Examiners’ commentaries 2022

Examiners’ commentaries 2022

IS1060 Introduction to information systems

Important note

This commentary reflects the examination and assessment arrangements for this
course in the academic year 2021–2022. The format and structure of the
examination may change in future years, and any such changes will be publicised
on the virtual learning environment (VLE).
Information about the subject guide and the Essential reading references
Unless otherwise stated, all cross-references will be to the latest version of the
subject guide (2019). You should always attempt to use the most recent edition
of any Essential reading textbook, even if the commentary and/or online reading
list and/or subject guide refer to an earlier edition. If different editions of Essential
reading are listed, please check the VLE for reading supplements – if none are
available, please use the contents list and index of the new edition to find the
relevant section.

General remarks

Learning outcomes
At the end of this course and having completed the Essential reading and
Activities, you should be able to:
• Explain fundamental assumptions made in studying information and
communications technologies in organizations as socio-technical
systems in contrast to purely technical or managerial views
• Debate the relevance of the sociotechnical approach and demonstrate
this through the study of a number of practical business and
administrative information systems within real organisations
• Express a logical understanding of how the technical parts of computer-
based information systems work, their principal structures and
components including contemporary technologies for information
processing and communications
• Explain the various functions of systems and network software and
various classes of business-oriented application packages
• Describe fundamental principles that can be applied to ensure that
security and personal privacy is respected in information systems

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IS1060 Introduction to information systems

• Explain the tasks required when undertaking the establishment of a new

information system and be able to contrast alternative approaches to
development
• Describe and justify a range of professional roles in information systems
development activity, and their changing nature reflecting in part changes
in technology use in and between organisations
• Discuss the social, organisational, legal and economic context of
computer use and be able to debate the significance of information and
communications technologies on the economy and society
• Demonstrate, through project work, understanding of the analysis and
design of small projects using database and spreadsheet programs, and
the ability to write brief but informative reports on such work.
This set of learning outcomes provides a useful benchmark against which you
can assess your progress throughout the subject and will help you to balance
your workload of study and revision.

What the examiners are looking for

2022 examination experience
In 2022 the examination for this subject was in the form of an open-book take-
home online assessment within a 4-hour window. Students had 4 hours to
complete this and had various materials available including their notes, the
subject guide, textbooks and the Internet. This worked reasonably well, and
students were able to answer questions to varying degrees of attainment.
However, we do feel that many students were too concerned to re-write their
notes as answers, and too few actually and fully engaged with the questions set.
Thus, our feeling was more of memorization of materials or reference to notes,
and less of engagement in the subject. As has been mentioned in previous years
in these commentaries, good marks come from answers that reflect the actual
question and that add some extra insights, opinions or information that reflect
deeper study and use relevant evidence. In this way students can achieve 65+
answers for individual questions and overall grades in the 60s or 70s.
Thus, once again we received a significant proportion of answers that clung quite
closely to the course materials; e.g. the Laudon and Laudon text book, the course
subject guide and individual teaching centers lecturer’s own notes. Students who
obtained better marks were able to get beyond such materials – and some
carefully cited them correctly when they were used, and critiqued them to offer a
distinct and thoughtful answer. As ever, the strongest students understood the
need to show both their understanding of the focus of the question and their wider
knowledge and understanding of IS issues. They did not just identify and precis
a relevant page in the subject guide.
The results showed a drop in the mean score for the exam, to a borderline 50. In
our view the fall in average marks is accounted for in part by students’ lack of
recent experience of time-limited exams and their relatively poor technique in
assessing questions and shaping interesting and well-focused answers. We also
noted, as in previous years, that a number of students seemed to wish to
reinterpret the questions, often towards a more ‘computer science’ approach, and
wrote about what they wanted to write about, ignoring the core questions we had
set or the wider focus of the syllabus on sociotechnical perspectives and
information systems in organizational settings.

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 Examiners’ commentaries 2022

Meeting examiners expectations

Whatever the form of examination or assessment, examiners want evidence of
what you know about information systems but also evidence that you can think,
reason and argue about the subject and take ownership of your answer and not
rely on standard accounts or repeated lecture notes.
The questions we set in these examinations, and the project work, are intended
to invite multiple possible answers and we want you each to craft your own distinct
version. A good answer to almost any examination activity will require you to
exhibit some understanding to allow you to decode the question set, then some
‘facts’ to allow you to set out the basics. But, more importantly, a good answer
will be one that expresses an opinion or develops a specific line of argument,
backed by evidence. In this way, you demonstrate your ability to make a
judgement, select a particular emphasis, or present your own evaluation of
relevant ideas.
As suggested above, this all starts with your interpretation of the question or
assignment itself. Have you actually read it all? Or have you just made a reflex
reaction to some keywords that kick your mental photocopier into action? Do you
understand the question as a question – what is there to explain, discuss, weigh
up or judge? Are there alternative ways to understand it? What is it actually asking
you to do in your answer? Could it be answered in different ways? How are you
going to interpret it and which way will you formulate your own answer?
To work through this list takes some time and so do allow for thinking and planning
in any assessment activity. This applies equally to a three-hour unseen exam, to
any form of open book or take away exam and to project work. Thinking comes
first, your brain should be fully engaged in decoding and exploring the question.
This will really pay off when you get to writing something down. It is far better to
take a bit of time to think and plan, and then write a shorter answer that is well
targeted and insightful, rather than a longer one that rambles, repeats lecture
notes for the sake of filling up the page and, overall, lacks structure and focus.

Key steps to improvement

If you want to do well in your examinations and project work then there are some
key ideas that you can use to improve your performance:
1. The most important and the most effective step you can take is to revise what
you know about writing essays and reports in English. What is a paragraph
for? How do you structure a paragraph? How do you lay it out on the page?
When are sub-headings useful? How and when should you write a list? How
do you cite work that you quote from?
We strongly suggest that you take time out to identify both your strengths and
weaknesses as a writer and then work to emphasise the former but, more
importantly, to address the latter. For many candidates, time spent in efforts to
improve your written English and your ability to use it to communicate complex
ideas, will reap great benefits in this examination. Best of all, these skills are
transferable to every other examination you take from now onwards as well as to
the world of work.
In particular, it is quite common to see scripts that make no use of paragraphs,
sub-headings, underlined key words or sensible lists. We see too many
candidates who write answers as one big block of undistinguished text – a stream
of semi-consciousness. The result is answers that are hard to understand and
usually poorly structured. This occurred frequently in the 2020 and 2021
examinations when almost all students wrote on computers and had more time

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to edit and check their work. It certainly happened too often in 2022 when
students were writing (typing) under time pressure.
A minimal use of paragraphs (one idea, one paragraph), sub-headings, simple
figures, together with short and direct Introductions and Conclusions, can raise a
modest answer to become a good answer. Their lack, similarly, can reduce a
good answer to a borderline one.
Remember, all styles of examination or assessment are an exercise in
communication. So, you need to develop your ability not just to write down things
that you feel are relevant but to organise your thoughts on the page and to
communicate them clearly and persuasively to your reader. For traditional hand-
written examinations, we have always urged students to ask themselves and
other people: ‘Honestly, is my handwriting legible?’ If the answer is ‘No!’ then do
something to make it legible otherwise you will not communicate. Similarly, for
exams and assessments written on the computer you must ask yourself if you are
doing enough to make your text accessible and readable and to maximise the
communication – this year too many scripts failed this test.
2. Read about each topic that you study in at least two different textbooks and
make use of good online references such as Wikipedia or other online
sources to crosscheck your understanding and build up your knowledge.
When you consult two or more sources they will, in all probability, not say
exactly the same things, they will use different examples, and perhaps
different technical language and jargon. You then have to judge and combine
the various accounts and become an active learner. The result is that you will
understand more and you will remember more too. Certainly, you should
never ever rely on just the subject guide or your lecture notes to give you an
adequate understanding of any topic.
3. Talk about information systems issues with your friends and fellow
candidates. Keep on talking. If you cannot talk about a topic then you are
unlikely to be able to write about it in an examination. Best of all is when you
can make jokes about the subject or engage in sharp debate arguing for
specific points. To be able to construct a good plausible line of argument or
to joke about something requires that you really know it.
4. Take your learning out into the world. Visit organisations and talk to people
who work with information systems both as professionals and as users (see
subject guide Chapter 12). Ask lots of questions and test your ‘book learning’
against what people in responsible jobs actually say and do. Keep a
scrapbook of newspaper and magazine stories that relate to the various parts
of the syllabus. Try to find one such story each week during the course and
share it with fellow candidates so you can practise thinking and talking about
information systems.

Preparing for the examination

You need to approach the examination, whatever its format may be, feeling
confident in your knowledge of information systems and in your ability to use the
vocabulary of the subject and your knowledge on the day. To achieve this, you
need to have studied across quite a wide range of topics and become an active
learner, doing that little bit extra and practising ‘thinking and talking about’
information systems, not just memorising information. What you should not do is
try to rely on memorisation or mental photocopying. The reason we say this is
two-fold.

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 Examiners’ commentaries 2022

First, such memorisation often means that you do not actually learn anything, so
you waste your time and money. Second, even if you succeed in memorising
some topics for a few weeks, you are very likely to repeat what you know in an
inappropriate place or an inappropriate way.
As examiners, we often see obviously ‘pre-prepared’ and memorised text being
written on the page in a way that fails to answer the question that is asked. The
classic example of this is the kind of candidate who cannot answer a question
about some part of the lifecycle of an information systems project (e.g. focused
on analysis or on changeover) without describing the whole lifecycle in minute
detail. This kind of ‘mental photocopying’ examination technique is a really good
way to gain low marks. If the question is, for example, about changeover or
evaluation, then all your writing about systems analysis or feasibility studies will
gain you no marks - unless you build a strong link to the focal topic. Furthermore,
it shows the examiners that you lack an ability to even try to identify and present
the most appropriate knowledge you have to answer the specific question in front
of you.

Reading advice
We have given chapter references to the new 2019 subject guide for each
question – following those suggestions will also lead you to relevant activities and
readings in the course textbooks. We also very positively encourage candidates
to use the VLE, the wider internet and other textbooks, videos, magazines and
newspapers as an important source of information and understanding. When you
work through the Examiners’ commentaries for this year’s examination papers,
do use these kinds of extra resources as a way to confirm and develop your
understanding of the topics covered, and to find specific arguments or details for
each question. We have also emphasised the core ideas in the specific question
asked. This should help you develop your skills of interpreting questions and
shaping a focused answer.

Project work
We need to remind students once again that the 2019 subject guide
includes revised requirements for the project work. In particular, we now
require a use case diagram (UCD) for each element of the work. See
Chapters 2, 18 and 19 in the new guide.
As advised in Chapter 2 of the 2019 edition of the subject guide, it is important
that you prepare your project work systematically and use it both to gain specific
skills and as a way to build up your understanding of other issues of information
systems development that are addressed in the wider course. For example,
undertaking the project work should help you to develop your understanding of
issues of project planning and management, of what a database approach entails,
and of the design and use of decision support systems.
One important element of these projects is that you have to think up, develop and
execute your own projects in areas of interest to you. Projects thus can draw on
and address many areas, including sport, leisure activities, business, economics,
sociology or any other aspect of the world around you that you find interesting
and relevant. The examiners positively reward creative and individual projects
that show that a candidate has applied their knowledge to the world around them
and is using real situations, real examples and real data. We also appreciate and
reward candidates who own up to and reflect on the errors they make along the
way or the limitations of their projects.

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In contrast, examiners are not impressed by standard, obviously textbook derived

projects for either the database or spreadsheet work. Nor do they view favourably
projects from individual institutions that all have very similarly structured reports
in terms of sections but also similar basic data models, DSS domains and linking
text.
We are particularly unimpressed by database projects that are narrowly based on
the concepts of a customer who places an order for a number of items (see, for
example, Laudon, K.C. and J.P. Laudon, Management information systems:
managing the digital firm. (Boston, London: Pearson, 2018) 15th edition
[ISBN9781292211756], Chapter 6, Figure 6.11, and Curtis, G. and D. Cobham,
Business information systems: analysis, design and practice. (London: Prentice
Hall, 2008) 6th edition [ISBN 9780273713821], Chapter 13.
This customer – order - order-line model is a very standard textbook example of
a database design. It has been carefully worked out already and, as such, offers
a candidate no opportunity to demonstrate his or her skills at undertaking the
basic analysis needed for solving database problems, for identifying classes or in
normalisation and ER diagramming. If these essential skills cannot be
demonstrated, you cannot obtain marks for them. So, it is in your interest to
choose your own problems and to develop your own solutions.
More generally, a lack of imagination, creativity or demonstrated skills mean that
projects based on standard textbook examples or very simple rectangular
accounting tables cannot gain high marks. Please understand, candidates who
turn their attention to some novel or personally interesting application area, and
do the work to develop a distinct and individual database or spreadsheet, can and
do achieve really high marks, including marks for noting problems, errors, and
limitations.
We do understand that teachers need to use well-known examples to teach about
class diagrams and data models and the uses of database and spreadsheet
software. Equally, you probably need help to learn how to structure and write
succinct and informative reports. However, your data models and spreadsheet
models should be your own and your report should be written in your own words
and based on your own ideas and activities. In summary, the work you submit
must be your own and not a cut-and-paste job based on a standard textbook
model, or a pro forma report developed by a teacher and used by a whole class.
Remember too, projects are assessed based on a report written by the student.
We do not want any actual programs and will not look at them if they are provided.
Your job is to write a report – not to deliver software.
The report needs to be well structured and informative, conveying the essence of
the work that you have done. Nevertheless, too many candidates submit reports
for both the database and spreadsheet work that are weak, with minimal
explanation of the work and poorly structured. The most common and irritating
case is the candidate who provides no introduction or justification of the overall
database project, a rough set of un-normalised tables, and then magically, and
with no explanation or examples, provides a normalised version. Similar problems
are found in spreadsheet projects that have no discussion of design decisions,
users or data sources, but moves directly to present an often confused and poor-
quality spreadsheet. In both cases, to receive marks you must ‘show your
working’.
Another example of poor practice and failure to explain is where database reports
mention tables, reports and queries in the text and then just say ‘see attached’ or
similar. The report then ends with pages and pages of seemingly random

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printouts of almost everything. This is not good practice. Your report has a page
limit of 8 pages, and in these 8 pages we expect to see a small number of relevant
sample data tables and selected screen shots that are integrated into the main
body of your report – just as you see in a book chapter. Putting screenshots,
tables, figures and reports in an appendix, rather than where they naturally occur
in the explanation of the project, makes it far more difficult to understand how the
spreadsheet/database is constructed and used. There may be valid uses for
tables and figures in appendices, but these should be for reference as needed,
not core information.
We also still see many screenshots that are too small to be legible – more
thumbnails than real images. If the examiners cannot read them, they cannot give
any marks for them. Good screenshots are legible, properly cropped and then
annotated so as to indicate the key aspects being illustrated. This is particularly
true with spreadsheets where it too easy to imagine that a figure of a whole sheet
will be legible and informative when the opposite is the case.
Finally, please remember that we do assess both elements of project work in
respect of your use of word processing and document preparation skills, so take
time to get the presentation right including layout on the page, positioning of
graphics, spelling, grammar and the use of paragraphs.

Database project work

To succeed you must work on a real-world database idea that you understand
and of which you can give a realistic account. Too many students start their
projects with an obviously fictional scenario. Too often we read an opening
statement such as: ‘The Jumbo Bakery needs a database to keep track of the
orders for cakes and pies…’. It does not sound as though you are actually telling
your own story (even if you are). Far better to be able to start out saying truthfully:
‘The idea for this database came from my part-time job working in the Jumbo
Bakery. Here I have observed that orders for cakes and pies come in all day long,
and sometimes get lost or delivered to the wrong customers. There is also no way
to check if we have the right ingredients in stock to do the baking for the following
week. This suggested to me two possible areas to use for this project. After
thought and discussion, I decided to focus on the ingredient stocks problem.’ You
can build further on the credibility of your project by showing some real credible
data.
You are required to produce use case diagrams (UCD) for both the database and
spreadsheet project. This is a way to give the context of your system and the
potential users/roles it can serve. However, we still see too few examples that
refer creatively to the UCD in the report. For example, a good UCD can frame the
selection of forms, queries and reports in a database, or the distinctions between
a user entering and modelling independent variables, and a manager setting
policy and parameters in a decision support system. One common problem with
the UCDs is that many show operations to be conducted like ‘enter name’ not
tasks the database is meant to fulfil like ‘book flight’ or ’return book’ or ‘set up
customer account’. Remember that use cases (the ovals) are ‘chunks of
functionality’, not atomic actions. And they are NOT flowcharts either, they show
WHO, and WHAT, but not HOW.
A good database project report will describe briefly how reports and forms enable
the use cases shown in the UCD, and which actors they are intended for. Your
database or spreadsheet does not need to address all the needs and use cases
of all the actors shown in the UCD but you should very clearly identify those that
are part of the project. You will get more credit for your UCD if you use it to show

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IS1060 Introduction to information systems

which use cases your database or spreadsheet supports. You may even suggest
what developments or amendments to your database or spreadsheet would
enable other use cases or actors’ needs to be met.
Still, the central idea for a database is a well-developed class diagram and then
a data model documented in the UML style. Most candidates do attempt this but
in many cases the work is rushed and incomplete. To fully achieve this requires
that you first develop the database idea and identify the minimal set of classes
that fit the problem. Then you need to undertake the normalisation and this may
well increase the number of classes you need (e.g. as *..* associations are
worked out). Remember that if a data model is not normalised this will inevitably
lead to problems in implementing it (e.g., in identifying appropriate foreign keys).
The examiners really do need you to show them that you have seriously
considered your initial class diagram, have done normalisation, and produced a
final ER diagram for implementation. Too many candidates try to skip this key
aspect, or do not document it. (For more reading, see the subject guide, Chapters
16 and 18). You must also understand that a screenshot from your database
software (e.g., Access) cannot be adequate as a class diagram. Rather, you must
do the analysis and design work before you implement using the software.
We also see good class diagrams that have not subsequently been faithfully
implemented in the database software. This is often apparent when we compare
the class diagram with a screenshot of the model as implemented – e.g., as taken
from Access. This suggests that candidates need to take more care in
implementing their developed model and need to cross-check that the
associations specified in the class diagram are implemented when the database
is created. If you do have subsequent problems, then describe them in the report
– do not try to hide them.
Remember too that well-designed queries underpin all reports and forms and
allow you to show your understanding of how tables can be linked. Good project
reports show query by example (QBE) forms that access more than one table.
Some candidates show this by annotating the data model and indicating the
tables involved. Queries and reports that only use one table (maybe with a
selection criterion, maybe not) are less impressive. We therefore recommend that
you include a QBE form screenshot or a structured query language (SQL) code
if you are not using Access or other database software with a graphical interface.

Spreadsheet project work

Spreadsheets, like databases, should come out of your own experience and
interest in the world. Every sentiment that is expressed in the opening two
paragraphs of the section above on databases is equally relevant to spreadsheets
including using a UCD to provide the context of your work. Remember that, just
as with a database, you must select and choose your topic – no standard textbook
problems, no shortcuts – do your own thing, do your own thinking and impress
the examiners!
Lack of engagement with the problem also leads to another issue: spreadsheet
projects that are essentially trivial in their modelling – just adding up rows of
numbers, or calculating simple percentages. Candidates need to be creative in
developing their spreadsheet projects and step beyond using simple functions
such as = SUM(x,y). A disappointing number of spreadsheet projects rely on
clicking on inbuilt Excel analyses like Optimise or Goal seek without any
thoughtful discussion of why these functions were chosen and how they helped
to achieve the use case. Please also remember that, in order to give good marks,
we need to see a properly documented design of the spreadsheet with a

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justification for the principal decisions you make. If you do this then you are
helping us to give you marks – if you do not, we cannot! In a similar way, you
should pay some attention to data validation and testing. Your spreadsheet will
not be of much use in the real world if a user can enter any data into any cell.
We also see many ill-considered charts and figures generated by spreadsheets.
For example, 3D charts that show no more than 2D equivalents but look confusing
and messy. Remember, just because the software can do such flashy things does
not mean you have to use them. Even worse, many projects present charts that
have no underlying meaning; for example, line graphs of non-continuous data
and pie charts of items that are not allocations of 100 per cent of anything. Note
also that the default pie chart in some versions of Excel creates a legend in a box
away from the chart. Pie charts are far easier to interpret if the data labels are
placed next to the appropriate segment along with either a percentage figure or
number of items.
Other graphs we see sometimes present five or six parallel columns per item and
are so thin and poorly printed that they cannot be read. When marking this work,
we can only give credit for meaningful charts that we can read and decipher. You
should also remember that it is a good idea to describe briefly why you have
chosen a particular type of chart and perhaps what other options you considered
and rejected, and why.

Examination revision strategy

Many candidates are disappointed to find that their examination performance is

poorer than they expected. This can be due to a number of different reasons and
the Examiners’ commentaries suggest ways of addressing common problems
and improving your performance. We want to draw your attention to one particular
failing – ‘question spotting’, that is, confining your examination preparation to a
few question topics which have come up in past papers for the course. This can
have very serious consequences.
We recognise that candidates may not cover all topics in the syllabus in the same
depth, but you need to be aware that examiners are free to set questions on any
aspect of the syllabus. This means that you need to study enough of the syllabus
to enable you to answer the required number of examination questions.
The syllabus can be found in the Course information sheet in the section of the
VLE dedicated to this course. You should read the syllabus very carefully and
ensure that you cover sufficient material in preparation for the examination.
Examiners will vary the topics and questions from year to year and may well set
questions that have not appeared in past papers – every topic on the syllabus is
a legitimate examination target. So although past papers can be helpful in
revision, you cannot assume that topics or specific questions that have come up
in past examinations will occur again.
If you rely on a question spotting strategy, it is likely you will find yourself
in difficulties when you sit the examination paper. We strongly advise you
not to adopt this strategy.

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IS1060 Introduction to information systems

Examiners’ commentaries 2022

IS1060 Introduction to information systems

Important note
This commentary reflects the examination and assessment arrangements for this
course in the academic year 2021–2022. The format and structure of the
examination may change in future years, and any such changes will be publicised
on the virtual learning environment (VLE).
Information about the subject guide and the Essential reading references
Unless otherwise stated, all cross-references will be to the latest version of the
subject guide (2019). You should always attempt to use the most recent edition
of any Essential reading textbook, even if the commentary and/or online reading
list and/or subject guide refer to an earlier edition. If different editions of Essential
reading are listed, please check the VLE for reading supplements – if none are
available, please use the contents list and index of the new edition to find the
relevant section.

Comments on specific questions

Candidates should answer THREE of the following SIX questions. All
questions carry equal marks.
Question 1
a) Discuss why resistance to change may be inevitable when a new
information system is developed and implemented. How can the
potential for resistance be reduced during development and
implementation?

b) If resistance to change does occur on a substantial scale after

changeover, what are the possible strategies for managers to take?

Reading for this question

Subject guide Chapter 17 and Chapter 1 (Sociotechnical model); Laudon &
Laudon Chapter 14.
Approaching the question
This question needs careful reading, it asks if resistance ‘might be inevitable’
and talks about the ‘potential’ for resistance. This suggests perhaps that it
may not be inevitable or easy to identify or resolve. So, the question requires
a nuanced kind of an answer, not just description, not just accepting the
inevitability, not just a list of reasons for resistance but also things to do about
it in anticipation. Better answers will take a wider perspective, using perhaps
sociotechnical ideas from Leavitt, or focusing more on the need for
participation and communication in the process of development. Lazy, weak,
answers just blame the users, and in particular older people!

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Part (b) asks about what to do after the event if resistance occurs. There are
many possibilities, to try harder and force through change, offer more training
and support (but it’s probably too late), or perhaps to coerce users and
mandate use. But will this work? One alternative is to back-off and reduce the
level of change people face, to fix obvious bugs, errors of design and poor
interfaces etc. and, most importantly, to find out what the real issues at stake
are – which might well be not directly or solely related to the new system. You
could also just abandon the new system, learn a few lessons about how to
manage change, and try again later.
Overall, this is a challenging question to answer well, but good students can
think it through, and thinking (rather than basic description or definitions) will
be rewarded!

Question 2
“Cloud computing has changed fundamentally how organisations design
and develop their information systems both large (e.g. enterprise systems),
and small (e.g. targeted decision support systems). It has also changed how
the basic resources needed to support them are sourced.”
Critically assess this statement.
Reading for this question
Chapter 8 and 9 of the subject guide; Laudon & Laudon Chapters 2.2 and 9.1.
Approaching the question
The question asks students to reflect on how Cloud computing has changed the
way organisations acquire, manage and use information systems. We expect
answers that generally agree that there is a change (see also Laudon & Laudon
concept of ‘eras of IS’). This can be discussed in various ways, as more services
from the market, and less in-house activity, as faster and scalable resources or
as a more fragmented task by task approach. Thus, software sourcing changes
(SaaS), as does the ability to mix and match smaller and scalable chunks of
software functionality.
Good answers to this question will not expend too much effort to explain what
cloud computing is (XaaS). The assumption should be, given the way the
question is phrased, that you and the examiner know the basics, and you are
going to show that you understand some of the implications of Cloud for
organisational information systems and their management. So, there are few
marks for dumps of lecture notes on Cloud, rather you need to write about how it
changes the way an organisation manages their information systems. In any
case, good answers to this question need to have a solid shape to their argument,
less a description of cloud computing as a technical phenomenon, and more an
assessment of how organisations are changed by it, reflecting some idea about
enterprise systems and smaller local systems.

Question 3
a) What are the essential differences between an IS project developed
using a formal lifecycle approach, and one developed using the agile
approach? In your answer consider both i) the required tasks and their
sequence and ii) how work is managed and coordinated.

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IS1060 Introduction to information systems

b) Can an agile approach ever be appropriate for large scale, large budget
systems involving many stakeholders and users?

Reading for this question

Subject guide Chapter 15.
Approaching the question
Part (a) of the question requires you to find a structure within which to answer.
Just describing one (lifecycle) and then the other (agile) won’t really do it. A
good answer needs to focus on the essential differences, or potential
differences, and could well include ideas taken from the agile manifesto such
as ‘running code vs documentation’ or ‘customer collaboration vs contract
negotiation’. In any case, an answer should take the strong hint from the
question and try to address issues of ‘tasks’ and task sequence first then
managing and controlling the activity second. The question is trying to help
you shape your answer and give it some structure.
Part (b) asks if the potential scale of agile projects is limited. We suspect that
many students are conservative in this, and favour the traditional life cycle,
seeing it as more focused and manageable for large scale projects. They
have a point, but the world is moving on. In the real world some quite large
projects are undertaken using essentially agile/rapid/MVP ideas. Think about
Covid pandemic systems and services - no time for weighty specifications or
tortured requirements documents, but also not always very good in their first
iteration – better in their second. Certainly, many large corporations have
consciously moved their development approach to agile, and seek to use it
on large-scale projects, believing it to be necessary to remain competitive in
delivering new IS based service.

Question 4
Write a job description for a systems analyst working on enterprise scale
systems and their implementation in a large company.
Your answer should describe the skills required for this role, the kinds of
tasks that the systems analyst will undertake, and the challenges she may
face.
Reading for this question
Subject guide Chapter 14 Systems Development, and Chapter 15.4 Professional
Roles; Laudon & Laudon Chapter 14.
Approaching the question
To answer this, you need to know what a job description looks like; e.g. see
Activity 15.3 in the subject guide. You should be familiar in a small way with a
systems analyst’s work from your coursework – e.g., scoping a system and UML
diagramming. You should however relate your answer to the role in a big
organisation and working on enterprise scale systems.
Among the aspects that a good answer might include and elaborate a bit are:
examine and document existing systems and activities, assess potential for
change/improvement, create a business case, undertake feasibility studies,
communicate with managers, staff and tech specialists (internal and external),
elicit and document requirements, undertake technical and process design, plan
delivery projects including testing, changeover/migration, training and
maintenance.

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 Examiners’ commentaries 2022

Better answers separate out skills from tasks as the question asks, and devote
some time to the ‘challenges’ of the position; e.g., as a link between different
worlds, as a bringer of bad tidings, maintaining good relations with users and
managers, understanding (empathising with) other people’s perspectives,
motives and capacity for change.

Question 5
a) Explain the concept of Big Data and the potential benefits that it may
offer. In your answer use examples of potential Big Data sources and
uses in large retail businesses.

b) Does Big Data pose any ethical concerns that retail companies should
consider? Should people be concerned by the amount of data that may
be generated about them, and the uses to which it may be put?

Reading for this question

Subject guide Chapter 4 and 6; Laudon & Laudon Chapter 4.1.
Approaching the question
A good answer needs a broad exploration of the concept of Big Data using
perhaps the 4 (or 5) Vs of big data and drawing on ideas such as ‘data
exhaust’ and the myriad devices and transactional streams that can yield data
within and beyond an organisation. A large retail company should allow plenty
of examples such as data from purchases, stock movements, e-commerce
web data plus other external sources such as weather or social media traffic.
Good answers must be aware that not all systems that use data, even large
quantities of data meet the usual definition of ‘Big Data’ systems.
Answers needs to focus significantly on the potential benefits for
organisations, including in managing operations and supply chains,
understanding customers and suppliers, developing new products and
services, and including monetising the data they generate.
Part (b) can draw from the Loudon & Laudon Chapter 4.1, ‘The dark side of
big data’, which suggests five ‘moral dimensions’ including Information
Rights, Accountability and Quality of life, each of which can suggest issues
that need to be addressed by big companies and reflect legitimate concerns
that you or I may have, for example, as our data from various sources is
mixed together and sold on to third parties. In assessing answers here,
examiners will reward coherent narratives that address the issues in an
integrated manner using solid conceptual categories; e.g., not just as a list of
issues, but as a well-argued set of questions to ask, principles of action, or
guidance for managers. Beware in particular not only to consider the more
conventional issues of privacy of personal data – Big Data takes us into new
territory.

Question 6
Write a short report for a senior manager in a multinational bank which sets
out the potential benefits and risks of using cutting edge artificial
intelligence (AI) technologies in their products and services. The bank is
particularly interested in i) reducing its workforce, ii) improving its ability to
detect fraud, and iii) delivering new services via mobile devices.
Reading for this question

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IS1060 Introduction to information systems

Subject guide Chapter 2, Chapter 11 and 17; Laudon & Laudon Chapter 11.4.
Approaching the question
This question asks for a report and sets out its basic structure. Good answers
should respect this and write in a report style. They will also balance their effort
appropriately between the 3 parts identified. The key idea behind this question is
that there are trade-offs in adopting this kind of technology – and that it can offer
both benefits and risks in different domains.
The specific benefits are fairly easy to elaborate once a basic account of AI and
smart systems is established - for example in an opening paragraph. For
example, a smart algorithm for credit approval might replace expensive human
analysts, and smart voice recognition systems replace many bank staff on the
high street or in a call centre. AI driven data analytics might be able to spot fraud
based on diverse data (big data), or add layers of security in online transactions;
e.g., voice/face recognition. A smart chatbot can potentially offer tailored services
for pension investment via a mobile phone interface (but is this really viable, is it
what most potential clients want?).
A good answer will need some such examples to work with, will offer some
guidance to senior managers to help them make decisions. It will also end with
some kind of a summation of the potential risks and benefits of AI.

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