CIS 251 - System Development Methods

Review for Third Test

The following questions are provided to help you study for the last test. Do not expect to see these exact questions on the test.

1. What technical innovations made it possible to consider creating a user-centered interface?
   
   
2. When designing an interface, the text recommended that we "think like a user". What did it mean besides getting user requirements?
   
   
3. What is meant by a "transparent interface"?
   
   
4. Explain each of these report types:
   • detail reports
   • exception reports
   • summary reports
   
   
5. Name three characteristics of a properly designed data entry form.
   
   
6. What is data validation?
   
   
7. How is a file-oriented system different from a DBMS system
   
   
8. What are some of the reasons you would recommend using a DBMS system instead of a file-oriented system to a customer?
   
   
9. What is a database schema?
   
   
10. In the context of database design, what is an entity?
    What is an attribute?
    What is a record?
    
    
11. What are the four kinds of relationships between entities in a database?
    
    
12. What is normalization? What are the names of the standard normal forms? What update anomalies can occur if tables are not normalized?
    
    
13. How do you tell if a table is in first normal form?
    
    
14. How do you tell if a table is in second normal form?
    
    
15. How do you tell if a table is in third normal form?
    
    
16. Give an example that explains the phrase "functionally dependent".
    
    
17. Give an example that explains the phrase "functionally determines".
    
    
18. What is a determinant?
    
    
19. What is a key?
    What are the kinds of keys discussed in your text?
    How do keys relate to normalization?
    
    
20. What is the difference between a thick client system and a thin client system?
    
    
21. How would the bandwidth of a network affect your decision to use a thin or thick client?
    
    
22. Describe the kind of errors that a syntax error check would find.
    
    
23. Why must a logic error check be done by human beings, not by a program?
    
    
24. What are the differences between a unit test, an integration test, and a system test?
    
    
25. The text suggests that we should have the system suggest corrections for common user errors. What might be examples of this kind of error?
    
    
26. Documentation will have a very different focus, depending on who it is for, and what its purpose is. Discuss who each of these documentation types is written for, and what it is meant to do.
• program documentation
• system documentation
• operations documentation
• user documentation
  
  
27. What is the difference between a development system and a production system?
    
    
28. What are the characteristics of these types of changeovers from an old system to a new one?
• direct cutover
• parallel operation
• pilot operation
• phased operation
  
  
29. Of the four methods listed above, which is probably the most and least expensive? Which has the highest and lowest risk?
    
    
30. What are the three aspects of information systems that the author says are typically protected by computer security systems? Define each of them.
    
    
31. What is the difference between a threat and a threat agent?
    
    
32. What is the difference between a vulnerability and an exploit?
    
    
33. Why are employees possible security threats? Explain three ways they could be.
    
    
34. What is the difference between a cybercriminal and a cyberterrorist?
    
    
35. What are common forms of risk mitigation?
    
    
36. The text briefly discusses backup and recovery schemes. What is copied when you run a...
    ...Full backup?
    ...Incremental backup?
    ...Differential backup?