Deck 10: Decision Support Systems

Question 1

If customers who purchase item A are already likely to purchase item B, then they'll be even more likely to buy item B if it is in a display just outside the aisle that holds itemA

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Most business decision situations are either structured or unstructured.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Decision makers at the operational management level often look to decision support systems to provide them with summarized, ad hoc, and unscheduled reports, forecasts, and external intelligence to support their more unstructured planning and policymaking responsibilities.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Even information that is outdated, inaccurate, or hard to understand has meaning, usefulness, and value.

Question 5

Decision makers at the strategic management level often look to management information systems to provide them with summarized, ad hoc, and unscheduled reports, forecasts, and external intelligence to support their more unstructured planning and policymaking responsibilities.

Question 6

DSS software typically contains built-in analytical modeling routines and also enables you to build your own models.

Question 7

In an executive information system, information is presented in forms tailored to the job requirements of the executives using the system.

Question 8

When using DSS software, managers usually request pre-specified information from the application.

Question 9

Decision support systems were the original type of information system developed to support managerial decision making.

Question 10

Electronic spreadsheet packages provide some of the same model building offered by more powerful DSS software.

Question 11

DSS systems are designed to be ad hoc, quick-response systems that are initiated and controlled by business decision makers.

Question 12

Push reporting reduces information overload, instead of overwhelming decision makers with periodic, detailed reports of business activity.

Question 13

The main purpose of data mining is to provide decision support to managers and business professionals through a process referred to as information mining.

Question 14

A new Web-based management tool known as a windshield displays critical information in an easy-to-read graphic format.

Question 15

Operational databases are maintained by transaction processing systems.

Question 16

New information technologies and networked PC versions of DSS software have made decision support available to lower levels of management, non-managerial individuals, and self-directed teams.

Question 17

Management information systems provide ad hoc, flexible, and adaptable reports.

Question 18

The concept of a geographic information system and data visualization dates back to the 1800s.

Question 19

Executive information systems are becoming so widely used by non-executives that they are sometimes humorously called "easy information systems."

Question 20

According to the textbook case, the Boston Celtics have been using a data mining application to set seating prices, and develop promotions and sales strategies.

Question 21

Deciding what product lines to develop over the next five years is an example of a(n) _______________ decision.

A) structured
B) semi-structured
C) unstructured
D) open-ended

Question 22

Portals are designed for use by executives, not the average employee.

Question 23

Expert systems fail miserably in solving problems requiring a broad knowledge base.

Question 24

Decisions made at the tactical management level tend to be more:

A) Structured
B) Semi-structured
C) Unstructured
D) Self-structured

Question 25

Which of the following statements most accurately describes the operational level of management?

A) Composed of a board of directors and an executive committee of the CEO and top executives who develop overall organizational goals, strategies, policies, and objectives as part of a strategic planning process
B) Composed of self-directed teams and middle managers, who develop short-and medium-range plans, schedules, and budgets
C) Composed of self-directed teams or supervisory managers who develop short-range plans, according to procedures and within the budgets and schedules established for the teams and other workgroups of the organization
D) None of the choices are correct.

Question 26

Expert systems learn from experience as they process information requests.

Question 27

Which of the following statements is a characteristic of the content dimension of information?

A) Information is provided when it is needed.
B) Information is related to the information needs of a specific recipient for a specific situation.
C) Information is provided in an easy-to-understand form.
D) Information is presented in a narrative, numeric, or graphic form.

Question 28

The enterprise information portal is a customized, personalized, Web-based interface for corporate extranets.

Question 29

The type of information required by decision makers in a company is directly related to the level of management decision making and the amount of _______________ in the decision situations they face.

A) financial risk
B) structure
C) variable information
D) urgency

Question 30

The Japanese ride on subway trains, use elevators, and drive cars that are guided or supported by fuzzy process controllers.

Question 31

Knowledge engineers perform a role similar to that of systems analysts in conventional information systems development.

Question 32

A neural network can be trained to learn which credit characteristics result in good or bad loans.

Question 33

Which of the following statements is a characteristic of the form dimension of information?

A) Information is based on past, present, or future time periods.
B) Information is arranged in a predetermined sequence.
C) All the information needed is provided.
D) The information can have a broad or narrow scope, or an internal or external focus.

Question 34

Decisions made at the strategic management level tend to be more:

A) Structured
B) Semi-structured
C) Unstructured
D) All the choices are correct.

Question 35

An expert system applies reasoning to answer questions, but cannot explain the reasoning process to the user who asked the question.

Question 36

Enterprise information portals are typically tailored or personalized to the needs of individual business users or groups of users.

Question 37

Genetic algorithm software is being used to model a variety of scientific, technical, and business processes.

Question 38

Enterprise information portals can help avoid excessive surfing by employees across company and Internet websites by making it easier for them to receive or find the information and services they need.

Question 39

Companies should have clear criteria for determining when cases cannot be addressed through automation and who should deal with the exceptions.

Question 40

Adaptive learning systems can only modify their behaviors based on the information with which they are programmed.

Question 41

The information products from an MIS take all the following forms except:

A) scheduled reports.
B) exception reports.
C) push reports.
D) pull reports.

Question 42

A weekly sales report is a typical example of a(n) _______________ report.

A) periodic scheduled
B) exception
C) demand
D) action

Question 43

What type of analysis should be used to respond to the statement, "Let's cut advertising by $1000 repeatedly so we can see its relationship to sales"?

A) Goal-seeking
B) Optimization
C) Sensitivity
D) What-if

Question 44

Harrah's, Capital One, and Barclays are a few of the companies using _______________ DSS models to identify customers who produce the greatest profit.

A) loyalty and service
B) product and service quality
C) customer selection
D) financial performance

Question 45

_______________ is an example of a structured, tactical management decision.

A) Program control
B) Employee performance appraisal
C) Credit management
D) Company reorganization

Question 46

Many companies are using GIS technology along with global positioning system devices to do all of the following except:

A) Map customer traffic patterns within each store
B) Choose new retail store locations
C) Optimize distribution routes
D) Analyze the demographics of their target audiences

Question 47

Which one of the following should be used to answer the question, "What would happen to sales if we cut advertising by 25 percent?"

A) Goal-seeking
B) Optimization
C) Sensitivity
D) What-if

Question 48

With _______________, information is available whenever a manager demands it.

A) push reporting
B) exception reports
C) periodic scheduled reports
D) demand reports and responses

Question 49

Online analytical processes involve all of the following analytical operations except:

A) Consolidation
B) Filtration
C) Drill-down
D) Slicing and dicing

Question 50

Which of the following is one of the most common and useful types of data mining for marketing?

A) Goal seeking analysis
B) Market basket analysis
C) Optimization analysis
D) Sensitivity analysis

Question 51

_______________ is an example of an unstructured, operational management decision.

A) Cash management
B) Program control
C) Product planning
D) Capital budgeting

Question 52

__________ analysis involves making repeated changes to selected variables until a chosen variable reaches a target value.

A) What-if
B) Sensitivity
C) Goal-seeking
D) Optimization

Question 53

Using a decision support system involves all of the following types of analytical modeling activities except _______________ analysis.

A) sensitivity
B) exception
C) what-if
D) goal-seeking

Question 54

With _______________, data about sales offices can be rolled up to the district level, and district-level data can be rolled up to provide a regional-level perspective.

A) consolidation
B) drill-down
C) filtration
D) slicing and dicing

Question 55

Decision support systems use _______________ to support the making of semi-structured business decisions.

A) analytical models
B) specialized databases
C) a decision maker's own insights and judgments
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 56

__________ analysis is a more complex form of goal-seeking where the goal is to find the best value for a target variable given certain constraints.

A) What-if
B) Sensitivity
C) Market basket
D) Optimization

Question 57

Dell, Wal-Mart, and Amazon are a few of the companies using _______________ DSS models to stimulate and optimize supply chain flow and reduce inventory levels.

A) pricing
B) product and service quality
C) financial performance
D) supply chain

Question 58

The purpose of _______________ is to determine what products customers purchase together with other products.

A) a regression decision tree
B) neural networks
C) cluster detection
D) market basket analysis

Question 59

A major freight company has several thousand drivers. A report containing information about only those company drivers who have not taken a mandatory defensive driving course is an example of a(n) _______________ report.

A) periodic scheduled
B) exception
C) demand
D) action

Question 60

Business intelligence applications are based on all of the following except:

A) Personalized and Web-enabled information analysis
B) Knowledge management
C) Rapid information input processes
D) Decision support technologies

Question 61

Decision support in business is changing, driven by all of the following except:

A) Changing corporate spending patterns
B) Rapid developments in end user computing and networking
C) Internet and Web technologies
D) Web-enabled business applications

Question 62

Internal enterprise information portal applications typically include access to all of the following except:

A) E-mail and project websites
B) Human resources Web self-services
C) Internet news services
D) Corporate databases

Question 63

Which of the following represents knowledge in the form of a network of data elements including both the data and the methods/processes that act on those data?

A) Case-based reasoning
B) Frame-based knowledge
C) Object-based knowledge
D) Rule-based knowledge

Question 64

Which of the following represents knowledge in the form of a hierarchy or network of collections consisting of a complex package of data values describing its attributes?

A) Case-based reasoning
B) Frame-based knowledge
C) Object-based knowledge
D) Rule-based knowledge

Question 65

Who was the British AI pioneer responsible for proposing a test for determining if machines could think?

A) Alan Turing
B) John McCarthy
C) Allen Nevell
D) Herbert Simon

Question 66

According to the textbook case, the Boston Celtics management is using a data analysis tool to monitor:

A) parking availability according to vehicle size.
B) food and beverage sales according to seat location.
C) ticket sales according to seat location.
D) none of the choices are correct.

Question 67

According to the text, an enterprise knowledge portal has all of the following except:

A) Personalized views of news and data
B) Desktop publishing tools
C) Collaboration tools
D) Community work areas

Question 68

Which of the following represents knowledge in the form of statements of fact, typically in the form of premise and conclusion?

A) Case-based reasoning
B) Frame-based knowledge
C) Object-based knowledge
D) Rule-based knowledge

Question 69

All of the following would be considered an AI application in the robotics group except:

A) Visual perception
B) Neural networks
C) Locomotion
D) Navigation

Question 70

Artificial intelligence is a science and technology based on:

A) Computer science
B) Biology and psychology
C) Linguistics and mathematics
D) All of the choices are correct.

Question 71

All of the following would be considered an AI application in the cognitive science group except:

A) Expert systems
B) Neural networks
C) Speech recognition
D) Learning systems

Question 72

By targeting customers who are already known to be likely buyers, the effectiveness of a given marketing effort is significantly increased-if the marketing takes the form of _______________.

A) in-store displays
B) catalogs
C) a direct offer
D) The form of the marketing does not matter.

Question 73

Which of the following is an example of a robotics application of AI?

A) Intelligent work environment that helps capture the why and the what of engineered design and decision making
B) Machine-vision inspection systems for gauging, guiding, identifying, and inspecting products and providing competitive advantage in manufacturing
C) Automated animation interfaces that allow users to interact with virtual objects via touch
D) Situation assessment and resource allocation software for uses that range from airlines and airports to logistics centers

Question 74

Which of the following represents knowledge in the form of past performance, occurrences, and experiences?

A) Case-based reasoning
B) Frame-based knowledge
C) Object-based knowledge
D) Rule-based knowledge

Question 75

A(n) _______________ is 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.

A) enterprise Resource System
B) enterprise Information Portal
C) executive Information System
D) collaborative Information System

Question 76

Which of the following is an example of an unstructured data source?

A) ERP database
B) CRM database
C) Other databases
D) E-mail

Question 77

All of the following would be considered an AI application in the natural interface group except:

A) Visual perception
B) Speech recognition
C) Multisensory interfaces
D) Virtual reality

Question 78

AI applications can be grouped under all of the following areas except:

A) Cognitive science
B) Robotics
C) Natural interfaces
D) Linguistics

Question 79

Which of the following artificial intelligence applications can learn by processing sample problems and their solutions?

A) Knowledge-based systems
B) Neutral networks
C) Expert systems
D) Fuzzy logic systems

Question 80

All of the following are attributes of intelligent behavior that AI attempts to duplicate except:

A) Reasoning and learning
B) Emotion
C) Problem solving
D) Responding quickly and successfully to new situations