures, and (6) fair treatment. A questionnaire was designed to tap these six variables and morale, in addition to some demographic variables. In order to motivate the respondents to answer the questionnaire, it was printed with good alignment of the 20 questions that were asked. The questionnaires were administered to all the employees with each local manager undertaking the responsibility of handing out and collecting the questionnaire back from the employees in his/her office. The employees were provided with tamper-proof envelopes which they used. The response rate was quite high--about 89%.

   An analysis of the data indicated that the morale of the employees was quite high in each of the offices of this company--the mean ranging from 6.0 to 6.6 on a 7 point scale. The mean on the other variables, i.e., attitudes toward pay, company policies, working environment, supervision, grievance procedure and the treatment employees receive, was also fairly high with little variance. Unfortunately, a multiple regression analysis did not explain much of the variance in morale. Hence Ms. Jones team concluded that there is no morale problem in this company. Indeed, all indications are that it is very high. If at all there is a turnover problem in this company, as indicated by the President, the reasons for this must lie elsewhere. [Adapted from Sekaran, 2000]

1. Structured Design uses the concepts of cohesion and coupling to evaluate the quality of a specific design. Define the different kinds of coupling and discuss their significance with respect to testing and long term maintenance.

2. Describe use-case scenarios; analyze and discuss their content, form, and use in CRC analysis and design and in O-O implementation, testing, and long term maintenance.

• Software systems are a ubiquitous commodity to the extent that the proper functioning of such systems directly impacts our economy and private life. There are many activities in the systems analysis and design (SAD) process that aim to create systems efficiently, accurately, and reliably so that they meet the intended needs and expectations of the stakeholders. Such activities include but are not limited to requirements definition and specification, prototyping, and usability testing. However, such activities are complex for a number of reasons. Software systems have grown so complex, that their development is an effort that involves many different people, introducing a plethora of coordination and collaboration challenges. Further, the stakeholders involved in software development not only present a challenge in number, but also in variety: Stakeholders may include e.g. business analysts, programmers, architects, end-users, and system owners. Each stakeholder brings different interests to the development project. Accommodating these, often conflicting, interests can be a daunting task. The consequence of the above is that SAD can no longer be considered a value-neutral task: the interests of different stakeholders have to be accommodated throughout the SAD process.

  Upon graduating from UNO, you accept a job as a SAD project manager at a large transportation company. Each year, this company coordinates and executes the transportation of thousands of tons of goods over road, rails, water, and air. Some of these goods are hazardous. The area in which you work relates to the design, development, and maintenance of systems that interact with other public and private organizations in times of crisis situations with hazardous goods. The first assignment that your CIO gives you is to lead a new project on the design and development of a crisis management system (CMS). This system will be used by your company together with various agencies in the Omaha area related to transportation crisis situations, such as the fire brigade, the police, the mayor's office, the Metropolitan Traffic Management Center (MTMC), and University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). The goal of the system is to disseminate critical information to each stakeholder and to allow for fast and effective decision making by all stakeholders involved. The information to be used by the CMS is distributed over several databases and exists in different formats. Defining both the data and the collaborative processes needed to achieve an integrated CMS is expected to be a major challenge.

  Your CIO wants your advice on the way in which you propose to approach this challenge, both from a SAD and project management perspective.

  Question: The CIO has heard a lot about Agile methodologies that are promising to improve SAD projects' efficiency and effectiveness. The CIO is interested in knowing whether the transportation company should invest in training a number of SAD staff in Agile methodologies, and if so in which ones. Up to now, the company has used more traditional methods that rely on extensive documentation and tight control, even for relatively small projects. The CIO requests you, as lead project manager for the crisis management system, to write a recommendation report. Your report on Agile methods for the CIO should address a number of issues. In particular, it should focus on the following:

  • A well-argued assessment of the key advantages (at least 3) and disadvantages (at least 3) involved in introducing Agile methodologies 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. Make whatever assumptions you need to, but make clear what they are.
  • A description of the implications for project management planning and staffing of introducing Agile methodologies.
  • A description of the Agile methodology that you feel would be most suited to your organization and why.
  • An argumentation whether the Agile methodology that you consider most suitable to your organization is also suitable for the development of the CMS and what, if any, adaptations or extensions to this methodology must be provided.

  Note: Don't forget to use summary tables where appropriate, in order to make your paper more readable. Be as specific as possible in your recommendations and discussion for both questions. That is, use and apply the details of the case and be clear in justifying your choices in relation to the case, rather than just providing generic discussion.

1. Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) has been an important component of the TCP/IP protocol suite for many years. Answer the following questions about IPv4.
   1. One type of addressing used with Ipv4 is called class-based addressing. Describe the major classes in class-based addressing.
      1. number of bits in an address
      2. classes and their distinguishing characteristics (bit formats, dotted decimal formats)
      3. maximum number of networks and hosts for each class (e.g., which networks are large, and which are small?)
   2. Classless addressing is another type of addressing used with Ipv4.
      1. What is classless addressing, and why is it used?
      2. Suppose Company ABC wants to set up its own internal internet. The company will have 64 computers on its network, and this number is expected to remain stable over time. If ABC uses class-based addressing, which class (from part a. above) should it use? Explain why. How many hosts would this class accommodate? Alternatively, explain how the company would set up the Ipv4 addresses for this network using a classless addressing scheme. Show all calculations, and explain your work. How many hosts would the classless address accommodate?
      3. What is CIDR notation? Why is it used? Show an example of how this works? What are the advantages of CIDR notation?

2. One widely used protocol within TCP/IP is the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Answer the following questions about UDP:
   1. At what layer of the TCP/IP protocol stack does UDP lie?
   2. What is the major function of UDP?
   3. For what types of applications is UDP used? For what types should it NOT be used? Explain why (i.e., its advantages and disadvantages).
   4. Give at least 4 distinguishing (functional) characteristics of UDP.
   5. Explain the concept of port numbers. What are they, and how does UDP use them?
   6. UDP also can provide (optionally) a pseudo header. What is a pseudo header, and why is it used?
   7. A UDP message is encapsulated as it travels over an internet. Explain how it is encapsulated (i.e., inside what?). What is the limiting factor for the size of a UDP message?

ISQA 8380 - MANAGING THE DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT

1. A growing use of web services is by companies offering the ability to comparison shop for goods and services. Let's assume you are a consulting systems integrator in charge of the design of a web site for an online car dealership. As a part of the online car dealership you offer the customer the ability to compare rates from four different large auto insurance companies on your web site. Explain how you could use web services to do this. What would you need to provide to each auto insurance company to be sure you can consume their web service for quoting auto insurance? What technology would you need to consume the web services from each company and use it in your auto insurance comparison application? How would you ensure security for these connections? Draw a diagram and explain your answer.

2. The state game and parks organization needs to provide better customer service over the web to the employees that manage the state parks. In order to accomplish this, it was decided to provide an employee portal to integrate the following systems into a single state parks employee portal:
   • A cabin and campground reservation system. It currently uses an IBM mainframe and DB2 database and CICS with 3270 terminal access.
   • Peoplesoft human resource and purchasing systems that runs on a SUN UNIX system. It can communicate via a browser and also web services that are exposed by the Peoplesoft system.
   • A vehicle management system to track the disposition and maintenance of all vehicles within the park system. This runs on a Windows server as a Visual Basic client server application. It uses an SQL Server database and stored procedures. The Visual Basic application accesses the stored procedures via ODBC.
   Suggest an architecture for the above integration problem so that employees have easy access to all the information they need to do their job through a single employee portal. Identify all of the middleware components in your architecture and how they are used to solve the problem. Provide a diagram which outlines your architectural approach. Explain why you selected each middleware component and what their function is in your architecture. Also explain how you would secure the system so that it is only used by the employees who should be accessing the system.

1. A restaurant has decided to issue hand-held devices like PDAs or tablet PCs on which to take orders. This order-taking system is to be integrated into a database system to track customer orders and reservations. A group of people who come in to eat together is called a party. Each party has a certain number of people (e.g. "A party of four"), and is seated at one of the many tables at the restaurant. Each party is seated at a single table and is served by a single waiter or waitress. The database must store the name and employee identifier for each waiter or waitress. The system will record the time at which a party arrived at a table, and the time at which a party left the table. Each table has a fixed number of seats, and each of these seats has a number. In this way, if a party of 4 is seated at table R23, the waitress can note on the order that the individual in seat (1) ordered the grilled salmon, a side of boiled potatoes, and a class of zinfandel wine; the individual in seat (3) ordered the porterhouse steak, a side of creamed corn, a garden salad, and a glass of iced tea; etc. In addition to a fixed number of seats, a table is designated 'smoking' or 'non-smoking'.

   One of the features of the system is that it will be able to accommodate separate orders for the individuals that make up a party. Individual orders can be taken for one or more people. For example, a party of six could have six separate orders, or one order, or two orders for three people each. Each party has at least one order. For each order, the system records the menu items ordered, the quantity of each item, the price of each item, the subtotal for that item (subtotal = price * quantity), and any preparation instructions (e.g. 'well-done', 'rare') and the seat occupied by the individual requesting the item. The database must also maintain the restaurant's menu by storing the name of each menu item, a description, the price, and the category (e.g. beverage, entrée, appetizer, 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. List all of the tables waited on by a waitress named Sarah Brower.
      2. List all of the items ordered by the party currently at table R23, including the preparation instructions.
      3. List the total dollar amount for each order for the party at table R23.
      4. Create the PARTY table, including any appropriate constraints.
      5. Which table generated the most revenue for the restaurant on June 17th? Provide a query that will list each table and the total revenue generated.

2. If XML is the solution, what is the problem? Provide an overview of developments in the world of data and data management that have created the problems that XML is designed to solve. Then, explain how XML solves these problems. Finally, offer a critique of XML, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. In your answer, include an overview of the constituent elements of XML and how they fit together.

1. You are the CIO of a medium sized privately held company. Your department has been developing software that, while not mission critical or "competitive advantage", can have a positive impact on the bottom line of the company. Unfortunately, the project has hit several stumbling blocks. It is still under budget and on time but it is apparent that these factors will change negatively.

   It is time to report the situation to the company leaders. As you consider your presentation to them, what questions might you expect them to ask and how would you answer these potential questions? What factors might have contributed to the apparent delay in this project?

2. Your firm recently acquired a company that has a different strategy concerning information systems. Your firm has centralized the IS function while the acquired firm is fairly decentralized. You have outsourced only the operations function while the new firm has outsourced development activities.

   As the CIO you are charged with integrating the new firm into the fabric of your company. Discuss the actions you would take and justify the resulting IS structure.

1. You are the project manager for a new software development project. Describe the entire change control process you plan to use. Include a discussion of stakeholders and how they will interface with this process.

2. Your project is over budget, behind schedule and has scope creep. So it is going to be delivered late, at a higher cost and with approximately 76% of the requested requirements. What if anything did you forget to do during the Planning, Execution and Control Phases of the project life cycle?