International Journal of Business Intelligence Research, 1(1), 1-12, January-March 2010 1 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Keywords: Business Intelligence, Decision Automation, Decision-Making, Decision Support introduCtion For most of the five-decade period begin- ning in the mid-1950s, the primary focus of information systems has been on automating core business processes. The era began with custom-developed narrow-purpose applications and concluded with broad enterprise system packages provided by external vendors, but the purpose was the same: develop control and efficiency over processes by automating and capturing information from key business transactions. Whether a general ledger entry, a customer order captured, or a vacation balance debited, the transaction has been the primary unit around which this world revolved. By now, however, many organizations have mastered basic transactions, and are at- tempting to use the accumulated information from transaction systems to optimize decisions about the management of the business. From the early 1970s (Gorry & Scott-Morton, 1971), the idea was that better information would lead to better decisions and better ways of managing organizational processes. Whether this idea was called decision support, executive sup- port, online analytical processing, or business intelligence (Power, 2007), there was always another goal waiting to be achieved. Because organizations’ efforts and attentions were be- ing spent on automation, to improve decision- making was never the primary focus. Today it has taken center stage. Business intelligence applications have become the top spending Business intelligence and organizational decisions Thomas H. Davenport, Babson College, USA aBstraCt The focus on transactional systems in the earlier decades of information management is beginning to shift toward decisions. In order to study the relationship between information and decisions, the author interviewed 32 managers in 27 organizations where an attempt to use information to support decision-making had been made. A framework involving three different relationships between information and decisions is introduced: loosely-coupled, structured human, and automated. It is suggested that loosely-coupled information and decision environments, while productive for information providers, may require too much knowledge on the part of information users to be effective. A four-step process for bringing information and decisions in closer alignment is also advanced. DOI: 10.4018/jbir.2010071701 IGI PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, International Journal of Business Intelligence Research, Volume 1, Issue 1 edited by Richard T. Herschel © 2010, IGI Global 701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com ITJ 5521