6.

0 DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS

A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based information system that
supports business or organizational decision-making activities. DSSs serve the
management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make
decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance.
DSSs include knowledge-based systems. A properly designed DSS is an interactive
software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information
from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or business models
to identify and solve problems and make decisions.
Typical information that a decision support application might gather and present are:
inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data sources,
cubes, data warehouses, and data marts),
comparative sales figures between one period and the next,
Projected revenue figures based on product sales assumptions.

Figure 6.1: Decision Support System
6.1 Taxonomy
As with the definition, there is no universally-accepted taxonomy of DSS either. Different
authors propose different classifications. Using the relationship with the user as the
criterion, Haettenschwiler differentiates,
Passive DSS
Active DSS
Cooperative DSS
A passive DSS is a system that aids the process of decision making, but that cannot
bring out explicit decision suggestions or solutions.
An active DSS can bring out such decision suggestions or solutions.
A cooperative DSS allows the decision maker (or its advisor) to modify, complete, or
refine the decision suggestions provided by the system, before sending them back to
the system for validation.
Another taxonomy for DSS has been created by Daniel Power. Using the mode of
assistance as the criterion, Power differentiates communication-driven DSS, data-
driven DSS, document-driven DSS, knowledge-driven DSS, and model-driven DSS.
A communication-driven DSS supports more than one person working on a
shared task; examples include integrated tools like Microsoft's NetMeeting
or Groove
A data-driven DSS or data-oriented DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation
of a time series of internal company data and, sometimes, external data.
A document-driven DSS manages, retrieves, and manipulates unstructured
information in a variety of electronic formats.
A knowledge-driven DSS provides specialized problem-solving expertise stored
as facts, rules, procedures, or in similar structures.
A model-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a statistical,
financial, optimization, or simulation model. Model-driven DSS use data and
parameters provided by users to assist decision makers in analyzing a situation;
they are not necessarily data-intensive. Dicodess is an example of an open
source model-driven DSS generator.

6.2 Components of DSS
Three fundamental components of DSS architecture are:
1. the database (or knowledge base)
2. the model (i.e., the decision context and user criteria)
3. the user interface
The users themselves are also important components of the architecture.
DSS components may be classified as:
1. Inputs: Factors, numbers, and characteristics to analyze
2. User Knowledge and Expertise: Inputs requiring manual analysis by the user
3. Outputs: Transformed data from which DSS "decisions" are generated
4. Decisions: Results generated by the DSS based on user criteria

6.3 Application
As mentioned above, there are theoretical possibilities of building such systems in any
knowledge domain.
One example is the clinical decision support system for medical diagnosis.
Other examples include a bank loan officer verifying the credit of a loan
applicant or an engineering firm that has bids on several projects and wants to
know if they can be competitive with their costs.
DSS is extensively used in business and management. Executive
dashboard and other business performance software allow faster decision
making, identification of negative trends, and better allocation of business
resources.
A growing area of DSS application, concepts, principles, and techniques is
in agricultural production, marketing for sustainable development. For
example, the DSSAT4 package,[15][16]developed through financial support
of USAID during the 80's and 90's, has allowed rapid assessment of several
agricultural production systems around the world to facilitate decision-making
at the farm and policy levels. There are, however, many constraints to the
successful adoption on DSS in agriculture.[17]
DSS are also prevalent in forest management where the long planning time
frame demands specific requirements. All aspects of Forest management, from
log transportation, harvest scheduling to sustainability and ecosystem
protection have been addressed by modern DSSs. A comprehensive list and
discussion of all available systems in forest management is being compiled
under the COST action Forsys
A specific example concerns the Canadian National Railway system, which
tests its equipment on a regular basis using a decision support system. A
problem faced by any railroad is worn-out or defective rails, which can result
in hundreds of derailments per year. Under a DSS, CN managed to decrease
the incidence of derailments at the same time other companies were
experiencing an increase.

6.4 Benefits
Improves personal efficiency
Speed up the process of decision making
Increases organizational control
Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the decision maker
Speeds up problem solving in an organization
Facilitates interpersonal communication
Promotes learning or training
Generates new evidence in support of a decision
Creates a competitive advantage over competition
Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space
Helps automate managerial processes