GUPTA IS 491 Spring 2018 INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY Final Examination Help
NAME:
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE
COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
GUPTA IS 491 Spring 2018
INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
Final Examination
NOTES:
1. Please make sure you have a total of four (4) pages (including this one) containing
eight main questions.
2. Be brief and to the point in your answers indicating the logic necessary to justify
your answer. Answers by themselves will not even get you a passing grade.
3. You can use any published resource and your own notes for this examination. However,
you are not allowed to take help or consult any person or living being in this
examination.
4. You are allowed to use as much time as you may need to do this examination. You
must provide an electronic copy and a typed version of your answers and your
examination which must be received by your instructor no later than 12:00 Noon
on Friday, April 27, 2018. No extensions, modifications, or exceptions
are possible for any reason whatsoever.
5. You must handwrite the following honor code, sign it, and attach with your hard
copy using this sheet: I neither asked for nor received anyone’s consultation, old
examinations for this course or any related courses, or suggestions or help in doing
this examination. Further, I neither discussed this examination with anyone else not
did I see or use anyone’s notes, drafts, or answers to this examination, either in hard
copy or electronic form. I acknowledge that this is all my own work. In addition, I
agree to not share this test or my answers with any current or future students in any
course or program.
HONOR CODE
Signature
1. On the basis of your study of our textbooks, articles through internet search, several
class discussions, presentations by the CIOs and others, and your knowledge
and experience (due to this course or otherwise) about the business value of IS/T,
write an essay that describes the views you have developed about measuring and
documenting the business value of IS/T and the rapidly emerging/changing need for
IS/T executives to be able to provide an answer about the business value of IS/T
to functional and top executives of any organization. Please include in your essay
the role that IS/T governance plays in justifying the business value of IS/T and the
types of analysis you will do to convince top executives to increase their emphasis
and expenditures on IS/T. Please include the factors (like cyber security, analytics
and social media) that will help and/or hinder you in ensuring that IS/T is perceived
to be valuable in your organization and that IS/T is considered an equal partner in
accomplishing the vision and mission of your organization. (18 points)
2. On the basis of your study of our textbooks, articles through internet search, several
class discussions, and your knowledge and experience (due to this course or otherwise),
write an essay that describes the views you have developed about the current
and rapidly emerging/changing role that business analytics and social media play
in delivering strategic and competitive value of IS/T and the types of analysis you
will do to convince top executives to increase their emphasis on the use and management
of analytics and social media in organizations. Please include the factors
that will help and/or hinder you in ensuring that the use of analytics and social
media as an IS/T resource is perceived to be valuable in your organization and that
IS/T is considered an equal partner in accomplishing the vision and mission of your
organization. (18 points)
3. Please thoroughly analyze the case Crowdsourcing at AOL from pages 225-226 of
Pearlson et al’s book and write a report that includes answers to the questions asked
on page 226 but is not limited to these questions only (i. e., if there are other
aspects of the case that are important from the IS/T or IS/T’s relationship with
business, please include those aspects into consideration while writing your report).
(10 points)
4. Please thoroughly analyze the case Stop & Shop’s Scan It! App from pages 275-276
of Pearlson et al’s book and write a report that includes answers to the questions
asked on page 298 but is not limited to these questions only (i. e., if there are other
aspects of the case that are important from the IS/T or IS/T’s relationship with
business, please include those aspects into consideration while writing your report).
(10 points)
5. On the basis of your knowledge and experience (due to this course or otherwise;
however, please cite all your sources of material you found useful), and your own
assessment of your interests, qualifications, strengths and weaknesses, write an essay
that describes your intentions for a career in Information Systems and Technology.
Please include as many specifics as you can in this essay including a projected career
path that you intend to follow to achieve your objectives. For example, if you select
CIO as being your career goal, then what path will you follow to achieve being a
CIO. Please also include the factors that help or hinder you and the steps you will
take to ensure your success in your selected profession. (13 points)
6. Now that you have completed your team project, please write a brief essay about it
including the answers to the following questions:
(a) Why did you specifically select this project? What aspects of the information
systems and technology function were you most interested in exploring and
why?
(b) What was the main purpose of your project? As a result of this project and
other discussions in this course, please describe the approaches you will use in
preparing strategic information systems plans in alignment with the corporate
strategy of an organization.
(c) What did the project accomplish in relation to the IS 491 course as well as
the reasons for your selection of this project described in (a) above? Please
describe the lessons learned in terms of (i) preparing strategic IS/T plans; (ii)
evaluating the impact of emerging technologies; and (iii) the need of enterprise
IT in organizations.
(d) How did the project relate to the IS 491 course? Please go back to your course
syllabus and relate the answer to this question to the specific course objectives.
(e) What is your assessment of the specific contribution of each team member to
this project? Please be explicit in your answers and provide the details of the
work that each person in the group did and what lessons each member of the
team learned.
(f) What hurdles did you face to complete this project? How did you overcome
these hurdles?
(g) What would you recommend to the students who come after you to create
maximum value out of this project? (11 points)
7. Now that you have completed the IS 491 (the Information Systems Strategy and
Application) course that is designed to integrate the knowledge and skills in Information
Systems, you are in a position to assess its utility in your career and our
Information Systems program. Specifically, I would like you to answer the following
questions:
(a) What shift (or movement or transformation) in yourself have you noticed since
the start of the semester as far as the Information Systems and technology
function is concerned?
(b) What do you understand the role and significance of the Information Systems
Technology function in any profit, non-profit or a governmental organization?
How has the course helped you in this process of understanding?
(c) What is the strategic role of IS/T in organizations and how do you prepare
information systems plans in alignment with organizational strategy?
(d) What is the utility of the Group Practical Project in the course? How has the
project and other discussions in the course helped you to evaluate the impact
of current and emerging technologies in developing and deploying information
systems?
(e) What do you think of the mix of the individual and the group work in the
course? How can that be made more e↵ective and useful?
(f) What changes do you suggest for this course? What would enhance the educational
and professional experience from this course? (10 points)
8. Having spent X (fill in the number of years you spent) number of years at University
of Alabama in Huntsville in pursuing your degree with a major in Information
Systems, you must have had several experiences (both good and bad) that you wish
you could share with others. Well, this is your opportunity to do so. Specifically, I
would like to hear (in as candid, succinct and straight forward manner as possible),
your experiences and assessment of (a) program contents, (b) various resources (not
limited to Information Systems and Technology only), and (c) any other aspects of
your stay at University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Specifically, in discussing the above aspects, please include the answers to the following:
(a) How would you organize and prepare information systems plans (strategic and
operational) in alignment with the organizational strategy?
(b) How would you organize and design databases to capture and analyze organizational
data for decision making?
(c) What mechanisms would you use to assess the impact of current and emerging
technologies in developing and deploying information systems?
(d) What steps will you take to select and adapt enterprise information systems to
satisfy specific organizational information needs?
(e) How will you use what you have learned in your career, either as an analyst
or as a manager? Please provide some details about the type of career you
intend to pursue and relate your learning goals, activities and experiences to
your specific career goals.
(f) If you had to do it all over again, would you select the specific degree program
you did? Why or why not? What factors would you include in making your
decision?
(g) If you were to design and develop an appropriate BSBA program with a major in
Information Systems, what will it look like and why? What would you include
in such a program and what will you exclude from such a program?
(h) After you graduate from University of Alabama in Huntsville, how would you
like us to stay in touch with you? How could we continue to assist you in your
career progression? Please describe some strategies that you think may work
for us to continue our professional relationships. (10 points)
I appreciate your support in making your university and academic program
better for those who come after you. This speaks very highly of your own
interest in your selected profession. Your grade will not be a↵ected by what
you say; however, not answering the questions may a↵ect your grade.
