ASSIGNMENTTG

8/3/2019 ASSIGNMENTTG

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UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

FACULTY OF COMMERCE

COURSE TITLE: BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEMS

STUDENT NAME: TAFADZWA GWENA

STUDENT #: R910455T

COURSE INSTRUCTOR: ENG M MANUHWA

Question: Assignment # 1


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Question (1)

i )WHAT ARE EXPERT SYSTEMS

Expert systems is a computer program that attempts to replicate the performance of a human

expert at some specialized reasoning task. Also known as knowledge based systems, expert

systems are able to store and manipulate knowledge so that they can help a user solve problems

and make a decision.

THE MAIN FEATURES OF AN EXPERT SYSTEMS ARE

1. They are limited to specific knowledge Domain i.e. Area of Expertise

2. Typically rule based decision making process

3. It can reason with uncertain Data ( User can respond with I dont know answers)

4. It delivers advise

5. It explains reasoning to the user

An expert system has the following Constituencies

1. The Knowledge base that contains the facts and rules provided by a human expert

2. Some means of using the knowledge ( I.E A computer program known as the

inference engine)

3. A means of communicating with the user ( I.E the Human computer interfaces)

USES OF EXPERT SYSTEMS

Expert systems are used in organizations to make decisions using people that not very

knowledgeable in the particular expert area. Organizations can also gain high competiveness

since they can employ less people and still achieve high quality decisions.

ii) WHAT IS CASE-BASED REASONING AND HOW DOES IT DIFFER

FROM AN EXPERT SYSTEM, HOW DOES IT SUPPORT KNOWLEDGE

MANAGEMENT


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Case based reasoning is a way of solving new problems by remembering the old occurrences of

the same problems or similar. In reality CBR is not a technology but a methodology or an

approach however in conjunction with todays computing technology very powerful CBR

systems can be implemented using a combination of the fundamentals of CBR and databases to

store the cases of previous occurrences.

A typical example of CBR application are in the Financial sector an bankers wishing to provide

a loan to someone may quickly be reminded of a similar case involving a person from the same

company who eventually refused to repay his loan.

HOW CBRS DIFFER FROM EXPERT SYSTEMS

Expert systems basically capture the knowledge of a particular Expert area meaning that it tries

to emulate a human expert such as an accountant basically and expert system captures

knowledge by faculty where as CBR a much more inclusive into the organization so they capture

knowledge pertaining to the whole company rather than individual expert. In summary Expert

systems make continuous decisions based on the providing situation without being influenced

from past history. Whereas CBR the database of knowledge actually grows within the

organizations with knowledge cases being populated by the users within the company.

iii) WHAT IS NEURAL NETWORK AND HOW CAN NEURAL NETWORKS

HELP COMPANIES WITH KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Neural Networks models are a series of algorithms of cognitive tasks such as learning and

optimization. Which are loosely speaking derived from research into the nature of the human

brain. A Neural Network is an information processing network that is modeled around the a way

biological nervous systems or brain works and processes information. The key element of this

approach to artificial intelligence is the unique structure of the information processing system. It

is composed of a large number of highly interconnected processing elements known as neurons

working in unison to solve specific problems. Neural Networks, like people, have a cognitive

ability to learn. A Neural network can be configured for a specific application, such as pattern


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recognition or data classification, through a learning process. Learning in biological systems

involves adjustments to the synaptic connections that exist between the neurons. This is is also

true in a Neural Network system. In practice neural networks are developed by simulating the

neurons using software based algorithms.

iv) WHAT IS BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Business intelligence (BI) is a deliberate approach to business where by technologies

, software applications, artificial intelligence and other technological solutions are

collected and integrated to formulate the basis of analyzing, integrating, processing

and presentation of business information. The purpose of business intelligence is to

help managers and others responsible for business strategy better understand their

organizations operations, make wiser, more informed business decisions, and manage

operational performance.

Business intelligence systems make use data that has been gathered into a data

warehouse or a data mart to present historical, current, and predictive views of business

operations. Operational data may also be used. The software components of a

Business intelligence system support data mining, analysis, and reporting of

information, providing detailed reports on production, sales and other financial reports.

This information may further be compared to other data be it external historical or

related in any othey way in order extract provide valuable benchmarks.

Question 2

i)DEFINE AND DESCRIBE IS FUZZY LOGIC FOR WHAT KINDS OF

APPLICATIONS IS IT SUITED


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Fuzzy logic or Fuzzy systems is another approach to Artificial intelligence that makes

use of fuzzy sets or rules in order to make decisions. The important aspect of fuzzy

logic is they fuzzy rules tolerate imprecision Unlike in Boolean Logic Fuzzy Logic is not

based precise and deterministic results such 0 or 1 in Boolean algebra, but rather on

approximate quantities. Fuzzy sets are based on vague definitions of sets although

they are not random. Fuzzy logic is not imprecise rather, it is a formal mathematical

technique of handling imprecise data. Given the similarity in which fuzzy logic to human

decision making. Fuzzy logic has been adopted in business to assist in making

decisions especially where human like decision making is required.For instance, given

various weather conditions to process such as, stormy, rainy, cloudy, sunny, ordinary

logic would assign one of these values to any weather condition being observed. People

however would recognize all sorts of shades in between theses states such as dull or

drizzle etc. This is exactly what fuzzy logic can do. What is more impressive is that

fuzzy logic offers a way of processing these decisions so that a final result is still

correct.

ii)GENETIC ALGORITHIMS

A genetic algorithm (GA) is a method of programming and problem solving using

algorithms that mimics the process of natural evolution. This method of programming is

generally known as evolution programming (EA). These algorithms are routinely used

to generate useful solutions to optimization and search problems

Precisely put a genetic algorithm (GA) is a programming technique that emulates

biological evolution similar to (Darwinian science) as a problem-solving strategy. Given

a specific challenge to solve, the input to the GA is a set of potential solutions to that

problem, encoded manner , and a metric also known as fitness function allows each

candidate to be quantitatively evaluated. These candidates may be solutions already

known to work, with the aim of the GA being to improve them, but more often they are

just generated randomly.
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The GA then evaluates each candidate according to the fitness function. In a pool of

randomly generated candidates, of course most will fail at birth, and these will be

deleted. However, purely by chance, a few may survive and continue to show activity,

though at times weak and imperfect activity with regards to solving the problem.

These surviving candidates are kept and allowed to reproduce. Multiple copies are

made of them, but the copies are not perfect; random changes are introduced during

the copying process. These digital offspring are then allowed to proceed to the next

generation, forming a new pool of candidate solutions, and are subjected to the next

round of fitness test. Those candidate solutions which were worsened, or made no

better, by the changes to their code are again deleted; but again, purely by chance, the

random variations introduced into the population may have improved some individuals,making them into better, more complete or more efficient solutions to the problem at

hand. Again these winning individuals are selected and copied over into the next

generation with random changes, and the process repeats. The expectation is that the

average fitness of the population will increase each round, and so by repeating this

process for hundreds or thousands of rounds, very good solutions to the problem can

be discovered.

iii)WHAT ARE INTELLIGENT AGENTS

Intelligent Agents are computer algorithms that act as task agents. These virtual

entities can communicates, co-operates and negotiates with each other. They have the

ability to take over human tasks and interact with people in human like ways. They are

bringing technology into a new dimension simplifying the use of computers, allowing

humans to move away from complex programming languages creating a more human

interaction a typical application is development of computer games such as chess

intelligent agents but more complex business solutions are possible.

A more definitive description of intelligent agents are software entities that carry out

some set of tasks on behalf of a user or another program with a certain degree of

independence or autonomy, and in so doing, employ some knowledge or representation


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of the users goals or desires. As mentioned above, advanced agents collaborate and

negotiate with other

iv)KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IS A BUSINESS PROCESS, NOT A

TECHNOLOGY.

Knowledge management is basically a means collection of processes for capturing,

sharing, organizing, finding and using knowledge regardless of the form that the

knowledge takes. It is not a technology however technology is more often used to

implement Knowledge management systems. In the form of networks, Databases and

Intranets and extranets.

QUESTION 3

i)THE INTERNET MAY NOT MAKE CORPORATIONS OBSOLETE, BUT THEY WILLHAVE TO CHANGE THEIR BUSINESS MODELS. DO YOU AGREE?

Indeed the internet is the current state of doing business in todays world. In this regard

corporations are faced with the challenge of either to conform or to ship out. It has

happened before in history and it may happen again. You just can not challenge

technology when it arrives. A company called Pony express is a classical failure in the

face of the fax machine. And Today companies are facing a similar challenge in the face

of internet. At one time email was just a luxury or something for the youthful mind but

today its a necessity. As you may know already, email is a subset of the Internet. As

we speak now a company website is now a must for a company to operate. To this end

for companies today, it is either shape-up or ship-out. The Internet has not come to

destroy the current businesses however they will need to conform and abide by the new

rules of doing business the Internet way..

ii)DESCRIBE THE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES POSED BY ELECTRONICCOMMERCE AND ELECTRONIC BUSINESS AND SUGGEST SOME SOLUTIONS

As the information technology industry moves towards the creation of an open,

competitive Electronic Marketplace it is important to note that the infrastructure must


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developed in an infrastructure that supports the seamless location, transfer, and

integration of business information in a secure and reliable manner. This Marketplace

will be used by all application domains to procure commodities and order supplies. As

such management must see to it the electronic commerce applications will require easy-

to-use, robust, security services, a full suite of middleware services, and data and

protocol conversion services. Using E-Commerce it will be possible for a purchasing

agent to competitively procure supplies from manufacturer. However the issue of

network security and availability will have to addressed first.

. iii)WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRID COMPUTING, CLUSTERCOMPUTING AND THE WEB?

When two or more computers are used together to solve a problem, it is called a computer cluster .

Then there are several ways of implementing the cluster, but basically it is just cooperation between

computers in order to solve a task or a problem. Cluster Computing is then just the thing you do when

you use a computer cluster. Grid computing is something similar to cluster computing, it makes use of

several computers connected in one way or another, to solve a given challenge.

There is often some confusion between grid vs. cluster computing. The difference is that a cluster is

homogenous while grids are heterogeneous. Homogenous basically means the single units have

identical operating environments while heterogeneous means they can be different environments all

together Linux, Windows, Unix for example. The computers that are part of a grid can run different

operating systems and have different hardware whereas the cluster computers all have the same

hardware and OS. A grid can make use of spare computing power on a desktop computer while the

machines in a cluster are dedicated to work as a single unit and nothing else. Grid are inherently

distributed by its nature over a LAN, metropolitan or WAN. On the other hand, the computers in the

cluster are normally contained in a single location or complex. Finally the Web is just a collection of

Heterogeneous computers interconnected computers not necessarily cooperating on a common task

but typically sharing information although web computing is also becoming possible with technologies

such as cloud computing.

iv)DESCRIBE THE CAPABILITIES OF ONLINE ANALYTICAL PROCESSING (OLAP)AND DATA MINING.


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Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) allows business users to slice and dice data at will, also known as

data mining. Normally data in an organization is distributed in multiple data sources and are

incompatible with each other. A retail example: Point-of-sales data and sales made via call-center or the

Web are stored in different location and formats. It would a time consuming process for an executive to

obtain OLAP reports such as - What are the most popular products purchased by customers between

the 15 to 30 years of age.

QUESTION 4

i)TCP/IP Means Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol This a suite of protocols

that allow data to be transmitted reliably within the Internet. It is the basis on which the Internet

is based. E-Commerce, although defined quite separately from the internet, is most commonly

implemented based on the Internet Topology there relies quite heavily on the underlying TCP/IP

protocol

ii)XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a flexible way to create common information formats

and share both the format and the data on the Internet, intranets, and elsewhere. For example,

retailers might agree on a standard or common way to describe the information about a certain

retailed products such toys shoes or computers and then describe the product information format

with XML. Such a standard way of describing data would enable a user to send an intelligent

agent (a program) to each retailers Web site, gather data, and then make a valid comparison.

XML can be used by any individual or group of individuals or companies that wants to share

information in a consistent way especially for E-commerce purposes.

iii)(WAP) The Wireless Application Protocol is the de-facto world standard for the presentation

and delivery of wireless information and telephony services on mobile phones and other wireless

terminals. The WAP Forum has published a global wireless protocol specification, based on

existing Internet standards such as XML and IP, for all wireless networks. The WAP

specification is developed and supported by the wireless telecommunication community so that
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the entire industry and most importantly, its subscribers, can benefit from a single, open

specification. WAP is designed to work with most wireless networks such as CDPD, CDMA,

GSM was thus born with a desire to establish a common format for Internet transfers to mobile

telephones, without having to customize the Internet pages for the particular display on every

different mobile telephone or personal organizer. WAP allows Software developers to create E-

Commerce Applications for Mobile Devices.

iv)VOICE OVER IP. This is simply the transmission of voice traffic over the Internet Protocol

IP-based networks. The Internet Protocol (IP) was originally designed for data networking. The

success of IP in becoming a world standard for data networking has led to its adaption to voice

networking. Voip is particularly useful because of its cost effectiveness and reliability and

quality over the analog telephone. VOIP because it is digitally based allows Business to use it asE-Commerce Tool in an effective way.

Question 5

i)
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n

ii)


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REFERENCE

1) Expert Systems Research Trends (A.R. Tyler)Nova Science publishers 2007

2) Introduction to Genetic Algorithms (S.N. Deepa & S.N. Sivanandam)

Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007

3) Successful Case-Based Reasoning Applications-1 (Stefania Montani & Lakhm

C.Jain (Eds.) Verlag Berlin Heildelberg 2010

4) Neural networks theory (Aleksandr Ivanovic Galushkin)

Springer- Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007

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