Survey The Literature From The Past

Survey The Literature From The Past

Questions for Discussion Survey the literature from the past six months to find one application each for DSS, BI, and analytics. Summarize the applications on one page, and submit it with the exact sources. Your company is considering opening a branch in China. List typical activities in each phase of the decision (intelligence, design, choice, and implementation) regarding whether to open a branch. You are about to buy a car. Using Simon’s (1977) four-phase model, describe your activities at each step in making the decision. Explain, through an example, the support given to decision makers by computers in each phase of the decision process. Comment on Simon’s (1977) philosophy that managerial decision making is synonymous with the whole process of management. Does this make sense? Explain. Use a real-world example in your explanation. Review the major characteristics and capabilities of DSS. How does each of them relate to the major components of DSS? List some internal data and external data that could be found in a DSS for a university’s admissions office. Distinguish BI from DSS. Compare and contrast predictive analytics with prescriptive and descriptive analytics. Use examples. Discuss the major issues in implementing BI. Exercises Teradata University Network and Other Hands-On Exercises Go to the TUN site teradatauniversitynetwork.com. Using the site password your instructor provides, register for the site if you have not already previously registered. Log on and learn the content of the site. You will receive assignments related to this site. Prepare a list of 20 items on the site that you think could be beneficial to you. Go to. Explore the Sports Analytics page, and summarize at least two applications of analytics in any sport of your choice. Go to. The TUN site, and select “Cases, Projects, and Assignments.” Then select the case study “Harrah’s High Payoff from Customer Information.” Answer the following questions about this case: What information does the data mining generate? How is this information helpful to management in decision making? (Be specific.) List the types of data that are mined. Is this a DSS or BI application? Why? Go to teradatauniversitynetwork.com and find the paper titled “Data Warehousing Supports Corporate Strategy at First American Corporation” (by Watson, Wixom, and Goodhue). Read the paper, and answer the following questions: What were the drivers for the DW/BI project in the company? What strategic advantages were realized? What operational and tactical advantages were achieved? What were the critical success factors for the implementation? Go to and find the article titled “Predictive Analytics—Saving Lives and Lowering Medical Bills” in the January/February 2012 edition titled “Special Issue: The Future of Healthcare.” Read it and answer: What problem is being addressed by applying predictive analytics? What is the FICO Medication Adherence Score? How is a prediction model trained to predict the FICO Medication Adherence Score HoH? Did the prediction model classify the FICO Medication Adherence Score? Zoom in on Figure 4, and explain what technique is applied to the generated results. List some of the actionable decisions based on the prediction results. Go to and find the January/February 2013 edition titled “Work Social.” Read the article “Big Data, Analytics and Elections,” and answer: What kinds of Big Data were analyzed? Comment on some sources of Big Data. Explain the term “integrated system.” What is another technical term that suits an integrated system? What data analysis techniques are employed? Comment on initiatives resulting from data analysis. What prediction problems do models answer, and what actions are taken? List two additional applications of Big Data analytics not in the article. Search the Internet for material regarding the work of managers and the role analytics plays in it. What references to consulting firms, academic departments, and programs do you find? What major areas are represented? Select five sites covering one area and report your findings. Explore the public areas of dssresources.com and prepare a list of major available resources. You might refer to this site when working through the book. Visit microstrategy.com. Find information on the five styles of BI and prepare a summary table for each style. Go to oracle.com, click the Hyperion link under Applications, and identify major products, relating them to support technologies cited in this chapter. Next, visit the TUN questions site and locate BSI videos. Review the “Case of Retail Tweeters” video, prepare a one-page summary of the problem, proposed solution, and results. Also, find associated slides on slideshare.net. Review the Analytics Ecosystem section, identify at least two companies in industry clusters, and discuss the roles of analytics in those sectors. Research sites like datasciencecentral.com and tdwi.org for at least three interesting job titles in analytics or data science. Visit Brainspace at MIT (brainspace.com), view the “Augmented Human Intelligence” video, and write a report on activities enabling collaboration between humans and machines. Find information about IBM Watson’s healthcare activities and write a report. Examine Daniel Power’s DSS Resources site at dssresources.com, take the Decision Support Systems Web Tour, and list three recent resources related to analytics, describing their topics.