BUS108 FINAL EXAM short answers

Briefly explain the difference between explicit and tacit knowledge. Give an example of each.

Explicit knowledge is objective and can be measured and documented in reports, papers, and rules. For example, knowing the best road to take to minimize driving time from home to the office when a major highway is closed is explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is hard to measure and document and typically is not objective or formalized. Knowing the best way to negotiate with a foreign government about nuclear disarmament or a volatile hostage situation often requires a lifetime of experience and a high level of skill. These are examples of tacit knowledge.

Identify several specific characteristics of intelligent behaviour

Intelligent behavior is the ability to learn from experiences and apply knowledge acquired from those experiences; to handle complex situations; to solve problems when important information is missing; to determine what is important and to react quickly and correctly to a new situation; to understand visual images, process and manipulate symbols, be creative and imaginative; and to use heuristics

What is a data warehouse, and how is it different from a traditional database used to support OLTP?

data warehouse is a database that holds business information from many sources in the enterprise, covering all aspects of the company's processes, products, and customers. Data warehouses allow managers to drill down to get greater detail or roll up to take detailed data and generate aggregate or summary reports. The primary purpose is to relate information in innovative ways and help managers and executives make better decisions.

How would you define the term database? How would you define the term "database management system"

A database is a well-designed, organized, and carefully managed collection of data. A database management system (DBMS) consists of a group of programs used to access and manage a database as well as provide an interface between the database and its users and other application programs.

What is an enterprise system? Identify and briefly discuss the goals of three types of enterprise systems.

An enterprise system is central to individuals and organizations of all sizes and ensures that information can be shared across all business functions and all levels of management to support the running and managing of a business. Examples of enterprise systems include: enterprise resource planning systems that support supply chain processes, such as order processing, inventory management, and purchasing; customer relationship management systems that support sales, marketing, and customer service-related processes; supply chain management systems that has the goal of decreasing costs and improving customer service while reducing the overall investment in inventory in the supply chain.

Identify and briefly define six characteristics that describe the quality of data.

1. Accessible- Information should be easily accessible by authorized users so they can obtain it in the right format and at the right time to meet their needs. 2. Accurate- Accurate information is error free. In some cases, inaccurate information is generated because inaccurate data is fed into the transformation process. This is commonly called garbage in, garbage out (GIGO). 3. Complete- Complete information contains all the important facts. For example, an investment report that does not include all important costs is not complete. 4. Timely-Timely information is delivered when it is needed. Knowing last week's weather conditions will not help when trying to decide what coat to wear today 5.Secure- Information should be secure from access by unauthorized users. 6. Verifiable- Information should be verifiable. This means that you can check it to make sure it is correct, perhaps by checking many sources for the same information.

What is big data? Identify three characteristics associated with big data.

Big data is the term used to describe data collections that are so enormous (terabytes or more) and complex (from sensor data to social media data) that traditional data management software, hardware, and analysis processes are incapable of dealing with them. There are three characteristics associated with big data - volume, velocity, and variety.

What is an information system? What is the role of feedback in a system?

An information system is a set of interrelated elements or components that collect (input), manipulate and store (process), and disseminate (output) data and information and provide a feedback mechanism to meet an objective. In information systems, feedback is information from the system that is used to make changes to input or processing activities.

What is data mining? Identify three commonly used data mining techniques

Data mining is a BI analytics tool used to explore large amounts of data for hidden patterns to predict future trends and behaviors for use in decision making. Used appropriately, data mining tools enable organizations to make predictions about what will happen so that managers can be proactive in capitalizing on opportunities and avoiding potential problems. Among the three most commonly used data mining techniques are association analysis (a specialized set of algorithms sorts through data and forms statistical rules about relationships among the items), neural computing (historical data is examined for patterns that are then used to make predictions), and case-based reasoning (historical if-then-else cases are used to recognize patterns).