Teaching about Executive Information Systems through the medium of a computerbased tutorial developed using the SAS System

Transcription

1 Teaching about Executive Information Systems through the medium of a computerbased tutorial developed using the SAS System Wilson RN, Glass D and Smyth K, University of Ulster Introduction The University of Ulster, through its Faculty of Informatics, is a major provider of third level courses in information systems, aimed at meeting the needs of industry, commerce and the public sector within Northern Ireland and further afield. Research activity directly relevant to industrial needs in the field of information management is vibrant. In this paper we describe a demonstrator executive information system (EIS) which has been developed to complement the teaching of this aspect of management support systems (MSS) at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The system described was built using the SAS System version 6.08 within the MS Windows 3.1 environment. Keywords management support systems, executive information systems, computer-based teaching Background Information Management support systems represent a significant element of the syllabi associated with information systems (IS) courses provided by the University. A BSc in Computing and Information Systems course is designed around the core themes of information systems engineering (ISE), software engineering and database management systems. The ISE strand examines the uses of software systems for operational and managerial purposes. At postgraduate diploma (PG Dip) and masters level (MSc) courses are provided whose aim is to train graduates in computing science in the areas of information systems management. The courses deal extensively with development and design aspects of information systems, embracing office information systems, decision support systems, group decision support systems and executive information systems. At both undergraduate and postgraduate levels the presentation of MSS topics is based on demonstration of the technologies and the provision of meaningful, yet manageable, practical work using state-of-the-art software tools. Recognising that it is difficult to achieve extensive practical experience of commercial tools within a simulated industrial setting the Faculty seeks to provide complementary resources to facilitate student evaluation and coursework. Producing a demonstrator EIS was considered a worthwhile project because it: afforded a student the opportunity, during an industrial placement year, to use the SAS System (SAS/EIS and SAS/AF ) to create an EIS the finished product would provide an invaluable teaching resource for illustrating EIS concepts, through the use of a commercial software tool, and also the application of EIS techniques to the analysis of real world data through use of the demonstrator it would be possible to facilitate aspects of teaching and practical work which would otherwise prove difficult using conventional methods.

2 SAS was selected as the development environment since the University had already experienced the ease with which computer-based training materials could be produced using its features. We were also in a position to take advantage of educational software licensing arrangements which exist between the University, and the wider UK university sector, and the SAS (UK) regional office. Overview of Demonstrator EIS Information systems needs within undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of study within the University may be broadly classified as illustrated in Table 1 below. Level of Study undergraduate postgraduate (taught course) postgraduate (research) applied emphasis re techniques required to design and develop systems relevant to the needs of the IS sector education and training in aspects of IS management and the use of software tools allied to the needs of management and executive grade staff technology transfer with an emphasis on enhancement of the information systems environment within commerce, industry and the public sector Table 1: Aspects of Information Systems associated with Undergraduate and Postgraduate Study In terms of designing a CBT which accommodated the needs of taught courses it was necessary for the design to clearly delineate between strands of information which were either technical or overview in nature. To achieve this goal we introduced two main themes, one dealing with the use of SAS/EIS for building an EIS and the other presenting an overview of the stages in creating an EIS but without making reference to software-related features or terminology. Information within these two major strands is further structured to reflect the key elements as illustrated in Table 2. applied strand introduction to SAS/EIS how to invoke and use SAS/EIS registering data within the SAS/EIS metabase building and navigating an EIS application theoretical strand introduction to key EIS concepts eg information, a system and an EIS role of an EIS within an organisation analytical and presentation features of an EIS drill down concept and its applications Table 2: Structure of Information within Major Strands of CBT Information within the theoretical strand was acquired from a comprehensive portfolio of teaching materials, prepared using MS Powerpoint, which are currently used in the delivery of the various topics under the umbrella heading of MSS. This resource was eminently suitable for inclusion within the CBT since it had already been distilled, appropriately structured and successfully used.

3 Within the applied strand the major areas in which suitable information had to be developed were "building and navigating an EIS application" and "registering data in the SAS metabase". The other two subsections also required the provision of suitable materials but these were considered to be less demanding. Our approach to deriving suitable text was to analyse the building stages and record the sequence of operations in suitable detail to enable a student to understand the SAS/EIS approach. The fully functional demonstrator EIS incorporates the object types described in Table 3. Object Type business graph object barchart piechart variance report object critical success factor object to highlight drill down, dynamic variable selection and the dynamic creation of display objects at execution time to illustrate the technique of variance reporting, incorporating drill down functionality and traffic lighting features to illustrate concepts using a variable within the database which is typical of those associated with CSF display objects Table 3: SAS/EIS Object Types used within CBT Drill down and horizontal scrolling operations are used extensively in conjunction with the above object types; these features allow the student to see the merits in using features of an EIS to investigate trends within the underlying database. The applied strand takes the user through the stages of building an EIS application, illustrating each with screen captures from SAS/EIS, and requesting the student to interact with the CBT in providing critical input, for example associated with name and description fields. The application chosen for the demonstrator EIS was based on data extracted from a research database on property sales performance within Northern Ireland. The extract contained a random sample of 2267 cases each with 13 items providing the EIS with data from which information on property market performance could be derived. The temporal variable property's sale price is used as the basis for comparison with drill down used to interrogate the database, for example, by region, property type and age of property. These items are used in conjunction with the temporal dimension, based on quarter within year, to create the displays. Table 4 contains a description of the items held within the EIS. Terminology associated with the table is as follows: field contains a descriptor for each item within a database record field description provides a notation describing the item data type; for example a 9 is used to define a digit and the number of 9s indicate the magnitude of the value (<999> denotes an item containing numeric data whose maximum can be 999). field type describes the measurement scale associated with the item notes contain information on possible values for the item eg a dichotomous variable denoting Yes/No has been coded 1/2 respectively EIS attributes is used to indicate the role of an item within the EIS application

4 Sample dataset - Domestic Property Sales 1990/91 (n=2267) Type Notes EIS Attributes Year <99> nominal 90=1990/91=1991 Quarter <9> nominal 1,2,3,4 Sale Price <999999> interval CSF/Barchart Variance Report Property Type <9> ordinal 5 categories Drill-down Age of Property <9> ordinal 5 categories Drill-down Floor Area m 2 <9999> interval # Bedrooms <9> interval # Reception <9> interval Bathroom <9> interval 1=yes/2=no Garage <9> interval 1=yes/2=no Central Heating <9> nominal 1=yes/2=no Condition <9> nominal 1=good/2=poor Postcode <99> nominal primary digits Region <99> nominal 11 based on Postcode Drill-down Average Sale Price <999999> interval by Property Type within Region Variance Report Building the CBT Table 4: Summary of Information associated with Property Market EIS The CBT is essentially a front-end application, developed using SAS/AF, to the demonstrator EIS, created using SAS/EIS. The demonstrator assembly followed the standard procedures as documented in the relevant SAS documentation. The preceding sections indicate the range of SAS/EIS objects which are incorporated. A flat file format adequately suited the associated dataset; conversion to SAS system file format preceded its entry to the meta-database. Major components of the development concentrated on:. creation of information screens (text, graphics and interactive). handling user input and validation of input. establishing hypertext-style links between screens. live-linking between the CBT and demonstrator EIS. handling menu bars in a way which gave the CBT its own look-and-feel. This work was achieved using a range of AF features with SCL being the cornerstone of programming activity. Capability to establish CBT entries and PROGRAM entries complete

5 with query user for input, establishing lists of field values from which user can make a selection, and to branch between entries was essential. Branching between various sections within the tutorial was facilitated using a series of standard buttons (icons) which were located at the base of each screen. Each button had an associated module of SCL code which was invoked through clicking on the button icon; the code diverted control to the required screen. SCL was used to invoke a "RUN EIS" statement, with a reference to the "opening screen", in order to launch the demonstrator EIS from within the CBT. Maximizing screen size was undertaken by hiding standard menu bars and by setting appropriate parameters on the path statement within the Microsoft Properties box associated with the CBT. SAS/AF proved to be flexible and rich in functionality, producing a product which was user-friendly. Conclusions This paper has described a use of SAS products within an educational setting. The range of software available within the SAS product portfolio is vast and there is little evidence of its widespread uptake, in a broad sense, within the UK tertiary education sector. For example, statistics, operational research and, possibly, interactive matrix applications (via SAS/IML ) would be considered as the popular modules in regular use. In the field of information systems there is considerable potential for the uptake of a number of modules which are extensively used in commercial applications as represented through the articles which appear regularly within SAS Communications. AF and EIS are two such products; however SAS/ETS, SAS/ASSIST and SAS/FSP also seen to offer benefits to this particular field. The development described in the paper has indicated the two-fold benefits of using SAS products in tertiary level education, that is in developing computer-based tutorials and in developing small-scale executive information systems. Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge support and assistance provided by others; in particular we are grateful to Professor A Adair and Dr S McGreal, School of the Built Environment for permission to use an extract from their research dataset; I Mc Chesney, School of Computing and Mathematics for guidance on CBT design and content; B Bovill SAS (UK) Ltd for permission to evaluate SAS products, and to others within the University and SAS (UK) Ltd for their support in a variety of areas. Registered Trademarks SAS System, SAS/AF, SAS/ASSIST, SAS/EIS, SAS/ETS, SAS/FSP, SAS/OR and SAS Communications are registered trademarks of the SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA MS Windows and MS Powerpoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other registered trademarks are acknowledged. Contact Details All communications should be directed to the first author at: University of Ulster, Shore Road, NEWTOWNABBEY, Co Antrim, N Ireland BT37 0QB Tel (+44) Fax (+44) RN.Wilson@ulst.ac.uk