A Framework for the Development of Decision Support Systems By : Ralph

Introduction We seem to be on the verge of another “era” in the relentless advancement of computer based information systems in organizations. Designated by the term Decision Support Systems (DSS), these systems are receiving reactions ranging from “a major breakthrough” to “just another ‘buzz word’.” One view is that the natural evolutionary advancement of information technology and its use in the organizational context has led from EDP to MIS to the current DSS thrust. In this view, the DSS picks up where MIS leaves off. A contrary view portrays DSS as an important subset of what MIS has been and will continue to be. Still another view recognizes a type of system that has been developing for several years and “now we have a name for it.” Meanwhile, the skeptics suspect that DSS is just another “buzz word” to justify the next round of visits from the vendors. The purpose of this article is to briefly examine these alternative views of DSS, and present a framework that proves valuable in reconciling them. The framework articulates and integrates major concerns of several “stakeholders” in the development of DSS: executives and professionals who use them, the MIS managers who manage the process of developing and installing them, the information specialists who build and develop them, the system designers who create and assemble the technology on which they are based, and the researchers who study the DSS subject and process. This article proposes a framework to explore the nature, scope, and content of the evolving topic of Decision Support Systems (DSS). The first part of the framework considers (al three levels of technoloov __ which have been designated DSS, (b) the developmental approach that is evolving for the creation of a DSS. and (c) the roles of several key types of people in the building and use of a DSS. The second part develops a descriptive model to assess the performance objectives and the capabilities of a DSS as viewed by three of the major participants in their continued development and use. The final section outlines several issues in the future growth and development of a DSS as a potentially valuable type of information system in organizations. Definition, Examples, Characteristics The concepts involved in DSS were first articulated in the early ‘70’s by Michael S. Scott Morton under the term “management decision systems” [32]. A few firms and scholars began to develop and research DSS, which became characterized as interactive computer based systems, which he/p decision makers utilize data and mode/s to solve unstructured problems. The unique contribution of DSS resulted from these key words. That definition proved restrictive enough that few actual systems completely