CHAPTER 5: DECISION SUPPORT

TOOLS AND EXPERT SYSTEMS

I. Introduction

II. Management support systems

A. The impact of computers on
management of the enterprise
B. Managerial decision making (Exhibit 5.1)
1. Strategic management
2. Tactical management
3. Operational management
II. Management support systems (continued)

C. Programmed and non-programmed decisions

1. Programmed decisions
2. Non-programmed decisions

III. Management information systems

A. An information focus (Exhibit 5.2)
B. Structured information flow (Exhibit 5.3)
C. Integration of business functions (Exhibit 5.4)
D. Inquiry and report generation
IV. Decision support systems
A. Data management subsystem (Exhibit 5.5)
1. The DSS database
2. Data directory
3. Query facility
4. Extraction and interface capability

B. Model management subsystem

IV. Decision support systems (continued)

C. User interface (dialogue management)

subsystem
1. The action language
2. The display and presentation language
3. The knowledge base (Exhibit 5.6)
IV. Decision support systems (continued)
D. Model development and analysis
1. Planning
2. Research
3. Analysis
4. Design
5. Construction
6. Implementation
7. Maintenance
8. Evaluation

E. The DSS iterative development process

(Exhibit 5.7)
IV. Decision support systems (continued)

F. DSS development tools

1. Fourth generation languages (4GL)
2. Advanced spreadsheets
3. Financial modeling generators
4. Quantitative modeling systems
5. Work group software

G. Sensitivity analysis
H. Group decision support
V. Expert systems
A. Types of expert systems
1. Interpretation systems
2. Prediction systems
3. Diagnosis systems
4. Design systems
5. Monitoring systems
6. Debugging systems
7. Repair systems
8. Instruction system
9. Control systems
V. Expert systems (continued)

B. Heuristics
C. Expert systems functions and use
D. Benefits of expert systems
E. Expert systems in accounting (Exhibit 5.8)
1. Financial analysis
2. Expert systems in taxation
3. Expert systems in auditing
V. Expert systems (continued)

F. The structure of an expert system (Exhibit 5.9)

1. The user interface
2. The knowledge base
3. The inference engine
4. The maintenance facility

G. Problems of expert systems

V. Expert systems (continued)

H. Expert system construction

1. Knowledge acquisition and knowledge bases
2. Inferencing

I. Selecting the software tool

1. Expert system languages
2. Expert system shell software