Vocabulary practice

1. Match up the words that are opposite in the meaning.

1)succeed, 2) permission, 3)updated, 4)manual, 5) create out 6)obsolete

a)essential, b) computerized, c)fail d)destroy, e) out of date, f) ban

2. Fill in the blanks choosing from the variants given.

1. Project management software is an effective tool for … and scheduling. a) planning b) maintenance c) analysis d) development

2. “A project team” is a group of people who are assigned to analyze and … an information system.

a) maintain b) develop c) implement d) test

3. Users and analysts work together to identify problems and look for solution in a development process called … application design.

a) co-operative b) united c) joint d) mutual

4. A modified waterfall SDLC allows to … between SDLC phases

a) overlap b) break c) skip d) stretch

5. A System Requirements Report describes the … for a new information system.

a) innovations b) ideas c) objectives d) goals

6. It is difficult to complete the design phase until system … have a chance to work with software tools that are purchased in the implementation phase.

a) analysts b) developers c) builders d) administrators

3. Make three-word combinations using the words in columns and then fill in the gaps in the following sentences.

A: a) information B: source C: design

b) joint requirements software

c) project application plan

d) open system report

e) system management project

f) project development

1. … describes the objectives for an information system.

2. … is developed during the planning phase.

3. … must be reviewed and approved by the management.

4. You can use … for planning and scheduling.

5. OpenWork Bench and Microsoft Project are …, aren’t they?

6. … is based on the idea that the best information systems are designed when end-users and system analysts work together as equal partners.

4. Fill in the gaps in the text.

The process of planning and building an information system is referred to as systems _1_.The development process is supervised by an organization’s Information Systems (IS) department, but the _2_ team includes members from other departments as well. System development follows some type of system development _3_ cycle (SDLC), which consists of several phases. In the _4_ SDLC one phase of the SDLC must be completed before the next phase begins. A project begins with a _5_ phase in which a member of the IS department creates a Project Development Plan. The project team then proceeds to the _6_ phase, with the goal of producing a list of requirements for a new or revised information system.

Speaking. Discuss the following questions.

1. What is a system development life cycle?

2. How does an information project begin?

3. What does the planning phase entail?

4. Do computers offer tools for planning activities?

5. How does the project team determine what the new system should do?

6. How does the project team document system requirements?

7. What does the project team do with system requirements?

Text C

Pre-reading. Match the terms with their definitions.

1. centralized processing a) describes the information system problem and the requirements for the solution.

2. distributed processing b) describes the way the information system’s software should interact with users, store data, process data, and format reports.

3. request for proposal (RFP) c) in which processing tasks are distributed to servers and workstations.

4. request for quotation (RFQ) d) is a request for a formal price quotation on a list of hardware and software.

5. application specifications e) in which data is processed on a centrally located computer.

Reading. Read the text and try to guess the meaning of the words in bold. Check your variants in the dictionary.