Question: Review Section 8.2 and the comments

> Traceability is an important requirements attribute. It’s one of the things that should be checked when performing V&V of the system requirements. Describe how you would manually check traceability for an existing system and list a few features of a CASE

> Visit three websites to learn more about agile system development. Prepare a list of the sites you visited and a summary of the results.

> Contact three people at your school who use information systems. List their positions, the information they need, the systems they use, and the business functions they perform.

> Setup your own Facebook page to reflect your professional activities as a systems analyst. Remember that this is a business-oriented web presence, which should describe your career, not your personal life.

> Perform research on the web to learn more about blogs. Then write a practical, step-by-step guide for users who want to set up blogs of their own.

> Use LinkedIn to find out more about systems analysis interest groups. If there is a local group in your area, consider attending one of their meetings and writing a report on the experience.

> Will the search phrase commercial television return the same results as the phrase television commercial? Experiment with a search engine and explain the results you obtain.

> Use a search engine and enter the following words: presidential candidates in 2020. Run the search and notice how many results appear. Now place quotation marks around the phrase and run the search again. Explain the difference in the results.

> Suppose you are studying two hardware lease proposals. Option 1 costs $4,000 but requires that the entire amount be paid in advance. Option 2 costs $5,000, but the payments can be made $1,000 now and $1,000 per year for the next four years. If you do an

> Using the same facts as in Project 2, what is the ROI for this project?

> Assume the following facts: • A project will cost $45,000 to develop. • When the system becomes operational after a one-year development period, operational costs will be $9,000 during each year of the system’s five-year useful life. • The system will p

> Research the Internet, magazines, or textbooks to find examples of visual aids, including a bar chart, pie chart, line chart, table, diagram, and bulleted list. How effective was each example?

> Prepare a presentation explaining the four chargeback methods.

> Explore the TCO calculator shown in Figure C-1 that Amazon.com provides for estimating value in migrating to the cloud using their AWS infrastructure for a hypothetical product. Comment on the usefulness of such a tool to the systems analyst.

> Try out the Heroku cloud-based platform by developing and deploying a simple application of your choosing. Write a report comparing your experiences with this style of development versus a more traditional approach using tools such as Microsoft Visual St

> Create a presentation explaining the benefits of using an ALM CASE tool in a project.

> Search the Internet for a simple, user-friendly CASE tool that you would recommend for your school’s computer lab. Visit the vendor’s site and learn all you can about the product. Write a brief report that describes your experience.

> Search the Internet and locate an example of a screen generator. Visit the vendor’s site and learn all you can about the product. Write a brief report that describes your experience.

> Visit www.visual-paradigm.com. Locate and download the Community Edition, which is free, or a 30-day trial edition. Experiment with the program and write a brief report that describes your experience.

> View at least three examples of public speaking. You can investigate TV network news broadcasts, C-SPAN, or any other source. Describe each speaker’s gestures, expressions, voice levels, inflections, timing, eye contact, and effectiveness. Draft a strate

> As a training manual writer, choose a simple hardware or software task and write a two- or three-paragraph description of how to perform the task. Then use your word processing software to check the readability statistics. Try to keep the Flesch Reading

> Using Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, or another program, prepare a presentation on “How to Prepare an Effective Slide Presentation.” Assume that your audience is familiar with presentation soft- ware but has no formal training.

> A group meeting sometimes is suggested as a useful compromise between interviews and questionnaires. In a group meeting, a systems analyst meets with a number of users at one time. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of group meetings.

> The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White is a popular reference manual for proper English usage. The book identifies many words and phrases that are commonly misused, including between and among, affect and effect, different from and

> Attend a presentation by a colleague at work, or watch a presentation online, and attempt to answer the five communication questions about the presentation: why, who, what, when, and how.

> How do you decide if a car should be repaired or replaced? Develop an assessment framework to aid this decision process. Is the framework also applicable to software systems?

> Using the Internet, locate a software package designed to automate version control. List the key features and describe your findings in a brief memo.

> Security breaches are in the news all the time. Document a recent hack involving the theft of employee information or customer data. Suggest ways the attack could have been avoided.

> Visit the IT department at your school or at a local company and find out whether performance measurements are used. Write a brief report describing your findings.

> Develop a process for managing change requests and design a form to handle a generic change request. The process should include a contingency plan for changes that must be resolved immediately.

> Create an online training module using one of the systems discussed in this chapter, such as Udemy or lynda.com, on the topic of managing systems implementations.

> Design a generic post-implementation evaluation form. The form should consist of questions that you could use to evaluate any information system. The form should evaluate the training received and any problems associated with the program.

> Which system changeover method would you recommend for an air traffic control system upgrade? Explain your answer.

> Agile methods use rapid development cycles to iteratively produce running versions of the system. How would these shorter cycles affect the ability of the analyst to manage system requirements?

> In this chapter, you learned about the importance of testing. Design a generic test plan that describes the testing for an imaginary system.

> Using the material in this chapter and your own Internet research, prepare a presentation on the pros and cons of agile development methods.

> Examine the role wireless networks are having in the developing world. Why are some places bypassing LANs and physical cabling altogether and moving to a wireless system architecture? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

> Perform research on the Internet to learn about emerging trends in wireless networking and typical costs involved in the installation of a wireless LAN.

> Perform research on the Internet to identify a service provider that offers web-based business solutions, and write a report describing the firm and its services.

> Prepare a 10-minute talk explaining Web 2.0 and cloud computing to a college class. Using the text and your own Internet research, briefly describe the five most important points you will include in your presentation.

> Visit the IT department at your school or a local company to learn about the network they use. Describe the network and draw a sketch of the configuration.

> Search the Internet to find information about date formats. Determine whether the date format used in the United States is the most common format.

> Use Microsoft Access or similar database software to create a DBMS for the imaginary company called TopText Publishing, which is described in Case in Point 9.1. Add several sample records to each table and report to the class on your progress.

> Cludadwy Chairs sells a patented seat that spectators can take to youth soccer games. The seat folds so it is small enough to fit in the glove box of most vehicles. The company operates a factory in Kansas and also contracts its manufacturing projects to

> JAD requires strong interpersonal and communication skills on the part of the systems analyst. Are those skills different from the ones that an analyst needs when conducting one-to-one interviews? Explain your answer.

> Visit the bookstore at your school or in your area. Interview the manager or store employees to learn more about the business and the entities that are involved in bookstore operations. Remember that an entity is a person, a place, a thing, or an event t

> Consider an automobile dealership with three locations. Data fields exist for stock number, vehicle identification number, make, model, year, color, and invoice cost. Identify the possible candidate keys, the likely primary key, a probable foreign key, a

> Explore the emerging area of wearable computing, such as the Apple Watch, and comment on the impact of these devices on user interface design

> Suggest at least two good examples and two bad examples of source document design.

> Search the web to find an especially good example of a user interface that includes guidelines in this chapter. Document your research and discuss it with your class.

> Visit the administrative office at your school or a local company. Ask to see examples of input screens. Analyze the design and appearance of each screen and try to identify at least one possible improvement.

> Various firms and organizations offer IT benchmarking. Locate an example on the Internet and describe its services.

> Profile three companies that provide offshore software development services.

> Visit the IT department at your school or at a local company and determine whether the systems were developed in-house or purchased. If packages were acquired, find out what customizing was done, if any. Write a brief memo describing the results.

> As more companies outsource systems development, will there be less need for in-house systems analysts? Why or why not?

> Many financial tools are developed using Microsoft Excel. Identify three applications built using Excel and describe how they are used in an organization.

> Investigate the ROI of cloud-based software development environments.

> Prepare a report on at least three tools that provide UML support. Use the tools’ capabilities for creating class diagrams and sequence diagrams as a key requirement.

> Investigate business process modeling languages, such as BPEL.

> Draw an activity diagram showing the actions and events involved in depositing a check to a bank account using a mobile app.

> Create a presentation explaining O-O analysis, including definitions of basic terms, including objects, attributes, methods, messages, and classes.

> Contact the IT staff at your school or at a local business to learn if they use O-O programming languages. If so, determine what languages and versions are used, how long they have been in use, and why they were selected.

> Explore the use of Structured English to describe processes in fields other than systems analysis.

> Create a decision table with three conditions. You can make one up or use a scenario from everyday life. Either way, be sure to show all possible outcomes.

> Draw a context diagram and a diagram 0 DFD that represents the information system at a typical library.

> Provide an example of technical obsolescence and explain how it can be a threat to an information system.

> Explore three CASE tools that provide the ability to draw the four basic DFD symbols and describe what you liked and disliked about each tool.

> The data flow symbols shown in Figure 5-1 were designed by Ed Yourdon, who was a well-known IT author, lecturer, and consultant. Many IT professionals consider him to be among the most influential men and women in the software field. Learn more about Mr.

> A desirable characteristic of a requirement is that it be both consistent and complete. Examine several requirements engineering CASE tools and document how (if at all) they support automated consistency analysis for validating and verifying requirements

> Create an FDD similar to the one in Figure 4-15 but showing your school instead of the library example.

> Design a questionnaire to learn what students think of the registration process at your school. Apply the guidelines you learned in this chapter.

> Prepare a presentation summarizing JAD and RAD. Explain how they differ from traditional fact-finding methods. What are the main advantages of team-based methods?

> Use the requirements gathering techniques of document review, observation, brainstorming, sampling, and research to capture the requirements of a typical elevator control system. Use natural language and the UML to represent the situation where people on

> Perform an Internet research to learn more about project risk management and write a summary of the results. Be sure to search for the classic book titled Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects, by Tom Demarco and Timothy Lister.

> Go to the websites for project management tools (besides Microsoft Project), such as Apptivo (www.apptivo.com), Gantt Project (www.ganttproject.biz), Gantter (www.gantter.com), smart sheet (www.smartsheet.com/product-tour/gantt-charts), Monday (www.monda

> Many of today’s projects involve team members scattered across different time zones and in different physical locations. Moreover, the projects may have adopted an agile methodology, which reduces cycle time dramatically. Write a brief report that summar

> How has the proliferation of mobile devices affected IT professionals?

> One of your coworkers says, “Mission statements are nice, but they really don’t change things down here where the work gets done.” How would you reply?

> Fill in the blanks (indicated by the alphabetic letters in parentheses) in the following financial statements. Assume the company started operations January 1, Year 1, and all transactions involve cash.

> Each of the following independent events requires a year-end adjusting entry. Show how each event and its related adjusting entry affect the accounting equation. Assume a December 31 closing date. a. Paid $6,000 cash in advance on April 1 for a one-year

> On January 1, Year 1, Mason Corp. sold $100,000 of its own 6 percent, 10-year bonds. Interest is payable annually on December 31. The bonds were sold to yield an effective interest rate of 5 percent. Mason Corp. uses the effective interest rate method. T

> Maben Company was started on January 1, Year 1, and experienced the following events during its first year of operation: 1. Acquired $30,000 cash from the issue of common stock. 2. Borrowed $40,000 cash from National Bank. 3. Earned cash revenues of $48,

> The following financial statements apply to Karl Company: Required: Calculate the following ratios for Year 1 and Year 2. When data limitations prohibit computing averages, use year-end balances in your calculations. Round computations to two decimal poi

> The following selected accounts and account balances were taken from the records of Nowell Company. Except as otherwise indicated, all balances are as of December 31, Year 2, before the closing entries were recorded. Consulting revenue = $18,200 Cash = 3

> Obtain Target Corporation’s annual report for its 2019 fiscal year (year ended February 1, 2020) at http://investors.target.comusing the instructions in Appendix B, and use it to answer the following questions: a. Which accounts on Target’s balance sheet

> Each of the following independent events requires a year-end adjusting entry. Show how each event and its related adjusting entry affect the accounting equation. Assume a December 31 closing date. a. Paid $4,800 cash in advance on October 1 for a one-yea

> Accounting is commonly divided into two sectors. One sector is called public accounting. The other sector is called private accounting. Required: a. Identify three areas of service provided by public accountants. b. Describe the common duties performed b

> Resource owners provide three types of resources to businesses that transform the resources into products or services that satisfy consumer demands. Required: Identify the three types of resources. Write a brief memo explaining how resource owners select

> Corrugated Boxes Inc. is a U.S.-based company that develops its financial statements under GAAP. The total amount of the company’s assets shown on its balance sheet for the current year was approximately $305 million. The president of Corrugated is consi

> Pet Partners experienced the following events during its first year of operations, Year 1: 1. Acquired cash by issuing common stock. 2. Borrowed cash from a bank. 3. Signed a contract to provide services in the future. 4. Purchased land with cash. 5. Pai

> The following note related to accounting for inventory was taken from the 2019 annual report of Costco Wholesale Corp.: Inventories Merchandise inventories are stated at the lower of cost or market. U.S. merchandise inventories are valued by the cost me

> On January 1, Year 2, Palmer, a fast-food company, had a balance in its Cash account of $32,000. During the Year 2 accounting period, the company had (1) net cash inflow from operating activities of $15,600, (2) net cash outflow for investing activities

> Lakeside, Inc. purchased land in January Year 1 at a cost of $250,000. The estimated market value of the land is $425,000 as of December 31, Year 8. Required: a. Name the December 31, Year 8, financial statement(s) on which the land will be shown. b. At

> Petre Company was started on January 1, Year 1. During Year 1, the company experienced the following accounting events: (1) Issued $25,000 in common stock, (2) earned cash revenues of $14,500, (3) paid cash expenses of $9,200, and (4) paid a $500 cash di

> The December 31, Year 1, balance sheet for James Company showed total stockholders’ equity of $200,000. Total stockholders’ equity increased by $80,000 between December 31, Year 1, and December 31, Year 2. During Year 2, James Company acquired $30,000 ca

> The following data are based on information in the 2019 annual reports of H&R Block, Inc. and Intuit, Inc. Dollar amounts are in millions. H&R Block, Inc. has subsidiaries that provide tax, investment, retail banking, accounting, and business con

> a. Identify which of the following accounts are temporary (will be closed to Retained Earnings at the end of the year) and which are permanent: (1) Service Revenue (2) Dividends (3) Common Stock (4) Notes Payable (5) Cash (6) Rent Expense (7) Accounts Re

> For each of the following T-accounts, indicate the side of the account that should be used to record an increase or decrease in the financial statement element.

> For each of the following situations, fill in the blank with FIFO, LIFO, or weighted average: a. _____ would produce the highest amount of net income in an inflationary environment. b. _____ would produce the highest amount of assets in an inflationary e

> For each of the following T-accounts, indicate the side of the account that should be used to record an increase or decrease in the account balance.