Introduction

Name Awais Alam

Roll # 4804

Topic
Decision Support System(DSS)

What Is Decision Support

System(DSS) ?
ADecision Support System(DSS) is a computerbasedinformation systemthat supports business or
organizationaldecision-makingactivities. DSSs serve the
management, operations, and planning levels of an
organization (usually mid and higher management) and help to
make decisions. Decision support systems can be either fully
computerized, human or a combination of both.
While academics have perceived DSS as a tool to
supportdecision making process, DSS users see DSS as a tool
to facilitate organizational processes.

Some authors have extended the definition of DSS to include

anysystemthat might supportdecision making.Sprague (1980)
defines DSS by its characteristics:

DSS tends to be aimed at the less well structured,

underspecifiedproblemthat upper levelmanagerstypically face;

DSS attempts to combine the use of models or analytic techniques with

traditionaldata accessand retrieval functions;

DSS specifically focuses on features which make them easy to use by

noncomputer people in an interactive mode;

DSS emphasizesflexibilityandadaptabilityto accommodate changes in

theenvironmentand thedecision makingapproach of the user.

DSSs includeknowledge-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, and personal knowledge, or business models to identify
and solve problems and make decisions.
Typical information that a decision support application might gather and
present includes:

Inventories of information assets (including legacy and relational data

sources, cubes,data warehouses, anddata marts),

comparative sales figures between one period and the next,

projected revenue figures based on product sales assumptions

History
The concept of decision support has evolved from two main
areas of research: The theoretical studies of organizational
decision making done at theCarnegie Institute of
Technologyduring the late 1950s and early 1960s, and the
technical work on Technology in the 1960s.
DSS became an area of research of its own in the middle of the
1970s, before gaining in intensity during the 1980s. In the
middle and late 1980s,executive information
systems(EIS),group decision support systems(GDSS),
and organizational decision support systems (ODSS)
evolved from the single user and model-oriented DSS.

According to Sol (1987)the definition and scope of DSS has been

migrating over the years.
In the 1970s DSS was described as "a computer-based system to
aid decision making". In the late 1970s the DSS movement
started focusing on "interactive computer-based systems which
help decision-makers utilize data bases and models to solve illstructured problems".
In the 1980s DSS should provide systems "using suitable and
available technology to improve effectiveness of managerial and
professional activities", and towards the end of 1980s DSS faced
a new challenge towards the design of intelligent workstations
Beginning in about 1990,data warehousingandon-line
analytical processing(OLAP) began broadening the realm of
DSS. As the turn of the millennium approached, new Web-based
analytical applications were introduced.

Taxonomies
Haettenschwilerdifferentiatespassive,active, andcooperative DSS.

Apassive DSSis a system that aids the process of decision making, but that
cannot bring out explicit decision suggestions or solutions.

Anactive DSScan bring out such decision suggestions or solutions.

Acooperative DSSallows 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. The system again improves,
completes, and refines the suggestions of the decision maker and sends
them back to him for validation. The whole process then starts again, until a
consolidated solution is generated.

Another taxonomy for DSS has been created by Daniel Power. Using the mode of
assistance as the criterion. Power differentiatescommunication-driven
DSS,data-driven DSS,document-driven DSS,knowledge-driven DSS,
andmodel-driven DSS.

Types Of DSS
Types Of DSS are Following :

Acommunication-driven DSSsupports more than one person working on a

shared task; examples include integrated tools like Google Docs orGroove

Adata-driven DSSor data-oriented DSS emphasizes access to and

manipulation of atime seriesof internal company data and, sometimes,
external data.

Adocument-driven DSSmanages, retrieves, and manipulates unstructured

information in a variety of electronic formats.

Aknowledge-driven DSSprovides specializedproblem-solvingexpertise

stored as facts, rules, procedures, or in similar structures.

Amodel-driven DSSemphasizes access to and manipulation of a statistical,

financial, optimization, orsimulationmodel. Model-driven DSS use data and
parameters provided by users to assist decision makers in analyzing a
situation.

Components
Three fundamental components of a DSSarchitectureare:

thedatabase(orknowledge base),
themodel(i.e., the decision context and user criteria), and
theuser interface.

Theusersthemselves are also important components of the

architecture.

Development Frameworks
DSS systems are not entirely different from other systems and require a structured approach.

Such a framework includes people, technology, and the development approach.

The Early Framework of Decision Support System consists of four phases:

IntelligenceSearching for conditions that call for decision.

The actual application that will be used by the user. This is the part of the application that allows the decision
maker to make decisions in a particular problem area. The user can act upon that particular problem.

Generator contains Hardware/software environment that allows people to easily develop specific DSS
applications.

Tools include lower level hardware/software. DSS generators including special languages, function libraries and
linking modules

DesignInventing, developing and analyzing possible alternative actions of solution.

ChoiceSelecting a course of action among those.
ImplementationAdopting the selected course of action in decision situation.

DSS technology levels (of hardware and software) may include:

An iterative developmental approach allows for the DSS to be changed and redesigned at various
intervals.
Once the system is designed, it will need to be tested and revised where necessary for the desired
outcome.

Classification
There are several ways to classify DSS applications. Not every DSS fits neatly into one
of the categories, but may be a mix of two or more architectures.
Holsapple and Whinstonclassify DSS into the following six frameworks:

1. Text-oriented DSS
2. Database-oriented DSS
3. Spreadsheet-oriented DSS
4. Solver-oriented DSS
5. Rule-oriented DSS
6. Compound DSS

A compound DSS is the most popular classification for a DSS. It is a hybrid system
that includes two or more of the five basic structures described by Holsapple and
Whinston.
The support given by DSS can be separated into three distinct, interrelated categories:

7. Personal Support
8. Group Support
9. Organizational Support.

Classification
DSSs which perform selectedcognitivedecision-making

functions and are based onartificial

intelligenceorintelligent agentstechnologies are
calledIntelligent Decision Support Systems(IDSS).
The nascent field ofDecision engineeringtreats the decision
itself as an engineered object, and applies engineering
principles such asDesignandQuality assuranceto an
explicit representation of the elements that make up a
decision.

Applications Of DSS

One is theclinical decision support systemformedical 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 dashboardand
other business performance software allow faster decision making, identification of
negative trends, and better allocation of business resources. Due to DSS all the
information from any organization is represented in the form of charts, graphs i.e. in a
summarized way, which helps the management to take strategic decision.
A growing area of DSS application, concepts, principles, and techniques is
inagricultural production, marketing forsustainable development.
DSS are also prevalent inforest managementwhere the long planning time frame
demands specific requirements.
A specific example concerns theCanadian National Railwaysystem, which tests its
equipment on a regular basis using a decision support system. A problem faced by
anyrailroadis worn-out or defective rails, which can result in hundreds
ofderailmentsper year

Benifits Of DSSs
The Benifits Of DSSs are as Follow :

1. Improves personal efficiency

2. Speed up the process of decision making
3. Increases organizational control
4. Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the decision maker
5. Speeds up problem solving in an organization
6. Facilitates interpersonal communication
7. Promotes learning or training
8. Generates new evidence in support of a decision
9. Creates a competitive advantage over competition
10.Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space
11.Helps automate managerial processes
12.Create Innovative ideas to speed up the performance

DSS Characteristics and

capabilities
The DSS Characteristics and capabilities are as Follow :
1. Solve semi-structured and unstructured problems
2. Support managers at all levels
3. Support individuals and groups
4. Interdependence and sequence of decisions
5. Support Intelligence, Design, Choice
6. Adaptable and flexible
7. Interactive and ease of use
8. Interactive and efficiency
9. Human control of the process
10.Ease of development by end user
11.Modeling and analysis
12.Data access
13.Standalone and web-based integration
14.Support varieties of decision processes
15.Support varieties of decision trees
16.Quick response

Example

Thank You :]