A2 AQA ICT June 2015 Revision Thread

Emerging technlogies and social networking would be the general predictions IMO, but maybe something about the different ICT systems and reliability and testing? What does everyone else think?

Data warehouse:


A data warehouse is a relational database that is designed for query and analysis. This is mostly done using the data that it has stored from past transactions. Its main purpose is to separate the analysis workload from the transaction workload and therefore helps the organisation to understand data from various sources - once data is entered into the warehouse, it should not change.

Advantages:

- Users have access to large amounts of information
- Data within data warehouses can be easier to analyse than analysing data in seperate locations individually
- A data warehouse makes it easier to provide secure access to those that have a legitimate need to access specific data

Disadvantages:

- Before data can be stored within the warehouse, it must be cleaned, loaded or extracted - which is time consuming and complicated if data is from legacy systems
- Users must be sufficiently trained to use them effectively
- Warehouses are difficult to maintain; there will be ongoing maintenance costs.


That's what I have for data warehouses, hopefully its all right.

What are people revising in terms of emerging technologies and social networking? Either of these two topics could be the 20 marker and it'd be nice if somebody could list a few examples of emerging tech and pros and cons of the tech and social networking

What could they ask about emerging technology?

What hierarchical structure is the charity likely to choose?

My prediction of some of the potential topics going off the case study (quote me on how likely you think some of them could come up):

Page 4:

'an extranet facility for volunteers' - Extranet (2-4 marks) - IMO pretty likely

A network that allows for those outside the organisation to login and use resources. Supports volunteers.

Page 5:

'UCDM has stocks of emergency supplies' - Stock control system (2 marks?) - Pretty unlikely but just know databases in general

Stock control system keeps an inventory of items, alerts can notify managers when supplies need reordering.

'Direct Debit Mandate - What is it and describe other means of donating (6 marks?) - I have no idea how likely

Way of regular payments. Have to sign a contract with the company and decide how much to pay and how frequently. Money is automatically moved into company's accounts Other methods: one-off donation via website, physical donation if presence in shops/on street

'Prevent any unauthorised access' - Security policies and measures ( 8 marks?) - I'd like to say pretty likely

Access levels, passwords, biometric devices, CCTV, locks, security guards, firewalls...

'Data Protection Act 1998' - Would be a general question and up to 8 marks if we were lucky

Keep data secure, procedures if transferred outside EU, not kept longer than necessary, procedures if data subject asks for their data...

Page 6:

'Both organisations have similar aims' - ICT strategy and factors that influence it (6-9 marks?) - idk

Geography of clients, legacy systems, legislation, compliance, ...
Strategy: procurement, future tech developments, tech life cycle...

'data warehouse' - Define and explain (4 marks?) - I'd say pretty likely because otherwise they wouldn't have included it

Above in comments.

'formal project management methodology will be used' - Compare linear and iterative methods (8-12?) - idk

Linear- easy, good if clear objectives, emphasis on documentation...
Iterative- flexible, for experienced teams, more user involvement

'testing and installation' - maybe a question/s on any of the types of testing or installation methods?

Testing parts: user, operational, system, functional
Techniques: volume, scalibility, performance, test harnesses
Installation: phased, parallel, pilot and direct

Page 7:

'social networking will be used to keep volunteers informed' - Can anybody think of a potential question? If social networking isn't the topic on the 20 marker I'd say it's very likely to come up as a 6-12 marker

Sounds plausible, not sure what else. Could be anything,

'system development' - Any question on system development life cycle and its stages

Investigation (TELOS), analysis (problems, background), design (plans), implementation (tailoring packages, writing code), testing (techniques, parts), installation, maintenance (perfective, corrective, adaptive) and evaluation/review (client happiness accessed, if matches system requirements).
(Just some of the things for these stages are in brackets)

Page 8:

'security breach' - Any question on the policy, threats, measures etc.

Mentioned this above.

'Risk analysis' - Maybe something to do with backup and recovery strategy?

Risk analysis- identify information, place value, access threats, access possibility of this occurring
Backup strategy- who? when? to what? how? where is it kept?...

'prevent unauthorised internal or external access' - Measures to prevent internal and external access

Mostly security things

Some of the points may be way off and I might have tried to read between the lines too much. It'd be nice if someone could take the time to write a few bullet points for each of the questions I proposed above, because when I proposed them myself, I did wonder which points would be best to make...

can someone answer this please?

Isn't hierarchical a type of organisational structure? I would have said the charity would go for this as unlike flat, there is clear authority, staff are more loyal to departments and allows for specialised departments.

Yes that's what I meant lol. I'm so tired.

If the exam was tommorow do you think you guys would be ready?

Depends what the questions were. :/ And I need to go over some exam questions tomorrow.

Techniques: volume, scalibility, performance, test harnesses


Completely forgot that I have no notes on the above :/ could somebody briefly explain each of them?

If the exam was tommorow do you think you guys would be ready?

Techniques: volume, scalibility, performance, test harnesses


Completely forgot that I have no notes on the above :/ could somebody briefly explain each of them?