IS 367 Support Systems Lect9 Updated

Support Systems
Dr. Honest C. Kimaro

Business Intelligence and Decision Support
• Business intelligence enables firms to:

• Amass information
• Develop knowledge about operations
• Change decision-making behavior to achieve
profitability and other business goals
Business Decision Making and the Decision-Making
Process
• Decision-Making Levels:
• Senior management
• Middle management
• Operational management
• Individual employees
DECISION MAKING AND DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Information Requirements of Key Decision-Making Groups in a Firm
DECISION MAKING AND DECISION-SUPPORT
SYSTEMS
Types of Decisions
Unstructured decisions:
• Novel, non-routine (repetitive) decisions

requiring judgment and insights
• Each decision maker may use different data and
processes to reach a conclusion
• Examples: Approve capital budget; decide
corporate objectives
Types of Decisions (Continued)
Structured decisions:
• Routine decisions with definite/certain procedures
• Structured or Programmed decisions are the ones where the
organization has already faced such decisions
• Structured decisions are made on a regular basis in business
environments
• Examples: Restock inventory; determine special offers
to customers
Semi-structured (routine + non- routine) decisions

• Only part of decision has clear-cut answers provided by
accepted procedures
• Examples: Allocate resources to managers; develop a
marketing plan
Systems for Decision Support
There are four kinds of systems that support the different

levels and types of decisions:
• Management Information Systems (MIS)
• Decision-Support Systems (DSS)
• Executive -Support Systems (ESS)
• Group Decision-Support Systems (GDSS)

Stages in Decision Making
Decision Making in the Real World

In the real world, investments in decision- support
systems do not always work because of
• Management filters: Biases and bad decisions
of managers
• Organizational inertia: Strong forces within
organization that resist change
• Information quality: Accuracy, integrity,
consistency, completeness, validity, timeliness,
accessibility
Trends in Decision Support and Business Intelligence
The rise of client/server computing, the Internet, and
Web technologies made a major impact on systems that
support decision making
Six Major Trends:

1. Detailed enterprise-wide data
2. Broadening decision rights and responsibilities
3. Enterprise private network ( Intranets) and portals
4. Personalization and customization of information
5. Extranets and collaborative commerce
6. Team support tools
SYSTEMS FOR DECISION SUPPORT
The Difference between MIS and DSS

Management Information Systems:
• Primarily address structured problems

• Provides typically fixed, scheduled reports
based on routine flows of data and assists in
the general control of the business
Decision Support Systems (DSS):
• Support semi-structured and unstructured

problems
• Greater emphasis on models, assumptions,
ad-hoc queries, display graphics
• Emphasizes change, flexibility, and a rapid
response
Types of Decision-Support Systems
Model-driven DSS:
• Primarily stand-alone systems
• Use a strong theory or model to perform
“what-if” and similar analyses
Data-driven DSS:
• Integrated with large pools of data in major
enterprise systems and Web sites
• Support decision making by enabling user to
extract useful information
• Data mining: Can obtain types of information
such as associations, sequences, classifications,
clusters, and forecasts
SYSTEMSFOR DECISION SUPPORT
Components of DSS
• DSS database: A collection of current or historical
data from a number of applications or groups
• DSS software system: Contains the software tools
for data analysis, with models, data mining, and
other analytical tools
• DSS user interface: Graphical, flexible interaction
between users of the system and the DSS software
tools
Model: An abstract representation that

illustrates the components or relationships of
a phenomenon
• Statistical models
• Optimization models
• Forecasting models
• Sensitivity analysis (“what-if” models)
Overview of a Decision-Support System
Business Value of DSS

• Providing fine-grained information for decisions that enable the
firm to coordinate both internal and external business processes
much more precisely
• Helping with decisions in
• Supply chain management
• Customer relationship management
• Pricing Decisions
• Asset Utilization
• Data Visualization: Presentation of data in graphical forms, to
help users see patterns and relationships
• Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Special category of
DSS that display geographically referenced data in digitized maps
A DSS for Customer Analysis and Segmentation
Web-Based Customer Decision-Support Systems

• DSS based on the Web and the Internet can
support decision making by providing:
• On line access to various databases and

information pools along with software for data
analysis
• Some of these DSS are targeted toward

management, but many have been developed to
attract customers.
Web-based Customer Decision-Support Systems
(Continued)
• Customer decision making has become increasingly

information intensive with
• Internet search engines, intelligent agents, online
catalogs, Web directories, e- mail, and other tools
used to help make purchasing decisions.
• Customer decision-support systems (CDSS) support the

decision-making process of an existing or potential
customer.
GROUP DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEMS
What Is a GDSS?
• Group Decision-Support System (GDSS) is an
interactive computer-based system used to
facilitate the solution of unstructured problems by
a set of decision makers working together as a
group.
Three Main Components of GDSS

• Hardware (conference facility, audiovisual equipment,
etc.)
• Software tools (Electronic questionnaires,

brainstorming tools, voting tools, etc.)
• People (Participants, trained facilitator, support

staff)
Overview of a GDSS Meeting
• In a GDSS electronic meeting, each attendee has a

workstation.
• The workstations are networked and are connected to
the facilitator’s console, which serves as the
facilitator’s workstation and control panel, and to the
meeting’s file server.
• All data that the attendees forward from their
workstations to the group are collected and saved on
the file server.
Overview of a GDSS Meeting
(Continued)
• The facilitator is able to project computer images onto
the projection screen at the front of the room.
• Many electronic meeting rooms have seating
arrangements in semicircles and are tiered in
legislative style to accommodate a large number of
attendees.
• The facilitator controls the use of tools during the
meeting.
Group System Tools
Business Value of GDSS

• Traditional decision-making meetings support an
optimal size of attendees.
• GDSS allows a greater number of attendees.
• Enable collaborative atmosphere by guaranteeing
contributor’s anonymity.
• Enable non-attendees to locate organized information
after the meeting.
Business Value of GDSS (Continued)

• Can increase the number of ideas generated and the
quality of decisions while producing the desired results in
fewer meetings
• Can lead to more participative and democratic

decision making
EXECUTIVE SUPPORT IN THE ENTERPRISE
The Role of Executive Support Systems in the Firm
• ESS can bring together data from all parts of the

firm and enable managers to select, access, and
tailor them as needed.
• It tries to avoid the problem of data overload so
common in paper reports.
The Role of Executive Support Systems in the Firm
(Continued)
• The ability to drill down is useful not only to senior

executives but also to employees at lower levels of
the firm who need to analyze data.
• Can integrate comprehensive firm-wide information

and external data in timely manner
• Inclusion of modeling and analysis tools usable

with a minimum of training
Business Value of Executive Support Systems
• Ability to analyze, compare, and highlight trends

• Graphical interface enables users to review data more
quickly and with more insight, speeding decision
making.
• Timeliness and availability of data enables more
timely decision making, helping businesses move
toward a “sense-and-respond” strategy.
Business Value of Executive Support Systems
(Continued)
• Increases upper management span of control,

better monitoring
• ESS based on enterprise-wide data can be
used for decentralization of decision
making or increase management
centralization.
Executive Support Systems and the Digital

Firm
• ESS can be used for competitive intelligence;

global buying trends can be shared with
manufacturers, distributors, sales representatives
to get latest products to customer before selling
season begins
MANAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES
AND DECISIONS
Management Opportunities:
• Decision-support systems provide

opportunities for increasing precision,
accuracy, and rapidity of decisions and thereby
contributing directly to profitability
Test 2 will be conducted next
week Thursday 27th January
2022 at 14hrs.

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Support Systems

Dr. Honest C. Kimaro

• Business intelligence enables firms to:

• Novel, non-routine (repetitive) decisions

Semi-structured (routine + non- routine) decisions

Systems for Decision Support

There are four kinds of systems that support the different

• Decision-Support Systems (DSS)

• Executive -Support Systems (ESS)

• Group Decision-Support Systems (GDSS)

Decision Making in the Real World

Six Major Trends:

The Difference between MIS and DSS

• Primarily address structured problems

• Support semi-structured and unstructured

Model: An abstract representation that

Business Value of DSS

Web-Based Customer Decision-Support Systems

• On line access to various databases and

• Some of these DSS are targeted toward

• Customer decision making has become increasingly

• Customer decision-support systems (CDSS) support the

Three Main Components of GDSS

• Software tools (Electronic questionnaires,

• People (Participants, trained facilitator, support

• In a GDSS electronic meeting, each attendee has a

Business Value of GDSS

Business Value of GDSS (Continued)

• Can lead to more participative and democratic

The Role of Executive Support Systems in the Firm

• ESS can bring together data from all parts of the

• The ability to drill down is useful not only to senior

• Can integrate comprehensive firm-wide information

• Inclusion of modeling and analysis tools usable

• Ability to analyze, compare, and highlight trends

• Increases upper management span of control,

Executive Support Systems and the Digital

• ESS can be used for competitive intelligence;

• Decision-support systems provide

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