solution

Please answer FOUR of the eight questions

1. (a) State and describe three Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool categories, defining clearly the business benefit for each.

   (9 Marks)

2. (b) Discuss the three potential benefits of adopting Customer Relationship Management as a strategy.

   (6 Marks)

3. (c) To support cost saving, companies are increasingly relying on online based knowledge management systems to provide customers with effective help structures. Critically consider the advantages and/or disadvantages of this approach to customers.

1. (a) In the context of business strategy, describe the role undertaken at each of the main levels of management (i.e. Operational, Middle and Senior), ensuring consideration of the links that exist between management structure, business strategy, and information use.

   (9 Marks)

2. (b) Describe the four information systems (inputs, outputs, and management level) used within the constituency perspective.

   (16 Marks)

MM258 2020/21 A 850

(10 Marks)

3.

Page 3

1. (a) Define and differentiate ‘data’, ‘information’, ‘knowledge’, and ‘wisdom’.

   (7 Marks)

2. (b) Identify three categories of knowledge management systems. Provide two examples of each.

   (9 Marks)

3. (c) Knowledge is either structured, semi-structured or unstructured in nature. For each knowledge type describe and highlight:

   (i) how knowledge is captured, and
   (ii) the contextual business use of this knowledge type.

   (9 Marks)

4.

1. (a) According to the Business Information Value Chain, using

   Management Information Systems supports business process development and management activities.

   1. (i) Describe the component parts of the Business Information Value Chain. Use a diagram to support your description.

      (6 Marks)

   2. (ii) Justify, using the example of a distribution company, how the Business Information Value Chain can be used to support and improve information value in Business Process and Management Activities.

      (12 Marks)

2. (b) What is a Decision Support System (DSS), and what is the difference between a model-driven and a data-driven DSS?

   (7 Marks)

MM258 2020/21 A 850

5.

6.

Page 4

1. (a) When an office equipment rental company decides to implement a new IS solution, four stages of decision-making are applied: Intelligence, Design, Choice, and Implementation. For each of these stages, in the context of the office equipment rental company:

   1. (i) Explain the output of each decision stage.

      (4 marks)

   2. (ii) Describe how technical IS solutions can be used to

      support decision marking.

      (4 Marks)

2. (b) When implementing an Information System, what three

   dimensions must be considered? Which dimension is most critical to IS project success?

   (7 Marks)

3. (c) What is the connection between organisations, information systems, and business processes?

1. (a) Planned organisational change supports optimisation of processes. State and describe, using diagrams to illustrate your answer, three actions that can be used to support optimisation.

   (7 Marks)

2. (b) The potential risk/return of using a new Information System within an organisation can be categorised using four levels of change severity. Define these four severity levels and give a business example at each level.

   (8 Marks)

3. (c) How can information system silos impact information transfer between:

(i) functional departments and (ii) management-levels.

MM258 2020/21 A 850

(10 Marks)

(10 Marks)

7.

8.

Page 5

1. (a) Enterprise systems are commonly outsourced off-the shelf solutions. Describe in detail one Enterprise Application. Consider its function and use within a company of your choice

   (9 Marks)

2. (b) State and describe two software development methods that might be used to produce business software solutions.

   (6 Marks)

3. (c) You have been hired as a consultant to assist senior managers in the planning of a new ESS dashboard. Discuss factors that you would advise management to consider before implementation.

(a) In relational databases there are three types of entity relationships. Describe, using diagrams, the three types of relationship.

(6 Marks)

(b) When compared to process-specific flat files, state three organisational benefits of using a centralised relational database.

(6 Marks)

(c)

1. (i) Describe what is meant by online analytic processing

   (OLAP) and using two examples describe when OLAP can be effectively used.

   (7 Marks)

2. (ii) Explain a key difference between OLAP and data mining.

MM258 2020/21 A 850

(End of Question Paper)