Analysis Report Two - Systems Integration and Decision Support

Author

Emily Ledger

Executive Summary

Healthcare organizations create a good amount of data everyday through the patients they deal with, billing, and electronic health records. Using these systems correctly will help these healthcare managers improve their decision-making. The readings also emphasized that these organizations should not use the help of AI when it comes to collecting data without finding strong data quality. Healthcare managers can come up with better decisions when it is based on reliable information rather than just large amounts of unnecessary data. Healthcare managers should at least put training and cyber security before trying to go right to AI.

Introduction

The readings talked about how these modern organizations depend on information systems for good communication and decision making at every level throughout the organization.TPS which is Transactions Processing Systems catches routine business transactions fast. Also, TPS focuses on doing things efficient so the data results come back as accurate. After TPS, MIS which is Management Information Systems takes that data and puts it into a structured report for these managers. ERP which is Enterprise Resource Planning is considered in the readings at the highest level of integration. It integrates multiple business functions into one database. Another thing that the readings tell us is that organizations should put more of their effort into collecting accurate data rather than just more data. When talking about research, it shows that a lot of information can actually decrease the level of quality when it comes to the data. These integrated systems, good quality data, and training need to be proven before AI can help a business or organizations improve its value.

Outside Research

After doing some research, I found a good article that explains how the data generated by such integration can both help and hinder organizational strategic objectives. This article explains that these integrated systems give employees real-time access to information. It also explains that giving them good access to data overall improves their decision-making and that organizations that invest in training will have an increase in employee engagement. “For a fully empowered and productive and frontline, organization can learn from the Leaders. First, the research found that frontline empowerment depends on support from top management, with 43% of respondents deeming senior leadership responsible for ensuring employees have the tools, training and support they need to be successful. Leaders specifically report that a shift to a data-driven culture is critical to their corporate strategy (51% compared to 23% of Laggards). As a result, Leaders are investing more heavily than others in digital capabilities that are designed to transform frontline working: they widely expect their organizations to adopt collaboration tools (55%) and self-service analytics (54%) over the next two years.”(“Nearly 90% of Organizations Say Success Depends on Data-Driven Decisions Made by Frontline Employees, According to New Report,” 2020) Also, The New Decision Makers article argues that organizations and business do better when these employees have data. Instead of employees always needing their managers, they could use information systems to make better and faster decisions. The article also talks about how organizations must pursue employee training to take advantage of getting ahead in decision-making. “Data is powerful when it is in everyone’s hands.”(“The New Decision Makers - SPONSORED CONTENT FROM THOUGHTSPOT,” 2020)

Data Visualizations

SELECT Categories.CategoryName,
Products.ProductName
FROM Categories
INNER JOIN Products
ON Categories.CategoryID = Products.CategoryID
WHERE Categories.CategoryName IN ("Beverages", "Seafood")

ggplot(data = myquery1,
       aes(x = CategoryName)) +
  geom_bar() +
  theme_minimal() +  # Cleans up the background grid lines
  labs(
    title = "Number of Products by Category",
    subtitle = "Two-Table Join: Categories and Products",
    x = "Product Category",
    y = "Number of Products",
    caption = "Source: Northwind Sqlite"
  )

This first visualization combines the Category and Products table using INNER JOIN. Each bar shows a Product Category while the height of the bar represents the number of products within that category. I chose to just focus on beverage and seafood through WHERE so the graph would be cleaner and easier to read. Organizations use these integrated systems to combine data from all over the place into databases and reports. This specific visualization can be helpful for managers to keep track of inventory across these product categories.

SELECT Customers.Country,
Employees.LastName,
Orders.Freight
FROM Orders
INNER JOIN Customers
ON Orders.CustomerID = Customers.CustomerID
INNER JOIN Employees
ON Orders.EmployeeID = Employees.EmployeeID
WHERE Customers.Country IN ("USA", "Germany")

ggplot(myquery2,
       aes(x = Freight,
           y = Country)) +
  geom_boxplot() +
  theme_minimal() +
  labs(
    title = "Distribution of Freight Weight by Customer Country",
    x = "Freight Weight (lbs)",
    y = "Customer Country",
    caption = "Source: Northwind Sqlite"
  )

The second visualization combines Orders, Customers, and Employees tables. The box plot compares the distribution of freight weight across customer countries. I only used Germany and USA through WHERE so the graph is clean and easier to read. The visualization also shows how ERP systems integrate information into a single data set. Managers can pick countries with higher weight and use this information to adjust pricing plans.

Recommendations for Industry

Healthcare organizations should invest in these ERP systems because it helps decrease the risk of the amount of data that is copy and ends up improving communication across all the different departments within the organization. Also, managers should improve their focus on their data control before trying to use AI. Even though AI can be a helpful, useful tool, it can also do damage to an organization and take people’s jobs. Having clean and accurate data can help an organization design better reports and make better decisions for the company. Organizations should provide training for employees to improve data reading. Giving support to employees will help them make better decisions when it comes to how to read and what to do with the data. Finally, healthcare managers should realize that having “more” data is not always the better option. Having data that means nothing can be overwhelming for managers and give unnecessary data.

References

The New Decision Makers - SPONSORED CONTENT FROM THOUGHTSPOT. (2020). In Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/sponsored/2020/05/the-new-decision-makers

Nearly 90% of Organizations Say Success Depends on Data-Driven Decisions Made by Frontline Employees, According to New Report. (2020). In www.businesswire.com. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200505005195/en/Nearly-90-of-Organizations-Say-Success-Depends-on-Data-Driven-Decisions-Made-by-Frontline-Employees-According-to-New-Report

Zumbrun, J. (n.d.). When It Comes to Data, Sometimes Less Is More. WSJ. Retrieved July 26, 2026, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-it-comes-to-data-sometimes-less-is-more-11667554203

Peppard, J. (2025). Rushing into an AI strategy? Why companies need data & digital maturity first. In WSJ. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/business/c-suite/ai-strategy-mistakes-5db90efa

All 8 types of Information systems: A full breakdown. (2025). In iSchool | Syracuse University. https://ischool.syracuse.edu/types-of-information-systems/