Introduction: The term Business Intelligence arose in the mid-1990s and is a growing share of the IT market. The need of Business Intelligence emerges from an increasing competition and a constantly changing and more complex business climate. Problem discussion: There are only few examples of research dealing with data-driven decision processes. How data are incorporated in decision making processes is crucial for the future use of decision support systems. The literature stress that managers must use more analytics and rationality to make better and more appropriate decisions. However, previously studies have indicated that intuition still plays a major role in decision making, even in organizations using Business Intelligence. With this background the following research question is presented: To what extent are Business Intelligence systems used to support decisions in organizations? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe and observe Business Intelligence from a decision making perspective. Method: The primary source of data is personal interviews and one observation study, which implies a qualitative method. The respondents are an organization in the start-up phase, IT-consultants and suppliers and current Business Intelligence users. An abductive approach is applied, and the analyses of data is done simultaneously as the examination of literature and previously made studies. Findings: The system is mainly used for producing reports and as a provider of information. More information and more detailed information are accessible due to the Business Intelligence system. The information itself is valued highly, it is assumed that if the decision maker has enough of information, an appropriate decision will be made. Intuition is still frequently used among the users, yet the Business Intelligence system can to some extent neutralize the user. This is due to that the system is used to confirm and follow up the intuition.

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Thesis ( Ph.D. ) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Value of information (VOI) is the amount a decision maker is willing to pay for information to better understand the uncertainty surrounding a decision, prior to making the decision. VOI is a key part of decision analysis (DA). Especially in this age of information explosion, evaluating information value is critical. VOI research tries to derive generic conclusions regarding VOI properties. However, in most cases, VOI properties rely on the specific decision context, which means that VOI properties may not be generalizable. Thus, instead, VOI properties have been derived for typical or representative decisions. In addition, VOI analysis as a method of DA has been successfully applied to practical decision problems in a variety of industries. This approach has also been adopted as the basis of a heuristic algorithm in the latest research in simulation and optimization. Portfolio Decision Analysis (PDA), rooted in DA, is a body of theories, methods, and practices that seek to help decision makers with limited budget select a subset of candidate items through mathematical modeling that accounts for relevant constraints, preferences, and uncertainties. As one of the main tools for resource allocation problems, its successful implementation, especially in capital-intensive industries such as pharmaceuticals and oil & gas, has been documented (Salo, Keisler and Morton 2011). Although VOI and PDA have been extensively researched separately, their combination has received attention only recently. Resource allocation problems are ubiquitous. Although significant attention has been directed at it, less energy has been focused on understanding the VOI within this setting, and the role of VOI analysis to solve resource allocation problems. This belief motivates the present work. We investigate VOI properties in portfolio contexts that can be modeled as a knapsack problem. By further looking at the properties, we illustrate how VOI analysis can derive portfolio management insights to facilitate PDA process. We also develop a method to evaluate the VOI of information portfolios and how the VOI will be affected by the correlations between information sources. Last, we investigate the performance of a widely implemented portfolio selection approach, the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) approach, in PDA practice. / text

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published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Business / Master / Master of Philosophy

This research project specifically investigates the use of information processing strategies by organizational buyers in the first stage of the supplier selection process, the selection of an evoked set of qualified suppliers. In this selection process it is hypothesized that the buyer's use of evaluation functions or information processing strategies is influenced by the task faced by the buyer. The varying levels of risk, familiarity and informational requirements of the buying situation should impact the use of the information processing strategies. Structured protocols--written descriptions of compensatory and noncompensatory information processing strategies--were used to determine the evaluation function which organizational buyers use to qualify suppliers into an evoked set. The data was collected in a field study of 135 organizational buyers from 76 different organizations. The subjects were interviewed about purchases they were presently working on in which suppliers had been selected but the final purchase decision was still pending. Identification of the buying task, new task, modified rebuy, and straight rebuy also utilized the structured protocol technique. Written descriptions, based on the constitutive definitions of Robinson and Farris (1967), were used to address the following research question: Is there a difference in the decision rules or information processing strategies utilized by organizational buyers in the development of an evoked set of qualified suppliers when the buyer is qualifying suppliers for a new task, modified rebuy, or straight rebuy buying task? In addition to the information gathered via the structured protocols, information was gathered about the level of risk, familiarity and information requirements of the purchasing task. This was done to gain a better understanding of the use of information-processing strategies by organizational buyers. Analysis of the data indicates that the buying task is related to the choice of an information-processing strategy. The data also support the contention that the organizational buyer will utilize any of the information-processing strategies in the selection of an evoked set of suppliers. Although the buying task was found to significantly influence the use of the information-processing strategies, the study shows that all of the strategies were reported as being used for each of the buying tasks. In addition to finding that the buying task influences the choice of an information-processing strategy, the data support the model of information processing presented. The model addressed the impact that risk, familiarity, and information load had on the use of the evaluation functions. The risk node of the model was supported by two of the five risk variables included in the study: product homogeneity and supplier homogeneity. At the familiarity nodes of the model, the subjective measures of familiarity which support the model are supplier familiarity and frequency of product purchase. Supplier familiarity was found to be significantly different between the weighted and unweighted compensatory strategies. The significant difference in the level of familiarity found in the use of the conjunctive and disjunctive information processing strategies is associated with the frequency of product purchase. The final nodal section of the information-processing model which was supported is the comparison of the conjunctive and lexicographic strategies. The lexicographic strategy was found to be used when there was a higher perceived number of suppliers capable of supplying the needed product. In general this study has shown that the situation in which suppliers are selected impacts the use of an information-processing strategy. The findings are consistent with the research and hypothesizing associated with the use of information-processing strategies by consumers.

No description available.

Thesis (MBus)--University of South Australia, 1998

Thesis (PhD) -- University of South Australia, 1998