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DSS News
by D. J. Power
March 3, 2002 -- Vol. 3, No. 5
A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM
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Check the Updated Brief History of DSS at DSSResources.COM
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Featured:
* Announcements
* DSS Wisdom
* Ask Dan! - What is SIG DSS?
* Spreadsheet DSS Tip - Keep an unprotected backup of Spreadsheet DSS
* What's New at DSSResources.COM
* DSS News Stories
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This newsletter has more than 750 subscribers from
50 countries. Please forward this newsletter to people interested in
Decision Support Systems or suggest they visit DSSResources.COM.
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Announcements:
Submission deadline March 15, 2002, for AMCIS 2002, including DSS
mini-track, in Dallas August 9-11, 2002. Check
http://www.misprofessor.com/dsscfp.html
New DSI deadlines: Refereed papers - March 10, Abstracts - March 30, for
electronic submissions to Decision Sciences Institute meeting San Diego,
Nov. 23-26, 2002.
Prof. Frada Burstein (email frada.burstein@sims.monash.edu.au) seeks a
few more presentation abstracts for a Symposium on Intelligent Decision
Support in Urban and Civil Engineering Nov. 6-9, 2002 in London.
Deadline for abstracts is March 11, 2002.
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DSS Wisdom
Peter Keen and Michael Scott Morton argued in 1978, "A DSS is more a
service than a product. Since the problem can only partially be
structured, and since managers grow in their understanding and needs
over time, a DSS must constantly grow and evolve as the user adapts and
learns. This is its very nature and implies much for the construction of
such a system, the kind of software used, and, more importantly, the way
it is implemented and maintained in the organization itself" (pp.
58-59).
Keen, Peter G. W., and Michael S. Scott Morton. Decision Support
Systems: An Organizational Perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company, 1978.
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Ask Dan!
What is SIG DSS?
SIG DSS is the Special Interest Group about Decision Support and
Analytical Information Systems affiliated with the Association for
Information Systems (AIS). AIS is the "premier global organization for
academics specializing in Information Systems". On January 26, 2001,
AIS members were invited to propose Special Interest Groups. SIG DSS was
approved by AIS Council in mid-December 2001 after some revisions to the
initial proposal. It is one of nine AIS SIGs.
SIG DSS is a forum for AIS members to discuss, develop, and promote
issues, ideas and research related to using Information Technologies to
support decision-makers and improve decision processes in businesses and
organizations. Seven AIS members, S. Alter, J. Courtney, D. Power, R.
Sharda, V. Sugumaran, M. Turoff, and H. Watson, joined in submitting the
revised proposal for SIG DSS. The abbreviated name SIG DSS provides a
shortened label that is easy to recognize and is meaningful in terms of
the domain of the SIG. The proposal notes the "SIG tries to build on
established concepts and recognize the evolving nature of this research
area".
Some topics covered by SIG DSS include: Communications-Driven and Group
DSS, Knowledge-Driven DSS and Management Expert System Applications;
Data-Driven DSS, including Data Modeling and Database Design for Data
Warehouses; OLAP and Executive Information Systems; Document-Driven DSS;
Model-Driven DSS including quantitative model formulation and model
management; Design and Development of Decision Support and Analytical
Information Systems; Decision Support Technologies including software
and hardware; Decision Support and Analytical IS Applications; and
Decision Support user interface design, standards, and features.
SIG DSS is planning to host an initial reception for members and a
business meeting at AMCIS 2002 in Dallas. The SIG Officers and Board
will develop by-laws in 2002 and provide some initial services to
members. For example, the ISWorld pages on Decision Support Systems
will be maintained as a SIG DSS Electronic Resource. SIG DSS will try to
facilitate discussions of interest to the membership using a threaded
message board. Also, SIG DSS may sponsor a Decision Support Technology
Trade Fair and Virtual Conference in 2002.
Daniel Power, University of Northern Iowa and DSSResources.COM, is Chair
of SIG DSS. Ramesh Sharda, Oklahoma State University, is
Secretary/Treasurer and Vijay Sugamaran, Oakland University, is the
Resource Coordinator. Other Board members include: Steven Alter,
University of San Francisco; James Courtney, University of Central
Florida; Murray Turoff, New Jersey Institute of Technology; and Hugh
Watson, University of Georgia. A plan for election of Officers and Board
Members will be part of the by-laws discussed at the SIG DSS business
meeting in Dallas in August 2002.
The AIS SIG page is at URL http://www.pitt.edu/~galletta/sigs.html.
Registration for AIS SIGs is now in progress at www.aisnet.org.
Currently, the annual dues for SIG DSS are USD $10 for AIS members (dues
are prorated this year). To become a Charter member of SIG DSS you'll
need to be a member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS) AND
you'll need your member number. If you've lost your AIS membership card
or want to join AIS, contact James Kizer .
For more information about SIG DSS or to volunteer, contact Dan Power
(Daniel.Power@uni.edu) or
Ramesh Sharda (Sharda@okstate.edu).
Many thanks to Dennis F. Galletta, Associate Professor of Business
Administration, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of
Pittsburgh, for his hard work in promoting and encouraging development
of AIS SIGs.
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Spreadsheet DSS Tip - Keep an unprotected backup of Spreadsheet DSS
A protected Spreadsheet DSS can only be modified by using a password to
unprotect it. If the password is lost, the developer will need to return
to an earlier, unprotected version of the DSS.
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What's New at DSSResources.COM
02/28/2002 Posted version 2.0 of Power, D. A Brief History of Decision
Support Systems.
02/21/2002 Major update of Ask Dan! page. Added 15 Ask Dan!
questions/answers from the June 03, 2001 to the February 17, 2002 issues
of DSS News. All of the answers are in the subscriber zone.
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DSS News Stories - February 18 to March 1, 2002
03/01/2002 Acturis selects MicroStrategy’s Business Intelligence
software for customer service in general insurance industry.
02/26/2002 Intel XScale technology improves network processing and
storage.
02/26/2002 infoUSA launches internet-based "Customer Analyzer & Prospect
Builder".
02/25/2002 IBM creates semiconductor circuit operating at speeds of more
than 110 GigaHertz (GHz).
02/21/2002 e-peopleserve selects Cognos for Business Intelligence
extranet.
02/20/2002 Ascential Software's DataStage XE sets data integration
record.
02/19/2002 Hewitt offers new tools to help employers identify HR costs.
02/18/2002 Unisys and SAS demonstrate new levels of scalability on
Windows Datacenter Server.
02/18/2002 IDELIX announced partnership with GeoConnections to integrate
PDT within an Internet Client.
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This newsletter is available online in the Subscriber Zone
at http://dssresources.com/newsletters/ .
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DSS News is copyrighted (c) 2002 by D. J. Power. Please send your email to
power@dssresources.com. You have previously subscribed to the DSS News Mailing
List.
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