Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Amdahl's law

The overall speedup from improving a fraction p of a workload by factor s is 1 / ((1 - p) + p/s), so the serial portion caps the achievable gain.

CPI

Cycles per instruction, the average number of clock cycles each instruction takes; execution time equals instruction count times CPI times clock cycle time.

Cache miss penalty

The extra time to fetch data from a lower memory level after a cache miss; average access time equals hit time plus miss rate times miss penalty.

Round-robin scheduling

A preemptive CPU scheduling policy that gives each ready process a fixed time quantum in turn, guaranteeing bounded waiting but adding context-switch overhead.

Third normal form

A relation is in 3NF when it is in 2NF and no non-key attribute transitively depends on the primary key, eliminating redundancy that causes update anomalies.

HAVING clause

In SQL, HAVING filters groups after GROUP BY and aggregation, whereas WHERE filters individual rows before grouping; HAVING may reference aggregate functions.

TCP three-way handshake

Connection setup using SYN, SYN-ACK, and ACK segments, which synchronizes sequence numbers and confirms both endpoints are reachable before data transfer begins.

Subnet usable hosts

For a prefix length n, the number of usable host addresses is 2^(32-n) minus 2, subtracting the network and broadcast addresses; a /24 gives 254.

Hybrid encryption

A scheme such as TLS that uses asymmetric cryptography to exchange a session key and symmetric cryptography for bulk data, combining key distribution with speed.

Cost variance

Earned value minus actual cost; a negative value means the project has spent more than the value earned and is over budget at that point.

Schedule performance index

Earned value divided by planned value; a value below 1.0 indicates work is progressing slower than the baseline schedule planned.

Critical path

The longest dependency path through a project network; its length sets the minimum project duration, and delays on it directly delay completion.

Incident versus problem

An incident is an unplanned service interruption restored as quickly as possible; a problem is its underlying cause, investigated to prevent recurrence.

Recovery time objective

The maximum acceptable elapsed time to restore a service after a disaster; it drives redundancy and failover design rather than backup frequency.

Recovery point objective

The maximum tolerable amount of data loss expressed as time; it determines how frequently backups or replication must occur.

Risk transfer

A risk response that shifts financial impact to a third party, such as insurance or a fixed-price outsourcing contract, without eliminating the risk itself.

COBIT governance and management

COBIT separates governance, which evaluates, directs, and monitors, from management, which plans, builds, runs, and monitors activities to deliver IT objectives.

Estimate at completion

A forecast of total project cost; when current cost performance persists, it approximates budget at completion divided by the cost performance index.

Porter's five forces

An industry attractiveness model covering rivalry, new entrants, substitutes, buyer power, and supplier power; stronger forces compress average industry profitability.

Generic strategies

Porter's three positions-cost leadership, differentiation, and focus on a niche-each requiring a distinct value chain; lacking one leaves a firm stuck in the middle.

BCG matrix

A portfolio tool plotting business units by market growth and relative share into stars, cash cows, question marks, and dogs to guide investment allocation.

Zachman framework

An enterprise architecture taxonomy that classifies artifacts by stakeholder perspective and by interrogatives such as what, how, where, who, when, and why.

TOGAF ADM

The Architecture Development Method, an iterative cycle from architecture vision through business, information systems, and technology architecture to migration planning and change management.

Net present value

The sum of future cash flows discounted at the cost of capital minus the initial investment; a positive NPV means the investment adds value.

Internal rate of return

The discount rate at which a project's net present value equals zero; a project is acceptable when its IRR exceeds the required rate of return.

Disruptive innovation

An innovation that initially underperforms mainstream offerings on established metrics but wins on cost, simplicity, or access, eventually displacing incumbents.

Run-grow-transform portfolio

A classification of IT investment into keeping operations running, growing the business, and transforming it, used to balance spending against strategic objectives.

Copyright versus patent

Copyright protects the expression of software, such as source code, while a patent protects a novel and inventive technical method for a limited term.

Trade secret protection

Protection of confidential business information such as algorithms or formulas that has no registration or expiry, provided reasonable secrecy measures are maintained.

Digital signature

A value created with the sender's private key and verified with the public key, providing authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation but not confidentiality.

Data minimization

A privacy principle requiring collection and retention of only personal data necessary for a specified purpose, limiting exposure if a breach occurs.

Fixed-price contract

An agreement where the vendor delivers for a set price regardless of actual cost, transferring cost risk to the vendor when requirements are stable.