ISM3003 FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE Chapter 4 IT for Decision Support Agent based technology or software agent it is a type of artificial intelligence small piece of software that acts on your behalf performing tasks assigned to it o 5 main categories autonomous agent distributed agent mobile agent intelligent agent and multi agent system Artificial intelligence the science of making machines that imitate human thinking and behavior o 4 main categories expert systems neural networks fuzzy logic genetic algorithms and agent based technologies Autonomous agent a type of agent based technology software agent that can adapt and alter the manner in which it attempts to achieve its assigned task Buyer agent or shopping agents it is an information agent on a Web site and help you the consumer find products and services that you need Cartographic or business geography when businesses use Geographic Information Systems software to generate maps showing information of interest Data management the data management component of a DSS Decision Support System performs the functions of storing and maintaining information and also that of giving you access to information you want your DSS to use Data mining agent it is an intelligence agent that operates in a data warehouse discovering information o Most common type of data mining is classification which finds patterns in info and categorizes items into those classes neural networks do this the best therefore it s part of data mining o These agents may detect major shift in a trend or a key indicator and can detect the presence of new info and alert you o This is important because it can alert the managers early and formulate a plan to protect themselves Decision support system any technology based system would be classified as DSS highly flexible and interactive IT system that is designed to support decision making when the situation includes no structured elements o 3 main objectives simple and easy to use graphical user interface GUI access to large amounts of information and models and tools stats analytical that you can use to massage the information Distributed agent it is a type of agent based technology software agent that works on multiple distinct computer systems Expert system or knowledge based system it is a type of artificial intelligence it applies reasoning capabilities to reach a conclusion o They are good for diagnostic problems What s wrong and prescriptive problems What to do o These systems are usually built for s specific application area called a domain For example in accounting for tax planning auditing or HR to determine whether a company is in compliance with an array of federal employment laws Fuzzy logic it is a type of artificial intelligence that goes with neural networks is a mathematical method of handling imprecise or subjective information It assigns values between 0 and 1 to vague or ambiguous information The higher the value the closer it is to 1 For example you might assigned the value of 8 to the value hot then you would construct an algorithm to describe the interdependence among the variable o A fuzzy logic algorithm set of steps that relate variable representing inexact information or personal perceptions Genetic algorithm it is a type of artificial intelligence it mimics the evolutionary survival of the fittest process to generate increasingly better solutions to problems Geographic information systems it is a type of DSS designed specifically to analyze spatial information Ill defined not having a clear description Implementation 4th step APPLY THE FIX carries out the chose solution monitor the results and make adjustments as necessary Like quality control o 1st step Intelligence or diagnostic phase WHAT TO FIX find or recognize a problem need or opportunity o 2nd step Design FIND FIXES consider possible ways of solving the problem filling the need or taking advantage of the opportunity You can use the break even analysis o 3rd step Choice or prescriptive phase PICK A FIX examine and weigh the merits of each solution estimate the consequences of each and choose the best one which may be to do nothing at all The best solution may depend on costs ease of implementation staffing requirements and timing o NOTE the 4 phase process is not necessarily linear you may find it useful or necessary to cycle back to an earlier phase For example in the CHOICE phase you may find another possible solution so you would have to go back to the DESIGN phase include the newly found solution return to the CHOICE phase and compare the new solutions to the others that you generated Information agent it is a type of intelligent agent that searches for information of some kind and brings it back For example a buyer agent or shopping agent Intelligent agent it is a type of agent based technology incorporates artificial intelligence capabilities such as learning and reasoning to assist you or act on your behalf in performing repetitive computer related tasks Knowledge management system another word for expert systems Machine intelligence another word for artificial intelligence Model management The model management component of a wide variety of statistical and analytical tools techniques and models These will depend greatly on the decision making task at hand Monitoring and surveillance agent it is a type of intelligent agent constantly observes and reports on some entity of interest a network or manufacturing equipment Multi agent system it is a type of agent based technology group of intelligent agents that have the ability to work independently but must also work with each other in order to achieve their assigned task o These are being used to model stock market fluctuations or even predict the escape routes that people seek in a burning building Neural network artificial neural network or ANN it is a type of artificial intelligence capable of finding and differentiating patterns It learns by example and can adapt to new concepts and knowledge o They are used for visual patterns and speech recognition systems o Most useful for identification classification and predictions when a vast amount of information is available Predictive agents or predictive analytics highly computational data mining technology that uses information and business intelligence to build a predictive model for a given business application o All about using historical information to predict future events and outcomes o Prediction goal is the question you want