Assignment Solutions: IIBM examination papers

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper MM.100

Strategic Management

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

· This section consists of multiple choice questions & Short notes type questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part One:

Multiple choices:

1. A plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal is:

a. Tactic

b. Strategy

c. Financial benefits

d. None of the above

2. It is important to develop mission statement for:

a. Allocating organizational resources

b. Provide useful criteria

c. Company creed

d. Customer orientation

3. The five forces model was developed by :

a. Airbus

b. Karin Larsson

c. Michael E.Porter

d. Boeing

4. How many elements are involve in developing in an organizational strategy:

a. Six

b. Two

c. Four

d. Nine

5. The three important steps in SWOT analysis are:

a. Identification, Conclusion, Translation

b. Opportunities, Threats, Strengths

c. People, Corporate cultures, Labour

d. Power, Role, Task

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

6. GE matrix consists of how many cells?

a. Nine cells

b. Six cells

c. Eight cells

d. Three cells

7. Which of these is the type of Games:

a. Simultaneous Games

b. Sequential Games

c. Repeated Games

d. All of the above

8. SBU stands fora.

Simple Basic Unit

b. Strategic Basic Unit

c. Strategic Business Unit

d. Speed Business Unit

9. The BCG matrix is known as:

a. Growth share matrix

b. Directional policy matrix

c. GE nine-cell matrix

d. Space matrix

10. ______________ specifies sales revenues and selling distribution and marketing costs.

a. Financial budget

b. Sales budget

c. Operating budget

d. Expenses budget

Part Two:

1. What are the dimensions of Strategic management?

2. Critically analyze the concept of BCG Matrix.

3. What is SWOT analysis?

4. What are the characteristics of Short-term Objectives?

END OF SECTION A

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Section B: Case lets (40 marks)

· This section consists of Case lets.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each Case let carries 20 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

Case let 1

National Competitive Advantage of IKEA Group, a Swedish company founded in 1943 with its

headquarters in Denmark, is a multinational operator of a chain of stores for home furnishing and

furniture. It is the world’s largest retailer, which specializes, in stylish but inexpensive Scandinavian

designed furniture. At the end of 2005 the IKEA Group of Companies had a total of 175 stores in 31

countries. In addition there are 19 IKEA stores owned and run by franchisees, outside the IKEA store

around the world.

In Sweden, nature and a home both play a big part in people’s life. In fact one of the best ways to describe

the Swedish home furnishing style is to describe nature-full of light and fresh air, yet restrained and

unpretentious.

To match up the artist Carl and Karin Larsson combined classical influences with warmer Swedish folk

styles .They created a model of Swedish home furnishing design that today enjoys world-wide renown. In

the 1950s the styles of modernism and functionalism developed at the same time as Sweden established a

society founded on social equality .The IKEA product range –The IKEA product range- modern but not

trendy, functional yet attractive, human-centered and child friendly – carries on these various Swedish

home furnishing traditions.

The IKEA Concept, like lots founder, was born in Samaland. This is a part of Southern Sweden where the

soil is thin and poor. The people are famous for working hard, living on small means and using their

heads to make the best possible use of the limited resources they have. This way of doing things is at the

heart of the IKEA approach to keeping prices low.

IKEA was founded when Sweden was fast becoming an example of the caring society, where rich and

poor alike were well looked after. This is also a theme that fits well with the IKEA vision. In order to give

the many people a better everyday life, IKEA asks the customer to work as a partner. The product range is

child-friendly and covers the need of the whole family, young and old. So together we can a better

everyday life for everyone.

In addition to working about around 1,800 different suppliers across the world, IKEA produces many of

its own products through sawmills and factories in the IKEA industrial group, Swedwood.

Swedwood also has a duty to transfer knowledge to other suppliers, for example by educating them in

issues such as efficiency, quality and environmental work.

Swedwood has 35 industrial units in 11 countries.

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Purchasing: IKEA has 42 Trading Service Offices (TSO’s) in 33 countries. Proximity to their suppliers

is the key to rational, long term cooperation. That’s why TSO co-workers visit suppliers regularly to

monitor production, test new ideas, negotiate prices and carry out quality audits and inspection.

Distribution: The route from supplier to customer must be as direct, cost- effective and environmentally

friendly as possible. Flat packs are important aspects of this work: eliminating wasted space means we

can transport and store goods more efficiently. Since efficient distribution plays a key role in the work of

creating the low price, goods routing and logistics are a focus for constant development.

The business Idea: The IKEA business idea is to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design

and function at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. And still have

many left! The company targets the customer who is looking for value and is willing to do a little bit of

work serving themselves, transporting the items home and assembling the furniture for a better price. The

typical IKEA customer is young low to middle income family.

The Competition Advantage: The competition advantage strategy of IKEA’s product is reflected through

IKEA’s success in the real industry. It can be attributed to its vast experience in the retail market, product

differentiation, and cost leadership.

IKEA Product Differentiation: A wide product range The IKEA product range is wide and versatile in

several ways. First, it’s versatile in function. Because IKEA think customer, shouldn’t have to run from

one small specialty shop to another to furnish their home, IKEA gather plants, living room furnishings,

toys , frying pans, whole kitchens i.e.; everything which in a functional way helps to build a home – in

one place , at IKEA stores.

Second, it’s wide in style. The romantic at heart will find choices just as many as the minimalist at IKEA.

But There is only one thing IKEA don’t have, and that is, the far- out or the over-decorated. They only

have what helps build a home that has room for good living.

Third, by being coordinated, the range is wide in function and style at the same time. No matter which

style you prefer, there’s an armchair that goes with the bookcase that goes with the new extending table

that goes with the armchair. So their range is wide in a variety of ways.

Cost Leadership: A wide range with good form and function is only half the story. Affordability has a part

to play – the largest part. A wide range with good form and function is only half the story. Affordability

has a part to play- the largest part. And the joy of being able to own it without having to forsake

everything else. And the customers help, too, by choosing the furniture, getting it at the warehouse,

transporting it home and assembling it themselves , to keep the price low.

Questions

1. Do you think that IKEA has been successful to utilize Porter’s Five force analysis?

Give reasons.

2. Where do you think can IKEA improve?

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Case let 2

For ITC Ltd., 2007-2008 continued to be year of quiet growth. Just more launches in its relatively new

segment of non-cigarettes fast moving consumer goods, and solid growth. As in the past few years, ITC’s

non-cigarettes businesses continued to grow at a scorching pace, accounting for a bigger share of overall

revenues. “The non-cigarette portfolio grew by 37.6% during 2006-2007 and accounted during that year

for 52.3% of the company’s net turnover.” An ITC spokesman said. In fact, over the first three quarters of

2007-08, ITC’s non-cigarette FMCG businesses have grown by 48% on the same period last year,

“Indicating that its plans for increasing market share and standing are succeeding.”

The branded packaged foods business continued to expand rapidly, with the focus on snacks range Bingo.

The biscuit category continued its growth momentum with the ‘Sun feast’ range of biscuits launching

‘Coconut’ and ‘Nice’ variants and the addition of ‘ Sunfeast BenneVita Flaxseed’ biscuits. Aashirwad atta

and kitchen ingredients retained their top slots at the national level, with the spices category adding an

organic range. In the confectionery category which grew by 38% in the third quarter, ITC cited AC

Nielsen data it claims market leader status in throat lozenges. Instant mixes and pasta powdered the sales

of its ready to eat foods under the kitchens of India and Aashirwad brands.

In Lifestyle apparel, ITC launched Miss Players fashion wear for young women to compliment its range

for men.

Overall, the biscuit category grew by 58% during the last quarter, ready to eat foods under the kitchens of

India and Aashirwad brands by 63% and the lifestyle business by 26%.

For the Industry, the most significant initiative to watch the ITC foray into premium personal care

products with its Fiama Di Wills range of shampoos , conditioners, shower gels, and soaps. In the popular

segment, ITC has launched a range of soaps and shampoos under the brand name Superia.

Ravi Naware, Chief executive of ITC’s food business was quoted recently as saying that the business will

make a positive contribution to ITC’s bottom line in the next two to three years.

In hotels, ITC’s Fortune Park brand was making the news during the year, with a rapid rollout of first

class business hotels.

In the agri-business segment, the e-choupal network is trying out a pilot in retailing fresh fruits and

vegetables. The e-choupals have already specialized in feeding ITC high quality wheat and potato, among

other commodities grown by farmers with help from e-choupal.

Questions:

Q1. Do you think the progress of ITC Ltd. is realistic?

Q2. After analyzing the above case, do you think every company should aim at cost leadership with high

quality product?

END OF SECTION B

Examination Paper: Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

· This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each question carries 15 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

1. What are the basic principles of Organizational structure? What are the types of

Organizational structures?

2. Though BCG matrix can be very helpful in forcing decisions in managing a

portfolio of products, it can be employed as a sole men of determining strategies

for a portfolio of the product. Do you agree with this statement or not? Why or

why not?

END OF SECTION C

S-1-280111

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper MM.100

Information Technology and Management

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

· This section consists of multiple choice questions & short notes type questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Part One questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part One:

Multiple Choices:

1. Computer crime is defined by:

a. AITP

b. SWAT

c. Both (a) & (b)

d. None of the above

2. Prototyping is sometimes called:

a. ASD

b. RSD

c. RAD

d. None of the above

3. Virtual reality is also called:

a. Computer-simulated reality

b. Neurons

c. Software robots

d. Telepresence

4. A trackball is a stationary device related to the:

a. Keyboard

b. Joystick

c. Mouse

d. All of the above

5. Hand-held microcomputer devices known as:

a. Personal digital assistance

b. Super computers

c. Both (a) & (b)

d. None of the above

6. KMS stands for:

a. Knowledge memory systems

b. Knowledge making system

c. Knowledge management systems

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

d. None of the above

7. A basic system component of information systems is:

a. Memory

b. Processing

c. Storage

d. All of the above

8. How many characters uses the MICR system?

a. 15 characters

b. 18 characters

c. 24 characters

d. 14 characters

9. EBCDIC stands for:

a. Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

b. Extended Binary Coded Decimal Instruction Code

c. Extended Binary Coded Data Interchange Code

d. Electronic Binary Coded Data Interchange Code

10. The smallest element of data is called:

a. Byte

b. Bit

c. Giga byte

d. None of the above

Part Two:

1. Write a note on ‘Cache Memory’.

2. What do know about ‘Assembler’?

3. Write a note on ‘Optical Character Recognition’.

4. Explain the term ‘Electronic commerce’.

END OF SECTION A

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

· This section consists of Caselets.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each Caselet carries 20 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

Caselet 1

It began as a trading site for nerds, the newly jobless, home-bound housewives, and bored retirees to

sell subprime goods: collectibles and attic trash. But eBay quickly grew into a teeming marketplace

of 30 million, with its own laws and norms, such as a feedback system in which buyers and sellers

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

rate each other on each transaction. When that wasn’t quite enough, eBay formed its own police

force to patrol the listings for fraud and kick out offenders. The company even has something akin to

a bank: Its Paypal payment-processing unit allows buyers to make electronic payments to eBay

sellers who can’t afford a merchant credit card account. “eBay is creating a second, virtual

economy,” says W. Brian Arthur, an economist at think tank Santa Fe Institute. “It’s opening up a

whole new medium of exchange.” eBay’s powerful vortex is drawing diverse products and players

into its profitable economy, driving its sellers into the heart of traditional retailing, a $2 trillion

market. Among eBay’s 12 million daily listings are products from giants such as Sears Roebuck,

Home Depot, Walt Disney, and even IBM. More than a quarter of the offerings are listed at fixed

prices. The result, says Bernard H. Tenenbaum, president of a retail buyout firm, is “They‘re coming

right for the mainstream of the retail business.” So what started out as a pure consumer auction

market-place is now also becoming a big time business-to-consumer and even business-to-business

bazaar that is earning record profits for eBay’s stockholders. And as the eBay economy expands,

CEO Meg Whitman and her team may find that managing it could get a lot tougher, especially

because eBay’s millions of passionate and clamorous users demand a voice in all major decisions.

This process is clear in one of eBay’s most cherished institutions: the voice of the Customer

program. Every couple of months, the executives of eBay bring in as many as a dozen sellers and

buyers, especially its high selling “Power Sellers,” to ask them questions about how they work and

what else eBay needs to do. And at least twice a week, it holds hour-long teleconferences to poll

users on almost every new feature or policy, no matter how small. The result is that users feel like

owners, and they take the initiative to expand the eBay economy – often beyond management’s

wildest dreams. Stung by an aerospace down-turn, for instance, machine-tool shop Reliable Tools

Inc., tried listing a few items on eBay in late 1998. Some were huge, hulking chunks of metal, such

as a $7,000 2,300-pound milling machine. Yet they sold like ice cream in August. Since then, says

Reliable’s auction manager, Richard Smith, the company’s eBay business has “turned into a

monster.” Now the Irwindale (California) shop’s $1 million in monthly eBay sales constitutes 75%

of its overall business. Pioneers such as Reliable promoted eBay to set up an industrial products

marketplace in January that’s on track to top $500 million in gross sales this year.Then there is eBay

Motors. When eBay manager Simon Rothman first recognized a market for cars on cars on eBay in

early 1999, he quickly realized that such high-ticket items would require a different strategy than

simply opening a new category. To jump-start its supply of cars and customers, eBay immediately

bought a collector-car auction company, Kruse International, for $150 million in stock, and later did

a deal to include listings from online classifieds site, AutoTrader.com. Rothman also arranged

insurance and warranty plans, an escrow service, and shipping and inspection services.This approach

worked wonder. Sales of cars and car parts, at a $5 billion-plus annual clip, are eBay's single largest

market. That has catapulted eBay in front of No. 1 U.S. auto dealer AutoNation in number of used

cars sold. About half of the sellers are brick-and-mortar dealers who now have a much larger

audience than their local area. “eBay is by far one of my better sources for buyers,” says Bradley

Bonifacius, Internet sales director at Dean Stallings Ford in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. And for now,

the big corporations, which still account for under 5 percent of eBay’s gross sales, seem to be

bringing in more customers then they steal. Motorola Inc., for example, helped kick off a new

wholesale business for eBay last year, selling excess and returned cell phones in large lots. Thanks to

the initiative of established companies such as Motorola, eBay’s wholesale business jumped

ninefold, to $23 million, in the first quarter.As businesses on eBay grow larger, they spur the

creation of even more businesses. A new army of merchants, for example, is making a business out

of selling on eBay for other people. From almost none a couple of years ago, these so called Trading

Assistants now number nearly 23,000. This kind of organic growth makes it exceedingly though to

predict how far the eBay economy can go. Whitman professes not to know. “We don’t actually

control this,” she admits. “We are not building this company by ourselves. We have a unique partner

– million of people.”

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Questions:

1. Why has eBay become such a successful and diverse online marketplace? Visit the eBay website

to help you answer, and check out their many trading categories, specialty sites, international

sites, and other features.

2. Why do you think eBay has become the largest online/offline seller of used cars, and the largest

online seller of certain other products, like computers and photographic equipment?

Caselet 2

It’s no secret that somewhere in a back room in the typical Fortune 500 company, there’s a team of

analytical wizards running sophisticated data mining queries that mine for gems such as data about

about the company’s best customers – those top 20 percent of clients that produce 80 percent of the

company’s profits. These jewels can be a business’s most valuable intellectual property, which

makes them very valuable to competitors. What’s to prevent that data set from walking out the door

or falling into the wrong hands? Sometimes, not much. Many companies lack the internal controls to

prevent that information from leaking. The problem is that such data is as hard to protect as it is to

find. Owens & Minor Inc., a $4 billion medical supplies distributor, counts some of the nation’s

largest health care organizations among its customers. In late 1996, it started mining data internally

using business intelligence software from Business Objects SA. “From the beginning, we were

aware of security issues around this strategic information about our operations,” says Don Stoller,

senior director of information systems at Owens & Minor. “For example, a sales executive in Dallas

should only have access to analyses from his region.” It is always possible that someone who has

legitimate access will abuse that trust, but companies can minimize that potential by strictly limiting

access to only those who need it. thus, Owens & Minor uses role-level security functions that clearly

define who has access to which data. “This meant we had to build a separate security table in our

Oracle database,” says Stoller. A few years later, when the company wanted to open its systems to

suppliers and customers, security became even more important. In 1998, Owens & Minor moved

quickly to take advantage of Web-intelligence software from Business Objects that’s designed to

Web-enable business intelligence systems. The result was Wisdom, an extranet Web portal that lets

Owens & Minor’s suppliers and customers access their own transactional data and generate

sophisticated analyses and reports from it.“It business-to-business transactions, security is key,” says

Stoller. “We had to make absolutely sure that Jhonson & Jhonson, for example, could not see any

3M’s information. This meant we had to set up specific customer and supplier security tables, and

we had to maintain new, secured database views using the Oracle DBMS and Business

Objects.”Wisdom was such a success that Owens & Minor decided to go into the intelligence

business with the launch of wisdom2 in the spring of 2000. “We capture data out of a hospital’s

materials management system and load it into our data warehouse,” Stoller explains. A hospital can

then make full use of its business-intelligence software to mine and analyze purchasing data. Owens

& Minor receives a licensing and maintenance fee for the services.Layers of security and encryption

require a considerable amount of overhead data for systems administration. Both Stoller and Michael

Rasmussen, an analyst at Giga Information Group, say that’s the main reason security concerns

about business intelligence are often swept under the carpet. The issues of authentication (identifying

the user) and authorization (what things the user is allowed to do) must be addressed, usually across

different applications, Rasmussen says, adding, “Systems administration can be a real

nightmare.”“We are going through some of this,” says David Merager, director of Web services and

corporate applications at Vivendi Universal Games Inc. (www.vugames.com). “Our business

intelligence needs more security attention.” Business intelligence reports come from two systems: an

Oracle-based for budgets on a Microsoft SQL Server database. The heart of the business intelligence

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

system consists of Microsoft’s OLAP application and software from Comshare Inc. that provides the

Web-based front end for the analytics. “Our budget teams use these reports to do real-time

analyses,” says Merager. Rodger Sayles, manager of data warehousing at Vivendi Universal, says

one way to secure such a system is to assign roles to all users within the Microsoft application. Roles

determine precisely what a user is allowed to see and do and are usually managed within a directory.

If your computing architecture is amenable to a single, centralized directory that supports roles, this

may be an attractive solution. “The problem is that once you have over 40 distinct roles, you run into

performance issues, and we have identified about 70 user roles,” Sayles explains. He says there’s

way around this difficulty. “I think we are going to use a combination of Web portals and user roles.

A user would sign on through a particular Web portal, which would effectively place the user in a

role category. This reduces the overhead burden on the application,” says Sayles.

Questions:

1. Why have developments in IT helped to increase the value of the data resources of many

companies?

2. How can companies use IT to meet the challenges of data resources security?

END OF SECTION B

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

· This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each question carries 15 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

1. What potential security problems do you see in the increasing use of intranets and extranets in

business? What might be done to solve such problems? Give several examples.

2. Suppose you are a manager being asked to develop e-business and e-commerce applications to

gain a competitive advantage in an important market for your company. What reservations might

you have about doing so? Why?

END OF SECTION C

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper MM.100

Database Management Systems

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

· This section consists of Multiple Choices and Short notes type questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Part one questions carry 2 marks each & Part Two questions carry 4 marks each.

Part One:

Multiple choices:

1. The normal language of database is:

a. PHP

b. SQL

c. C++

d. Java

2. DDL, a database system language:

a. Creates table

b. Manipulates table

c. Cannot work with table

d. None

3. Symbol for one to one relationship is………………………………………………………

4. HDBMS stands for:

a. Hello DBMS

b. Hierarchical DBMS

c. Hyper DBMS

d. High DBMS

5. In Anti joining of R►S means ……………………………………………………………

Part Two:

1. What are “Foreign Keys”?

2. Differentiate between ‘DBMS’ and ‘RDBMS’.

3. Write the syntax to insert charts into a table from another table.

4. What are ‘Armstrong’s Axioms’?

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper MM.100

Database Management Systems

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

· This section consists of Multiple Choices and Short notes type questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Part one questions carry 2 marks each & Part Two questions carry 4 marks each.

Part One:

Multiple choices:

1. The normal language of database is:

a. PHP

b. SQL

c. C++

d. Java

2. DDL, a database system language:

a. Creates table

b. Manipulates table

c. Cannot work with table

d. None

3. Symbol for one to one relationship is………………………………………………………

4. HDBMS stands for:

a. Hello DBMS

b. Hierarchical DBMS

c. Hyper DBMS

d. High DBMS

5. In Anti joining of R►S means ……………………………………………………………

Part Two:

1. What are “Foreign Keys”?

2. Differentiate between ‘DBMS’ and ‘RDBMS’.

3. Write the syntax to insert charts into a table from another table.

4. What are ‘Armstrong’s Axioms’?

Examination Paper: Information Technology

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

· This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each question carries 15 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

1. The HR manager has decided to raise the salary for all the employees in department number 30

by 0.25. Whenever any such raise is given to the EMPLOYEES, a record for the same is

maintained in the EMP-RAISE table. It includes the employee number, the date when the raise

was given and the actual raise. Write a PL/SQL block to update the salary of each employee and

insert a record in the EMP-RAISE table.

2. Retrieve the salesman name in ‘New Delhi’ whose efforts have resulted into atleast one sales

transaction.

Table Name : SALES-MAST

Salesman-no Name City

B0001

B0002

B0003

B0004

B0005

B0006

B0007

Puneet Kumar

Pravin Kumar

Radha Krishna

Brijesh Kumar

Tushar Kumar

Nitin Kumar

Mahesh Kumar

Varanasi

New Delhi

Allahabad

Gr. Noida

Table Name : SALES-ORDER

Order-no Order-date Salesman-no

S0001

S0002

S0003

S0004

S0005

S0006

10-Apr-07

28-Apr-07

05-May-07

12-June-07

15-July-07

18-Aug-07

B0001

B0002

B0003

B0004

B0005

B0006

END OF SECTION C

S-2-210311

Examination Paper : Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management 1

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper MM.100

Management Information Systems

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

· This section consists of Multiple choice questions and Short Note type questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Part one questions carry 1 mark each & Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part one:

Multiple choices:

1. Management Information System is mainly dependent upon:

a. Accounting

b. Information

c. Both ‘a’ and ‘b’

d. None of the above

2. The most important attribute of information quality that a manager requires is:

a. Presentation

b. Relevance

c. Timeliness

d. None of the above

3. Human Resource Information Systems are designed to:

a. Produce pay checks and payrolls reports

b. Maintain personnel records

c. Analyze the use of personnel in business operations

d. Development of employees to their full potential

4. Operational Accounting System include:

a. Inventory control

b. Cost accounting reports

c. Development of financial budgets and projected financial statements

d. None of the above

5. EIS stands for:

a. Executive Information System

b. Excellent Info System

c. Excessive Information System

d. None of the above

Examination Paper : Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management 2

6. Intranet provide a rich set of tools for those people:

a. Who are members of the different company or organization

b. Who are members of the same company or organization

c. Both ‘a’ and ‘b’

d. None of the above

7. Which one is not the future of wireless technology?

a. E-mail

b. VOIP

c. RFID

d. Telegram

8. OLTP stands for:

a. Online Transactional Processing

b. Online Transmission Processing

c. Online Transactional Process

d. None of the above

9. Which one of the following is not considered as future of m-commerce:

a. Ubiquity

b. Localization

c. Simple authentication

d. Common operation

10. Which of the following is not the level of decision making:

a. Management control

b. Activity control

c. Operational control

d. Strategic decision making

Part Two:

1. What are the ‘Strategic Information Systems’?

2. Write down the various business model of internet.

3. What is ‘Network Bandwidth’?

4. Differentiate between OLTP and OLPP.

END OF SECTION A

Examination Paper : Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management 3

Section B: Case lets (40 marks)

· This section consists of Case lets.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each Case let carries 20 marks

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

Case let 1

Overview of our Client’s Strategy

Our client had an online store. They were spending $15,000 each month on pay per click

advertising. This resulted in about $225,000 per month in sales. They didn’t know which clicks

were leading to sales because they didn’t track the clicks. There rankings in the natural listings was

minimal because they hadn’t done keywords research on what visitors were using to try to find a

site like there’s. They weren’t able to quantity results because their we statistics program only

showed very general traffic information. They were also doing an irregular email newsletter even

though they had more than 32,000 e-mails in their database.

Analysis of the situation

In the natural listings we suspected they were being penalized by the search enines for duplicate

content. The search engines frown on this because they feel this is trying to fool them. Google will

often give a site like this something called “Supplement Results”, which means that the search

engines know the page exists but doesn’t have any content in their database. We also suspected

their email newsletter was being blocked by many spam blockers because the names of the products

they sold were often on used in spam e-mails.

Implementation of a Solution

For the pay per click advertising we started tracking the clicks down to the individual terms and the

actual results that came from them. We were able to delete terms that were not getting enough sales

and increase the bids on ones that brought sales. For the natural listings we did keywords research

and focused on the main keywords on the content for the home page and in the META tags. We

also found that visitors search on product names rather than manufactures, so in the title tag for the

page we switched and put the product name before the manufacturer. With the newsletter, we used

a good mix of graphics and content to appease the spam blockers, as well as put the product names

in graphics so they wouldn’t be blocked. In order to analyze of the site’s traffic, we implemented a

powerful web statistics program.

Results of our work

Through our tactics, our clients were able to move up to #4 on Google for their main search term,

which got a lot of traffic. With pay per click, they went from $.43. They decrease their budget to

$10,000 per month, yet were able to increase their traffic by 33 percent. Through our optimization

of their pay per click, their cost per conversion to sale decreased by at least 45 percent. The

deliverability of their newsletter increased as well. Within a year, their sales increased to over

$600,000 per month.

Questions:

1. Discuss the client strategy for the success of store.

2. Suppose if you are the client maker what would you suggest for the client.

Examination Paper : Semester II

IIBM Institute of Business Management 4

Case let 2

Data Warehouse is a massive independent business database system that is populated with data that

has been extracted from a range of sources. The data is held separately from its origin and is used to

help to improve the decision-making process.

Many traditional Databases are involved in recording day to day operational activities of the

business, called Online Transaction Processing (OLTP), COMMONLY IMPLEMENTED IN

Airline Bookings and Banking Systems, for faster’s response and better control over data.

After establishment of OLTP Systems, reports and summaries can be drawn for giving inputs to

decision-making process and this process is called Online Analytical Processing (OLAP).

For better customer relationships management strategy, the call centre’s and data Warehouse works

as a strategic tool for decision-support which requires lot of time for establishment, and needs to be

updated with operational information on daily weekly or monthly basis.

Data Warehouse is used for proactive strategies formulation strategies formulation in critical and

complex situations. A number of CRM vendors are advocating for single integrated customer

database which includes call centre, web sites, branches and direct mail, but it lacks in analytical

functioning of data warehouse. This Database can’t be expanded also, and carry decision support

operations on call centre Database becomes slow & the query processing and inquiries andling

operations also become slow & inefficient for agents dealing with customers.

Data Warehouse is must for identifying most profitable & loyal customers and those customers can

be offered better customized services which increase the chances of additional profits.

Although call centre system & data warehouse are altogether different systems yet dependent on

each other to fully exploit their potential respectively.

Questions:

1. Explain the role of data warehousing in the functioning of a call centre.

2. How the response time in performing OLAP queries can be improved?

END OF SECTION B

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

· This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each question carries 15 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer. (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

1. Explain the term e-commerce. Also explain the history and limitations of e-commerce.

2. What do you understand by the term “Database”? Explain the various database models in

detail.

END OF SECTION

S-1-280111

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper MM.100

Project Management

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

· This section consists of multiple choices questions and short answer type questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Part One questions carry 1 mark each and Part Two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part One:

Multiple choices:

1. During _________formal tools and techniques were developed to help and manage large

complex projects.

a. 1950s

b. 1980s

c. 1920s

d. 1990s

2. PERT stands for:

a. Program Evaluation and Reverse Technique

b. Progress Evaluation and Review Technique

c. Program Evaluation and Review Technique

d. None of the above

3. The most basic model of any Operating System is:

a. Project Model

b. Input-output model

c. Output-input model

d. None of the above

4. Overall complexity =

a. Organizational complexity*resource complexity*technical complexity

b. Organizational complexity+technical complexity-resource complexity

c. Technical complexity+resource complexity/organizational complexity

d. Organizational complexity*resource complexity/technical complexity

5. Relevant areas of the APM body of knowledge are:

a. Quality Management

b. Budgeting and cost Management

c. Project Cost Management

d. Both ‘a’ and ‘b’

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

6. Costs associated with the planning process include:

a. Planer’s tools

b. Opportunity cost

c. Planned labour and associated expenses

d. All of the above

7. CPA stands for:

a. Critical Path Analysis

b. Common Path Analysis

c. Critical Path Algorithm

d. Common Problem Analysis

8. The project duration with the normal activity time is ____days.

a. 11

b. 16

c. 17

d. 21

9. The nature of the work organization is important as it:

a. Defines responsibility and authority

b. Outlines reporting arrangements

c. Determines the management overhead

d. All of the above

10. Matrix Management was invented by

a. Mullins

b. Belbin

c. Drucker

d. Frederick Taylor

Part Two:

1. Define ‘Cost Estimating Techniques’.

2. Write a note on ‘Critical Path Analysis’.

3. Differentiate between General Management and Project Management.

4. What is ‘Team Life Cycle’?

END OF SECTION A

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

· This section consists of Caselets.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each Caselet carries 20 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

Caselet 1

It’s a Risky Business

Four friends wanted to start a business. After much discussion, they had hit upon the idea of launch a

mail-order toys and games business. They were in the development stage of their business plan and

wanted to be sure that they had been through with their planning. To reinforce this, they had just received

a letter from a group of venture capitalists, agreeing to fund the start up. It concluded its review of their

plan by stating:

The business plan presents a credible opportunity for all involved and we are prepared to approve the

funding request, subject to a risk analysis being carried out on the project to start the business.

The group was stunned-the funding that they had been hoping for was suddenly a reality. Just one thing

stood in their way- that damned risk analysis process.

They started with identifying the key risk elements that could face the business during in start up phase.

They considered the process between the time that they received the funding and day one of trading. What

could possibly go wrong? Lots of things. They brainstormed the possibilities and recorded them. They

then considered the effect that these would have on the project as a whole. The list they generated

prothings going wrong and not enough making sure that the positive steps towards the business opening

were happening. They needed to priorities’ the events. As importantly, what would happen, when they

eventually occurred? Who would be responsible for each of them? On what basis could they rank each

risk, in order to identify the most important risks for which they would develop mitigation and

ownership?

They decided to use a table to show the risk event, the likelihood, the severity and by multiplying the two

providing a risk priority number (RPN). This would the allow ranking of the risk elements. For the three

highest ranked elements, the group then generates a mitigation process with someone in the group taking

ownership of that process.

As can be seen, the top three risks were identified and mitigation tasks put in place to either prevent the

risk event happening or to reduce its effect. The initials of the ‘owners’ of that risk in the last column

show who has agreed to monitor that set of events and ensure that the mitigation is put into place before

the project suffers from that event occurring.

Questions:

1. What further methods could have been used to generate ideas for the identification part of the risk

process?

2. What should happen as the project progresses to manage risk?

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Caselet 2

Fast-track Product Redevelopment at Instron

Background

Instron designs and manufactures machines for testing the properties of all types of material. One

particular plastic testing instrument has been selling around 250 units per year worldwide. In 1992 at the

height of the recession, with margins being squeezed and sales volume dropping, Instron decided to

redesign the instrument to reduce its cost and make it easier to manufacture.

The Project

Instron began to undertake change in the late 1980s, which included a programme to institute concurrent

new product development. This was accompanied by pressure for cost reduction, the introduction of

manufacturing changes, and the breaking of the firm into business teams.

The team was highly transient and changing environment, there were few restrictions on the way the

redesign project had to be handled. It was one of the first projects in Instron to be run from the beginning

as a concurrent engineering project. A small multi-functional team was formed, consisting of a

manufacturing engineer, a design engineer, a marketing engineer and a draughtsman. The design rief was

to improve the ease of manufacture of the product such tat a cost reduction of 20 percent could be

achieved.

The team was co-located in an area adjacent to the manufacturing facility. Although there was some

initial resistance, the comment was made that ‘they don’t know how they ever worked without it’. The

ease of communication and sharing of ideas became a more natural part of working life.

Adverse Effects

The principles of concurrency were, in general, favorably accepted by departments downstream of the

design process and with some notable exceptions, unfavorably viewed by the design department.

Individuals had concurrency imposed on them in the initial projects selected; be tried out. Senior

management staff was selected as champions of the cause, with the objective of overcoming the resistance

to change that existed. This came in a number of forms:

1. Passive resistance- summarized as ‘don’t show reluctance to apply the new ideas, attend all the

group meetings, nod in agreement, then carry on as before.

2. Active resistance- ‘do what you like, but don’t ask me to do it’

3. Undermining the initiative- through overstating the apparent problems.

They began by carrying out brainstorming sessions with manufacturing engineers, buyers, members of the

shop floor, suppliers and additional design engineers, to find new and innovative ways to improve the

product. The outcome of these investigations was to draw up a list of areas where improvements were

thought possible.

The Benefits Achieved

The results of this team’s action were:

· Cost reduced by 49 percent

· Product range rationalized from 12 to 2 versions

· Unique part count reduced from 141 to 98 and total number of parts reduced from 300 to 189

· Assembly/machining time reduced by 55 percent

· Project completed on time, with last version being released in April 1994.

Once operational, few problems were encountered and those that did occur were minor in nature. The

success was attributed by the firm to two decisions:

· The selection of the right project- one that made it easy to demonstrate concurrency

· The selection of the right people- those who were prepared to be open-minded and have some

enthusiasm for the changes.

The company now views this as a simple project that restored the profitability of an established product

through the use of innovation, ingenuity and new design techniques by the whole concurrent team. What

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

is also clear is that the product was subject to technical change in only one area- the materials used. The

other benefits have all been due to the approach tat the firm’s management has taken to its new product

development (NPD) Process. The firm felt that the project has been a success and that this method of

working would become an institutionalized methodology.

Questions:

1. Identify the steps the firm took in this project. How did this contribute to the success?

2. How might the main adverse effects be identified?

END OF SECTION B

Section C: Applied Theory (30 marks)

· This section consists of Applied Theory Questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each question carries 15 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).

1. What is the role of strategy in Project Management?

2. Identify the different roles that cost, price and profit can play in determining project costs.

END OF SECTION C

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Examination Paper MM.100

Project Management in IT

Section A: Objective Type (30 marks)

· This section consists of multiple choice questions and short notes type questions.

· Answer all the questions.

· Part One questions carry 1 mark each and Part two questions carry 5 marks each.

Part One:

Multiple choices:

1. The knowledge areas of Project Management Process Group are:

a. Planning and Initiating

b. Executing and Closing

c. Monitoring and Controlling

d. All of the above

2. To create a successful project, a project manager must consider:

a. Scope

b. Time

c. Cost

d. All of the above

3. Which one of the following is not involved in the top ten skills or competencies of an effective

project manager:

a. People skills

b. Leadership

c. Integrity

d. Technical skills

4. Another name of a phase exit is a _______ point.

a. Review

b. Stage

c. Meeting

d. Kill

5. Which process group includes activities from each of the nine knowledge areas?

a. Initiating

b. Planning

c. Executing

d. Closing

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

6. The project team works together to create the ______.

a. Scope statement

b. WBS

c. WBS dictionary

d. Work package

7. __________ is a network diagramming technique used to predict total project duration.

a. PERT

b. A Gantt chart

c. Critical Path Method

d. Crashing

8. Which of the following is not a key output of project cost management:

a. A cost estimate

b. A cost management plan

c. A cost baseline

d. None of the above

9. CMMI Stands for:

a. Capability Maturity Model Integration

b. Complex Maturity Model Integration

c. Common Maturity Model Information

d. Capability Maturity Model Information

10. A proposal evaluation sheet is an example of:

a. RFP

b. NPV analysis

c. Earned value analysis

d. Weighted scoring model

Part Two:

1. Define Product Life Cycle.

2. What is Project Integration Model?

3. Write a note on Gantt charts.

4. What is Project Quality Management?

END OF SECTION A

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Section B: Caselets (40 marks)

· This section consists of Caselets.

· Answer all the questions.

· Each Caselet carries 20 marks.

· Detailed information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).

Caselet 1

A preliminary estimate of costs for the entire project is $140,000. This estimate is based on the

project manager working about 20 hours per week for six months and other internal staff working a

total of about 60 hours per week for six months. The customer representatives would not be paid for

their assistance. A staff project manager would earn $50 per hour. The hourly rate for the other

project team member would be $70 per hour, since some hours normally billed to clients may be

needed for this project. The initial cost estimate also includes $10,000 for purchasing software &

services from suppliers. After the project is completed, maintenance costs of $40,000 are included

for each year, primarily to update the information and coordinate the “Ask the Expert” feature and

online articles. Projected benefits are based on a reduction in hours consultants spend researching

project management information, appropriate tools and templates, and so on. Projected benefits are

also based on a small increase in profits due to new business generated by this project. If each of

more than 400 consultants saved just 40 hours each year (less than one hour per week) and could bill

that time to other projects that generate a conservative estimate of $10 per hour in profits, then the

projected benefit would be $160,000 per year. If the new intranet increased business by just 1

percent, using past profit information, increased profits due to new business would be at least

$40,000 each year. Total projected benefits, therefore, are about $200,000 per year.

Exhibit A summarizes the projected costs and benefits and shows the estimated net percent value

(NPV), return on investment (ROI), and year in which payback occurs. It also lists assumptions

made in performing this preliminary financial analysis. All of the financial estimates are very

encouraging. The estimate payback is within one year, as requested by the sponsor. The NPV is

$272,800, and the discounted ROI based on a three-year system life is excellent at 112 percent.

Discount rate 8%

Assume the

project is done

in about is

months

Year

0 1 2 3 Total

Costs 140,000 40,000 40,000 40,000

Discount

factor

1 0.93 0.86 0.79

Discounted

costs

140,000 37,037 34,294 31,753 243,084

Benefits 0 200,000 200,000 200,000

Discount

factor

1 0.93 0.86 0.79

Discounted

benefits

0 186,185 171,468 158,766 515,419

Discounted (140,000) 148,148 137,174 127,013

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

benefits –

costs

Cumulative

benefits-costs

(140,000) 8,148 145,322 272,336 NVP

Payback in

year 1

Discounted

life cycle

ROI----_

112%

Assumptions

Costs #hours

PM (500hours,

$50/hour)

25,000

Staff (1500

hours,

$70/hour)

105,000

Outsourced

software &

services

10,000

Total project

costs (all

applied in year

140,000

Benefits

# consultants 400

Hours saved 40

$/hour profit 10

Benefits from

saving time

160,000

Benefits from

1% increase in

profits

40,000

Total annual

projected

benefits

200,000

Questions:

1. What according to you are the factors that can hamper the profit growth related with the

project?

2. Mention some strategies to further improve the project’s turnover.

Examination Paper: Project Management

IIBM Institute of Business Management

Caselet 2

Many organizations spend a great deal of time and money on training efforts for general project

management skills, but after the training, project managers may still not know how to tailor their

project management skills to the organization’s particular needs. Because of this problem, some

organizations develop their own internal information technology project management methodologies.

The PMBOKR Guide is a standard that describes best practices for what should be done to manage a

project. A methodology describes how things should be done, and different organizations often have

different ways of doing things. For example, after implementing a systems development life

cycle (SDLC) at Blue Cross Shield of Michigan, the Methods department became aware that

developers and project managers were often working on different information technology project in

different ways. Deliverables were often missing or looked different from project to project. They may

have all had a project charter, status report, technical documents (i.e., database design documents,

user interface requirements, and so on), but how they were producing and delivering these

deliverables was different. There was a general lack of consistency and a need for standards to guide

both new and experienced project managers. Top management decides to authorize funds to develop a

methodology for project managers that could also become the basis for information technology

project management training within the organization. It was also part of an overall effort to help raise

the company’s Software Capability Maturity Model level. BlueCross BlueShield of Michigan

launched a three-month project to develop its own project management methodology. Some of the

project team members had already received PMP certification, so they decided to base their

methodology on the PMBOKR Guide 2000, making adjustment as needed to best describe how their

organization managed information technology projects. See a complete article on this project on the

companion Web site for this text. Also see the Suggested Reading to review the State of Michigan

Project Management Methodology, which provides another good example of an information

technology project management methodology. Many organizations include project management in

their methodologies for managing Six Sigma projects. Other organizations include project

management in their software development methodologies, such as the Rational Unified Process

(RUP) framework. RUP is an interactive software development process that focuses on team

productivity and delivers software best practices to all team members. According to RUP expert Bill

Cottrell, “RUP embodies industry-standard management and technical methods and techniques to

provide a software engineering process particularly suited to creating and maintaining componentbased

software system solutions,” Cottrell explains that you can tailor RUP to include the PMBOK

process groups. Specifically, IBM Rational, the creators of RUP, found that it could adjust RUP input

artifacts with PMBOK process inputs, RUP steps with PMBOK process tools and techniques, and

RUP resulting artifacts with PMBOK process outputs.

Questions:

1. According to you what are the skills that needed for the project management of an organization?

2. How the six sigma project became a helpful tool in very sophisticated kind of project

management?