Enhancing Decision Making (89 Q&A)

Management Information Systems Enhancing Decision Making 1) Which of the following statements best describes the business value of improved decision making? A) Improved decision making creates better products. B) Improved decision making results in a large monetary value for the firm as numerous small daily decisions affecting efficiency, production, costs, and more add up to large annual values. C) Improved decision making enables senior executives to more accurately foresee future financial trends. D) Improved decision making strengthens customer and supplier intimacy, which reduces costs. E) Improved decision making creates a better organizational culture. Answer: B Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 2) When there is no well-understood or agreed-on procedure for making a decision, it is said to be A) undocumented. B) unstructured. C) documented. D) semistructured. E) ad-hoc. Answer: B Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 3) If you can follow a definite procedure to make a business decision, you are making a(n) ________ decision. A) ad-hoc B) procedural C) unstructured D) semistructured E) structured Answer: E Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 4) Which type of decision is calculating gross pay for hourly workers? A) semistructured B) procedural C) structured D) unstructured E) ad hoc Answer: C Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 5) Which type of decision is deciding whether to introduce a new product line? A) structured B) unstructured C) recurring D) nonrecurring E) procedural Answer: B Page Ref: 469 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 6) The decision to approve a capital budget is an example of a(n) ________ decision. A) structured B) ad hoc C) semistructured D) undocumented E) unstructured Answer: E Page Ref: 469 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 7) The decisions involved in creating and producing a corporate intranet can be classified as ________ decisions. A) semistructured B) procedural C) ad hoc D) structured E) unstructured Answer: A Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 8) Checking store inventory is an example of a(n) ________ decision. A) procedural B) structured C) ad hoc D) unstructured E) semistructured Answer: B Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 9) The ________ phase of decision making finds or recognizes a problem, need, or opportunity. A) choice B) design C) implementation D) analysis E) intelligence Answer: E Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 10) Which of the following is not one of the Simon's four stages of decision making? A) implementation B) intelligence C) analysis D) choice E) design Answer: C Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 11) Which of the following is not one of the five observed ways in which managerial behavior differs from the classical description of managers? A) Managers perform a great deal of work at an unrelenting pace. B) Managerial activities are fragmented. C) Managers prefer regular, written reports on firm activities. D) Managers prefer oral forms of communication. E) Managers give high priority to maintaining a diverse web of contacts. Answer: C Page Ref: 471 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Information technology CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 12) The role of liaison falls into which of Mintzberg's managerial classifications? A) decisional B) informational C) interpersonal D) symbolic E) leading Answer: C Page Ref: 471 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 13) Mintzberg outlined three categories of managerial roles: A) interpersonal, informational, and decisional. B) leading, deciding, and controlling. C) operations, management, and executive. D) cultural, organizational, and technical. E) negotiator, spokesperson, and entrepreneur. Answer: A Page Ref: 471 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 14) The role of entrepreneur falls into which of Mintzberg's managerial classifications? A) decisional B) informational C) interpersonal D) symbolic Answer: A Page Ref: 472 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 15) According to Mintzberg, managers in their informational role act as A) figureheads for the organization. B) leaders. C) nerve centers of the organization. D) negotiators. E) liaisons. Answer: C Page Ref: 472 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 16) Which of the following systems support a manager's role as leader of an organization? A) decision support systems B) telepresence systems C) e-mail D) MIS E) ESS Answer: B Page Ref: 472 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 17) All of the following managerial roles can be supported by information systems except A) figurehead. B) resource allocator. C) spokesperson. D) disseminator. E) entrepreneur. Answer: E Page Ref: 472 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 18) When managers represent their company in the outside world and perform symbolic duties, they are acting in their A) decisional role. B) managerial role. C) informational role. D) interpersonal role. E) leadership role. Answer: D Page Ref: 472 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 19) As discussed in the chapter text, the three main reasons that investments in information technology do not always produce positive results are A) management support, technical logistics, and user compliance. B) organization, environment, culture. C) information quality, information integrity, and information accuracy. D) information quality, organizational culture, and management filters. E) organization, culture, and technology. Answer: D Page Ref: 472 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 20) The concept of management ________ describes situations in which managers act on preconceived notions that reject information that does not conform to their prior conceptions. A) filters B) roles C) biases D) risk E) politics Answer: A Page Ref: 473 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 21) Which quality dimension of information is concerned that the data values of an information source fall within a defined range? A) timeliness B) consistency C) completeness D) accessibility E) validity Answer: E Page Ref: 473 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 22) The dimension of ________ describes whether the structure of data is consistent within an information source. A) completeness B) accuracy C) validity D) consistency E) integrity Answer: E Page Ref: 473 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 23) High-velocity decision making systems are growing rapidly for decisions classed as A) semi-structured. B) financial. C) ad hoc. D) predefined. E) highly structured. Answer: E Page Ref: 474 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 24) Which of the following describes how the Simon framework of decision-making works in high-velocity decision environments? A) Only the initial step is performed by the software; the final three steps are handled by humans. B) The first two steps of Simon's framework are eliminated and the final two steps are handled by software algorithms. C) The first three steps of the process are handled by software algorithms and the final step is handled by experienced managers. D) All four steps are performed by humans with the support of high-speed, high-volume DSS and ESS. E) All four steps of the process are handled by software algorithms; humans are eliminated from the decisions because they are too slow. Answer: E Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Evaluation LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 25) A drawback to high-velocity, automated decision-making systems is that they are unable to A) handle high volumes of decisions. B) handle structured decisions. C) handle semi-structured decisions. D) control themselves and respond to new environments. E) be applied to situations outside of the financial world. Answer: D Page Ref: 474 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 26) Improving the quality of high-value decision making by an executive will save an organization far more money than improving the quality of lesser-value decisions made at a lower level. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 27) A structured decision can be made by following a well-defined set of procedures. No "feel" or intuition is necessary. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 28) Middle management face primarily unstructured decisions. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 469 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 29) Structured decision making is most prevalent at lower organizational levels. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 469 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 30) The intelligence phase of decision making consists of discovering, identifying, and understanding the problems occurring in the organization. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 31) The implementation phase of Simon's decision-making model includes choosing among solution alternatives. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 32) The first stage in Simon's decision-making process model is the design stage. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 33) The classical model of management does not address what exactly managers do when they plan, decide things, and control the work of others. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 471 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 34) A structured decision is repetitive and routine, for which known procedures provide solutions. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 468 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 35) The third stage in Simon's description of decision making is choice. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 36) In your position of office manager at a legal firm, you are in charge of hiring temporary legal assistants and clerical workers. Describe how Simon's decision-making process applies to this decision. Could that decision be aided by an information system in any way, and if so, how? Answer: The decision-making process is: 1. Intelligence, or problem discovery: How many temps need to be hired, for how long, and what skills would they need? 2. Design, or solution discovery: What temp agencies are available and what are their prices? 3. Choice, or choosing solutions: Evaluate the offerings of the temp agencies, and evaluate the abilities of temps as per need. 4. Implementation, or solution testing: Evaluate the work of each temp against assignments and other needs. An information system that displayed the temps available for hire along with pertinent information such as rate, and past assignments and evaluations would help in this process. Page Ref: 470 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Synthesis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 37) A key business decision in your sporting goods manufacturing company is determining what suppliers to use for your raw materials. How can you determine if a manager in charge of selecting suppliers is making the best choice? Answer: Student answers will vary but should include an understanding of evaluating the information the data is based on. For example: One way to determine the manager's choice is to find out what he or she is basing their decision on: price, quality, schedule, relationship, etc. Then you could find out how those measurements of the supplier qualities are made—is the data about the suppliers accurate information. You could evaluate the data informing the decision along the information quality dimensions: accuracy, integrity, consistency, completeness, validity, timeliness, and accessibility. Page Ref: 473 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Synthesis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 38) Explain why even well-designed information systems do not always help improve a firm's decision making. Answer: Student answers will vary but should include the three main reasons for information systems not always producing positive results: 1. information quality, 2. management filters, and 3. organizational inertia/politics. A sample answer is: There are three main reasons that implementing a well-designed information system might not result in better decisions. First, the information produced by a system may be incomplete and inaccurate. The quality of information will depend on the quality of data gathered, and may require a minimum amount of data to be gathered. Inaccurate data and incomplete data can degrade the quality of decision making. Second, management filters can also stymie good decision making—a manager who has a bias against some types of activities or solutions, or is overly optimistic or pessimistic will make decisions that are skewed towards their own perspective rather than actual facts. Finally, organizational inertia and politics can hamper decision making. Information systems can require organizational change in roles and business processes that employees want to resist; or a system can produce information that suggests that a change is necessary but employees ignore in order to maintain the status quo in roles and responsibilities. Page Ref: 472-473 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.1: What are the different types of decisions and how does the decision-making process work? How do information systems support the activities of managers and management decision making? 39) Behavioral models of management sees managers as being ________ than does the classical model. A) more systematic B) more informal C) more reflective D) more well organized E) less reactive Answer: B Page Ref: 471 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 40) Which of the following is not one of the five classical functions of managers? A) leading B) deciding C) planning D) organizing E) controlling Answer: A Page Ref: 471 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 41) Which of the following BI tools or abilities have been driving the movement toward "smart cities?" A) OLAP B) chi-square analysis C) predictive analytics D) data mining E) big data analytics Answer: E Page Ref: 479 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 42) The dimension of ________ in information quality describes whether data is available when needed. A) integrity B) accuracy C) timeliness D) completeness E) consistency Answer: C Page Ref: 473 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 43) Which of the following statements best describes the term business intelligence? A) the infrastructure for collecting and managing business data B) the tools and techniques used to analyze and understand business data C) software developed exclusively for business management D) information systems involved in business decision making E) enterprise systems used to make business decisions Answer: A Page Ref: 475 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 44) Decisions regarding managing and monitoring day-to-day business activities are referred to as ________ intelligence. A) business B) analytical C) operational D) transactional E) production Answer: C Page Ref: 481 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 45) Which of the following companies is not one of the top five producers of business intelligence and analytics products? A) Sun B) Microsoft C) SAP D) IBM E) SAS Answer: A Page Ref: 475 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 46) Which of the following is not one of the six main elements in the business intelligence environment discussed in this chapter? A) managerial users and methods B) organizational environment C) user interface D) data from the business environment E) platform Answer: B Page Ref: 476 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 47) Which of the following is not one of the six main analytic functionalities of BI systems for helping decision makers understand information and take action? A) production reports B) parameterized reports C) business case archives D) forecasts, scenarios, and models E) drill down Answer: C Page Ref: 477 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 48) ________ are visual tools for presenting performance data in a BI system. A) Dashboards and scorecards B) Paramaterized reports C) Reports and the drill-down feature D) Scenarios and models E) Ad hoc report creation Answer: A Page Ref: 477 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 49) Which of the following are most likely to rely primarily on the drill-down functionality of BI for their decision-making needs? A) IT developers B) middle managers C) operational employees D) business analysts E) senior executives Answer: B Page Ref: 478 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 50) A(n)________ report is produced when a user enters various values in a pivot table to filter data. A) drill-down B) SQL C) ad hoc D) production E) parameterized Answer: E Page Ref: 477 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 51) A(n) ________ is a BI feature that presents users with an easy-to-understand visual display of performance information. A) ad hoc query B) parameterized report C) interface D) portal E) dashboard Answer: E Page Ref: 477 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 52) BI that is designed to determine the most likely effects of changes in the business environment is called A) statistical modeling. B) environmental analytics. C) predictive analytics. D) big data analytics. E) parameterized reports. Answer: C Page Ref: 478 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 53) Which of the following are most likely to rely primarily on production reports for their decision-making needs? A) operational supervisors B) senior managers C) analytic modelers D) business analysts E) executives Answer: A Page Ref: 478 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 54) Which type of information system uses data visualization technology to analyze and display data for planning and decision making in the form of digitized maps? A) GIS B) DSS C) location analytics D) Executive support systems E) GDSS Answer: A Page Ref: 485 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 55) Predictive analytics is used for all of the following except A) anticipate customer response to price changes. B) identifying the most profitable customers. C) determining the best routes for product delivery. D) establishing consumer credit scores. E) forecasting driver's safety. Answer: C Page Ref: 478 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 56) Which of the following is not an example of a BI predefined production report? A) workforce demographics B) order cycle time C) revenue forecasts D) supplier performance E) direct and indirect spending Answer: C Page Ref: 477 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Synthesis LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 57) You would use location analytics to determine how best to route your deliveries of products to retail outlets. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 482 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 58) A geographic information system is a decision support system designed specifically to work with spatial information. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 485 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 59) Big data is commonly used to analyze and predict consumer preferences. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 479 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 60) Data visualization technologies are used to help human users see patterns and relationships in large amounts of data. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 477 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 61) You are evaluating BI software from a variety of vendors. Identify six elements in the BI environment. Use your understanding of the importance of these elements to formulate six questions to ask the vendor in order to determine how their software will interplay with your needs. Answer: The six elements are: 1. Data from the business environment. A question for a salesperson is: "How does your software integrate with our data?" 2. Business intelligence infrastructure. "What type of database system does your software use?" 3. Business analytics toolset. "What tools are included?" 4. Managerial users and methods. "Our management team uses these metrics. Does your software provide that?" 5. Delivery platform: "How does your software integrate with our platforms?" 6. User interface: "What are the elements of your user interface and what delivery methods are used—mobile, social media, web portal, etc." Student evaluations of which of these are the most important will vary. Page Ref: 475 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Synthesis LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 62) What is a GIS? Describe at least three ways in which a GIS could be used by modern business. Answer: Geographic information systems are a special category of DSS that use data visualization technology to analyze and display data for planning and decision making in the form of digitized maps. GIS can best be used to support decisions that require knowledge about the geographic distribution of people or other resources in scientific research, resource management, and development planning. GIS have modeling capabilities, allowing managers to change data and automatically revise business scenarios to find better solutions. For instance, a company could display its customers on a map and then design the most efficient delivery route for its products. A second way in which it could be used would be to analyze demographic information to decide where to open branch restaurants. A third use could be customer demographic data and map information to locate people who are likely to become customers for the company's services. Page Ref: 485 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Synthesis LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 63) You are an analyst for a firm that imports and distributes specialty oils and vinegars and your company wants you to evaluate their options for taking advantage of cutting edge business analytics. What are their choices? What will you recommend? Answer: There are two strategies for adopting BI and BA capabilities: 1. an integrated solution or 2. using multiple best-of-breed vendor software solutions. The hardware firms want to sell you integrated hardware/software solutions that run on their hardware (the totally integrated solution). Software firms will want to sell you "best of breed" software that runs on any machine they want. In this strategy, you adopt the best database and data warehouse solution, and select the best business intelligence and analytics package from whatever vendor you believe is best. Student recommendations will vary: The first solution carries the risk that a single vendor provides your firm's total hardware and software solution, making your firm dependent on its pricing power, but it offers the advantage of dealing with a single vendor who can deliver on a global scale. The second solution offers greater flexibility and independence, but with the risk of potential difficulties integrating the software to the hardware platform, as well as to other software. Page Ref: 485 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Evaluation LO: 12.2: How do business intelligence and business analytics support decision making? 64) MIS typically produce A) new ways of looking at data that emphasize change, flexibility, and rapid response. B) fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted from the organization's TPS. C) solutions to semistructured problems appropriate for middle management decision making. D) assumptions, responses to ad-hoc queries, and graphic representations of existing data. E) scorecards of overall firm performance along predefined key indicators. Answer: B Page Ref: 486 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 65) An information system for a building company that tracks construction costs for various projects across the United States would be categorized as a type of A) DSS. B) MIS. C) GIS. D) GDSS. E) BI. Answer: B Page Ref: 486 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 66) A pivot table is a(n) A) spreadsheet tool that displays two or more dimensions of data in a convenient format. B) type of relational database. C) chart tool that can rotate columnar data quickly and visually. D) tool for performing sensitivity analysis. E) integral data visualization tool used in digital dashboards and scorecards. Answer: A Page Ref: 487 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 67) An information system which combines data from internal TPS with information from financial systems and external sources to deliver reports such as profit-loss statements and impact analyses, is an example of A) DSS. B) ESS. C) CDSS. D) MIS. E) GIS. Answer: B Page Ref: 488 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 68) The leading methodology for understanding the really important information needed by a firm's executives is called the ________ method. A) digital dashboard B) balanced scorecard C) KPI D) data visualization E) predictive analytics Answer: B Page Ref: 489 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 69) Which of the following types of systems would be used to present senior marketing executives with in-depth information about customer retention, satisfaction, and quality performance? A) CDSS B) MIS C) DSS D) TPS E) ESS Answer: E Page Ref: 489 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 70) Measures defined by management and used to internally evaluate the success of a firm's financial, business process, customer, and learning and growth are called A) benchmarks. B) KPIs. C) the balanced scorecard method. D) BPM. E) parameters. Answer: B Page Ref: 489 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 71) A(n) ________ facilitates the solution to unstructured problems by a set of decision makers working together as a group. A) DSS B) ESS C) CDSS D) GIS E) GDSS Answer: E Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 72) The management methodology of using a firm's strategy to generate operational targets for the business and measuring progress towards them using the firm's enterprise systems is called A) benchmarks. B) KPIs. C) the balanced scorecard method. D) BPM. E) business intelligence. Answer: D Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 73) ESS A) support the structured decision making of senior executives. B) have the ability to drill down into lower levels of detail. C) easily integrate data from different systems. D) are primarily driven by information derived from a company's transaction processing systems. E) enable operational managers to create parameterized reports. Answer: B Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 74) A well-designed ESS will allow management to A) create routine production reports as well as view overall business performance. B) facilitate group decision making. C) create pivot charts. D) analyze big data. E) track the activities of competitors. Answer: E Page Ref: 489 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 75) GDSS A) are designed to allow meeting attendees to share their thoughts in real-time with their peers. B) support decisions that require knowledge about the geographic distribution of resources. C) are typically used with geographically dispersed attendees. D) implement structured methods for organizing and evaluating ideas. E) provide tools that allow managers to visualize data. Answer: D Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 76) An essential component in the ability of GDSS to contribute to a collaborative environment is A) allowing users to contribute simultaneously. B) using structured methods for evaluating ideas. C) identifying users informally. D) the guarantee of user anonymity. E) providing each attendee with dedicated desktop computers. Answer: D Page Ref: 490-491 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 77) GDSS A) require a small number of attendees in order to maintain high levels of productivity. B) enable increasing a meeting size without reducing productivity. C) include specific procedures for priority ranking the order in which participants can respond. D) utilize shared desktop computers to foster collaboration. E) are designed specifically for decision making by people working as a group in the same location. Answer: B Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 78) DSS primarily address structured problems. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 487 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 79) MIS typically produce fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted and summarized from the firm's underlying transaction processing systems. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 486 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 80) DSS are a special category of GIS. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 487 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 81) What-if analysis works forward from known or assumed conditions. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 487 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 82) Backward sensitivity analysis software is used for goal seeking. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 487 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 83) GDSS facilitate the solution of unstructured problems by a set of decision makers working together as a group in either the same location or different locations. Answer: TRUE Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Easy AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 84) Web-based tools for videoconferencing and electronic meetings are the primary tools for GDSS. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 85) During a GDSS meeting, the attendees control the use of GDSS tools. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 490 Difficulty: Difficult AACSB: Information technology CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 86) KPI analysis is the leading methodology for understanding the most important information needed by a firm's executives. Answer: FALSE Page Ref: 489 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Reflective thinking CASE: Content LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 87) Describe MIS and DSS and differentiate between them. Answer: MIS provide information on the firm's performance to help managers monitor and control the business. They typically produce hard copy, fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted and summarized from the organization's underlying transaction processing systems. DSS provide new sets of capabilities for nonroutine decisions and user control. MIS accents reports based on routine flows of data and assists in the general control of the organization. DSS emphasizes change, flexibility, and rapid response to unstructured problems. Page Ref: 486-487 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 88) What is the business value of a DSS? Answer: DSS can help companies improve supply chain management and customer relationship management. Some take advantage of the company-wide data provided by enterprise systems. DSS today can also harness the interactive capabilities of the Web to provide decision-support tools to both employees and customers. Page Ref: 487 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently? 89) Describe the balanced scorecard model and its role in ESS. Answer: The balanced score card is a framework for operationalizing a firm's strategic plan by focusing on measurable outcomes on four dimensions of firm performance: financial, business process, customer, and learning and growth. Performance on each dimension is measured using key performance indicators (KPIs), which are the measures proposed by senior management for understanding how well the firm is performing along any given dimension. The balanced scorecard framework is thought to be "balanced" because it causes managers to focus on more than just financial performance. In this view, financial performance is past history—the result of past actions—and managers should focus on the things they are able to influence today, such as business process efficiency, customer satisfaction, and employee training. Page Ref: 489 Difficulty: Moderate AACSB: Analytical thinking CASE: Analysis LO: 12.3: How do different decision-making constituencies in an organization use business intelligence? What is the role of information systems in helping people working in a group make decisions more efficiently?