Badie N. Farah

The status of marketing information systems, decision support systems and expert systems in the marketing function of U.S. firms

Abstract A survey of the current status of Marketing Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, and Expert Systems was made in a group of U.S. firms. A questionnaire was first developed from an extensive review of the marketing and information systems literature. Major issues addressed were: (1) the level of use of marketing information systems, decision support systems, or expert systems in the marketing function, and (2) the level of use of the various systems in specific marketing activities. The study identifies the development, use, and possible future applications of these systems in marketing.

Expert systems: An application in flexible manufacturing

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are needed to provide manufacturing operations with the capability to adjust, in real time, to changes in the manufacturing environment. Realization of the goals of flexible manufacturing is governed by the ability of the FMS to maintain adequate information on the factory to assist in generating scenarios from product planning to operations and performance. This leads to a view where the factory is represented as an integrated information system. To facilitate the analysis of information requirements and the design of information systems for flexible manufacturing, an expert support system (ESS) which can be used to model and study the various structures is described. This ESS uses the information cell model to build these information structures. Petri net representations of these structures and their interactions are then constructed. The ESS may now be used to exercise these models and study their performance using time and cost measures.

Teaching Management of Information Resources: A Course Description.

This paper describes the contents, requirements, and pedagogy of a course in information resources management. This course deals with subjects of importance to business, industry and governmental agencies. The multiplicity and complexity of issues necessitates a diversified yet comprehensive approach to presenting the material to the students as well as designing the course requirements. These requirements are exhibited in a variety of assignments designed to sharpen the skills of the students in the subject of information resources management, as well as providing them a practical experience in solving business problems. The paper details the types and contents of the required assignments, as well as how these assignments are graded. Furthermore, it describes the assessment of these assignments and the class structure established by the students themselves. Data that have been collected from students over several classes are presented and analyzed.

SYSTEMS ANALYSIS AND DESIGN COURSE: A PROJECT ORIENTATION

This paper describes a systems analysis and design course that requires students to engage in the analysis of a real-life business problem that motivates a computer information system solution, and then design such an information system. However, to facilitate what could be a major undertaking for any student, the students are engaged in a sequence of projects in which the real-life project is the final project. The sequence progresses in difficulty, allowing the students to accumulate the necessary experience and to learn the needed tools to complete the final real-life project.

Expert support systems design issues

Expert support systems (ESSs) promise valuable support to decision-makers in business settings where a number of complex and interacting decisions must be accommodated. Even though the proliferation of ESSs in business has been limited, the issues involved in designing such systems need to be addressed so that development resources are well utilized and the end product is successful. This paper addresses the following questions: What are the factors that affect the successful design of an ESS? And how do these factors affect the design process? These factors are identified by considering factors that are relevant to MIS development and how they relate to the new technology of expert systems. A prototype ESS is used to illustrate the issues addressed in this paper.