UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2018/2019
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN
DATA ANALYICS/MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT
MDA 5203/ MISM 5203: DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS
DATE: DECEMBER 2016 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE
a. Explain the key areas that determine the relative difficulty of a decision (4 Marks)
b. Outline the typology of decisions used to categorize decisions (3 Marks)
c. Explain any three Optimizing strategies (6 Marks)
d. A fully formed problem statement contains three key components. Examine these
components (3 Marks)
e. What factors promotes groupware development (4 Marks)
QUESTION TWO
a. Explain the basic steps in the inference control cycle (3 Marks)
b. What are the dimensions for Knowledge Acquisition? (3 Marks)
c. ANNs are simple computer-based programs whose function is to model a problem space
based on trial and error. Discuss the learning process experienced in ANNs (9 Marks)
QUESTION THREE
a. Differentiate between a data warehouse, operational data store and a data mart
(3 Marks)
b. Describe the knowledge Discovery Search process (5 Marks)
c. Discuss the applicability of the Market Basket Analysis methodology in decision making
(7 Marks)
QUESTION FOUR
a. Explain the two common learning paradigms in machine learning (6 Marks)
b. What is GIS used for? How does it support decision making? (2 Marks)
c. What sources of knowledge would you consider while collecting knowledge for each of
the following systems? Describe them.
i.An advisory system on investment in residential real estate. (2 Marks)
ii.An advisory system for tax returns (2 Marks)
d. Explain the structure of an expert system and describe the functionality of each module.
(3 Marks)
