Warning: this course in Bruneck does not exist anymore!!! The website is ONLY for the exam. This is not 27000, not 27006, not 27324.

Exam code 30104

Information Systems and Data Management in Bruneck

In charge of the exam: Dr. Paolo Coletti Paolo.Coletti@unibz.it .

Office I303 - Office hours: www.paolocoletti.com/timetable

Website: www.paolocoletti.com/informationsystems

Attention: special offer!

If you fail the exam, you MAY keep any part on which you got at least 70% for the next sessions for maximum 11 months (if I am still in charge of this exam).

Course

Prerequisites

In order to correctly follow this course each student is required previous knowledge on these topics:

  • English understanding and reading: you must be able to read and understand spoken English at level B2. If, for example, you have problems reading this website, you will not follow the course correctly.
  • Microsoft Windows or Mac: you must already know how to use an operating system in its basic aspects
  • File handling: you must have very good practice on how to move, delete, rename, copy, compress, uncompress files and directories. These are activities with which some students have severe problems.
  • Internet: you must be able to navigate, send and read email, use basic UNIBZ network features and download files.

Course content

  • File handling precourse. Even though this is a prerequisite, it is offered for those students who do not have very good skills in file handling skills to close their gap.
  • Basic computer, Windows, networks and security. This part is theoretical and we will see topics which are of everyday use in a typical office environment.
  • Microsoft Excel. In this part we will see the basic graphs, formulas and functions of Excel. This part contains also a section on financial Excel applications and on creating functions with VBA.
  • Relational databases and Microsoft Access. In this part we will see relational databases' architecture, and how to build and modify simple databases with Access.

How to study for this course

This course is different from the majority of courses you are used to. This course is much more technical than theoretical and it is strictly sequential. The main difference with respect to other courses is that you have to train much more than study. The content of this course is easy and does not need extensive study, however, it is only with practice that you become skilled enough and know immediately what to do without wasting time.

 

Exam

Exam is divided into two parts.

The first part is held in a standard classroom all students together. This part's time is 45 minutes, but may vary according to the complexity of exercises. This part is completely on paper and "closed book": no paper nor electronic help or tool is allowed. It consists in

  • questions on computer, Windows, networks (20% of the grade). This consists in a set of true/false sentences. For each one, you may choose not to answer getting 0 points, answer correctly getting 1 point or answer wrongly getting -1 points. However, the total score of this part cannot be negative;
  • written test on relational databases (20% of the grade).

The second part is held in computer room in turns of 25 students each. Turns will appear on this website as soon as enrollment is closed. This part's time is 45 minutes, but may vary according to the complexity of exercises. If you have specific timetable's needs, please write an email to Dr. Coletti as soon as possible, before the timetable appears. This part is totally open books: you may use any written or electronic document (including books, previous exams with solutions, your personal handwritten or electronic notes and my slides). You may not, however, use any communication program or device. This part consists in

  • practical test on Excel, financial functions and VBA (40% of the grade);
  • practical test on Access (20% of the grade);
  • any file handling error (for example wrong names, double extension on the same file, extra or wrong directories, extra files, multiple versions of exam's files and all other files' mistakes) counts negatively towards the final grade.

Important warning: the crucial point of second part of exam (and of the second mid-term) is time. If you never practice with Access and Excel, you will still be able to do the exam but you will waste a lot of time looking for the commands and you will not finish it in time. Only with exercises will you be fast enough to complete it in the indicated time. It is a good idea to practice with a clock on the previous exams that you find below.

 

Before the exam:

  1. if you do not use your own notebook, borrow a computer from the library well before the exam and configure it before the exam
  2. make sure that Office is installed and working;
  3. if you are paranoid and are afraid that your notebook crashes the night before, some days before the exam borrow a computer from the library and check that you are able to log in on your unibz account and that you have, or are able to install, everything you need

Modifications due to Covid

Questions

This part will be an oral examination on Teams. Note that oral examinations are public, so there could be other people connected (who obviously cannot speak!). I will not record the exam. I will ask you to show me your surroundings and there must be nobody around nor any course's material nor any other screen. You may hold an A4 paper with you which has one face written with whatever you want, including course's material. You will be evaluated on what you say, how you say it and on how much time does it take to answer (spending 10 minutes reading your A4 paper every time will penalise you).

 

Database

I will send you the file via email, you draw the schema on paper and take a picture of it or on whatever computer program you wish. Then you send me the picture or the file. During the exam I will call you and ask you to show me your screen. In case during the exam you need my assistance and call me on Teams.

 

Second part (Excel, Access)

I will send you the file via email and receive the file back via email. During the exam I will call you and ask you to show me your screen. In case during the exam you need my assistance and call me on Teams. 

 

Cheating

If I suspect you are cheating or have cheated, I will interrupt the exam and report to the Dean. I remind you that the regulations of the Faculty of Economics prescribe for cheating a suspension of one entire session for all exams and one entire year for this exam. It has already happened to some of your colleagues in the past, so please do not even try to cheat.

Study resources

Topic
Lessons’ slides
Exercises’ slides
Videos
Books
Theory

– Computer introduction

– Precourse

– Computer networks

– Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology

  

Precourse video below

Cryptocurrencies video below

Dark web video below

for the rest of this part use the book on the side

 Basic Information Systems book
Excel

Excel

Files for lessons

Excel function translation for those who have Excel in German or Italian

All material

Go below for lessons videos

Go below for exercises videos

  
Relational databases
 Relational databases

Relational databases and
Solutions

Go below here

  
Access
 Access

Databases

 Go below here

Videos of lessons

You find all the available videos in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz33NgbtebwHclO7X55Zc5Cq2cfPQp5DH

FAQs

Q: What do I need on my computer to attend this course and take the exam?
A:
1) You can download Windows' 7-Zip from www.7-zip.org for free or Mac's Keka from www.kekaosx.com/en/ for free. If you do not have Office, follow the installation instructions on http://knowledge.scientificnet.org/software . If you already have Office 2016 o Office 2013. If you have Office not in English, I give you the translation (eng, ita, ger) of all Excel function used in the course, keep it printed next to you. If you have a Mac or if you have an Office edition without Access, you can use Access through one of the following solutions.
2) Use VMware via web. Go here https://desktop.scientificnet.org , choose the HTML access and enter with your unibz login (use loginname@unibz.it as login name). You will have Windows Labs, which is a virtualized Windows computer, with all the course's programs installed. Alternatively you can use each specific program alone, without the burden of Windows. Pay attention that in this way you will have access only to the \\ubz01fst network disk (My PC or Local Disks are the unibz ones, not yours), not to your own computer's disks. There won't be any problems for the exam nor for attending the course, but it can be annoying.
3) Use VMware via client. Go here https://desktop.scientificnet.org and choose to install the VMware client and choose desktop.scientificnet.org when it asks you the server address. Use loginname@unibz.it when it asks for your login name. You should be able to access your local disk automatically if you say Yes to the many permissions' requests (otherwise, for old versions: from Settings -> Options Tab -> Shared Folders and then from Preferences -> Sharing you can enable access to local disks).

 

Q: I have a Linux computer. What do I need to attend this course and take the exam?
A: See solutions 2 and 3 above.

 

Q: I have no notebook. What do I need to attend this course and take the exam?
A: You can use the computer of the A518 classroom for the exam and borrow a notebook from unibz library for the course. Everything will be installed properly.

 

Q: How can I type backslash, square bracket, straight vertical, curly braces on the German keyboard of a Mac?
A: Did you buy a Mac with a German keyboard? For programming it is lacking some fundamental keys. Here the shortcuts:

  • backslash \ is obtained with ALT+SHIFT+7
  • square brackets [ and ] are obtained with ALT+5 and ALT+6
  • straight vertical | is obtained with ALT+7
  • curly braces { and } are obtained with ALT+8 and ALT+9

Q: How can I type square bracket, at symbol, curly braces on the Italian keyboard of a Mac using VMware?
A: Did you buy a Mac with an Italian keyboard? I do not understand why the left Option-Alt key is working only for the euro symbol. Here the shortcuts:

  • square brackets [ and ] are obtained with RIGHT ALT+8 and RIGHT ALT+9
  • at symbol @ is obtained with RIGHT ALT+Q
  • curly braces { and } are obtained with RIGHT ALT+7 and RIGHT ALT+0

Q: May I fix an appointment to talk with you?
A: Sure, write me an email and we can fix it online or live. Alternatively, you can write me your questions via email or Teams message and I shall answer very soon.

 

Q: When will the next exam be? Can you give me a hint on the exam's date because I have to catch a plane? Can you move the exam's date? Can you fix the exam's date on the week I suggest?
A: Please stop writing me emails on this topic. Exam's date appears on your timetable as soon as it is official. If you have something to say about it, contact your students' speaker who is the only one who can submit requests on students' behalf.

 

Q: I may not enrol online for technical or administrative reasons or I forgot to enrol or it is my third attempt and I cannot enrol. Can I do the exam anyway?
A: No, I may not let non-enrolled students take part of the exam. Do not ask me to do illegal things! Ask the secretary whether there is something they can do.

 

Q: May I use the operating system in a different language?
A: Yes, sure. Your business.

 

Q: Will the exam be similar to the other exams on this website?
A: Sure. 

 

Q: I lost a file during the practical exam because I did not save it correctly. What may you do?
A: Absolutely nothing. With time spent on exercises you should know the unreliability level of your programs, and how often you have to save.

 

Q: My files were not copied correctly at the end of the practical exam. What may I do?
A: Checking that the copy is correct, and practicing file copy even during the exam, is your task and is official prerequisite for this course.

 

Q: Hey, exam's time is not enough! I could not even finish it. If I only had other 5 minutes I would have done it much better!
A: Sorry but you are wrong, as I calculate more than twice the needed time. Look at the important warning after exam's explanation: the fact that for you exam's time was not enough is instead an indication that you must do many more exercises to be efficient and fast enough. On the other hand, if you have documented medical problems that slow your operations, write an email to me to have more time.

Previous exams

You find all the previous exams in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz33NgbtebwHclO7X55Zc5Cq2cfPQp5DH

 

List of previous exams texts and files (here) and solutions (below)

Filename / LinkSize
exam04.zip57.49 Kb
exam05.zip452.84 Kb
exam06.zip189.39 Kb
exam07.zip68.9 Kb
exam08.zip38.25 Kb
exam09.zip75.34 Kb
exam10.zip187.65 Kb
exam11.zip116.07 Kb
exam12.zip250.76 Kb
exam13.zip125.97 Kb
exam14.zip168.45 Kb
exam15.zip104.78 Kb
exam16.zip208.02 Kb
exam17.zip207.16 Kb
exam18.zip183.3 Kb
exam19.zip183.79 Kb
exam20.zip219.83 Kb
exam21.zip181.5 Kb
exam22.zip138.52 Kb
exam23.zip1.18 Mb
exam24.zip119.41 Kb
exam25.zip597.27 Kb
exam26.zip344.66 Kb
exam27.zip453.91 Kb
exam28.zip470.25 Kb
exam29.zip470.09 Kb
exam30.zip477.29 Kb
exam31.zip1.43 Mb
exam32.zip1.39 Mb
exam34.zip543.28 Kb
exam35.zip735.67 Kb
exam38.zip525.38 Kb
exam40.zip217.78 Kb
exam42.zip459.7 Kb
exam43.zip896.97 Kb
exam45.zip841.51 Kb
exam48.zip1.08 Mb
exam50.zip798.94 Kb
exam51.zip2.24 Mb
exam55.zip3.56 Mb
exam56m.zip1.2 Mb
exam57.zip1.44 Mb
exam58.zip741 Kb
exam61.zip926.86 Kb
exam62m.zip2.61 Mb
exam63.zip1.73 Mb
exam64.zip3.27 Mb
exam67.zip1.68 Mb
exam78-30104.zip416.77 Kb
exam80-30104.zip665.99 Kb
solution04.zip76.22 Kb
solution05.zip385.48 Kb
solution06.zip364.83 Kb
solution07.zip38.86 Kb
solution08.zip172.88 Kb
solution09.zip112.92 Kb
solution10.zip76.53 Kb
solution11.zip51.16 Kb
solution12.zip487.88 Kb
solution13.zip274.89 Kb
solution14.zip81.92 Kb
solution15.zip73.18 Kb
solution16.zip60.4 Kb
solution17.zip101.19 Kb
solution18.zip203.33 Kb
solution19.zip163.89 Kb
solution20.zip173.1 Kb
solution21.zip190.75 Kb
solution22.zip208.74 Kb
solution23.zip1.2 Mb
solution24.zip162.99 Kb
solution25.zip395.15 Kb
solution26.zip387.99 Kb
solution27.zip299.85 Kb
solution28.zip351.95 Kb
solution29.zip267.57 Kb
solution30.zip377.04 Kb
solution31.zip3.99 Mb
solution32.zip1.33 Mb
solution34.zip508.14 Kb
solution35.zip1.14 Mb
solution38.zip1.07 Mb
solution40.zip271.14 Kb
solution42.zip493.48 Kb
solution43.zip1.48 Mb
solution45.zip1.29 Mb
solution48.zip2.92 Mb
solution50.zip2.23 Mb
solution51.zip559.82 Kb
solution55.zip11.12 Mb
solution56m.zip2.31 Mb
solution57.zip8.82 Mb
solution58.zip1.59 Mb
solution61.zip1.12 Mb
solution62m.zip6.83 Mb
solution63.zip3.42 Mb
solution64.zip1.2 Mb
solution67.zip4.17 Mb
solution78-30104.zip382.94 Kb
solution80-30104.zip467.31 Kb