Chapter 9: Information, Decision Support, Artificial Intelligence, and SpecialPurpose Systems

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Chapter 9 Information, Decision Support,
Artificial Intelligence, and Special-Purpose
Systems

• Succeeding with Technology Second Edition

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Objectives

• Define the stages of decision making and problem
  solving
• Discuss the use of management information systems
  in providing reports to help solve structured
  problems
• Describe how decision support systems are used to
  solve nonprogrammed and unstructured problems

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Objectives (continued)

• Explain how a group decision support system can
  help people and organizations collaborate on team
  projects
• Discuss the uses of artificial intelligence and
  special-purpose systems

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Decision Making and Problem Solving

• Decision making
• Process that takes place in three stages
• Intelligence
• Design
• Choice

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Decision Making and Problem Solving (continued)

• Intelligence stage
• Identify and define potential problems or
  opportunities
• Design stage
• Develop alternative solutions
• Choice stage
• Select a course of action

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Decision Making and Problem Solving (continued)

• Problem solving
• Includes and goes beyond decision making
• Implementation stage
• Action is taken to put the solution into effect
• Monitoring stage
• Decision makers evaluate the implementation of
  the solution

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Decision Making and Problem Solving (continued)

• Reactive problem-solving approach
• Wait until problem surfaces before taking action
• Proactive approach
• Seek out potential problems before they become
  serious

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Programmed versus Nonprogrammed Decisions

• Programmed decisions
• Made using a rule, procedure, or quantitative
  method
• Management information systems
• Often used to support programmed decisions
• Nonprogrammed decisions
• Deal with unusual or exceptional situations

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Optimization and Heuristic Approaches

• Optimization model
• Will find the best solution
• Utilizes problem constraints
• Heuristics (rules of thumb)
• Commonly accepted guidelines
• Usually find a good solution, but not the optimal
  solution

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Management Information System

• Often used to
• Support programmed decisions made in response to
  structured problems
• Primary purpose
• To help individuals and organizations achieve
  their goals

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Inputs to a Management Information System

• Input data can originate from internal or
  external sources
• TPS
• Most significant internal source of data for the
  MIS
• Major activity is to capture and store data
  resulting from ongoing transactions
• Databases
• Supply data to MIS

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Outputs of a Management Information System

• Scheduled reports
• Produced periodically or on a schedule
• Key-indicator report
• Special type of scheduled report
• Summarizes previous days critical activities
• Available at the beginning of each workday

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Outputs of a Management Information System
(continued)

• Demand reports
• Give certain information at a persons request
• Exception reports
• Automatically produced when a situation is
  unusual or requires action
• Used to help fight terrorism

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Decision Support Systems

• Focus is on decision-making effectiveness
• Should assist people and organizations with all
  aspects of decision making
• The approach realizes that people, not machines,
  make decisions

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Characteristics of a Decision Support System

• Handle a Range of Data
• Obtain and Process Data from Different Sources
• Provide Report and Presentation Flexibility
• Perform complex, sophisticated analysis and
  comparisons using advanced software packages

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Characteristics of a Decision Support System
(continued)

• Support Optimization and Heuristic Approaches
• Perform What-if and Goal-seeking Analysis
• What-if analysis
• Process of making hypothetical changes to problem
  data and observing the impact on the results
• Goal-seeking analysis
• Process of determining what problem data is
  required for a given result
• Simulation
• DSS attempts to mimic an event that could happen
  in the future

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The Group Decision Support System

• DSS approaches
• Many not suitable for a group decision-making
  environment
• Group decision support system (GDSS)
• Also called a computerized collaborative work
  system
• Hardware, software, people, databases, and
  procedures needed to provide effective support in
  group decision-making settings

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Characteristics of a GDSS

• Special Design
• Flexibility
• Anonymous Input
• Reduction of Negative Group Behavior
• Support of positive group behavior

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GDSS Software or Groupware

• Helps with joint work group scheduling,
  communication, and management
• Lotus Notes
• Popular groupware package
• Can capture, store, manipulate, and distribute
  memos and communications
• Using groupware
• Gives every employee rapid access to a vast
  source of information

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Artificial Intelligence and Special-Purpose
Systems

• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Computers with ability to mimic or duplicate the
  functions of the human brain
• Advances in AI
• Have led to systems that work like the human
  brain to recognize complex patterns

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Artificial Intelligence and Special-Purpose
Systems

• AI systems are helping to
• Make medical diagnoses
• Explore for natural resources
• Determine what is wrong with mechanical devices

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The Difference Between Natural and Artificial
Intelligence

• One driving force behind AI research
• An attempt to understand how human beings
  actually reason and think
• Turing Test
• Attempts to determine if the responses from a
  computer with intelligent behavior are
  indistinguishable from responses from a human
• No computer has passed

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Components of Artificial Intelligence

• Robotics
• Vision systems
• Natural language processing
• Learning systems
• Neural networks
• Genetic algorithms
• Intelligent agents
• Expert systems

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Robotics

• Developing mechanical or computer devices to
• Perform tasks that require a high degree of
  precision
• Contemporary robotics
• Combine high-precision machine capabilities and
  sophisticated controlling software

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Vision Systems

• Include hardware and software that
• Permit computers to capture, store, and
  manipulate visual images and pictures
• Can be used to give robots sight
• U.S. Justice Department
• Makes use of vision systems to perform
  fingerprint analysis

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Natural Language Processing

• Referred to as speech recognition
• Allows computers to
• Understand and react to commands made in a
  natural language
• Three major challenges of natural language
• Interpreting ambiguous words
• Sentence parsing
• Being able to interpret the unique ways in which
  people pronounce words

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Learning Systems

• Combination of software and hardware
• Allows computer to change how it functions or
  reacts to situations based on feedback
• Learning systems software
• Requires feedback on the results of its actions
  or decisions

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Neural Networks

• Act like or simulate the functioning of a human
  brain
• Features of neural networks
• Ability to retrieve information
• Fast modification of stored data
• Ability to discover relationships and trends in
  large databases
• Ability to solve complex problems for which all
  information is not present

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Fuzzy Logic

• Deals in probabilities rather than absolutes
• Example of fuzzy logic
• Unclear terms, like tall or many
• Fuzzy logic theory
• Allows people to incorporate interpretations and
  relationships that are not completely precise

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Genetic Algorithms

• An approach to solving large, complex problems
• Based on the theory of evolution
• First step in generating the algorithm
• Change or vary a number of competing solutions to
  the problem
• Second step
• Select only the best models or algorithms, which
  continue to evolve

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Intelligent Agents

• Also called an intelligent robot or bot
• Consist of
• Programs and a knowledge base used to perform a
  specific task
• Used by the U.S. Army to
• Route security clearance information for soldiers

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Expert Systems

• Act or behave like a human expert in a field or
  area
• Computerized expert systems have been developed
  to
• Diagnose diseases given a patients symptoms
• Suggest the cause of a mechanical failure of an
  engine

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Specialized Systems

• Virtual Reality Systems
• Computer-simulated environment or event
• Geographic Information Systems
• Capable of storing, manipulating, and displaying
  geographic or special information

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Specialized Systems (continued)

• Game Theory Systems
• Develop strategies for people who are competing
  against each other
• Other Specialized Systems
• Informatics
• Combines traditional disciplines with computer
  systems and technology
• Bioinformatics combines biology and computer
  science

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Summary

• Three phases of decision making
• Intelligence, design, and choice
• Problem solving
• Takes decision making a step further
• Implements the choice
• Monitors the effects of the decision
• MIS
• Provide managers with insight into the regular
  operations of the organization
• Output
• Scheduled reports, demand reports, and exception
  reports

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Summary (continued)

• Decision support systems
• Can handle large amount of data
• Can obtain and process data from different
  sources
• Can provide report and presentation flexibility
• Group decision support system (GDSS)
• A computerized collaborative work system
• Artificial intelligence (AI) includes
• Robotics
• Learning systems
• Neural networks