Deck 15: Databases for Decision Support

Question 1

The decision support database query optimizer must be enhanced to support non-normalized structures.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

To tie a KPI to the strategic master plan of an organization, a KPI will be compared to a desired goal within a specific time frame.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Normalizing fact tables improves data access performance and saves data storage space.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Facts can be computed or derived at run time.

Question 5

Periodicity, usually expressed as current year only, previous years, or all years, provides information about the time span of the data stored in the table.

Question 6

The data warehouse designer must define common business dimensions that will be used by the data analyst to narrow a search, group information, or describe attributes.

Question 7

Data warehouse data are organized and summarized by table, such as CUSTOMER and ADDRESS.

Question 8

MDM's main goal is to provide a partial and segmented definition of all data within an organization.

Question 9

SAP is a portal vendor.

Question 10

Once data enter the data warehouse, they are never removed.

Question 11

Monitoring results to evaluate outcomes of the business decisions is outside the scope of BI.

Question 12

Data warehouses usually have one fact table.

Question 13

Decision support data are a snapshot of the operational data at a given point in time.

Question 14

BI is a framework that allows a business to transform data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom.

Question 15

Creating a data warehouse is a simple exercise that takes little time, money, or effort.

Question 16

Operational data and decision support data serve the same purpose.

Question 17

The data warehouse development life cycle differs from classical systems development.

Question 18

A data store is used by the data analyst to create the queries that access the database.

Question 19

The BI architecture is composed of data, people, processes, technology, and the management of such components.

Question 20

Queries against operational data typically are broad in scope and high in complexity.

Question 21

Implementing BI in an organization involves capturing not only business data (internal and external) but also the ____.

A) metadata
B) facts
C) information
D) rules

Question 22

Multidimensional data analysis techniques include advanced computational functions.

Question 23

A data mart is part of the "____" section of the business intelligence framework.

A) People
B) Management
C) Processes
D) Governance

Question 24

To provide better performance, some OLAP systems merge the data warehouse and data mart approaches by storing small extracts of the data warehouse at end-user workstations.

Question 25

Data mining is part of the "____" section of the business intelligence framework.

A) People
B) Management
C) Processes
D) Governance

Question 26

The star schema is designed to optimize data query operations rather than data update operations.

Question 27

____ are in charge of presenting the data to the end user in a variety of ways.

A) Data stores
B) ETL tools
C) Data visualization tools
D) Data analysis tools

Question 28

ROLAP and MOLAP vendors are working toward the integration of their respective solutions within a unified decision support framework.

Question 29

The ____ contains business data extracted from the operational database and from external data sources.

A) data store
B) ETL tools
C) data visualization tool
D) data analysis tool

Question 30

The mainframe environment enables an OLAP system to be divided into several components that define its architecture.

Question 31

BusinessObjects is a(n) ____ tool.

A) OLAP
B) data visualization
C) data mining
D) data warehouse

Question 32

Analyzing decision support data to generate information is part of ____.

A) data warehousing
B) very large database systems
C) business intelligence
D) distributed processing

Question 33

MOLAP is a logical choice for companies that already use relational databases for their operational data.

Question 34

____'s main goal is to provide a comprehensive and consistent definition of all data within an organization.

A) DBMS
B) OLAP
C) Data warehousing
D) MDM

Question 35

____ provide a unified, single point of entry for information distribution.

A) Decision support systems
B) Portals
C) Data warehouses
D) Dashboards

Question 36

It is a relatively easy task to provide a precise list of characteristics of data-mining tools.

Question 37

Data is captured from the OLTP system and placed on the ____ on a near-real time basis.

A) decision support system
B) portal
C) data warehouse
D) dashboard

Question 38

Because a data cube's dimensions are predefined, all cells are populated.

Question 39

In the prognosis phase, the data-mining findings are used to predict future behavior and forecast business outcomes.

Question 40

In most implementations, the data warehouse and OLAP are stand-alone, independent environments.

Question 41

A ____ schema is a type of star schema in which the dimension tables can have their own dimension tables.

A) snowflake
B) starflake
C) mesh
D) matrix

Question 42

____ splits a table into subsets of rows or columns and places the subsets close to the client computer to improve data access time.

A) Normalization
B) Meta modeling
C) Replication
D) Partitioning

Question 43

The basic star schema has four components: facts, ____, attributes, and attribute hierarchies.

A) keys
B) relationships
C) cubes
D) dimensions

Question 44

In a typical star schema, each dimension record is related to thousands of ____ records.

A) attribute
B) fact
C) key
D) star

Question 45

From the data analyst's point of view, decision support data differ from operational data in three main areas: time span, granularity, and ____.

A) usability
B) dimensionality
C) transaction processing
D) sparsity

Question 46

In a star schema, dimensions are normally stored in ____.

A) attributes
B) indexes
C) fact tables
D) dimension tables

Question 47

The ____ dimension of a data cube provides a framework from which sales patterns can be analyzed and possibly predicted.

A) time
B) cube
C) third
D) multi-

Question 48

____ systems provided no data extraction/integration process.

A) Third-generation Mobile BI and cloud-based
B) First-generation BI
C) First-generation departmental decision support
D) Traditional mainframe-based online transaction processing

Question 49

Computed or derived facts are sometimes called ____ to differentiate them from stored facts.

A) details
B) attributes
C) metrics
D) fact tables

Question 50

There are 12 rules that define a(n) ____.

A) data warehouse
B) multidimensional cube
C) OLAP tool
D) star schema

Question 51

In 2008, Wal-Mart, the world's largest company, had over four ____ of data in its data warehouses.

A) megabytes
B) gigabytes
C) terabytes
D) petabytes

Question 52

A characteristic of operational data is ____.

A) summarized data
B) hundreds of gigabytes
C) high normalization
D) historic data

Question 53

____ can serve as a test vehicle for companies exploring the potential benefits of data warehouses.

A) Data networks
B) Data marts
C) Data cubes
D) OLAPs

Question 54

The attribute hierarchy provides a top-down data organization that is used for two main purposes: ____ and drill-down/roll-up data analysis.

A) hierarchy
B) de-normalization
C) normalization
D) aggregation

Question 55

Had ____ been as pivotal to business operations a few years back, crises precipitated by the likes of Enron, WorldCom, and Arthur Andersen might have been avoided.

A) OLAP
B) data mining
C) governance
D) networking

Question 56

A characteristic of decision support data is ____.

A) high query activity
B) high update volumes
C) highly normalized
D) low aggregation level

Question 57

In a MOLAP system, the MOLAP ____ allows end users to interact with the MOLAP server and request data for analysis.

A) GUI
B) operational database
C) multidimensional database
D) data cube

Question 58

In a star schema, attributes are often used to search, filter, or classify ____.

A) tables
B) stars
C) facts
D) dimensions

Question 59

Data ____ implies that all business entities, data elements, data characteristics, and business metrics are described in the same way throughout the enterprise.

A) volatility
B) time-variation
C) subject-orientation
D) integration

Question 60

Fact and dimension tables are related by ____ keys.

A) shared
B) primary
C) foreign
D) linked

Question 61

A MOLAP system stores data in an MDBMS, using proprietary ____ and array technology to simulate the multidimensional cube.

A) table
B) matrix
C) network
D) cube

Question 62

A(n) ____ is a dynamic table that not only contains the SQL query command to generate the rows, but also stores the actual rows.

A) OLAP
B) materialized view
C) star schema
D) data cube

Question 63

A(n) ______________________________ is an arrangement of computerized tools used to assist managerial decision making within a business.

Question 64

Conceptually, MDBMS end users visualize the stored data as a three-dimensional cube known as a ____.

A) multi cube
B) data matrix
C) data cube
D) hyper cube

Question 65

Data ____________________ tools are tools that provide advanced statistical analysis to uncover problems and opportunities hidden within business data.

Question 66

When you ____________________ data, you are aggregating the data to a higher level.

Question 67

Data ____________________ tools provide advanced visual analysis and techniques to enhance understanding of business data.

Question 68

The reliance on ____ as the design methodology for relational databases is seen as a stumbling block to its use in OLAP systems.

A) normalization
B) denormalization
C) star schema
D) multidimensional schema

Question 69

What is one of the main characteristics of OLAP systems?

A) They use single-dimensional data analysis techniques.
B) They provide complex command-line end-user interfaces.
C) They provide minimal database support.
D) They support client/server architecture.

Question 70

In practice, _________________________ provides a well-orchestrated framework for the management of data that works across all levels of the organization.

Question 71

What is a characteristic of ROLAP?

A) It uses the star schema
B) It does not require high resources.
C) It is limited to predefined dimensions.
D) It has low flexibility.

Question 72

______________________________ is a collection of concepts, techniques, and processes for the proper identification, definition, and management of data elements within an organization.

Question 73

____________________ is a term used to describe a comprehensive, cohesive, and integrated set of tools and processes used to capture, collect, integrate, store, and analyze data with the purpose of generating and presenting information used to support business decision making.

Question 74

The ____ schema is designed to optimize data query operations rather than data update operations.

A) relational
B) circle
C) star
D) matrix

Question 75

____________________ is a method or process of government.

Question 76

A ____ index is based on 0 and 1 bits to represent a given condition.

A) logical
B) multidimensional
C) star
D) bitmapped

Question 77

ROLAP extends ____ so that it can differentiate between access requirements for data warehouse data and operational data.

A) SQL
B) OLAP
C) DDS
D) BI

Question 78

____________________ use Web-based technologies to present key business performance indicators or information in a single integrated view, generally using graphics in a clear, concise, and easy to understand manner.

Question 79

Decision support data tend to be non-normalized, ____, and pre-aggregated.

A) unique
B) duplicated
C) relational
D) sorted

Question 80

___________________________________ are quantifiable measurements (numeric or scale based) that assess the company's effectiveness or success in reaching its strategic and operational goals.