Information Systems for Business and Beyond Questions:

• Chapter 9 – study questions      1-10, Exercise 3

1. Describe the role of a systems analyst.
2. What      are some of the different roles for a computer engineer?
3. What      are the duties of a computer operator?
4. What      does the CIO do?
5. Describe      the job of a project manager.
6. Explain      the point of having two different career paths in information systems.
7. What      are the advantages and disadvantages of centralizing the IT function?
8. What      impact has information technology had on the way companies are organized?
9. What      are the five types of information-systems users?
10. Why      would an organization outsource?

Exercise 3

How is the IT function organized in your school or place of employment? Create an organization chart showing how the IT organization fits into your overall organization. Comment on how centralized or decentralized the IT function is.

• Chapter 10 – study questions      1-10, Exercise 1

1. What are the steps in the SDLC      methodology?
2. What      is RAD software development?
3. What      makes the lean methodology unique?
4. What      are three differences between second-generation and third-generation      languages?
5. Why      would an organization consider building its own software application if it      is cheaper to buy one?
6. What      is responsive design?
7. What      is the relationship between HTML and CSS in website design?
8. What      is the difference between the pilot implementation methodology and the      parallel implementation methodology?
9. What      is change management?
10. What      are the four different implementation methodologies?

Exercise 1

Which software-development methodology would be best if an organization needed to develop a software tool for a small group of users in the marketing department? Why? Which implementation methodology should they use? Why?

• Information Technology and      Organizational Learning Assignment:
• Chapter 7 – Review the      section on dealing with multiple locations and outsourcing.  Review      figure 7.2 and note how virtual team communications further reiterates the      importance of this model. 
• Chapter 8 – Review the      Siemens AG case study.  Note the importance of understanding the      interrelationships amongst all the senior leaders at every location.       Pay special attention to Figure 8.1 and Figure 8.2. Note how the corporate      CIO should engage with each of the regional leaders.  Why is this      important?
      

Assume that you are nearing graduation and have applied for a job with a local bank. As part of the bank’s evaluation process, you have been asked to take an examination that covers several financial analysis techniques. The first section of the test addresses time value of money analysis. See how you would do by answering the following questions.

1. Draw time lines for (a) a $2000 lump sum cash flow at the end of year 4, (b) an ordinary annuity of $1000 per year for 5 years, and (c) an uneven cash flow stream of -$450, $1000, $650, $850 and $500 at the end of years 0 through 4.
2. What is the future value of an initial $1000 after 5 years if it is invested in an account paying 5% annual interest?
3. What is the present value of $1000 to be received in 4 years if the appropriate interest rate is 5%?
4. We sometimes need to find out how long it will take a sum of money (or anything else) to grow to some specified amount. For example, if a company’s sales for 2020 is $1000 and expected to grow at a rate of 10% per year, how long will it take sales to double?
5. If you invested $10,000 in an investment account and you expect it to double in 4 years, what interest rate must it earn?
6. What is the future value of a 5-year ordinary annuity of $1000 if the appropriate interest rate is 5%? What is the present value of the annuity?
7. What is the future value of $1000 after 4 years under 10% annual compounding? Semiannual compounding? Quarterly compounding? Monthly compounding? Daily compounding
8. What is the effective annual rate (EAR or EFF%)? What is the EFF% for a nominal rate of 5%, compounded semiannually? Compounded quarterly? Compounded monthly? Compounded daily?
9. Construct an amortization schedule for a $1,000, 12% annual rate loan with 4 equal installments. What is the annual interest expense for the borrower, and the annual interest income for the lender, during Year 2?
10. Suppose on January 1 you deposit $1000 in an account that pays a nominal, or quoted, interest rate of 12%, with interest added (compounded) daily. How much will you have in your account on October 1, or 9 months later?
11. You want to buy a car, and a local bank will lend you $10,000. The loan would be fully amortized over 6 years (72 months), and the nominal interest rate would be 10%, with interest paid monthly. What is the monthly loan payment?
12. While Mary Corens was a student at the University of Tennessee, she borrowed $20,000 in student loans at an annual interest rate of 5%. If Mary repays $200 per year, then how long (to the nearest year) will it take her to repay the loan?

Submit your answers in a Word and/or Excel document.

Assume that you are nearing graduation and have applied for a job with a local bank. As part of the bank’s evaluation process, you have been asked to take an examination that covers several financial analysis techniques. The first section of the test addresses time value of money analysis. See how you would do by answering the following questions.

1. Draw time lines for (a) a $2000 lump sum cash flow at the end of year 4, (b) an ordinary annuity of $1000 per year for 5 years, and (c) an uneven cash flow stream of -$450, $1000, $650, $850 and $500 at the end of years 0 through 4.
2. What is the future value of an initial $1000 after 5 years if it is invested in an account paying 5% annual interest?
3. What is the present value of $1000 to be received in 4 years if the appropriate interest rate is 5%?
4. We sometimes need to find out how long it will take a sum of money (or anything else) to grow to some specified amount. For example, if a company’s sales for 2020 is $1000 and expected to grow at a rate of 10% per year, how long will it take sales to double?
5. If you invested $10,000 in an investment account and you expect it to double in 4 years, what interest rate must it earn?
6. What is the future value of a 5-year ordinary annuity of $1000 if the appropriate interest rate is 5%? What is the present value of the annuity?
7. What is the future value of $1000 after 4 years under 10% annual compounding? Semiannual compounding? Quarterly compounding? Monthly compounding? Daily compounding
8. What is the effective annual rate (EAR or EFF%)? What is the EFF% for a nominal rate of 5%, compounded semiannually? Compounded quarterly? Compounded monthly? Compounded daily?
9. Construct an amortization schedule for a $1,000, 12% annual rate loan with 4 equal installments. What is the annual interest expense for the borrower, and the annual interest income for the lender, during Year 2?
10. Suppose on January 1 you deposit $1000 in an account that pays a nominal, or quoted, interest rate of 12%, with interest added (compounded) daily. How much will you have in your account on October 1, or 9 months later?
11. You want to buy a car, and a local bank will lend you $10,000. The loan would be fully amortized over 6 years (72 months), and the nominal interest rate would be 10%, with interest paid monthly. What is the monthly loan payment?
12. While Mary Corens was a student at the University of Tennessee, she borrowed $20,000 in student loans at an annual interest rate of 5%. If Mary repays $200 per year, then how long (to the nearest year) will it take her to repay the loan?

Submit your answers in a Word and/or Excel document.

TASK 1 – Problem Set

Attached Files:

James Madison was
brought in as assistant to Computron’s chairman, who had the task of getting
the company back into a sound financial position. Madison must prepare an
analysis of where the company is now, what it must do to regain its financial health,
and what actions to take. Your assignment is to help her answer the following
questions, using the recent and projected financial information shown next.
Provide clear explanations, not yes or no answers.

1. Why are ratios useful? What
   three groups use ratio analysis and for what reasons?
2. Calculate the profit margin,
   operating profit margin, basic earning power (BEP), return on assets
   (ROA), and return on equity (ROE). What can you say about these
   ratios?
3. Calculate the inventory
   turnover, days sales outstanding (DSO), fixed assets turnover, and total
   assets turnover. How does Computron’s utilization of assets stack up
   against other firms in its industry?
4. Calculate the current and
   quick ratios based on the projected balance sheet and income statement
   data. What can you say about the company’s liquidity position and its
   trend?
5. Calculate the debt ratio,
   liabilities-to-assets ratio, times-interest-earned, and EBITDA coverage
   ratios. How does Computron compare with the industry with respect to
   financial leverage? What can you conclude from these ratios?
6. Calculate the price/earnings
   ratio and market/book ratio. Do these ratios indicate that investors
   are expected to have a high or low opinion of the company?
7. Use the extended DuPont
   equation to provide a summary and overview of Computron’s projected
   financial condition. What are the firm’s major strengths and
   weaknesses?
8. What are some potential
   problems and limitations of financial ratio analysis?
9. What are some qualitative
   factors analysts should consider when evaluating a company’s likely future
   financial performance?

Submit your answers in a Word and/or Excel document.

TASK 2 – Marketing Project Proposal

The group will
write-up their proposed idea for their International Marketing Plan in a 3 – 5 paged paper that will
be submitted at the end of the day. The purpose of the Proposal to ensure
that the group is on the right path of success to complete the
project. The group will work on their idea and tentative
supplemental pieces for the plan. The final plan will be submitted at the end
of the semester.

This tells you some
of the parameters you need to meet for the Marketing Plan. The following
are other pieces you need to ensure you include:

• What is the PRODUCT you wish
  to introduce?
• What are the PRICES you want
  to charge and/or the including a discussion of what the profit looks like
  you intend to make
• What PROMOTIONS do you intend
  to use to get your Marketing message across to your target market?
• What PLACE/DISTRIBUTION
  methods do you intend to use to get your product to the masses?
  • Who is the target market?
    Why?
  • What specific methods of
    distribution do you want to use? Do you want to have a storefront?
    Online presence? Both? Direct Sales?
  • Depending on the
    International City/Country you plan to target, why did you pick that area
    for that particular product? Why that target market?
  • Where do you plan to be
    headquartered?
• Everything needs to be
  specific and spelled out directly.

TASK 1

Choose a journal article related to project scope, monitoring, or control (do not re-use a journal from a prior course). Write a 2-3 page review of your chosen journal article. Please choose a peer reviewed journal, and an article that has been published in the past five (5) years. The review should contain the journal article title, author’s name and year of publication.

paper should contain the following headings:

• Introduction
• Summary of the article
• Relevant points made by the author
• Critique of the article
• Application of the concepts in the article

You are going to review a single journal article, therefore your reference page should only contain the information from the article you reviewed. There is no need to introduce other journals into this paper.

Task 2 : Problem Set

1. Software project decision point.
   1. You need to determine an interest rate to use—select an interest rate and explain why you think this number should be used. Use it in your calculations in item 1.2.
   2. Given the information below on options 1 and 2, carry out three forms of analysis: breakeven, ROI, and NPV.
   3. Make a recommendation on which way to proceed, based on the TCO for each option.

• Option 1: Purchase the FunSoft package: Cost $200,000 for software and $85,000 for hardware in year one; with $50,000 to customize it and a $40,000 annual licensing fee for the life of the contract. There will be an annual saving of $61,000 due to the layoff of a clerk.
• Option 2: Purchase the SoftComm package, which will operate on the vendor’s hardware: Cost $250,000 for a five-year license, payable half up front and half during the first year of implementation. The maintenance contract, at $75,000 a year, includes all currently identified modifications to the software for the first three years. The clerk’s hours will be cut by half, for a saving of $25,000 a year.

• In both cases, sales are expected to increase from the current $1 million a year, by 10% per year each year (over each year’s previous year’s sales) after full implementation.

Assume a five-year life for the software.