Chapter 8 Flashcards
key to developing effective information and decision support systems?
Good decision-making and problem-solving skills
Purpose of MIS?
provide the right information to the right person in the right format at the right time
Function of DSS?
support decision-making effectiveness when faced with unstructured or semi-structured business problems
What are Specialised Support Systems?
group support systems (GSS) and executive support systems (ESS), use the overall approach of a DSS in situations such as group and executive decision making
What are Information systems used for?
Strategic Planning and Problem Solving
Decision-making phase?
First part of problem-solving
-Intelligence stage: potential problems or opportunities are identified and defined
-Design stage: alternative solutions to the problem are developed
-Choice stage: requires selecting a course of action
Problem solving
goes beyond decision making to include implementation and monitoring stages
Implementation stage
A solution is put into effect
Monitoring stage
Decision makers evaluate the implementation
Difference between programmed and non-programmed decision?
=Programmed decision
- Decision made using a rule, procedure, or quantitative method
- Easy to computerize using traditional information systems
=Non-programmed decision
- Decision that deals with unusual or exceptional situations
- Not easily quantifiable
Optimisation model
find the best solution, usually the one that will best help the organization meet its goals
Satisficing model?
find a good – but not necessarily the best – problem solution
Heuristics
commonly accepted guidelines or procedures that usually find a good solution
Sense and Respond (SaR) approach
-Determining problems or opportunities (sense)
-Developing systems to solve the problems or take advantage of the opportunities (respond)
Implemented through MIS and DSS
What is a MIS?
- Integrated collection of people, procedures, databases, and devices
- Provides managers and decision makers with information to help achieve organizational goals
- Can give the organization a competitive advantage
- Providing the right information to the right people in the right format and at the right time
- Provides managers with information that supports effective decision making and provides feedback on daily operations
what types of inputs are there to an MIS?
=Internal data sources
- TPSs and ERP systems and related databases
- Data warehouses and data marts
- Specific functional areas throughout the firm
=External data sources
- Customers, suppliers, competitors, and stockholders whose data is not already captured by the TPS
- Internet
- Extranets
What outputs come from an MIS?
- Scheduled report: produced periodically, or on schedule, such as daily, weekly, or monthly
-Key-indicator report: summary of previous day’s critical activities - Demand report: developed to give certain information at someone’s request
- Exception report: automatically produced when a situation is unusual or requires management action
- Drill-down reports: provide increasingly detailed data about a situation
What are the characteristics of an MIS?
- Provide reports with fixed and standard formats
- Produce hard-copy and soft-copy reports
- Use internal data stored in computer system
- Allow users to develop custom reports
- Require user requests for reports developed by systems personnel
What is Financial MIS?
Provides financial information to executives and others
Provide financial MIS subsystems and outputs
- Profit/loss and cost systems: profit and revenue centres
- Auditing: internal and external
- Uses and management of funds
What is a Manufacturing MIS?
- Manufacturing MIS subsystems and outputs monitor and control the flow of materials, products and services through the organization
- Design and engineering: CAD systems
- Master production scheduling and inventory control
-Methods: Economic Order Quantity, Materials Resource Planning, JIT - Process control
-Techniques: CAM, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Flexible Manufacturing System - Quality control and testing
What is Marketing MIS and provide subsystems of it?
Marketing MIS: supports managerial activities in product development, distribution, pricing decisions and promotional effectiveness
Subsystems
-Marketing research
-Product development
-Promotion and advertising
-Product pricing
-Sales analysis
What is Human Resource MIS and provide subsystems?
Human resource MIS: concerned with activities related to employees and potential employees
Subsystems
-Human resource planning
-Personnel selection and recruiting
-Training and skills inventory
-Scheduling and job placement
-Wage and salary administration
-Outplacement
Accounting MIS?
provides aggregate information on accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and many other applications
Geographic information system (GIS)
capable of assembling, storing, manipulating, and displaying geographic information
What is a Decision Support System?
- A DSS is an organized collection of people, procedures, software, databases, and devices used to help make decisions that solve problems
- Focus of a DSS is on decision-making effectiveness regarding unstructured or semi-structured business problems
- Used by managers at all levels
What are the characteristics of a DSS 1?
- Provide rapid access to information
- Handle large amounts of data from different sources
- Provide report and presentation flexibility
- Offer both textual and graphical orientation
- Support drill-down analysis
- Perform complex, sophisticated analysis and comparisons using advanced software packages
What are the characteristics of a DSS 2?
- Support optimization, satisficing, and heuristic approaches
- What-if analysis: making hypothetical changes to problem data and observing impact on results
- Goal-seeking analysis: determining problem data required for a given result
- Simulation: ability of the DSS to duplicate features of a real system
What are the capabilities of a DSS?
- Support problem-solving phases
- Support different decision frequencies
-Ad hoc DSS
-Institutional DSS - Support different problem structures
-Highly structured problems
-Semistructured or unstructured problems - Support various decision-making levels
What are the components of a DDS?
- Database
- Model base
- Dialogue manager: user interface that allows decision makers to:
-Easily access and manipulate the DSS
-Use common business terms and phrases - Access to the Internet, networks, and other computer-based systems
What is the purpose of Database Management Systems?
- Allows managers and decision makers to perform qualitative analysis on data stored in company’s databases, data warehouses, and data marts
- Can also be used to connect to external databases
What is a model base?
provides decision makers with access to a variety of models and assists them in decision making
Allows them to perform quantitative analysis on both internal and external data
What is the user interface/dialogue manager?
- Allows users to interact with the DSS to obtain information
- Assists with all aspects of communications between user and hardware and software that constitute the DSS
What are Group Support Systems?
- Consists of most elements in a DSS, plus software to provide effective support in group decision making
- Also called group decision support system or computerized collaborative work system
What characteristics does a GSS have that enhances decision making?
Special design
Ease of use
Flexibility
Decision-making support:
-Delphi approach
-Brainstorming
-Group consensus approach
-Nominal group technique
Anonymous input
Reduction of negative group behavior
Parallel communication
Automated record keeping
What is an Executive Support System?
-Specialized DSS
-Includes hardware, software, data, procedures, and people used to assist senior-level executives
-Also called an executive information system (EIS)
What are the Characteristics of ESS?
- Tailored to individual executives
- Easy to use
- Drill-down capabilities
- Support need for external data
- Can help with situations that have a high degree of uncertainty
- Future-oriented
- Linked to value-added business processes
What are the capabilities of ESS?
- Support for defining overall vision
- Support for strategic planning:
Determining long-term objectives through analysis of current organization and prediction of future trends - Support for strategic organizing and staffing
- Support for strategic control
- Support for crisis management
