CHAPTER 11 Managerial Support Systems

CHAPTER OUTLINE 11.1 Managers and Decision Making 11.2 Business Intelligence 11.3 Data Visualization Technologies 11.4 Intelligent Systems

LEARNING OBJECTIVES Describe the concepts of management, decision making and computerized support for decision making. Describe multidimensional data analysis and data mining. Describe digital dashboards.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES (continued) Describe data visualization, and explain geographical information systems and virtual reality. Describe artificial intelligence (AI). Define an expert system and identify its components. Describe natural language processing and natural language generation, and neural networks.

Chapter Opening Case

11.1 Managers and Decision Making Management

The Manager’s Job and Decision Making Managers have three basic roles (Mintzberg 1973): Interpersonal roles Informational roles Decisional roles

The Manager’s Job & Decision Making (continued) Decisions and Decision making

Decision Making Process

Why Managers Need IT Support The number of alternatives to be considered constantly increases. Decisions must be made under time pressure. Decisions are more complex. Decision makers can be in different locations and so is the information.

A Framework for Computerized Decision Analysis

Problem Structure The first dimension deals with the problem structure, where does the decision making processes fall along the continuum ranging from highly structured to highly unstructured decisions. Structured Unstructured Semistructured

The Nature of Decisions The second dimension of decision support deals with the nature of decisions Operational control Management control Strategic planning

11.2 Business Intelligence (BI) Two types of BI Systems: Those that provide data analysis tools Multidimensional data analysis (or online analytical processing) Data mining Decision support systems Those that provide information in structured format Digital dashboards

How Business Intelligence Works (Figure 11.3)

Multidimensional Data Analysis Provides users with a look at what is happening or what has happened. Allows users to analyze data in such a way that they can quickly answer business questions.

Data Mining Data mining performs two basic operations: Predicting trends and behaviors Identifying previously unknown patterns and relationships

Decision Support Systems (DSS) Decision support systems DSS capabilities Sensitivity analysis What-if analysis Goal-seeking analysis

Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) Group decision support system (GDSS) Decision Room

Organizational Decision Support System (ODSS) Organizational Decision Support System (ODSS) is a DSS that focuses on an organizational task or activity involving a sequence of operations and decision makers.

Digital Dashboards Digital Dashboards: Provide rapid access to timely information. Provide direct access to management reports. Are very user friendly and supported by graphics.

Sample Performance Dashboard (Figure 11.4)

Another Example of Dashboard

Executive Dashboard Demo o/AdvVis_ExecDash/AdvVis_ExecDash.html

A Bloomberg Terminal (Figure 11.5)

Management Cockpit (Figure 11.6)

11.3 Data Visualization Systems The Power of Visualization Even though a picture is “worth a thousand words,” we have to be very careful about just what we are seeing. Remember, on the Internet, it is “user beware!”

New York City Police Department Command Center Data visualization in action

Example of data visualization Hans RoslingHans Rosling at the TED Talks

Types of data visualization systems Geographic Information Systems Virtual Reality

Geographic Information System

GIS for existing land use

GISMO GISMO is a geographic information system developed for the city of Corvallis, Oregon.GISMO

Virtual Reality

Technology of Data Glove

Virtual Reality manipulation with data glove

Driving Simulator

Flight Simulator External view Internal view

VR Head-Mounted Display at Dentist’s Office

Virtual Tour of a museum

Virtual Reality (continued)

The VirtuSphere

VR Body Suit

11.4 Intelligent Systems Intelligent systems Artificial intelligence (AI)

Expert Systems Expertise Expert systems (ESs) Star Trek Voyager’s doctor: a 24 th century expert system

Expert Systems (continued) The transfer of expertise from an expert to a computer and then to a user involves four activities: Knowledge acquisition Knowledge representation Knowledge inferencing Knowledge transfer

The Components of Expert Systems Knowledge base Inference engine User interface Blackboard Explanation subsystem

Structure and Process of an Expert System

Natural Language Processing & Voice Technologies Natural language processing (NLP) Natural language understanding / speech (voice) recognition Natural language generation/voice synthesis

Neural Networks

Neural Network

Fuzzy Logic Fuzzy logic Involves decision in gray areas. Uses creative decision-making processes.

Chapter Closing Case