UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2016/2017
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN
INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT
MISM5304 OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT (OSM)
ORDINARY EXAMINATIONS
DATE: AUGUST, 2017 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
Use the following CASE STUDY to answer Question 1
CASE STUDY: POSITION DESCRIPTION AND SPECIFICATION FOR AN HRIS
ADMINISTRATOR
One way to assess the nature and importance of a particular function or position in an
organization is to examine the job description and job specifications for this position, as they tell
us what activities, duties, and tasks are involved in the job as well as what knowledge, skills, and
abilities (KSA) are required to perform the job. The following is an actual advertisement for an
HRIS administrator. A large corporation placed this ad in the “Job Central” section of the
Internet site for the International Association for Human Resources Information Management
(http://ihrim.hrdpt.com/cgi-bin/a/searchjobs_quick.cgi, accessed July 10, 2010).
HRIS Administrator
Job Level: Senior (5+ Years), Full time
Reports to: Sr. Director of Human Resources Operations
Position Summary
MOMIRI, LLC is an Alabama Native Owned Corporation, providing shared services to the
MOMIRI family of companies and planning and incubating the next generation of companies
serving federal and commercial customers. MOMIRI companies offer core expertise in
telecommunications, information technology, product development, major program
management, open source software, construction management, facility operations, and
operations support. MOMIRI companies realize that quality personnel are the key to our success.
An excellent benefits package, professional working environment, and outstanding leaders are all
keys to retaining top professionals.
Primary Function
The incumbent will serve as a key member of the HR Support Services department and provide
professional human resources support in specific functions or disciplines to management and
staff for the MOMIRI family of companies. This position is viewed as going to a midlevel
professional who assists management and staff with HR programs at the tactical level and
performs all essential duties and responsibilities at the direction of the Manager of HR
Operations.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Provides technical assistance to senior-level HR staff and management on several HR
programs to include employee relations, compensation, EEO compliance company
policies and procedures, disability programs (STD, LTD, FMLA, ADA), federal and state
employment laws, and personnel actions as needed.
Supports and maintains the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) in addition to
other systems supported by the management of enterprise applications.
Serves as technical point-of-contact for assigned functional areas and assists subject
matter experts with ensuring data integrity, testing of system changes, report writing and
analyzing data flows for process improvement opportunities.
Supports HRIS and other enterprise systems’ upgrades, patches, testing and other
technical projects as assigned.
Recommends process/customer service improvements, innovative solutions, policy
changes and/or major variations from established policy.
Serves as key systems liaison with other departments and process stakeholders (e.g.,
Payroll).
Writes, maintains, and supports a variety of reports or queries utilizing appropriate
reporting tools. Assists in development of standard reports for ongoing customer needs.
Maintains data integrity in ATS, HRIS, and other enterprise systems by running queries
and analyzing and fully auditing data across all HR departments.
Conducts new hire in-processing to include systems training for new employees and
entering new employee information in Costpoint.
Conducts termination out-processing to include entering employee separation information
in Costpoint and reporting attrition data.
Develops user procedures, guidelines, and documentation for HR-related systems. Trains
system users on new processes/functionality.
Provides HR tools and resources for management and staff to accomplish their goals and
objectives.
Processes personnel actions (hires, terminations, pay & title changes, promotions,
employment status, etc.) to include entering data into HRIS.
Assists with special HR-related projects and provides training to other staff members as
required.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Requirements
Specialized Knowledge and Skills
Experience working with a multiple-site workforce.
Working knowledge of federal and state employment laws and related acts.
Advanced to expert level computer skills.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in HR and/or equivalent professional experience.
3–5 years of technical HRIS experience in professional HR environment.
Self-directed, highly responsive, and detail oriented.
Ability to maintain absolute confidentiality in all business matters.
Government contracting experience is a plus.
QUESTION ONE: 20 MARKS
a) Identify and describe the TWO major objectives of Operations systems management (4
Marks) and clearly identify the conflict in meeting these two objectives (2 Marks). Use
the case study to illustrate your answer.
a) Differentiate between centralized, decentralized, federated and customized IS
organization (8 Marks), and Produce an IS organization diagram showing how the HRIS
administrator fits into the structure (6 Marks)
QUESTION TWO (15 MARKS)
Write short descriptive notes on the following concepts about the future trends in Operational
Information Systems Management (3 Marks each)
a) Bring your own Device -Security Issues
b) Software as a Service (SaaS) -Capacity Issues
c) Web 2.0 -Configuration Control
d) Enterprise Systems-Acquisition issues
e) Open Source Software -Service level Agreements
QUESTION THREE (15 MARKS)
a) There are FOUR major categories of OPERATIONAL SYSTEMS. Identify each of these
categories and discuss ONE example of an information system that is used in each
category (10 Marks)
b) Distinguish between PROCESS and INFORMATION technology and explain where
each of these types of technology is used in operations management (5 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR (15 MARKS)
Capacity management is a critical concern to IS operations as it has an effect on the bottom line,
ROI and the customer. Capacity Management in Information technology and systems is meant to
ensure that IT is sized in optimum & cost effective manner.
a) Using a suitable illustration, discuss the concept of capacity management (6 Marks)
b) Describe the following Metrics for Capacity management and discuss how they can be
controlled when managing operational information systems: (9 Marks)
(i) Number of incidents due to performance plans
(ii) Cost of expensive overcapacity
(iii) Number of rushed purchases
