Speaking Notes

PADM 5500

November 12, 2009

Dr. Neubauer

STUDY SUGGESTION FOR THE FINAL EXAMINATION

You should review both textbooks and all your notes (including the speaking notes I have provided in class and on the Web.

Your final examination will be a combination of short answer, short essay, and other questions. This is an overview of some of the things we have read about and discussed this semester. This list may be helpful as you prepare for the final examination.

What are the relationships between computer hardware, operating systems, and application software?

What is the essential problem with "stovepipe" applications in organizations? Why do stovepipe applications usually not support business processes very well?

What is "Moore's Law" and why does it challenge "business as usual" in most government agencies?

What is the role of an IT project manager? What is the role of a CIO? What is an end user?

What two kinds of documentation of specialized software applications are very important?

Why are relational databases better than flat file data systems? What is an ERD? What do entities in an ERD usually become in a relational database? What assures that the rows in a table are unique? What makes it possible to hold relationships between rows in two tables? What is the query language used to ask a relational database for data? What are three major clauses in that query language? Be able to draw a simple ERD from a narrative description of a business domain. Be able to demonstrate an understanding of how simple relational databases work, in terms of primary keys and foreign keys. Be able to interpret a simple SQL query in terms of its three clauses -- SELECT, FROM, and WHERE.

What is OLTP and what is OLAP? What is a data warehouse? Why is (technical) performance more of a design consideration in the creation of a data warehouse than in the creation of an OLTP system? Why is "ease of update" important in an OLTP system?

What are some of the major motivations of government agencies and nonprofit organizations to embrace new information technologies? What are the likely consequences if they do not?

What are the major hardware components of a computer?

What are the three major kinds of networks? What is each of these? LAN, MAN, WAN

Why do many organizations use the Internet as the means by which they implement their Wide Area Networks?

What is the name of a network within an organization that uses Internet protocols?

What is client-server computing?

Identify the major challenges of software project management? Why is the iterative-incremental model of the SDLC better, even though it is more difficult than the waterfall methodology?

What is an RFP? What is its purpose? Who prepares it and who responds to it? What should it include?

What is the difference between a transaction support system (OLTP) and a decision support system (OLAP)? Which one is likely to involve a data warehouse?

What are the different design considerations between a relational database that supports an OLTP system and a data warehouse?

What is a business process model? Be able to demonstrate an understanding of processing modeling and simulation, based on our Arena assignments.

What was the origin of the Internet? What was the advent of the World Wide Web? What are routers and basically, how does the Internet work? What are the advantages and disadvantages of organizations using the Internet to connect their separate locations?

What is the Capability Maturity Model and its purpose?

E-commerce and e-government are similar but somewhat different. Know B2B, B2C, and C2C and how they "translate" to e-government.

How are object-oriented programming languages different from structured procedural programming languages? Which is newer and allows for the creation of more complex applications?

What are the benefits of centralized procurement in a large organization? Why do departments prefer decentralized procurement? From an IT department perspective, which is better?

Understand and be able to interpret the figure representing the iterative-incremental model of the SDLC.

If the project is major and a consultant is being employed to build it, why is the relationship with the consultant likely to be long-term?

What is artificial intelligence and why is a PROLOG knowledge-base more advanced than a relational database? What are the practical limits of using AI in government agencies and nonprofit organizations?

How do data communications move across the Internet? What is the backbone of the Internet? What are domain names and domain name servers? Why is the design of the Internet resilient? What would be the consequences today if the entire Internet were to fail?

Be able to interpret the figure above in terms of Core Process Workflows, Phrases and Iterations.

What is Service-oriented architecture and how does it relate to outsourcing? What are the implications of SOA for the size and specialization of organizations? How can SOA be a source of opportunities for nonprofit organizations?

What are the various deploy strategies and the strengths and weaknesses of each of them?

When should training on a new system be done?

How is progress measured when using the iterative incremental model of the SDLC?

What are the usual benefits of centralized procurement?

What is TCO? Why is it important?

What is a RFP?

What are the major parts of an RFP?

What is required for a consultant or vendor to respond to an RFP? In other words, what must be included in the response?

What is a service level agreement? From a legal perspective, is it good for both parties to agree to an SLA?

What are the three aspects successful project management? -- on time, on budget, as specified

The three models of e-commerce and how they translate into e-government.

The meaning of standardization as used by Barrett and Greene and the pros and cons of an organization having strict technology "standards."

The intent of artificial intelligence programming.

How a Prolog knowledge base is different from a relational database.

Internet, intranet, extranet.

Transaction processing systems and decision support systems.

OLTP databases and data warehouses.

What are the two kinds of software documentation?

What is the most costly part of the SDLC, regardless of which model of the SDLC is used?

What are the two major things that need to be done to source code during the maintenance phase of the SDLC?

Many organizations are still running major applications written in COBOL thirty or more years ago. They often do not attempt to modify the applications in any way. Why not?

Describe two different plans regarding the deployment of a new software application in a large organization. Which is more risky? Why?

What is the purpose of a strategic plan? How does it relate to decisions regarding IT expenditures?

Be familiar with business process modeling and the use of the Arena software to model and simulate business processes.

What are the various aspects of information-related security that an organization should be concerned about.

What is the need for a contingency plan in the instances the data center of a government agency or other organization gets destroyed. What should the contingency plan include?

What is knowledge management? What is the relevance of social networking to knowledge management? What are the major constraints to knowledge throughput, as demonstrated in our knowledge management lab assignment?