In the future, technology is likely to become more sophisticated, more powerful, and less expensive. The complexities of information technology are likely to lead to increased reliance on such systems, and there is likely to be an increase in the distance between decision makers and the tools they use to make decisions. This requires that decision makers develop new analytical skills in order to determine if the decisions presented by information systems are valid.

Current Operational Information Systems

Information technology has traditionally been the domain of a company's management information system (MIS) department. Companies based decisions to implement such applications on demonstrated cost savings or avoidances and the availability of MIS resources (both system resources and labor resources for development and support). The advent of personal comp

In the following organizational chart, the addition of a Chief Information Officer (CIO), someone who would manage the technology function, would cause considerable upheaval within the organization. Any one of the three vice-presidents would want the CIO as a direct report and would be threatened if the position reported to another vice-president. On the other hand, putting the CIO at the same level as the current vice-presidents would greatly shift the political structure of the company, particularly given the far-reaching effect that information technology has within most organizations. Despite these problems, the CIO should be a high-level office within the organization.

Neural networks cannot provide this information because they do not possess it. An expert system uses a predefined set of rules to make a recommendation or arrive at a decision. A neural network recognizes patters and finds the best match to those patterns. While neural networks can be extraordinarily accurate, their processing cannot be understood in traditional human learning terms. Despite the inability of users to understand the logic behind a neural network's processing and decision making, the systems have proven highly valuable in certain situations, especially (Bartholomew, 1998, p. 15).

Loeffen, D. (1995, November). The data warehouse. CMA - the Management Accounting Magazine, pp. 16-17.

In many operational information systems, the data represent a structured collection. One record exists for each item and each has the same set of attributes. Information systems also have validation and referential integrity requirements. There should be no duplications, and multiple references for the same classification of data should have the same characteristics (for example, the same address for multiple contacts at a single company in a customer database).