BS1904 Week 11 1

Computer Applications for Business (11) Last week – successfully achieved:

» Wrap-up of Database work» Completing Mail-Merge with Database data» Mail-Merge with Spreadsheet data

This week:» Practice examinations

– http://www2.winchester.ac.uk/bm/courses/bs1904/index.html#exam» Operating Systems – introduction» What have we missed?

– Questionnaire design » Questionnaire to evaluate this module » Optional Practical: Excel Filtering and Pivot tables

– http://www.winchester.ac.uk/bm/courses/BS1904/BS1904wB.doc

BS1904 Week 11 2

So far we’ve covered: Introduction to the role of IT in Business

» Operational, Production, Decision-support» Communications and how to get your point across

Word-processing» Fonts, Styles, Spell-checkers, Tables

Spreadsheets» “What if” models, Excel functions, Graphical reporting

Composite documents – putting things together Database

» Purposes; types; flat file versus Relational databases Mail-merge

» Driving Word from databases, spreadsheets and tables There’ll be more about managing Information in the degree,

but this module is the last “skill-based” one

Demonstrated in your

assignment

Exam

BS1904 Week 11 3

What Else do you Need?

Let’s try to list any areas omitted:» For example:

– Graphics packages (CAD, image editors, Visio)– Multimedia – building/editing sound and movie clips– PC maintenance and enhancement– Fax– Statistical packages– Accounting packages– Other applications of what you already know

We’ll cover any burning issues next week

BS1904 Week 11 4

Operating Systems

What you actually see on a computer» Windows, MacOS, zOS, VMS, UNIX

Provide the building blocks of complex systems» Common functions encapsulated» Microsoft (or Apple, or IBM) supplies code to drive disks,

so application programmer doesn’t need to do it again Controls the hardware of the computer

» Application program instructs OS what to do(doesn’t have authority to drive hardware)

» OS only performs valid actions Makes the computer appear to do several things at once Organizes saved data into files

BS1904 Week 11 5

Understanding Hardware

Most of our experience is of an Operating System, not a computer» True of Windows, MacOS, UNIX, VM...» Today’s Macs run on Intel hardware, like Windows

Need to think in lower-level terms to understand what’s really happening» Many things become clearer as a result» Problem is that you can’t easily start a PC without

operating system» Even DOS hides files, output etc.

BS1904 Week 11 8

ProcessorProcessorMemoryMemory

Disk StorageDisk StorageOther

long-term Storage

Other long-term Storage

1234567890-=QWERTYUIOP[]#ASDFGHJKL;’ZXCVBNM,./

Input (Data)

Output (Information)Bus

Modern Computer Architecture

Processor works on data in memory Other data flows through the bus

BS1904 Week 11 9

Programming Languages

In the beginning» machine code

(1948 to around 1950) Then Assemblers developed

» translate 1:1 into machine code» Processor-dependent» As complex as the processor

(at least)» Still in use today

We used to include some of this in the module, to get students to understand what tiny things a computer does

High-level compiled languages (from 1956)» Processor-independent» FORTRAN, Cobol, ALGOL,

Pascal, C , PL/I

Interpreted languages» from late 1960s» Basic, APL, REXX

Object-oriented» Visual Basic, C++, Java

BS1904 Week 11 10

Input and Output (I/O)

Peripherals are much slower than CPU or memory Programs would have to keep waiting if they output

direct to printer, or even to disk» Best to write results into Buffers – bit of memory from

where it will be copied to the output device» Stop processing every so often to copy some data

Today’s computers have special I/O processors» Separate dedicated processors that drive I/O devices

and have Direct memory access (DMA)» CPU fires off the I/O processor, then goes back to work

Printing is so slow we do it via SPOOL» Program writes to disk, OS later copies to the printer

BS1904 Week 11 11

Operating Systems – Summary

Though the processor is simple and serial, we want to do more complex things, often several at once

An operating system is the program that:» Provides the building blocks of complex systems» Controls the hardware of the computer» Makes the computer appear to do several things at once

– It goes round looking for work; keystrokes, mouse clicks...– It then does a bit of the required work,– then looks for other things to do, and so on

» We say the machine is doing things “concurrently” – – they’re not simultaneous, but they look it!

» Organizes saved data into files

BS1904 Week 11 12

Notes about the Examination

Entirely Practical» No printing: You’ll be given an exam account, and we will

mark what you store in its “My Documents”» Accounts should be logged on when the exam starts» Make sure you can extract contents from a zip file

Timing» Scheduled to last 1 hour 45 minutes

– Should be more than enough time to finish» 2-hour slot booked on exam timetable, because:

– You get extra time if you suffer a computer crash (rare, but it does happen – make sure you keep saving)

– May take longer than planned to log everybody on

BS1904 Week 11 13

Purpose of the Examination

Goal is to check that you’ve achieved the learning outcomes not tested by the assignment» Familiarity with the Windows environment» Styles and fields in Word» Using the Access database (queries and a simple report)» Combining data and text with Mail-Merge

Only 25% of the total assessment

Designed to be progressive» Several database examples, starting with very easy» But even so there’s “low hanging fruit” throughout,

so don’t give up at the first thing you can’t do

BS1904 Week 11 14

Practice Exams

The real exam will be different, but on similar lines» For practising, work on your normal IT account

Find a practice paper at http://www2.winchester.ac.uk/bm/courses/bs1904/index.html#exam

Also helps you find the files referred to in the papers Make sure you follow the instructions – remember:

» Download materials in to My Documents (don’t open them) » Never edit anything inside a zip file» Always extract materials into a folder in My Documents

Keep saving your work Close Access when you’ve finished making changes

» That way it saves everything cleanly

BS1904 Week 11 15

Surveys

Including feedback on modules

BS1904 Week 11 16

Surveying Opinions

Businesses need to know the opinions of:» Customers and prospective customers, for

– Market research– Satisfaction and Quality assessment

» Employees, for– Morale– Quality management

Need to:» Ask the right questions..» ..of the right people» Also have to process their answers thoughtfully

Usually accomplished with a questionnaire

BS1904 Week 11 17

Questionnaire Design

Questionnaires have to:» Be Ethical: no impertinent questions; no risk to respondents» Engage support of respondents» Be easy to fill in» And be clear and free from accidental ambiguity» Match the way people think about the topic

Results will be used by the business» So conclusions should be clear» Respondents will also want to see the results

(to encourage future support, or to enhance morale) Specialized tools are available, but we can also:

» Develop the questionnaire with word processor» Analyse and present results with a spreadsheet

BS1904 Week 11 18

Question Types

Matters of fact» Yes/No & other binary questions such as Male/Female» Numbers, selections from list, or values

Demographic questions – facts about the respondent» Needed to analyse views of subsets of respondents

“is popularity of deep-fried Mars bars highest in Scotland?”» Often involves putting oneself into a category

– under 20– 20-29– 30-39– 40 and over

Subjective views» Usually choosing points on a continuum of opinion

BS1904 Week 11 19

Demographic Questions Some are very clear:

» Age, sex, post-code Others are much more difficult to pin down

» What is the “principal job responsibility” of the head physics teacher – management, teaching, admin?

» Does “income” include interest, spouse’s salary…? Even clear questions may be impertinent or intrusive

» Income, ethnic origin, political affiliations Some options for question design:

» Collect data (e.g. age) and divide into buckets later, or» Get respondent to choose a range (e.g. 45-54)» First is clearer and open to different analyses,

but may be viewed as too intrusive

BS1904 Week 11 20

Question Clarity

Where you ask respondent to pick a category, think of logical way to list the categories:» Good

Tick the box corresponding to your age under 20 20-29 30-39 40 and over

» BadEnter the number corresponding to your age 1. under 20 2. 20-293. 30-39 4. 40 and over

BS1904 Week 11 21

Multiple Answers

Some questions have more than one valid response, for example:

Which of the following cereals do you eat in a typical week? � Special K � Rice Krispies � Fibre 1 � Corn Flakes � Other branded cereal

(Kellogg's, Nestle, Jordan’s) � Supermarket or unbranded cereal � Porridge

To get the best responses, put most generic low in the list, otherwise people may tick general item before seeing the exact match

May be interesting to get items listed in a sequence» Put “1” by product you

eat most often, “2” by next...

BS1904 Week 11 22

1 2 3 4 5

Verysatisfied

Satisfied Neither satisfiednor dissatisfied

Dissatisfied Verydissatisfied

Opinions

People’s views form part of a continuum» Questionnaire should reflect this:

» Try to make descriptions symmetrical:– Satisfied versus Dissatisfied – Agree versus Disagree (not “Oppose”)

» Otherwise you’re biasing the way people respond There’s a risk of respondents “sitting on the fence”

» Counter this by having an even number of opinions – no middle choice

BS1904 Week 11 23

Be Consistent

If “1” is the most favourable response in one question, don’t make it the least favourable in another» May want to use letters where the values are reversed,

e.g. How long does it take you to find your chosen cereal?A) Over 2 minutesB) 1-2 minutesC) Under a minute

Avoid numbers where there’s no sequence of goodness» for example: Do you think the pace of the course was:

– Too slow– About right– Too fast

BS1904 Week 11 24

Word-processing the Survey

Devise a consistent set of styles for:» Question heading» Question text» The bit the respondent answers – there will probably be

different styles for the various kinds of question, e.g.– Yes/No– Choosing from a list– Expressing an opinion (best to use a graphic)

» Any explanatory text Think about the respondent, not data-entry clerk

» You can always provide an overlay for this purpose» Or have small codes by the choices

BS1904 Week 11 25

Data Analysis

Collect data for each respondent, for example in a database or spreadsheet

Decide on categories for analysis» Certainly analyse the “all-respondent” case» Plus any demographic splits (M/F, local/remote…)

Count responses for each part of each question» So if Q1 is a Y/N, count the number of Ys and Ns across

the selected population» If it’s an opinion, count the 1s, 2s, … 5s over respondents

Display the counts as percentage of responses» Don’t be tempted to “average” numeric responses

– 10 twos and 40 threes may be OK– 35 twos, 5 fours and 10 fives is not (still averages 2.8)

BS1904 Week 11 26

Displaying Results

Bar charts are clear but space-consuming

For discrete information, need separate bars

For Opinion/distribution data, stack the bars

Can save space by making the bars horizontal

Be consistent with colours and direction» e.g. Good on left in Blue

Bad on right in RedNeutral in middle and blank

Student Origin

0

10

20

30

40

50

Winchester

Other Hampshire

Other S ofThames

Other UK

Other Europe

Outside Europe

Student evaluation

Very dissatisfied

Very satisfied

Pie-chart better here – why?

BS1904 Week 11 27

Next Week

More exam practice

Revision of entire course

BS1904 Week 11 28

Please do Survey before you Escape