Computer Application Software Question Paper
Computer Application Software
Course:Bachelor Of Commerce
Institution: Kca University question papers
Exam Year:2010
UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2009/2010
FIRST YEAR EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
COMMERCE
CMS 103: COMPUTER APPLICATION SOFTWARE (Saturday)
DATE: AUGUST 2010 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer question ONE and any other TWO questions
QUESTION ONE
Study the case below and answer the questions that follow:
ABC is typical of a company which selected windows operating system as early as 1990. This was a
risky step for any company, and so for a multibillion dollar global company like ABC, which measures
those risks in millions of shillings.
ABC’s challenge however was to simplify the presentation and to provide the ease of one interface to
all the users. To do so, meant applying the interface to a wide variety of systems that run on everything
from PC’s to mainframes. This company’s information system staff turned to a variety of windows
based software tools and applications to aid in this massive undertaking. The company eventually
settled on Ms Publisher for graphics presentation, Excel spread sheet package, Microsoft outlook for emailing
, Ms Word for typing of all office documents and Ms access database package.
The key issue for the company has been to provide better customer service by giving the employees
working closely with customer’s better user-friendly software to enable them serve the customers
better. Key to the development of business based applications and their acceptance is the fact that
business users were involved early on in the design process. Thus the stable windows based application
software packages allowed ABC Company to take advantage of this involvement in a timely manner.
Questions:
2
a) Why did ABC select windows- based application software packages for their end users?
(6 Marks)
b) How can Windows based software packages support end user involvement in developing
business applications? (8 Marks)
c) Identify two benefits and two limitations of using a common user interface for all application
software? (4 Marks)
d) Discuss three benefits the company has of using PCs and mainframes over manual systems
(6 Marks)
e) Identify two electronic publishing systems that the company embarked on using (2 Marks)
f) Identify four benefits of using Ms access as a database package (4 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
Select an organization you are familiar with. You may choose a department within a large
organization. Analyze the structure and behavior of the organization using systems concepts. Your
response should include the following elements:
a) Identify and describe at least two examples of the following: inputs, process, outputs, outputs,
feedback and control. (10 Marks)
b) Identify and describe two decisions that will be taken at the strategic, tactical and operational
levels of the organization (6 Marks)
c) For each of the decisions described, identify at least one items of information that may be
required. Describe some of the characteristics that each item of information will have.
(4 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) Explain the meaning of the following terms:
i. Protocol
ii. CISC
iii. Cache
3
iv. Register
v. Access time
(10 Marks)
b) Differentiate between
i. parallel transmission mode and serial transmission mode
ii. A star topology and a Mesh topology
iii. LAN and MAN
iv. Magnetic disk and optical disk
v. Seek time and rotational delay time
(10 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Outline five advantages of the database management approach over the file processing method
(10 Marks)
b) Provide examples to illustrate each of the following concepts:
i. Logical data elements
ii. Fundamental database structures
iii. Types of databases
(6 Marks)
c) Identify two functions of a database administrator (4 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Identify three types of electronic office communications and their benefits to end users (6 Marks)
b) Discuss four benefits of office automation systems (8 Marks)
c) Discuss three benefits of image processing systems (6 Marks)
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