Decision support system

DSS
A Decision Support System (DSS) is a class of information
systems (including but not limited to computerized systems) that
support 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 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:

•an inventory of all of your current information assets (including

legacy and relational data sources, cubes, data warehouses,
and data marts),
•
•comparative sales figures between one week and the next,
•
•projected revenue figures based on new product sales
assumptions.
Management Levels

Flattening the pyramid

characteristics of DSS
Decision-support systems (DSS) support non routine decision making for
middle managers :
q
qDSS provide sophisticated analytical models and data analysis tools to
support
Semi structured and unstructured decision-making activities.
qDSS use data from TPS, MIS, and external sources, provide more analytical
power than other systems, combine data, and are interactive.
qDSS focus on problems that are unique and rapidly changing, for which the
procedure for arriving at a solution may not be fully predefined in advance.
qDSS use a variety of models to analyze data, or they condense large
amounts of data in a form in which decision makers can analyze them.
Typically, they provide the ability to do “what if” analysis.
qDSS use data from TPS, MIS, and external sources, provide more analytical
power than other systems, combine data, and are interactive.
qDSS are designed so that users can work with them directly; these systems
explicitly include user-friendly software.
 DSS structure User
Interface

• Systems designed to help middle

managers make decisions Analysis
• Major components - Sensitivity Analysis
-> What-if Analysis
– Data management subsystem -> Goal-seeking Analysis
-Data-driven tools
• Internal and external data sources -> Data mining
– Analysis subsystem -> OLAP*
• Typically mathematical in nature
– User interface
• How the people interact with the DSS
• Data visualization is the key Data Management
– Text - Transactional Data
– Graphs - Data warehouse
– Charts - Business partners data
• - Economic data
 DSS’ Model Management Tools
• Simulation is used to examine proposed solutions and
their impact
• Sensitivity analysis
– Determine how changes in one part of the model
influence other parts of the model
• What-if analysis
– Manipulate variables to see what would happen in given
scenarios
• Goal-seeking analysis
– Work backward from desired outcome

7
Determine monthly payment given various interest rates. Works backward from a given monthly payment to determine
various loans that would give that payment.
 Benefits of DSS
• Improves personal efficiency
• Expedites problem solving (speed up the progress of
problems solving in an organization)
• Facilitates interpersonal communication
• Promotes learning or training
• Increases organizational control
• Generates new evidence in support of a decision
• Creates a competitive advantage over competition
• Encourages exploration and discovery on the part of the
decision maker
• Reveals new approaches to thinking about the problem space
• Helps automate the managerial processes.
•
CONCLUSION
• Supplements an MIS
• Pulls information from variety of databases
• Interactive
• Nonroutine decision-making
• Model – mathematical representation of real-
life system
• Simulation – using a computer model to reach
a decision about a real-life situation
REFERENCE
• www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~kmchao/bcc03spr
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision support
system
• www.informationbuilders.com/decision-
support-systems-dss.html
• dssresources.com/history/dsshistory.html
• www.answers.com/topic/management-
information-system