Chapter 10

1. Chapter10 Decision Support Systems Section I Only REVIEW

2. Information, Decisions and Management • What are the 3 levels of an organization? • Are the types of information the same for all levels? • The type of information required by decision makers is directly related to the level of management and the amount of structure in the decision situations.

3. Levels of Management Decision Making • Strategic • group of executives develop overall organizational goals, strategies, policies, and objectives as part of a strategic planning process • Tactical • managers and business professionals in self-directed teams develop short- and medium-range plans, schedules and budgets and specify the policies, procedures and business objectives for their subunits • Operational • managers or members of self-directed teams develop short-range plans such as weekly production schedules

4. Information, Decisions and Management • What are the 3 types of decisions that take place within an organization? • At which level within the organization does each type of decision typically take place? • Amount of structure is typically tied to management level • Operational • more structured • Tactical • more semi structured • Strategic • more unstructured

5. Decision Structure • Structured • situations where the procedures to follow when a decision is needed can be specified in advance • Unstructured • decision situations where it is not possible to specify in advance most of the decision procedures to follow • Semi structured • decision procedures that can be prespecified, but not enough to lead to a definite recommended decision

6. Attributes of Information Quality What are the three dimensions of information quality? • Time Dimension • Content Dimension • Form Dimension

7. Attributes of Information Quality • Timeliness • Provided WHEN it is needed • Up-to-date when it is provided • Provided as often as needed • Provided about past, present, and future time periods as necessary

8. Attributes of Information Quality • Content • Free from errors • Should be related to the information needs of a specific recipient for a specific situation • Provide all the information that is needed • Only the information that is needed should be provided • Can have a broad or narrow scope, or an internal or external focus • Can reveal performance

9. Attributes of Information Quality • Form • Provided in a form that is easy to understand • Can be provided in detail or summary form • Can be arranged in a predetermined sequence • Can be presented in narrative, numeric, graphic, or other forms • Can be provided in hard copy, video, or other media

10. MIS vs. DSS • What does MIS and DSS stand for? • How are MIS and DSS similar? • What are some of the difference between MIS and DSS?

11. Management Reporting Alternatives What are the information products that an MIS typically provides? • These information products typically take the following forms: • Periodic Scheduled Reports • Prespecified format • Provided on a scheduled basis • Exception Reports • Produced only when exceptional conditions occur • Reduces information overload • Demand Reports and Responses • Available when demanded • Ad hoc • Push Reporting • Information is sent to a networked PC over the corporate intranet • Not specifically requested by the recipient

12. Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) • What does OLAP stand for? • What does OLAP allow managers to do? Definition: • Enables mangers and analysts to interactively examine and manipulate large amounts of detailed and consolidated data from many perspectives • Analyze complex relationships to discover patterns, trends, and exception conditions • Real-time • Figure 10.11, page 330

13. OLAP Technology

14. Analytical Operations What are three analytical operations discussed in the textbook and in class? • Consolidation • aggregation of data • Drill-down • detail data that comprise consolidated data • Slice and Dice • ability to look at the database from different viewpoints • When performed along a time axis, helps analyze trends and find patterns

15. Database Structures (continued) What does a multidimensional database look like?

16. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) What is a geographic information system? Definition: • DSS that uses geographic databases to construct and display maps and other graphics displays that support decisions affecting the geographic distribution of people and other resources • Special categories of DSS that integrate computer graphics with other DSS features

17. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

18. Data Visualization Systems (DVS) What is a data visualization system? • Special categories of DSS that integrate computer graphics with other DSS features • DVS represent complex data using interactive three-dimensional graphical forms such as charts, graphs, and maps • DVS tools help users to interactively sort, subdivide, combine, and organize data while it is in its graphical form • Helps discover patterns, links, and anomalies

19. Data Visualization Systems (DVS)

20. Using DSS What are the four types of analytical modeling discussed in the textbook and in class? • An interactive modeling process • Four types of analytical modeling • What-if analysis • Sensitivity analysis • Goal-seeking analysis • Optimization analysis

21. Using DSS • What-if Analysis • end user makes changes to variables, or relationships among variables, and observes the resulting changes in the values of other variables • Sensitivity Analysis • A special case of what-if analysis • value of only one variable is changed repeatedly and the resulting changes in other variables are observed • Typically used when there is uncertainty about the assumptions made in estimating the value of certain key variables

22. Using DSS • Goal-Seeking • set a target value (a goal) for a variable and then repeatedly change other variables until the target value is achieved • Optimization • A more complex extension of goal-seeking • goal is to find the optimum value for one or more target variables given certain constraints then one or more other variables are changed repeatedly until the best values for the target variables are discovered

23. Data Mining for Decision Support What does data mining allow managers to do? • Data mining software analyzes the vast stores of historical business data that have been prepared for analysis in corporate data warehouses • Tries to discover patterns, trends, and correlations hidden in the data that can help a company improve its business performance • Data mining software may perform regression, decision tree, neural network, cluster detection, or market basket analysis for a business

24. Using Decision Support Systems (continued) • Figure 10.17 on page 336 • Data mining software can provide data visualization capabilities to help discover patterns in business data like this analysis of customer demographic information

25. Market Basket Analysis (MBA) What is market basket analysis? Definition: • The purpose is to determine what products customers purchase together with other products

26. Executive Information Systems (EIS) What is an executive information system? Definition: • Information systems that provide top executives, managers, analysts, and other knowledge workers with immediate and easy access to information about a firm’s key factors that are critical to accomplishing an organization’s strategic objectives

27. Executive Information Systems (EIS) • EIS’s combine many of the features of MIS and DSS • Originally intended to provide top executives with immediate, easy access to information about the firm’s “critical success factors” • Alternative names • Enterprise information systems • Executive support systems

28. Features of an EIS What are the features of an EIS? • Information presented in forms tailored to the preferences of the executives using the system • Customizable graphics displays • Exception reporting • Trend analysis • Drill down capability

29. Enterprise Portals and Decision Support • What is a portal? • What is an enterprise portal? Definition: • A Web-based interface and integration of MIS, DSS, EIS, and other technologies that gives all intranet users and selected extranet users access to a variety of internal and external business applications and services

30. Enterprise Portals and Decision Support • Figure 10.19 on page 340 • An enterprise information portal • Can provide a business professional with a personalized workplace of information sources, administrative and analytical tools, and relevant business applications

31. Enterprise Information Portal Components What are the business benefits of an enterprise information portal? • Business benefits of Enterprise Information Portals • More specific and selective information • Easy access to key corporate intranet website resources • Industry and business news • Access to company data for stakeholders • Less time spent on unproductive surfing

32. Knowledge Management Systems What is a knowledge management system? Definition: • The use of information technology to help gather, organize, and share business knowledge within an organization • Hypermedia databases that store and disseminate business knowledge • May also be called knowledge bases • Best practices, policies, business solutions • Entered through the enterprise knowledge portal

33. Enterprise Knowledge Portals What is an enterprise knowledge portals? Definition: • Entry to corporate intranets that serve as their knowledge management systems Figure 10-20 on page 341 • An example of the capabilities and components of an enterprise knowledge portal • Emphasizes the use of a Web-based knowledge management system