Help! Practice Test 2

[MMahan]

I am having issues taking practice test 2. I keep getting a lower score, but I cannot isolate which answer is giving me the problem.

One question:

You have been hired by Inspiration Inc, to help improve their profit margin. Inspiration Inc. is a business communications consultancy that services many clients in different industries throughout the http://www.studentwebstuff.com/mis/ ...y-region w:st=United States. The end products of the company are customized recommendations for the best use of a client's existing resources for improving internal communications, typically delivered via documentation in different media. The company has approximately 100 consultants, all of whom are located in their central headquarters in Chicago. What system do you recommend to improve the company's business processes and increase their profit margin?

• Extranet, to enable quick collaboration over the Internet , minimize the time spent communicating with the client, and minimize the amount of paperwork needed
• CRM, to maintain easily accessible customer records to minimize the time spent looking for client data
• KMS, for minimizing redundant work on similar clients
• Marketing system, for improving sales levels

I am leaning towards CRM as it is customized per customer per industry. No mention is made about tying into suppliers/customers so an extranet is not right. I could see KMS since the quicker they can help their clients, the more effective they are. I could see a marketing system as that is geared towards sales, however more sales does not improve profit margin.


Question 2:

You work for a highly successful advertiser that is just about to expand nationally. Of utmost importance will be finding a way to store and disseminate their client's constantly updating branding and style guides, which include multiple image files and text documents, to all of their branches. What system will best serve these needs?

• An intranet with KMS capabilities
• An extranet with KMS capabilities
• A TPS with KMS capabilities
• A sales and marketing information system

I am leaning towards an intranet with KMS. I discounted extranet since it says they want to disseminate the information to all their branches, not external companies. I cannot see how a TPS could be used to here, as what would be the transaction? A sales and marketing system does not fit at all as except as the description from the book that says "advertising and promoting these products and services". I cannot resolve this into pushing information down to branches.


Question 3:

You have been hired by a non-profit agency to implement a system to handle their donations. Event fundraisers need to be able to quickly access a donor's information and history. The marketing department needs to be able to create customized mailing lists, in order to send different messages to different types of donors. What system(s) will best meet these needs?

• TPS
• TPS with DSS capabilities
• TPS with MIS capabilities
• TPS with ESS capabilities

I think TPS only. Since all have TPS, I will just attack the extras. DSS? there are no decisions being made. It is just getting information from the database. ESS? Same thing. There is no external inputs. MIS? This is my second choice, but there are no reports here. The work is getting SQL queries from the database.

And last question:

How would you best categorize the types of systems Kia implemented in their defect early warning system?

• A TPS to store basic data about vehicles, parts, sales, and warranties, and an MIS to create reports on the data
• A TPS to store basic data about vehicles, parts, sales, and warranties, and a DSS for high-level analysis and forecasts
• An MIS to create reports from existing TPSs and a DSS for high-level analysis and forecasts
• A production and manufacturing system to record basic data about faulty parts and a DSS for high-level analysis and forecasts

I am leaning towards and MIS to create reports from exsiting TPS and DSS for high level analysis. In the text it talks about getting summary information about how many brake shoes are ordered, It also looks at complaints. All these are collated from a TPS system into a report which suggests MIS. The DSS comes in when determining significance of order spikes, warranty claims, etc. This software is known as CrystalAnalyze.


I'd appreciate any thoughts to what I am not considering before I go for another practice test. Hopefully I can find the ansers to the other questions.

[AOsiek]

I don't know if we are supposed to answer these types of questions.

Since the practice questions are actually on the test, I think the point is to see how well you are understanding the material you are reading...

If Brahnam tells us otherwise, I would be happy to share my thoughts... I got a 19 on that test.

[MMahan]

Andrea

Thank you for responding, but perhaps you misconstrued my post. I was not looking for answers, I was looking for direction "for what I was not considering". That is why I included my logic tree. The answer would not help without the explanation.

However, I have already read through chapter 2 three full times, not to mention skimming parts, and cannot garner above a 16/20 on the practice test. Since we do not have the chance to discuss points in class, I decided to raise them in the proper forum and get a dialogue going and try to get different points of view. Especially since I am almost 2 weeks behind now as I was working chapter 2, and doing research posts.

[Brahnam]

Yes, we can't post actual answers. Look at the link to the website for our book. I think they still have some practice exams with answers and these might help you on this chapter.

[MMahan]

I actually figured out my misconception over the weekend. I took the real test #2 yesterday and got a 19. Now to catch up with the other chapters. for others having difficulties, the problem is in scale, not purpose. I was thinking about the purpose of the systems rather than what level of people use it.