UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Lecturer: Wendy Davis-Gruber
Course Name:
DECISION SUPPORT AND EXPERT SYSTEMS
3 s.h. credit
Prerequisite: IFSM 202
Course
This course covers a wide range of issues in decision support
Description
systems. We will analyze information support systems that serve managers
with quantitative information for making decisions. During our course you
will learn the concepts and applications of decision support systems within
organizations, understand the structure levels of information within an
organization, develop a perspective for designing and implementing decision
support systems that are valuable for both managers and computer specialists.
Since this course covers descriptive material on how organizations utilize their computer environment, case studies are an important part of the course, and class assignments will involve extensive analysis of case studies, discussion, and presentation of a term paper or a student project. While our course requires no prior programming background as a prerequisite, it does require general mathematics knowledge to include algebra, exponents and graphing. A general knowledge of spreadsheet and database management systems is also useful for the development of student projects.
Text:
Decision Support and Expert Systems, 5th ed.,
by E. Turban, Jay E. Aronson, Prentice Hall, 1998.
Course
Grades for this course will be based on:
Evaluation
mid-term exam
25%
homework
20%
class presentation & paper 25%
final exam
30%
and will be assigned as follows:
A 93 to
100
B 82 to
92
C 72 to
81
D 60 to
71
F(A) Less than 60
Student Responsibilities /Requirements
Class attendance is expected. More than six one hour un-excused
absences may lead to a grade of FN. It is expected that students
participate in class discussion. Your comments are important.
It also shows me you’ve been doing the reading ! Be active,
this is your class.
Students should be prepared to spend a substantial amount of time outside
of class preparing assignments Grades on assignments submitted after the
due date will be reduced by 10%. Attendance for all exams is
mandatory. A makeup exam will not be scheduled unless PRIOR arrangements
have been made with the instructor. Students are expected to complete
all assignments individually unless otherwise specified. Any form
of academic dishonesty will result in a failing grade for that assignment.
Students might find the following useful for class research and homework:
a. Reliable e-mail
b. Internet Access
c. Web Access and browser
Office Hours: Office hours for student assistance will
be before and after class. Students can
set up other appointments when needed.
Instructor: Wendy Davis-Gruber
earned her Master of Science degree from the University of Southern California
in Systems Management - Logistics and Information Systems Management.
Her experience for the last fifteen years has been in the field of adult
education working as a university lecturer, community college administrator,
and a training and management seminar workshop leader. She is currently
lecturing for the University of Maryland in the Computer Studies and Management
Studies discipline.
Ms Davis-Gruber has developed and conducted training seminars
throughout Europe. These seminars have been in the areas of Performance
management, instructional techniques, ethics, and goal setting and planning.
Time Schedule
Session
Topic
Text Assignment
1 & 2
Overview of management support systems
CH 1
Decision making and modeling
CH 2
Intro. to decision support systems
CH 3
3 & 4
Data Management
CH 4
Modeling and Analysis
CH 5
Knowledge-based DS and AI
CH 6
User Interfaces and Decision Visualization
CH 7
5 & 6
Constructing a DSS
CH 8
Networked Decision Support
CH 9
Group DSS systems
CH 10
7
Executive Information and Support Systems
CH 11
8
Midterm exam
Feb 8th
9 & 10
Intro. to AI and expert systems
CH 12
Knowledge acquisition and representation
CH 13,14
11& 12
Inferences, Explanations, and Uncertainty
CH 15
Building expert systems
CH 16
13 & 14
Neural Computing
CH 17, 18
Intelligent Agents
CH 19
Integrating management support systems
CH 20
Organizational and Societal Impacts of
CH 21
Management Support Systems
15
Final exam
16
Student Presentations
( Final Papers due by Mar 8th )