Part A-

Question 1. Which of the following objectives best describes the business strategy behind the development of smart grid initiatives by power companies, as discussed in the chapter case?

Operational excellence

New products and services

Competitive advantage

Customer support

Question 2. The interaction between information systems and organizations is influenced

primarily by the decision making of middle- and senior-managers.

by many factors, including structure, politics, culture, and environment.

by two main microeconomic forces: capital and labor.

primarily by the organization's business processes and culture.

Question 3. Which of the following is not one of the main problems with a traditional file environment?

Data inconsistency

Program-data independence

Lack of flexibility in creating ad-hoc reports

Poor security

Question 4. Corporate network infrastructure is simplified in a cloud computing environment because

people are able to do less.

corporate LANs are no longer necessary.

application, database, and web servers are moved to the cloud.

mobile and Wi-Fi networks are no longer supported.

Question 5. A client computer networked to a server computer, with processing split between the two types of machines, is called a(n)

service-oriented architecture.

on-demand architecture.

multitiered client/server architecture.

two-tiered client/server architecture.

Question 6. What is the "Manifesto for Agile Software Development"?

A document that defines the new processes to be used in software development

A document that outlines why traditional software development practices don't work

A document that refines the current software processes

A document that defines a radically new approach to software development

Question 7. Many users are attacked because they

do not apply operating system security updates.

leave their computers running.

do not update browser plug-ins.

download illegal music and movies.

Part B-

Question 1. You are starting a small bike messenger company. Given your type of services (hand-delivering packages within a small geographical area), could your firm be a digital firm? If so, what would make this a digital firm?

Question 2. You are an analyst for a firm that imports and distributes specialty oils and vinegars, and your company wants you to evaluate its options for taking advantage of cutting-edge business analytics. What are its choices? What will you recommend?

Question 3. The small publishing company you work for wants to create a new database for storing information about all of its author contracts. What factors will influence how you design the database?

Question 4. How does packet switching work?

Question 5. Identify and describe five or more of the current trends in contemporary software platforms.

Question 6. Americlinic, a national chain of budget healthcare clinics, is creating an information system that will allow patients and doctors at participating franchises to communicate online. The goal of the system is to allow doctors to respond to minor health questions quickly and more efficiently, saving patients unnecessary visits to the clinic. This will be a major procedural change. What steps would you recommend to this company to ensure the user acceptance of the system?

Question 7. What are the security challenges faced by wireless networks?