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DSS News
by D. J. Power
March 17, 2002 -- Vol. 3, No. 6
A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM
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Check the Article by Van den Bergh at DSSResources.COM
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Featured:
* DSS Wisdom
* Ask Dan! - What is a Spreadsheet-based DSS?
* Spreadsheet-Based DSS Tip - Track Changes
* 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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DSS Wisdom
In a pioneering book on computer-assisted planning systems, James
Boulden (1975) wrote, "Traditional organizational planning assumes a
seriality of planning activities oriented to functional
departmentalization. This fragmented sequential process is a most
inefficient way of planning when compared with the holistic perspective
of the computer-based system which permits concurrent and cooperative
planning activities involving managers at various levels and functions
in the organization." (p. 86)
from Boulden, James B. Computer-Assisted Planning Systems. New York:
McGraw Hill, 1975.
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Ask Dan!
What is a Spreadsheet-based DSS?
A Decision Support System that has been or will be implemented using a
spreadsheet package can be termed a spreadsheet-based DSS. A
spreadsheet is the enabling technology for the DSS. A wide variety of
DSS can be implemented using desktop, client-server or Java spreadsheet
applications.
In the world of accounting, a spreadsheet spreads or shows all of the
costs, income, taxes, and other financial data on a single sheet of
paper for a manager to look at when making a decision. Also, a
spreadsheet is a collection of cells whose values can be displayed on a
computer screen. An electronic spreadsheet organizes data into columns
and rows. The data can then be manipulated by a formula to give an
average, maximum or sum. By changing cell definitions and having all
cell values re-evaluated, a user performs "what if?" analysis and
observe the effects of those changes. Decision support systems built
using spreadsheet software are sometimes called spreadsheet-based DSS
(see Power, D. J., "A Brief History of Spreadsheets" at
DSSResources.COM).
Are spreadsheet packages DSS generators? Sprague and Carlson (1982)
defined a DSS Generator as a computer software package that provides
tools and capabilities that help a developer quickly and easily build a
specific Decision Support System (see p. 11). Spreadsheet packages
qualify as DSS generators because: a) they have sophisticated data
handling and graphic capabilities; b) they can be used for "what if"
analysis; and c) spreadsheet software can facilitate the building of a
DSS.
Model-driven and data-driven DSS are the most common types of DSS one
would consider developing using a spreadsheet package. Spreadsheets
seem especially appropriate for building a DSS with one or more small
models. A developer would then add buttons, spinners and other tools to
support a decision maker in "what if?" and sensitivity analysis. A
data-driven DSS can also be implemented using a spreadsheet. A large
data set can be downloaded to the DSS application from a DBMS, a web
site or a delimited flat file. Then pivot tables and charts can be
developed to help a decision maker summarize and manipulate the data.
Spreadsheet-based DSS can be created in an end user development
environment or in a multiuser environment. Microsoft Excel is certainly
the most popular spreadsheet application development environment. Add-in
packages like Crystal Ball, Premium Solver and @Risk increase the
capabilities of a spreadsheet and the variety of models that can be
implemented. At DSSResources.COM, one can read spreadsheet-based DSS
case examples from Decisioneering "SunTrust 'Banks' on Crystal Ball for
assessing the risk of commercial loans" and Palisade "Procter & Gamble
Uses @RISK and PrecisionTree World-Wide". Check the Spreadsheet-based
DSS pages at DSSResources.COM for product links.
My colleague Cliff Ragsdale of Virginia Tech and author of "Spreadsheet
Modeling and Decision Analysis" recently commented in an email that "if
you want to give students hands-on experience creating a DSS, I don't
think you can beat spreadsheets!" I agree and spreadsheets can be used
to create many useful "production DSS applications" that deliver real
benefits at a modest cost.
Power, D. J. "A Brief History of Spreadsheets". World Wide Web,
http://dssresources.com/history/sshistory.html, version 3.3, March 11,
2000
Ragsdale, C., Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis, Cincinnati,
OH: South-Western Thomson Learning, 2000.
Sprague, R. H. and E. D. Carlson. Building Effective Decision Support
Systems. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.: 1982.
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Spreadsheet-based DSS Tip - Track Changes
If you are working with a project team to develop a Spreadsheet-based
DSS, you should use the track changes feature in Excel. When others are
checking the application, editing formulas or formats, or adding data,
it is helpful to see what changes were made.
In Excel, Choose Tools/Track Changes/Highlight Changes. If you then
change data in a cell, that cell will be outlined and it will contain a
small triangle in the upper left corner of the cell. If you move the
mouse pointer over the cell, a comment will appear informing you of the
change. Try it!
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What's New at DSSResources.COM
03/10/2002 Posted article by Van den Bergh, K. "Business Intelligence
Across the Organization: Why Standardizing Business Intelligence Is
Critical", DSSResources.COM, 03/10/2002, URL
http://dssresources.com/papers/dssarticles.html.
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DSS News Stories - March 1 to 14, 2002
03/14/2002 IntelliWhere targets the Mobile Workforce at GITA 2002.
03/13/2002 Decision Systems Inc. renews iTM1 Planning Partnership with
Applix Inc.
03/13/2002 ISM and ProClarity announce Enterprise Performance Management
solution for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services.
03/12/2002 CrownPeak Technology announces Template Management System for
web sites.
03/12/2002 SAS teams with the University of Alabama to offer data mining
courses.
03/12/2002 CrownPeak Technology announces developer access to Hosted
Software application.
03/11/2002 Sagent and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young U.S. form alliance for BI
solutions.
03/07/2002 ESI announced enhanced version of Logist, decision guiding
software.
03/07/2002 APAC purchases ShowCase® STRATEGY™ to monitor operations and
control costs.
03/06/2002 SAS announced it has agreed to acquire BetterManagement.com.
03/06/2002 Alphablox, EnFORM deliver customized executive dashboard for
Compaq.
03/06/2002 EMC Networked Storage selected by Volvo Car Corporation for
new information infrastructure.
03/05/2002 Venetica releases results of survey of 150 executives on
content integration.
03/05/2002 Business Objects delivers analytic applications to Italian
postal service.
03/04/2002 RIM and Cognos form partnership for business intelligence
solutions for Blackberry users.
03/04/2002 Decision Support Inc. donates $600,000 of data access Ttools
to UNC - Charlotte College of IT.
03/04/2002 Tokyo-Based Kao Hanbai selects the MicroStrategy Business
Intelligence platform.
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