IT 502 DBMS and DSS Individual Assignment (Literature Survey) Survey on Decisions Support System tools C. S.

BOPEGAMA MSC/IT/09/097

Contents

Introduction..................................................................................................................1 Decision Support Systems History..............................................................................2 Taxonomies..................................................................................................................3 Tools for model-driven DSS........................................................................................4 Tools for data-driven DSS...........................................................................................5 Tools for document-driven DSS..................................................................................7 Tools for knowledge-driven DSS................................................................................8 Tools for web-based DSS............................................................................................9 Architecture of DSS ....................................................................................................9 Applications...............................................................................................................10 Conclusions................................................................................................................10

Decision support system tools

Abstract. This paper reviews the decision support system (DSS) tools and criteria
to categorize DSS as communication-driven, data-driven, document-driven, knowledge-driven, and model-driven. A brief history of DSS is presented. A description of each category and some real world tools of each category is offered. Pros and cons of there tools are listed respectively.

Keywords: Decision support systems, DSS, DSS Tools.

Introduction
Decisions support systems (DSS) are class of information systems but not limited to software product that help users apply scientific and analytical methods to make decisions. DSS came practical in the development of minicomputers, distributed computing and timeshare operating systems software. In recent years, the growing popularity of data warehousing, online analytical processing and supply chain management are some major reasons for increased interest in the development of DSS. DSS tools help decision makers to allocate scare resources, solving risk management problems, and the need to balance conflicting objectives (Bhargava et al.1999). Complexity and the long development time are some issues which prevent wide use of decision support systems. Therefore, a new class of DSS tools and DSS generators are emerging to reduce the complexity and the long development time. Computerized DSS are used for improving data management, managing giant data warehouses, improving communication and collaboration, increasing productivity of group members and speed communication.

Fig. 1: Overview of a Decision Support system. 1

Decision Support Systems History

The scope and the definition of DSS have been migrating over the years. During the late 1950s and early 1960s theoretical and technical work. During this period researchers began studying about how computerized models can be used to assist decision making and planning. Middle of the 1970s Decision Support systems became an area of research of its own. In the middle and late 1980s, Executive Information systems, Group DSS s, Organizational DSS s were evolved from the single user and model-oriented DSS s. In 1990s data warehousing and on-line analytical processing were presented. In 2000s new web based analytical applications were introduced. In 1970s DSS was described as a computer based information system that

support to decision making activities. [Httenschwiler et al.2002] 1970 was a period for conceptual and technology development for DSS s. Late 1970s DSS described as interactive computer based systems which is utilized by decision makers with database and models to solve ill-structured problems. In 1971 a study by Michel S. Scott Mortan demonstrated that managers gain benefits from using a computer based DSS s. In 1980s DSS is described as a systems that improve the effectiveness of managerial and professional activities using suitable and available technologies. In Late 1980s faced new challenge toward the design of intelligent workstations. [Httenschwiler et al.2002] Theoretical studies of OR and decision making 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s DSS EIS, GDSS, ODSS DATA WAREHOUSE, OLAP WEB-BASED DSS Fig. 2: History of DSS. 2 technical work on Interactive computing

Taxonomies
There are no universally-accepted taxonomies of DSS. Different classifications are proposed by different authors. Classification has been created by Haettenchwiler, (1999) using the relationship with the user as the criteria. He differentiates passive, active and cooperative Decision Support systems. A passive DSS System that helps the decision making process, but it cannot bring out explicit decision solutions or suggestions. An active DSS It brings out explicit decision solutions or suggestions. A cooperative DSS Before the validation process, allows decision maker to modifications, complete, or refine a decision that is provided by system. The systems again complete, improve and refine the decision makers suggestions and send back to validation. Until a consolidated solution is generated, whole process starts again. At the technical level, Power (1997) created taxonomy for DSS, using scope as the criterion. An Enterprise-wide DSS - Serves many managers in the company. Linked to large data warehouses Desktop DSS - Is a Small system that runs on an individual managers computer. At the conceptual level, Power (2002) created taxonomy for DSS, using the mode of assistance as the criteria. Power differentiates communication-driven DSS, datadriven DSS, document-driven DSS, knowledge-driven DSS, and model-driven DSS. 1.1.

Tools for a communication-driven DSS

Use network and communication technology. This technology supports decisionrelevant collaboration and communication. It supports more than one person who is working on a shared task. Communication technology is the dominant architectural component. Examples in Tools used are electronic mail; including groupware, computer-based bulletin boards and Video conferencing, web conferencing, document sharing, computer supported face-to-face meeting software, interactive video. In early 1980s researches developed a new category of

commercial software tool called Group Decision Support system (GDSS) for a communication driven DSS. In 1987 DeSanctis and Gallup defined two types of GDSS. 1. Basic or Level 1 2. Advanced or Level 2 Basic or Level 1 GDSS are systems with tool such as large screens to display ideas, reduce communication barriers, anonymous input of ideas and preferences and voting mechanisms. These are communication-driven DSS tools. Advanced or Level 2 GDSS tools are planning and modeling tools. This is a model-driven GDSS. GDSS is a computer-based, interactive system tool. Users who are working together as a group use this system to facilitate the solutions of unstructured problems. GDSS provide tools and technologies that were developed in response to a growing concern over the quality and effectiveness of meetings. Some problems in GDSS such as time spent on those meetings and increased number of attendees. Components of GDSS are hardware, software tools and people. Hardware refers to the conference facility such as electronic display boards, projectors, audiovisual, computer and networking equipments. Specific GDSS software tools are as following; Electronic brainstorming tool enables individuals anonymously and simultaneously contribute ideas on the topics of the meeting. Policy formation tools Stakeholder identification and analysis tool Group dictionaries Electronic questionnaires Idea organizers

Tools for model-driven DSS

A model-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a model, for example statistical, financial, optimization or simulation models. Large data bases are not needed for model-driven DSS. Model-driven DSS use parameters and limited data provided by decision makers for analyzing a situation. In early version of Modeldriven DSS were called model-oriented DSS by Alter 1980, later called computationally oriented DSS by Bonczak, holsapple and whinston 1981 , and later spreadsheet-oriented and solver-oriented DSS by Holsapple and Whinston 1996. In

1970s Gerald R. Wagner and students of University of Texas developed the first commercial software tool for building model-driven DSS which was called Interactive Financial Planning system (IFPS). It is using financial and quantitative models. Major advantage of this model is that the model is written in natural language and the model can be separated from data. In 1983 another tool called Expert choice was released. This DSS tool for building specific systems based upon the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Expert choice supports group or personal decision making. Expert choice software helps to determine strategic priorities. Communicate with these priorities and build agreements around decisions. Enables decision maker to move forward quickly and confidently. Final decision is clear thinking and sound analysis that everyone in the organization agreed as the final decision. VisiCalc is another software tool for Model-driven DSS. It was invented in 1978. Main advantage in VisiCalc is that it provides managers with the opportunity to decision making and computer-based analysis at a low cost.

Tools for data-driven DSS

Data-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a time-series of real-time data, external data and internal data. Simple file systems accessed by retrieval and query tools. These tools provide the most elementary level of functionality. Data ware house, online analytical processing software (OLAP), Executive Information System (EIS), Geographic Information system (GIS), are special purpose DataDriven software tools for building data-driven DSS s. Data Warehouse is a database that stores historical and current data. Main characteristic of data ware house is that mainly intended for Decision-support applications such as complex analysis, knowledge discovery and decision making. Data Ware House is optimized for data retrieval, not for the non routine processing.

Fig. 3: The overall process of data warehousing. 5

Data ware house distinctive characteristics are as follows Transparency Multi-user support Unrestricted cross-dimensional operations Generic dimensionality Multidimensional conceptual view Client-server architecture Accessibility Intuitive data manipulation Flexible reporting Another tool for building Data-Driven DSS is business Intelligence, On-line analytical processing software tool. Once data stored in data ware house a series of tools enable users to analyze these data. These tools analyzing, consolidating and providing access to data help decision maker to make best decisions. This is referred as business intelligence. Tools use for business intelligence such as online analytical processing, data mining, software for database query and reporting. Advantages of business intelligence is capability to handle mass information, develop customers, competitors and internal operators knowledge, change decision making procedures to achieve higher profitability.

Fig. 4: Business Intelligence working system.

Online analytical processing tool facilitate to users to view same data in different ways using multiple dimensions.

Fig. 5: Multidimensional data model. Above cube showing is region versus product. If you rotate can see different type of views such as product versus actual or project sales, region versus actual or projected sales. Executive information system is tools that help to make non-routine decisions in the senior management level, decisions as judgments, evaluation like no agreed-on procedure for take decisions. Another tool using for data-driven DSS is Geographic information systems (GIS). GIS are special category of DSS. It use data visualization technology to analyze and display data for planning and make decisions in the form of digitized maps. The software assembles, manipulates, stores and displays geographically referenced information, and this software using data to points, lines, and areas on a map. Advantage of GIS is it has modeling capabilities. This capability enables managers to change data and scenarios to find better decisions.

Tools for document-driven DSS

Document-driven DSS focused on manage unstructured documents and retrieves and manipulation in a various electronic formats. Some examples of documents that accepted by a Document-driven DSS are policies and procedures, catalogs, product specifications, historical documents including correspondence and minutes of meetings. Basically there are three types of data used in the document-driven DSS. 7

Those are Oral type

conversations that are transcribed,

Video type news clips, television commercials and Written type written reports, catalogs, memos and e-mail. There is no standard pattern or structure for the documents. Managers need to arrange these documents into usable formats. These formats can be compared and processed and incorporating with existing databases to help decision making. New technology and software tools convert this concept into reality. Document-driven decision aiding tool is a Search engine tool Search engine tools like Excite, Alta vista and Lycos are some examples of document-driven DSS aided tools. Search engine solve the problem of finding useful information on the web nearly instantly and arguably. There are three top search engine providers for supplying vast majority of search results, namely MSN, YAHOO and GOOGLE. Web search engines started out in the early 1990s as simple software programs. In 1995 AltaVista launched, which was the first to allow queries in natural language. In 1994 David Filo and Jerry Yang who were the students of Stanford university computer students created Yahoo. In 1998, Larry Page and Sergey Brin from same university released first version of Google. These search engine profit revenue increased due to search engine marketing tool. Within individual e- commerce sites search engines have become crucial tool. Advantage of search engine tools is availability of documents in the world-wide web technologies.

Fig. 6: Major Web search engines.

Tools for knowledge-driven DSS

Knowledge-driven DSS is another name for Decision Support System built using Artificial Intelligence technologies. These Knowledge-driven DSS (KDSS) assist managers to solve problems. KDSS consists of three components such as knowledge about a particular topic, understanding the problems and solutions relation to the 8

topic, methods for solving problem. KDSS cannot think. KDSS and expert systems based on recommendations given by human knowledge. Tools used to build KDSS are from Artificial Intelligence and Statistics. Artificial Intelligence technology consists of computer-based systems (hardware and software). Expert systems are an artificial intelligent technique for capture knowledge of skilled employees. This knowledge captures as form of a set of rules in a software system. Expert system adds this set of rules to the memory, or stored learning of the firm. Expert systems perform limited tasks such as diagnosing a malfunctioning machine or determining grant a credit for the loan.

Tools for web-based DSS

In 1996-97 company wise intranet was developed. This intranet supports for knowledge management and information exchanges. These web-based DSS entire application is developed using web technologies. Supporting tools included reporting and adhoc query tools, online analytical processing, simulation and optimization models, data mining and data visualization. A geographic information system(GIS) is a specialized tool for data visualization technology. Use this technology to analyze and display data for planning and decision making in the form of digitized maps. GIS have modeling capabilities. This capability help managers to data change and business scenarios changes for make better decisions. Data mining analyzes large pools of data. This large pool of data including the contents of data warehouses help to search rules and patterns for use future behavior and guide decision making. From Data mining can obtain the types of information such as associations, sequences, classifications, clusters and forecasts.

Architecture of DSS
DSS is described in three fundamental components. 1. The database part of a computer based DSS. 2. Model initially classified as model base, as the decision context and user criteria. 3. User interface communication between user and the DSS. Even the users are important component of the architecture.

Applications
DSS tools are used for decision making and assessment in number of applications. Areas in such as accounting, human resource management, DSS generators, finance, international business, systems analyzing and designing operations management, management information systems are some of fields. In medical diagnosis, forest management and Canadian railway system are very popular area in applying DSS tools.

Conclusions
Using the Decision Support systems tools increases the effectiveness of decision making. DSS consist of the database, model, and the user interface. There are different taxonomies presented. One of them classifies DSS as communication-driven, data-driven, document-driven, knowledge-driven, and model-driven. communication-driven uses network and communication technology and common examples are electronic mail; include groupware, computer-based bulletin boards and Video conferencing, web conferencing, document sharing, computer supported face-to-face meeting software, interactive video. A model-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a model. IFPS and Expert choice are some of the examples. Data-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of a time-series of real-time data. Data warehouses, OLAP, EIS, and GIS are instances of Datadriven DSS. Document-driven DSS focused on managing unstructured documents and retrieving and manipulating in a various electronic formats. Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are some examples for Document-driven DSS. Knowledge-driven DSS built using Artificial Intelligence technologies. Web-based DSS is developed using web technologies.

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References
Kenneth c. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. (2008) Management information systems-Managing the digital firm.10th ed. New Delhi :Prentice-Hall of India Elmasri and navathe. (2000) fundamental of Data Base Systems. 3rd ed. India: AddisonWesley. Bhargava, H. K., Sridhar, S. and Herrick, C. (1999) Beyond Spreadsheets: Tools for Building Decision Support Systems. IEEE Computer, 32(3), 31-39. Power, D. J. "A Brief History of Decision Support Systems". World Wide Web, http://dssresources.com/history/dsshistory.html, version 1.2, March 22, 1999. Decision Support systems available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_support_system.html, [Accessedon 07/08/10]. DSS. Wintersemester / semestre d'hiver. Httenschwiler / Gachet. DSS.doc. Decision Support Systems. Definitions. The concept of a decision support system ... diuf.unifr.ch/ds/courses/dss2002/pdf/DSS.pdf Fig. 1 Overview of a Decision Support system Kenneth c. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. (2008) Management information systems-Managing the digital firm Enhancing Decision Making Figure 12-3 Fig.3. The overall process of data warehousing Elmasri and navathe. (2000) fundamental of Data Base Systems. 3rd ed. Fig.4. Business Intelligence working system Kenneth c. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. (2008) Management information systems-Managing the digital firm Foundations of Business Intelligence: Figure 6-14 Fig. 5. Multidimensional data model Kenneth c. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. (2008) Management information systems-Managing the digital firm Foundations of Business Intelligence: Figure 6-15 Fig. 6 Major Web search engines Kenneth c. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon. (2008) Management information systems-Managing the digital firm Telecommunications, the internet, and Wireless Technology. Figure 7- 11

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