Management Support Systems (Byte Size Skills Course)

Management Support Systems Course One way of considering how managers use information is in terms of three levels, as professionals, experts, and innovators. As professionals, we use the information available in the organisation, or gathered from outside, to perform our duties responsibly by following accepted procedures. As experts, we use information to enhance our understanding of how our business works. As innovators, we use information to seek out future enterprising activities. The professional is focussed on performing today's task well and ensuring that there will be few problems in the near term. The expert understands the business sufficiently to see how processes can be improved continually. The innovator combines business knowledge with knowledge of the wider business context to identify new opportunities and anticipates actions to counteract strategic threats. As you work through this course, and Chapters 9 and 10 of the textbook, you will encounter technologies that help managers be effective professionals, that enable managers to become experts in their businesses, and that provide insights for innovative managers to identify new business opportunities. After completing this course, you should be able to: explain the role of management support systems within managerial decision making classify decisions in terms of structure and type of control identify the information channel that is enhanced by a support system outline the steps in the data life cycle concept describe the role of background knowledge when interpreting information compare on-line transaction processing with on-line analytical processing outline the managerial issues of managing a knowledge network.