Decision Support Systems

Inam Ul-HaqLecturer in Computer ScienceUniversity of Education Okara Campusorganizer@dfd-charity.com, inam.bth@gmail.com

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Contents

• Define DSS

• Decision Making / Problem Solving

• Decision Making Process

• DSS Incorporates types of IS

• Basic Themes & Taxonomy of DSS

• DSS Benefits and Components

• Applications & Categories

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Decision Support System• A computer-based information system that supports

business or organizational decision-making activities. • OR• Interactive computer-based systems, which help decision

makers utilize data and models to solve unstructured problems. [Gorry and Scott-Morton (1971)]

• OR• Decision support systems couple the intellectual

resources of individuals with the capabilities of the computer to improve the quality of decisions. It is a computer-based support system for management decision makers who deal with semi-structured problems. [Keen and Scott-Morton (1978)]

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Decision Making/ Problem Solving

Target problem

Information systems

Decision makers

externalInfo

goalsreportsqueries

info DATA

DECISIONS

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Decision Making Process

• Decision making process• Intelligence

• Sensing, finding, identifying, and defining problem/opportunity

• Design • Diagnosing the problem/opportunity

• Generating alternatives

• Choice• Choosing the best alternative

• Implementation • Adopting the selected course of action in decision situation.

• E.g. MS Excel for Merit List, Grade Distribution

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DSS Incorporates Types of Info Systems

• Executive Information Systems

• Expert Systems

• Information Reporting Systems

• Transaction Processing Systems

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3Types of DecisionsUnstructured DecisionStructuredSemi-structured

Basic Themes of DSS • Information system.

• Used by managers for making decisions.

• Used to support, not to replace people.

• Used when the decision is "semi-structured" or "unstructured."

• Incorporate a database of some sort.

• Incorporate models.

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Taxonomy of DSS1. A communication-driven DSS supports more than one person

working on a shared task; examples include integrated tools like Google Docs or Groove

2. 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. Google: Examples

3. A document-driven DSS manages, retrieves, and manipulates unstructured information in a variety of electronic formats.

4. A knowledge-driven DSS provides specialized problem-solving expertise stored as facts, rules, procedures, or in similar structures. Google: Examples

5. 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. Google: Examples

(Created by Daniel Power)

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DSS ComponetsDSS Componets

USER

DBMS

DATA MODELS

MBMS

DGMS

KBMS

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Database Management SystemKnowledge-based Management SystemModel-based Management SystemData Generation & Management System

1 2

3

Google: DGMS

ApplicationsApplicationsAirline Reservation system

No more seats available Provide alternative flights you can use Use the info to make flight plans

Canadian National RailwayA Loan Manager can decide whether to grant loan to an applicantDecision Making Software

E.g. Logical Decisions (30 days trial)Expert ChoiceDecideIT1000Minds

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Applications Cont.Applications Cont.• Clinical decision support system for medical diagnosis. • 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

dashboards 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. [Google]

• A DSS can be designed to help make decisions on the stock market, or deciding which area or segment to market a product toward.

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Applications Cont.Applications Cont.

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Characteristics & CapabilitiesCharacteristics & Capabilities• The key DSS characteristics and capabilities are as follows:

1. Support for decision makers in semi-structured and unstructured problems.

2. Support managers at all levels. 3. Support individuals and groups. 4. Support for interdependent or sequential decisions. 5. Support intelligence, design, choice, and implementation. 6. Support variety of decision processes and styles. 7. DSS should be adaptable and flexible. 8. DSS should be interactive ease of use. 9. Complete control by decision-makers. 10. Ease of development by end users. 11. Support modeling and analysis. 12. Data access. 13. Standalone, integration and Web-based

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• 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

• Create Innovative ideas to speed up the performance

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DSS Benefits

DSS Categories

Support based DSS (Alter 1980)Support based DSS (Alter 1980)Data-based DSSData-based DSSModel-based DSSModel-based DSS

Structured

Semi-structure

Unstructured

Model-basedDSS

Data-basedDSS

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References• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_support_system• Http://www.freedictionary.com/dsss• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_making_software

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