Decision Support Systems
Decision Support Systems
Decision support systems are interactive, computer-based systems that aid users in judgment and choice activities. They provide data storage and retrieval but enhance the traditional information access and retrieval functions with support for model building and model-based reasoning. They support framing, modeling, and problem solving.
Typical application areas of DSSs are management and planning in business, health care, the military, and any area in which management will encounter complex decision situations. Deci- sion support systems are typically used for strategic and tactical decisions faced by upper-level management—decisions with a reasonably low frequency and high potential consequences—in which the time taken for thinking through and modeling the problem pays off generously in the long run.
There are three fundamental components of DSSs [22].
• Database management system (DBMS). A DBMS serves as a data bank for the DSS. It stores large quantities of data that are relevant to the class of problems for which the DSS has been designed and provides logical data structures (as opposed to the physical data structures) with which the users interact. A DBMS separates the users from the physical aspects of the database structure and processing. It should also be capable of informing the user of the types of data that are available and how to gain access to them.
• Model-base management system (MBMS). The role of MBMS is analogous to that of a DBMS. Its primary function is providing independence between specific models that are used in a DSS from the applications that use them. The purpose of an MBMS is to transform data from the DBMS into information that is useful in decision making. Since many problems that the user of a DSS will cope with may be unstructured, the MBMS should also be capable of assisting the user in model building.
Dialog generation and management system (DGMS). The main product of an interaction with a DSS is
Decision support systems are interactive, computer-based systems that aid users in judgment and choice activities. They provide data storage and retrieval but enhance the traditional information access and retrieval functions with support for model building and model-based reasoning. They support framing, modeling, and problem solving.
Typical application areas of DSSs are management and planning in business, health care, the military, and any area in which management will encounter complex decision situations. Deci- sion support systems are typically used for strategic and tactical decisions faced by upper-level management—decisions with a reasonably low frequency and high potential consequences—in which the time taken for thinking through and modeling the problem pays off generously in the long run.
There are three fundamental components of DSSs [22].
• Database management system (DBMS). A DBMS serves as a data bank for the DSS. It stores large quantities of data that are relevant to the class of problems for which the DSS has been designed and provides logical data structures (as opposed to the physical data structures) with which the users interact. A DBMS separates the users from the physical aspects of the database structure and processing. It should also be capable of informing the user of the types of data that are available and how to gain access to them.
• Model-base management system (MBMS). The role of MBMS is analogous to that of a DBMS. Its primary function is providing independence between specific models that are used in a DSS from the applications that use them. The purpose of an MBMS is to transform data from the DBMS into information that is useful in decision making. Since many problems that the user of a DSS will cope with may be unstructured, the MBMS should also be capable of assisting the user in model building.
Dialog generation and management system (DGMS). The main product of an interaction with a DSS is