ACCA Applied Knowledge · Business and Technology · Financial systems and technology
A finance director uses software to test how profit would change if selling prices fell 5% and raw material costs rose 8%, using a financial model built in a spreadsheet. Which type of system feature is being used?
The director is using what-if analysis, a feature of a decision support system. By altering assumptions such as selling price and material cost in a model, the system shows the likely effect on profit. This supports semi-structured decisions, unlike transaction processing, which only records routine events.
- ATransaction processing
- BWhat-if analysis within a decision support systemCorrect
- CAutomated payroll calculation
Explanation
Changing assumptions in a model to see the effect on outcomes is what-if (sensitivity) analysis, a core decision support system feature. Transaction processing records routine events. Payroll calculation is a routine processing task, not a modelling of alternatives.
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