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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
57) You would use location analytics to determine how best to route your deliveries of products
to retail outlets.
58) A geographic information system is a decision support system designed specifically to work
with spatial information.
59) Big data is commonly used to analyze and predict consumer preferences.
60) Data visualization technologies are used to help human users see patterns and relationships in
large amounts of data.
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.
62) What is a GIS? Describe at least three ways in which a GIS could be used by modern
business.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
78) DSS primarily address structured problems.
79) MIS typically produce fixed, regularly scheduled reports based on data extracted and
summarized from the firm’s underlying transaction processing systems.
80) DSS are a special category of GIS.
81) What-if analysis works forward from known or assumed conditions.
82) Backward sensitivity analysis software is used for goal seeking.
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.
84) Web-based tools for videoconferencing and electronic meetings are the primary tools for
GDSS.
85) During a GDSS meeting, the attendees control the use of GDSS tools.
86) KPI analysis is the leading methodology for understanding the most important information
needed by a firm’s executives.
87) Describe MIS and DSS and differentiate between them.
88) What is the business value of a DSS?
89) Describe the balanced scorecard model and its role in ESS.