Decision Support Systems

Decision support systems or DSS are a key part in an organizations strategic plan for the future.  Decision support systems do exactly what one would expect in that they help an organization or individual make a decision by providing relative information.  “A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.” (1)  As with most systems there are many types of DSS and many with different uses. (1)

One type is a model driven DSS. “A model-driven DSS emphasizes access to and manipulation of financial, optimization and/or simulation models.” (2)  Model driven DSSs can be very powerful tools in aiding in decision making.  “Tasks that have been supported with model-driven DSS include crew deployment, job scheduling, advertising allocation, forecasting product usage, cost estimation and pricing, tax planning and investment analysis.” (3)

Spotfire from TIBCO is an example of a decision support system.  Spotfire allows the user to analyze data without extensive systems or IT knowledge.  Users can create reports and queries with ease.  The company claims that their software “makes static reports obsolete.”  The software also allows users to document each step the user takes in analyzing the data.  Furthermore these steps can then be shared and review by others allowing for the use of collective intelligence or at the very least varied opinion in the formation of a decision.  The software can be used in a variety of field such as aiding operations managers, financial analysts, scientists in making informed decisions.  As the amount of data available to the public and companies alike DSS will continue to play an important role in decision making as they allow users to comb through huge amounts of data to create useful information. (4) 

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_support_system

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_support_system

3. http://dssresources.com/faq/index.php?action=artikel&id=171

4. http://spotfire.tibco.com/seo/decision-support-system-software.aspx