IDSS used as a framework for collaborative projects in conglomerate enterprises

Purpose: of this paper is to summarize the application study of the general framework of intelligent decision support system (IDSS) to collaborative projects in conglomerate enterprises. Today’s market competition requires project managers to make correct decisions fast. In some situations, even with the knowledge of how to find right information and which decision making methods to apply, people do not have enough time to make right decisions at the right time. In this paper, the framework of an IDSS system to support real-time collaboration and enable seamless data exchange is presented. The IDSS system is able to support the information flow between internal and external sources. Data are shared, prepared, and streamlined to appropriate analytical tools. A case study of manufacturing projects in a specific European shipbuilding conglomerate is used to illustrate the process and usefulness of IDSS in combination with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Design/methodology/approach: A model of internal and external information flows is proposed for enterprise information management. The important roles of facilitation and organization that the IDSS plays are demonstrated. In the case study examples of manufacturing projects analysis are given with the known methods, including Analytical Hierarchy Process and Bayes rule. Findings: It was found that IDSS is an essential component to enhance decision makings with complex information flows in large conglomerates. Main conclusions is to show what we will achieve through IDSS systems, to show how perform analysis in logical way. Research limitations/implications: The functionality of the developed framework is limited by the willingness of management style and culture changes in companies, as well as the level of interoperability between commercial software components. Practical implications: Project engineers and managers need to adapt to the new IT-based working environment. Intensive use of software tools may become the major challenge for those who cannot absorb information based on the new format of information presentation. Originality/value: The proposed new information management model and the framework of IDSS system enable ease of data sharing and processing by internal and external stakeholders in decision makings. The collaborative decision making consists of different parts: the management of information flow, the preparation of data for decision making, and actual decision making supported by several methods.