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510 Part Three Key System Applications for the Digital Age

Discussion Questions

1. As a manager or user of information systems, 3. How much can business intelligence and
what would you need to know to participate in business analytics help companies refine their
the design and use of a DSS or an ESS? Why? business strategy? Explain your answer.
2. If businesses used DSS, GDSS, and ESS more
widely, would managers and employees make
better decisions? Why or why not?

Hands-On MIS Projects

The projects in this section give you hands-on experience identifying opportunities for DSS, using a
spreadsheet pivot table to analyze sales data, and online retirement planning tools for financial planning.

Management Decision Problems

1. Dealerships for Subaru and other automobile manufacturers keep records of the mileage of cars they sell
and service. Mileage data are used to remind customers of when they need to schedule service
appointments, but they are used for other purposes as well. What kinds of decisions does this piece of data
support at the local level and at the corporate level? What would happen if this piece of data were
erroneous, for example, showing mileage of 130,000 instead of 30,000? How would it affect decisionmak-
ing? Assess its business impact.
2. Applebee’s is the largest casual dining chain in the world, with over 1800 locations throughout the U.S. and
also in 20 other countries. The menu features beef, chicken, and pork items, as well as burgers, pasta, and
seafood. Applebee’s CEO wants to make the restaurant more profitable by developing menus that are tastier
and contain more items that customers want and are willing to pay for despite rising costs for gasoline and
agricultural products. How might business intelligence help management implement this strategy? What
pieces of data would Applebee’s need to collect? What kinds of reports would be useful to help management
make decisions on how to improve menus and profitability?

Improving Decision Making: Using Pivot Tables to Analyze Sales Data
Software skills: Pivot tables
Business skills: Analyzing sales data
This project gives you an opportunity to learn how to use Excel’s PivotTable feature to analyze a database
or data list. Use the data file for Online Management Training Inc. described earlier in the chapter. This
is a list of the sales transactions at OMT for one day. You can find this spreadsheet file at MyMISLab. Use
Excel’s PivotTable to help you answer the following questions:

• Where are the average purchases higher? The answer might tell managers where to focus marketing and
sales resources, or pitch different messages to different regions.
• What form of payment is the most common? The answer could be used to emphasize in advertising the
most preferred means of payment.
• Are there any times of day when purchases are most common? Do people buy are products while at work
(likely during the day) or at home (likely in the evening)?
• What’s the relationship between region, type of product purchased, and average sales price?
We provide instructions on how to use Excel PivotTables in our Learning Tracks.

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