Deck 7: Enterprise Infrastructure, Metrics, and Business Continuity Planning

Question 1

With regards to information, what does an SOA approach require?

A) Information must be in a standard format no matter where it is
B) Strict and rigorous integrity controls need to always be in place
C) There should never be any duplicate information in your organization
D) Standard format, integrity controls, and no duplicate information are required

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What type of technology would allow a customer in a SOA environment to connect to any communications channel (e.g., fax or Web) in an organization?

A) Database
B) Internet
C) Plug-and-play
D) Telecommunication relay

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to the SOA philosophy, should end users be able to access an organization's computing and information resources from any place they're currently working?

A) Yes
B) No
C) End users should be able to access computing resources from any country but not necessarily from any location
D) End users should have limited access to computing resources outside the organization

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following statement is true regarding an SOA philosophy about the end user of IT?

A) The end user should be thought of in the same way as a customer
B) Because the organization's future depends on the customer, the end user's needs should come after the customer's needs
C) Security is paramount and, because of this, access to information by the end user should be limited to a specific geographical area
D) Both prioritizing customer needs and limiting end user's access to information systems are both philosophies of SOA

Question 5

According to the authors, what vendor now offers ERP solutions - Dynamics - to small and medium-sized companies?

A) Cognos
B) Microsoft
C) SAP
D) Oracle

Question 6

An SOA mentality has many advantages. Which of the following is not one of these?

A) It allows an organization to be lean, efficient, and effective
B) Is reactive in nature but waits until technology and changes in the environment are stable
C) Responds quickly to and adapts to new advances in technology
D) Transforms its processes, structure, and HR initiatives to match a changing workforce

Question 7

Which category of business application satisfies the SOA philosophy for the end user?

A) CRM
B) BI
C) SIS
D) ERP

Question 8

According to the SOA philosophy, what is the most important organizational resource?

A) Data warehouses
B) Computer applications
C) Information
D) People

Question 9

Which of the following is not a reason for the rapid increase in ERP systems?

A) Globalization
B) Market maturity in developed countries
C) Advances in information and communication technology
D) Increase investments in data warehousing and mining

Question 10

Which of the following is not a primary goal of an ERP system within a service-oriented architecture?

A) Provide interoperability between different vendors of ERP systems
B) Open communications and access points to customers
C) Conceal the IT infrastructure that supports ERP systems
D) Provide interoperability between ERP systems within your organization

Question 11

With regards to hardware, what does an SOA approach require?

A) Standard hardware so that end users can easily connect to computing resources
B) Clear guidelines regarding the IT infrastructure and location of data files
C) Integrated and seamless technology platforms
D) Standard hardware, clear storage guidelines, and integrated platforms are required

Question 12

Which of the following is not considered a dominate player in ERP systems?

A) Oracle and PeopleSoft
B) SSA Global
C) Cognos
D) Microsoft

Question 13

Around 2004, Adidas Canada's management decided to outsources the complicated process of maintaining current data backups. What was the name of the company that they outsourced to?

A) Microsoft
B) Storagepipe
C) Oracle
D) SAP

Question 14

What percent are forecasters predicting the ERP market to continue to grow at?

A) 10%
B) 20%
C) 30%
D) 40%

Question 15

Historically, what do ERP systems replace?

A) CRM systems
B) Islands of information and processes
C) Mainframes
D) Centralized DBMS

Question 16

What does the "IT structure beneath a structure" include?

A) Hardware, software, and information
B) Hardware and software
C) Software and information
D) Networking systems and data warehouses

Question 17

The ERP market has been growing at a rate of at least 30% per year. Why?

A) Advances in technology
B) Advances in DBMS
C) The development of BI
D) Globalization

Question 18

What does an IT-enabled SOA philosophy provide for the customers of organization?

A) Access to corporate databases
B) Multi-channel service delivers options
C) Customizable products and services
D) Multi-channel services, and customizable products and services

Question 19

Which of the following focuses on the development, use, and reuse of small self-contained blocks of code to meet all the application software needs of an organization?

A) XP
B) Rapid prototyping
C) RAD
D) Service-oriented architecture (SOA)

Question 20

What is the term that depicts "the structure beneath a structure"?

A) IT composition
B) IT inter-connections
C) System
D) Infrastructure

Question 21

What type of IT infrastructure involves sharing information systems in one central area or mainframe?

A) Centralized
B) Decentralized
C) Client/server
D) Distributed

Question 22

What is the difference between interoperability and sustainable interoperability?

A) Interoperability deals with information systems; sustainable interoperability deals with systems and human resources
B) There is no significant difference; both terms depend on the evolution of technology
C) Interoperability deals with communication systems; sustainable interoperability deals with data warehouses and data mining
D) Interoperability deals with the open communication between systems; sustainable interoperability extends that concept with plugging in new modules to existing systems

Question 23

Which type of infrastructure must determine the location of specific applications and information before it can respond to requests from end users or applications?

A) Decentralized
B) Client/server
C) Distributed
D) Centralized

Question 24

Which type of infrastructure has one or more computers that provide services to other computers?

A) Client/server
B) Decentralized
C) Distributed
D) Centralized

Question 25

When did the second generation of ERP systems occur?

A) Late 1970s
B) Early 1980s
C) Late 1980s
D) Early 1990s

Question 26

What is the main disadvantage of a centralized infrastructure?

A) Lack of standards for hardware, software, procedures, and operations
B) Uncontrolled access to information
C) Inflexibility
D) Low degree of control over data and information

Question 27

What does interoperability refer to?

A) Two or more computing components sharing information and resources
B) Separate systems sharing the same communication pathways
C) Data mining systems gathering data from the same data warehouse
D) Open communications between distinct functional areas

Question 28

What is a contemporary name for executive information systems?

A) Strategic information systems (SIS)
B) Human resources information systems (HRIS)
C) Digital dashboards
D) Management Information Systems (MIS)

Question 29

What type of IT infrastructure evolved from users or departments developing their own systems or applications without any central control?

A) Centralized
B) Distributed
C) Client/server
D) Decentralized

Question 30

What is the fundamental underlying infrastructure for any IT environment?

A) Databases
B) Software
C) Networks
D) Hardware

Question 31

What type of IT infrastructure involves distributing the information and processing power of IT systems via a network?

A) Distributed
B) Client/server
C) Decentralized
D) Centralized

Question 32

What was the real significance of first-generation ERP systems?

A) Speed
B) Access to data
C) Greater accuracy with scheduling orders
D) Reducing the need for supplies from vendors

Question 33

With the second generation of ERP systems, what type of business application emerged?

A) Business intelligence
B) Data warehouses
C) DSS and EIS
D) Artificial intelligence

Question 34

What type of IT infrastructure involves little or no sharing of IT and other computing resources?

A) Decentralized
B) Distributed
C) Client/server
D) Centralized

Question 35

Because a _____ infrastructure connects all of its information systems, it can share information and applications.

A) Centralized
B) Connected
C) Decentralized
D) Distributed

Question 36

There are many disadvantages to decentralized infrastructures. Which one is not one of these?

A) Prevents users from easily combining processing power
B) Systems and software solutions are inflexible
C) Users are unable to compare information between various systems
D) It encourages data duplication and inconsistencies in information

Question 37

Which type of infrastructure will store applications and information in two or more locations to improve network performance and traffic?

A) Centralized
B) Distributed
C) Client/server
D) Decentralized

Question 38

What type of business application encompasses all the resource planning for an organization including product design, warehousing, materials planning, capacity planning, and communications systems?

A) ERP
B) CRM
C) MRP
D) MRP II

Question 39

ERP systems first came onto the market during the 1970s. What were these systems called during that time?

A) Materials Requirements Planning (MRP)
B) Supply Management Systems (SMS)
C) Manufacturing Alignment Planning (MAP)
D) Assembly Line Management Systems (ALMS)

Question 40

What is the primary advantage to a centralized infrastructure?

A) It's adherence to strict standards throughout the systems
B) Flexibility in addressing end user and departmental needs
C) It allows for a high degree of control
D) Open access to information

Question 41

If you were working in Halifax, N.S. and the main computer located in Toronto sent the computer application and data to your computer for processing, you would be using a _____ infrastructure.

A) Decentralized
B) Distributed
C) Centralized
D) Client/server

Question 42

If your task was to determine if your clothing store demonstrated efficiency, which of the following activities would you measure?

A) The number of times a customer wants a particular item that is not in inventory
B) The number of times a salesperson cannot answer customer questions correctly
C) The number of customers who visit your store
D) Each of these activities measure efficiency

Question 43

In what type of tiered infrastructure does the client handle the display and the server handles the request?

A) 1-tier
B) 2-tier
C) 3-tier
D) 4-tier

Question 44

Which type of infrastructure divides functions among connected computers on a network while centralizing processing and storage for all information?

A) Centralized
B) Client/server
C) Decentralized
D) Distributed

Question 45

Which metric assesses whether or not the right functions or tasks were executed?

A) Benchmark
B) Effectiveness
C) Efficiency
D) Fitting metrics

Question 46

Which infrastructure-centric metric measures the down-time of an information system?

A) Accuracy
B) Throughput
C) System availability
D) System downtown

Question 47

Which infrastructure-centric metric measures the average time to respond to a user-generated event or request?

A) Accuracy
B) Response time
C) Critical success factor
D) Scalability

Question 48

What is the primary advantage of the client/server infrastructure?

A) It off-loads the application programs and information from the server
B) It increases the speed or movement of information in the network
C) It increases the power of processing
D) It increases the speed of transmission and the power of processing

Question 49

Which infrastructure-centric metric measures the error rate or the number of errors per thousand (or million) that an information system generates?

A) Accuracy
B) Throughput
C) Scalability
D) Critical success factor

Question 50

Which infrastructure-centric metric measures the speed at which a system can process a transaction?

A) Transaction speed
B) Accuracy
C) Throughput
D) Reaction time

Question 51

If you were working in an environment where each IT system was partitioned into layers and each layer performed a specific function, what type of infrastructure would you be using?

A) Distributed
B) Tiered
C) Decentralized
D) Client/server

Question 52

What is a baseline value that a system seeks to attain?

A) Benchmark
B) Milestone
C) Quality measures
D) Criterion

Question 53

If you were working in Calgary, Alberta and all of your ERP application ran from a computer located in Mississauga, Ontario you would be using a _____ infrastructure.

A) Client/server
B) Centralized
C) Decentralized
D) Distributed

Question 54

In what type of tiered infrastructure do all the computing resources sit on one computer?

A) 1-tier
B) 2-tier
C) 3-tier
D) 4-tier

Question 55

Which infrastructure-centric metric measures the amount of information that can pass through a system in a given amount of time?

A) Transaction speed
B) Accuracy
C) Throughput
D) Bandwidth

Question 56

What is the process of continuously measuring system results and comparing those results to values a system seeks to attain?

A) Critical milestones
B) Benchmarking
C) Quality testing
D) Criterion checking

Question 57

Which metric assesses whether or not some function or task is completed the fastest?

A) Benchmark
B) Effectiveness
C) Efficiency
D) Fitting metrics

Question 58

What type of tiered infrastructure is the most common approach used for Web applications today?

A) 1-tier
B) 2-tier
C) 3-tier
D) 4-tier

Question 59

What does an infrastructure-centric metric measure?

A) Efficiency
B) Speed
C) Capacity
D) Efficiency, speed, and capacity

Question 60

If your task was to determine if your clothing store demonstrated effectiveness, which of the following activities would you measure?

A) The level of traffic coming into your store
B) The time it takes to process customer's purchases
C) The number of mistakes made by employees working the cash register
D) The number and amount of purchases made by customers who visit the store

Question 61

Which of the following is not a common Web-centric metric?

A) Unique visitors
B) Total hits
C) Throughput
D) Conversion rate

Question 62

If you were to call your health insurance company about a medical procedure you needed, and your questions were answered immediately, what metric would your call apply to?

A) First call resolution (FCR)
B) Success to failure ration (SFR)
C) Average speed to answer (ASA)
D) Bottom-line rate

Question 63

If you were to determine the number of people who bought some item from your Web site and compare this to the number of visitors, what metric would you measure?

A) Hits
B) CPM
C) Buyer ratio
D) Conversion rate

Question 64

If you were investigating the importance of your resources, processes, and systems so that you could react appropriately in a disaster, you would be in the ____ phase of business continuity planning.

A) Initial investigation
B) Analysis
C) Organizational strategic plan
D) Requirements

Question 65

Which of the following metrics is not used to measure the success of call centers?

A) Abandon rate
B) Average speed to answer (ASA)
C) Time service factor (TSF)
D) Total hits

Question 66

What type of analysis evaluates IT assets, their importance to the organization, and their susceptibility to threats?

A) Impact analysis
B) Threat analysis
C) Impact scenario analysis
D) Requirements recovery analysis

Question 67

What Nielsen/Net rating is used to rank the most popular Web sites?

A) Total hits
B) Page exposures
C) Unique visitors
D) Conversion rate

Question 68

What type of analysis documents the possible threats to your organization and its assets?

A) Impact analysis
B) Impact scenario analysis
C) Requirements recovery analysis
D) Threat analysis

Question 69

If you were to determine the number of visitors to your Web site who clicked on an advertisement you placed on your page, what metric would you measure?

A) Conversion rate
B) Click-through
C) Ad exposures
D) Cost-per-thousand

Question 70

What type of metrics does customer relationship management try to optimize?

A) Bottom-up initiatives
B) Systems
C) Efficiency
D) Effectiveness

Question 71

Which of the following is not a phase in the planning process used for disasters and recovery situations?

A) Analysis
B) Reaction
C) Design
D) Maintenance

Question 72

What type of metric does supply chain management seek to optimize?

A) Efficiency
B) Effectiveness
C) Systems
D) Top-line initiatives

Question 73

Which call center metric determines the percentage of callers who hang up while waiting for their call to be answered?

A) Abandon rate
B) Lost calls
C) Missed rate
D) Failure to answer rate (FAR)

Question 74

What type of analysis considers each threat and builds a worst-case scenario for each?

A) Impact scenario analysis
B) Threat analysis
C) Impact analysis
D) Requirements recovery analysis

Question 75

Which call center metric determines the percentage of calls answered within a specific time frame?

A) Average speed to answer (ASA)
B) Time service factor (TSF)
C) Throughput
D) Answers per thousand (APT)

Question 76

If you were performing an impact analysis, threat analysis, and impact scenario analysis, you would be in the _____ phase of business continuity planning.

A) Initial investigation
B) Feasibility
C) Requirements
D) Analysis

Question 77

What type of metric is commonly used in the financial environments?

A) CRM metrics
B) SCM metrics
C) Capital analysis financial models
D) Accounting and economic metrics

Question 78

Which infrastructure-centric metric measures how well a system can adapt to increasing demand?

A) Scalability
B) Response time
C) Throughput
D) Accuracy

Question 79

If you subscribed to a company that allowed you to run a database program from its computer, what would this company be called?

A) Application service provider
B) Software vendor
C) Service supplier
D) Internet provider

Question 80

What organizational methodology develops detailed guidelines for disaster and recovery efforts?

A) Business continuity planning
B) Disaster planning
C) Emergency reaction planning
D) High alert management