UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2016/2017
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS IN
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BBIT 209 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
FULL TIME/PART TIME
DATE: DECEMBER, 2016 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE
a) Describe four algorithms used in i-DSS. (4 Marks)
b) Describe limitations that managers encounter in making decisions. (5 Marks)
c) Explain the relationship between problem solving and decision making. (4 Marks)
d) Explain any three purposes for which decision support systems may exist. (3 Marks)
e) Describe any three major interface styles that can be built into DSSs (6 Marks)
f) Explain the relationship between business intelligence and DSS (4 Marks)
g) Describe the following terms with reference to DSS. (4 Marks)
i. OLAP
ii. Knowledge management
iii. Data warehousing
iv. Intelligent systems
QUESTION TWO
A manufacturing company located in Rochester produces a wide range of consumer products. The
company is planning to produce a new kind of diaper. The managers are concerned about the success of
this new incentive. They have estimated production, inventory, and transportation costs as well as the
monthly demand for diapers. However, since this is a new product, the management has expressed the
following concerns:
Are the forecasts about future demand, price, and costs reliable?
Is this product worthy to be invested in?
What will be the return from such an investment?
How long will this project take to break even?
How are the changes in the inflation rate going to affect the profitability (net present
value) of this project?
a) Discuss in detail how the following decision support tools can be used to answer the questions
posed above. (12 Marks)
i. Forecasting
ii. Sensitivity analysis
iii. Simulation model.
b) Describe at least four scenarios where a modeling tool can be used (8 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a) Distinguish between data-directed and goal-directed analysis in rule-based systems. Which is
preferred for medical diagnostic systems and why?
(6 Marks)
b) Using relevant examples differentiate between the following decision theories: descriptive,
prescriptive and normative (9 Marks)
c) Describe five types of systems in the DSS hierarchy (5 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a) Using a well-illustrated diagram describe the components in a DSS architecture. (10 Marks)
b) Some people believe that managers do not need to know the internal structure of the model and the
technical aspects of modeling. “It is like the telephone or the elevator, you just use it.” Others
claim that this is not the case and the opposite is true. Discuss.
(10 Marks)
QUESTION FIVE
a) Recognize and assess the integration of multiple techniques in DSS development tools.
(7 Marks)
b) Outline the organizational computing field and discuss its relevance to the decision support system.
(7 Marks)
c) Discuss under what circumstances might designers be more concerned about the “appropriateness
of the format” of the information than the “timeliness” of the information. (6 Marks)
