Decision Support Systems

• Serve management level with data analysis for making decisions.
• input: low volume data or massive databases, analytic models and data analysis tools
• processing: interactive, simulations, analysis
• output: special reports, decision analyses, responses to queries
• users: professionals, senior managers
• Characteristics of Decision Support Systems
1. Handle large amounts of data from different sources
2. Provide report and presentation flexibility
3. Offer both textual and graphical orientation
4. Support drill down analysis
5. Perform complex, sophisticated analysis and comparisons using advanced software.
• Components of a Decision Support Systems
1. Dialogue manager is a user interface that allows decision makers to easily access and manipulate the DSS.
2. Database
3. Model base provides decision makers with access to a variety of models and to assist them in making decisions.
• Advantage
• Helps saving time
• DSS helps to reduce decision cycle time for an organization. DSS provides timely information, which is then used for decision making and results in enhanced employee productivity.
• Improves efficiency
• DSS can help to do efficient decision making resulting in better decisions, This is because use of DSS results in quick transfer of information, better analyses, thus resulting in efficient decisions.
• Boost up interpersonal communication
• Use of DSS in an organization helps to improve interpersonal communication between same level of employees and between management and employees.
• Disadvantage
• Cost
• DSS requires investing in information system to collect data from many sources and analysis them to support system needs and the advance of data analysis statistics econometrics and information system and it costs expensive to hire the specialists to set up the system.
• Overemphasize decision making
• Implementing decision support system may reinforce the rational perspective and overemphasize decision about the context of decision making and the social, political and emotional factors.
• Information overload
• Too much information is a major problem for people and many DSS increases the information load and it can decrease decision making effectiveness.
• Decision support system is a specific class of computerized information system that supports business and organization decision making activities as well as a system which allow executives to analyze the business data using different data with analyzing tools.

意思決定支援システムとは、コンピュータを利用した情報システムあるいは、エキスパートシステムの一種で、その名の通り意思決定を支援する。
意思決定には、汎用的モデルが定まっていないため、また意思決定を必要とする領域範囲は広いため意思決定支援システムの概念も幅広い。
DSSには、様々な形態がある。最小限の定義をするとすれば、DSSは、意思決定をするためのシステムである。意思決定とは、複数の選択肢から予想される価値を判断してひとつの選択肢を選ぶことである。意思決定を支援するとは、この予想および比較を支援することによって選択を支援することに他ならない。