UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2012/2013
EXAMINATION FOR THE BACHELOR OF BUSINESS IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BBIT 100 FUNDAMENTALS OF COMPUTER SYSTEMS
DATE: AUGUST, 2013 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question ONE and any other TWO
QUESTION ONE
Meso associates have already decided that it will implement a software package for its
Claims Handling and Policy Administration system. They have described the process of
software procurement in ‘common-sense’ terms as follows.
(1) Decide what we want. We must be clear what we want the system to do.
(2) Find out who supplies what we want.
(3) Ask these potential suppliers to bid for the contract.
(4) Select the most appropriate solution.
(5) Purchase and implement the most appropriate solution.
a) Based on this ‘common-sense’ framework describe a rigorous five-stage process
for software package selection, describing the key activities within each stage.
(15 Marks)
b) i. Briefly describe ONE risk of adopting the software package approach to
systems development; (2 Marks)
ii. Briefly describe TWO ways of reducing the impact or effect of this risk.
(3 Marks)
c) Briefly explain FIVE main uses of information in an organization (10 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a) Carry out the following arithmetic calculations
b) Convert each decimal fraction to its octal form
i. 0.4375 (2 Marks)
ii. 0.2 (2 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) Identify two examples of each of the following computer software
i. General purpose application software (2 Marks)
ii. Application specific programs (2 Marks)
iii. System management programs (2 Marks)
iv. System development programs (2 Marks)
b) Define the term computer system (2 Marks)
c) Examine five functions which are performed by computer hardware devices
(10 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Define the terms
i. RISC AND CISC (4 Marks)
ii. Parallel and array design (4 Marks)
iii. Web browsers (4 Marks)
iv. Interpreter and compiler (4 Marks)
b) The memory in a computer is formed by large numbers of basic units called
memory cells. Each memory cell is capable of storing a binary digit in form of a
bit. A group of 8 bits is called a byte.
Fill in the missing information given that:
(4 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Analyze six reasons which make ICT the foundation of the Economy (6 Marks)
b) Discuss FIVE functions of DBMS (10 Marks)
c) Discuss four functions of an operating system (4 Marks)
