Answer:

1. Four levels of activity in the pyramid representing the business organization

From top to bottom: Top M?n?gement, Middle M?n?gement, Oper?tions M?n?gement, Oper?tions Personnel. Horizont?l flow supports oper?tions- level t?sks with highly det?iled inform?tion ?bout the m?ny business tr?ns?ctions ?ffecting the firm such ?s shipment of goods, use of l?bor ?nd m?teri?ls in production process, etc. The vertic?l flow distributes inform?tion downw?rd from senior m?n?gers to junior m?n?gers ?nd oper?tions personnel in the form of instructions, quot?s, ?nd budgets. It ?lso sends summ?rized inform?tion pert?ining to oper?tions ?nd other ?ctivities upw?rds to m?n?gers of ?ll levels.

2. D?t? ?re f?cts, which m?y or m?y not be processed (edited, summ?rized, or refined) ?nd h?ve no direct effect on ? user's ?ctions. Inform?tion c?uses the user to t?ke ?n ?ction th?t he or she otherwise could not, or would not, h?ve t?ken. Inform?tion is determined by the effect it h?s on the user. Thus the rel?tion is ?n inform?tion system is the ?ct of form?l procedures by which d?t? ?re collected, stored, processed into inform?tion, ?nd distributed to users.

3. The distinction between ?IS ?nd MIS centers on the concept of ? tr?ns?ction. ?IS subsystems process fin?nci?l tr?ns?ctions ?nd nonfin?nci?l tr?ns?ctions th?t directly ?ffect the processing of fin?nci?l tr?ns?ctions (ch?nges to customers' n?mes ?nd ?ddresses ?re process by the ?IS to keep the customer file current. ?lthough not technic?lly ? fin?nci?l tr?ns?ction these ch?nges provide vit?l inform?tion for processing future s?les). MIS processes nonfin?nci?l tr?ns?ctions th?t ?re not norm?lly processed by tr?dition?l IS. MIS m?n?ges the inform?tion systems for speci?lized function?l ?re?s such ?s production pl?nning ?nd control, s?les forec?sting, inventory w?rehouse pl?nning, m?rket rese?rch, ?nd so on.

4. Characteristics of good or useful information

Relev?nce - must serve purpose, timeliness - no older th?n the time fr?me of the ?ction it supports, ?ccur?cy - free from m?teri?l errors, completeness - no essenti?l piece of inform?tion missing, ?nd summ?riz?tion - ?ggreg?ted in ?ccord?nce with the user's needs.

5. Levels of data hierarchy

?ttribute, record, ?nd file. E?ch file is ? complete set of records of ?n identic?l cl?ss. E?ch record is ? complete set of ?ttributes for ? single occurrence within ?n entity cl?ss. E?ch ?ttribute is the most element?l piece of potenti?lly useful d?t? in the d?t?b?se.

6. ?n extern?l ?udit is ?n independent ?ttest?tion performed by ?n expert who expresses ?n opinion reg?rding the present?tion of fin?nci?l st?tements. ?n intern?l ?udit is ?n independent ?ppr?is?l function est?blished within ?n org?niz?tion to ex?mine ?nd ev?lu?te its ?ctivities ?s ? service to the org?niz?tion.

7. Under the centr?lized d?t? processing model, ?ll d?t? processing is performed by one or more l?rge computers housed in ? common d?t? center th?t serves users throughout the org?niz?tion. The distributed d?t? processing (DDP) model is where users process their tr?ns?ctions loc?lly.