Chapter-5

Supporting Work
Outline
5.1 Supporting Decision Making
5.2 Supporting Collaboration
5.3 Supporting Knowledge Work
5.1 Supporting Decision Making
• Decision making is a process that involves a variety of activities, most
of which deal with handling information.
• The following are the basic systems related to supporting decision
making
• Business Intelligence
• Decision support systems (DSSs)
• Data mining
• Executive information systems (EISs)
• Expert systems (ESs)
• Agent-based modeling
Business Intelligence
• Business Intelligence (BI) is a broad set of concepts, methods, and
technologies to improve context-sensitive business decision making by
using information-centric support systems.
• Managers should be able to gather, filter, and analyze large quantities data
from a variety of sources in real time, or near real time, mode. They
should be able to navigate through these terabytes of data to assess
current market conditions and explore future business scenarios.
• Most of the BI software currently available in the market provide tools for
metadata management, data transformation and integration, data quality,
data analysis, analytics applications, financial planning and performance
management, and enterprise reporting.
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Business Intelligence
• Central to BI Is the Notion of Sense Making. Sense making refers to the ability to be aware of and
assess situations that seem important to the organization.
• Situation assessment is the process of fitting observed data into a predetermined model. While
situational awareness is driven by the discovery of events or facts, assessment is bounded by the
manager’s education and training, past experiences, and cognitive capabilities.
• To achieve situation awareness, BI seeks to design an IT-enabled infrastructure to enhance
collaboration among employees, and support them in the planning, execution, and monitoring of
decisions.
• Operationally, the goal of BI is to help its user generate actions to control the assessed situation.
• BI models allow identification of business objectives, definition of constraints, evaluation of
alternate solutions, and decision making.
• They include, but are not limited to,
• data and document warehousing, data and document mining, Web mining, score boarding, visualization,
trend analysis and forecasting, multidimensional analysis, and neural networks.
Decision support systems (DSSs)

• DSS:- is a computer-based systems that help decision makers confront ill-

structured problems through direct interaction with data and analysis models.
• During the 1970s and 1980s,the concept of decision support systems (DSSs) grew
and evolved out of two previous types of computer support for decision making.
• One was management information systems (MISs), which provided
• (1) scheduled reports for well-defined information needs,
• (2) demand reports for ad hoc information requests, and
• (3) the ability to query a database for specific data.
• The second contributing discipline was operations research/management
science (OR/MS), which used mathematical models to analyze and understand
specific problems.
The Architecture for DSSs
The Architecture for DSSs
• The dialog component. The dialog component links the user to the
system. It can take any number of styles. A spreadsheet screen, a
database window, an instant messaging dialog box, a Web page to
browse, and an online catalog are examples of input/output handled
by the dialog component.
• The data component. The main purpose of this component is to help
the user select a set of data relevant to his decision problem.
• The model component. Modeling is the process of building a model
of reality based on a situation that we know the answer, and try to
apply to another situation that we have yet to find the solution.
Types of DSS
• Basically, there are two kinds of DSSs: institutional and “quick hit.”
• Institutional DSSs are generally built by professionals, often decision
support groups
• A “quick-hit” DSS, on the other hand, is developed quickly to help a
manager make either a one-time decision or a recurring decision.A
quick-hit DSS can be every bit as useful for a small company as for a
large one.
Data Mining
• Data mining— sometimes known as data or knowledge discovery—is
a technique that processes large amounts of data from different
perspectives with the hope to discover some business patterns that
are embedded in the data.
• Data warehouses hold gigantic amounts of data for the purpose of
analyzing that data to make decisions. The most typical use of data
warehouses has been users entering queries to obtain specific
answers.
• Data mining is an advanced use of data warehouses,and it requires
huge amounts of detailed data.
Data Mining Technique
A data-mining technique can use the following types of relationships
and pattern recognition approaches:
• Classes: Data regarding a predetermined group are retrieved and
analyzed.
• For example, a retail chain sorts sales data according to the time customers
visit the store, and the types of goods they bought. This information could be
used to develop customer profiles.
• Clusters: Data are grouped according to logical relationships or
consumer preferences.
• For example, data can be mined to look for market segments
Data Mining Technique
• Associations: Data are mined to find associations between them.
• Sequential patterns: Data are used to anticipate behavior patterns
and trends.
• For example, a store discovers from its data that customers who bought
sunscreen products also bought sunglasses.
Executive Information Systems
• Executive information systems (EISs) is a particular type of
application software that is dedicated to help executives
• EIS Supports by providing the following:
• Gauge company performance: sales, production, earnings, budgets, and
forecasts
• Scan the environment: for news on government regulations, competition,
financial and economics developments, and scientific subjects
• While easing information overload
“hidden pitfalls” in developing a successful
EIS
1. Lack of executive support. Executives must provide the funding, but they are also the principal
users so they need to supply the necessary continuity.
2. Undefined system objectives. the underlying objectives and business values of an EIS must be
carefully thought through.
3. Poorly defined information requirements. This process is complicated because EISs typically
require nontraditional information sources, such as judgments, opinions, and external text-
based documents, in addition to traditional financial and operating data.
4. Inadequate support staff. The support staff must have technical competence of course, but
perhaps more important is that they have an understanding of the business and the ability to
relate to the varied responsibilities and work patterns of executives.
5. Poorly planned evolution. An EIS is not developed, delivered, and then maintained .It needs to
evolve over time under the leadership of a team that includes the executive sponsor, the
operating sponsor, executive users, the EIS support staff manager, and IS technical staff.
Expert Systems
• Expert systems (ESs) are real-world applications of artificial
intelligence (AI).AI is a group of technologies that attempts to mimic
our senses and emulate certain aspects of human behavior, such as
reasoning and communicating.
• An ES is an automated analysis or problem-solving model that
deals with a problem the way an expert does.
 Components of an Expert System
An ES as a computer-based system composed of:
• A user interface
• An inference engine
• Stored expertise (in the form of a knowledge base)
• The user interface is the interface between the ES and the
outside world. That outside world could be another
computer application or a person
• The inference engine is that portion of the software that
contains the reasoning methods used to search the
knowledge base and solve the problem.
• The knowledge base consists of a set of logics or rules and
facts.

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Knowledge Representation
• Case-based reasoning (CBR):One way to represent knowledge is as a case. ESs
using this approach draw inferences by comparing a current problem (or case) to
hundreds or thousands of similar past cases.
• Neural networks. A second way to store knowledge is in a neural network.
Although they are not seen as expert systems, neural networks are a type of
decision-making system. They are organized like the human brain.
• Rule-based systems. A third way to store knowledge in an ES knowledge base is
through rules. In fact, this is the most common form of knowledge
representation. The rules are obtained from experts who draw on their own
expertise, experience, common sense, ways of doing business, regulations, and
laws to state the rules. Rules generally present this knowledge in the form of if-
then statements
5.2 Supporting IT-Enabled Collaboration

IS system that support collaboration

• Groupware—electronic tools that support teams of collaborators—
represents a fundamental change in the way people think about using
computers, says Johansen. The nature of the tasks people need to work with
others are different from the typical tasks they need to work alone. Thus,
groupware is different from typical individual office automation software.
• Communities of Practice: CoPs are an organizational form that
complements other means for sharing knowledge. In fact, in some
enterprises, CoPs form the foundation of their knowledge management
efforts
• a CoP is to share members’ experiences, expertise, and problems.
CoPs in Supporting Collaboration
• Identifying Potential CoPs To identify potential CoPs, companies can provide the means and experience
for developing them by providing CoP consultants. Thereby, an employee interested in forming a CoP
can explore the possibility with someone who understands CoPs and can help the employee interview
potential members to see what sorts of problems the community should address to provide real value
to members.
• Providing a CoP Infrastructure To provide a CoP infrastructure, executives need to give CoPs legitimacy
because they lack resources and formal standing in the enterprise. Sometimes that means extolling the
contributions of CoPs and the people who organize them, instituting compensation systems that reward
collaboration, and budgeting money to build IT systems that CoPs need
• Measuring CoPs To measure CoPs appropriately often means measuring their contributions in
nontraditional ways because their effects may not be immediate. Their contributions may only show up
in the formal organization (on a team or department’s work),not in the community’s work. To assess
CoPs, note Wenger and Snyder, listen to the stories members tell about their CoP, such as how a
comment at a CoP gathering spurred an idea, solved a major problem, or accelerated a project.
SYSTEMS TO SUPPORT
COLLABORATION
• Supporting “Same Time/Same Place” Collaboration has generally meant
supporting meetings.
• The Problem with Meetings
• Meetings often have no agenda or only a superficial one. No problems are clearly spelled
out in advance, and no specific action items are proposed to address the problems.
• IT can Help:
• Eliminate some meetings: eliminate meetings that do not call for a group decision or
group action but are simply for group updating.
• Better preparation for meetings: Participants can log on at their convenience, read all
entries made by others since they last logged on, and make their contributions.
• Improve the effectiveness and efficiency of meetings: Meetings are more effective when
the ideas generated by the group are more creative and everyone in the group is actively
involved. .Meetings are more effective when group commitment happens quickly
MANAGING IT-ENABLED WORKFLOWS
• A workflow management application defines all the business processes,
from the start to finish, including all exception conditions, tracks
process-related information and the status of each instance of the
process as it gets executed.
• Workflow management technology provides a mechanism for planning
and controlling how teams work together.
• What should management expect from an IT-enabled workflow?
• First and thanks to its automation and coordination capacities, the system
should significantly improve the efficiency of business processes. Since the
sequencing of processes is predetermined with a proper and timely routing of
electronic information, time savings can be significant.
MANAGING COLLABORATION IN VIRTUAL ORGANIZATIONS

1. Executives of increasingly virtual organizations should think about

expanding the kinds of motivators they use.
• The open source movement demonstrates that while money is a motivator for
volunteers, gaining a high reputation among peers, taking pride in contributions,
and being able to improve and use high quality software are strong motivators as
well.
2. 2. Executives of increasingly virtual organizations should consider
adopting a governance structure that fosters self-governance by
employees.
• Although the open source movement appears to have all the trappings of chaos
waiting to happen, it is actually very well disciplined because its governance
mechanisms foster self-governance.
MOTIVATING A VIRTUAL WORKFORCE
• Managed Membership: Open source work has a well-defined
leadership, with the originator often maintaining a lead role in
development and distribution. Or a lead team might rule, dividing the
work, refereeing coordination across teams, and so on.
• Rules and Institutions: One rule is the open source license—how the
software can be used. The license may, for instance, permit any form
of commercial use or not allow commercial versions at all.
• Social Pressures: To have teeth, rules need means to enforce
compliance and resolve disputes. To bring continual noncompliers
into line, open source groups generally use social pressures.
5.3 Supporting Knowledge Work
• There are three dimensions of knowledge work: technology, organization, and
environment.
• knowledge is not a physical asset, it is not effectively described in terms of
manufacturing analogies, such as storing it in inventory. Rather, it needs to be thought of
in ecological terms, such as nurturing it, cultivating it, and harvesting it.
• Furthermore, ways to transfer knowledge back and forth between its tacit and explicit
states are crucial and are generally a result of encouraging the free flow of ideas and
information, something that organizational norms, departmental boundaries, and
national differences can inhibit. The process of transferring tacit knowledge to others is a
key part of managing knowledge.
• To emphasize this idea, some companies have stopped talking about knowledge
management and use only the term “knowledge sharing.” In this regard, IT is seen as
one enabler, but not the main one.
A MODEL FOR MANAGING
KNOWLEDGE
The three types of capital
• 1- Human capital: This form of intellectual capital consists of knowledge, skills, and innovativeness
of employees as well as company values, culture ,and philosophy. Deals with, “How do we get
people to have more knowledge in their heads?” .The answer is create it, capture it, absorb it, and
reuse it
• It is created during the knowledge-creation-capture and knowledge absorption-reuse stages
because these two stages focus on getting people together to share knowledge.
• knowledge-creation-capture: This phase deals with generating knowledge, either by nurturing
employees to create it or by acquiring it from outside.
• knowledge absorption-reuse: This phase of building human capital addresses the notion of getting
knowledge into people’s heads where it can be enhanced and reused.
• Recognizing knowledge brokers: Discovering who has what knowledge is a step in the right direction to
fostering knowledge sharing.
• Another approach to fostering knowledge sharing: T-shaped managers. The value of T-managers’ vertical work is
measured by traditional bottom-line financial performance, the value of their horizontal work is measured in
five ways
The value of T-managers’ horizontal work is
measured in five ways
1. Increased company efficiency from transferring best practices
among business units
2. Better decisions by soliciting peer advice
3. Increased revenue by sharing expertise, again, among peers who
are experts in areas in question
4. Development of new business ventures by cross-pollinating ideas
5. Moving strategically through well-coordinated efforts among peer
2-Structural capital
• This is the capabilities embedded in hardware, software, databases, organizational structure,
patents, and trademarks that support employees as well as relationships with customers.
Companies that emphasize building structural capital generally use high-tech approaches.
• Structural capital is formed in the:
• knowledge-organization-categorization: This phase is often handled by creating best practices
knowledge bases or metadata indexes for documents
• and knowledge-distribution-access: This phase emphasizes both pushing knowledge out to users
(distribution) and accommodating users who pull information to themselves (access).
• These two stages because these stages focus on moving knowledge from people’s heads to a
tangible company asset.

• Their main question is, “How do we get knowledge out of people’s heads and into a
computer, a process, a document, or another organizational asset?”
3-Customer capital
• This form of intellectual capital is the strength of a company’s
franchise with its customers and is concerned with its relationships
and networks of associates.
• Furthermore, when customers are familiar with a company’s products
or services, the company can call that familiarity customer capital.
• This form of capital may be either human (relationships with the
company) or structural (products used from the company).
INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL ISSUES
• Data, information, content, and intellectual capital all raise some
thorny issues. These issues have prompted legislation in some
countries, but not all, which causes even more problems in today’s
intertwined, global society
Issues in managing information:
Four categories of issues in managing information:
1.Value issues: It depends on the recipient and the context. A number of tools are being used within companies to increase the value of information like:
• Information maps. point to the location of information, whether in written material, experts’ minds, and so forth.
• Information guides. Guides are people who know where desired information can be found. Librarians have traditionally played this role.
• Business documents. Business documents are yet another tool for sharing information. They provide organization and context. One fruitful way to embark on information management is to uncover what documents an organization needs.
• Groupware. Groupware is a tool for getting greater value out of less structured information. It allows people to share information across distances in a more structured manner than e-mail.
2.Usage issues: Information management is a management issue because it deals with how people use information. Three points illustrate the importance and difficulty of managing information use.
1.information’s complexity needs to be preserved, Information should not be simplified to be made to fit into a computer.
2.People do not easily share information, Culture often blocks sharing
3.Technology does not change culture. To change the information culture of a company requires changing basic behaviors, values, attitudes, and management expectations

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Issues in managing information:
3. Sharing issues: Who determines who has legitimate need for the information? The
“owning” department? Top management? And who identifies the owner? The process
of developing the principles for managing information—how it is defined and
distributed—is actually more important than the resulting principles.
4. Social and ecological issues: The social and ecological issue here is at least twofold.
First, as knowledge, defined in its broadest sense, is widely fragmented across
networks of servers, the power that can be derived from this knowledge is shifted to a
large number of independent stake-holders. It is difficult to predict how these people
work together or against each other in the creation and use of intellectual capital.
Furthermore, with the ease of access to massively distributed knowledge, how do
organizations bond human talents together to create and sustain a shared vision or
common sense of purpose?
Intellectual Property Rights
• The protection of intellectual property is critical in an Internet-based
world because many products and services contain intellectual
property, copies of such items are easy to make, and the copy is as
good as the original.
• Examples of online activities in which intellectual property rights are critical
include electronic publishing, software distribution, virtual art galleries, music
distribution over the Internet, and online education.
• Intellectual property rights are the rights given to persons/corporates
over the creations of their minds.
Types of intellectual property right
Following are four types of legal protection of intellectual property:
copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets.
• Copyright law aims to protect an author’s or artist’s expression once
it is in a tangible form. The work must be expressive rather than
functional; a copyright protects the expression, not the idea. A
copyright is valid for the life of the author plus 75 years.
• Patent law aims to protect inventions—things or processes for
producing things, where “things” are anything under the sun made by
man but not abstract ideas or natural laws, according to U.S.
copyright law. Valid for 20 years, patent protection is quite strong.
Types of intellectual property right
• Trademarks protect names, symbols, and other icons used to identify
a company or product. A trademark is valid indefinitely, as long as it is
used and does not become a generic name for the goods or services.
The aim of trademark law is to prevent confusion among consumers in
a market with similar identifying names or symbols. The standard for
trademark infringement is whether the marks are confusingly similar.
• Trade secrets, as the name implies, protect company secrets, which
can cover a wide range of processes, formulas, and techniques. A
trade secret is not registered and is valid indefinitely, as long as it
remains a secret.