Those questions are about 'Expert Systems and Decision Support Systems'

Question 1: List the key featured of early Expert Systems (ES) and discuss how BI can assist in the maintenance of an ES

Question 2: Briefly discuss how an Expert System is similar, yet is different from a Recommender System.

[Case]

Case Study Hkinakina Hotoke (HH) of New Zealand The Hkinakina Hotoke (HH) shops sell/hire a variety of equipment used in winter sports and mountaineering. The owners, Airini and Hahona, want to hire an Information Systems executive to re-design their antiquated information systems, incorporating Decision Support Systems and Machine Learning, as their business is now a worldwide operation requiring more support when making decisions. They have sales throughout the year with branches continuing to open all over the world. Keeping a pulse on the business is important! Acquiring knowledge of trends from tracking sales and changing buyer needs, for example, is crucial for the shops to stock adequate quantities of the latest models of equipment and accessories, for all ages, abilities and sizes of customers. A multitude of different equipment needed makes it difficult for HH of New Zealand to stock all items in high demand adequately. Examples of sports goods stocked include Snowmobiles, Skis, Snowboards, Boots and Bindings, Snow Chains, Back Country Packs, Rope Tow Packs, and Winter Clothing The OLTP is well designed and includes capabilities for tracking inventory and the current quantities on hand. However, making sure that they have just enough stocks (not to run out or over stock) is important for effective operations, especially as different customers need specific combinations of equipment. These combinations are so numerous that it is not humanly possible for someone to know the best possible combination of equipment for a specific customer. The manufacturers make different boards and skis for different level of skiers: from beginner to expert (Type I, Type II and Type III skier) compounding the situation. For example, the length, waist width, sideout depth, effective edge length, the customer's level of experience and measures such as the athlete's weight range, stance location (for snowboards), and some estimates of ski or snowboard handling characteristics have an impact on which snowboard measurements are best suited for an athlete, and with which boots and bindings combination. Currently, an experienced sales technician studies a customer on the slopes to recommend suitable equipment. Keeping a tab on stocks and communicating needs to selected suppliers is cumbersome, as there are many suppliers supplying a single product and a single supplier supplying many products. Quality of products supplied is extremely important to avoid accidents. Graphics on the snowboards and on the skies are an important feature and selling point. Customers are often known to choose a snowboard because of the graphics. Besides sales, hires also take place to novice and experienced customers. The skis and snowboards stocked for high performance hire range are all brand new, and from leading brands. The recreational hire range caters for those on a budget from a beginner to top-end intermediate. The HH of New Zealand workshops, currently in all locations, service skis and snowboards after every hire to make sure that they perform at their best. Skilled technicians are needed for this purpose. Servicing of equipment is extended to customers having their own equipment. Used stock is frequently sold at reduced prices, to further maintain the quality of the products rented. Analysis of service data gathered in workshops is useful to ascertain quality of various products supplied by different manufacturers. A few dimensions that your BI problems and models can be compared against: Dimension Target Solution Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate Accuracy Explainability Response Speed Scalability Flexibility Embeddability Tolerance for complexity Tolerance for noise in data Independence from experts High High High High High Please feel free to extend this case study in any way you need to. When you do so, please give an adequate description so that the examiner can understand the problem for which you are suggesting a solution