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(a)List and briefly explain the six stages
of the hardware acquisition process.[6 marks ]
(a)The six stages of the hardware acquisition
process:
•Determine needs:can be determined from sources either internal
or external to the information system;users should be interviewed
to ascertain mandatory and desirable attributes.
•Preliminary investigation:to determine what the market has to
o .er,and to explore the range of possible solutions;sources of information
include trade publications, vendors ’groups,industry groups,and
consultants.
•Request for proposals:to request all interested parties to submit
formal bids for satisfying the needs.
•Theoretical benchmark:proposals are evaluated solely on the
basis of the vendors ’ claims;no attempt is made to verify these
claims.
•Physical benchmark:actual products are tested to verify vendors
’claims.
•Final selection:best product is chosen,and a legal contract
is drawn up.
1 mark for each stage,provided that some words of explanation are
given -no explanation,no marks
[6 marks ]
(b)Consider the following situation:
An organisation wishes to purchase a number of mobile laptop computers
for
use by staff.
The computers must be light enough to be carried easily by any member
of
staff: that is,less than 3kg in weight.The screens should be as large
as ossible:
screen sizes of 10.4 ”,12.1 ”,13.3 ”and 14.1 ”are
available.
A fast processor would be advantageous,but processor speed is not
a critical
factor,but support for at least 128MB of RAM is essential.The operating
system supplied with the computer must be the same as the one used
on the rest of company ’s network.
Staff must be able to install software from a standard CD.Machines
are
available with DVD and CD-rom drives,both of which can accept a standard
CD.Staff are not permitted to use floppy disks with company machines.
(i)what are the mandatory attributes
of a laptop,in this situation?[4 marks ]
(ii)what are the desirable attributes
of a laptop,in the same situation?[4 marks ] (iii)which
of these attributes would you expect to verify at the physical benchmarking
stage?[1 mark ]
(i)mandatory attributes:
•weight:must be less than 3kg (1 mark)
•memory:must be at least 128MB possible (1 mark)
•operating system match (1 mark)
•standard CD capability (1 mark)
saying CD-rom drive alone,or DVD-rom drive alone,is not correct -it
i the disjunction of these two devices that represents the attribute
[4 marks ]
(ii)desirable attributes:
•large screen (1 mark)
•low weight (1 mark)
•faster processor (1 mark)
•more memory (1 mark)
•no floppy drive (1 mark)
no floppy drive is desirable,as it removes temptation
1 mark for each of these points,up to a maximum of four marks
[4 marks ]
(iii)at the physical benchmarking stage we might verify
•none of these (all might be inferred from theoretical stage)
•processor speed,or memory (overall performance)
1 mark for either of these,no other answers are acceptable
[1 mark ]
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