Question 1

In the Gorry and Scott-Morton framework of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured decisions, computerized decision support can bring benefits to unstructured decisions.

Accepted Answer

Computerized decision support can help bring structure and organization to unstructured decisions by providing data analysis, visualization, and recommendations. This can help to streamline the decision-making process and reduce the impact of biases and subjective factors.

Question 2

The complexity of today's business environment creates many new challenges for organizations, such as global competition, but creates few new opportunities in return.

Accepted Answer

The statement is false. The complexity of today's business environment creates both new challenges and new opportunities for organizations. While global competition may be a challenge, advancements in technology and access to global markets create opportunities for organizations to expand their reach and increase their customer base.

Question 3

Due to the fact that business environments are now more complex than ever, trial-and-error is an effective means of arriving at acceptable solutions.

Accepted Answer

Due to the increasing complexity of business environments, trial-and-error is a highly inefficient and risky approach to problem-solving. It is much more effective to use structured problem-solving techniques and data-driven analyses to arrive at solutions that are both effective and sustainable.

Question 4

In today's business environment, creativity, intuition, and interpersonal skills are effective substitutes for analytical decision making.

Accepted Answer

While creativity, intuition, and interpersonal skills are important in today's business environment, they are not effective substitutes for analytical decision making. Analytical decision making is still necessary to make data-driven and informed decisions.

Question 5

The use of statistics in baseball by the Oakland Athletics, as described in the Moneyball case study, is an example of the effectiveness of prescriptive analytics.

Accepted Answer

The use of statistics to identify undervalued players and build a winning team demonstrates the effectiveness of prescriptive analytics, which involves using data and algorithms to provide recommendations for decisions and actions.

Question 6

The term decision support system is a very specific term that implies the same tool, system, and development approach to most developers.

Accepted Answer

The term "decision support system" can vary in its meaning and may refer to different tools, systems, and approaches depending on the context and the developer's interpretation.

Question 7

Group collaboration software has proved generally ineffective at improving decision-making.

Accepted Answer

Group collaboration software has been shown to improve decision-making by facilitating better communication, idea sharing, and problem-solving among team members.

Question 8

The overwhelming majority of competitive actions taken by businesses today feature computerized information system support.

Accepted Answer

With the increasing reliance on technology and data-driven decision making, most businesses use computerized information systems to support their competitive actions.

Question 9

Pushing programming out to distributed data is achieved solely by using the Hadoop Distributed File System or HDFS.

Accepted Answer

While HDFS is a component of the Hadoop ecosystem and can be used to store large amounts of data in a distributed fashion, it is not the only way to push programming out to distributed data. Other technologies such as Apache Spark, Apache Flink, and Apache Kafka also provide ways to process data in a distributed manner.

Question 10

In addition to deploying business intelligence (BI) systems, companies may also perform other actions to counter business pressures, such as improving customer service and entering business alliances.

Accepted Answer

Improving customer service and entering business alliances are strategies that companies can use in addition to deploying BI systems to counter business pressures.

Question 11

One of the four components of BI systems, business performance management, is a collection of source data in the data warehouse.

Accepted Answer

Business Performance Management (BPM) focuses on monitoring and managing an organization's performance according to key performance indicators (KPIs), rather than being about collecting source data in the data warehouse. Data warehousing is more related to the data management aspect of BI systems, which involves collecting, storing, and managing data.

Question 12

Due to the fact that organizations seek to store greater amounts of data than ever before, the cost per byte of computer-based data storage devices is rapidly rising.

Accepted Answer

The statement is false. The cost per byte of computer-based data storage devices is actually decreasing as technology advances and storage capacity increases.

Question 13

PCs and, increasingly, mobile devices are the most common means of providing managers with information to directly support decision making, instead of using IT staff intermediaries.

Accepted Answer

With the advancements in technology, managers can now access information directly through personal computers and mobile devices, eliminating the need for IT staff intermediaries.

Question 14

Volume, velocity, and variety of data characterize the Big Data paradigm.

Accepted Answer

The volume, velocity, and variety of data are the three defining characteristics of Big Data.

Question 15

Actionable intelligence is the primary goal of modern-day Business Intelligence (BI) systems vs. historical reporting that characterized Management Information Systems (MIS).

Accepted Answer

Actionable intelligence refers to the delivery of relevant and timely insights that can be acted upon to improve business performance. This is the primary goal of modern BI systems, whereas MIS systems primarily focused on historical reporting of data.

Question 16

Computerized information systems help decision makers overcome human cognitive limitations in assembling and processing varied information. However, this is of little use in most analytical applications.

Accepted Answer

This statement is incorrect. Computerized information systems are very useful in analytical applications as they can process large amounts of data quickly and efficiently, providing decision makers with valuable insights and information.

Question 17

Computerized support is only used for organizational decisions that are responses to external pressures, not for taking advantage of opportunities.

Accepted Answer

Computerized support can be used for both responding to external pressures and taking advantage of opportunities. It can provide valuable data and analysis to support decision-making in various contexts.

Question 18

In a four-step process for decision making, managers construct a model of the problem before they evaluate potential solutions.

Accepted Answer

Constructing a model of the problem is the second step in the four-step process for decision making, with the first step being identifying the problem or opportunity.

Question 19

The use of dashboards and data visualizations is seldom effective in finding efficiencies in organizations, as demonstrated by the Seattle Children's Hospital Case Study.

Accepted Answer

This statement is incorrect. The Seattle Children's Hospital Case Study actually demonstrated that the use of dashboards and data visualizations can be very effective in identifying opportunities for improvement and streamlining processes within an organization.

Question 20

The access to data and ability to manipulate data (frequently including real-time data) are key elements of business intelligence (BI) systems.

Accepted Answer

Access to data and the ability to manipulate it are essential elements of BI systems, allowing businesses to gain insights and make informed decisions based on the latest information available, often in real-time.

Quiz 1: An Overview of Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Decision Support