Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems 9e Turban Delen Test Bank

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems 9e By Turban Delen

Email: richard@qwconsultancy.com

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 1 Decision Support Systems and Business Intelligence 1) When faced with a turbulent business environment, organizations are best able to survive or even excel by minimizing changes until the environment stabilizes.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 2 2) 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.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 4 3) 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.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 5 4) 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.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 6 5) One measure of productivity is the ratio of inputs to outputs.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 6) Managers, especially those at high managerial levels, are primarily hands-on problem solvers.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 7) Because managerial decision making is complex, it is more important to emphasize methodical, analytical decision making rather than interpersonal communication skills.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 7 8) Government regulations, political instability, competition, and changing consumer demands cause uncertainty that makes it difficult to predict the consequences of a decision.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8

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9) Computer applications have progressed from transaction processing and monitoring to problem analysis and solution applications, and much of the activity is supported by spreadsheet technologies.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 9 10) Computerized systems enable people to overcome their cognitive limits by quickly accessing and processing vast amounts of stored information.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 10 11) Accounts receivable and accounts payable processes are highly structured, which makes them easy to program.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 11 12) Research and development (R & D) planning and social responsibility planning are unstructured decisions, which cannot be supported by computerized decision support systems.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 11 13) The first phase in the decision-making process is design which involves inventing, developing, and analyzing possible alternative courses of action or solutions.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 12 14) Automated decision systems (ADS) are rule-based systems that provide solutions to repetitive managerial problems, usually in one functional area (e.g., finance, manufacturing).

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 14 15) The term Decision Support Systems (DSS) can be used as an umbrella term to describe any computerized system that supports decision making in an organization.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 16 16) The two major DSS types are the model-oriented DSS, in which quantitative models are used to generate a recommended solution to a problem, and data-oriented DSS, which support ad hoc reporting and queries.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 17 17) A BI system has three major components: a data warehouse with source data; business performance management (BPM) for monitoring and analyzing performance; and a user interface such as a dashboard.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 20 2 .

18) Most DSS are constructed to directly support specific decision making. In contrast, BI systems, in general typically provide accurate and timely information to support decision support indirectly. This difference is diminishing because decision support tools are being added to BI software packages.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 24 19) Dashboards and information portals are data visualization tools.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 26 20) The objective of computerized decision support, regardless of its name or nature, is to help managers solve problems and assess opportunities faster and better than would be possible without computers.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 27 21) 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 Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 3 22) 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 Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 3 23) Numerous types of business ________ result from today's business climate.

A) decisions B) responses C) support D) pressures Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 5

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24) 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 Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 5 25) 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 Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 5 26) 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 Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 6 27) 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 Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 6 28) Management is a process by which organizational goals are achieved by using resources. The resources are considered ________, and attainment of goals is viewed as the ________ of the process.

A) expenses; profits B) inputs; output C) pressures; opportunities D) scarce; success Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7

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29) Mintzberg's (1980) classic study of top managers suggests that managers perform ten major roles that can be classified into three major categories. Each of the following is one of those major categories except: A) relational B) interpersonal C) decisional D) informational Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 30) For years in the past, managers considered decision making a(n) ________, that is, a talent acquired over a long period through experience and by using intuition.

A) science B) strategy C) art D) methodology Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 31) According to Mintzberg's ten managerial roles, a ________ is responsible for the motivation and activation of subordinates.

A) leader B) figurehead C) liason D) spokesperson Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 32) According to Mintzberg's ten managerial roles, a ________ is symbolic head; or someone who is obliged to perform a number of routine duties.

A) leader B) figurehead C) liason D) spokesperson Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 33) 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 Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 9

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34) Decision-making processes fall along a continuum that ranges from ________ to ________.

A) highly structured; highly unstructured B) semistructured; unstructured C) managerial; strategic D) ad hoc; nonprogrammed Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 11 35) Phases in the decision-making process include each of the following except: A) intelligence B) analysis C) design D) choice Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 12 36) Solving semistructured problems may involve a combination of both standard solution procedures and human judgment. Management science can provide models for the portion of the decision-making problem that is ________.

A) controlled B) semistructured C) unstructured D) structured Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13 37) 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) Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 14 38) Which of the following is one of the two major types of Decision Support Systems?

A) Number-oriented B) Text-oriented C) Model-oriented D) Application-oriented Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 17

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39) Which of the following is not a component of DSS architecture?

A) Data B) Model C) Knowledge D) Web Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 17 40) 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 Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 19 41) Management is a process by which organizational goals are achieved using ________.

Answer: resources Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 42) Making a decision means selecting the best alternative from two or more ________ solutions.

Answer: alternative Diff: 1 Page Ref: 7 43) The level of organization's ________, or the success of management, depends on the performance of managerial functions, such as planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.

Answer: productivity Diff: 2 Page Ref: 7 44) ________ indicates that an individual's problem-solving capability is limited when a wide range of diverse information and knowledge is required.

Answer: Cognitive limit Diff: 3 Page Ref: 10 45) ________ defines long-range goals and policies for resource allocation.

Answer: Strategic planning Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13 46) ________ is the efficient and effective execution of specific tasks.

Answer: Operational control Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13

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47) Gorry and Scott-Morton suggested, for example, that for semistructured decisions and unstructured decisions, conventional ________ and management science (MS) tools are insufficient.

Answer: management information systems (MIS) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13 48) ________ involves transforming the real-world problem into an appropriate prototype structure.

Answer: Modeling Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13 49) Structured problems, which are encountered repeatedly, have a high level of ________.

Answer: structure Diff: 1 Page Ref: 13 50) ________ is the application of scientific approach and mathematical models to the analysis and solution of managerial decision situations.

Answer: Operations research Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13 51) Automated Decision Systems (ADS) is a business ________ system that uses intelligence to recommend solution to repetitive decisions (such as pricing).

Answer: rules-based Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13 52) Decision support systems are computer-based support systems for management decision makers who deal with ________ problems.

Answer: semistructured Diff: 2 Page Ref: 15 53) ________ is the first component of the DSS architecture.

Answer: Data Diff: 1 Page Ref: 18 54) The process of business intelligence is based on the ________ of data to information, then to decisions, and finally to actions.

Answer: transformation Diff: 1 Page Ref: 19 55) 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.

Answer: interactive Diff: 2 Page Ref: 19

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56) ________ is a process of searching for unknown relationships or information in large databases or data warehouses, using intelligent tools such as neural computing, predictive analytics techniques, or advanced statistical methods.

Answer: Data Mining Diff: 2 Page Ref: 21 57) ________ 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.

Answer: Business performance management (BPM) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 22 58) ________ are a type of user interface that provides a comprehensive visual view of corporate performance measures, trends, and exceptions.

Answer: Dashboards Diff: 2 Page Ref: 22 59) A ________ is a system in which human participants and/or machines perform a business process, using information, technology, and other resources, to produce products and/or services for internal or external customers.

Answer: work system Diff: 2 Page Ref: 25 60) List four major business environmental factors in today's business environment.

Answer: See Table 1.1 in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 5 61) List and define the three interpersonal roles of a manager as described by Mintzberg.

Answer: • Figurehead. Symbolic head; obliged to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature.

• Leader. Responsible for the motivation and activation of subordinates; responsible for staffing, training, and associated duties.

• Liaison. Maintains self-developed network of outside contacts and informers who provide favors and information.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8 62) List and define the three informational roles of a manager as described by Mintzberg.

Answer: • Monitor. Seeks and receives a wide variety of special information to develop a thorough understanding of the organization and environment.

• Disseminator. Transmits information received from outsiders or from subordinates to members of the organization.

• Spokesperson. Transmits information to outsiders on the organization's plans, policies, actions, and results.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8 9 .

63) List and define the four decisional roles of a manager as described by Mintzberg.

Answer: • Entrepreneur. Searches the organization and its environment for opportunities and initiates improvement projects to bring about change.

• Disturbance handler. Responsible for corrective action when the organization faces unexpected disturbances.

• Resource allocator. Responsible for the allocation of organizational resources of all kinds.

• Negotiator. Responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations Diff: 2 Page Ref: 8 64) Describe the four phases in the decision-making process.

Answer: Intelligence. Searching for conditions that call for decisions.

Design. Inventing, developing, and analyzing possible courses of action.

Choice. Selecting a course of action from those available.

Implementation. Adapting the selected course of action to the decision situation.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 12 65) Distinguish between structured and unstructured problems.

Answer: Unstructured problems are fuzzy, complex problems in which all of the factors are not typically known. There is no cut-and-dry solution to the problem. Structured problems are routine and repetitive for which standard solutions exist.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 12 66) Describe the three categories that comprise Anthony's taxonomy of management.

Answer: • Strategic planning. Define long-range goals and policies for resource allocation.

• Management control. The acquisition and efficient use of resources in the accomplishment of organizational goals • Operational control. The efficient and effective execution of specific tasks Diff: 2 Page Ref: 12 67) List the steps involved in the management science (MS) approach to problem solving.

Answer: • Define the problem.

• Classify the problem into a standard category.

• Construct a mathematical model that describes the real-world problem.

• Find possible solutions to the modeled problem and evaluating them.

• Choose and recommend a solution to the problem.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 13

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68) List the components of the architecture of business intelligence.

Answer: • Data warehouse with source data • Business analytics, a collection of tools for manipulating, mining, and analyzing the data in the data warehouse • Business performance management (BPM) for monitoring and analysis of performance • User interface Diff: 1 Page Ref: 20 69) Describe the nine elements of a work system.

Answer: 1. Business process. Variations in the process rationale, sequence of steps, or in the methods used for performing particular steps 2. Participants. Better training, better skills, higher levels of commitment, and better real-time or delayed feedback 3. Information. Better information quality, information availability, and information presentation 4. Technology. Better data storage and retrieval, models, algorithms, statistical or graphical capabilities; better computer interaction 5. Product and services. Better ways to evaluate potential decisions 6. Customers. Better ways to involve customers in the decision process and to obtain greater clarity about their needs 7. Infrastructure. More effective use of shared infrastructure might lead to improvements 8. Environment. Better methods for incorporating concerns from the surrounding environment 9. Strategy. A fundamentally different operational strategy for the work system Diff: 2 Page Ref: 25

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 2 Decision Making, Systems, Modeling, and Support 1) When trying to solve a problem, developers at the manufacturer HP consider the three phases in developing a model. Their first phase is problem analytics.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 39 2) If a problem arises due to misalignment of incentives or unclear lines of authority or plans, then no model can help solve that root problem.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 39 3) When developers design and develop tools, the first guideline is to develop a prototype to test the designs and get early feedback from the end users to see what works for them and what needs to be changed.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 39 4) It is important to remove unneeded complexity from a model before handoff because as a tool becomes more complex it requires more automation.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 39 5) Groupthink among decision makers can help lead to the best decisions.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 41 6) Experimentation with a real system is possible only for one set of conditions at a time and can be disastrous.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 41 7) Collecting information and analyzing a problem are the fastest and least expensive parts of decision-making.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 41 8) Fast decision-making requirements tend to reduce decision quality.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 41 9) According to Simon, managerial decision making is synonymous with managers using decision support systems.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 42 1 .

10) Most Web-based DSS are focused on improving decision efficiency.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 42 11) Personality temperament tests are often used to determine decision styles.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 43 12) Problem identification is the conceptualization of a problem in an attempt to place it in a definable category, possibly leading to a standard solution approach.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 48 13) One approach to solving a complex problem is to divide it into simpler subproblems and then solve those subproblems.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 49 14) A problem exists in an organization only if someone or some group takes on the responsibility of attacking it and if the organization has the ability to solve it.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 50 15) The process of modeling involves determining the (usually mathematical, sometimes symbolic) relationships among the variables.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 51 16) "Humans are economic beings whose objective is to maximize the attainment of goals" is one of the assumptions of rational decision makers.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 52 17) The idea of "thinking with your gut" is a heuristic approach to decision making.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 52 18) Rationality is bounded only by limitations on human processing capacities but not by individual differences.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 55 19) In general, people have a tendency to measure uncertainty and risk badly; for example, people tend to be overconfident and have an illusion of control in decision making.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 56 2 .

20) Web-based systems have clearly influenced how decision making is supported.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 63 21) Groupthink tends to ________ the quality of decisions.

A) be detrimental to B) improve C) prolong D) complicate Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 41 22) Decision making that involves too much information may lead to a condition known as _______.

A) groupthink B) information overload C) experimentation D) over assumption Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 41 23) Decisions are often made by ________, especially at lower managerial levels and in small organizations.

A) groups B) management teams C) individuals D) computerized systems Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 42 24) Different decision styles require different types of support. A major factor that determines the type of required support is whether the decision maker is ________.

A) autocratic B) consultative C) an individual or a group D) democratic Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 43

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25) Which of the following is a physical replica of a system, usually on a different scale from the original?

A) Complex model B) Iconic model C) Duplicated model D) Composite model Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 44 26) Which of the following model behaves like the real system but does not look like it?

A) Composite model B) Analog model C) Dense model D) Iconic model Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 44 27) There is a continuous flow of activity from one phase to the next phase in a decision making process, but at any phase there may be a return to a previous phase. ________ is an essential part of this process.

A) Testing B) Trial-and-error C) Experimenting D) Modeling Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 46 28) The identification of organizational goals and objectives related to an issue of concern and determination of whether they are being met is the beginning of the ________ of decision making.

A) initial phase B) intelligence phase C) brainstorming phase D) generation phase Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 46 29) Which of the following involves finding or developing and analyzing possible courses of action in a decision making phase?

A) Consultation phase B) Communication phase C) Intelligence phase D) Design phase Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 46

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30) A(n) ________ is a criterion that describes the acceptability of a solution approach. In a model, it is a result variable.

A) principle of choice B) optimization variable C) trade-off D) worst-case criterion Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 51 31) Which of the following describes normative models?

A) These models are based on anomalies in rational decision making.

B) They are models in which the chosen alternative is demonstrably the best of all possible alternatives.

C) They are models based on the phenomenon of preference reversal.

D) They lead to an approach known as suboptimization.

Answer: B Diff: 3 Page Ref: 51 32) Which of the following, by definition, requires a decision maker to consider the impact of each alternative course of action on the entire organization because a decision made in one area may have significant effects in other areas?

A) Satisfaction B) Worst-case C) Feasibility D) Optimization Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 51 33) "Thinking with your gut" is a heuristic approach to decision making that would work best for ________.

A) amateur chefs B) payroll processors and accountants C) experienced firefighters and military personnel on the battlefield D) structured decision situations Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 52 34) With ________, the performance of the system is checked for a given set of alternatives, rather than for all alternatives. Therefore, there is no guarantee that an alternative selected is optimal.

A) analytical analysis B) descriptive analysis C) optimization analysis D) quantitative analysis Answer: B Diff: 3 Page Ref: 54 5 .

35) The usual reasons for ________ are time pressures and recognition that the marginal benefit of a better solution is not worth the marginal cost to obtain it A) satisficing B) settling C) compromising D) rationalizing Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 55 36) A ________ describes the decision and uncontrollable variables and parameters for a specific modeling situation.

A) statement B) model C) program D) scenario Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 57 37) Which of the following is a study of the effect of a change in one or more input variables on a proposed solution?

A) Sensitivity analysis B) Boundary analysis C) Fish bone analysis D) Input-output analysis Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 58 38) A ________ can help a decision maker sketch out the important qualitative factors and their causal relationships in a messy decision-making situation.

A) mathematical map B) cognitive map C) qualitative map D) narrative map Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 62 39) The ________ of a proposed solution to a problem is the initiation of a new order of things or the introduction of change.

A) method B) implementation C) approach D) style Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 62

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40) The Museum of Natural History in Aarhus, Denmark uses ________ to collect detailed information about visitors' use of the exhibits to help determine visitors' behavior to identify high-demand exhibits.

A) group decision systems B) algorithms C) RFID D) expert systems Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 71 41) ________ is synonymous with the whole process of management.

Answer: Decision making Diff: 1 Page Ref: 41 42) A ________ is a simplified representation or abstraction of reality.

Answer: model Diff: 1 Page Ref: 44 43) ________ are the descriptive representations of decision-making situations that we form in our heads and think about.

Answer: Mental models Diff: 2 Page Ref: 44 44) The ________ phase in decision making involves scanning the environment and collecting information.

Answer: intelligence Diff: 2 Page Ref: 46 45) Problem ________ is the conceptualization of a problem in an attempt to place it in a definable category, possibly leading to a standard solution approach.

Answer: classification Diff: 3 Page Ref: 49 46) The process of modeling is a combination of art and science. As an art, a level of creativity and finesse is required when determining what simplifying ________ are appropriate and helpful.

Answer: assumptions Diff: 2 Page Ref: 50 47) A ________ describes the alternatives a manager must choose among, e.g., like how many cars to deliver to a specific rental agency or how to advertise at specific times.

Answer: decision variable Diff: 2 Page Ref: 50 48) A ________ is a model that prescribes how a system should operate.

Answer: normative model Diff: 2 Page Ref: 51 7 .

49) ________ may also involve simply bounding the search for an optimum by considering fewer criteria or alternatives or by eliminating large portions of the problem from evaluation.

Answer: Suboptimization Diff: 3 Page Ref: 53 50) A ________ is extremely useful in DSS for investigating the consequences of various alternative courses of action under different configurations of inputs and processes.

Answer: descriptive model Diff: 2 Page Ref: 54 51) ________ is the imitation of reality and has been applied to many areas of decision making.

Answer: Simulation Diff: 1 Page Ref: 54 52) Another descriptive decision-making model is the use of ________ to describe a decisionmaking situation. It is extremely effective when a group is making a decision and can lead to a more common frame.

Answer: narratives Diff: 2 Page Ref: 54 53) ________ is a willingness to settle for a satisfactory solution that is, in effect, suboptimizing.

Answer: Satisficing Diff: 2 Page Ref: 55 54) Aside from estimating the potential utility or value of a particular decision's outcome, the best decision makers are capable of accurately estimating the ________ associated with the resultant outcomes resulting from making each decision.

Answer: risk Diff: 1 Page Ref: 56 55) A ________ asks a computer what the effect of changing some of the input data or parameters would be.

Answer: what-if analysis Diff: 2 Page Ref: 58 56) The model is the critical component in the decision-making process, but one may make a number of errors in its development and use. ________ the model before it is used is critical.

Answer: Validating Diff: 1 Page Ref: 57 57) A(n) ________ is a step-by-step search in which improvement is made at every step until the best solution is found.

Answer: algorithm Diff: 2 Page Ref: 58

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58) ________ is the critical act of decision making when the actual decision and commitment to follow a certain course of action are made.

Answer: Choice Diff: 1 Page Ref: 58 59) A data warehouse can support the intelligence phase by continuously monitoring both internal and external information, looking for early signs of problems and opportunities through a Web-based enterprise information portal called a(n) ________.

Answer: dashboard Diff: 2 Page Ref: 60 60) Much of the information used in seeking new opportunities is ________, or soft.

Answer: qualitative Diff: 1 Page Ref: 60 61) Discuss the importance of decision style.

Answer: Decision style is the manner in which decision makers think and react to problems.

This includes their cognitive response, their values, beliefs, and perceptions. These factors can vary greatly amongst individuals; as a result decisions can vary greatly.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 42 62) Describe the three classifications of models.

Answer: • Iconic. An iconic model is a physical replica of a system, usually on a different scale.

• Analog. An analog model is more abstract than an iconic model. It is a model that behaves like a system but does not physically look like the system.

• Mathematical. The complexity of relationships in many organizational systems cannot be represented by icons or analogically because such representations would soon become cumbersome, and using them would be time-consuming. Therefore, more abstract models are described mathematically.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 44 63) List five benefits of using models.

Answer: • Model manipulation is easier than manipulating the real system.

• Models enable compression of time.

• The cost of model analysis is less than the cost of a similar experiment using the real system.

• The cost of making mistakes during the trial-and-error experiment is less using a model.

• Models enable managers to estimate the risk of their actions.

• Mathematical models enable analysis of a large number of possible solutions.

• Models enhance learning and training.

• Models are readily available over the Web. • There are many Java applets that readily solve models.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 45

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64) Briefly describe Simon's four phases of decision making.

Answer: • Intelligence phase. Reality is examined, and the problem is identified and defined.

• Design phase. A model that represents the system is constructed by making assumptions that simplify reality. The model is then validated, and criteria are determined for evaluation of the alternative courses of action that are identified.

• Choice phase. Select a proposed solution to the problem.

• Implementation phase. Successful implementation results in solving the real problem. Failure leads to a return to an earlier phase of the process.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 46 65) Briefly describe the four steps in the intelligence phase of decision making.

Answer: • Problem identification. The intelligence phase begins with the identification of organizational goals and objectives related to an issue of concern, and determination of whether they are being met.

• Problem classification. Problem classification is the conceptualization of a problem in an attempt to place it in a definable category.

• Problem decomposition. Many complex problems can be divided into subproblems. Solving the simpler subproblems may help in solving the complex problem.

• Problem ownership. A problem exists in an organization only if someone or some group takes on the responsibility of attacking it and if the organization has the ability to solve it.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 48 66) Briefly describe problem decomposition and its benefits.

Answer: Many complex problems can be divided into subproblems. Solving the simpler subproblems may help in solving the complex problem. Also, seemingly poorly structured problems sometimes have highly structured subproblems. Just as a semistructured problem results when some phases of decision making are structured while other phases are unstructured, so when some subproblems of a decision making problem are structured with others unstructured, the problem itself is semistructured. Decomposition also facilitates communication among decision makers.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 49 67) Describe the three assumptions of rational decision makers used in Normative decision theory.

Answer: • Humans are economic beings whose objective is to maximize the attainment of goals; that is, the decision maker is rational. (More of a good thing [revenue, fun] is better than less; less of a bad thing [cost, pain] is better than more.)

• For a decision-making situation, all viable alternative courses of action and their consequences, or at least the probability and the values of the consequences, are known.

• Decision makers have an order or preference that enables them to rank the desirability of all consequences of the analysis (best to worst).

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 52

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68) Compare the normative and descriptive approaches to decision making.

Answer: Normative refers to models that tell you what you should do. These are prescriptive models that usually utilize optimization.

Descriptive models are those that tell you "what-if." These are usually simulation models.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 51, 54 69) Discuss why scenarios play an important role in management support systems.

Answer: • They help identify opportunities and problem areas.

• They provide flexibility in planning.

• They identify the leading edges of changes that management should monitor.

• They help validate major modeling assumptions.

• They allow the decision maker to explore the behavior of a system through a model.

• They help to check the sensitivity of proposed solutions to changes in the environment as described by the scenario.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 57 70) Describe 3 findings about decision making in the Digital Age. Answer: More decisions are being made in less time.

Respondents are missing opportunities.

Many feel as if they are losing the race.

Many barriers to speed are human.

IT clearly has a widespread influence.

Sources of information are constantly changing.

Decision-making amnesia is rampant. Organizations are not good at preserving their decisionmaking experiences.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 61

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 3 Decision Support Systems Concepts, Methodologies, and Technologies: An Overview 1) Decision makers at the Avantas Company selected Planners Lab for data analysis because Planners Lab offered an easy-to-use alternative to Excel to create "what-if" scenarios.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 71 2) A key component of DSS is the ability to visualize the results. For example, it is important for executives to visualize the results of modifying assumptions.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 74 3) Business intelligence (BI) is typically built to support the solution of a certain problem or to evaluate an opportunity.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 78 4) All DSSs have common components that enable them to provide the same capabilities and support to users.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 77 5) Business analytics (BA) implies the use of models and data to improve an organization's performance or competitive posture Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 78 6) Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) that are developed around communities that practice collaborative work are a type of document-driven DSS. Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 80 7) The most common end-user tool for DSS development is Microsoft Access, which includes statistical packages, a linear programming package, and financial and management science models.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 80 8) A DSS can be custom-made by assembling the system from a variety of tools including databases, Web servers and clients, and analytical engines, often from several vendors.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 84

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9) A DSS database can include multimedia objects, e.g., pictures, maps, and sounds.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 91 10) XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is becoming more important in DSS due to the growth of mobile commerce applications, on handheld devices, e.g., PDAs and cell phones.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 91 11) To create or load a DSS database or a data warehouse, it is often necessary to capture data from several sources, which is a simple (trivial) process.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 92 12) An effective database and its management can support many managerial activities; however, the real power of a DSS occurs when data are integrated with its models.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 92 13) A key issue in data management is that of data quality. Poor quality data, which leads to poor quality information leads directly to waste.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 93 14) Data integration issues generally become critical when implementing an enterprise information system like a supply management system.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 94 15) Planned models are used mainly by middle management to assist in allocating and controlling the organization's resources.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 97 16) 3Because DSS deal with semistructured or unstructured problems, it is often necessary to customize models, using programming tools and languages.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 98 17) Database directory is a catalog of all the models and other software in the model base.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 99 18) User interface of a DSS includes not only the hardware and software but also factors that deal with ease of use, accessibility, and human-machine interactions.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 100 2 .

19) A difficult user interface is one of the major reasons why managers do not use computers and quantitative analyses as much as they could, given the availability of these technologies.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 100 20) If the main user of a DSS is replaced by another, less knowledgeable user (in terms of the decision-making problem and environment), the DSS will generally be less effective.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 107 21) A DSS is an approach for supporting decision making. It uses an interactive, flexible, adaptable computer-based information system (CBIS) developed to support the solution to a specific, ________ management problem.

A) easy B) problematic C) nonstructured D) hard Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 75 22) ________ implies the use of models and data to improve an organization's performance or competitive posture.

A) Business applications B) Business analytics C) Business intelligence D) Business rules Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 78 23) ________ systems have models embedded in them, but they are still not well understood in practice.

A) Web analytics B) Data mining and OLAP C) XML D) Data dictionary Answer: B Diff: 3 Page Ref: 78 24) By definition, a DSS must include ________.

A) business intelligence B) an expert system C) an animation system D) a user interface Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 86 3 .

25) Which of the following subsystem can support any of the other subsystems or act as an independent component? It also provides intelligence to augment the decision maker's own?

A) Knowledge-base management subsystem B) Intelligence-base subsystem C) User interface subsystem D) Expertise-base subsystem Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 86 26) A(n) ________ is a collection of interrelated data, organized to meet the needs and structure of an organization that can be used by more than one person for more than one application.

A) business intelligence B) expert system C) database D) data repository Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 90 27) The operation of capturing data from several sources and loading it to a data warehouse is called: A) extraction.

B) loading.

C) mining.

D) storing.

Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 92 28) A database is created, accessed, and updated by a(n) ________.

A) expert system B) animation system C) knowledge system D) database management system Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 92 29) Data directory is a catalog of all the data in the database. It contains ________, and its main function is to answer questions about the availability of data items, their source, and their exact meaning.

A) data foundations B) data definitions C) data names D) data sources Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 93

4 .

30) The ________ is especially appropriate for supporting the intelligence phase of the decisionmaking process by helping to scan data and identify problem areas or opportunities.

A) intelligence facility B) query facility C) data directory D) knowledge facility Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 93 31) A(n) ________ contains routine and special statistical, financial, forecasting, management science, and other quantitative models that provide the analysis capabilities in a DSS. A) model base B) application base C) analytical base D) query base Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 96 32) Which of the following is used mainly by middle management to assist in allocating and controlling the organization's resources?

A) Tactical model B) Planned model C) Managerial model D) Middle-management model Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 97 33) When voice input with accompanying ________ software is used, verbal instructions with accompanied actions and outputs can be invoked.

A) language recognition B) accent recognition C) voice recognition D) speech recognition Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 102 34) Most data mining applications include intelligent systems, such as artificial neural networks (ANN) and rule induction methods for expert systems (ES), to search for potentially profitable ________ in data.

A) samples B) patterns C) sections D) trends Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 106

5 .

35) ________ control and coordinate the use of software to support group work.

A) Expert tool users B) Facilitators C) Analyst D) Managers Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 107 36) The choice of hardware can be made ________ the design of the MSS software, but it is often determined by what is already available in the organization.

A) before B) during C) after D) all of the above Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 107 37) The de facto DSS hardware standard is a(n) ________ through which the DBMS provides data.

A) Web server B) data center C) mainframe D) local area network Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 108 38) Optimization, simulation, statistics systems, and ES currently run in ________. These developments simplify access to data, models, and knowledge, and simplify their integration.

A) ASPs B) user interfaces C) Java D) .NET Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 108 39) ________ is a robust DSS modeling language.

A) Ruby on Rails B) Planners Lab C) Sybase D) OLAP Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 108

6 .

40) All of the following are characteristics of Planners Lab except: A) Planners Lab makes it possible for the decision makers to play with assumptions to reflect alternative views of the future.

B) It lets decision makers describe their plans in their own words and with their own assumptions.

C) It facilitates a conversation with the decision maker in the process of describing business assumptions.

D) All assumptions are described in English equations only.

Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 110 41) ________ describes the business analytics method of forecasting problems and opportunities rather than simply reporting them as they occur.

Answer: Predicative analytics Diff: 2 Page Ref: 78 42) ________ are generally utilized to analyze decision-making situations and make a DSS different from most MIS. Answer: models Diff: 1 Page Ref: 79 43) A database-oriented DSS features strong ________ capabilities.

Answer: report generation and query Diff: 2 Page Ref: 80 44) ________ deal with specific problems that are usually neither anticipated nor recurring.

Answer: Ad hoc DSS Diff: 1 Page Ref: 82 45) ________ is the physical data repository organized to provide enterprise wide, cleaned data in a standardized format.

Answer: Data Warehouse Diff: 1 Page Ref: 86 46) A(n) ________ subsystem includes a database that contains relevant data for the situation and is managed by software called the database management system.

Answer: Data management Diff: 2 Page Ref: 86 47) Users of DSS communicate with and command the DSS through the ________ subsystem.

Answer: user interface Diff: 1 Page Ref: 86 48) In building and using DSS, it is often necessary to access, manipulate, and query data. The ________ performs these tasks.

Answer: query facility Diff: 2 Page Ref: 93 7 .

49) Selection and ________ are two important functions of a DSS query system.

Answer: manipulation Diff: 3 Page Ref: 93 50) As the size of the data to be stored and accessed increases, processing times and storage space also grow, sometimes dramatically. Large databases present major ________ problems.

Answer: scalability Diff: 2 Page Ref: 95 51) One key issue that DBMS must handle is data security. Data can be ________ so that even in the case of unauthorized access, the viewed data is scrambled and unintelligible.

Answer: encrypted Diff: 2 Page Ref: 95 52) ________ models are used to support the day-to-day working activities of the organization.

Typical decisions involve e-commerce transaction acceptance, approval of personal loans by a bank, production scheduling, inventory control, maintenance planning and scheduling, and quality control.

Answer: Operational Diff: 2 Page Ref: 97 53) ________ are Web-based business analytics tools to assist in decision making.

Answer: Web analytics Diff: 1 Page Ref: 97 54) Operational models mainly support first-line managers' decision making with a daily to ________ time horizon.

Answer: monthly Diff: 2 Page Ref: 97 55) The models in the model base can also be classified by functional areas or by ________.

Answer: discipline Diff: 3 Page Ref: 97 56) ________ are preprogrammed software elements that can be used to build computerized models. One example is the random-number generator that can be employed in the construction of a simulation model.

Answer: Model building blocks Diff: 2 Page Ref: 97 57) Advanced DSS are equipped with a component called a(n) ________ subsystem. This component can supply the required expertise for solving some aspects of the problem and provide knowledge that can enhance the operation of other DSS components.

Answer: knowledge-based management Diff: 2 Page Ref: 105 8 .

58) An ________ allows the manager to benefit from the decision support system without actually having to use the keyboard.

Answer: intermediary Diff: 2 Page Ref: 107 59) Distributed DSS runs on various types of networks, including the Internet, intranets, and extranets. Access may be provided for mobile devices, e.g., notebook PCs and mobile telephones. This ________ has become critical for deploying decision-making capability in the field, especially for salespersons and technicians.

Answer: portability Diff: 1 Page Ref: 108 60) Planners Lab is a DSS ________ language.

Answer: modeling Diff: 1 Page Ref: 108 61) Identify the key characteristics and capabilities of a DSS. Answer: • Supports semistructured and unstructured problems • Supports managers at all levels • Supports individuals and groups • Supports interdependent or sequential decisions • Supports intelligence, design, choice, and implementation phases • Supports variety of decision processes and styles • Adaptable and flexible • Interactive ease of use • Designed for effectiveness, not efficiency • Requires human control • Designed for ease of development by end users • Supports modeling and analysis • Supports data access • Operates in a standalone, integrated, or Web-based environment Diff: 2 Page Ref: 77 62) List the capabilities of institutional DSS and ad hoc DSS. Answer: • Institutional DSS deal with decisions of a recurring nature. An institutionalized DSS can be developed and refined as it evolves over a number of years because the DSS is used repeatedly to solve identical or similar problems. It is important to remember that an institutional DSS may not be used by everyone in an organization.

• Ad hoc DSS deal with specific problems that are usually neither anticipated nor recurring.

Ad hoc decisions often involve strategic planning issues and sometimes management control problems.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 82

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63) List the five major components of a DSS. Answer: • Data management. Includes a database and its management system • Model management. Includes models and their management system • User interface dialog management. Includes input and output modes of human-computer communication and their management • Knowledge base. Includes artificial intelligence enhancements to the other components • The user. He/she is the decision maker Diff: 2 Page Ref: 88 64) List and describe the four components of the data management subsystem.

Answer: • DSS Database. Contains all relevant data needed by the DSS to aid in decision making.

• DBMS. Controls how data is accessed and maintained. Typically, this consists of a relational database.

• Data directory. Catalog of all of the data accessible by the DSS; this includes both internal and external data.

• Query Facility. Consists of the programs, processes, and procedures that enable an end user to be able to access, manipulate, and query relevant data from the database.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 89 65) Describe five of Larry English's Top Ten essential ingredients of data quality management.

Answer: 1. Understand that data quality is a business problem, not only a systems problem. Solve it as a business process, not just a systems process. Poor data quality affects the entire business and its operations. Some issues impacting poor quality occur as the result of business processes (such as data entry).

2. Focus on information customers and suppliers, not just data. Quality improvement of the data is the key.

3. Focus on all components of information and data, including their definition, content, and presentation.

4. Implement data/information quality management processes, not just software to handle them.

5. Measure data accuracy in addition to validity.

6. Measure real costs, not just the percent, of poor quality data/information, also measure their results.

7. Emphasize process improvement and preventative maintenance, not just data cleansing.

8. Improve processes (and hence data quality) at the source.

9. Provide quality training to managers and information producers. Educate them as to the impacts of poor data quality and how to improve it.

10. Actively transform the culture to one that values data quality.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 94

10 .

66) List the five elements of the model management subsystem.

Answer: • Model base • Model base management system • Modeling language • Model directory • Model execution, integration, and command processor Diff: 2 Page Ref: 96 67) Explain the differences in strategic, tactical, operational, and analytical models.

Answer: • Strategic models support top management's strategic planning. For example, examination of acquisitions, diversifications, and mergers.

• Tactical models support mainly middle management in resource allocation and in control.

For example, make or buy decisions or devising a major promotion plan.

• Operational models support middle managers and supervisors in very short term decisions.

For example, daily and weekly schedules.

• Analytical models are used to perform analysis on data. They include statistical models, management science models, data mining algorithms, financial models, and more.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 97 68) List the four main functions of MBMS (model base management system) software Answer: • Model creation, using programming languages, DSS tools and/or subroutines, and other building blocks • Generation of new routines and reports • Model updating and changing • Model data manipulation Diff: 2 Page Ref: 99 69) Explain the role, components, and importance of the user interface (dialog) subsystem.

Answer: The user interface covers all aspects of communication between a user and the DSS or any MSS. It includes the hardware, software, and factors that deal with ease of use and accessibility. The user interface is one of the most important components because it determines the systems' power, flexibility, and ease-of-use. A difficult user interface is one of the major reasons managers for system failures.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 100

11 .

70) Discuss the advantages of developing a models for a DSS with Planners Lab instead of traditional programming languages or spreadsheets?

Answer: Developing a model in a programming language such as Java requires programming expertise. Most business users are able to use spreadsheets to build models, but using a spreadsheet for modeling a problem of any significant size presents problems with documentation and error diagnosis. It is very difficult to determine or understand nested, complex relationships in spreadsheets created by someone else. This makes it difficult to modify a model built by someone else.

A related issue is the increased likelihood of errors creeping into the formulas. With all the equations appearing in the form of cell references, it is challenging to figure out where an error might be. Planners Lab makes it possible for the decision makers to adjust assumptions to reflect alternative views of the future. Every Planners Lab model is an assemblage of assumptions about the future. Assumptions may come from databases of historical performance, market research, and the decision makers' minds, to name a few sources.

The resulting collection of equations is a Planners Lab model that tells a readable story for a particular scenario. Planners Lab lets decision makers describe their plans in their own words and with their own assumptions.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 110

12 .

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 4 Modeling and Analysis 1) The use of an optimization model in the auction bidding process to award school meal contracts in Chile has significantly decreased costs.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 138 2) In developing countries, small changes in state-run social programs using management science support can lead to enormous savings.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 138 3) All companies, except for those under financial stress, should invest in simulation models to increase their efficiency.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 139 4) A DSS can be composed of several models, some standard and some custom built, used collectively to support strategic decisions in the company.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 139 5) Modeling involves data analysis with trend lines and establishing relationships with statistical methods.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 141 6) Predictive analytics is essential for construction and manipulation of models because when a decision is implemented, the results usually occur in the future.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 142 7) Models, like data, must be managed to maintain their applicability, and thus their integrity.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 143 8) DSS uses mostly qualitative models, whereas expert systems use quantitative models in their applications.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 143 9) To use models and solution techniques effectively, one needs to have gained experience through developing and solving simple ones.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 144 1 .

10) One recent trend in modeling involves the development of model libraries and solution technique libraries.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 144 11) There is a trend toward developing and using Web tools and software to access and run software to perform modeling, optimization, and simulation, even though this has complicated the application of many models to real-world problems.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 144 12) An influence diagram is a graphical representation of a model; that is, it is a model of a model.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 145 13) In decision making under uncertainty, the decision maker considers situations in which several outcomes are possible for each course of action. In this case, the decision maker can estimate the probability of occurrence of the possible outcomes.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 148 14) One of the assumptions of the linear programming allocation model is that not all data are known with certainty.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 154 15) The pessimistic approach assumes that the best possible outcome of each alternative will occur and then selects the best of the best.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 163 16) Today's management systems are designed to help managers attain simultaneous, but at times, conflicting goals.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 165 17) The AHP manipulates quantitative and qualitative decision-making criteria in a fairly structured manner, allowing a decision maker to make trade-offs quickly and expertly.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 165 18) Heuristics techniques are used mainly for solving structured problems, usually of a tactical or operational nature, in areas such as resource allocation or inventory management.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 170 2 .

19) Blind search techniques are arbitrary search approaches that are not guided.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 170 20) Continuous distributions are situations with unlimited numbers of possible events that follow density functions, such as the normal distribution.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 174 21) Which of the following is a key element in most DSS and a necessity in a model-based DSS? A) Database B) Analytical model C) Modeling D) Business intelligence Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 139 22) ________ diagrams are graphical models of mathematical models, which can facilitate the process of identifying the model's variables.

A) Decision B) Tree C) Fish bone D) Influence Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 141 23) E-commerce has created an immense need for ________ and an abundance of available information for performing it.

A) nonlinear programming B) forecasting C) auction models D) queuing Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 142 24) Which of the following models takes a single snapshot of a situation where everything occurs in a single interval?

A) Sliced model B) Snapshot model C) Stationary model D) Static model Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 143

3 .

25) Which of the following techniques is used to solve optimization problems that have few alternatives?

A) Trial-and-error B) Binary search C) Expert systems D) Decision trees Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 144 26) ________ is a type of model that is used to find a good enough solution, or the best solution among alternatives, using experimentation.

A) Simulation B) Heuristics C) Predictive D) Deterministic Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 144 27) Which of the following are factors that affect the result variables, but are not under the control of the decision maker?

A) Parameters B) Decision variables C) Independent variables D) Output variables Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 146 28) The four components in a decision support mathematical model are linked together by the ________ relationships, such as equations.

A) mathematical B) cause-and-effect C) analytical D) data integration Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 147 29) Decision situations are often classified on the basis of what the decision maker knows about the forecasted results. Which of the following is one of the categories?

A) Indecision B) Firmness C) Ambiguity D) Certainty Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 148

4 .

30) Which of the following is not a characteristic of a linear programming model?

A) A limited quantity of economic resources is available for allocation.

B) The resources are used in the production of products or services.

C) The maximum number of constraints is four.

D) There are two or more ways in which the resources can be used.

Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 154 31) A model builder makes predictions and assumptions regarding the input data, many of which deal with the assessment of uncertain futures. Which of the following attempts to assess the impact of a change in the input data or parameters on the proposed solution?

A) Mathematical relationships B) Decision analysis C) Goal programming D) Sensitivity analysis Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 158 32) Which of the following calculates the values of the inputs necessary to achieve a desired level of an output?

A) Goal seeking analysis B) Decision analysis C) Trial-and-error D) Sensitivity analysis Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 161 33) Decision situations that involve a finite and usually not-too-large number of alternatives are modeled by an approach called ________.

A) exhaustive search B) decision map C) decision analysis D) trial-and-error Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 162 34) Which of the following is a step-by-step search process for obtaining an optimal solution?

A) Analytic technique B) Algorithm C) Heuristic D) Linear programming Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 169

5 .

35) Which of the following are the informal, judgmental knowledge of an application area that constitute the "rules of good judgment" in the field?

A) Binary search B) Algorithm C) Heuristic D) Rule of thumb Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 170 36) Typically there is some randomness in decision-making situations. Because DSS deals with semistructured or unstructured situations, reality is complex, which may not be easily represented by optimization or other models but can often be handled by ________.

A) simulation B) linear programming C) statistical analysis D) forecasting Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 171 37) Which of the following is one of the disadvantages of simulation?

A) The model is built from the manager's perspective.

B) Simulation automatically produces many important performance measures.

C) Simulation is often the only DSS modeling method that can readily handle relatively unstructured problems.

D) An optimal solution cannot be guaranteed, but relatively good ones are generally found.

Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 173 38) Monte Carlo simulation is a type of ________ simulation.

A) deterministic B) probabilistic C) exact D) analytical Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 174 39) ________ uses animated computer graphic displays to present the impact of different managerial decisions. It differs from regular graphics in that the user can adjust the decision making process and see the results of the intervention.

A) Visual interactive simulation B) Quantitative software C) OLAP D) Object-oriented model base Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 178

6 .

40) Which of the following packages are preprogrammed (sometimes called ready-made) models and optimization systems that sometimes serve as building blocks for other quantitative models?

A) Quantitative software B) Qualitative software C) Development tool D) Application Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 179 41) ________ conducts a search for and an analysis of information in external databases and flows of information.

Answer: Environmental scanning and analysis Diff: 2 Page Ref: 138 42) Customer relationship management systems and revenue management systems rely heavily on forecasting techniques, which are typically described as ________.

Answer: predictive analytics Diff: 3 Page Ref: 142 43) ________ models are time dependent; and are valuable because they represent trends and patterns over time.

Answer: Dynamic Diff: 1 Page Ref: 143 44) ________ is a variable that expresses the result of a decision (e.g., one concerning profit), usually one of the goals of a decision-making problem.

Answer: Result variable Diff: 1 Page Ref: 146 45) ________ are variables that contain the values of intermediate outcomes in mathematical models.

Answer: Intermediate result variables Diff: 1 Page Ref: 147 46) In decision making under ________, the decision maker considers situations in which several outcomes are possible for each course of action. The decision maker does not know, or cannot estimate, the probability of occurrence of the possible outcomes.

Answer: uncertainty Diff: 2 Page Ref: 148 47) ________ is a decision-making method that analyzes the risk associated with different alternatives.

Answer: Risk analysis Diff: 1 Page Ref: 149

7 .

48) ________ is a family of tools designed to help solve managerial problems in which the decision maker must allocate scarce resources among competing activities to optimize a measurable goal.

Answer: Mathematical programming Diff: 2 Page Ref: 153 49) The allocation of resources in a linear programming problem is usually restricted by limitations and requirements called ________.

Answer: constraints Diff: 2 Page Ref: 155 50) ________ investigates what the effect of changing some of the input data or parameters would be.

Answer: What-if analysis Diff: 2 Page Ref: 159 51) ________ analysis calculates the values of the inputs necessary to achieve a desired level of an output.

Answer: Goal seeking Diff: 3 Page Ref: 161 52) ________ conveniently organize information and knowledge in a systematic, tabular manner to prepare it for analysis.

Answer: Decision tables Diff: 1 Page Ref: 162 53) A(n) ________ is a step-by-step search process for obtaining an optimal solution Answer: algorithm Diff: 2 Page Ref: 169 54) ________ is a measure of how difficult a problem is in terms of its formulation for optimization, its required optimization effort, or its stochastic nature.

Answer: Complexity Diff: 2 Page Ref: 172 55) ________ distributions involve a situation with a limited number of events or variables that can take on only a finite number of values.

Answer: Discrete Diff: 2 Page Ref: 174 56) ________ distributions are situations with unlimited numbers of possible events that follow density functions, such as the normal distribution.

Answer: Continuous Diff: 2 Page Ref: 174

8 .

57) If the simulation results do not match the intuition or judgment of the decision maker, a ________ gap in the results can occur.

Answer: confidence Diff: 2 Page Ref: 177 58) ________ is a simulation approach used in the decision-making process that shows graphical animation in which systems and processes are presented dynamically to the decision maker. It enables visualization of the results of different potential actions.

Answer: Visual Interactive Simulation (VIS) Diff: 3 Page Ref: 177 59) A(n) ________ is a model based management system constructed in an object-oriented environment.

Answer: object-oriented model base management system (OOMBMS) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 180 60) ________ is the relational approach to the design and development of a model base management system.

Answer: Relational model base management system (RMBMS) Diff: 1 Page Ref: 180 61) Distinguish between a static model and a dynamic model.

Answer: In a static model, we look at one set of input data and one set of output data at one point of time. In a dynamic model, we look at several possible inputs and outputs over an extended period.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 143 62) Briefly describe three of the seven categories of models.

Answer: See Table 4.1 in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 144 63) What is an influence diagram? Name a benefit of influence diagrams.

Answer: An influence diagram is a graphical representation of a model used to assist in model design, development, and understanding. Influence diagrams provide a means to communicate to the model builder or development team.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 145

9 .

64) Distinguish between decision making under certainty, risk, and uncertainty.

Answer: Decision making under certainty assumes that complete knowledge is available and accessible to the decision maker and that the decision maker knows the exact outcome of each course of action. It is assumed that there is only one outcome for each alternative.

Decision making under uncertainty considers situations in which several outcomes are possible for each course of action. The decision maker does not know the probability of occurrence of the possible outcomes.

Decision making under risk considers situations in which several outcomes are possible; however, unlike uncertainty, the decision maker is able to calculate the probability of occurrence.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 147 65) List the characteristics of a linear program allocation problem.

Answer: • A limited quantity of economic resources is available for allocation.

• The resources are used in the production of products or services.

• There are two or more ways in which the resources can be used. Each is called a solution or a program.

• Each activity (product or service) in which the resources are used yields a return in terms of the stated goal.

• The allocation is usually restricted by several limitations and requirements, called constraints.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 153 66) List and briefly discuss the three major components of linear programming.

Answer: • Objective function. Measures the benefits (e.g., total profit) • Decision variables. How much to allocate to each recipient • Constraints. Uncontrollable limitations, requirements, or technical relationships Diff: 2 Page Ref: 154 67) List five most common optimization models.

Answer: • Assignment (best matching of objects) • Dynamic programming • Goal programming • Investment (maximizing rate of return) • Linear and integer programming • Network models for planning and scheduling • Nonlinear programming • Replacement (capital budgeting) • Simple inventory models (e.g., economic order quantity) • Transportation (minimize cost of shipments).

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 157

10 .

68) List the type of relationships sensitivity analysis study can test.

Answer: • The impact of changes in external (uncontrollable) variables and parameters on outcome variable(s) • The impact of changes in decision variables on outcome variable(s) • The effect of uncertainty in estimating external variables • The effects of different dependent interactions among variables • The robustness of decisions under changing conditions Diff: 2 Page Ref: 159 69) List the steps involved in the simulation process.

Answer: 1. Define the problem.

2. Construct the simulation model.

3. Test and validate the model.

4. Design the experiment.

5. Conduct the experiment.

6. Evaluate the results.

7. Implement the results.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 167 70) Explain the value of visual interactive simulation (VIS).

Answer: VIS is a simulation method that lets decision makers see what the model is doing and how it interacts with the decisions made, as they are made. VIS uses animated computer graphic displays to present the impact of different managerial decisions.

Diff: 3 Page Ref: 177

11 .

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 5 Data Mining for Business Intelligence 1) Data mining is a way for companies to develop business intelligence from their data to gain a better understanding of their customers and operations and to solve complex organizational problems.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 190 2) Data mining is a prime candidate for better management of companies that are data-rich, but knowledge-poor.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 193 3) Business analytics cannot be conducted in real time because it includes components such as metrics and reengineering tools.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 195 4) Technically speaking, data mining is a process that uses statistical, mathematical, and artificial intelligence techniques to extract and identify useful information and subsequent knowledge from large sets of data.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 196 5) The data mining environment is usually a client-server architecture or a Web-based information systems architecture.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 196 6) Data mining offers organizations a decision-enhancing environment to exploit opportunities by transforming data into a strategic weapon.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 197 7) At the highest level of abstraction, all data can be divided into interval data and ratio data.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 197 8) Two types of categorical data are nominal data and ordinal data.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 197 9) The variable marital status can be categorized using the codes (1) single, (2) married, and (3) divorced. These codes are examples of ordinal data.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 1 .

10) A common example of interval scale measurement is temperature on the Celsius scale.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 11) Mass, length, time, plane angle, energy, and electric charge are examples of physical measures whose data are represented in interval scales.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 12) Data types such as date/time, unstructured text, image, and audio need to be converted into some form of categorical or numeric representation before they can be processed by data mining algorithms.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 13) Associations are a type of pattern that discovers time-ordered events, such as predicting that an existing banking customer who already has a checking account will open a savings account followed by an investment account within a year.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 200 14) Predictions tells the nature of future occurrences of certain events based on what has happened in the past, such as predicting the winner of the Super Bowl or forecasting the absolute temperature of a particular day.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 200 15) Clustering partitions a collection of things, such as objects and events presented in a structured dataset into segments whose members share similar characteristics.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 202 16) Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining, or CRISP-DM, is one of the most popular nonproprietary standard methodologies for data mining.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 207 17) The first step in the data mining process is to understand the relevant data from the available databases.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 208

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18) Compared to the other steps in CRISP-DM, data preprocessing consumes the most time and effort; most believe that this step accounts for roughly 80 percent of the total time spent on a data mining project Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 209 19) In order to be applied successfully, a data mining study must be viewed as a set of automated software tools and techniques.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 214 20) Data mining requires a separate, dedicated database.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 233 21) In an article in Harvard Business Review, Thomas Davenport (2006) argued that the latest strategic weapon for companies is ________.

A) customer relationship management B) e-commerce C) online auctions D) analytical decision making Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 194 22) The term data mining was originally used to ________.

A) include most forms of data analysis in order to increase sales B) describe the analysis of huge datasets stored in data warehouses C) describe the process through which previously unknown patterns in data were discovered D) All of the above Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 194 23) Why has data mining gained the attention of the business world?

A) More intense competition at the global scale driven by customers' ever-changing needs and wants in an increasingly saturated marketplace.

B) Consolidation and integration of database records, which enables a single view of customers and vendors.

C) Significant reduction in the cost of hardware and software for data storage and processing.

D) All of the above Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 194

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24) On the commercial side, the most common use of data mining has been in ________ sectors.

A) manufacturing and heath care B) finance, retail, and health care C) online retail and government D) R&D and scientific Answer: B Diff: 3 Page Ref: 194 25) Business analytics and data mining provided 1-800-Flowers with all of the following benefits except: A) More efficient marketing campaigns.

B) Increased mailings and response rates.

C) Better customer experience and retention.

D) Increased repeat sales.

Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 195 26) Data mining is tightly positioned at the intersection of many disciplines. Those disciplines include all of the following except: A) management science B) statistics C) information systems and databases D) logistics Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 196 27) What is a major characteristic of data mining?

A) Data mining tools are readily combined with spreadsheets and other software development tools.

B) Because of the large amounts of data and massive search efforts, it is sometimes necessary to use serial processing for data mining.

C) Data are often buried within numerous small large databases, which sometimes contain data from several years.

D) The miner needs sophisticated programming skill.

Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 196 28) A query that can be run by an end users and is not programmed in advance is considered a(n) ________ query.

A) tailored B) casual C) informal D) ad hoc Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 196

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29) At the highest level of abstraction, data can be classified as ________ and ________.

A) alpha; numeric B) categorical; numerical C) nominal; ratio D) interval; ration Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 197 30) Data that has a meaningful, or nonarbitrary, zero point is ________ data.

A) categorical B) nominal C) interval D) ratio Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 31) Numeric data represent the numeric values of specific variables, which are ________ variables that can take on an infinite number of fractional values.

A) discrete B) continuous C) interval D) ratio Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 32) Data mining seeks to identify patterns in the data. All of the following are major types of patterns except: A) associations B) regression C) predictions D) clusters Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 200 33) Predictive analysis uses sophisticated algorithms that can be designed to sift through data and identify ________.

A) patterns of behavior B) outlier C) average statistics D) minimum and maximum statistics Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 200

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34) ________, or supervised induction, is perhaps the most common of all data mining tasks. Its objective is to analyze the historical data stored in a database and automatically generate a model that can predict future behavior.

A) Association B) Clustering C) Prediction D) Classification Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 201 35) ________ are essentially a hierarchy of if-then statements. They are most appropriate for categorical and interval data.

A) Neural nets B) Clusters C) Decision trees D) Time-series Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 202 36) ________ data mining begins with a proposition by the user, who then seeks to validate the truthfulness of the proposition. For example, a marketing manager may begin with the following proposition: "Are BluRay player sales related to sales of HDTV sets?"

A) Hypothesis-driven B) Theory-driven C) Discovery-driven D) Data-driven Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 204 37) Because the data mining is driven by experience and experimentation, depending on the problem situation and the analyst's knowledge, the whole process can be ________ and ________, i.e., one should expect to go back and forth through the steps quite a few times.

A) simple; iterative B) expensive; hypothetical C) time consuming; iterative D) time-consuming; hypothetical Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 207

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38) Because the latter steps in the data mining process are built on the outcome of the former ones, one should: A) start with an understanding of the relevant data.

B) work quickly through the early steps and work in-depth on the latter steps.

C) start by cleaning the relevant data and storing it in a single data warehouse.

D) pay extra attention to the earlier steps in order not to put the whole study on an incorrect path from the onset.

Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 208 39) The simple split methodology splits the data into two mutually exclusive subsets called a ________ set and a ________ set.

A) training; test B) positive; negative C) holdout; training D) matrix; test Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 217 40) A good question to ask with respect to the patterns/relationships that association rule mining can discover is "Are all association rules interesting and useful?" In order to answer such a question, association rule mining uses two common metrics ________ and ________.

A) mean; median B) support; confidence C) standard deviation; confidence interval D) regression; distance measure Answer: B Diff: 3 Page Ref: 226 41) ________ means that discovered patterns in a dataset hold true on new data with a sufficient degree of certainty.

Answer: Valid Diff: 2 Page Ref: 196 42) Mass, length, time, energy, and electric charge are examples of ________ data because their scales have a nonarbitrary zero value.

Answer: ratio Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 43) ________ data contains codes assigned to objects or events as labels that also represent the rank order among them; for example, credit score.

Answer: Ordinal Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198

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44) ________ data contains measurements of simple codes assigned to objects as labels, such as marital status, but those labels are not measurements.

Answer: Nominal Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 45) ________ data represent the labels of multiple classes used to divide a variable into specific groups.

Answer: Categorical Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 46) Using existing and relevant data, data mining builds models to identify ________ among the attributes presented in the dataset.

Answer: patterns Diff: 1 Page Ref: 200 47) ________ tells the nature of future occurrences of certain events based on what has happened in the past, such as predicting the winner of the Super Bowl or forecasting the absolute temperature of a particular day.

Answer: Prediction Diff: 1 Page Ref: 200 48) Generally speaking, data mining tasks can be classified into three main categories: ________, association, and clustering.

Answer: prediction Diff: 2 Page Ref: 200 49) ________ partitions a collection of things, such as objects and events stored in a dataset, into segments whose members share similar characteristics.

Answer: Clustering Diff: 2 Page Ref: 202 50) With ________ forecasting, the data are a series of values of the same variable that is captured and stored over time. These data are then used to develop models to extrapolate the future values of the same phenomenon.

Answer: time-series Diff: 2 Page Ref: 203 51) ________ data mining begins with a proposition by the user, who then seeks to validate the truthfulness of the proposition Answer: Hypothesis-driven Diff: 2 Page Ref: 204 52) ________ data mining finds patterns, associations, and other relationships hidden within datasets. It can uncover facts that an organization had not previously known or contemplated.

Answer: Discovery-driven Diff: 2 Page Ref: 204 8 .

53) ________ data, also known as categorical data, contains both nominal and ordinal data.

Answer: Qualitative Diff: 1 Page Ref: 208 54) ________ data can be readily represented by some sort of probability distribution.

Answer: Quantitative Diff: 1 Page Ref: 209 55) The model's ability to make reasonably accurate predictions, given noisy data or data with missing and erroneous values, is called ________.

Answer: robustness Diff: 2 Page Ref: 216 56) With ________, a fixed number of instances from the original data is sampled (with replacement) for training and the rest of the dataset is used for testing. This process is repeated as many times as desired.

Answer: bootstrapping Diff: 2 Page Ref: 219 57) The ________ index has been used in economics to measure the diversity of a population.

The same concept can be used to determine the purity of a specific class as a result of a decision to branch along a particular attribute or variable.

Answer: Gini Diff: 2 Page Ref: 221 58) ________ measures the extent of uncertainty or randomness in a dataset.

Answer: Entropy Diff: 2 Page Ref: 222 59) The most commonly used measure to calculate the closeness between pairs of items in cluster analysis is the ________.

Answer: distance measure Diff: 2 Page Ref: 225 60) The ________ algorithm is the most commonly used algorithm to discover association rules.

Answer: Apriori Diff: 3 Page Ref: 227

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61) List three of the major characteristics and objectives of data mining.

Answer: The data mining environment is usually a client-server architecture or a Web-based architecture.

Visualization tools help to remove the information buried in corporate files or archives.

The miner is often an end user, who is supported by data drills and power query tools to ask ad hoc questions with little programming.

Striking it rich often involves finding an unexpected result and requires end users to think creatively throughout the process.

Data mining tools are readily combined with spreadsheets and other software development tools.

Because of the large amounts of data and massive search efforts, it is sometimes necessary to use parallel processing for data mining.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 196 62) Sketch a simple taxonomy of data in data mining.

Answer: See Figure 5.3 in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 197 63) Identify and describe the two types of categorical data. Give an example of each.

Answer: Nominal data contains measurements of simple codes assigned to objects as labels, which are not measurements. For example, the variable marital status can be generally categorized as (1) single, (2) married, and (3) divorced.

Ordinal data contains codes assigned to objects or events as labels that also represent the rank order among them. For example, the variable credit score can be categorized as (1) low, (2) medium, and (3) high. Other examples are age group (i.e., child, young, middle-aged, elderly) and educational level (i.e., high school, college, graduate school).

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198 64) Identify and describe the two types of numerical data. Give an example of each.

Answer: Interval data are variables that can be measured on interval scales, but that do not have an absolute zero value. An example of interval scale measurement is temperature on the Celsius scale.

Ratio data include measurement variables such as those found in the physical sciences. Mass, length, time, energy, and electric charge are examples of physical measures that are ratio scales.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 198

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65) List and briefly describe three of the major types of patterns that data mining attempts to identify.

Answer: Associations find the commonly co-occurring groupings of things, such as beer and diapers going together in market-basket analysis.

Predictions tells the nature of future occurrences of certain events based on what has happened in the past, such as predicting the winner of the Super Bowl or forecasting the absolute temperature of a particular day.

Clusters identify natural groupings of things based on their known characteristics, such as assigning customers in different segments based on their demographics and past purchase behaviors.

Sequential relationships discovers time-ordered events, such as predicting an action based on prior actions.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 200 66) List the six steps in the CRISP-DM Data Mining Process.

Answer: 1. business understanding 2. data understanding 3. data presentation 4. model building 5. testing and evaluation 6. deployment Diff: 1 Page Ref: 207 67) List the four data preprocessing steps.

Answer: 1. data consolidation 2. data cleaning 3. data transformation 4. data reduction Diff: 1 Page Ref: 209 68) List and briefly explain four of the factors to be considered when assessing a model to be used for classification.

Answer: Predictive accuracy. The model's ability to correctly predict the class label of new or previously unseen data.

Speed. Computational costs involved in generating and using the model, where faster is better.

Robustness. The model's ability to make reasonably accurate predictions, given noisy data or data with missing and erroneous values.

Scalability. The ability to construct a prediction model efficiently given a large amount of data.

Interpretability. The level of understanding and insight provided by the model.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 216

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69) Explain the simple split methodology for classification. Explain the advantages of the k-fold cross-validation methodology over the simple split methodology.

Answer: The simple split partitions the data into two mutually exclusive subsets called a training set and a test set. The training set is used by the model builder; and the built classifier is then tested on the test set.

K-fold cross-validation helps to minimize the bias associated with the simple split methodology's use of random sampling Diff: 2 Page Ref: 218 70) List five of the data mining mistakes often made in practice.

Answer: 1. Selecting the wrong problem for data mining.

2. Ignoring what your sponsor thinks data mining is and what it really can and cannot do.

3. Leaving insufficient time for data preparation.

4. Looking only at aggregated results and not at individual records.

5. Being sloppy about keeping track of the data mining procedure and results.

6. Ignoring suspicious findings and quickly moving on.

7. Running mining algorithms repeatedly and blindly. It is important to think hard about the next stage of data analysis.

8. Believing everything you are told about the data.

9. Believing everything you are told about your own data mining analysis.

10. Measuring your results differently from the way your sponsor measures them.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 233

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 6 Artificial Neural Networks for Data Mining 1) Neural network models are designed as exact replicas of how the human brain actually functions.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245 2) Neural networks have been used in finance, marketing, manufacturing, operations, and information systems and in many business applications for pattern recognition, forecasting, prediction, and classification.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 245 3) The information processing in neural networks makes it attractive for solving complex problems.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245 4) The human brain is composed of special cells called neurons. Neural networks are composed of interconnected processing elements called artificial neurons.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245 5) Typically, the input-output transformation process at the individual neuron level is performed in a linear fashion.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 248 6) Minotaur was implemented to prevent fraud. In the first 3 months following installation of Minotaur, the average fraud loss per case was reduced by 40 percent.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 248 7) The processing elements (PE) of an ANN are artificial neurons, which receive inputs, process them, and deliver outputs.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 249 8) Each ANN is composed of a collection of neurons that are grouped into three types of layers: input, intermediate (or hidden), and output.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 249 9) Parallel processing resembles the way the brain and conventional computing works.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 249 1 .

10) In network information processing, each input corresponds to one or two attributes.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 249 11) Several types of data, such as text, pictures, and voice, can be used as inputs in network information processing.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 249 12) The output of a network contains the solution to a problem.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 250 13) Weights are crucial in network information processing because they store learned patterns of information; and it is through repeated adjustments of these weights that a network learns.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 250 14) A threshold value is a hurdle value for the output of a neuron to trigger the next level of neurons. If an output value is larger than the threshold value, it will not be passed to the next level of neurons.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 251 15) Supervised learning uses a set of inputs for which the desired outputs are known. For example, a dataset of loan applications with the success or failure of borrowers to repay their loans has a set of input parameters and known outputs.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 254 16) In neural network, larger data sets increase processing time during training but improve the accuracy of the training and often lead to faster convergence to a good set of weights.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 261 17) Training of artificial neural networks is an iterative process and the iteration continues until the error sum is converged to below a preset acceptable level.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 261 18) Implementation of an ANN often requires interfaces with other computer-based information systems and user training.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 264

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19) A general Hopfield network is a single large layer of neurons with total interconnectivity.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 272 20) In general, ANN are suitable for problems whose inputs are both categorical and numeric, and where the relationships between inputs and outputs are linear or the input data are normally distributed.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 276 21) Which of the following is the reason why neural networks have been applied in business classification problems?

A) Able to learn the data B) Able to learn the models' nonparametric nature C) Its ability to generalize D) All of the above Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 245 22) An artificial neural network is composed of many interconnected ________.

A) artificial units B) artificial cells C) artificial neurons D) artificial atoms Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245 23) Which of the following is a trait of an artificial neural network?

A) Fault tolerance B) Duplicate cell C) Self-repaired D) Memory less Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 245 24) Pioneers McCulloch and Pitts built their neural network model using a large number of interconnected ________ artificial neurons.

A) dual B) binary C) singular D) serial Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245

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25) There are about 50 to 150 billion neurons in the human brain and these neurons are partitioned into groups called ________.

A) teams B) sects C) groups D) networks Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 246 26) ANN can also be used as simple biological models to test ________ about biological neuronal information processing.

A) hypotheses B) assumptions C) theory D) proposition Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 247 27) ________ is the most commonly used network paradigm.

A) Parallel processing B) Processing element C) Minotaur D) Backpropagation Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 248 28) The way that information is processed by the neural network is a function of its ________.

A) composition B) formation C) structure D) makeup Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 249 29) The output of neurons can be the final result or it can be ________ to other neurons.

A) sources B) contributions C) keys D) inputs Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 249

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30) In single, hidden-layer structured neural network, this hidden layer converts inputs into a ________ combination.

A) continuous B) linear C) nonlinear D) nonstop Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 249 31) The ways neurons are organized are referred to as ________.

A) topologies B) contour C) formation D) configuration Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 249 32) The connection weights express the ________ of the input data.

A) significance B) value C) mathematical value D) worth Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 250 33) The summation function computes the ________ sums of all the input elements entering each processing element.

A) weighted B) averaged C) total D) aggregated Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 250 34) Sigmoid function is an S-shaped transfer function in the range of 0 to 1 and is also a useful ________ transfer function.

A) integer B) binary C) linear D) nonlinear Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 251

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35) Learning algorithms specify the ________ by which a neural network learns the underlying relationship between input and outputs.

A) process B) method C) route D) direction Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 252 36) The backpropagation learning algorithm is an iterative ________ technique designed to minimize an error function between the actual output of the network and its desired output, as specified in the training set of data.

A) differential equation B) binary search C) gradient-descent D) exact search Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 255 37) Most implementations of the learning process in neural network include a counterbalancing parameter called ________ to provide a balance to the learning rate.

A) power B) energy C) force D) momentum Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 257 38) Which of the following is not a consideration in selecting a neural network structure?

A) Selection of a topology B) Determination of input nodes C) Determination of output nodes D) Determination of weighting functions Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 261 39) Which of the following procedure is used to break datasets into different pairs of training and testing sets?

A) resampling B) sampling C) trial and error D) random Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 267

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40) Because of their ability to capture and represent highly complex relationships, a new and prosperous area of application for neural networks is in the field of ________.

A) health care and medicine B) transportation and distribution C) security D) financial planning Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 275 41) A(n) ________ network represents a brain metaphor of information processing.

Answer: neural Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245 42) ________ refers to a pattern recognition methodology for machine learning.

Answer: Neural computing Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245 43) Each biological neuron possesses axons and ________, finger-like projections that enable the neuron to communicate with its neighboring neurons by transmitting and receiving electrical and chemical signals.

Answer: dendrites Diff: 3 Page Ref: 245 44) ANN stands for ________.

Answer: artificial neural network Diff: 1 Page Ref: 245 45) The early neural network model is called ________.

Answer: perceptron Diff: 3 Page Ref: 245 46) ________ is the central processing portion of the biological neuron.

Answer: Nucleus Diff: 2 Page Ref: 246 47) A ________ is able to increase or decrease the strength of the connection from neuron to neuron.

Answer: synapse Diff: 3 Page Ref: 246 48) There are several neural network paradigms, and one of the easiest ways to differentiate between the various models is on the basis of how these models structurally ________ the human brain.

Answer: emulate Diff: 2 Page Ref: 246

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49) One popular approach, known as the feedforward-backpropagation paradigm, in organizing neurons, does not allow any ________ linkage.

Answer: feedback Diff: 2 Page Ref: 248 50) A neural network is composed of processing elements organized in different ways to form the network's ________.

Answer: structure Diff: 2 Page Ref: 249 51) The artificial neurons receive the information from external input stimuli, perform a ________ on the inputs, and then pass on external outputs.

Answer: transformation Diff: 2 Page Ref: 251 52) In a neural network, the knowledge is stored in the ________ associated with each connection between two neurons.

Answer: weight Diff: 3 Page Ref: 254 53) A ________ is a layer of neurons that takes input from the previous layer and converts those inputs into outputs for further processing.

Answer: hidden layer Diff: 1 Page Ref: 249 54) When information is processed, many of the processing elements of neural network perform their computations at the same time, which is called ________ processing.

Answer: parallel Diff: 1 Page Ref: 249 55) The purpose of the neural network is to compute the ________ of the output.

Answer: values Diff: 2 Page Ref: 250 56) In neural network, it is through repeated adjustments of ________ that the network learns.

Answer: weights Diff: 2 Page Ref: 250 57) ________ value is a hurdle value for the output of a neuron to trigger the next level of neurons.

Answer: Threshold Diff: 2 Page Ref: 251 58) The ________ is the training procedure used by an artificial neural network.

Answer: learning algorithm Diff: 1 Page Ref: 252 8 .

59) In ________, the network is self-organizing; that is, it organizes itself internally so that each hidden processing element responds strategically to a different set of input stimuli.

Answer: unsupervised learning Diff: 2 Page Ref: 252 60) ________ testing is used to comparing test results to historical results.

Answer: Black-box Diff: 1 Page Ref: 264 61) List the relationships between biological and artificial networks.

Answer: Biological Artificial Soma Node Dendrites Input Axon Output Synapse Weight Slow speed Fast speed Many neurons (109) Few neurons (a dozen to hundreds of thousands) Diff: 2

Page Ref: 247

62) Sketch or describe the typical structure of an ANN. Answer: See Figure 6.3 in the textbook.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 247 63) Describe the five major concepts / components of neural network information processing.

Answer: • Inputs. Each input corresponds to a single attribute.

• Outputs. The outputs of the network contain the solution to a problem.

• Connection weights. The key elements in an ANN. They express the relative strength (or mathematical value) of the input data or the many connections that transfer data from layer to layer.

• Summation function. The summation function computes the weighted sums of all the input elements entering each processing element.

• Transformation function. The transformation function combines the inputs coming into a neuron from other neurons/sources, and then produces an output based upon the choice of the transfer function.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 249 64) Explain threshold value and its role in the network.

Answer: A threshold value is a hurdle value for the output of a neuron to trigger the next level of neurons. If an output value is smaller than the threshold value, it will not be passed to the next level of neurons. For example, any value of 0.5 or less becomes 0, and any value above 0.5 becomes 1.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 251

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65) Explain supervised and unsupervised learning modes of neural networks.

Answer: Neural network learning can occur in supervised or unsupervised mode. In supervised learning mode, the training patterns include a correct answer, classification, or forecast. The output of the network in its present form is calculated and compared to the desired output. In unsupervised learning mode, there are no known answers. Unsupervised learning is used for clustering or exploratory data analysis.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 252 66) List the usual process of general learning in neural network.

Answer: • Compute temporary outputs.

• Compare outputs with desired targets.

• Adjust the weights and repeat the process.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 255 67) Describe or sketch the supervised learning process of an ANN Answer: See Figure 6.9 in the textbook.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 256 68) Briefly describe backpropagation.

Answer: It is the most widely used supervised learning algorithm in neural computing. A backpropagation network includes one or more hidden layers. This type of network is considered feedforward because there are no interconnections between the output of a processing element and the input of a node in the same layer or in a preceding layer. Externally provided correct patterns are compared with the neural network's output during (supervised) training, and feedback is used to adjust the weights until all the training patterns are categorized as correctly as possible by the network.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 258 69) List the procedures of the learning algorithm.

Answer: • Initialize weights with random values and set other parameters.

• Read in the input vector and the desired output.

• Compute the actual output via the calculations working forward through the layers.

• Compute the error.

• Change the weights by working backward from the output layer through the hidden layers.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 259 70) List the development process for an ANN application.

Answer: See Figure 6.11 in the textbook.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 260

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 7 Text and Web Mining 1) DARPA and MITRE teamed up to develop capabilities to automatically filter text-based information sources to generate actionable information in a timely manner.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 288 2) A vast majority of all business data are captured and stored in structured text documents.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 289 3) Text mining is important to competitive advantage because knowledge is power, and knowledge is derived from text data sources.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 289 4) The purpose and processes of text mining are different from those of data mining because with text mining the input to the process are data files such as Word documents, PDF files, text excerpts, and XML files.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 289 5) The benefits of text mining are greatest in areas where very large amounts of textual data are being generated, such as law, academic research, finance, and medicine.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 289 6) Unstructured data has a predetermined format. It is usually organized into records as categorical, ordinal, and continuous variables and stored in databases.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 290 7) Stemming is the process of reducing inflected words to their base or root form.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 290 8) Stop words, such as a, am, the, and was, are words that are filtered out prior to or after processing of natural language data.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 290 9) The goal of natural language processing (NLP) is syntax-driven text manipulation.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 292

1 .

10) Two advantages associated with the implementation of NLP are word sense disambiguation and syntactic ambiguity.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 293 11) By applying a learning algorithm to parsed text, researchers from Stanford University's NLP lab have developed methods that can automatically identify the concepts and relationships between those concepts in the text.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 293 12) Text mining can be used to increase cross-selling and up-selling by analyzing the unstructured data generated by call centers.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 296 13) Compared to polygraphs for deception-detection, text-based deception detection has the advantages of being nonintrusive and widely applicable to textual data and transcriptions of voice recordings.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 297 14) The corpus for the text mining process consists of organized ACII text files and structured data.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 303 15) The main categories of knowledge extraction methods are recall, search, and signaling.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 307 16) Web pages consisting of unstructured textual data coded in HTML or XML, hyperlink information, and logs of visitors' interactions provide rich data for effective and efficient knowledge discovery: Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 313 17) Web crawlers are Web content mining tools that are used to read through the content of a Web site automatically.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 314 18) Amazon.com leverages Web usage history usage dynamically and recognizes the user by reading a cookie written by a Web site on the visitor's computer.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 317 2 .

19) The quality of search results is impossible to measure accurately using strictly quantitative measures such as click-through rate, abandonment, and search frequency. Additional quantitative and qualitative measures are required.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 318 20) Customer experience management applications gather and report direct feedback from site visitors by benchmarking against other sites and offline channels, and by supporting predictive modeling of future visitor behavior.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 320 21) A vast majority of business data are stored in text documents that are ________.

A) mostly quantitative B) virtually unstructured C) semi-structured D) highly structured Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 289 22) Text mining is the semi-automated process of extracting ________ from large amounts of unstructured data sources.

A) patterns B) useful information C) knowledge D) all of the above Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 289 23) All of the following are popular application areas of text mining except: A) information extraction B) document summarization C) question answering D) data structuring Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 289 24) Which of the following correctly defines a text mining term?

A) Tagging is the number of times a word is found in a specific document.

B) A token is an uncategorized block of text in a sentence.

C) Rooting is the process of reducing inflected words to their base form.

D) A term is a single word or multiword phrase extracted directly from the corpus by means of NLP methods.

Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 290 3 .

25) ________ is a branch of the field of linguistics and a part of natural language processing that studies the internal structure of words.

A) Morphology B) Corpus C) Stemming D) Polysemes Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 290 26) Using ________ as a rich source of knowledge and a strategic weapon, Kodak not only survives but excels in its market segment defined by innovation and constant change.

A) visualization B) deception detection C) patent analysis D) semantic cues Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 291 27) It has been shown that the bag-of-word method may not produce good enough information content for text mining tasks. More advanced techniques such as ________ are needed.

A) classification B) natural language processing C) evidence-based processing D) symbolic processing Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 292 28) Why will computers probably not be able to understand natural language the same way and with the same accuracy that humans do?

A) A true understanding of meaning requires extensive knowledge of a topic beyond what is in the words, sentences, and paragraphs.

B) The natural human language is too specific.

C) The part of speech depends only on the definition and not on the context within which it is used.

D) All of the above.

Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 293 29) At a very high level, the text mining process consists of each of the following tasks except: A) Create log frequencies.

B) Establish the corpus.

C) Create the term-document matrix.

D) Extract the knowledge.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 304

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30) In ________, the problem is to group an unlabelled collection of objects, such as documents, customer comments, and Web pages into meaningful groups without any prior knowledge.

A) search recall B) classification C) clustering D) grouping Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 307 31) The two main approaches to text classification are ________ and ________.

A) knowledge engineering; machine learning B) categorization; clustering C) association; trend analysis D) knowledge extraction; Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 307 32) Commercial software tools include all of the following except: A) GATE B) IBM Intelligent Miner Data Mining Suite C) SAS Text Miner D) SPSS Text Mining Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 312 33) Why does the Web pose great challenges for effective and efficient knowledge discovery?

A) The Web search engines are indexed-based.

B) The Web is too dynamic.

C) The Web is too specific to a domain.

D) The Web infrastructure contains hyperlink information.

Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 313 34) A simple keyword-based search engine suffers from several deficiencies, which include all of the following except: A) A topic of any breath can easily contain hundreds or thousands of documents.

B) Many documents that are highly relevant to a topic may not contain the exact keywords defining them.

C) Web mining can identify authoritative Web pages.

D) Many of the search results are marginally or not relevant to the topic.

Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 313

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35) Which of the following is not one of the three main areas of Web mining?

A) Web search mining B) Web content mining C) Web structure mining D) Web usage mining Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 314 36) Which of the following refers to developing useful information from the links included in the Web documents?

A) Web content mining B) Web subject mining C) Web structure mining D) Web matter mining Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 315 37) A ________ is one or more Web pages that provide a collection of links to authoritative pages, reference sites, or a resource list on a specific topic.

A) hub B) hyperlink-induced topic search C) spoke D) community Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 315 38) All of the following are types of data generated through Web page visits except: A) data stored in server access logs, referrer logs, agent logs, and client-side cookies B) user profiles C) hyperlink analysis D) metadata, such as page attributes, content attributes, and usage data Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 316 39) When registered users revisit Amazon.com, they are greeted by name. This task involves recognizing the user by ________.

A) pattern discovery B) association C) text mining D) reading a cookie Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 317

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40) Forward-thinking companies like Ask.com, Scholastic, and St. John Health System are actively using Web mining systems to answer important questions of "Who?" "Why?" and "How?" The benefits of integrating these systems: A) are measured qualitatively in terms of customer satisfaction, but not measured using financial or other quantitative measure.

B) can be significant in terms of incremental financial growth and increasing customer loyalty and satisfaction.

C) have not yet outweighed the costs of the Web mining systems and analysis.

D) can be infinitely measurable.

Answer: B Diff: 3 Page Ref: 319 41) ________ is the semi-automated process of extracting patterns from large amounts of unstructured data sources.

Answer: Text mining Diff: 1 Page Ref: 289 42) ________ is the process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful, and ultimately understandable patterns in data stored in structured databases, where the data are organized in records structured by categorical, ordinal, or continuous variables.

Answer: Data mining Diff: 1 Page Ref: 289 43) ________ is the grouping of similar documents without having a predefined set of categories.

Answer: Clustering Diff: 2 Page Ref: 289 44) In linguistics, a(n) ________ is a large and structured set of texts prepared for the purpose of conducting knowledge discovery.

Answer: corpus Diff: 1 Page Ref: 290 45) ________ is the process of reducing inflected words to their base or root form.

Answer: Stemming Diff: 1 Page Ref: 290 46) ________ words or noise words are words that are filtered out prior to or after processing of natural language data.

Answer: Stop Diff: 1 Page Ref: 290 47) The term "stop-words" are used by text mining to ________ commonly used words.

Answer: eliminate Diff: 2 Page Ref: 290

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48) ________ is an important component of text mining and is a subfield of artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. It studies the problem of understanding the natural human language.

Answer: Natural language processing (NLP) Diff: 1 Page Ref: 292 49) ________ is a technique used to detect favorable and unfavorable opinions toward specific products and services using textual data sources, such as customer feedback in Web postings and the detection of unfavorable rumors.

Answer: Sentiment analysis Diff: 2 Page Ref: 293 50) At a very high level, the first of three consecutive tasks in the text mining process is to establish the ________, which is a list of organized documents.

Answer: corpus Diff: 1 Page Ref: 303 51) In the text mining process, the output of task two is a flat file called a ________ where the cells are populated with the term frequencies.

Answer: term-document matrix Diff: 3 Page Ref: 304 52) One of the main approaches to text classification is ________ in which an expert's knowledge is encoded into the system either declaratively or in the form of procedural classification rules.

Answer: knowledge engineering Diff: 2 Page Ref: 307 53) ________ is the discovery and analysis of interesting and useful information from the Web, about the Web, and usually though Web-based tools.

Answer: Web mining Diff: 2 Page Ref: 314 54) A(n) ________ is one or more Web pages that provide a collection of links to authoritative pages.

Answer: hub Diff: 1 Page Ref: 315 55) ________ mining is the process of extracting useful information from the links embedded in Web documents.

Answer: Web structure Diff: 2 Page Ref: 315 56) ________ mining is the extraction of useful information from data generated through Web page visits and transactions.

Answer: Web usage Diff: 2 Page Ref: 316 8 .

57) Analysis of the information collected by Web servers can help better understand user behavior. Analysis of this data is called ________ analysis.

Answer: clickstream Diff: 2 Page Ref: 316 58) ________ applications focus on "who and how" questions by gathering and reporting direct feedback from site visitors, by benchmarking against other sites and offline channels, and by supporting predictive modeling of future visitor behavior.

Answer: Voice of Customer Diff: 2 Page Ref: 320 59) Web analytics, CEM, and VOC applications form the foundation of the Web site ________ ecosystem that supports the online business's ability to positively influence desired outcomes Answer: optimization Diff: 2 Page Ref: 320 60) The ________ model, which is one where multiple sources of data describing the same population are integrated to increase the depth and richness of the resulting analysis, forms the framework of the Web site optimization ecosystem Answer: convergent validation Diff: 3 Page Ref: 321 61) Compare and contrast text mining and data mining.

Answer: Text mining is the semi-automated process of extracting patterns (useful information and knowledge) from large amounts of unstructured data sources. Data mining is the process of identifying valid, novel, potentially useful, and understandable patterns in data stored in structured databases, where the data are organized in records structured by categorical, ordinal, or continuous variables. Text mining is the same as data mining in that it has the same purpose and uses the same processes, but with text mining the input to the process is a collection of unstructured data files such as Word documents, PDF files, and so on.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 289 62) Why will computers probably not be able to understand natural language the same way and with the same accuracy that humans do?

Answer: Natural human language is vague for computers to understand; and a true understanding of meaning requires extensive knowledge of a topic beyond what is in the words, sentences, and paragraphs.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 293

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63) NLP has successfully been applied to a variety of tasks via computer programs to automatically process natural human language that previously could only be done by humans.

List three of the most popular of these tasks.

Answer: Information retrieval. The science of searching for relevant documents, finding specific information within them, and generating metadata as to their contents.

Information extraction. A type of information retrieval whose goal is to automatically extract structured information from a certain domain, using machine-readable documents.

Question answering. The task of automatically answering a question posed in natural language; that is, producing a human-language answer when given a human-language question.

Automatic summarization. The creation of a shortened version of a text document by a computer program that contains the most important points of the document.

Natural language generation. Systems convert information from computer databases into readable human language.

Natural language understanding. Systems convert samples of human language into more formal representations that are easier for computer programs to manipulate.

Machine translation. The automatic translation of one human language to another.

Foreign language reading. A computer program that assists a nonnative language speaker to read a foreign language.

Foreign language writing. A computer program that assists a nonnative language user in writing in a foreign language.

Speech recognition. Converts spoken words to machine-readable input.

Text-to-speech. A computer program converts normal language text into human speech.

Text proofing. A computer program reads a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors.

Optical character recognition. The automatic translation of images of handwritten, typewritten, or printed text.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 295 64) Describe a marketing application of text mining.

Answer: Text mining can be used to increase cross-selling and up-selling by analyzing the unstructured data generated by call centers. Text generated by call-center notes as well as transcriptions of voice conversations with customers can be analyzed by text mining algorithms to extract novel, actionable information about customers' perceptions toward a company's products and services.

Text mining is valuable for customer relationship management (CRM). Companies can use text mining to analyze unstructured text data, combined with the relevant structured data extracted from organizational databases, to predict customer perceptions and subsequent purchasing behavior.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 296 65) What is the primary purpose of text mining within the context of knowledge discovery?

Answer: The primary purpose of text mining within the context of knowledge discovery is to process unstructured (textual) data along with structured data, if relevant to the problem, to extract meaningful and actionable patterns for better decision making.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 302

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66) Diagram and explain the three-step text mining process.

Answer: See Figure 7.5 Diff: 2 Page Ref: 304 67) List two options for managing or reducing the dimensionality (size) of the term-document matrix (TDM).

Answer: A domain expert goes through the list of terms and eliminates those that do not make much sense for the context of the study.

Eliminate terms with very few occurrences in very few documents.

Transform the matrix using singular value decomposition.

Diff: 3 Page Ref: 306 68) What are three of the challenges for effective and efficient knowledge discovery posed by the Web? Answer: The Web is too big for effective data mining. Because of the sheer size of the Web, it is not feasible to set up a data warehouse to replicate, store, and integrate all of the data on the Web, making data collection and integration a challenge.

The Web is too complex. The complexity of a Web page is far greater than a page in a traditional text document collection. Web pages lack a unified structure.

The Web is too dynamic. The Web is a highly dynamic information source. Not only does the Web grow rapidly, but its content is constantly being updated.

The Web is not specific to a domain. The Web serves a broad diversity of communities and connects billions of workstations. Web users have very different backgrounds, interests, and usage purposes.

The Web has everything. Only a small portion of the information on the Web is truly relevant or useful to someone or some task.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 313 69) Define the three main areas of Web mining and each area's source of information.

Answer: Web content mining refers to the extraction of useful information from Web pages.

Source: unstructured textual content of the Web pages, usually in HTML format.

Web structure mining is the process of extracting useful information from the links embedded in Web documents. Source: the URL links contained in the Web pages.

Web usage mining is the extraction of useful information from data generated through Web page visits and transactions. Source: the detailed description of a Web site's visits.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 314 70) List three business applications of Web mining.

Answer: 1. Determine the lifetime value of clients.

2. Design cross-marketing strategies across products.

3. Evaluate promotional campaigns.

4. Target electronic ads and coupons at user groups based on user access patterns.

5. Predict user behavior based on previously learned rules and users' profiles.

6. Present dynamic information to users based on their interests and profiles.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 317 11 .

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 8 Data Warehousing 1) A real-time data warehouse together with a decision support strategy that leverages the integrated data can provide significant financial benefits for an organization.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 329 2) A data warehouse differs from an operational database in that most data warehouses have a product orientation and are designed to handle transactions that update the database.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 329 3) A data warehouse maintains historical data that do not necessarily provide current status, except in real-time systems.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 329 4) Once the data are entered into the data warehouse, users cannot change or update the data.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 329 5) There are three main types of data warehouses, which are data marts, operational data stores, and enterprise data warehouses.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 6) An independent data mart is a small warehouse designed for a strategic business unit (SBU) or a department whose source is an EDW. Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 7) Operational data store is used for the medium- and long-term decisions associated with the enterprise data warehouse (EDW).

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 330 8) An operational data store (ODS) provides a fairly recent form of a customer information file (CIF), which is often used as an interim staging area for a data warehouse.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 9) The design, creation, and use of metadata and its accompanying standards may involve ethical issues, including privacy and intellectual property issues.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 333 1 .

10) There are five levels of metadata management maturity that can be used to describe where an organization is in terms of how and how well it utilizes its metadata.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 333 11) Data warehouses contain vast amounts of internal data but are limited because they do not contain external data.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 334 12) There are many middleware tools that business users can use to access data stored in the data repositories, including data mining, reporting tools, and data visualization.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 334 13) In a three-tier architecture, operational systems contain the data and the software for data acquisition in the first tier, the data warehouse is a second tier, and the third tier includes the DSS/BI/BA engine.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 335 14) An advantage of the hub-and-spoke data warehouse architecture is that they are easy to build.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 338 15) The centralized data warehouse helps to simplify data management and administration.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 339 16) Because of performance and data quality issues, most experts agree that federated approaches work well to replace data warehouses.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 339 17) According to conventional wisdom, independent data marts are a poor architectural solution.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 341 18) ETL tools transport data between sources and targets, document how data elements change as they move between source and target, exchange metadata with other applications, and administer all runtime processes and operations.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 344

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19) A hosted data warehouse has less functionality than an onsite data warehouse, but it does not consume computer resources on client premises for computer upgrades, software licenses, inhouse development, and in-house support and maintenance.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 352 20) A data warehouse needs to support scalability, which pertains to the amount of data in the warehouse, how quickly the warehouse is expected to grow, the number of concurrent users, and the complexity of user queries.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 358 21) When DirectTV decided to implement an active data warehouse solution, the goal of the new system was to send fresh data to the call center at least daily. Once the capabilities of the solutions became apparent, that goal: A) dropped to fresh data of less than 15 minutes to improve responsiveness.

B) dropped to fresh data every 12 hours to improve responsiveness.

C) increased to every 2 days to reduce maintenance costs.

D) increased to every 5 days to reduce maintenance costs.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 327 22) Data warehouse is a(n) ________, integrated, time-variant, nonvolatile collection of data in support of management's decision making process.

A) analysis-oriented B) object-oriented C) subject-oriented D) model-oriented Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 329 23) Once data are entered into the warehouse, users cannot change or update the data. Obsolete data are discarded, and changes are recorded as new data. This ________ characteristic is one of the characteristics of data warehousing.

A) changeable B) nonvolatile C) nonperishable D) static Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 329

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24) A data warehouse contains ________ about how data are organized and how to use them effectively.

A) a data directory B) a data index C) data fields D) metadata Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 25) The high cost of data warehouses limits their use to large companies. As an alternative, many firms use a lower-cost, scaled-down version of a data warehouse referred to as (an) ________.

A) data mart B) operational data store C) dependent data mart D) independent data mart Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 26) Which of the following are created when operational data need to be analyzed multidimensionally?

A) Oper marts B) Customer information file C) Dependent data marts D) Independent data marts Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 27) Which of the following is one of the components of data warehousing process that enables users to access the data warehouse?

A) Middleware tools B) Users interface C) Query tools D) OLAP Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 334 28) Which of the following is not a data source to a data warehouse?

A) ERP B) legacy C) POS D) ETL Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 334

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29) The advantage of three-tier architecture for data warehousing is its separation of the functions of the data warehouse, which eliminates resource constraints and makes it possible to easily create data ________.

A) banks B) cubes C) bases D) marts Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 335 30) The ________ have inconsistent data definitions and different dimensions and measures, making it difficult to analyze data across those marts.

A) enterprise data marts B) operational data marts C) dependent data marts D) independent data marts Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 338 31) Users demanding access via PDAs and through speech recognition and synthesis is becoming more commonplace, further complicating ________ issues.

A) data extraction B) data load C) data integration D) OLAP Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 342 32) Which of the following is an evolving tool space that promises real-time data integration from a variety of sources, such as relational databases, Web services, and multidimensional databases?

A) Information integration B) Data management integration C) SQL data integration D) Enterprise information integration (EII) Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 344 33) ETL process consists of extract, transform, and load. Transformation occurs by using ________ or lookup tables or by combining the data with other data.

A) rules B) policies C) strategies D) procedures Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 345 5 .

34) Karacsony indicates that there is a direct correlation between the extent of ________ data and the amount of ETL processes. When data are managed correctly as an enterprise asset, ETL efforts are significantly reduced.

A) enormous B) bad C) redundant D) wrong Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 346 35) Which of the following is not a direct benefit of a data warehouse?

A) End users can perform extensive analysis in numerous ways B) A consolidated view of the data provides a single version of the truth C) Simplified data access D) Improved customer service and satisfaction Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 346 36) Guidelines that need to be considered when developing a vendor list include all of the following except: A) financial strength B) trade shows C) ERP linkages D) market share Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 348 37) A star schema contains a central ________ surrounded by several dimension tables.

A) database B) fact table C) data tree D) data table Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 351 38) Which of the following is not one of the failure factors in data warehousing as identified by Turban et al.?

A) Cultural issues are ignored.

B) inappropriate architecture C) unrealistic expectations D) high levels of data summarization Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 355

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39) ________ is a critical aspect of data warehousing that includes reconciling conflicting data definitions and formats organization-wide.

A) Data modification B) Fact refinement C) Data purification D) Data cleansing Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 356 40) Which of the following is needed to determine how data are to be retrieved from a data warehouse, and will assist in the physical definition of the warehouse by helping to define which data require indexing?

A) Indexing modeling B) Retrieval modeling C) Access modeling D) Tactic modeling Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 357 41) Data often are fragmented in distinct operational systems, so managers often make decisions with partial information at best. ________ cuts through this obstacle by accessing, integrating, and organizing key operational data in a form that is consistent, reliable, timely, and readily available where needed.

Answer: Data warehousing Diff: 1 Page Ref: 329 42) ________ is a subset that is created directly from the data warehouse. It has the advantages of using a consistent data model and providing quality data.

Answer: Dependent data mart Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 43) An ________ is a large-scale data warehouse that is utilized across the enterprise for decision support.

Answer: enterprise data warehouse (EDW) Diff: 1 Page Ref: 330 44) ________ provides a fairly recent form of customer information files (CIF). It is a type of database often used as an interim staging area for a data warehouse.

Answer: Operational data store (ODS) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 330 45) ________ is a small data warehouse designed for a strategic business unit (SBU)or a department.

Answer: Independent data mart Diff: 1 Page Ref: 330

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46) In three-tier architecture for data warehouse, ________ contain the data and the software for data acquisition in one tier, the data warehouse is another tier, and the third tier includes the decision support and the client.

Answer: operational systems Diff: 3 Page Ref: 335 47) The ________ is a concession to the natural forces that undermine the best plans for developing a perfect system. It uses all possible means to integrate analytical resources from multiple sources to meet changing needs or business conditions.

Answer: federated approach Diff: 2 Page Ref: 339 48) ________ comprises three major processes that, when correctly implemented, permits data to be accessed and made accessible to an array of ETL and analysis tools and data warehousing environment.

Answer: Data integration Diff: 2 Page Ref: 342 49) EII (enterprise information integration) tools use predefined metadata to populate views that make integrated data appear relational to end-users. ________ may be the most important aspect of EII, because it allows data to be tagged either at the time of creation or later.

Answer: Extensible markup language (XML) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 344 50) One of the benefits of a well-designed data warehouse is that business rules can be stored in a ________ repository and applied to the data warehouse centrally.

Answer: metadata Diff: 3 Page Ref: 345 51) A data warehouse contains numerous ________ that define such things as how the data will be used, summarization rules, standardization of encoded attributes, and calculation rules.

Answer: business rules Diff: 2 Page Ref: 345 52) The ________ is a scaled-down version of the data warehouse that centers on the requests of a specific department, such as marketing or sales.

Answer: data mart Diff: 1 Page Ref: 350 53) The data warehouse design is based upon the concept of ________ modeling, which is a retrieval-based model that supports high-volume query access.

Answer: dimensional Diff: 2 Page Ref: 351

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54) A(n) ________ contains the attributes needed to perform decision analysis, descriptive attributes used for query reporting, and foreign keys to link to dimension tables.

Answer: fact table Diff: 2 Page Ref: 351 55) A(n) ________ data warehouse has nearly the same, if not more, functionality as an on-site data warehouse, but it does not consume computer resources on client premises.

Answer: hosted Diff: 2 Page Ref: 352 56) It is important to identify the right level of ________ that will be needed during the scoping of a data warehouse project. A low level of that will result in more data being stored in the warehouse.

Answer: granularity Diff: 2 Page Ref: 352 57) During data modeling, expertise is required to determine what data are needed, define business rules associated with the data, and decide what ________ and other calculations may be necessary.

Answer: aggregations Diff: 3 Page Ref: 357 58) The main issues pertaining to ________ are the amount of data in the warehouse, how quickly the warehouse is expected to grow, the number of concurrent users, and the complexity of user queries.

Answer: scalability Diff: 3 Page Ref: 358 59) ________ is the process of loading and provides data via the data warehouse as they become available.

Answer: Real-time data warehousing (RDW) or active data warehousing (ADW) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 359 60) ________ is the person responsible for the administration and management of a data warehouse.

Answer: Data warehouse administrator (DWA) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 364

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61) List four characteristics of a data warehouse.

Answer: • Subject-oriented • Integrated • Time variant (time series) • Nonvolatile • Real time • Web based • Contains internal and external data • Contains metadata Diff: 2 Page Ref: 329 62) Describe the data warehousing process.

Answer: • Data sources. Data are sourced from multiple independent operational "legacy" systems and possibly from external data providers (such as the U.S. Census).

• Data extraction. Data are extracted using custom-written or commercial software called extraction, transformation, and load (ETL).

• Data loading. Data are then loaded into a staging area where they are transformed and cleansed.

• Comprehensive database. The enterprise data warehouse to support all decision analysis.

• Metadata. Metadata are maintained so that they can be assessed by IT personnel and users.

• Middleware tools. Middleware tools enable access to the data warehouse.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 334 63) What are the issues to consider when deciding which architecture for data warehousing to use?

Answer: • Which database management system (DBMS) to use?

• Will parallel processing and/or partitioning be used?

• Will data migration tools be used to load the data warehouse?

• What tools will be used to support data retrieval and analysis?

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 337 64) Describe two of the alternative architectures to the basic architectural design types in data warehousing.

Answer: See Figure 8.5 (a-e) in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 338

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65) List 5 factors that potentially affect the architecture selection decision.

Answer: 1. Information interdependence between organizational units 2. Upper management's information needs 3. Urgency of need for a data warehouse 4. Nature of end-user tasks 5. Constraints on resources 6. Strategic view of the data warehouse prior to implementation 7. Compatibility with existing systems 8. Perceived ability of the in-house IT staff 9. Technical Issues 10. Social/political factors Diff: 2 Page Ref: 339 66) Describe various integration technologies that enable data and metadata integration.

Answer: • Enterprise application integration (EAI). It provides a vehicle for pushing data from source systems into the data warehouse. It involves integrating application functionality and is focused on sharing functionality across systems, thereby enabling flexibility and reuse.

• Service-oriented architecture (SOA). Coarse-grained services that are well defined and documented • Enterprise information integration (EII). An evolving tool space that promises real-time data integration from a variety of sources such as relational databases, Web services, and multidimensional databases • Extraction, transformation, and load (ETL). Instrumental in the process and use of data warehouses Diff: 3 Page Ref: 343 67) Describe various issues that affect whether an organization will purchase data transformation tools or build the transformation process itself.

Answer: • Data transformation tools are expensive.

• Data transformation tools may have a long learning curve.

• It is difficult to measure how the IT organization is doing until it has learned to use the tools.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 345 68) Describe a star schema.

Answer: Data warehouse design is based upon the concept of dimensional modeling. The dimensional model is implemented with a star schema. The star schema is the means by which dimensional modeling is implemented. A star schema contains a central fact table. A fact table contains the attributes needed to perform decision analysis, descriptive attributes used for query reporting, and foreign keys to link to dimension tables. The fact tables describe what data can be analyzed; dimension tables describe how data can be analyzed.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 351

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69) List five benefits of a hosted data warehouse.

Answer: • Minimal investment in infrastructure • Frees up capacity on in-house systems • Frees up cash flow • Powerful solutions are affordable • Powerful solutions provide for growth • Better quality equipment and software • Faster connections • Ability to access data from remote locations • Allows a company focus on core business • Meets storage needs for large volumes of data Diff: 2 Page Ref: 352 70) Identify at least five data warehouse best practices.

Answer: • The project must fit with corporate strategy and business objectives.

• There must be complete buy-in to the project.

• Manage user expectations.

• The data warehouse must be built incrementally.

• Build in adaptability.

• The project must be managed by both IT and business professionals.

• Develop a business supplier relationship.

• Only load data that have been cleansed and are of a quality understood by the organization.

• Do not overlook training requirements.

• Be politically aware.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 354

12 .

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 9 Business Performance Management 1) Business performance management (BPM) is an outgrowth of decision support systems (DSS), enterprise information systems (EIS), and business intelligence (BI).

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 374 2) The term business performance management (BPM) refers to the business processes, methodologies, metrics, and technologies used by enterprises to measure, monitor, and manage business performance.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 378 3) During the strategic planning process, the time horizon is determined by the company's market share; rate of technological innovation; and capital intensity of the industry.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 380 4) For a low-cost provider such as Wal-Mart, distribution capabilities are a critical success factor.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 380 5) The Palladium Group found that 75 percent of organizations tied their budgets to their strategic plans.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 382 6) An operational plan translates an organization's strategic objectives and goals into a set of well-defined tactics and initiatives, resource requirements, and expected results for some future time period, usually, but not always, a month.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 382 7) In a budget-centric operational plan, tactics are established to meet the objectives and targets established in the strategic plan.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 382 8) An organization's strategic objectives and key metrics should serve as top-down drivers for the allocation of an organization's tangible and intangible assets.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 383

1 .

9) A comprehensive framework for monitoring performance should address two key issues: what to monitor and how to monitor.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 383 10) The average knowledge worker spent less than 20 percent of his or her time focused on higher-value analytical and decision support tasks, according to the Saxon Group's findings.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 389 11) An effective performance measurement system should not change measurements even when the underlying processes and strategies change.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 395 12) Both balanced Scorecards and Six Sigma are performance management tools and methodologies.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 395 13) Six Sigma is a performance management methodology aimed at reducing the number of defects in a business process to as close to zero DPMO (defects per million opportunities) as possible.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 399 14) Unlike BPM, DMAIC is an open-loop business improvement model that encompasses the steps of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling a process.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 399 15) Lean manufacturing focuses on the elimination of waste or non-value-added activities, whereas Six Sigma focuses on reducing the variation or improving the consistency of a process.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 400 16) Six Sigma is drastically different from other business initiatives.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 401 17) To dramatically increase the success of Six Sigma, the Six Sigma results should "pay as you go" and be confirmed by objective parties.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 402

2 .

18) Operational dashboards are used by managers and analysts to track, on weekly basis, raw data generated from departmental processes and projects.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 409 19) The primary challenge of dashboard design is to display all the required information to be displayed clearly and without distraction on a single screen in a manner that can be assimilated quickly.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 409 20) With comparative measures, it is important to point out whether a particular number is good or bad and whether it is trending in the right direction. Without these designations, it can be time-consuming to determine the status of a particular number or result.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 410 21) What was the most important service provided by Harrah's Total Rewards program?

A) It provided Harrah's with a vast collection of high volume, real-time transaction data about its customers and their behaviors.

B) The program served to reward customers with cash for their gaming.

C) The program served to reward customers with comps for their gaming.

D) Opulent accommodations and surroundings for loyal customers.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 375 22) The term business performance management (BPM) encompasses three key components, which include all of the following except: A) A set of integrated, closed-loop management and analytic processes, supported by technology, that address financial as well as operational activities B) An enterprise-wide strategy that helps to optimize local business performance C) Tools for businesses to define strategic goals and then measure and manage performance against those goals D) A core set of processes, including financial and operational planning, modeling, analysis, and monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs), linked to organizational strategy Answer: B Diff: 3 Page Ref: 378 23) BPM is an enterprise-wide strategy that seeks to prevent organizations from optimizing ________ business at the expense of overall corporate performance.

A) corporate wise B) global C) regional D) local Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 378 3 .

24) BPM helps organizations translate a unified set of objectives into plans, monitor execution, and deliver critical insight to improve financial and ________ performance.

A) strategic B) tactical C) operational D) daily Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 380 25) Which of the following identifies and prioritizes the key customer, market, competitor, government, demographic, or actually impacting the company?

A) SWOT B) SWAT C) ROA D) CSF Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 380 26) A(n) ________ plan translates an organization's strategic objectives and goals into a set of well-defined tactics and initiatives, resources requirements, and expected results for some future time period.

A) business B) operational C) tactical D) strategic Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 381 27) Fundamentally, an operational plan is like a project plan that is designed to ensure that an organization's ________ is realized.

A) business policy B) plan C) strategy D) business rules Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 382 28) Best practice organizations tend to utilize ________ operational planning, which begins the operational planning process by defining the alternative tactics and initiatives that can be used to reach a particular target.

A) tactic-centric B) budget-centric C) cost-centric D) revenue-centric Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 382 4 .

29) An organization's strategic objectives and key metrics should serve as ________ drivers for the allocation of an organization's tangible and intangible assets.

A) bottom-up B) top-down C) company wide D) revenues Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 383 30) Which of the following is not a part of a cybernetic system?

A) Inputs B) Standard C) Feedback channel D) Diagnostic mechanism Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 384 31) An effective diagnostic control system encourages ________.

A) management by exception B) strict rules C) democratic rules D) elite rules Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 384 32) The effectiveness of a campaign is measured by ________.

A) net cost and productivity B) relative profitability and net value C) gross revenue and net income D) cost and quality Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 388 33) Saxon Group's benchmarking results indicate that best practice organizations: A) focus on competition instead of on cause-and-effect relationships between tactics and objectives.

B) develop better predictions or plans.

C) are far better equipped to quickly identify changes or problems, diagnose the root causes, and take corrective action.

D) are historic and internally focused.

Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 389

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34) Which of the following is not what an effective performance measurement system should do?

A) Align top-level strategic objectives and bottom-level initiatives.

B) Identify opportunities in a timely fashion.

C) Determine priorities and allocate resources based on those priorities.

D) Maintain measurement when the underlying processes and strategies change.

Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 395 35) Which of the following is the best-known and most widely used performance management system?

A) Dashboard B) Performance reengineering C) Balanced scorecard (BSC) D) Total quality management Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 395 36) BSC translates an organization's vision and strategy into a set of interrelated financial and nonfinancial objectives. All of the following are nonfinancial objectives except: A) Business rules B) Customers C) Internal business process D) Learning and growth Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 396 37) A ________ delineates the process of value creation through a series of cause-and-effect relationships among the key organizational objectives for all four BSC perspectives--financial, customer, process, and learning and growth.

A) balanced scorecard B) strategic theme C) strategy map D) KPI Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 397 38) Sigma, σ, is a Greek alphabet letter used by statisticians to measure the ________ in a process.

A) variance B) mean C) inconsistency D) variability Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 399

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39) Which of the following about Six Sigma is not true?

A) Six Sigma focuses on the elimination of waste activities, whereas lean focuses on reducing the variation or improving the consistency of a process.

B) Most companies use Six Sigma as a process improvement methodology that enables them to scrutinize their processes, pinpoint problems, and apply remedies.

C) Six Sigma is a performance management methodology aimed at reducing the number of defects in a business process to as close to zero DPMO as possible.

D) Six Sigma uses DMAIC, a closed-loop business improvement model that involves the steps of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling a process.

Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 399 40) Logically speaking, a BPM system consists of three basic parts, or layers. Which of the following is not one of those parts or layers?

A) BPM applications B) Dashboards and scorecards C) Information hub D) Source systems Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 404 41) ________ is a framework for organizing, automating, and analyzing business methodologies, metrics, processes, and systems to drive the overall performance of the enterprise.

Answer: Business performance management (BPM) Diff: 1 Page Ref: 378 42) ________ outline those things that an organization must excel at to be successful in their market space.

Answer: Critical success factors (CSF) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 380 43) A(n) ________ is a standard strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) assessment of the company.

Answer: environment scan Diff: 2 Page Ref: 380 44) ________ is used to identify and prioritize the internal strengths and weaknesses in an organization's processes, structures, and its technologies and applications.

Answer: Gap analysis Diff: 2 Page Ref: 381 45) A ________ is the quantification of an objective for a designated period of time. For example, if an organization has an objective of increasing profitability, that objective is turned into quantified targets Answer: strategic goal Diff: 2 Page Ref: 381 7 .

46) In a ________ plan, tactics are established to meet the objectives and targets established in the strategic plan.

Answer: tactic-centric Diff: 2 Page Ref: 382 47) Most companies use ________ to monitor organizational performance and correct deviations from present performance standards.

Answer: diagnostic control system Diff: 2 Page Ref: 384 48) KPIs stand for ________, which are strategically aligned metrics.

Answer: key performance indicators Diff: 1 Page Ref: 390 49) Targets are measured against a baseline or ________.

Answer: benchmark Diff: 1 Page Ref: 390 50) A ________ delineates the relationships among the key organizational objectives for all BSC perspectives.

Answer: strategy map Diff: 2 Page Ref: 397 51) A ________ is a set of activities that transform a set of inputs that include suppliers, assets, resources, and information into a set of outputs for another person or process.

Answer: business process Diff: 1 Page Ref: 398 52) Six Sigma is a performance management methodology aimed at reducing the number of defects in a business process to as close to ________ as possible.

Answer: zero DPMO Diff: 3 Page Ref: 399 53) DMAIC is a ________ business improvement model.

Answer: closed-loop Diff: 2 Page Ref: 399 54) To achieve a Six Sigma level of performance, the company would have to reduce the number of defects to no more than ________ DPMO. Answer: 3.4 Diff: 2 Page Ref: 399 55) Six Sigma and Lean Production both deal with ________.

Answer: quality Diff: 1 Page Ref: 400

8 .

56) ________ focuses on the elimination of waste or non-value–added activities.

Answer: Lean Diff: 1 Page Ref: 400 57) ________ focuses on reducing the variation or improving the consistency of a process.

Answer: Six Sigma Diff: 2 Page Ref: 400 58) In recent years, there has been a focus on combining the Six Sigma methodology with the ________.

Answer: Lean strategy Diff: 2 Page Ref: 400 59) ________ refers to both the logical and physical design of a system.

Answer: System architecture Diff: 2 Page Ref: 404 60) Dashboards and ________ both provide visual displays of important information that is consolidated and arranged on a single screen so that information can be digested at a single glance and easily explored.

Answer: scorecards Diff: 1 Page Ref: 408 61) What are the three key components of business performance management (BPM)?

Answer: • A set of integrated, closed-loop management and analytic processes, supported by technology, that address financial as well as operational activities • Tools for businesses to define strategic goals and then measure and manage performance against those goals • A core set of processes, including financial and operational planning, consolidation and reporting, modeling, analysis, and monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs), linked to organizational strategy Diff: 2 Page Ref: 378 62) Describe or sketch the BPM cycle.

Answer: See Figure 9.1 in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 379

9 .

63) Describe the common tasks in strategic planning process.

Answer: • Conduct a current situation analysis. This analysis reviews the company's current situation and establishes a baseline, as well as key trends, for financial performance and operational performance.

• Determine the planning horizon. The more volatile, less predictable, shorter the life cycles, smaller the organization, faster the rate of innovation, and less the capital intensity, then the shorter the planning horizon.

• Conduct an environment scan. This is a standard strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) assessment of the company • Identify critical success factors. Critical success factors (CSF) delineate those things that an organization must excel at to be successful in their market space.

• Complete a gap analysis. This analysis is used to identify and prioritize the internal strengths and weaknesses in an organization's processes, structures, and its technologies.

• Create a strategic vision. An organization's strategic vision provides a mental image of what the organization should look like in the future.

• Develop a business strategy. The challenge in this step is to produce a strategy that is based on the data from the previous steps and is consistent with the strategic vision.

• Identify strategic objectives and goals. A strategic plan that fails to provide clear directions for the operational and financial planning process is incomplete.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 380 64) A number of surveys have highlighted the gap that routinely exists in organizations between their strategic plans and the execution of those plans. What are the reasons for this strategy gap?

Answer: 1. Communication. In many organizations, a very small percentage of the employees understand the organization's strategy. On the other hand, even when the plan is communicated, the strategy often lacks clarity, so that no one is quite sure whether their actions are in line or at variance with the plan.

2. Alignment of Rewards and Incentives. Linking pay to performance is important for successful execution. However, incentive plans are often linked to short-term financial results, not to the strategic plan.

3. Focus. Management often spends time on the periphery of issues rather than concentrating on the core elements.

4. Resources. Unless strategic initiatives are properly funded and resourced, their failure is virtually assured.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 381 65) Describe the conditions under which an information system can be used as diagnostic control system.

Answer: • Able to set a goal in advance • Able to measure outputs • Able to compute or calculate absolute or relative performance variances • Able to use the variance information as feedback to alter inputs and/or processes to bring performance back in line with present goals and standards Diff: 2 Page Ref: 384 10 .

66) Describe the series of three steps in the discovery-driven planning (DDP).

Answer: 1. Reverse financials. The first step is to use a set of financial documents to model how all the various assumptions in a plan affect one another; and to determine whether the plan is gaining traction or is at risk.

2. Deliverables specification. The second step is to lay out all the activities required to produce, sell, service, and deliver the product or service to the customer.

3. Assumption checklist. All of the activities required to build a business rest on key assumptions. In this step, a written checklist of each of the assumptions associated with the project deliverables laid out in step 2 is created.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 386 67) Explain three of the drawbacks or limitations of using financial data as the core of a performance measurement system.

Answer: The drawbacks of using financial data as the core of a performance measurement system are well known. Among the limitations most frequently cited are: • Financial measures are usually reported by organizational structures (e.g., research and development expenses) and not by the processes that produced them.

• Financial measures are lagging indicators, telling what happened, not why it happened or what is likely to happen in the future.

• Financial measures (e.g., administrative overhead) are often the product of allocations that are not related to the underlying processes that generated them.

• Financial measures are focused on the short term and provide little information about the longer term.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 392 68) List the basic ingredients of good performance measures.

Answer: • Measures should focus on key factors.

• Measures should be a mix of past, present, and future.

• Measures should balance the needs of shareholders, employees, partners, suppliers, and other stakeholders.

• Measures should start at the top and flow down to the bottom.

• Measures need to have targets that are based on research and reality rather than arbitrary.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 392

11 .

69) Describe the steps in DMAIC performance model.

Answer: • Define. Define the goals, objectives, and boundaries of the improvement activity. At the top level, the goals are the strategic objectives of the company. At lower levels–department or project levels–the goals are focused on specific operational processes.

• Measure. Measure the existing system. Establish quantitative measures that will yield statistically valid data. The data can be used to monitor progress toward the goals defined in the previous step.

• Analyze. Analyze the system to identify ways to eliminate the gap between the current performance of the system or process and the desired goal.

• Improve. Initiate actions to eliminate the gap by finding ways to do things better, cheaper, or faster. Use project management and other planning tools to implementing the new approach.

• Control. Institutionalize the improved system by modifying compensation and incentive systems, policies, procedures, manufacturing resource planning (MRP), budgets, operation instructions, or other management systems.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 399 70) What are the characteristics of well-designed dashboards and scorecards?

Answer: They use visual components to highlight the data and exceptions that require action.

They are transparent to the user, require minimal training, and are easy to use.

They combine data from a variety of systems into a single, summarized view of the business.

They enable drill-down or drill-through to underlying data sources or reports.

They present a dynamic, real-world view with timely data refreshes.

They require little, if any, customized coding to implement, deploy, and maintain.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 410

12 .

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 10 Collaborative Computer-Supported Technologies and Group Support Systems 1) Most of the complex decisions in organizations are made by groups whose members work together in the same location and at the same time.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 420 2) One of the greatest benefits of using computer-supported collaboration tools is anonymity when there is tension or sensitive topics within groups.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 422 3) One of the characteristics of groupwork is that a group can be at one managerial level or can span across several levels.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 423 4) There is never a tendency for poor quality compromised solutions in groupwork.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 425 5) A group may produce synergy during problem solving, which means that the time to reach a high quality decision is greater for group decision making than for independent individuals.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 425 6) Nominal group technique (NGT) uses questionnaires for technological forecasting and for forecasting of sensitive issues.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 426 7) A large part of our communication is conveyed via nonverbal cues.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 430 8) The advancement of Web-based systems such as webex.com and gotomeetings.com opens the door for improved electronically supported virtual meetings.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 430 9) Groupware products are either stand-alone products that support only one task, such as videoconferencing, or are integrated kits consisting of several tools.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 431 1 .

10) Instant messaging, audio conferencing, and polling are asynchronous groupware tools.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 432 11) Collaborators can work together on the same document, spreadsheet, or graphics using the screen sharing software.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 435 12) Intraspect from Vignette Corp. allows employees to create Web sites, invite co-workers to join discussions and post documents.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 436 13) The Windows Meeting Space client is included in the Windows operating system.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 437 14) WebEx delivers active and interactive presentations, allows real-time collaboration, enhances demonstration of products and services, and assists in document management.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 438 15) Successful enterprise-wide collaboration systems such as Lotus Notes/Domino can be inexpensive to develop and operate because no support staff is required.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 440 16) A major characteristic of GDSSs is that they contain built-in mechanisms that discourage development of negative group behaviors, such as destructive conflict miscommunication and groupthink.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 441 17) Voice over IP (VoIP) are communication systems that transmit voice calls over circuit-based networks.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 453 18) In contrast with commercial portals such as Yahoo! and MSN, which are gateways to general information on the Internet, corporate portals provide a single point of access to information and applications available on the Internet, intranets, and extranets of a specific organization.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 456

2 .

19) The idea of CPFR is achieve fewer out-of-stock situations and resultant lost sales by increasing inventory levels in the supply chain.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 457 20) Personality-related creativity traits include inventiveness, independence, individuality, enthusiasm, and flexibility, and these traits have been assessed through the widely used Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 462 21) Which of the following activities and processes is not a characteristic of meetings?

A) Differences in opinions are settled by the ranking person present and not through negotiation or arbitration.

B) A meeting is a joint activity engaged in by a group of people typically of equal or nearly equal status.

C) The outcome of a meeting depends partly on the knowledge, opinions, and judgments of its participants and the support they give to the outcome.

D) The process of group decision making can create benefits as well as dysfunctions.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 424 22) Which of the following refers to a group process wherein people begin thinking alike and not being tolerant of new ideas?

A) Group brainwash B) Group politics C) Group gain D) Groupthink Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 425 23) Managers spend about ________ percent of their time in formal meetings of five people or more; and up to ________ percent of their time communicating.

A) 10; 50 B) 20; 85 C) 50; 25 D) 50; 50 Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 425 24) Which of the following is a simple brainstorming process for nonelectronic meetings?

A) NGT B) NBT C) NAT D) NCT Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 426 3 .

25) Communication occurs when the receiver gets the information at a different time than it was sent is called ________ communication.

A) deferred B) delayed C) time lagging D) asynchronous Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 429 26) With ________, group members can work on the same document which is shown on the PC screen of each participant.

A) data conferencing B) whiteboards C) instant messaging D) screen sharing Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 435 27) The spread of instant messaging and Internet telephony has led to the idea of linking people via both voice and audio, which is called ________.

A) audio-video conference B) instant audio C) instant video D) conference Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 435 28) Lotus Notes provides online ________ capabilities through Web conferencing on demand.

A) collaboration B) cooperation C) partnership D) teamwork Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 437 29) Groove Workspace, used with Groove enterprise servers and ________, enables spontaneous, online-offline collaboration that reduces project costs and speeds time-to-market for products and services.

A) blackboards services B) whiteboards services C) server services D) hosted services Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 437

4 .

30) The collaborative experience in Live Meeting is enhanced through added features like ________.

A) mood indicators B) opinion sharing C) user participation D) instant messaging Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 439 31) GDSS supports group decision making by providing the automation of ________ using information technology tools.

A) participations B) tasks C) processes D) subprocesses Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 441 32) Which of the following is not an option for deploying GDSS/GSS technology?

A) Multiple users functions B) Decision room C) Multiple-use facility D) Internet based or intranet-based groupware Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 445 33) The term, wiki, refers to the collaborative software that facilitates the operation of a wiki Web site;.and means ________ in the Hawaiian language.

A) slow B) quick C) integration D) collaboration Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 455 34) A wikilogs is an extension of a(n) ________, which is created by an individual or a small group and may have a discussion board.

A) im B) wiki C) log D) blog Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 455

5 .

35) Which of the following is used for the members of a supply chain to help improve effectiveness between manufacturing companies?

A) Supply chain hub B) Collaboration hub C) Member hub D) Supplier hub Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 455 36) Which of the following is a gateway to a corporate Web site that enables communication, collaboration, and access to company information?

A) Corporate port B) Web portal C) Corporate gateway D) Enterprise portal Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 456 37) CPFR is an industry-wide project in which suppliers and retailers collaborate in ________ and demand forecasting.

A) planning B) scheduling C) purchasing D) transportation Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 456 38) Retailers make their suppliers responsible for determining when to order and how much to order by adopting ________.

A) VMM B) SMM C) SMI D) VMI Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 458 39) In order for collective intelligence (CI) to happen, four features are needed. Which of the following is not one of those features?

A) acting locally B) openness C) peering D) sharing Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 460

6 .

40) Which of the following is a key feature of idea-generating GDSS software?

A) The software does all of the thinking.

B) Bombarding the user with many ideas.

C) Information overload.

D) All of the above.

Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 463 41) ________ is a team whose members are in different places while in a meeting.

Answer: Virtual team Diff: 1 Page Ref: 424 42) ________ are methods used to increase some of the benefits of meetings and eliminate or reduce some of the losses.

Answer: Group dynamics Diff: 2 Page Ref: 426 43) ________ that is a qualitative forecasting methodology using anonymous questionnaires.

Answer: Delphi method Diff: 2 Page Ref: 426 44) ________ are computerized tools have been developed to provide group support.

Answer: Groupware Diff: 1 Page Ref: 429 45) ________ tools support synchronous communication of graphical and text-based information. These tools are also being used in distance learning, virtual classroom, personnel training, product demonstrations, customer support, e-commerce, and sales applications.

Answer: RTC (real-time collaboration) Diff: 1 Page Ref: 433 46) In collaborative work, team members are frequently in different locations. By using ________ software, group members can work on the same document, which is shown on the PC screen of each participant.

Answer: screen-sharing Diff: 1 Page Ref: 435 47) ________, associated with asynchronous mode, allows users to collaborate on projects but work at different times.

Answer: Online (electronic) workspaces Diff: 2 Page Ref: 436 48) The advancement of Web-based systems allows ________ where members are in different locations and even in different countries.

Answer: virtual meetings Diff: 1 Page Ref: 431 7 .

49) ________ is the use of electronic communication that allows two or more people at different locations to have a simultaneous conference.

Answer: Teleconferencing Diff: 1 Page Ref: 434 50) The Groove Outliner tool is an open-ended ________ tool that allows shared space members to build structured hierarchical lists of videos and concepts.

Answer: brainstorming Diff: 2 Page Ref: 438 51) WebEx Meeting Center integrates data, voice, and video within a standard ________ for real-time meetings over the Internet from any desktop, laptop, or wireless handheld device.

Answer: Web browser Diff: 2 Page Ref: 438 52) A ________ is an interactive computer-based system that facilitates the solution of semistructured and unstructured problems by a group of decision makers.

Answer: group decision support system (GDSS) Diff: 1 Page Ref: 441 53) An ________ is a form of GSS that supports anytime/anyplace meetings.

Answer: Electronic Meeting System Diff: 1 Page Ref: 442 54) A ________ is any combination of hardware and software that enhances groupwork support in decision making, directly or in indirectly.

Answer: group support system Diff: 1 Page Ref: 442 55) ________ refers to the ability of participants in a group to work simultaneously on a task.

Answer: Parallelism Diff: 2 Page Ref: 443 56) ________ is the first major step in the GSS process. This exploratory step looks at the problem and attempts to develop creative ideas about its important features or alternative solutions in a problem-solving session.

Answer: Idea generation Diff: 2 Page Ref: 449 57) The success of a GSS depends mostly on its ________.

Answer: results Diff: 2 Page Ref: 450 58) ________ refers to communication systems that transmit voice calls over Internet Protocol— based networks.

Answer: Voice-over IP Diff: 1 Page Ref: 453 8 .

59) A ________ is a piece of server software available in a Web site that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content.

Answer: wiki Diff: 2 Page Ref: 455 60) ________ is an industry-wide project in which suppliers and retailers collaborate in planning and demand forecasting in order to ensure that members of the supply chain will have the right amount of raw materials and finished goods when they need them.

Answer: Collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (CPFR) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 457 61) Describe the benefits of working in groups.

Answer: • It provides learning. Groups are better than individuals at understanding problems.

• People readily take ownership of problems and their solutions. They take responsibility.

• Group members have their egos embedded in the decision, and so they are committed to the solution.

• Groups are better than individuals at catching errors.

• A group has more information (i.e., knowledge) than any one member. Group members can combine this knowledge to create new knowledge. More and more creative alternatives for problem solving can be generated, and better solutions can be derived (e.g., through stimulation).

• A group may produce synergy during problem solving. The effectiveness and/or quality of group work can be greater than the sum of what is produced by independent individuals.

• Working in a group may stimulate the creativity of the participants and the process.

• A group may have better and more precise communication working together.

• Risk propensity is balanced. Groups moderate high-risk takers and encourage conservatives.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 425 62) Describe the four cells frameworks of time and space in communications.

Answer: • Same time/same place. Participants meet face-to-face in one place at the same time, as in a traditional meeting or decision room. This is still an important way to meet, even when Webbased support is used, because it is sometimes critical for participants to leave the office to eliminate distractions.

• Same time/different place. Participants are in different places, but they communicate at the same time, for example, with videoconferencing.

• Different time/same place. People work in shifts. One shift leaves information for the next shift.

• Different time/different place (any time, any place). Participants are in different places. They also send and receive information at different times. This occurs when team members are traveling, have conflicting schedules, or work in different time zones.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 429

9 .

63) List and describe the three categories in Groupware products.

Answer: General • Built-in e-mail, messaging system • Browser interface • Joint Web-page creation • Sharing of active hyperlinks • File sharing (graphics, video, audio, or other) • Built-in search functions (by topic or keyword) • Workflow tools • Use of corporate portals for communication, collaboration, and search • Shared screens • Electronic decision rooms • Peer-to-peer networks Synchronous (same-time) • Instant messaging (IM) • Videoconferencing, multimedia conferencing • Audio conferencing • Shared whiteboard, smart whiteboard • Instant video • Brainstorming • Polling (voting), and other decision support (consensus builder, scheduler) Asynchronous (different times) • Workspaces • Threaded discussions • Users can receive/send e-mail, SMS • Users can receive activity notification alerts, via e-mail or SMS • Users can collapse/expand discussion threads • Users can sort messages (by date, author, or read/unread) • Auto responder • Chat session logs • Bulletin boards, discussion groups • Use of blogs, wikis, and wikilogs • Collaborative planning and/or design tools • Use of bulletin boards Diff: 2 Page Ref: 432

10 .

64) Describe the major characteristics of a GDSS. Answer: • Its goal is to support the process of group decision makers by providing automation of subprocesses using information technology tools.

• It is a specially designed information system, not merely a configuration of already-existing system components. It can be designed to address one type of problem or a variety of group-level organizational decisions.

• It encourages generation of ideas, resolution of conflicts, and freedom of expression. It contains built-in mechanisms that discourage development of negative group behaviors such as destructive conflict miscommunication and "groupthink."

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 441 65) List the activities supported by GDSS. Answer: • Supports parallel processing of information and idea generation (parallelism) • Enables the participation of larger groups with more complete information, knowledge, and skills • Permits the group to use structured or unstructured techniques and methods • Offers rapid, easy access to external information • Allows parallel computer discussions • Helps participants frame the big picture • Anonymity allows shy people to contribute to the meeting (get up and do what needs to be done) • Anonymity helps prevent aggressive individuals from driving the meeting • Provides for multiple ways to participate in instant, anonymous voting • Provides structure for the planning process to keep the group on track • Enables several users to interact simultaneously (conferencing) • Records all information presented at the meeting (organizational memory) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 442-444 66) Describe the major steps in a standard GSS. Answer: • Idea generation. This exploratory step looks at the problem and attempts to develop creative ideas about its important features.

• Idea organization. An idea-organizing tool groups the many ideas generated into a list of key issues. The output of this stage is a list of a few key ideas with the supporting details.

• Prioritization. At this stage, the key ideas are prioritized. A voting tool can be appropriate.

• Additional idea generation. New ideas are generated based on the prioritization of the key ideas. A brainstorming tool that provides structure, such as a topic commentator, is appropriate here.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 449

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67) Describe the steps that managers must do in creating a work environment that supports collaboration.

Answer: • Know what you want. Get team members to articulate their definition of success (or performance). This is part of the team-building process.

• Determine resource constraints. These include everything from the geographic distribution of team members to reporting relationships to motivations. Each constraint limits the possible tools the team can use.

• Determine what technologies can be used to overcome resource constraints. It is important to keep in mind business needs rather than fun, new, or convenient technologies.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 452 68) List the benefits of VoIP for business users.

Answer: • Allows CIOs to explore different deployment options for company's communications needs • Lowers total cost of ownership (TCO) through voice/data convergence • Lowers operational costs through use of integrated applications • Reduces hardware requirements on the server side for certain applications • Provides a holistic approach to security, enhanced by encryption and identity management • Helps streamline workflows by empowering companies to communications-enable different business processes • Enables optimized conferencing tools to replace business travel Diff: 2 Page Ref: 453 69) List the benefits of VoIP for individual users.

Answer: • Eliminates unwanted interruptions and unproductive actions by intelligently filtering communications • Provides access to real-time presence information, which helps decisions get made faster • Initiates ad-hoc conferencing/collaboration sessions without the need to pre-arranging separate audio- or videoconferencing bridges • Enables participation in conferencing sessions quickly and easily via a variety of mobile devices.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 454 70) Describe the steps in the process model for implementing a CPFR project.

Answer: See Figure 10.5 in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 458

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 11 Knowledge Management 1) The goal of knowledge management is to identify, capture, store, maintain, and deliver useful knowledge in a meaningful form to anyone who needs it, anyplace and anytime, within an organization.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 471 2) Knowledge management is about building personal repositories of information at the department and organization levels.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 471 3) Since knowledge management (KM) first appeared in the mid-1990s, almost all organizations have invested in KM systems and reaped significant benefits.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 472 4) MITRE implemented KM systems because its knowledge was not structured in a way that encouraged knowledge sharing, and the sharing that was done took place in an unsystematic, informal way.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 474 5) KM systems are used to leverage a company's intellectual assets, or intellectual capital—the valuable knowledge of its employees.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 474 6) Knowledge is an important asset, but large companies have difficulties sharing it.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 474 7) Both the idea of knowledge management and the application of information technology to facilitate the creation, storage, transfer, and application of previously uncodifiable organizational knowledge is a new and major initiative in organizations.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 474 8) Knowledge management is the systematic and active managing of ideas, information, and knowledge that reside in an organization's external environment.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 474

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9) An up-to-the-minute traffic bulletin along the freeway that indicates a traffic slowdown due to construction several miles ahead is an example of knowledge.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 475 10) Knowledge has strong experiential and reflective elements that distinguish it from information in a given context.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 475 11) Today's knowledge may become tomorrow's ignorance if an organization fails to update knowledge as environmental conditions change.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 476 12) Explicit knowledge deals with objective, rational, and technical knowledge.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 478 13) Tacit knowledge is usually in the domain of subjective, cognitive, and experiential learning; it is highly personal and difficult to formalize.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 478 14) The purpose of building a knowledge management system (KMS) is to maintain a wellinformed, productive workforce and to help large organizations provide a consistent level of customer service.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 480 15) A learning organization is one that performs these four main activities well: systematic problem solving, creative experimentation, learning from the best practices of others, and transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 481 16) Organizational learning and memory depend more on technology than on the people issues.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 482 17) Use of strong hierarchy, position-based status, and formal power contribute to people wanting to share knowledge.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 483

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18) In contrast to the process approach, the practice approach to knowledge management assumes that a great deal of organizational knowledge is tacit in nature and that formal controls, processes, and technologies are not suitable for transmitting this type of understanding.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 488 19) eXtensible Markup Language (XML) enables standardized representations of data structures so that data can be processed by different systems without additional programming.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 497 20) The situation at Mrs. Fields illustrates that while organizations can achieve significant shortterm gains through KMS, they must not neglect the creative process of new knowledge creation or they may find themselves applying yesterday's solutions to tomorrow's problems.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 520 21) What is an organization's valuable knowledge of its employees?

A) Effective and efficient problem solving B) corporate information C) intellectual capital D) active management Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 474 22) Which of the following is true about knowledge management?

A) Successful managers have always been performing knowledge management.

B) KM focuses on identifying and explicating knowledge so that it can be shared in a formal manner.

C) The benefits are always clear at the start of the effort.

D) All of the above.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 475 23) Knowledge is: A) dynamic.

B) contextual.

C) information in action.

D) all of the above.

Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 475

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24) Which of the following is a characteristic of knowledge?

A) Knowledge is subject to diminishing returns B) Knowledge branches and fragments C) It is easy to estimate the impact of investments in knowledge D) All of the above Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 476 25) Tacit knowledge is: A) easy to explain.

B) easy to apply.

C) easy to document.

D) none of the above.

Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 478 26) Explicit knowledge is: A) easy to explain.

B) easy to apply.

C) easy to document.

D) easy to explain, document and apply.

Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 478 27) Firms adopt knowledge management systems: A) to help deal with employee turnover.

B) to increase productivity.

C) to improve customer service.

D) all of the above.

Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 480 28) Which of the following is not a learning skill?

A) Openness to new perspectives B) Awareness of personal biases C) Exposure to unfiltered data D) A sense of urgency Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 482

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29) Organizational learning and memory depend ________ on technology and ________ on people issues.

A) less; more B) mostly; not C) first; secondly D) primarily; less Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 482 30) All of the following describe the practice approach to knowledge management except: A) It deals mostly with tacit knowledge.

B) It provides an environment to generate and transfer high-value tacit knowledge.

C) It uses formal controls and procedures with an emphasis on technology to transfer and disseminate knowledge.

D) It relies on informal social groups.

Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 487 31) A knowledge management portal (KMP) consists of each of the following except: A) knowledge portal B) corporate culture C) knowledge repository D) information data sources Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 492 32) Artificial intelligence (AI) supports knowledge management in each of the following ways except: A) By enhancing knowledge searches B) By helping to determine the relative importance of the knowledge C) By manipulating current results D) By identifying patterns in data Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 496 33) Which of the following is true about a chief knowledge officer?

A) A CKO need not have extensive experience in KMS. B) A CKO should be technically savvy.

C) A CKO does not have to be actually involved in promoting knowledge sharing.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 504

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34) What is the importance of communities of practice (COP)?

A) They consist of chief officers of the organization.

B) They are a supportive culture needed for a KMS to succeed.

C) They provide necessary technology training.

D) All of the above.

Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 506 35) Each of the following is a way to encourage vibrant COP (communities of practice) in an organization except: A) manage strictly B) focus on value C) combine familiarity and excitement D) invite different levels of participation Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 508 36) Which of the following is not one of the key knowledge performance dimensions that drives competitive advantage?

A) creating a corporate knowledge-driven culture B) fostering innovation C) providing customer service D) facilitating organizational learning Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 510 37) There are several essential "preconditions" for effective knowledge management to succeed.

Which of the following is a precondition?

A) a knowledge infrastructure consisting of technology, structure, and culture B) a knowledge process architecture of acquisition, conversion, application, and protection C) economies of scale in obtaining information from external providers D) A and B Answer: D Diff: 3 Page Ref: 510 38) Lessons learned from the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) knowledge management system includes all of the following except: A) High-tech and large budgets are necessary to attain knowledge management success.

B) The BBC runs on knowledge.

C) Design the system to match the way the company functions, e.g., as a social network.

D) Blogs and wikis have helped break down silos and spread knowledge.

Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 511

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39) ________ are interactive computerized systems that help employees find and connect with colleagues who have the expertise required for specific problems in order to solve specific, critical business problems in seconds.

A) Expert location systems B) Tacit knowledge systems C) Knowledge sharing systems D) Social networks Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 512 40) Which of the following factors is not among the most important for KM success?

A) Quantity the expected and realized ROI of the KM before and after deployment.

B) Build the right team for knowledge capture and creation.

C) If the deployment appears to be falling behind schedule, it is better to focus on finishing it on schedule rather than narrowing the scope of the knowledge base.

D) Maintain a flexible approach to information access to improve user adoption.

Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 513 41) ________ is the systematic and active managing of ideas, information, and knowledge residing in an organization's employees.

Answer: Knowledge management Diff: 1 Page Ref: 474 42) A learning organization must have an organizational memory and a means to save, represent, and ________ its organizational knowledge.

Answer: share Diff: 1 Page Ref: 475 43) Knowledge evolves over time with ________, which puts connections among new situations and events in context.

Answer: experience Diff: 1 Page Ref: 476 44) ________ are information technologies that together make knowledge management available throughout an organization.

Answer: Knowledge management systems Diff: 2 Page Ref: 480 45) ________ refers to an organization's capability of learning from its past experience.

Answer: Learning organization Diff: 1 Page Ref: 481 46) The ability of an organization to learn, develop memory, and share knowledge is dependent on its ________, which is a pattern of shared basic assumptions.

Answer: culture Diff: 1 Page Ref: 482 7 .

47) The process approach attempts to ________ organizational knowledge through formalized controls, processes, and technologies.

Answer: codify Diff: 2 Page Ref: 486 48) The practice approach to knowledge management assumes that a great deal of organizational knowledge is ________ in nature.

Answer: tacit Diff: 2 Page Ref: 487 49) ________ are the activities and methods that the most effective organizations use to operate and manage various functions.

Answer: Best practices Diff: 1 Page Ref: 491 50) ________ are software systems that learn how users work and provide assistance in their daily tasks.

Answer: Intelligent agents Diff: 2 Page Ref: 496 51) ________ enables standardized representations of data structures so that data can be processed appropriately by heterogeneous systems without case-by-case programming.

Answer: eXtensible Markup Language (XML) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 497 52) Collaboration tools, or ________, were the first tools used to enhance tacit knowledge transfer within an organization.

Answer: groupware Diff: 2 Page Ref: 498 53) ________ are the doorways into many knowledge management systems. They have evolved from the concepts underlying EIS, GSS, Web browsers, and DBMS. Answer: Enterprise knowledge portals (EKP) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 499 54) ________ systems allow users to access needed documents, generally via a Web browser over a corporate intranet.

Answer: Electronic document management (EDM) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 499 55) A(n) ________ is a group of people in an organization with a common professional interest.

Answer: community of practice (COP) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 506

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56) ________ are interactive computerized systems that help employees find and connect with colleagues with expertise required for specific problems.

Answer: Expert location systems Diff: 2 Page Ref: 512 57) In order to measure the financial impact of knowledge management, experts recommend focusing knowledge management projects on specific business problems that can be easily ________.

Answer: quantified Diff: 1 Page Ref: 515 58) The first step for companies in increasing the probability of success of knowledge management projects is to access whether there is a ________ need for knowledge management.

Answer: strategic Diff: 2 Page Ref: 519 59) Knowledge management requires a major transformation in organizational ________ to create a desire to share knowledge.

Answer: culture Diff: 2 Page Ref: 519 60) Nontrivial ________ methods, such as rewards and recognition, to encourage users to contribute and use knowledge.

Answer: motivational Diff: 2 Page Ref: 519 61) Define tacit knowledge.

Answer: Tacit knowledge is subjective, cognitive, and experiential. It is difficult to capture and disseminate. It is the cumulative store of experiences of an organization including trade-secrets; know how, skill sets, and understanding. Tacit knowledge is called sticky knowledge because it is difficult to pull away from its source.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 478 62) Define explicit knowledge.

Answer: Explicit knowledge comprises the policies, procedural guides, white papers, reports, designs, strategies, goals, and mission of an organization. It is knowledge that has been codified.

It deals with the more objective, rational, and technical knowledge. It is also called leaky knowledge because of the ease with which it can leave an individual or organization.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 478

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63) Identify and list reasons why people do not want to share knowledge.

Answer: • General lack of time to share knowledge, and time to identify colleagues in need of specific knowledge • Apprehension or fear that sharing may reduce or jeopardize people's job security • Low awareness and realization of the value and benefit of the knowledge others possess • Dominance in sharing explicit over tacit knowledge, such as know-how and experience that requires hands-on learning, observation, dialogue, and interactive problem solving • Use of strong hierarchy, position-based status, and formal power • Insufficient capture, evaluation, feedback, communication, and tolerance of past mistakes that would enhance individual and organizational learning effects • Differences in experience levels • Lack of contact time and interaction between knowledge sources and recipients • Poor verbal/written communication and interpersonal skills • Age differences • Gender differences • Lack of social network • Differences in education levels • Ownership of intellectual property due to fear of not receiving just recognition and accreditation from managers and colleagues • Lack of trust in people because they may misuse knowledge or take unjust credit for it • Lack of trust in the accuracy and credibility of knowledge due to the source • Differences in national culture or ethnic background and values and beliefs associated with it Diff: 2 Page Ref: 483 64) Distinguish between a process approach and a practice approach to knowledge management.

Answer: A process approach to knowledge management attempts to codify organizational knowledge through formalized controls, processes, procedures, and technologies. It frequently involves the use of explicit knowledge.

The practice approach to knowledge management assumes that a great deal of organizational knowledge is tacit and focuses on building communities of practice to encourage that knowledge to be shared and disseminated.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 486, 488

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65) Describe the knowledge management system cycle steps.

Answer: • Create knowledge. Knowledge is created as people determine new ways of doing things.

• Capture knowledge. New knowledge must be identifiable and representable in some way.

• Refine knowledge. New knowledge must be placed in context so that it is actionable.

• Store knowledge. Useful knowledge must be stored in a reasonable format in a knowledge repository.

• Manage knowledge. Knowledge must be kept current.

• Disseminating knowledge. Knowledge must be made available in a useful format.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 493 66) Identify ways in which Artificial Intelligence helps knowledge management.

Answer: • Assists in and enhances knowledge searches • Establishes knowledge profiles for individuals and groups • Determines the relative importance of knowledge • Scans e-mail, documents, and databases to perform knowledge discovery • Identifies patterns in data • Forecasts future results • Provides advice by using neural networks or expert systems • Provides a natural language or voice command interface Diff: 2 Page Ref: 496 67) Describe electronic document management.

Answer: Electronic document management (EDM) systems use the document in electronic form as the collaborative focus of work. EDM systems allow users to access needed documents, generally via a Web browser over a corporate intranet. EDM systems enable organizations to better manage documents and workflow for smoother operations. They also allow collaboration on document creation and revision.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 499 68) Describe the role of the CKO. Answer: The chief knowledge officer (CKO) of an organization is responsible for maximizing a firm's knowledge assets, design and implements knowledge strategies, and promotes system use. he/she must: • set KM strategic priorities.

• establish a knowledge repository of best practices.

• gain a senior management commitment to support a learning environment.

• teach information seekers to ask better/smarter questions.

• establish a process for managing intellectual assets.

• obtain customer satisfaction information In real-time.

• globalize KM. Diff: 2 Page Ref: 504

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69) What is a community of practice?

Answer: A community of practice (COP) is a group of people within an organization that share the same professional interest. COPs contribute to knowledge management systems by identifying new knowledge assets and maintaining existing knowledge assets. COPs are where organizational culture shifts occur. They are responsible for the timeliness and accuracy of the knowledge contained within the knowledge management system.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 506 70) Describe the Seven Principles for designing successful communities of practice.

Answer: • Design for evolution. Communities of practice are organic, and many organizational factors influence their direction. Plan carefully. One does not so much manage a community as shepherd it.

• Open a dialog between inside and outside. Good community design requires an understanding of the community's potential to develop and steward knowledge, but it often takes an outside perspective to help members see possibilities. The COP should not close in on itself.

• Invite different levels of participation. There are typically three main levels of community participation. The first is a small core of people who actively participate in discussions. As the COP matures, this group evolves into the leadership. The next level is the active group. These members attend meetings regularly and participate occasionally in the community forums, but not regularly or as intensely as the core group. A large portion of the COP is peripheral and rarely participates. Do not exclude these people. They often utilize the knowledge generated. The key to good community participation, and a healthy degree of movement between levels, is to design community activities that allow participants at all levels to feel like full members.

• Develop public and private spaces. The heart of a community is the web of relationships among community members, and private space is necessary to get the relationships to grow.

• Focus on Value. Since participation is generally voluntary, the COP must provide value.

Communities must create events, activities, and relationships that help their potential value emerge and enable them to discover new ways to harvest it rather than determine expected value in advance.

• Combine familiarity and excitement. Vibrant communities supply divergent thinking and activity. Routine activities provide stability for relationship building.

• Create a rhythm for the community. There is a tempo associated with the members' interactions. This rhythm is the strongest indicator of its life and potential. The COP should contain a balance between large- and small-group sessions and between idea-sharing forums and tool-building projects. The rhythm will evolve with the community, but it is important to find the right one at each stage.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 508

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 12 Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems 1) Using the knowledge of many wine experts, MenuVino was able to develop an expert system that mimics the advising that a person would receive from a wine guru.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 531 2) Most technologies used to support decision situations where expertise is required use qualitative and/or mathematical models to provide the needed support.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 532 3) Artificial intelligence (AI) has many different definitions and is an area in management science.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 532 4) Deep Blue is the first computer that demonstrated its intelligence in an area that requires human intelligence.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 533 5) Artificial intelligent systems have the learning capabilities as humans have.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 535 6) It is easier to duplicate and disseminate natural intelligence than artificial intelligence.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 537 7) The basic objective of computer vision is to generate pictures.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 540 8) The purpose of an intelligent computer-aided instruction (ICAI) is to learn.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 540 9) Inexact knowledge and imprecise reasoning are important aspects of expertise in applying commonsense to decision-making situations.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 541

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10) Expertise is often acquired from training, reading, and experience in practice, and the level of expertise determines the performance of a decision.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 543 11) Expert systems (ES) must have the ability to examine their own reasoning and provide proper explanations as to why a particular conclusion was reached.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 544 12) Expert systems allow knowledge to be transferred more easily at a lower cost.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 545 13) Acquiring knowledge from experts is often a bottleneck in expert system construction.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 551 14) The knowledge base of an expert system and the knowledge base of an organization are the same.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 551 15) The blackboard of an expert system is used for recording intermediate hypotheses and decisions.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 551 16) The explanation subsystem of an expert system cannot trace responsibility for conclusions to their sources and cannot explain the expert system behavior interactively.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 552 17) Inference rules, or procedural rules, offer advice on how to solve a problem, given that certain facts are known.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 557 18) In IF-THEN rules, the IF part indicates the condition for the rule to be activated, and the THEN part shows the action or the conclusion if all IF conditions are satisfied.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 558 19) The first step in developing an ES is to identify the nature of the problem and to define who is the proper expert responsible for the solving the problem Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 566 2 .

20) By implementing ES and other intelligent systems as knowledge servers, it becomes economically feasible and profitable to publish expertise on the Web. Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 572 21) One does not have to rethink completely what to do every time a similar problem is encountered, when using ________.

A) symbolic database B) knowledge base C) algorithms D) rules of thumb Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 535 22) Which of the following technology allows computer users the ability to communicate with a computer in their native language?

A) NAP B) NLP C) NBP D) XML Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 537 23) Which of the following is an electromechanical device that can be programmed to perform manual tasks?

A) Robot B) Sensory systems C) Tactile systems D) Signal processing systems Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 539 24) In the traditional Boolean logic, a person's credit score is either good or bad. In ________, the credit record may be assessed as both good and bad, but with different degrees.

A) genetic algorithms B) artificial intelligence C) language translation D) fuzzy logic Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 541

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25) The solution of genetic algorithms is represented as a ________ for a specific problem.

A) cell B) gene C) DNA D) chromosome Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 541 26) The basic rationale of artificial intelligence is to use ________ rather than mathematical calculation.

A) mathematical calculation B) symbolic reasoning C) genetic algorithms D) fuzzy logic Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 543 27) A rule-based expert system contains rules in its knowledge base and the rules are used to generate ________ for the user.

A) questions B) solutions C) questions and solutions D) none of the above Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 545 28) Which of the following is the major objective of an expert system?

A) To learn B) To teach C) To provide advice D) To function as a knowledge repository Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 550 29) Which of the following is used by a nonexpert to obtain expert knowledge and advice?

A) Query environment B) Development environment C) consultation environment D) Blackboard Answer: C Diff: 3 Page Ref: 550

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30) Which of the following components appear in virtually every expert system?

A) User interface B) Database management system C) Statistical analysis module D) Numeric data representation Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 550 31) Which of the following is usually included in an expert system that interacts with users?

A) Blackboard B) Justifier C) Knowledge acquisition subsystem D) All of the above Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 550 32) The knowledge base in expert system is composed of: A) facts B) heuristics and meta-rules C) facts, heuristics, and meta-rules D) facts, data, and knowledge rules Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 551 33) Which of the following is the brain of an expert system?

A) Knowledge base B) Inference engine C) User interface D) Blackboard Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 551 34) Which of the following is not a typical type of problems recorded on blackboard?

A) Plan B) Agenda C) Solution D) Key Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 552

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35) A knowledge engineer helps the expert structure the problem area by doing all of the following tasks except: A) decoding the heuristics B) interpreting and integrating human answers to questions C) drawing analogies D) posing counterexamples Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 551 36) A major goal of ________ is to help experts articulate how they do what they do and to document this knowledge in a reusable form.

A) heuristics B) knowledge engineering C) knowledge refinement D) rule interpreting Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 553 37) Which of the following is not an advantage of using multiple experts in the development of an ES? A) groupthink B) fewer mistakes C) enhanced quality D) wider domain Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 556 38) "If the stop light is red AND you have stopped, THEN a right turn is okay" is an example of: A) a heuristic B) a knowledge base C) an inference rule D) a production rule Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 557 39) The standard statistical methods are based on the assumption that an uncertainty is the ________ that an event is true or false, whereas certainty theory is based on the ________ that an event is true or false.

A) estimated probability; calculated probability B) probability; degrees of belief C) calculated probability; estimated probability D) degrees of belief; probability Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 561

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40) All of the following are benefits of ES except: A) Reduced downtime B) Capture of scarce expertise C) Work well within wide domains of knowledge.

D) Elimination of the need for expensive equipment Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 570 41) ________ is a test designed to measure the intelligence of a computer.

Answer: Turing test Diff: 2 Page Ref: 534 42) ________ are intuitive knowledge, or rules of thumb, learned from experience.

Answer: Heuristics Diff: 2 Page Ref: 535 43) An ________ is a system that uses human knowledge captured in a computer to solve problems that ordinarily require human expertise.

Answer: expert system Diff: 1 Page Ref: 537 44) ________ is the recognition and understanding of spoken language by a computer.

Answer: Speech (voice) understanding Diff: 1 Page Ref: 539 45) Sensory systems, such as vision systems, tactile systems, and signal-processing systems, when combined with AI, define a broad category of systems generally called ________.

Answer: robots Diff: 1 Page Ref: 539 46) ________ systems bring the power of a computer to bear on the educational process.

Answer: Intelligent tutoring Diff: 2 Page Ref: 540 47) A(n) ________ network is a set of mathematical models that simulate the way a human brain functions.

Answer: neural (computing) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 540 48) ________ is a technique for processing linguistic terms, which extends the notions of logic beyond simple true/false statements.

Answer: Fuzzy logic Diff: 1 Page Ref: 541

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49) ________ are small programs that reside on computers to conduct certain tasks automatically and it runs in the background, monitors the environment, and reacts to certain trigger conditions.

Answer: Intelligent agents Diff: 2 Page Ref: 541 50) A(n) ________ is a person who has the special knowledge, judgment, experience, and methods, and the ability to apply these talents to give advice and solve problems.

Answer: expert Diff: 1 Page Ref: 542 51) The ________ is the foundation of an expert system, which includes the relevant knowledge necessary for understanding, formulating, and solving problems.

Answer: knowledge base Diff: 1 Page Ref: 551 52) The process of eliciting knowledge is called ________.

Answer: knowledge engineering Diff: 1 Page Ref: 553 53) The ________ of an expert system is the rule interpreter.

Answer: inference engine Diff: 2 Page Ref: 558 54) ________ is a goal-driven approach in which you start from an expectation of what is going to happen and then seek evidence that supports or contradicts your expectation.

Answer: Backward chaining Diff: 2 Page Ref: 558 55) ________ is a data-driven approach that starts from available information or from a basic idea, which is used to try to draw conclusions.

Answer: Forward chaining Diff: 2 Page Ref: 558 56) ________ express belief in an event, fact, or hypothesis based on the expert's assessment and can be represented by values ranging from 0 to 100.

Answer: Certainty factors Diff: 2 Page Ref: 561 57) ________ is the process that ensures the resulting knowledge base contains the knowledge exactly the same as that acquired from the expert.

Answer: Verification Diff: 1 Page Ref: 562 58) In ________ expert systems, knowledge in the knowledge base is represented in IF-THEN rules that combine the condition and the conclusion for handling a specific situation.

Answer: rule-based Diff: 1 Page Ref: 566 8 .

59) An ________ is an expert system without the knowledge in the knowledge base.

Answer: expert system shell Diff: 1 Page Ref: 567 60) The Web can greatly support the spread of multimedia-based ES. Such systems are called ________ systems.

Answer: intellimedia Diff: 3 Page Ref: 573 61) Describe abilities that are signs of intelligence.

Answer: • Learning or understanding from experience • Making sense out of ambiguous or contradictory messages • Responding quickly and successfully to a new situation (different responses, flexibility) • Using reasoning in solving problems and directing conduct effectively • Dealing with perplexing situations • Understanding and inferring in ordinary rational ways • Applying knowledge to manipulate the environment • Thinking and reasoning • Recognizing the relative importance of different elements in a situation Diff: 1 Page Ref: 533

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62) Describe the characteristics of artificial intelligence.

Answer: • Symbolic Processing. Symbolic processing is an essential characteristic of artificial intelligence, as reflected in the following definition: Artificial intelligence (AI) is the branch of computer science dealing primarily with symbolic, nonalgorithmic methods of problem solving.

This definition focuses on two characteristics: • Numeric versus symbolic. Computers were originally designed specifically to process numbers (i.e., numeric processing). However, people tend to think symbolically; our intelligence seems to be based in part on our mental ability to manipulate symbols rather than just numbers.

Although symbolic processing is at the core of AI, this does not mean that AI does not involve math, rather, the emphasis in AI is on the manipulation of symbols.

• Algorithmic versus heuristic. An algorithm is a step-by-step procedure that has well-defined starting and ending points and is guaranteed to find a solution to a specific problem. Most computer architectures readily lend themselves to this step-by-step approach. Many human reasoning processes tend to be nonalgorithmic; in other words, our mental activities consist of more than just following logical, step-by-step procedures. Rather, human thinking relies more on rules learned from previous experience and gut feelings.

• Heuristics. Intuitive knowledge, or rules of thumb, learned from experience. Its role in AI is seen in the following definition: Artificial intelligence deals with ways of representing knowledge using symbols with rules-of-thumb, or heuristics, methods for processing information. By using heuristics, one does not have to rethink completely what to do every time a similar problem is encountered.

• Inferencing. As an alternative to heuristics, artificial intelligence also builds reasoning capabilities that can build higher-level knowledge from existing heuristics. This reasoning consists of inferencing from facts and rules using heuristics or other search approaches.

• Machine learning. Learning is an important capability for human beings. Artificial intelligent systems do not have the learning capabilities as humans have, but they do have some sort of mechanical learning capabilities, called machine learning, that allow the systems to adjust their behavior and react to the changes in outside the environment. Many machine-learning methods, including inductive learning, artificial neural networks (ANN), and genetic algorithms, exist for developing intelligent systems.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 534 63) Describe heuristics and give an example. Why do many AI methods use heuristics?

Answer: Heuristics are intuitive knowledge, or rules of thumb, learned from experience. AI deals with ways of representing knowledge using symbols with heuristics methods for processing information. By using heuristics, we do not have to rethink completely what to do every time we encounter a similar problem. For example, when a salesperson plans to visit clients in different cities, a popular heuristic is to visit the next nearest one (i.e., the nearest-neighbor heuristic).

Many AI methods use heuristics to reduce the complexity of problem solving.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 535

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64) Identify the advantages of artificial intelligence over natural intelligence.

Answer: • AI is more permanent. Natural intelligence is perishable from a commercial standpoint, in that workers can change their place of employment or forget information. However, AI is permanent as long as the computer systems and programs remain unchanged.

• AI offers ease of duplication and dissemination. Transferring a body of knowledge from one person to another usually requires a lengthy process of apprenticeship; even so, expertise can seldom be duplicated completely. However, when knowledge is embedded in a computer system, it can easily be transferred from that computer to any computer on the Internet or on an intranet.

• AI can be less expensive than natural intelligence. There are many circumstances in which buying computer services costs less than having corresponding human power carry out the same tasks. This is especially true when knowledge is disseminated over the Web. • AI, being a computer technology, is consistent and thorough. Natural intelligence is erratic because people are erratic; they do not always perform consistently.

• AI can be documented. Decisions made by a computer can be easily documented by tracing the activities of the system. Natural intelligence is difficult to document. For example, a person may reach a conclusion but at some later date may be unable to re-create the reasoning process that led to that conclusion, or to even recall the assumptions that were part of the decision.

• AI can execute certain tasks much faster than a human can.

• AI can perform certain tasks better than many or even most people.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 537 65) Identify the advantages of natural intelligence over artificial intelligence.

Answer: • Natural intelligence is creative, whereas AI is rather uninspired. The ability to acquire knowledge is inherent in human beings, but with AI, tailored knowledge must be built into a carefully constructed system.

• Natural intelligence enables people to benefit from and use sensory experience directly, whereas most AI systems must work with symbolic input and representations.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 537 66) List major applications and disciplines of AI. Answer: See Figure 12.2 in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 538 67) Describe fuzzy logic. Contrast fuzzy logic with Boolean logic.

Answer: Fuzzy logic is a technique for processing imprecise linguistic terms. It extends the notions of logic beyond simple true/false statements to allow for partial (or even continuous) truths. Inexact knowledge and imprecise reasoning are important aspects of expertise in applying common sense to decision-making situations. In fuzzy logic, the value of true or false is replaced by the degree of set membership. For example, in the traditional Boolean logic, a person's credit record is either good or bad. In fuzzy logic, the credit record may be assessed as both good and bad, but with different degrees.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 541

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68) Describe the capabilities of human experts.

Answer: • Recognizing and formulating the problem • Solving the problem quickly and correctly • Explaining the solution • Learning from experience • Restructuring knowledge • Breaking rules, if necessary • Determining relevance • Degrading gracefully (i.e., being aware of one's limitations) Diff: 2

Page Ref: 543

69) Describe the characteristics of expertise.

Answer: • Expertise is usually associated with a high degree of intelligence, but it is not always associated with the smartest person.

• Expertise is usually associated with a vast quantity of knowledge.

• Expertise is based on learning from past successes and mistakes.

• Expertise is based on knowledge that is well-stored, organized, and quickly retrievable from an expert who has excellent recall of patterns from previous experiences.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 543

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70) List and describe the generic categories of expert systems.

Answer: • Interpretation systems infer situation descriptions from observations. This category includes surveillance, speech understanding, image analysis, signal interpretation, and many kinds of intelligence analyses. An interpretation system explains observed data by assigning them symbolic meanings describing the situation.

• Prediction systems include weather forecasting, demographic predictions, economic forecasting, traffic predictions, crop estimates, and military, marketing, and financial forecasting.

• Diagnostic systems include medical, electronic, mechanical, and software diagnoses.

Diagnostic systems typically relate observed behavioral irregularities to underlying causes.

• Design systems develop configurations of objects that satisfy the constraints of the design problem. Such problems include circuit layout, building design, and plant layout. Design systems construct descriptions of objects in various relationships with one another and verify that these configurations conform to stated constraints.

• Planning systems specialize in planning problems, such as automatic programming. They also deal with short- and long-term planning in areas such as project management, routing, communications, product development, military applications, and financial planning.

• Monitoring systems compare observations of system behavior with standards that seem crucial for successful goal attainment. These crucial features correspond to potential flaws in the plan. There are many computer-aided monitoring systems for topics ranging from air traffic control to fiscal management tasks.

• Debugging systems rely on planning, design, and prediction capabilities for creating specifications or recommendations to correct a diagnosed problem.

• Repair systems develop and execute plans to administer a remedy for certain diagnosed problems. Such systems incorporate debugging, planning, and execution capabilities.

• Instruction systems incorporate diagnosis and debugging subsystems that specifically address the student's needs. Typically, these systems begin by constructing a hypothetical description of the student's knowledge that interprets her or his behavior. They then diagnose weaknesses in the student's knowledge and identify appropriate remedies to overcome the deficiencies. Finally, they plan a tutorial interaction intended to deliver remedial knowledge to the student.

• Control systems adaptively govern the overall behavior of a system. To do this, the control system must repeatedly interpret the current situation, predict the future, diagnose the causes of anticipated problems, formulate a remedial plan, and monitor its execution to ensure success.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 564

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 13 Advanced Intelligent Systems 1) Machine-learning techniques enable computers to acquire knowledge (i.e., learn) from data that reflects the historical happenings.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 582 2) Machines learning overcomes deficiencies of manual knowledge acquisition techniques by automating the learning process.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 582 3) Unsupervised learning is a process of inducing knowledge from a set of observations.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 584 4) Inductive learning allows the computer to use historical cases to solve new problems.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 585 5) Case-based reasoning (CBR) is analogical reasoning that adapts solutions that had been used to solve old problems to solve new problems.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 585 6) The foundation of case-based reasoning (CBR) is a repository or library of cases called a case base that contains a number of previous cases for decision making.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 585 7) Genetic algorithms (GA) are a part of global search techniques that are used to find or produce the best solution to a specific problem.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 593 8) The knapsack problem is a conceptually simple optimization problem that can be solved directly using analytical methods, but it is ideal for illustrating a genetic algorithm approach.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 597 9) Genetic algorithms can be used to solve business problems such as assembly-line balancing, facility layout, machine and job shop scheduling, creditworthiness determination, and aircraft design.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 599 1 .

10) The thinking behind fuzzy logic is that decision making is not always a matter of crisp logic, e.g., black or white or true or false. It often involves tones of gray and varying degrees of truth.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 602 11) Fuzzy logic systems can be used in conducting property appraisals since it is necessary to use judgment, experience, and intuition to generate estimates.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 604 12) STRATASSIST is a fuzzy ES that helps small- to medium-sized firms plan strategically by asking questions in five strategic, competitive areas.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 605 13) Support vector machines (SVM) have a solid mathematical foundation in statistical learning theory, but are too complex for use in real-world applications.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 606 14) A hyperplane is a geometric concept commonly used to describe the separation surface between different classes of things within a multidimensional space.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 606 15) In SVM, kernel trick allows us to construct a decision surface that is 3D in the feature space while it is inherently nonlinear in the original input space.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 608 16) In the SVM model development process, the main advantage of normalizing or scaling the data is to avoid attributes in greater numeric ranges dominating those in smaller numeric ranges.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 609 17) An advantage of SVM models is that they tend to take less time to develop compared to other predictive models.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 613 18) A personal daemon must be able to make decisions on its own and alter its course of behavior when it meets an obstacle and find ways around the impediment.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 616

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19) Interactivity is the most important characteristic of intelligent agents, making them capable of acting on their own or of being empowered.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 616 20) Development of a fuzzy inference system is a four-step process: fuzzification, inferencing, summation, and defuzzification.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 623 21) Neural networks identify ________ in the data from which they generate recommended courses of action.

A) patterns B) outliers C) movements D) associations Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 583 22) Machine learning is a family of artificial intelligence technologies that is primarily concerned with: A) the use of use neural networks to support simple and repetitive decision making.

B) the design and development of algorithms that allow computers to learn based on historical data.

C) identifying outliers and patterns in data sets.

D) simulating creativity to generate courses of action.

Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 583 23) Which of the following is not a relevant observation on how learning relates to intelligent systems?

A) Automated learning systems are anchored in a formal bedrock; thus, their implications are well understood.

B) Automated learning systems demonstrate intriguing learning behaviors.

C) Although AI sometimes matches human-level learning capabilities, it is not able to learn as well as humans or in the same way that humans do.

D) A common thread running through most AI approaches to learning is the manipulation of symbols rather than numeric information.

Answer: A Diff: 3 Page Ref: 583

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24) Human learning is a combination of many complicated cognitive processes. Which of the following is not included in human's cognitive processes?

A) Induction B) Simulation C) Deduction D) Analogy Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 583 25) Machine learning is considered a(n) ________ method.

A) trial-and-error B) optimization C) simulation D) artificial intelligence Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 583 26) In supervised learning: A) only input stimuli are fed into the network.

B) both the inputs and the desired outputs are known.

C) the desired output and the algorithms are known.

D) the network is controlled by the user.

Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 584 27) In unsupervised learning: A) only input stimuli are fed into the network.

B) both the inputs and the desired outputs are known.

C) the desired output and the algorithms are known.

D) the network is controlled by the user.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 584 28) Which of the following is not a method of machine learning?

A) Genetic algorithms B) Generic algorithms C) Neural computing D) Case-based reasoning Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 584

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29) According to the Simplified Taxonomy of Machine Learning, all of the following are types of learning except: A) Supervised learning B) Reinforcement learning C) Unreiforced learning D) Unsupervised learning Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 584 30) ________ allows the computer to examine historical cases and generate rules that can be used to solve new problems or that can be deployed for automating a decision support process that repeatedly deals with a specific class of problems (e.g., evaluating loan applications).

A) Exploration learning B) Case-based reasoning C) Explanation-based learning D) Inductive learning Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 585 31) The foundation of case-based reasoning is a library of cases called ________.

A) case base B) data base C) legacy system D) reasoning base Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 585 32) Which of the following is not a step in case-based reasoning process?

A) Retrieve B) Reuse C) Retain D) Reserve Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 586 33) Which of the following are special cases that contain rich contents and special features of deep implications?

A) Descriptive cases B) Foundation cases C) Special cases D) Stories cases Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 586

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34) Survival of the fittest (natural selection) is used in ________.

A) genetic algorithms B) fuzzy logic C) case-based reasoning D) fuzzy neural networks Answer: A Diff: 1 Page Ref: 593 35) A chromosome in a genetic algorithm refers to ________.

A) crossover B) summation C) mutation D) candidate solution Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 593 36) Crossover means choosing a random position in the string and exchanging the segments ________ of this point with another string.

A) to the right B) to the left C) to both left and right D) to either left or right Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 593 37) Which of the following is a limitation of GA? A) Difficult to determine good variables for a particular problem B) The results of GA may vary C) It might reach local optimum D) All of the above Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 595 38) Which of the following is not an advantage of fuzzy logic?

A) Greater flexibility B) Faster calculations C) More options D) All of the above are advantages Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 602

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39) Fuzzy logic in consumer products is sometimes called ________.

A) inferencing B) defuzzification C) continuous logic D) crisp logic Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 604 40) Autonomy implies that an intelligent agent takes initiative and exercises control over its own actions by having each of the following characteristics except: A) An agent should accept high-level requests indicating what a human wants, and it should be responsible for deciding how and where to satisfy the requests.

B) An agent should be able to dynamically choose which actions to invoke, and in what sequence, in response to the state of its external environment.

C) The agent should obey commands and not be able to modify requests.

D) An agent should sense changes in its environment and decide when to act.

Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 616 41) Human learning is a combination of many complicated ________ processes.

Answer: cognitive Diff: 2 Page Ref: 583 42) ________ is a process of inducing knowledge from a set of observations whose outcomes are known.

Answer: Supervised learning Diff: 1 Page Ref: 583 43) ________ is used to discover knowledge from a set of data whose outcomes are unknown.

Answer: Unsupervised learning Diff: 1 Page Ref: 584 44) ________ segmentation is one of the unsupervised machine learning methods wherein data is put into several groups based on their similarity.

Answer: Clustering Diff: 3 Page Ref: 584 45) The basic principle of machine learning is that there are data that preserve previous decision experience, and these experience-based records are called ________.

Answer: cases Diff: 1 Page Ref: 585 46) ________ allows computers to examine historical cases and generate rules that can be chained to solve new problems.

Answer: Inductive learning Diff: 2 Page Ref: 585 7 .

47) Genetic algorithms are sets of computational procedures that conceptually follow steps inspired by the biological processes of ________.

Answer: evolution Diff: 2 Page Ref: 593 48) Genetic algorithms demonstrate self-organization and ________ in much the same way that the fittest biological organisms survive and reproduce.

Answer: adaptation Diff: 2 Page Ref: 593 49) Genetic algorithms ________ by producing offspring that are better and better measured by a fitness-to-survive function.

Answer: learn Diff: 2 Page Ref: 593 50) A genetic algorithm represents its candidate solutions as strings of genes called ________ and measures their viability with a fitness function.

Answer: chromosomes Diff: 2 Page Ref: 595 51) ________ deals with the kind of uncertainty and partial information that is inherently human in nature.

Answer: Fuzzy logic Diff: 1 Page Ref: 601 52) Fuzzy sets use a spectrum of possible values called ________.

Answer: belief functions Diff: 2 Page Ref: 602 53) The process in which the input and output are processed by fuzzy logic before entering neural network in fuzzy neural networks is called ________.

Answer: fuzzification Diff: 2 Page Ref: 604 54) A(n) ________ is a geometric concept commonly used to describe the separation surface between different classes of things within a multidimensional space.

Answer: hyperplane Diff: 2 Page Ref: 606 55) ________ are one of the most popular machine-learning techniques. They belong to the family of generalized linear models and are closely associated with feedforward-type artificial neural networks.

Answer: Support vector machines (SVM) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 606

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56) In machine learning, the ________ is a method for using a linear classifier algorithm to solve a nonlinear problem Answer: kernel trick Diff: 2 Page Ref: 608 57) An ________ is an autonomous computer program that observes and acts upon an environment and directs its activity toward achieving specific goals.

Answer: intelligent agent (IA) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 613 58) ________ is one of the unintended by-products of the information age characterized by huge volumes of information that cross the desks of mangers and decision makers.

Answer: Information overload Diff: 2 Page Ref: 618 59) ________ is the degree of autonomy and authority vested in an agent and can be measured by the nature of the interaction between the agent and other entities in the system.

Answer: Agency Diff: 2 Page Ref: 620 60) ________ is the degree to which agents themselves travel through a network. Some agents may be static, either residing on the client machine or initiated at the server.

Answer: Mobility Diff: 1 Page Ref: 621 61) Describe case-based reasoning. What type of leaning is it?

Answer: Case-based reasoning adapts solutions used to solve old problems for use in solving new problems. It utilizes a case base containing a number of previous cases for decision making.

Case-based reasoning is a form of inductive learning.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 585 62) Compare rule-based reasoning and case-based reasoning (CBR).

Answer: See Table 13.1 in textbook, page 586.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 586 63) Define these three categories of cases--ossified cases, paradigmatic cases, and stories--based on their different characteristics and the different ways of handling them.

Answer: • Ossified cases. Appear very often and are quite standard. They may be generalized into rules or other forms of knowledge through inductive learning..

• Paradigmatic cases. Contain certain unique features that cannot be generalized. They need to be stored and indexed in a case base for future reference.

• Stories. Contain rich contents and special features of deep implications.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 586

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64) What are the advantages of using case-based reasoning?

Answer: • Knowledge acquisition is improved: easier to build, simpler to maintain, less expensive to develop and support.

• System development time is faster.

• Existing data and knowledge are leveraged.

• Complete formalized domain knowledge (as is required with rules) is not required.

• Experts feel better discussing concrete cases (not general rules).

• Explanation becomes easier. Rather than showing many rules, a logical sequence can be shown.

• Acquisition of new cases is easy.

• Learning can occur from both successes and failures.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 588 65) Describe the major steps in case-based reasoning process.

Answer: See Figure 13.3 in the textbook.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 588 66) List and describe the success factors for a case-based reasoning system.

Answer: • Determine specific business objectives. Every software project should have a business focus.

Call center and help desk environments have great potential for CBR methods.

• Understand your end users and customers. A successful case base directly supports the end user. The case base (i.e., knowledge) must be at the level of expertise of the end users. Shortcuts should be provided for more knowledgeable end users.

• Design the system appropriately. This includes understanding the problem domain and types of information the case base will provide and recognizing system and integration requirements.

• Plan an ongoing knowledge-management process. The knowledge in the case base must be updated as new cases arise (i.e., to avoid gaps in the case base) or as new products or services are delivered (i.e., new content is added).

• Establish achievable returns on investment (ROI) and measurable metrics. Develop a level of acceptable ROI (e.g., 5—13 percent is being achieved in the field) and a means to measure it (e.g., 20 fewer phone calls with a 13 percent larger customer base handled; or the ability to handle four times more questions than under the manual system).

• Plan and execute customer-access strategy. The strength of CBR is that it can be put into the hands of customers, even over the Web, thus providing service 24 hours every day (e.g., Broderbund Software's Gizmo Trapper). This empowers customers to obtain the assistance they need when they need it. It also further broadens the use of the system, which helps in identifying exceptions and updating the case base. This is a key success component.

• Expand knowledge generation and access across the enterprise. Just as knowledge is made available to customers, internal customers who are in direct contact with external customers may be able to provide helpful feedback and knowledge.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 591

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67) What are genetic algorithms?

Answer: Genetic algorithms are an iterative process that represents its candidate solutions as strings of genes called chromosomes and measure their ability with a fitness function. The fitness function is a measure (minimum or maximum) of the objective to be obtained. Genetic algorithms demonstrate self-organization and adaptation.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 593 68) Describe the genetic operators of Genetic Algorithm in reproduction.

Answer: • Reproduction. Through reproduction, genetic algorithms produce new generations of improved solutions by selecting parents with higher fitness ratings or by giving such parents a greater probability of being contributors and by using random selection.

• Crossover. Many genetic algorithms use strings of binary symbols for chromosomes, as in our Vector game, to represent solutions. Crossover means choosing a random position in the string (e.g., after two digits) and exchanging the segments either to the right or the left of this point with those of another string partitioned similarly to produce two new offspring.

• Mutation. This genetic operator was not shown in the Vector game example. Mutation is an arbitrary change in a situation. Sometimes it is used to prevent the algorithm from getting stuck.

The procedure changes a 1 to a 0 or a 0 to a 1 instead of duplicating them. This change occurs with a very low probability (say, 1 in 1,000).

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 595 69) What is fuzzy logic?

Answer: Fuzzy logic deals with the kind of uncertainty that is inherently human in nature. It utilizes fuzzy sets to simulate the process of normal human reasoning by allowing the computer to behave less precisely and logically than conventional computer methods require.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 601 70) Explain or draw the three-step process description for SVM model development.

Answer: See Figure 13.10, in the textbook, page 609.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 609

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Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems, 9e (Turban) Chapter 14 Management Support Systems: Emerging Trends and Impacts 1) RFID technology allows Coca-Cola to test and track new drink flavors and local preferences.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 635 2) Fundamentally, RFID is one example of automatic identification technologies, unlike scannerbased barcodes and magnetic strips.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 636 3) Active RFID tags have their own power source and can initiate the data transmission process on their own, but need a reader to energize them.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 636 4) One of the applications of the massive amounts of data that are generated by RFID is in supply-chain management.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 637 5) RFID technology generates massive amounts of data that can be analyzed to achieve great insights into a company's environment, a major purpose for the very existence of BI and decision support.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 641 6) Just as RFID generates major data streams for further analysis through BI technologies that can assist in decision making, another massive data source and technologies to make sense of the data are emerging. This type of data mining is called reality mining.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 641 7) By applying algorithms that reduce the volume of personally identifiable information, reality mining can characterize places according to the activity and movement between them.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 3 Page Ref: 643 8) Virtual worlds are defined as artificial worlds created by computer systems in which the user has the impression of being immersed.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 644

1 .

9) Advantages of Second Life are that it operates around the clock and a day in Second Life is four hours long.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 645 10) Virtual worlds are well-developed, interesting tools for businesses and consumers and have gained widespread acceptance.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 646 11) Web 2.0 is not only changing what is on the Web, but also how it works.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 649 12) Wikia is an example of a new business model that has emerged from Web 2.0. It s the accumulation of the "power of the crowd," but the potential of such a business model remains limited because of competition.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 650 13) Virtual communities takes place over a computer network and parallel typical physical communities, such as neighborhoods, clubs, or associations.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 650 14) Social network analysis (SNA) software is used to identify, represent, analyze, visualize, or simulate network nodes and edges from various types of input data.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 653 15) Mobile social networking refers to social networking where members converse and connect with one another using cell phones or other mobile devices. It is much more popular in Japan, South Korea, and China than it is in the West.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 653 16) Advertising and sales are the major EC activities in public social networks.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 655 17) Cloud computing is an important initiative for a BI professional to watch even though concerns have been raised about cloud computing, including loss of control and privacy, legal liabilities, cross-border political issues, and so on.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 659 2 .

18) Management support systems (MSS) are important factors in the information, Web, and knowledge revolution. This revolution is a cultural transformation like the Industrial Revolution, both of which took place slowly and affected every facet of our lives.

Answer: FALSE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 659 19) Although many jobs may be substantially enriched by MSS, other jobs may become more routine and less satisfying.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 1 Page Ref: 664 20) Because the government is acquiring personal data to detect suspicious patterns of activity, there is the prospect of improper or illegal use of the data. Many see such gathering of data as a violation of citizens' freedoms and rights.

Answer: TRUE Diff: 2 Page Ref: 669 21) What is the difference between active and passive RFID tags?

A) Active tags have a battery as their own power source and do not need a reader to energize them like passive tags do.

B) Active tags receive energy from the electromagnetic field created by the reader; and passive tags receive energy from a battery.

C) Active tags are faster and less expensive than passive tags.

D) Passive tags are most frequently found in defense or military systems, and active tags are used more frequently in retail.

Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 636 22) The most commonly used data representation for RFID technology is the: A) Common Product Code (CPC) B) Universal Product Code (UPC) C) Electronic Product Code (EPC) D) Standard Product Code (SPC) Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 637 23) RFID tag data for products consist of the following information except: A) manufacturer B) carrier C) product D) serial number Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 637

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24) Gillette has used RFID to determine whether stores have stocked their shelves with particular items for a particular promotion. They found that in those stores that used RFID to move a product from the backroom to the shelf before a promotion started, sales were ________ than those that did not move the product in a timely manner.

A) 8 percent higher B) 18 percent higher C) 28 percent higher D) 48 percent higher Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 639 25) The success of today's highly volatile perishables supply chains depends on the level and the timeliness of ________.

A) product visibility B) product data C) supply chain management D) RFID Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 640 26) RFID generates major data streams ready for analysis through BI technologies. Another massive data source is emerging, along with the data mining technologies to make sense of the data, which is referred to as ________.

A) triangulation B) location-enabled services C) reality mining D) sensor mining Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 647 27) By analyzing and learning from these large-scale patterns of movement, Sense Networks is now adapting this general technology to help consumers find people with similar interests. This application is called ________.

A) Citysense B) Macrosense C) AppleSense D) Second Life Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 642

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28) The intention of ________ is to achieve a feeling of telepresence and participation from a distance.

A) active environments B) Wikia C) social networks D) virtual worlds Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 644 29) Which is not a major advantage of using Second Life for decision support?

A) easy access and low cost B) pranksters and spam are filtered out C) experienced and dedicated designer/builders D) encourages active participation and experiential learning Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 645 30) Although virtual worlds are becoming interesting tools for businesses and consumers, several factors have kept them from gaining widespread acceptance. Which of the following is one of those factors? : A) Requires downloading of a plug-in B) Users get addicted C) Costs are too high D) Lack of technical staff Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 646 31) One of the most significant differences between Web 2.0 and the traditional Web is the ________ of Web 2.0: A) enhanced privacy and security protection B) opportunity to offer decision support capabilities in a novel way C) greater collaboration among Internet users and other users, content providers, and enterprises D) All of the above.

Answer: C Diff: 2 Page Ref: 649 32) A ________ is a social network organized around a common interest, idea, task, or goal; members interact across time, geographic location, and organizational boundaries to develop personal relationships.

A) virtual community B) Web 2.0 C) wiki D) trade fair Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 650

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33) Categories of interaction in a virtual community include each of the following except: A) communication B) information C) EC element, such as advertisements D) private community Answer: D Diff: 2 Page Ref: 651 34) MySpace and Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube are examples of ________.

A) Web logs B) online social networks C) social network analysis software D) Live Spaces Answer: B Diff: 1 Page Ref: 653 35) A primary reason why Facebook has expanded so rapidly is the ________, which refers to the principle that more users means more value.

A) network effect B) mobile effect C) mobile media D) connection effect Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 654 36) The term cloud computing originates from a reference to the ________ as a cloud and represents an evolution of all of previous shared/centralized computing trends.

A) server B) client C) Internet D) network Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 658 37) MSS can have ________ implications.

A) micro B) macro C) both micro and macro D) none of the above Answer: C Diff: 1 Page Ref: 659

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38) Which of the following is not an impact of management support systems (MSS) technologies?

A) organizational B) governmental C) individual D) societal Answer: B Diff: 2 Page Ref: 659 39) Which of the following is not an impact of automated decision systems (ADS)?

A) Reduction of upper management B) Empowerment of customers C) Improved customer service D) Increased productivity Answer: A Diff: 2 Page Ref: 661 40) Privacy has long been a(n) ________ issue.

A) legal B) ethical C) social D) all of the above Answer: D Diff: 1 Page Ref: 667 41) Placing ________ chips on each flavor cartridge and using readers allows Coca-Cola to test new drink flavors and concepts, observe what flavors and combinations customers are choosing, identify regional preferences, and keep track of the amounts they are drinking.

Answer: RFID Diff: 2 Page Ref: 635 42) On the positive side for RFID, ________ have a longer read range, better accuracy, more complex rewritable information storage, and richer processing capabilities Answer: active tags Diff: 1 Page Ref: 636 43) RFID tag data, in its purest form, is a series of ________.

Answer: binary digits Diff: 2 Page Ref: 637 44) RFID-enabled environmental ________ provide insight into the changing environmental conditions experienced by the product and provide the data necessary to determine to what extent those changes affect the quality or safety of the product.

Answer: sensors Diff: 1 Page Ref: 641

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45) By analyzing and learning from these large-scale patterns of movement, it is possible to identify distinct classes of behaviors in specific contexts, called ________.

Answer: tribes Diff: 2 Page Ref: 641 46) ________ provide new immersive experiences for decision support and replicate many of the features of physical gatherings.

Answer: Virtual worlds Diff: 2 Page Ref: 644 47) ________ content is a major characteristic of Web 2.0, as is the emergence of social networking.

Answer: User-generated Diff: 2 Page Ref: 649 48) A major objective of Web 2.0 is to enhance creativity, information sharing, and ________.

Answer: collaboration Diff: 2 Page Ref: 649 49) Wikia is working on community-developed Web searches. If they can create a successful one, ________ will have a challenger.

Answer: Google Diff: 2 Page Ref: 650 50) A(n) ________ is a group of people with common interests who interact with one another.

Answer: community Diff: 1 Page Ref: 650 51) ________ software is used to identify, represent, analyze, visualize, or simulate network nodes and edges from various types of input data, including mathematical models of social networks.

Answer: Social network analysis (SNA) Diff: 2 Page Ref: 653 52) Mobile social networking is much ________ popular in Japan, South Korea, and China than it is in the West.

Answer: more Diff: 1 Page Ref: 654 53) ________, which was launched in 2004 by former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, is the second-largest social network service in the world.

Answer: Facebook Diff: 1 Page Ref: 654

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54) Business-oriented ________, such as LinkedIn and Xing, concentrate on business issues both in one country and around the world; e.g., recruiting, finding business partners).

Answer: social networks Diff: 2 Page Ref: 655 55) ________ computing offers the possibility of using software, hardware, platform, and infrastructure, all on a service-subscription basis.

Answer: Cloud Diff: 2 Page Ref: 658 56) Automated decision support (ADS) applications can empower ________-level frontline employees, giving them more autonomy.

Answer: lower Diff: 1 Page Ref: 661 57) In one view, intelligent systems and other MSS will cause massive ________ because of automating jobs, increased productivity, lower required skill levels, and impacts on all sectors of the economy.

Answer: unemployment Diff: 2 Page Ref: 666 58) Privacy is the right to be left alone and the right to be free from ________ personal intrusions.

Answer: unreasonable Diff: 2 Page Ref: 667 59) Serious legal issues may develop with the introduction of intelligent systems; liability and ________ are the dominant problem areas.

Answer: privacy Diff: 2 Page Ref: 667 60) Many people recognize that MSS tools are effective and efficient means to increase ________ even though the privacy of many innocent people is compromised.

Answer: national security Diff: 1 Page Ref: 669 61) Define the components of RFID and how active and passive tags works.

Answer: In its simplest form, an RFID system consists of a tag attached to the product to be identified, a reader, one or more antennae attached to the reader, and a computer to control the reader and capture the data.

Passive tags receive energy from the electromagnetic field created by the reader and backscatter information only when it is requested. The passive tag will remain energized only while it is within the interrogator's magnetic field.

In contrast, active tags have a battery on board to energize them. Because active tags have their own power source, they don't need a reader to energize them; instead they can initiate the data transmission process on their own.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 636 9 .

62) How are real-world institutions, such as businesses and government agencies, incorporating virtual worlds into their strategic marketing initiatives?

Answer: Virtual worlds are becoming an important channel for reaching a wider consumer base, as well as for seeing the customers and interacting with them in a way that was not possible a few years ago. Concepts such as virtual currencies often allow participants to buy or sell virtual goods or services, such as attire or training. Virtual worlds provide rich and enhanced modes of advertising that can be immersive or absorptive, active or passive. Although studies on the use of online avatars in marketing are few, some evidence suggests that avatars and virtual representations may positively influence trust and online purchasing intention, because they simulate experiences customers have in real stores.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 644 63) What are four major advantages of using Second Life for decision support?

Answer: 1. Easy access and low cost. The client is a free download and people can participate without paying a membership fee.

2. Experienced and dedicated designer/builders. Second Life has few restrictions and provides broad and flexible content authoring experiences for developers.

3. Tools and venues for communications-driven decision support. Tools include streaming video, streaming voice, PowerPoint, agenda and meeting management tools, chat recorders, and even name tags for avatars.

4. A large, dedicated user base. It doesn't cost much to hire people/avatars to work for you in Second Life. Companies like Manpower are in Second Life and can help sort out employment issues. Second Life is an easy way for a company to "go global."

5. Impression management and creativity enhancement. Second Life breaks down barriers to creative thinking and frees the imagination. Some people are reluctant to use videoconferencing because of concerns about how they will appear; with Second Life, users can consciously manage the impressions they create during meetings, events, and activities.

6. Time compression. A day in Second Life is 4 hours long. The 7/24/365 nature of Second Life can speed up activities and change users' time perceptions.

7. Easy data integration from real life using RSS feeds. The possibilities for integrating data from various Web sources into Second Life are expanding rapidly.

8. Encourages active participation and experiential learning. People experience Second Life, and those experiences impact real life. A Second Life meeting can be both enjoyable and memorable.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 645

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64) List four major disadvantages of using Second Life for decision support.

Answer: 1. Learning time and training costs. Company executives are generally unfamiliar with Second Life and the learning curve is at least 8 hours to gain a basic comfort level.

2. Distractions are numerous. Second Life is a big virtual space with a lot going on. Some of the distractions are very pleasant, but they create the possibility that employees will be playing when they should be working.

3. Pranksters and spam are common. All sorts of crazy people are floating around Second Life with too much time to waste. Many devise pranks and engage in nasty activities.

4. Technology problems persist. Some technology problems include slow responses, lags in resizing objects, and frequent software updates.

5. Chat is a very slow communication tool. The new voice client will speed up interaction of people in Second Life, but chat will still have a use, especially with the automatic translators for multilanguage communication.

6. Resistance to use. Second Life is not like anything most executives have experienced, and there will be resistance to using this technology.

7. Addiction. Some people have become addicted to using Second Life and spend hours on the system, becoming sleep deprived and neglecting real-life activities.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 645 65) Describe three representative characteristics of the Web 2.0 environment.

Answer: • The ability to tap into the collective intelligence of users. The more users contribute, the more popular and valuable a Web 2.0 site becomes.

• Data is made available in new or never-intended ways. Web 2.0 data can be mashed up, often through Web service interfaces.

• Web 2.0 relies on user-generated and user-controlled content and data.

• Lightweight programming techniques and tools let nearly anyone act as a Web site developer.

• The virtual elimination of software-upgrade cycles makes everything a work-in-progress and allows rapid prototyping.

• Users can access applications entirely through a browser.

• An architecture of participation and digital democracy encourages users to add value to the application as they use it.

• A major emphasis on social networks and computing.

• Strong support of information sharing and collaboration.

• Rapid and continuous creation of new business models.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 649 66) Describe social network analysis (SNA) software.

Answer: Social network analysis (SNA) software is used to identify, represent, analyze, visualize, or simulate network nodes (e.g., agents, organizations, or knowledge) and edges (relationships) from various types of input data.

Network analysis tools enable researchers to investigate representations of networks of different forms and different sizes, from small to very large.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 653 11 .

67) What is Twitter and how can it add business value to marketers?

Answer: Twitter is a new social networking site that enables friends to keep in touch and follow what others are saying. An analysis of tweets can be used to determine how well a product /service is doing in the market.

Diff: 1 Page Ref: 658 68) Computer technology has already changed our world, and much more change is anticipated.

What are some of the major areas of social impact?

Answer: • Changing role of home-bound people • Computer crime and fraud • Consumers • The digital divide • Employment levels • Opportunities for the disabled • Quality of life • Work in hazardous environments Diff: 2 Page Ref: 660 69) What are some of the potential positive and negative impacts of MSS on managers' jobs?

Answer: • Less expertise is required for making many decisions.

• Faster decision making is possible because of the availability of information and the automation of some phases in the decision-making process.

• Less reliance on experts and analysts is required to provide support to top executives.

• Power is being redistributed among managers.

• Support for complex decisions makes them faster to make and of better quality.

• Information needed for high-level decision making is expedited or even self-generated.

• Automation of routine decisions may eliminate some managers.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 666 70) What is privacy? Why is it difficult to enforce privacy regulations?

Answer: Privacy means different things to different people. In general, privacy is the right to be left alone and the right to be free from unreasonable personal intrusions. Privacy has long been a legal, ethical, and social issue in many countries. The right to privacy is recognized today in every state of the United States and by the federal government, either by statute or by common law. The definition of privacy can be interpreted quite broadly.

However, the following two rules have been followed fairly closely in past court decisions: (1) The right of privacy is not absolute. Privacy must be balanced against the needs of society. (2) The public's right to know is superior to the individual's right to privacy. These two rules show why it is difficult, in some cases, to determine and enforce privacy regulation.

Diff: 2 Page Ref: 668

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