Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Principles of MIS

© 2005 by Jerry Post

McGraw-Hill/Irwin

1. What are the current prices of disk drives ($/GB) and RAM ($/MB)?
2. If you want to build a relatively high-level computer from parts, what parts would you buy and how much will they cost?
3. Find a computer running a version of the Linux operating system (or read the documentation), and outline the problems that might arise if you want everyone in your company to use it as a desktop operating system?
4. Find a tablet PC that has the highest rated battery life. Is the life sufficient to use the tablet in a business setting? If not, how could you compensate for the problems?
5. Find a high resolution digital photograph. Using photo editing software, save several copies of the photo in JPEG format with different levels of compression. At what point do you begin to notice the photograph quality degrade? Compare the file sizes as well. Print the photo (a black and white print is fine) and compare the results to the original.
6. Estimate the storage space (number of bytes) required for each of the following items:
   1. A telephone book with 10,000 entries consisting of names, addresses and phone numbers. Use your phonebook to estimate the average length of an entry.
   2. A fax transmission of a 30-page report at high resolution (200 by 200 bits per inch). What is the raw size? What is the size if you can use a compression algorithm that reduces each page to one-twentieth the original size?
   3. You have a 4 by 6 inch color photograph scanned in high resolution at 2400 dots per inch and 16 million colors (24 bits for color). How far (percentage) would you have to compress this image to fit into 4 MB of available RAM?
   4. A 15 minute explanation of a spreadsheet recorded with the PC audio recorder. Make and save a 30-second recording and use the file size to estimate a 15 minute recording.
   5. If you wanted to store your favorite half-hour television show in digital form, how many bytes of storage would it take? Extra credit: How much space would it take if you remove the commercials? (Hint: time the commercials.)
7. Research state-of-the-art video displays. What are the best resolutions you can find? At what price? What additional capabilities exist (e.g., three-dimensional)?

Technology Toolbox



8. C02Ex08.txtYou are trying to decide on raises for your departmental employees. The accompanying table lists the performance evaluations they received along with an estimate of the percentage raises that you wish to give. To review your spreadsheet skills, enter the formulas necessary to complete the table, including the totals and averages. Also, create a graph that displays the percentage raise and the performance evaluation for each employee. (One extra credit point is given for identifying all of the employees.)
9. A spreadsheet is an important tool that can be used to manage your personal finances. A simple plan that you can implement is a personal balance sheet. The top of the balance sheet includes your income. In it you can list all of the money that you have coming in each month. The bottom of the balance sheet is your expenses. Using it, you can list all the expenditures that you were required to make each month. Your instructor has a disk with a sample outline that you can fill in with your personal data. Of course, you can enter additional lines in each category. C02Ex09a.xls, C02Ex09b.xls
1. An important part of financial analysis is the ability to compare your financial statement to those of others. Several sample worksheets are included on the sample disk. Examine several worksheets. They are each listed by student name. How do these worksheets compare to your income and expenses?
2. Graph the most significant items in your worksheet. These would include those items that seem to have the most variance or the widest range of dispersion. What difficulties occur when you graph these items against the totals in each category?
10. Set up speech recognition on your computer and train it. Choose a paragraph of text and dictate it into Word. Do not make corrections to the text as you dictate it. When you have finished, copy the paragraph and make the corrections to the copy. Count the number of mistakes and hand in both paragraphs.
11. Identify the best chart to use for the following datasets, and give a brief justification for your choice:
    1. Sales by department for the last five years.
    2. Sales by employee for the last month.
    3. Production data for output quality and percent of carbon.
    4. Share of sales to five nations.
    5. Total customer billings by employee for the last 24 months.
12. Find at least two data series from the government (try www.fedstats.gov) and plot them. Briefly explain any patterns or trends.

Teamwork

13. Split the team into two groups. Each person in one group should find and price the most expensive personal computer that can be used for business applications. Each person in the other group should find and price the least expensive computer. Compare the results to determine how far apart the prices are and identify the components that cause the greatest price differentials.
14. Each person should research a printer that could be used to print all of the work done by a group of 30 people who sometimes print (or copy) 200,000 pages per month. Each person should outline the benefits and costs of the printer selected. Combine the results, and as a group, select the best printer, and explain your recommendation.
15. Select a common application tool (word processor, spreadsheet, and so on). Each person on the team should read the documentation or search the Web and identify one feature that he or she has not used before. Create an example that uses that feature. Write a short note describing the feature and its benefits, including a brief tutorial on how to use it. Combine the notes into a document and share it with the team. Have each team member vote on the usefulness of each topic and reorganize the document so the highest-ranked features are listed first.
16. Have each person on the team create a one-page description of a job they have had. Use a template to set styles for the body text, a main heading and second level headings. Each document must use these styles. Combine the individual pages, and then change the template slightly and verify that all pages contain the same styles.
17. Have each person on the team find an example of a good chart and a bad chart using newspapers and the Internet. Combine the results from each person into a document so each person can vote on the best and worst charts.
18. Using your e-mail client, set up a distribution list so you can send mail to everyone on your team. Use the calendar system to set a meeting time and send the message to each person on the list.

Rolling Thunder Database

19. Using the Export Data form, copy the data to a spreadsheet and create graphs for the following situations. (Choose the type of graph you feel is best suited to present the data.)
    1. Sales by model type.
    2. Sales by month.
    3. Sales by model type for each month.
    4. Sales by state.
    5. Sales by employee by month.
20. Using the existing forms, enter data for a new bicycle order.
21. Find at least two other bicycles (e.g., on the Internet or from a dealer). Create a spreadsheet comparing the features and costs with a similar bicycle built by Rolling Thunder Bicycles.
22. Using the Export Data form, copy the data to a spreadsheet and compute the average profit margin for each type of bicycle for two different years. Comment on any differences that you find.
23. Assume you have to give a presentation to the marketing manager. Create a slide show to compare the sales of each model type for the last two years.