O'Brien CoverManagement Information Systems 4/e - James A. O'Brien
Online Learning Center 

Chapter 11: Information Systems for Managerial Decision Support


Application Exercises
Application Exercises

1. The ADCAD System.

Evaluate the ADCAD expert system on page 488 in the chapter. Write up you evaluation based on the following points.

  1. The components of an expert system that you recognize (See Figure 11-28)

  2. How well it fits the suitability criteria and application categories for expert systems (See Figures 11-31 and 11-34).

  3. The benefits and limitations of this expert system.


2. ES at Canada Trust

Evaluate the SIMR expert systems of Canada Trust on page 490 in the chapter. Write up your evaluation based on the following points:

  1. The components of an expert system that you recognize (See Figure 11-28)

  2. How well it fits the suitability criteria and application categories for expert systems (See Figures 11-31 and 11-34).

  3. The benefits and limitations of this expert system.


3. Computer Systems at Action Products

Your department is planning to purchase new personal computers for as many staff members as possible up to 20. All PCs purchased are to be identically configured. From discussions with employees you have determined a set of minimum requirements and a set of desired features for the PCs. You have gotten a price quote from a local vendor for these units. The quote received was in the form of a base price per unit for the minimum configuration plus an indication of the added cost for upgrading to each of the desired features. The price quoted is valid for purchases of 15 or more units. The information on the price quote from Action Products is as follows:

Unit Cost of Base PC and Options
(purchase of at least 15 Units required)
Base Price $1 899
Upgrades  
To 16 MB RAM 325
To 17 in. Monitor 129
To 2.5 GB Hard Drive 159
To 8 X CD-ROM drive 89


Assume that the upgrade items are listed in order from highest to lowest priority and that there is a fixed budget of $45 000 for the purchase of these PCs.

  1. Create a spreadsheet that will allow you to analyse the possible configuration alternatives and their impact on costs. Modify your spreadsheet to analyse the three alternatives and any additional ones you would recommend. Attach a printed listing of each alternative to a memo summarizing your results.

    1. Purchase 20 units and get as many upgrades as possible in priority order as previously described. Your spreadsheet should show the total cost and how many upgrade features could be purchased.

    2. Purchase units with all of the upgrades listed and buy as many units as you can under the $45 000 budget.

    3. Purchase 20 units and get as many upgrades as possible except for the RAM upgrades. This upgrade might be shifted to the lowest priority because it would be easier to add RAM at a later time than to add any of the other upgrades.


4. Jackson City School District

The Jackson City School District has five high schools. The following table lists current enrollment and the number of teachers currently assigned to each high school. The district has established a goal of ensuring that there is at least one teacher for every 25 students in each high school. (You can divide the number of students by the number of teachers to determine the ratio for each school.) Is it possible to achieve this goal without increasing the number of teachers in the district?

School Students Teachers
Lincoln High 1587 67
Kennedy High 1704 69
Canaveral High 1438 59
Washington High 1699 68
Granite High 1505 66


  1. One suggested method for achieving this goal is to pay transportation expenses for students who are willing to transfer from overcrowded schools to less crowded schools. Use goal seeking analysis to determine the number of students who would have to transfer to get all of the schools below the 1 to 25 ratio.

  2. A second alternative is to transfer teachers from less crowded schools to schools that are overcrowded. Use goal seeking analysis to determine the number of teachers who would have to transfer to each overcrowded school to get all schools below the 1 to 25 ratio.

HomeChapter IndexPreviousNext

Begin a search: Catalog | Site | Campus Rep

MHHE Home | About MHHE | Help Desk | Legal Policies and Info | Order Info | What's New | Get Involved


Copyright ©1998 The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved.Any use is subject to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education is one of the many fine businesses of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
For further information about this site contact mhhe_webmaster@mcgraw-hill.com.

Corporate Link