DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

Understand the decision support system Appreciate the framework for DSS Development Get a grip of various models Evolve the individual and organizational models

Decision support systems:

Definitions

Decision support systems are a class of computer-based information systems including knowledge based systems that support decision making activities.

Decision support systems

There are many approaches to decision-making and because of the wide range of domains in which decisions are made, the concept of decision support system (DSS) is very broad. A DSS can take many different forms. DSS is a computerized system for helping to make decisions. A decision is a choice between alternatives based on estimates of the values of those alternatives. Supporting a decision means helping people working alone or in a group gather intelligence, generate alternatives and make choices.

Decision Making There are often confusion between terms MIS and information system. Information systems include systems that are not intended for decision making. MIS is referred to, in a restrictive sense, as information technology management

Framework for Developing Decision

Support System A DSS is a system that aids the process of decision making, but that cannot bring out explicit decision suggestions or solutions. DSS can bring out such decision suggestions or solutions.

Framework for Developing Decision Support System

DSS allows 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 for validation.

Framework for Developing Decision Support System

A model-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a statistical, financial, optimization, or simulation model. Model-driven DSS use data and parameters provided by users to assist decision makers in analyzing a situation; they are not necessarily data intensive

Framework for Developing Decision Support System

A communication-driven DSS supports more than one person working on a shared task; examples include integrated tools like Microsoft's Net Meeting or Groove.

Framework for Developing Decision Support System

A data-driven DSS or data-oriented DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a time series of internal company data and, sometimes, external data.

Framework for Developing Decision Support System A document-driven DSS manages, retrieves and manipulates unstructured information in a variety of electronic formats.

Framework for Developing Decision Support System

A knowledge-driven DSS provides specialized problem solving expertise stored as facts, rules, procedures, or in similar structures.

Decision Support System

Applications As mentioned above, there are theoretical possibilities of building such systems in any knowledge domain.

Some of the examples is Clinical decision support system for medical 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.

Decision Support System DSS is extensively used in business and management. Executive dashboard and other business performance software allow faster decision making, identification of negative trends, and better allocation of business resources.

Decision Support System A growing area of DSS application, concepts, principles, and techniques is in agricultural production, marketing for sustainable development.

DSS characteristics and capabilities

Support for decision makers in semi structured and unstructured problems. Support managers at all levels. Support individuals and groups. Support for interdependent or sequential decisions. Support intelligence, design, choice, and implementation. Support variety of decision processes and styles. DSS should be adaptable and flexible. DSS should be interactive and provide ease of use. Effectiveness balanced with efficiency (benefit must exceed cost

Process of Building DSS

DSS is a computerized system for helping make decisions. A decision is a choice between alternatives based on estimates of the values of those alternatives. Supporting a decision means helping people working alone or in a group gather intelligence, generate alternatives and make choices. An interactive, flexible, and adaptable computerbased information system, especially developed for supporting the solution of a non-structured management problem for improved decision making

Classification
They are: Passive, active, and cooperative DSS.

A passive DSS is a system that aids the process of decision making, but that cannot bring out explicit decision suggestions or solutions. An active DSS can bring out such decision suggestions or solutions

Classification
A cooperative DSS allows 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 her for validation

Classification DSS
A model-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a statistical, financial, optimization, or simulation model. Model-driven DSS use data and parameters provided by users to assist decision makers in analyzing a situation; they are not necessarily data intensive

Classification DSS
A communication-driven DSS supports more than one person working on a shared task; examples include integrated tools like Microsoft's NetMeeting or Groove.

Classification DSS
A data-driven DSS or data-oriented DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a time series of internal company data and, sometimes, external data

Classification DSS

A document-driven DSS manages, retrieves and manipulates unstructured information in a variety of electronic formats. A knowledge-driven DSS provides specialized problem solving expertise stored as facts, rules, procedures, or in similar structures.

Decision Support System

Computer system at management level of the organisation that combines data, sophisticated analytical models and user friendly software to support semi structured and unstructured decision making

DSS Components

DSS database a collection of current or historical data from a no: of applications or groups organised for easy access by a range of applications DSS model base a collection of mathematical and analytical models that can easily be made accessible to DSS user

DSS Components

DSS software permits easy interaction between the user and database and the model base

Characteristics of DSS

Support semi structured and unstructured problem analysis Incorporate the data of TPS/MIS and the models of OR Used at many levels of the organisation

Core DSS Capabilities

Representation Operation Memory Aids Control Aids

DSS Classes

Model driven DSS

Primarily stand alone system that uses some type of model to perform analysis A system that supports decision making by allowing users to extract and analyze useful information that was previously buried in large databases

Data driven DSS

DSS Classes

Customer decision support system

System to support the decision making process of an existing or potential customer

Group DSS

An interactive computer based system to facilitate the solution to a problem by a set of decision makers working together as a group Components

Hardware Software People

Group DSS

Hardware

Conference facility, display boards, audio visual aids, computer, networking equipment etc Electronic brainstorming tools, questionnaires, idea organizers, tools for voting and setting priorities, stakeholder identification and analysis, group dictionaries

Software

Group DSS

People

Participants, facilitators etc

GDSS Advantages

Guaranteeing contributors anonymity Attendees can evaluate their own ideas Attendees can contribute without fear Structured methods for organizing and evaluating ideas Easy documentation Increase the no: of ideas, thus the quality of decisions

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Understand the importance of Data Base in an organization. Examine the functions of DBMS. Analyze the presence of Data Structure Link various data types. Classify the DBMS types. Understand the functioning of System Analysis and Design. Use of DFD

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A database management system (DBMS) is computer software designed for the purpose of managing databases. Typical examples of DBMSs include Oracle, DB2, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server. A DBMS is a complex set of software programs that controls the organization, storage, management, and retrieval of data in a database.

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A DBMS includes: A modeling language to define the schema of each database hosted in the DBMS, according to the DBMS data model. The four most common types of organizations are the hierarchical, network, relational and object models. Inverted lists and other methods are also used. A given database management system may provide one or more of the four models.

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The dominant model in use today is the ad hoc one embedded in SQL, despite the objections of purists who believe this model is a corruption of the relational model, since it violates several of its fundamental principles for the sake of practicality and performance.

DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Data structures (fields, records, files and objects) optimized to deal with very large amounts of data stored on a permanent data storage device. A database query language and report writer to allow users to interactively interrogate the database, analyze its data and update it according to the users privileges on data. A transaction mechanism.

Features and Abilities of DBMS

One can characterize a DBMS as an "attribute management system" where attributes are small chunks of information that describe something. DBMS roll together frequently-needed services or features of attribute management. This allows one to get powerful functionality "out of the box" rather than program each from scratch or add and integrate them incrementally

Advantages of Data Base Management System

A database query language and report writer to allow users to interactively interrogate the database, analyze its data and update it according to the users privileges on data. It also controls the security of the database. Data security prevents unauthorized users from viewing or updating the database Using passwords, users are allowed access to the entire database or subsets of it called sub schemas

Advantages of Data Base Management System

Backup and replication
Copies of attributes need to be made regularly in case primary disks or other equipment fails. A periodic copy of attributes may also be created for a distant organization that cannot readily access the original.

Advantages of Data Base Management System

Rule enforcement Often one wants to apply rules to attributes so that the attributes are clean and reliable

Advantages of Data Base Management System

Security Often it is desirable to limit who can see or change which attributes or groups of attributes. This may be managed directly by individual, or by the assignment of individuals and privileges to groups.

Advantages of Data Base Management System

Computation There are common computations requested on attributes such as counting, summing, averaging, sorting, grouping, cross-referencing, etc.

Advantages of Data Base Management System

Change and access logging Often one wants to know who accessed what attributes, what was changed, and when it was changed. Logging services allow this by keeping a record of access occurrences and changes.

Advantages of Data Base Management System

Physical view of Data Physical Views is a pattern that shows how to encapsulate a physical database so that it can be easily accessed and optimized without affecting upper layers of software.

Data Flow Diagram

A data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation of the "flow" of data through an information system. A data flow diagram can also be used for the visualization of data processing. Data flow diagrams (DFDs) are one of the three essential perspectives of Structured Systems Analysis

Data Flow Diagram

Dataflow diagrams can be used to provide the end user with a physical idea of where the data they input ultimately has an effect upon the structure of the whole system from order to dispatch to restock how any system is developed can be determined through a dataflow diagram.

Developing a DFD: Top-Down Approach

The system designer makes a context level DFD, which shows the interaction (data flows) between the system (represented by one process) and the system environment (represented by terminators).

Developing a DFD: Top-Down Approach

The system is decomposed in lower level DFD (Zero) into a set of processes, data stores, and the data flows between these processes and data stores. Each process is then decomposed into an even lower level diagram containing its subprocesses. This approach then continues on the subsequent subprocesses, until a necessary and sufficient level of detail is reached which is called the primitive process.

Event Partitioning Approach to DFD

Construct detailed DFD.

The list of all events is made. For each event a process is constructed. Each process is linked (with incoming data flows) directly with other processes or via datastores, so that it has enough information to respond to a given event. The reaction of each process to a given event is modeled by an outgoing data flow.

Data Structure
A collection of data with the best procedural representation is called data structure. The choice of the data structure often begins from the choice of an abstract data type. A welldesigned data structure allows a variety of critical operations to be performed, using as few resources, both execution time and memory space, as possible. Data structures are implemented using the data types, references and operations on them provided by a programming language.

Common data structures

Array Stacks Queues Linked lists Trees Graphs

ARRAY
In most programming languages each element has the same data type and the array occupies a contiguous area of storage. Most programming languages have a built-in array data type. Multi-dimensional arrays are accessed using more than one index: one for each dimension

STACK
A stack is a temporary abstract data type and data structure based on the principle of Last In First Out (LIFO,). Stacks are used extensively at every level of a modern computer system. For example, a modern PC uses stacks at the architecture level, which are used in the basic design of an operating system for interrupt handling and operating system function calls.

STACK
A stack-based computer system is one that stores temporary information primarily in stacks, rather than hardware CPU registers (a registerbased computer system).

QUEUE
A queue is a particular kind of collection in which the entities in the collection are kept in order and the principal (or only) operations on the collection are the addition of entities to the rear terminal position and removal of entities from the front terminal position.

QUEUE
Queues provide services in computer science, transport and operations research where various entities such as data, objects, persons, or events are stored and held to be processed later.

LINKED LIST
A linked list is one of the fundamental data structures, and can be used to implement other data structures. It consists of a sequence of nodes, each containing arbitrary data fields and one or two references (links) pointing to the next and/or previous nodes.

LINKED LIST
The principal benefit of a linked list over a conventional array is that the order of the linked items may be different from the order that the data items are stored in memory or on disk, allowing the list of items to be traversed in a different order

TREE
Tree is a widely-used data structure that emulates a tree structure with a set of linked nodes. A node may contain a value or a condition or represents a separate data structure or a tree of its own.

GRAPH
A graph is a kind of data structure, specifically an abstract data type (ADT), that consists of a set of nodes and a set of edges that establish relationships (connections) between the nodes.

Database Management (DBM)

The Database Management Layer allows script programmers to store information as a pair of strings; a key, which is used to find the associated value. Essentially, a DBM adds more functionality and better sorting during storage to the binary flat-files that it uses.

Relational
The relational databases such as SQL, Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle, have a much more logical structure in the way that it stores data. Tables can be used to represent real world objects, with each field acting like an attribute.

Type of Database
Databases have been in use since the earliest days of electronic computing. Unlike modern systems which can be applied to widely different databases and needs, the vast majority of older systems were tightly linked to the custom databases in order to gain speed at the expense of flexibility.

Introduction to System Analysis and Design

Systems are created to solve problems. The subject System Analysis and Design, mainly deals with the software development activities.

Introduction to System Analysis and Design

understand a system understand the different phases of system developments life cycle know the components of system analysis know the components of system designing

Defining A System
A collection of components that work together to realize some objective forms a system. Basically there are three major components in every system, namely input, processing and output.

Defining A System

Input

Processing Output

SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE

System life cycle is an organizational process of developing and maintaining systems. It helps in establishing a system project plan, because it gives overall list of processes and subprocesses required developing a system.

Phases of software development cycle

System study Feasibility study System analysis System design Coding Testing Implementation Maintenance

Phases of software development cycle

PHASES OF SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

System Study System study is the first stage of system development life cycle. This gives a clear picture of physical system. In practice, the system study is done in two phases. In the first phase, the preliminary survey of the system is done which helps in identifying the scope of the system. The second phase of the system study is more detailed and indepth study in which the identification of users requirement and the limitations and problems of the present system are studied.

To describe the system study phase more analytically..

Problem identification and project initiation

Background analysis
Inference or findings

Feasibility Study
On the basis of result of the initial study, feasibility study takes place. The feasibility study is basically the test of the proposed system in the light of its workability, meeting users requirements, effective use of resources.

Feasibility Study
The main goal of feasibility study is not to solve the problem but to achieve the scope. In the process of feasibility study, the cost and benefits are estimated with greater accuracy.

System Analysis
Assuming that a new system is to be developed, the next phase is system analysis. Analysis involved a detailed study of the current system, leading to specifications of a new system..

System Analysis
Analysis is a detailed study of various operations performed by a system and their relationships within and outside the system. During analysis, data are collected on the available files, decision points and transactions handled by the present system

System Design
Based on the user requirements and the detailed analysis of a new system, the new system must be designed. This is the phase of system designing. The design proceeds in two stages : preliminary or general design structure or detailed design

Tools and techniques used for designing

Flowchart Data flow diagram (DFDs) Data dictionary Structured English Decision table Decision tree

Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method (SSADM)

SSADM is one particular implementation and builds on the work of different schools of development methods, some of the key members of which included.

Logical data design

Also known as the logical system specification stage. In this stage, technically feasible options are chosen. The development/implementation environments are specified based on this choice.

Logical data design

Define BSOs (Business Systems Options). Its purpose is to identify and define the possible approaches to the physical implementation to meet the function definitions. It also validates the service level requirements for the proposed system in the light of the technical environment. Select BSO. This step is concerned with the presentation of the BSOs to users and the selection of the preferred option.

Logical process design

Define user dialogue. This step defines the structure of each dialogue required to support the on-line functions and identifies the navigation requirements, both within the dialogue and between dialogues. Define update processes. This is to complete the specification of the database updating required for each event and to define the error handling for each event. Define enquiry processes. This is to complete the specification of the database enquiry processing and to define the error handling for each enquiry

Physical design
The following activities are part of this stage: Prepare for physical design Learn the rules of the implementation environment Review the precise requirements for logical to physical mapping Plan the approach Complete the specification of functions Incrementally and repeatedly develop the data and process designs