***********************************************************
DSS News
D. J. Power, Editor
January 4, 2004 -- Vol. 5, No. 1
A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM
************************************************************
Check the article by Ashley and Morrison
"Anticipatory Management" at DSSResources.COM
************************************************************
Featured:
* Ask Dan! - What is the expanded DSS framework?
* What's New? at DSSResources.COM
* DSS News Releases
************************************************************
Put your ad here! Help support DSS News
************************************************************
Ask Dan!
What is the expanded DSS framework?
by Dan Power
Questions about various types of Decision Support Systems and the
expanded DSS framework are common in my email. As many of you know, a
generalized "DSS framework" with one primary dimension and 3 secondary
dimensions is the conceptualization used at DSSResources.COM to organize
what we have learned about decision support systems. According to
Gruber, "A conceptualization is an abstract, simplified view of the
world that we wish to represent for some purpose". In the jargon of
knowledge management and AI, the expanded DSS framework is the
"ontology" or specification mechanism for the DSSResources.COM knowledge
repository.
When was your expanded DSS framework first published? Starting in 1999
the framework was used at DSSResources.COM. The expanded DSS framework
was explained briefly in the first issue of DSS News, Vol. 1, No. 1, May
10, 2000. In that initial newsletter I responded to a question asking
what are the types of DSS. My 99 word response summarized the basics of
the expanded DSS framework. At that time, DSS News only had a few
hundred subscribers.
In Spring 2000, I organized a technical mini-track on Model-Driven and
Web-Based Decision Support Systems for AMCIS 2000. My overview paper
briefly summarized the expanded framework. I presented the paper to a
small group in a 5 pm session at the meeting. During the session, we
squeezed 5 papers into an hour and a half. You can imagine that we
didn't have much time to discuss my expanded framework. My friends, who
were also presenters, were the primary audience -- Mark Isken (Oakland
University), Peter Keenan (University College Dublin), and Vijayan
Sugumaran and Mohan Tanniru (Oakland University). My paper from the
conference is still available on the Web.
The first detailed explanation of the expanded DSS framework was
presented at the 2001 Informing Science meeting in Krakow, Poland. A
paper titled "Supporting Decision-Makers: An Expanded Framework" was
included in the conference e-book. I choose that venue because I wanted
to support Eli Cohen's innovative conference, Gordon Davis was a keynote
speaker, and I wanted to visit Krakow.
The framework was explained in detail in my 2002 book from
Greenwood/Quorum titled "Decision Support Systems: Concepts and
Resources for Managers". In late 2002, a book chapter that I wrote about
categorizing DSS using the expanded framework was also published.
So what is the expanded DSS framework? Let me quote from DSS News, Vol.
1, No. 1:
"There are 5 generic types of DSS in terms of the dominant component of
the Decision Support System. Also, I identify other types of DSS based
on users, delivery and purpose.
The five generic DSS are:
* Communications-Driven DSS
* Data-Driven DSS
* Document-Driven DSS
* Knowledge-Driven DSS
* Model-Driven DSS
Group DSS are a hybrid of Communications-Driven and Model-Driven DSS. In
terms of users, there are Inter-Organizational and Intra-Organizational
DSS. In terms of delivery, there are Web-Based, LAN-Based, and
Mainframe-Based DSS. Finally, in terms of purpose, there are function
specific, industry specific and general purpose DSS."
What does "dominant component" mean? The term component refers back to
Ralph Sprague's traditional DSS framework with data and model
components. What does it mean to say that a DSS derives it primary
functionality from the dominant component? By the late 1970s,
data-oriented DSS were recognized as somehow different than
model-oriented DSS, but as databases grew much larger in size, the
differences in emphasis and functionality between these two types of DSS
became more noticeable. In fact some consultants argued DSS primarily
derived their functionality from providing users with capabilities to
query and then generate reports from a data warehouse. In 1997, Dhar and
Stein called such systems data-driven DSS and reading their book helped
clarify my thinking about Bill Inmon and Ralph Kimball's work on DSS in
the early 1990s. Other technology developments in AI, networking and
document storage were also broadening the DSS possibilities.
Are there "hybrid DSS" with more than one "dominant component"? For the
past few years, I have stopped using the term "hybrid DSS". Others have
used the term before me and on occassion I have used the term "hybrid"
as a convenient, but imprecise way, to explain some complex DSS. After
an email interchange with Steve Alter a few years ago, I stopped using
the term. My current position is that it is more appropriate to identify
and discuss decision support sub-systems when they exist, rather than
refer to the DSS as a "hybrid". Also in some situations it is
reasonable to evaluate the need for including different types of
decision support sub-systems into a more integrated DSS.
Are GDSS "hybrid DSS"? Are all GDSS communications-driven DSS? No! The
targeted users of GDSS are an identifiable, interacting group so we can
clearly identify that secondary dimension in the expanded framework.
But, how one categorizes a GDSS on the primary dimension in the
framework depends upon the design of the GDSS software. If one is asking
about a specific system like GroupSystems which was one of the early
GDSS, then one must examine the dominant component in that system. I
used GroupSystems a few times in the late 1980s and in retrospect the
primary functionality came from computerizing heuristic and quantitative
models for group use. A human facilitator managed the process and the
communications component was not providing the dominant functionality.
Even though the communications component made group use of the models
possible, the decision support functionality came from aggregating
opinions using a model. So today I would conclude that in terms of the
primary dimension in the expanded DSS framework the GroupSystems
software was a model-driven DSS; the purpose was generalized support of
group decision making and the system was a DSS generator rather than a
"specific" DSS; the intended users were a group of 5-25 decision makers
who had an interest or stake in a specific important decision problem;
and the enabling technology was a client-server technology in an IBM PC
DOS computing environment. GroupSystems software computerized a
heuristic, normative group process model similar to the Nominal Group
Technique (cf., Delbecq, Van de Ven, and Gustafson, 1975).
Does the expanded framework replace the prior work by Alter, Sprague and
others? NO. The expanded DSS framework is an integration and
generalization of prior frameworks that reflects changes in decision
support practice and technological developments that have occurred in
the past 25 years.
How did you develop the framework? In retrospect, the expanded DSS
framework evolved gradually while I was collecting and organizing
resources for DSSResources.COM and while I was trying to reconcile what
I observed happening in practice. For example, the early materials at
DSSResources.COM referred to Suggestion DSS (Steve Alter's term) and
Knowledge-based DSS (Klein and Methlie). In an attempt to create some
consistency in the framework, the dominant component became the "driver"
for providing functionality and all of the major categories were
consistently named, for example model-driven DSS and knowledge-driven. I
know some people still prefer terms like model-oriented or model-based
and that's OK, but IMHO the expanded DSS framework provides a more
useful and consistent naming convention and frame of reference for
categorizing, investigating and building Decision Support Systems.
As always your comments and questions are welcomed.
References
Delbecq, A.L., A.H. Van de Ven, and D. H. Gustafson, Group Techniques
for Program Planning. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, Inc., 1975.
Dhar, V. and R. Stein, Intelligent Decision Support Methods: The
Science of Knowledge, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1997.
Gruber, T., "What is an Ontology?"
http://www-ksl.stanford.edu/kst/what-is-an-ontology.html
Power, D. J., Categorizing Decision Support Systems: A Multidimensional
Approach, In Mora, M., G. Forgionne, and J. N. D. Gupta (Eds.), Decision
Making Support Systems: Achievements and Challenges for the New Decade,
Hershey, PA: Idea Group, 2002, pps. 20-27.
Power, D. J., Decision Support Systems: Concepts and Resources for
Managers, Westport, CT: Greenwood/Quorum Books, 2002, ISBN:
156720497X.
Power, D. J. "Supporting Decision-Makers: An Expanded Framework." In
Harriger, A. (Editor), 2001 Informing Science Conference e-book
proceedings, Krakow, Poland, June 19-22, 2001, pp. 431-436,
http://ecommerce.lebow.drexel.edu/eli/pdf/PowerEBKSupp.pdf.
Power, D. J. "Web-Based and Model-Driven Decision Support Systems:
Concepts and Issues". AMCIS 2000, Americas Conference on Information
Systems, Long Beach, California, August 10-13, 2000,
http://aisel.isworld.org/password.asp?Vpath=AMCIS/2000&PDFpath=074.pdf
************************************************************
Tell your friends! Get DSS NEWS free -- send a blank email
to dssresources-subscribe@topica.com.
************************************************************
What's New? at DSSResources.COM
01/03/2004 Posted Article by Ashley, W., and J. Morrison, "Anticipatory
Management: Tools for Better Decision Making". Check the articles page.
01/03/2004 Rotated Guestbook, What's New, and did other changes
associated with a new year.
************************************************************
DSS News - December 21, 2003 to January 4, 2004
Read them at DSSResources.COM and search the DSS News Archive
12/29/2003 MicroStrategy adopted as business intelligence standard at
Trenitalia, Italy's national railroad to analyze ticket sales data.
12/23/2003 MindManager for Tablet PC named Codie award finalist.
12/22/2003 Plans to deploy Business Process Automation functionality
will drive application/integration server markets in 2004, IDC says.
12/21/2003 U.S. Air Force successfully launches upgraded GPS satellite
built by Lockheed Martin.
************************************************************
Subscribe to DSSResources.COM. One month $10, six months $25.
Visit http://dssresources.com/subscriber/subscriber.html
************************************************************
DSS News is copyrighted (c) 2004 by D. J. Power. Please send your questions to
daniel.power@dssresources.com.
|