Deck 10: Information and Decision Support Systems

Question 1

Internal auditing is performed by individuals within the organization to determine whether the financial statements and reports produced by the financial MIS are accurate.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The use of MISs spans all levels of management.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Marketing functions are increasingly being performed on the Internet and mobile devices.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The most significant data for an MIS is data about customers, suppliers, competitors, and stockholders.

Question 5

Demand reports are automatically produced when a situation is unusual or requires management action.

Question 6

Scheduled reports are produced periodically, such as daily weekly, or monthly.

Question 7

Just-in-time inventory determines when finished products are needed and then works backward to determine deadlines and resources needed.

Question 8

During the first stage of problem solving, you identify and define potential problems or opportunities as well as investigate resource and environmental constraints.

Question 9

The economic order quantity is calculated to minimize the number of times an inventory item must be reordered.

Question 10

A well-known model developed by Herbert Simon divides the decision making phase of the problem solving process into five stages.

Question 11

Manufacturing companies seldom use CAD with new or existing products.

Question 12

The ultimate goal of management information and decision support systems is to help managers and executives at all levels make better decisions and solve important problems.

Question 13

The primary purpose of an MIS is to help an organization achieve its goals by providing managers with insight into the regular operations of the organization so they can control, organize, and plan more effectively.

Question 14

Most financial MISs integrate financial and operational information from multiple sources, including the Internet, into a single system.

Question 15

A satisficing model is one that finds a good - but not necessarily the best - solution to a problem.

Question 16

Revenue centers are units within the company that focus primarily on generating sales.

Question 17

Market research conducts formal studies of the market and customer preferences.

Question 18

Many manufacturing operations have been dramatically improved over the last decade as a result of advances in information systems.

Question 19

An MIS can be divided along functional lines to produce reports tailored to individual functions.

Question 20

Nonprogrammed decisions are made using a rule, procedure, or quantitative method.

Question 21

The _____ report summarizes the previous day's critical activities and is typically available at the start of each workday.

A) exception
B) drill-down
C) key-indicator
D) demand

Question 22

The two phases of problem solving that were added by Huber to Simon's original three-sate model were _____

A) intelligence and design
B) implementation and monitoring
C) choice and implementation
D) design and choice

Question 23

The _____ reports are reports that are automatically produced when a situation is unusual or requires management action.

A) exception
B) drill-down
C) scheduled
D) demand

Question 24

During the _____ stage of the problem solving process, you select a course of action.

A) intelligence
B) implementation
C) choice
D) design

Question 25

A decision support system includes people, procedures, software, databases, and devices to help assemble, store, manipulate, and display geographic information.

Question 26

DSS and MIS systems are actually quite similar in numerous ways, including the types of problems solved, the support given to users, and the decision emphasis and approach.

Question 27

Engagement ratings show how ads convert to sales.

Question 28

An ad hoc DSS is concerned with situations or decisions that come up frequently during the life of the organization.

Question 29

Decision support systems _____.

A) are used for operational, tactical, and strategic decision making
B) might support a decision maker in only one or two of the problem-solving phases
C) support optimization, satisficing, and heuristic approaches
D) all of the above

Question 30

The focus of decision support systems is on decision-making effectiveness when faced with unstructured and structured business problems.

Question 31

The most significant internal data sources for an MIS are the organization's _____ .

A) data from customers, suppliers, competitors, and stockholders
B) various TPS and ERP systems and related databases
C) Internet Web sites
D) various DSS and GSS systems and users

Question 32

One characteristic of a structured problem is that _____.

A) it is straightforward, requiring known facts and relationships
B) the relationships among the pieces of data are not always clear
C) the data might be difficult to manipulate or obtain
D) the decision maker might not know the information requirements of the decision in advance

Question 33

The Delphi approach is a group decision making approach that encourages diversity among group members and fosters creativity and original thinking in decision making.

Question 34

The second stage in the problem solving process during which you develop alternative solutions to the problem and evaluate their feasibility.

A) design
B) choice
C) intelligence
D) monitoring

Question 35

The performance of decision support systems is typically a function of decision quality and _____.

A) hardware
B) cost
C) problem complexity
D) software

Question 36

Product pricing is important to identify products, sales personnel, and customers that contribute to profits and those that do not.

Question 37

The overall purpose of the human resource planning subsystem is to aid in the recruiting and selecting of personnel.

Question 38

The focus of a DSS is on decision-making _____ when faced with unstructured or semistructured business problems.

A) accuracy
B) efficiency
C) effectiveness
D) timeliness

Question 39

An executive support system is a specialized type of MIS, and, like an MIS, is designed to support higher-level decision making in the organization.

Question 40

The dialogue manager of a DSS can also connect to external databases to give decision makers even more information and decision support beyond that available through just corporate databases..

Question 41

A(n) _____ model finds the best solution, usually one that will best help the organization meet its goals.

Question 42

An executive support system _____.

A) is designed for use strictly by executives at a very senior level
B) is very similar to a DSS, except it is targeted for use by executives
C) includes only internally generated data and information about the organization
D) can present structured information about aspects of the organization that executives consider important

Question 43

The _____ MIS subsystems and outputs are used to monitor and control the flow of materials, products, and services through the organization.

A) human resources
B) marketing
C) financial
D) manufacturing

Question 44

In general, computerized decision support systems can either optimize or _____.

Question 45

Group support system alternatives include ______.

A) decision rooms
B) local area networks
C) teleconferencing
D) all of the above

Question 46

_____ decisions deal with unusual or exceptional situations and,in many cases, these decisions are difficult to quantify.

Question 47

A department within an organization that focuses on generating profits is called a(n) ______.

A) cost center
B) revenue center
C) profit center
D) sales center

Question 48

Developers of ______ systems try to build on the advantages of individual support systems while adding new approaches unique to group decision making.

A) DSS
B) MIS
C) GSS
D) GIS

Question 49

The goal of a(n) _____ system is to tie together all aspects of production, including order processing, product design, manufacturing, inspection and quality control, and shipping.

A) computer-assisted manufacturing
B) computer integrated manufacturing
C) flexible manufacturing system
D) computer-assisted design

Question 50

The ability to _____ is a characteristic of a financial MIS.

A) enable analysis of financial data along multiple dimensions
B) provide easy access to financial data through use of a corporate intranet to access corporate Web pages
C) integrate financial and operational information from multiple sources, including the Internet
D) all of the above

Question 51

A typical DSS includes many components including the _____ which allows decision makers to easily access and manipulate the DSS and to use common business terms and phrases.

A) model base
B) dialogue manager
C) database
D) external database access

Question 52

The ______ approach forces members of a decision making group to reach a unanimous decision.

A) Delphi
B) brainstorming
C) group consensus
D) nominal group technique

Question 53

_____ is a common characteristic of an executive support system.

A) Tailored for use by individual executives
B) Provides drill-down capabilities
C) Can be used in situations with a high degree of uncertainty
D) Designed for use in a group setting

Question 54

The final stage of the problem-solving process during which decision makers evaluate the implementation is called the ______ stage

Question 55

A limit on the quantity of raw material to make a finished product is an example of a problem _____.

Question 56

The _____ is not a component of the typical DSS?

A) database
B) user interface
C) model base
D) inference engine

Question 57

A(n) _____ MIS supports managerial activities in product development, distribution, pricing, promotions, and sales forecasting.

A) human resources
B) financial
C) marketing
D) manufacturing

Question 58

The ability to _____ is a characteristic of a MIS system.

A) provide reports with fixed and standard formats
B) allow users to develop custom reports
C) Produce hard-copy and soft-copy reports
D) all of the above

Question 59

An effective _____ MIS enables an organization to keep personnel costs at a minimum while serving the required business processes needed to achieve corporate goals.

A) financial
B) manufacturing
C) HR
D) sales

Question 60

Subsystems for the marketing MIS and their outputs help marketing managers and executives to _____.

A) accelerate product development
B) lower inventory levels and expenses
C) reduce marketing expenses
D) all of the above

Question 61

A(n) ______ system provides managers with information that supports effective decision making and provides feedback on daily operations.

Question 62

The use of MIS systems spans ______ levels of management.

Question 63

A manufacturing or architectural firm uses _____ software to develop a digital blueprint of its products prior to building them.

Question 64

_____ reports are reports that are automatically produced when a situation is unusual or requires management action.

Question 65

_____ is an approach that maintains inventory at the lowest levels without sacrificing the availability of finished products.

Question 66

A(n) _____ is any organizational unit that focuses on generating a profit for the firm.

Question 67

A(n) _____ MIS performs a number of important activities, providing aggregate information on accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, and many other applications.

Question 68

______ communications ties together and integrates various communications systems, including traditional phones, cell phones, e-mail, text messages, the Internet, and more.

Question 69

_____ is used when modeling the problem properly to get an optimal decision would be too difficult, complex, or costly.

Question 70

_____ reports are developed to provide certain information upon request.

Question 71

A(n) _____ DSS handles situations or decisions that occur more than once, usually several times per year or more.

Question 72

In the _____ decision making approach, members of a group offer suggestions "off the top of their heads."

Question 73

A Google _____ application has been developed that combines geothermal information with its mapping applications to help identify carbon emissions.

Question 74

An organization might hire an outside accounting firm to perform a(n) _____ to assess the financial condition of the firm and determine whether financial statements and reports produced by its financial MIS are accurate.

Question 75

______ reports provide increasingly detailed data about a situation so analysts can see data at a high level first and then at a more detailed level.

Question 76

_____ are commonly accepted guidelines or procedures that usually find a good solution.

Question 77

With the use of ______ and location analysis from cell phone towers, advertisers will be able to promote products and services in stores and shops that are close to people with cell phones.

Question 78

The purpose of _____ is to conduct a formal study of the market and customer preferences.

Question 79

_____ ratings show how ads convert to sales.

Question 80

Many of today's _____ systems concentrate on hiring and managing existing employees to get the total potential of the human talent in the organization.