Ryerson Polytechnic University

Midterm Examination

CBIS504 Winter 1999

Please answer all questions

You are allowed 150 minutes

Please return this examination paper with your answer.

Your Name: _________________ _____________________

Question 1

The computer processing portion of a sales order system is represented by the flowchart on the page 4. Answer the following questions:

a. What type of data processing system is this? Explain, and be specific.

b. The auditor suggests that this system can be greatly simplified by changing to direct access files. Explain the major operational changes that would occur in the system if this were done.

c. The auditor warns of control implications from this change that must be considered. Explain the nature of the control implications.

d. Sketch a flowchart (the computerized portion only) of the proposed new system. Use correct symbols and label the diagram.

Question 2

2. Flowchart Analysis

Examine the diagram on the page 3 and indicate any incorrect initiation and/or transfer of documentation. What problems could this cause?

Question 3

Design a relational data base system for a large costume rental store. The store has approximately 3,200 customers each year. It is stocked with over 500 costumes in various sizes. The rental costumes and other items that may be purchased by the customer (e.g., make-up and teeth) are purchased from approximately 35 different suppliers. Design the necessary data base files. Make sure they are in third normal form, and indicate the necessary linkages.

Question 4

Vincent Maloy, director of special projects and analysis for Milok Company, is responsible for preparing corporate financial analyses and monthly projections, and for reviewing and presenting to upper management the financial impacts of proposed strategies. Data for these financial analyses and projections are obtained from reports developed by Milok's systems department and generated from its mainframe computer. Additional data are obtained through terminals via a data inquiry system. Reports and charts for presentations are then prepared by hand and typed. Maloy has tried to have final presentations generated by the computer but has not always been successful.

The systems department has developed a package using a terminal emulator to link a microcomputer to the mainframe computer. This allows the microcomputer to become part of the current data inquiry systems and enables data to be downloaded to the microcomputer's disk. The data are in a format that allows printing or further manipulation and analyses using commercial software packages, such as spreadsheet analysis. The special projects and analysis department has been chosen to be the first users of this new computer terminal system.

Maloy questioned whether the new system could do more for his department than implementing the program modification requests that he has submitted to the systems department. He also believes that his people would have to become programmers.

Lisa Brandt, a supervisor in Maloy's department, has decided to prepare a briefing for Maloy on the benefits of integrating microcomputers with the mainframe computer. She has used the terminal inquiry system extensively and has learned to use spreadsheet software to prepare special analyses, sometimes with multiple alternatives. She also tried the new package while it was being tested.

Required:

a. Identify five enhancements to current information and reporting that Milok Company should be able to realize by integrating microcomputers with its mainframe computer.

b. Explain how the utilization of computer resources would be altered as a result of integrating microcomputers with the company's mainframe computer.

c. Discuss what security of the data is gained or lost by integrating microcomputers with the company's mainframe computer.