Should We Invest in a Decision Support System?
Introduction
to Decision Support Systems
Example of a DSS
As a manufacturing company, it is vital for us to continue to look to new technologies in order to maintain a competitive edge in the industry. Decision Support Systems (DSS) is one of those technologies. Decision Support Systems (DSS) is a specific class of computerized information system that supports business and organizational decision-making activities. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge, and/or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions. It can be designed to support decision makers at any level of an organization, as well as being useable in operational, financial, or strategic decision making. Typical functions that a decision support application could execute and present would be:
1. Accessing all current informational assets, including legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses, and data marts
2. Comparing sales figures from one time period to the next
3. Projecting revenue figures based on possible new product sales
4. Analyzing the consequences of different decision alternatives, given the parameters of past experiences
There are different types of DSS applications which are driven by different components:
1.
Model-driven: Stresses access to and
manipulation of a model. Model-Driven DSS uses complex financial, simulation,
and/or optimization models to provide decision support. This system uses data
and parameters that are set by the decision maker, which in turn assists in
analyzing a situation.
2. Data-driven: Emphasizes access to and manipulation of a time series of internal company data and possibly external data.
3. Communications-driven: Utilizes network and communications technologies (LANs, WANs, Internet and Virtual Private Networks) to facilitate collaboration, communication, and decision-making. Communications technologies are central to supporting decision-making.
4.
Document-driven: Incorporates a variety of
storage and processing technologies to provide complete document retrieval and
analysis, which aids in decision-making. Examples of documents that would be
available thought a Document-driven DSS are policies and procedures, product
specifications, catalogs, and corporate historical documents, including minutes
of meetings and corporate records.
5.
Knowledge-driven: A person-computer system with
specialized problem-solving expertise that can suggest or recommend actions to
management.
6.
Web-based: Delivers decision support information
or decision support tools to management through a web browser. A web-based DSS
can be communications-driven, data-driven, document-driven, knowledge-driven,
model-driven, or any combination of these.
A corporation is able to use the particular component-driven DSS that best supports their operation. It is also possible to use more than one component, such as having a knowledge-driven, web-based DSS.
DSS has been
around for 40+ years, but it is the implementation of the web, and thus
intranets, that has made DSS a viable, productive application for many
organizations. The typical interface of the software is set up much like a
web-based application. Scenarios can be run to determine the results of
different inputs as well as data dissemination for analyzing these scenarios.
Various types of DSS help decision-makers use and manipulate very large
databases -- some help managers apply checklists and rules, others make
extensive use of mathematical models. Many companies find this software
helpful, and use of this software is now so widespread that the International
Society for Decision Support Systems was formed in order to promote interaction
among members of the information systems community.