Chapter 4
Decision Support and
Artificial Intelligence
Brainpower for Your
Business
1
Introduction

Types of computer-aided decision support.

Figure 4.1 pg 134
2
Management Problem solving
Model






Problem or opportunity
Objectives
Alternatives
Analysis of alternatives
Recommendation
Implementation
3
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
How You Make a Decision

Four phases of
decision
making
Figure 4.2 pg 135

4
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Types of Decisions You Face
Figure 4.3 pg 136
5

Structured



How many workers
to staff line A
What is the EOQ for
raw material Z
How many turbines
to power Lethbridge?

Unstructured



What are the
benefits of merging
with XYZ
How will consumer
react if we lower the
price by 10%
What are the
benefits of
MacDonalds
opening up Hotels
6
Decision Support Systems

Decision support system (DSS) - highly flexible
and interactive IT system that is designed to support
decision making when the problem is not structured.
7
Decision Support Systems
Components of a Decision Support System
Figure 4.5 pg 138
8
Collaboration System

Collaboration
system – software
that is designed
specifically to improve
the performance of
teams by supporting
the sharing and flow of
information.
Figure 4.6 pg 141
9
Geographic Information Systems

Geographic information system (GIS)
- a decision support system designed to
work with spatial information.

Spatial information is any information that
can be shown in map form, such as roads,
the distribution of bald eagle populations,
and the layout of electrical lines.
10
Geographic Information Systems
http://www.corda.com/examples/go/
11
Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) - the

Robot - mechanical device equipped
science of making machines imitate
____________ thinking and behavior.
with simulated ____________ senses
and the capability of taking action on
its own.
12
Artificial Intelligence
The AI systems that businesses use most can
be classified into four categories:

1.
Expert systems
3.
________ networks
Genetic ________
4.
Intelligent agents
2.
5.
6.
7.
Robotics - industry
Artifical Vision – sort mail
Natural Language processing - input
13
Expert Systems
Expert system, or knowledgebased system - ________

________system that applies
reasoning capabilities to reach a
conclusion.

Internal medicine, investments, tax
planning, engineers, accountants etc
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Expert Systems
Components of an Expert System

Expert systems are good for diagnostic (what’s
wrong?) and prescriptive (what to do?)
problems.
15
Expert Systems
Components of an Expert System
Figure 4.10 pg 150
16
Expert Systems
What Expert Systems Can and Can’t Do

An expert system can:




Reduce ________
Improve customer service
________ costs
An expert system can’t:



Use common sense
________ all processes
Limited ability to learn
17
Neural Networks

Neural network (often called an
artificial neural network or ANN) an artificial intelligence system that is
capable of finding and ____________
patterns.
18
Neural Networks
Types of Neural Networks

Self-organizing neural
network - finds _______ and
__________ in vast amounts of
data by itself.

Back-propagation neural
network - a neural network
trained by someone.
19
Neural Networks
Inside a Neural Network
Figure 4.11 pg 155
20
Genetic Algorithms

Genetic algorithm - an artificial
intelligence system that mimics the
________, survival-of-the-fittest
process to generate increasingly better
solutions to a problem.
21
Genetic Algorithms

Genetic algorithms use three concepts
of evolution:



_________ — survival of the fittest.
_________— combining portions of good
outcomes in the hope of creating an even
better outcome.
________ — randomly trying
combinations and evaluating the success
(or failure) of the outcome.
22
Intelligent Agents

Intelligent agent - software that

Four types of intelligent agents include:
assists you, or acts on your behalf, in
performing repetitive computer-related
tasks.




Buyer agents or shopping bots
User or personal agents
Monitoring-and-surveillance or predictive agents
Data-mining agents
23