APPLICATIONS OF GROUP DESCISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

GROUP DESCISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

• GDSS is a computer-based system which supports groups of people and engages them in a common task through an interface of sharing environment.

• COMPONENTS:

(i) hardware, (ii) software, (iii) people, and (iv) procedures which are illustrated in Figure 1.

APPLICATION OF GDSS

xerox

Xerox PARC is one of the research and technology laboratories of Xerox Corporation, specializing in networks

and documents, smart matter, and knowledge ecologies.

DIFFICULTIES FACED

• After a meeting they wanted to capture the information in their computers.

• This meant moving a workstation to the white board area, booting it up, and typing in the information.

Development of GDSS

• They wanted to: capture the benefits of their collaboration during

meetings. create software that would allow any of them to write

or edit in a window, and arrange it so that others in the group could access and share the information.

• They decided to build a room to house the workstations. Thus the "CoLab" (or collaboration laboratory) project was born out of XEROX PARC LABS in the late 1980s.

CoLab in operation…

XEROX did not want to loose the emotional impact of a big white board -- something that can be viewed from ten feet rather than ten inches. 

The image on the liveboard was produced using a Hughes video projector in the next room. 

FURTHER IMPROVIZATION

• Although a collaboration was starting by using computer support , it was a lot of bother to go off to a computer-equipped meeting room, to patch in the computers, and then to boot up the room. It led to the need of tools that can be used instantly in someone's office.

• This led to the idea of portable meetings. Hence live boards thin enough to put them in everyone's office. They could walk up a live board, log in, and then resume or branch a meeting.

ADVANTAGES

Colab meetings tended to be fast-paced and exhilarating.

• Reason: the tools shifted much of their communication to a visual channel rather than the audio channel.

Computers maintained a tangible, persistent, and shared representation. One could always go back to some object in the visual workspace and ask for clarification. One person could control the view temporarily, and draw other people's attention to something.

It was mainly used by a group of engineers designing paper paths for Xerox printers and copiers.

This room used expert system software and other design software as well.

CoLab in Webster, New York

GDSS IN UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS

Need for implementation…

• Some people were not expressing their views because of ‘what others think about us’ fear.

• More wastage of time in meetings and seminars by students.

• Record of important points was not kept.

• Avoid less deviation from the topic during discussion.

Changes after implementation of gdss: Increased participation in

meetings and discussions: GDSS allow participants to exchange

comments or vote anonymously. Automatically recording

comments and votes: GDSS records onto a computer disk all

comments generated during the meeting, and consequently, the group participants may not need to take notes.

Imposing more structure: Provides structure to the meeting

which helps in less deviation from the topic and more concentration on the issue.

In seminar, students may not have to take notes when a GDSS is present as all the comments are recorded onto a computer disk by the system. Using a GDSS, students no longer raise their hands to speak, interrupt each other in order to talk, or forego making a comment because somebody else is talking. . Use for Administrative Support: A few educational administration meetings have been conducted using the technology. For example, alumni and businessmen have discussed electronically the skills students should have upon graduation

GDSS has made an attempt to decentralize decision making process in schools.Under this, many policy and budgeting decisions made at the school level with active participation from teachers and management. Maximum educational planning, management, material resources, and accountability are planned in detail with help of GDSS. As a result of more participation, record keeping, and structure, many groups have been able to accomplish to higher group satisfaction and has enabled larger groups to meet, resulting in more information, knowledge, and skills that are brought to bear to task at hand.

SOME MORE APPLICATIONS OF GDSS recruitment and selection process in human

resources.In business meetings 1. Use in a Seminar 2.Use for Administrative SupportA group decision support system for

multilingual groups Medical and health applications

Conclusion

Hence GDSS leads to :

• Improved preplanning• Increased participation• Open, collaborative meeting atmosphere• Idea organization and evaluation• Documentation of meetings• Setting priorities and making decisions• Access to external information• Preservation of organizational memory.

THANK YOU ……

By…. Abhishek D

Anup Shanbhag Divya M

Hema Kiranmai Manasa Holla V