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The Importance of Information Systems Management, 8e (McNurlin/Sprague/Bui)
Chapter 12 Supporting Decision Making
1) Decision support systems are designed to address well-structured problems.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 424
2) Decision support systems are relatively new technology, having first emerged in 1995.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 424
3) Decision support systems do not require end-user interfaces as they solve problems
automatically.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 424
4) Decision support systems usually utilize detail transaction level data.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 428
5) Quick-hit DSSs can only be created using a DSS generator.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 430
6) Data mining uncovers unknown patterns and correlations in data.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 432
7) Data mining requires significant amounts of detailed data.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 432
8) An EIS can scan the environment for the latest competitor information.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 435
9) Expert systems utilize artificial intelligence to solve a problem the way a human expert
would.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 440
10) Comparing a current problem to thousands of prior problems is referred to as case-based
reasoning.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 442
11) Neural networks are a type of expert system.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 442-443
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12) Simulation-based modeling for studying emergent behavior is referred to as transitionalbased modeling.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 429
13) An enterprise nervous system uses a publish-an- subscribe approach.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 448
14) Reacting quickly to new information to gain a competitive edge is referred to as straightthrough processing.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 450
15) An RFID can tell you what it is attached to and where it is located.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 453
16) Most computer systems have some built-in features that help their users make decisions.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 424
17) In the mainframe era, the earliest commercial uses of computers aimed to automate
decisions such as analyzing sales, updating accounts payable, and calculating payroll.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 424
18) Decision making in organizations has often been seen as a rational and coherent process.
Answer: TRUE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 424
19) It really does not matter where decision making starts or stops because all the activities are
part of the overall process of solving the problem.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 426
20) Using artificial intelligence, the manager can build a network of arguments to represent a
chain of business reasoning.
Answer: FALSE
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 440
21) Which of the following is used to support decision making?
A) data mining
B) expert systems
C) agent-based modeling
D) All of the above
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 424
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22) Management information systems provide:
A) scheduled reports.
B) ad-hoc information requests.
C) the ability to query a database for specific data.
D) All of the above
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 427
23) Which component of a DSS links the user to the system?
A) dialog component
B) simulation component
C) model component
D) data component
Answer: A
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 428
24) Which component of a DSS performs the analysis of the problem?
A) dialog component
B) simulation component
C) model component
D) data component
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 429
25) The data component of a DSS:
A) uses transaction data.
B) is highly detailed.
C) is principally external data.
D) is often a data warehouse.
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 432
26) A DSS that is used for ongoing support on a continual basis is called a(n) ________ DSS.
A) transactional
B) institutional
C) quick-hit
D) administrative
Answer: B
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 429
27) A DSS that is used for one-time decisions is called a(n) ________ DSS.
A) transactional
B) institutional
C) quick-hit
D) administrative
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 429
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28) Which of the following is true of a quick-hit DSS?
A) It can be used to select, sort, and summarize data to meet a specific information
request.
B) It can be used to analyze and print data.
C) It can be created using a DSS generator.
D) All of the above
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 429-430
29) Discovering previously unknown patterns or correlations in data through automated
processes is referred to as:
A) data warehousing.
B) data mining.
C) data analyzing.
D) None of the above
Answer: B
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 432
30) Which of the following is true of an EIS?
A) They use graphics to display data in an easy to use fashion.
B) They are a type of DSS.
C) They provide access to summary and drill down data.
D) All of the above
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 435-436
31) Which of the following is a reason for an EIS project to fail?
A) poorly defined information requirements
B) poorly planned evolution
C) lack of executive support
D) All of the above
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 437
32) The most significant factor for an installing an EIS is:
A) to improve organizational communication.
B) to attack a critical business problem.
C) to satisfy the requirements of an executive.
D) None of the above
Answer: B
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 438
33) Which of the following is not a component of an expert system?
A) a user interface
B) an inference engine
C) a simulation model
D) a knowledge base
Answer: C
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 446
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34) Which of the following is not a way of representing knowledge?
A) case-based reasoning
B) neural networks
C) rules-based systems
D) All of the above are ways to represent knowledge.
Answer: D
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 441-442
35) Simulation technology that analyzes a large number of variables to study emergent behavior
is called:
A) sandbox modeling.
B) timebox modeling.
C) agent-based modeling.
D) decision-analysis modeling.
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 446
36) ITs role in organizational decision making is to help the user to figure out:
A) what and how IT can be used to help the decision maker get the information he needs.
B) better formulate the problem the user is trying to solve.
C) help the user to clarify their preferences.
D) help the user to process complex reasoning.
E) All of the above
Answer: E
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 424
37) ________is a broad set of concepts, methods, and technologies to improve context-sensitive
business decision making by using information-centric support systems.
A) Market Intelligence
B) IT Intelligence
C) Artificial Intelligence
D) Business Intelligence
Answer: D
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 426
38) ________ is the process of building a model of reality based on a situation that we know the
answer, and try to apply to another situation that we have yet to find the solution.
A) Prototyping
B) Modeling
C) Quick Hitting
D) None of the above
Answer: B
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 429
39) Expert systems are real-world applications of:
A) Market Intelligence
B) IT Intelligence
C) Artificial Intelligence
D) Business Intelligence.
Answer: C
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 440
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40) ________ is a way to inform users or systems of an event in real time in a format customized
to their systems or device.
A) Network technology
B) Database technology
C) Portal technology
D) All of the above
Answer: C
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 448
41) Describe the architectural components of a decision support system.
Answer: A DSS consists of a dialog component, data component and a model component. The
dialog component links the user to the system. The data component is either input
directly by the user or is an input to the model component. The model component
performs the analysis within the DSS.
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 424
42) Briefly describe data mining.
Answer: Data mining is an extension of data warehousing. It is the process of using the
computer to look for hidden correlations, patterns or anomalies within large data
warehouses. Its purpose is to give people new insight into the data.
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 432-433
43) Describe an Executive Information System.
Answer: An EIS is used by executives to provide access to summarized performance data in a
mostly graphical display to aid in the decision making process. Its analytical
capability is usually limited. The purpose of an EIS is to gauge company performance
and scan the environment.
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 435-436
44) Identify five problems in developing an EIS.
Answer: 1. Lack of executive support
2. Undefined system objectives
3. Poorly defined information requirements
4. Inadequate support staff
5. Poorly planned evolution
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 437-438
45) Describe the components of an expert system.
Answer: An Expert system consists of:
1. User Interface the interface between the ES and the outside world. This may be
an end-user interface access directly or an interface to another application.
2. Inference engine the portion of the software that contains the reasoning methods
used to search the knowledge base and solve the problem.
3. Knowledge base contains the facts and data relevant to the specific problem.
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 441-442
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46) Describe three ways that knowledge can be represented and utilized by an expert system.
Answer: 1. Case-based reasoning. ESs that use this approach draw inferences by comparing a
current problem to hundreds or thousands of similar problems of past cases. It is best
used when there are too many variations to generalize into rules.
2. Neural networks. Neural networks are a type of decision-making system. They
contain links and nodes that fire signals to other nodes.
3. Rules-based systems. This is the most common form of knowledge representation.
The rules are obtained from experts who draw upon their own expertise, experience,
and common sense ways of doing business, regulations and laws to state the rules.
They generally exist in the form of If-Then statements.
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 441-443
47) Describe the concept of a real-time enterprise.
Answer: The real-time enterprise concept implies that the organization can know exactly how
it is performing moment-by-moment rather than relying on historical trends.
Companies are looking to use real-time enterprises to improve the supply chain,
improve coordination, and automate decisions.
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 448-449
48) How do enterprise nervous systems differ from past IT system architectures?
Answer: 1. It is message based, which means that applications, devices, and people
communicate with each other via messages. As the Internet has shown, sending
messages is a very efficient and effective way of dispersing information among huge
numbers of parties.
2. It is event driven, which means that when an event occurs–a car arrives at a
dealer’s lot, a passenger boards a plane, a factory ships a truckload of parts–that event
is recorded and made available.
3. It uses a publish-and-subscribe approach, which means that the informationabout
the event is “published” to an electronic address and any system, person, or device
authorized to see that information can “subscribe” to that address’s information feed,
which is automatically updated whenever a new event occurs.
4. It uses common data formats, which means the data formats used in disparate
systems are reduced to common denominators that can be understood by other
systems and shared.
Diff: 3
Page Ref: 448-449
49) Define and describe the concept of a communicating object.
Answer: A communicating object consists of a sensor and or a tag that provides information
about the physical world via real-time data. A communicating object can tell you what
it is attached to, where it is located, where it belongs, and a lot more information
about itself. Communicating objects are also called smart tags.
Diff: 1
Page Ref: 453
50) What is modeling? Why is modeling used as a component of decision support systems?
Answer: Modeling is the process of building a model of reality based on a situation that we
know the answer, and try to apply to another situation that we have yet to find the
solution. The model component of decision support systems stores a family of
analytical models in a model base that the user can choose, and possibly integrate
them together, to solve a decision situation.
Diff: 2
Page Ref: 429
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