Deck 1: Business Intelligence

Question 1

Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems handle a company's routine on-going business. In contrast, a data warehouse is typically a distinct system that provides storage for data that will be made use of in analysis.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

End users can work with the data in a data warehouse by using reports, queries, and various data mining tools.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Decision support concepts have been implemented incrementally, under different names, by many vendors who have created tools and methodologies for decision support.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Globalization has significantly reduced the complexity of the business environment. For example, companies can find suppliers and customers in many countries where materials are cheaper, which reduces competition and complexity.

Question 5

Business intelligence (BI) is a narrow term that refers to specific architectures, tools, databases, analytical tools, applications, and methodologies.

Question 6

The benefits of dashboards are that they provide a comprehensive visual view of key performance indicators, trends, and exceptions.

Question 7

In BI, data warehousing performs the monitoring and analyzing of performance.

Question 8

BI system has four major components: data warehouse, business analytics, business performance management; and a user interface

Question 9

The management of Norfolk Southern, a large freight railroad company, invested in data warehousing technologies. Even though railroad transportation is a mature industry, Norfolk Southern gained a competitive advantage by using its data warehousing technologies to squeeze additional efficiency from its operations.

Question 10

BI's major objective is to enable interactive access, sometimes in real time, to data, to enable manipulation of data, and to give business managers and analysts the ability to conduct appropriate analysis.

Question 11

When faced with a turbulent business environment, organizations are best able to survive or even excel by minimizing changes until the environment stabilizes.

Question 12

Security and privacy are extremely important issues in the development of any computerized system, especially BI that contain data that may possess strategic value.

Question 13

BI must be a technical exercise for the information systems department to insure its success.

Question 14

The advantage of BPM is that it extends the monitoring, measuring, and comparing of sales, profit, cost, profitability, and other performance indicators by introducing prediction and forecasting capabilities.

Question 15

A BI system's components include a decision support system with source data; business performance management (BPM) for monitoring and analyzing performance; and a user interface such as a dashboard.

Question 16

One of the most important aspects of a successful BI is that it must be of benefit to the enterprise as a whole rather than a single manager or task.

Question 17

One of the major objectives of computerized decision support is to minimize the gap between the current performance of an organization and its desired performance.

Question 18

Only the most current data is stored in the data warehouse to keep BI current.

Question 19

Dashboards and information portals are important BI data visualization tools.

Question 20

Automated decision systems (ADS) are rule-based systems that provide solutions to repetitive managerial problems, usually in one functional area (e.g., finance, manufacturing).

Question 21

Companies are facing each of the following impacts of globalization except:

A) easier to find suppliers and customers in many countries
B) less complex business environment
C) cheaper materials
D) more and stronger competitors

Question 22

Today's computerized systems possess capabilities that can facilitate decision support in a number of ways, including each of the following except:

A) increased productivity of group members
B) improved communication and collaboration
C) agility support
D) reduced environmental pressures

Question 23

The major benefit of ________ to the company is the ability to provide accurate information when needed.

A) data warehouse
B) analytical models
C) management information systems
D) business intelligence

Question 24

Which BI analytic application provides the following business value: Personalize customer relationships for higher satisfaction and retention?

A) customer segmentation
B) fraud detection
C) customer attrition
D) channel optimization

Question 25

One of the major objectives of ________ is to facilitate closing the gap between the current performance of an organization and its desired performance, as expressed in its mission, objectives, and goals.

A) business alliances
B) customer relationships
C) business models
D) computerized decision support

Question 26

Numerous types of business ________ result from today's business climate.

A) decisions
B) responses
C) support
D) pressures

Question 27

An approach to real-time, on-demand BI, commonly called ________, uses Web services to discover key business events.

A) business activity management (BAM)
B) business performance management (BPM)
C) business best practices
D) operational control

Question 28

Organizations are being compelled to capture, understand, and harness their data to support decision making in order to improve:

A) business operations
B) competition
C) compliance
D) risk

Question 29

Which of the following is not a function of a BI Competency Center (BICC)?

A) Demonstrates how BI is clearly linked to strategy and execution of strategy.
B) Encourages interaction between the potential business use communities and the IS organization.
C) Insures that the data warehouse platform is structured and remains stable enough to provide for changing business requirements.
D) Helps important stakeholders like high-level executives see how BI can play an important role.

Question 30

Most operational data in Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) systems are stored in ________ systems.

A) OLTP
B) OLAP
C) TPS
D) DSS

Question 31

Which BI analytic application provides the following business value: Interact with customers based on their preference and your need to manage cost?

A) customer segmentation
B) fraud detection
C) customer attrition
D) channel optimization

Question 32

Norfolk Southern Railroad invested in a Teradata ________, which is a central repository of historical data that is organized for easy access and manipulation to support decision making.

A) database
B) data warehouse
C) data repository
D) data disk

Question 33

Which of the following is an organizational response to a business environmental factor?

A) customer demand
B) government regulations
C) new business models
D) globalization

Question 34

Business environment factors that create pressures on organizations include all of the following except:

A) workforce that is younger and shrinking
B) need for real-time, on-demand transactions
C) booming electronic markets on the Internet
D) innovative marketing methods

Question 35

Which of the following is not a component of BI architecture?

A) Data
B) Users
C) User interface
D) Web

Question 36

A(n) ________ is a rule-based system that provides a solution, usually in one functional area, such as finance or manufacturing, to a specific repetitive managerial problem.

A) decision support systems (DSS)
B) transaction processing system (TPS)
C) online analytical processing (OLAP) system
D) automated decision system (ADS)

Question 37

________ are now extremely compressed; faster, more informed, and better decision making is therefore a competitive imperative. Managers need the right information at the right time and in the right place.

A) R & D
B) Business cycle times
C) Product life cycle
D) Forecasts

Question 38

Norfolk Southern Railroad built a ________ application that pulls data from the data warehouse and then graphically depicts actual performance against planned performance.

A) dashboard
B) graphical interface
C) transaction processing
D) forecasting

Question 39

The two critical partnerships required for ________ are a partnership between functional area heads and a partnership between potential customers and providers.

A) intelligence creation
B) BI governance
C) event-driven alerts
D) predictive analysis

Question 40

Which BI analytic application provides the following business value: Prevent loss of high-value customers and let go of lower-value customers?

A) customer segmentation
B) fraud detection
C) customer attrition
D) channel optimization

Question 41

Critical partnerships required for ________ are a partnership between functional area heads and a partnership between potential customers and providers.

Question 42

The process of business intelligence is based on the ________ of data to information, then to decisions, and finally to actions.

Question 43

Users can connect to the BI system via the ________, such as a browser.

Question 44

Business intelligence (BI) combines architectures, tools, ________, analytical tools, applications, and methodologies.

Question 45

First and foremost, the fundamental reasons for investing in BI must be ________ with the company's business strategy.

Question 46

Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) systems handle a company's ________ business.

Question 47

Business intelligence's major objective is to enable ________ access to data, enable manipulation of these data, and to provide business managers and analysts the ability to conduct appropriate analysis.

Question 48

Software monitors called ________ can be placed on a separate server in the network or on the transactional application databases themselves, and they can use event- and process-based approaches to proactively and intelligently measure and monitor operational processes.

Question 49

For each potential BI project in the portfolio, it is important to use return on investments (ROI) and total cost of ownership measures to estimate the ________ ratio.

Question 50

________ are the collection of tools for manipulating, mining, and analyzing the data in the data warehouse.

Question 51

________ is a business rules-based system that uses intelligence to recommend solution to repetitive decisions, such as pricing.

Question 52

One example of ADS is an ________ alert, which is a warning or action that is activated when a predefined or unusual event occurs.

Question 53

________ are a type of user interface that provide a comprehensive visual view of corporate performance measures, trends, and exceptions.

Question 54

________ are now extremely compressed; faster, more informed, and better decision making is therefore a competitive imperative.

Question 55

________ which is also referred to as corporate performance management (CPM), is an emerging portfolio of applications and methodology that contains evolving BI architecture and tools in its core.

Question 56

A major ________ issue is who should serve as decision makers involved in prioritizing BI projects.

Question 57

An approach to real-time, on-demand BI, commonly called ________, uses Web services to discover key business events.

Question 58

Most operational data in supply chain management (SCM) or customer relationship management (CRM) systems are stored in ________ systems.

Question 59

________ is a process of searching for unknown relationships or information in large databases or data warehouses, using intelligent tools.

Question 60

Traditional BI systems use a large volume of ________ data that has been extracted, cleansed, and loaded into a data warehouse to produce reports and analyses.

Question 61

End users can work with the data and information in a data warehouse by using a variety of tools and techniques. These tools and techniques fit into two major categories. Identify and explain or give examples of these two categories.

Question 62

List four major business environmental factors in today's business environment.

Question 63

List the components of the architecture of business intelligence.

Question 64

What is business performance management (BPM)?

Question 65

List two BI analytical applications and their business value.