MSS’s Theory
Abstract
Doing business in this era is not that easy
like the old days. The competition is so
intense. As there are many developments
of new technologies, which can facilitate
and make our lives easier, we should learn
how to use them. Management Support
Systems are one of those technologies that
can support business people.
This assignment is the theoretical and
practical study of MSS. In the part of
theory, it will give definitions of both MSS
and four major types of MSS, which are
DSS, ODSS, GDSS, and EIS. Also, it will
explain how they are linked and how they
work. For MSS’s practice, there will be
examples of some organizations that use
MSS and one case study of SilverScreener
(A Marketing Management Support
Systems).
I hope that this would give you more
understanding about Management Support
Systems and their functions.
Introduction
The way of doing business keeps changing.
Only the one who has right decisions and
be fast enough will win. Nowadays,
internet has great effect to the business
world. People can acknowledge all kinds
of information easier and faster, and thus
make the business competition even more
intense. New problem occurs when there
are too much data and information that
should be known, while human brain has
limited capacity. This brings us to the
challenges of the information technologies.
One of them that we should be aware of is
Management Support Systems.
Definitions
MSS stand for Management Support
Systems. The well-known definition of
MSS comes from Turban & Aronson in
1998, who defined MSS as “the
applications of any decision support
technologies to decision making” .
Therefore, MSS are any kinds of
technological systems, which are used to
support decision making of managers.
Management support system is a subset of
management information system (MIS), it
extends the information retrieval
capabilities of the end-users with 'query
and analysis functions' for searching a
database, generating 'what if' scenarios,
and other such purposes..
As MSS are defined broadly, there are
many support systems to be called
Management Support Systems. However,
four major types of MSS are Decision
Support Systems or DSS, Organizational
Decision Support Systems or ODSS,
Group Decision Support Systems or
GDSS, and Executive Information Systems
or EIS.
From the same authors, the term DSS is
defined as “flexible, interactive, and
adaptable computer-based information
systems (CBIS) specially developed for
supporting the solution of management
problems for improved decision making” .
Generally, the systems in DSS and ODSS
are similar. However, the difference is that
DSS are used “for a limited number of
decision makers” , while ODSS are used
“for a larger number of decision makers” .
To make it more precise, ODSS “often
deal with problems cutting across different
functional, hierarchical and geographical
layers in organizations, as well as taken
account of the larger possibility of finding
some sort of intelligent component
supporting decision making in this kind of
decision support systems” .
GDSS are also computer-based
information systems (CBIS), which are
used to “enhance group decision making
by facilitating the exchange and use of
information by group members, and
interactions between the group and the
computer, to formulate and solve
problems” .
For EIS, they are “information systems
originally designed to support the strategic
information needs of top management” .
How they are linked
Let us consider an organization which uses
different types of MSS for different
purposes.
Firstly, every department in the
organization has its own tasks to
accomplish and there are many decisions
to be made by manager of each
department. For example, marketing
manager has to decide on how to
effectively use all kinds of integrated
marketing communication for all products
launched by the organization. By using
DSS, it would support marketing manager
with more accurate and precise information
about what should be done, from all data
gathering internally and externally. In this
stage, the marketing manager can also use
GDSS together with DSS to better support
some important decisions that should be
made by a group, for example, a plan to
launch new product.
Some projects require coordination across
different functions. For example, the new
product development needs support from
people in engineering department,
manufacturing department, finance
department, and some others. It is a
complicated project, which needs
cooperation from all people who involved.
However, different people from different
departments have different ideas and
conditions. Therefore, ODSS and GDSS
can be helpful for this kind of situation.
They provide useful information for all
participants, formulate possible solutions,
and help them solve problems. The
information to be used within each
department and cross-functions are mostly
tactical and operational information.
As middle and top level management have
different responsibilities, the support
systems for each of them must be different
for serving different kinds of purposes.
Normally, top level management doesn’t
have much time to look into very detailed
data. They want to see the whole picture,
not parts of the jigsaw. Therefore, the
systems that support people in this blue
circle must be able to sort out important
aspects from big pool of data, support
strategic decision making, help solving
problems, and be fast enough for them.
EIS are the systems designed especially for
executives to fit with those conditions.
How they work
We can see that different types of MSS are
designed to support different level of
management, who needs different types of
supports. Mostly, DSS, ODSS, and GDSS
are used by the low and middle level
management to support the solutions of
two kinds of problems. Structured
problems are the first and easiest kind of
problems to be solved. Most problems
happening in the work site are structured
problems because they happen again and
again. Therefore, once it was fixed and
recorded, we can handle easier the next
time it happens. Next, unstructured
problems are something harder to cope
with. As all information is not on hand and
some are unpredictable, the solutions
generating from those support systems are
varies, which leave more works to be made
by human. From the example above, the
new product development is one of the
unstructured problems. We can never
know exactly what customers want, what
new attributes should be added, and many
more of the who, what, when, where, why,
and how.
On the other hand, EIS are designed to
support the solutions of semi-structured
problems for the top level management.
For example, the government of Thailand
is trying to make FTA agreements with
many countries. The pros and cons of these
agreements can be predicted, but the
executives can not be 100% sure with the
real outcomes. EIS have to help them
generate all possible solutions for the right
strategic movements of the companies.
only one kind of MSS might be enough.
Third, implementing all kinds of MSS, the
organization would be either excellent or
messy.
MSS’s Practice
Some organizations that use MSS
MSS are widely used in many fields of
organizations for different objectives.
Mostly, they are used internally.
One example is the Fujitsu Group, which
uses the environmental MSS to reinforce
green management in its organization .
Another example is the State Agricultural
Experiment Station, which is established
by the US Federal Government, uses the
National Information MSS to facilitate the
use of agricultural research . Also,
sometimes they are used to connect two or
more organizations. For example, the road
management organizations in Hokkaido,
Japan, use MSS to connect with weather
information organizations to perform better
road maintenance in the winter .

As these are all theoretical explanation, the

organization in the real world may not use
all kinds of MSS together because of many
reasons. First, it would cost a lot to
implement all those DSS, ODSS, GDSS,
EIS and more. Second, for small and
middle-sized companies, implementing
 for Pathe to compare the performance of
Case Study: SilverScreener – A the theater with MMSS and the other two
Marketing Management Support theaters without MMSS.
Systems
Previously, the theater manager had to
decide which movies to play. Then he
In 2001, Pathe The Netherlands, “the
would think about which movie should be
largest movie theater company in the
on which screen. The movie that had “the
Netherlands and owns a large chain of
highest expected number of visitors”
theaters ”, decided to implement and
would be on “the highest capacity screen”
evaluate SilverScreener, a marketing
and so on. Later, he should think about
management support system (MMSS) in
how long the movie should be on the
one of its theaters. There were many
screen. In the contract, the movie revenue
reasons given by Pathe The Netherlands
was shared by the distributors and the
for implementing this MMSS. Firstly,
exhibitors. The longer the movie was in the
there are so many movies available in each
theater, the higher percentage of share the
week. However, the theater manager has to
exhibitors would get. In addition, the total
pick only some of them for a limited
revenue of the exhibitor was from two
number of screens by comparing the
ways. First was the share from movie
attractiveness of each movie. Secondly, “as
revenue deducted by taxes. Second was
distributors release new movies each week,
from the sales of snacks and soft drinks.
they pressure the owners to provide
Therefore, SilverScreener should be able to
screens and play time for them” . Thirdly,
estimate the number of visitors of each
“theater owners often base a number of
movie, find the optimal solutions of which
theaters in the same geographical area and
movie should be on which screen and for
must manage the interdependency among
how long, and finally find the theater’s
several facilities” . Fourthly, there are
expected income per week.
many complicated conditions in the
contract between the distributors and the
After 12 weeks of implementation, the
theater owner (the exhibitor). For example,
results were that SilverScreener
“signing a contract to play a movie in its
“succeeded in satisfying multiple criteria.
theaters, the exhibitor becomes obligated
The first is technical validity as MMSS
to play the film for a certain period of time
accomplished its goals in a timely and
even when audience demand is weak” .
efficient manner” . Second, comparing
Fifthly, the decision making style of each
between the theater Buitenhof with
theater manager is different and
SilverScreener and the other two theaters
nonstandardized. Therefore, if the
without SilverScreener “by percentage
implementation of MMSS in one theater is
change in attendance” , the theater
effective, all company’s theaters should
Buitenhof was in the first rank three-fourth
implement this MMSS for the same
of time and the second rank one-fourth of
standard of decision making.
time. Third, three questions, which were “I
think that movie-planning decisions will be
Then Pathe chose one of its middle-sized
easier when using SilverScreener, I think
theaters called Buitenhof. It has “six
that movie-planning decisions with
screens, ranging from 113 to 434 seats, and
SilverScreener will be better, and I expect
it is one of the three theaters Pathe owns”
to be able to improve my movie-planning
in that town. Therefore, it would be easy
decisions using SilverScreener” , were W. S. Jawadekar , Management
asked to rank before, between, and after Information System
implementing MMSS. The results
represented more favorable towards
MMSS over time. Later, Pathe The
Netherlands “asked the SilverScreener
team to take on the programming for” its
new theater.

Conclusion

One research in 1995 was conducted with

CEOs and CFOs of the top 500 largest
companies from Fortune magazine about
EIS. The results were that 91% of those
companies’ executives who use EIS, “said
it paid back to invest on implementing an
EIS” .

Although implementing MSS cost a lot, it

is worth enough if the company knows
how to use it optimally. Anyway, the last
word from the case study of SilverScreener
states that even though the management
team appreciated with the MSS, they didn’t
follow the guideline blindly. That is what it
should be because MSS give decisions
from its formula, but human decides with
brain and instinct.

References

O’Brien, J.A., 2002, Management

Information Systems: Managing
Information Technology in the E-Business
Enterprise

The Fujitsu Group, 2003, 2003 Fujitsu

Group Sustainability Report [Website]

http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/ECO/re
p2003/2003report07_08_e.pdf

Turban, E. & Aronson, J.E., Decision

Support Systems and Intelligent Systems