Tech Guide 2 Questions

Tech Guide 2 questions

1. What are main differences/distinction between system software and application software? Systems software is a set of instructions that serves primarily as an intermediary between computer hardware and application programmes. It provides important self-regulatory functions for computer systems, such as loading itself when the computer is first turned one and providing commonly used sets of instructions for all applications, whereas application software is a set of computer instructions that provide more specific functionality to a user.

2. What are the two main types of system software?
Systems control programmes:
Functions of the operating system
Types of operating system

System support programmes:
Systems utilities
System performance monitors.

3. What is the difference between proprietary and open source software? What considerations should be made when a business selects either software. Proprietary software is software that has been developed by a company and has restrictions on its use, copying and modification. On the other hand open-source software is software who’s source code is available at no cost to developers or users. This software is copyrighted and distributed with license terms ensuring that the source code will always be available. If a business does not have time to train users or does not have in-house technical experts the open-source software become more complex and difficult as they may have to buy maintenance support contracts. Though if the business is capable of the complexity then open-source software is low cost and extremely efficient.

4. What are some of the legal issues involved in acquiring and using software in most businesses/organizations? The legal issues’ surrounding acquiring and using software in most businesses comes down to software licensing. Copying software is illegal and if the correct licensees for the use of the software are not purchased by the organisation the business can be charged with fraud, which results in high legal costs.

5. What is meant by SaaS? Name some examples of this software.
(Saas) is Software-as-a-Service. This is a method of delivering software in which a vendor hosts the applications. Customers access these applications over a network, typically the internet. Customers do not own the software but pay for using it.
o Google
o Amazon

Tech Guide 1: Questions

Tech Guide 1 questions
1.What is computer hardware and what are the major hardware components? Hardware refers to the physical equipment used for the input, processing, output and storage activities of a computer system. The components are:

• Central processing unit (CPU).
• Primary storage.
• Secondary storage.
• Input technologies.
• Output technologies.
• Communication technologies.

2.What is Moore's Law/what does it mean in relation to computers? Moore’s Law refers to Gordon Moore’s prediction that the microprocessor complexity would double approximately every two years. As his predictions have been mostly accurate it means that computers are increasing in technology and speed and as an information processing tool they are getting better and better.

3.In basic terms, describe how a microprocessor functions. A microprocessor has different parts which perform different functions:

• The Control Unit: sequentially accesses programme instructions, decodes them and controls the flow of data to and from the ALU (arithmetic-logic unit), the registers, caches, primary and secondary storage and various output device.
• The Arithmetic-logic Unit: performs the mathematic calculations and makes logical comparisons.

4.What factors determine the speed of the microprocessor?

• The clock speed: the preset speed of the clock that times all chip activities in megahertz and gigahertz.
• Word length: is the number of binary units (bits) that the CPU can process in one machine cycle.
• Bus width: is the size of the physical paths down which the data and instructions travel as electrical impulses.
• Line width: is the distance between transistors.

5.What are the four main types of primary storage?

• Registers.
• Random Access Memory (RAM).
• Cache Memory.
• Read-only Memory.
  

6.What are the main types of secondary storage?

• Magnetic Media (Magnetic tape, Sequential access, Magnetic disks).
• Optical Storage Devices (Compact disk, Digital video disk, Holographic memory.
• Flash Memory Devices (Memory cards, thumb drive)
  

7.How does primary storage differ from secondary storage in terms of speed cost and capacity? Primary storage stores small amounts of data and information that will be used immediately by the CPU. In Primary storage the data has to travel a shorter distance to that of secondary which means it can be processed faster. Primary storage is more expensive then secondary.

8.What are enterprise storage systems? The Enterprise storage system is a independent, external system that includes two or more storage devices. They provide large amounts of storage, high performance data transfer, a high degree of availability, protection against data loss and sophisticated management tools.

9.Distinguish between human data input devices and source data automation. Human data input devices such and a keyboarded or mouse require a certain amount of human effort to input data. Source data automation devices input data with minimal human intervention. Eg. barcode readers.

10.What is one new technology that will change how we do things?

Weekly Question (Chapter Two)

Chapter 2

Q1.What is the difference between an “application” and a “computer-based information systems”?
An application program is a computer program designed to support a specific task or business process, and a computer-based information system is a system that uses a computer technology to perform some of all of its’ intended tasks. The basic components of information system are, hardware, software, database and network like wireline/wireless

Q2.What is an information system?
An information system is a combination of components such as; hardware, software, databases, networks (both external and internal), procedures and people.

Q3.According to Porter, what are the five forces that could endanger a firm’s position in its industry or marketplaces?
1) The danger of entry of new competitor
2) The bargaining power of supplier (supplier power is high when buyers have few choices from whom to buy and low when buyers have many choices)
3) The bargaining power of costumer (Buyer power is high when buyer have many choices from whom to buy and low when buyer have few choice)
4) The threat of substitute products or services (changing in product and services, substitution danger is high)
5) The rivalry among existing firm in the industry

Q4.In relation to Porter’s value chain model, what is meant by primary activities and support activities, and how does IT support activities?
Primary activities are activities related to the production and distribution of the firms products and services and creating values of which costumer are willing to pay. They are divided in five primary activities as:
1. Inbound logistics (inputs)
2. Operation (manufacturing and testing)
3. Outbound logistics (storage and distribution)
4. Marketing and sales
5. Services
Support activities instead do not add value directly to firm’s product and services. They contribute to the firms by supporting the primary activities and it is consisted by:
1. The firm infrastructure (accounting, finance, and management)
2. Human resource management
3. Product and technology development (P&D)
4. Procurement

Q5. Discuss the logic of building information systems in accordance with the organizational hierarchical structure.
Well the logic of building information systems in accordance with the organisational structure is because it helps the business to collect, process, store, analyse, and disseminate information, with high-speed and volume.
Businesses, thanks to the information system are able to communicate and collaborate among other organisations, they have a huge amount of information available and helps as they work in a worldwide environment.

Q6. How has the Internet affected each of the five forces in Porter’s competitive force model?
The Internet has changed the nature of competition. Over all impact of Internet is to increase competition, which has a negative impact on profitability.

Weekly Tutorial Questions (Chapter One)

Chapter 1

Q1. What are the characteristics of the modern business environment?
The modern business environment involves an integration of management an information technology.

Q2. What is meant by a web-based, global platform, what does it provide, and how has it affected business?
A web based global platform enables individuals to connect , compute, communicate, collaborate and compete everywhere and anywhere, anytime and all the time; to acess limited amounts of information; services and entertainment; to exchange knowledge and to produce and sell goods and services. This global based platform provides a communication system that is without boundaries. It has effected business through globalisation, where all businesses with the use of the world wide web are able to compete, communicate and acess information on a global scale.

Q3. What are the main pressures that characterize the modern global business environment?
Market pressures, these include; having a global economy and strong competition, the changing nature of the workforce and the power of consumers to be informed. Technology pressures include; technological innovation and obsolescence and information overload. There are also Societal, Political and legal pressures these include social responsibility and compliance with government regulations.

Q4. What are/discuss some of the common, IT oriented organizational responses to these pressures?
· Strategic system (help increase market profit, negotiate with supplier and prevent competitor from entering the market)
· Costumer focus (Provides superb costumer service, IT is designed to keep the costumer happy)
· Make-to Order and Mass Customization (provide customized products and service, at a reasonable cost to satisfy costumers needs and wants)
· E-Business and E-commerce

Q5. How are IT architecture and IT infrastructure are interrelated.
The IT architecture integrates the information requirements of the overall organization and all individual users it also integrates the IT infrastructure and all applications. An organizations IT infrastructure are all the physical facilities IT components, services and management.

Q6. Is the Internet an infrastructure, an architecture, or an application program? or something else. Why?
The internet is a web based information tool.

Weekly Tutorial Questions