The Second Exam Will Cover the Following Material

Test #2 Review Sheet The second exam will cover the following material:  Artificial Intelligence  Spreadsheets and Microsoft Excel  RFID and IT for Supply Chain Management (SCM)  Decision Making/Decision Support Systems (including GIS and ESS)  Microsoft Access and Database Design  Looking at the Quality of Data and Information  XML (introductory only)  Review items/topics that were frequently missed on the first exam. Please note the review items/topics that were frequently missed on the first exam. Each of those items seen below is eligible to appear on this exam as well. There will be multiple choice and True/False questions. The questions will cover the following topics: You will need to know the systems listed below in quite a bit of depth. You should be able to compare/contrast the systems, knowing the characteristics of each system and how it is typically used. On the exam, you will see LOTS of situational questions, where I will describe something that is happening, and then you will need to select the system from the 5 choices on the exam that will BEST meet the needs of that situation. KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THE EXAMPLES GIVEN FOR EACH ONE.  Decision Support Systems  Executive Information Systems  Geospatial Information System  Transaction Processing System  Expert Systems  Neural Networks  Genetic Algorithms  Intelligent Agents You must THOROUGHLY UNDERSTAND the systems listed above. Over 50% of your exam questions will cover the systems listed above. Other areas to study are listed below. I also suggested that you take a look at a resource from another text, the pdf file that forms that basis of the classroom presentations for Decision Support Systems and Artificial Intelligence. You can access the pdf file by clicking on this highlighted link. Decision Support Systems  Describe  What types of problems can best be solved with a decision support system?  What is the basic difference between programmed/structured decisions and nonprogrammed/unstructured decisions? Know examples of each type of decision/situation.  What is the difference between optimization and satisficing?  What is the basic difference between a decision support system and artificial intelligence systems?  What is the basic purpose of an executive information system and what are its features/characteristics? What is a digital dashboard?  What are the characteristics of a geospatial information system? Know several examples of how it is used, or how it can be used. Please review the Geospatial Information Systems (Geographical Information Systems) pages in your text and in the pdf file.  Command Post of the Future (CPOF) is an example of what?  What is the Excel Solver? What does it do? What are constraints and what are the role of constraints? When using the Solver, are you using a satisficing technique or an optimization technique?   Evaluate  What are the characteristics of a decision support system? Under what circumstances would someone use a DSS versus using some form of artificial intelligence? Artificial Intelligence  Describe  What is the basic difference between a decision support system and artificial intelligence systems?  Know the different forms of artificial intelligence and when each one is typically used  How are rules and IF statements used in expert systems?  When talking about artificial intelligence, what is the role of fuzzy logic?  Know the 4 different types of intelligent agents (definition and examples of what they do). How is one form different from other forms?  Know what data-mining is and how data warehouses are considered to be multidimensional. What is a cube? It would be a good idea to understand the different aspects of a cube and how it can be “sliced and diced”. This was mentioned in class and it can also be seen in the PowerPoint slide where cubes A, B and C are seen.  For each of the artificial intelligence systems, what human ability is being “mimicked” and how does that particular system go about solving business problems? Know specific business examples for each.  How does an expert system function? What happens when you use it?  Be able to distinguish between the following types of agents: data-mining agent vs information agent vs monitoring & surveillance agent vs user agent. Know examples of each.  What form of artificial intelligence is able to learn and modify itself as a result of its learning?  What form of artificial intelligence is able to apply reasoning capabilities to solve a problem?  What form of artificial intelligence compares and searches for matches?  Evaluate  Know the difference between a DSS vs expert system vs genetic algorithm vs neural network vs intelligent agent. Know the characteristics of each and applications of where each could be used.  Know the difference between the following systems: TPS, DSS, Executive Support Systems, Geospatial Information Systems, and artificial intelligence.  Make sure that you are able to distinguish between when a neural network should be used versus when an expert system should be used versus when a genetic algorithm should be used versus when someone should use a DSS. Expect situational questions where I will present a situation and then ask you what type of system should be used to solve the problem.  You will see LOTS of scenario questions where I will ask that you indicate which system would BEST solve the problem. Expect 4-5 of these types of questions for each system mentioned above. Database Theory, Database Design and Microsoft Access  Identify  What is a primary key and know the best examples of primary keys.  When using Access, which tab/area allows you to create and view the relationships between the various tables that you have created?  Describe  Be able to describe/define and distinguish between each of the following: character, field, record, table.  Be able to distinguish between an instance, attribute, entity class, and an integrity constraint. Know examples of each one of those items.  What is a query and how do you make one?  What happens when you create the structure of a database?  What is the difference between a filter and a Query?  What is the role of a relationship between multiple tables and what is the basis for making a relationship?  What happens when you select to enforce referential integrity?  What is an integrity constraint? Be able to provide several examples of integrity constraints that someone might decide to create. Spreadsheets and Microsoft Excel. Although you won’t have to create anything in Excel, being able to apply the Excel skills that you learned will be crucial for success on the exam.  Describe  What is the difference between absolute, mixed and relative cell references? How do you create each type of reference?  Apply  Be able to create an absolute and mixed cell reference.  Know how to create interactive cell references that refer to other locations.  In the PMT function, why did you divide something by 12? Why did you multiply something by 12? Why did you enter the loan amount into the 3rd function argument box as a negative number?  What do each of the arguments used in the PMT function (what does each box represent)?  PivotTables: make sure that you know what a PivotTable is and how it can be used. Make sure that you are familiar with how to create one. Know the different parts of the PivotTable wizard (drop data fields here, drop row fields here, drop column fields here, drop report filter fields here). What is the purpose of the report filters/slicers?  Why do businesses create/use pivot tables?  Subtotals: Make sure you know how to apply subtotals in Excel, and what you must actually do before specifying the subtotals command.  You will be given a problem statement. Given that problem statement, create the BY statement prior to creating a pivot table and then be able to create the required pivot table using that information.  When doing the “Move Values to Rows” operation, know what does and does not get “moved.” How can you tell which fields get moved?  For each of the following, know what it is, how it is used and be able to compare and contrast: Solver, Goal Seek, What-If Analysis, One Variable data tables, Two Variable data tables, Scenario Manager.  For each of the items listed in the prior bullet, know what you created in tutorial #2 and how you used that particular feature.  NEW: If I give you a bunch of items and their prices, as well as a sales tax rate, know how to construct the formula to determine sales tax and the final amount owed. If I give you someone’s income before taxes and their income tax rate, know how to determine their income after paying their income tax. Excel Macros. 1. What is the difference between a recorded macro and a written macro? 2. What are the benefits and weaknesses of using a recorded macro? 3. How do you record a macro? 4. Which Excel tab/menu is used to access Excel’s macro functionality? 5. Make sure that you study the PowerPoint slides seen in class. RFID and Supply Chain Management (SCM)  Identify  Who are the players in a supply chain?  Is the return of defective products part of the supply chain?  Describe  Be able to describe how RFID works.  Explain ITs role in the supply chain.  Why is it important to have a global inventory management system? Describe the role of RFID in global inventory management.  What is the upstream and downstream as it relates to SCM?  Evaluate  How is Radio Frequency Identification used and how might it be used in the future? How does it compare to other input devices? Looking at the Quality of Data and Information  What are the common characteristics of high-quality information?  Compare and contrast the common characteristics of high-quality information. For each characteristic, know examples of each one.  Be able to explain the sources of low-quality information.  What is information cleansing/scrubbing?  Be able to compare/contrast and discuss the business need of having accurate information versus having complete information. What are the thoughts regarding how much of each that an organization should have? XML: Extensible Markup Language  What is XML?  How is XML used?  What is the basic difference between HTML and XML? Review items from the first exam 1. Be able to distinguish between data, information and business intelligence. Know examples of each. 2. What is cloud computing? How is it accomplished? What are its characteristics? What is the “software as a service model?” 3. Know the characteristics of a DSS and when it would be used. 4. Make sure that you receive the following functions and understand what goes where (and why) in the function wizard (IF, VLOOKUP, PMT) 5. What is the difference between a structured decision and a nonstructured decision? Know examples of each type and what is used to solve each type of problem. 6. In a PMT function, why do you divide by 12 and multiply by 12? 7. What is the role of the TPS and how is it used to automate business processes? 8. Be able to distinguish between automation, streamlining, bottleneck and business process reengineering. 9. What is the difference between something that is subjective vs objective? 10. What is the difference between something that is qualitative vs quantitative?