Accounting Technology UARK Test 2

Accounting Information System (AIS)

system that records, processes and reports on transactions to provide financial and nonfinancial information to make decisions and have appropriate levels of internal controls for those transactions

Information value chain

overall transformation from a business need and business event to the collection of data and information to an ultimate decision

Discretionary information

information generally produced for internal information purposes, not required by law, and produced if value of the information is worth more than the cost to produce it (managerial accounting information)

Mandatory information

information generally produced for external information purposes, required by law, and produced at lowest possible cost (tax and financial accounting information

Inbound Logistics, Operations, Outbound Logistics, Marketing and sales activities, Service activities

Five primary activities that directly provide value to the customer

Firm Infrastructure, Human Resource Management, Technology, Procurement

Four support activities that sustain primary activities

Enterprise System

Centralized database that collects data from throughout the firm

Supply Chain

Flow of materials, information, payments, and services from suppliers all the way through to the customer

Supply Chain Management Software

can be used to optimize processes within the supply chain

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

the software used to manage and nurture a firm's interactions with its current and potential clients; includes the use of database marketing tools to learn more about customers

Automate, Informate-Up, Informate-Down, Transform

Strategic Role

Automate

replace human labor in automating business processes

Informate-Up

provide information about business activities to senior management

Informate-Down

provide information about business activities to employees across the firm

Transform

fundamentally redefine business processes and relationships

Class

any separately identifiable collection of things about which the organization wants to collect and store information

Association

relationship between two classes

Multiplicities

describe the minimum and maximum number of times instances in one class can be associated with instances in another class

Event ? Agent

(0..*) and (1..1) ALWAYS

Resource ? Event

(1..
) and (0..
) when selling low-value or mass produced items

Cash ? Cash Receipts (Disbursements)

(1..1) and (0..*), says each receipt (disbursement) is deposited into (withdrawn from) one and only one account, and each account is associated with a minimum of zero cash receipts (disbursements) and a maximum of many, show typical business practices

Attributes

data elements that describe the instances in a class, primary and foreign keys

Constraints

minimum and maximum values

Primary Key

attribute or combination of attributes that uniquely identifies each instance in a class or row in a table

Must NOT be duplicated, CANNOT be null (blank), CANNOT change over time, Controlled by the organization that assigns it, Easier to be a sequential value, Shorter are better than long

Criteria of a Primary Key

Foreign Keys

attribute or combination of attributes that allows tables to be linked together, LINKED TO THE PRIMARY KEY OF ANOTHER TABLE, provides logical relationship or link between tables

Business Rules

succinct statement of a constraint on a business process

Database

collections of related data for various uses

Hierarchical data models

organize data into a tree-like structure that allows repeating information using defined parent/child relationships

Network data models

flexible model representing objects and their relationships (allows for many-to-many relationships)

Relational data models

stores information in the form of related two-dimensional tables

Flexibility and Scalability, Simplicity, Reduced Information Redundancy

Advantages of a Relational Data Model

Database Management System (DBMS)

a computer program that creates, modifies, and queries the database

Data Dictionary

data fields in each database record

Database administrator

responsible for the design, implementation, repair, and security of database

Attributes

characteristics, properties, or adjectives that describe each class

ENTITY INTEGRITY RULE

PRIMARY KEY MUST HAVE DATA VALUES

REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY RULE

DATA FOR FOREGIN KEY MUST EITHER BE NULL OR MATCH ONE OF THE DATA VALUES THAT ALREADY EXIST

Queries

a tool used to retrieve and display data derived from records stored within the database

Forms

utilized by users to enter data into tables and view existing records

Reports

used to integrate data from one or more queries and tables to provide useful information to decision makers

Pages

web-based forms which allow data to be entered into the database in real time from outside of the database system

Macros

automate processes

Modules

used to alter Access's code

Structured Query Language (SQL)

computer language designed to query data in a relational database, based on relational algebra and allows a user to query and update the database

SELECT

used to begin query, tells the query which columns (attributes) of a table should be included in the query result, MOST COMPLEX statement in SQL

*

used to specify that the query should return all columns of the queried tables

FROM

indicates the name of tables from which to retrieve data

WHERE

states the criteria that must be met to be shown in the query result

Text in "WHERE

must be enclosed in single quotes (such as 'Germany')

Dates in "WHERE

must be enclosed in pound signs (such as #10/19/1996#) BUT if formatted like 01-JUL-2014, must go in single quotes

GROUP BY

used with aggregate functions on the query results based on one or more columns

HAVING

similar to WHERE but may only use CALCULATED FIELDS in HAVING clause, may NOT use aliases (can't use NumEmployees, instead must be COUNT(EmployeeID))

AND & OR

OR is more inclusive, only one criteria needs to be met; AND less inclusive, both criteria must be met

ORDER BY

CANNOT use aliases in ORDER BY (must use AGGREGATE(attribute)

AS

gives an aggregate calculation an alias, used in SELECT, (COUNT(EmployeeID) AS 'NumEmployees'

Collapsed Subprocess

contains a series of steps that are hidden from view

Intermediate Error Event

something happens in the flow that ends the process

Intermediate Timer Event

indicates that time must pass for the process to continue

Type Images

Non-REA class, categorizes any resource, event, or agent in any way beyond the line-item detail that the primary key provides

Preventative Controls

deter problems before they arise, require compliance with preferred procedures and thus stop undesirable events from happening (authorizing a transaction to ensure validity)

Detective Controls

find problems when they arise, procedures and techniques designed to identify undesirable events after they have already occurred (bank reconciliations and monthly trial balances are prepared to catch mistakes)

Corrective Controls

fix problems that have been identified (using backup files to recover corrupted data), linked to Detective Controls to remediate any issues that are discovered

Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

process of creating or modifying information systems to meet the needs of its users, generally viewed as the foundation for all systems development that people use to develop such systems (PADIM)

PLANNING PHASE

Begins with a business need for a new or better information system, involves summarizing the business needs with a high-level view of the intended project, Feasibility study is often used to evaluate economic, operational, and technical practicability, In

ANALYSIS PHASE

Must answer: "What needs to be maintained about the current business process?" and "What needs to change in the new business process?", The gap between the answers to the questions is analyzed, Involves a complete detailed analysis of the systems needs of

Business Process

a defined sequence of business activities that use resources to transform specific inputs into specific outputs to achieve a business goal

Effectiveness, Efficiency, Internal Control, Compliance

Importance of Business Processes

DESIGN PHASE

Involves describing in detail the desired features of the system that it uncovered in the analysis phase; Features may be described using screen layouts, process and event diagrams, and other documentation; INCLUDES UML

System Analyst

responsible for both determining the information needs of the business and designing a system to meet those needs

Class Diagrams Uses

In system development -> draft of the database, after implementation -> facilitate use of databases

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE

Involves development, testing, and implementation of the new proposed system; Involves placing the system into production such that users can actually use the system that has been designed for them

Development

process of transforming the plan from the design phase into an actual, functioning system

Testing

involves testing for errors, bugs, and interoperability with other parts of the system, verify all of the business requirements from the analysis phase are met

MAINTENANCE PHASE

Includes making changes, corrections, additions, and upgrades to ensure the system continues to meet the business requirement; Continues INDEFINITELY because the system must continue to evolve as the underlying business evolves