DSS DESIGN--A SYSTEMIC VIEW OF DECISION SUPPORT

Abstract

Current DSS research is rather fragmentary, and typically myopic--it centers either on the decision situation which DSS support, or on DSS tools or generators. In this paper we adopt a comprehensive view of DSS emphasizing their systemic nature. This entails identifying the links among the five aspects that classically characterize a system: 1, the environment, i.e., decision situations and access patterns; 2. the function (within this environment), i.e., types and levels of decision support; 3. the functional components that make it up, i.e., dialog, data, and model management; 4. the arrangement, i.e., the linkages among the components and the assignment of functions to modules; and 5. the resources consumed, i.e., hardware, software, human skills, and data. The systemic view provides a concrete framework for the effective design of DSS, and serves as a basis for accumulating DSS research results.