Enterprise information systems case study: Pillsbury's SOAR system was designed specifically for which managerial audience within the organization?

Introduction / Context:
Pillsbury's SOAR is a classic example frequently cited in Management Information Systems literature to illustrate Executive Information Systems and strategic Decision Support. The question asks which managerial audience the SOAR system primarily served. Understanding the target users clarifies design choices such as data aggregation, visualization, and the cadence of updates that support top-level strategy work rather than day-to-day operations.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• SOAR is presented as an enterprise-level information system.
• Strategic managers need high-level, summarized, and exception-focused information.
• Operational and tactical users tend to require detailed, frequent, transaction-level data.

Concept / Approach:
Executive and strategic systems highlight key performance indicators, trend analysis, market intelligence, and exception alerts. They integrate internal and external data, support drill-down from summary to detail, and emphasize dashboards that assist long-range planning and competitive positioning. This contrasts with operational systems that feed daily scheduling, inventory movement, or customer service work, and with purely tactical planning tools that sit between daily execution and long-range strategy.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Identify the system class: enterprise/strategic support rather than transaction processing.Map user needs: executives need synthesized, comparative, and forward-looking insights.Select the audience most aligned with these characteristics: strategic level managers.

Verification / Alternative check:
Case teaching notes consistently frame SOAR as an executive/strategic-oriented information system designed to inform corporate direction, portfolio choices, and market responses, not to run daily shop-floor tasks.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Sales persons: need customer-level detail and mobile tools; not the SOAR focus.
• Operational level managers: require granular, real-time task control, not the summarized executive view.
• Tactical level managers: mid-range planning, but SOAR is typically associated with top-level strategy.
• None of the above: incorrect because strategic managers fit.

Common Pitfalls:
Mistaking any company-wide dashboard as operational; scope, abstraction level, and decision horizon define the target user group.

Final Answer:
strategic level managers