Management Information

Systems (MIS)

Module 2
 Decision support systems (DSS)

Types of Decisions in an Organization

• Structured decisions
– Well-defined standard operating procedure exists
– Also called programmable tasks
– Can be automated
• Semistructured decisions
– Not as well-defined by standard operating procedures
– Include a structured aspect that benefits from
information retrieval, analytical models, and
information systems technology
Types of Decisions in an Organization (cont’d.)
• Unstructured decisions
– Unique; typically one-time decisions
– Do not rely on standard operating procedure
– Decision maker’s intuition plays the most important
role
– Information technology offers little support for these
decisions
• Management support systems (MSSs)
– Different types of information systems have been
developed to support certain aspects and types of
decisions
The Intelligence Phase
• Decision maker examines the organization’s
environment for conditions that need decisions
• Data is collected from a variety of sources and
processed
• Decision maker can discover ways to approach
the problem
The Intelligence Phase (cont’d.)
• Three parts
– First: determine what the reality is
– Second: get a better understanding of the problem by
collecting data and information about it
– Third: gather data and information needed to define
alternatives for solving the problem
Decision Support Systems
• Decision support system (DSS)
– Interactive information system
– Consisting of hardware, software, data, and models
(mathematical and statistical)
– Designed to assist decision makers in an organization
Decision Support Systems (cont’d.)
• Requirements:
– Be interactive
– Incorporate the human element as well as hardware
and software
– Use both internal and external data
– Include mathematical and statistical models
– Support decision makers at all organizational levels
– Emphasize semistructured and unstructured tasks
Components of a Decision Support System
• Three major components
– Database
– Model base
• Includes mathematical and statistical models that
enable a DSS to analyze information
– User interface
• What users make use of to access the DSS
• DSS engine
– Manages and coordinates these major components
Components of a DSS
Costs and Benefits of Decision Support Systems
• Benefits of a DSS:
– Increase in the number of alternatives examined
– Fast response to unexpected situations
– Ability to make one-of-a-kind decisions
– New insights and learning
– Improved communication
– Improved control over operations
– Cost savings from being able to make better decisions
and analyze several scenarios (what-ifs) in a short
period
Guidelines for Designing a Management Support
System
• Get support from the top
• Define objectives and benefits clearly
• Identify executives’ information needs
• Keep the lines of communication open
• Hide the system’s complexity and keep the
interface simple
• Keep the “look and feel” consistent
• Design a flexible system
• Make sure response time is fast
 Knowledge Management
• Knowledge management concepts and
definitions
– Knowledge management
The active management of the expertise in an
organization. It involves collecting,
categorizing, and disseminating knowledge
– Intellectual capital
The invaluable knowledge of an organization’s
employees
• Knowledge is
– information that is contextual, relevant, and actionable
– understanding, awareness, or familiarity acquired
through education or experience
– anything that has been learned, perceived, discovered,
inferred, or understood.

In a knowledge management system, “knowledge is

information in action”
• Explicit and tacit knowledge
– Explicit knowledge
Knowledge that deals with objective, rational, and
technical material (data, policies, procedures,
software, documents, etc.)
– Easily documented, transferred, taught and learned

– Tacit knowledge
Knowledge that is usually in the domain of subjective,
cognitive, and experiential learning
– It is highly personal and hard to formalize
– Hard to document, transfer, teach and learn
– Involves a lot of human interpretation
 Knowledge management systems (KMS)

A system that facilitates knowledge management

by ensuring knowledge flow from the person(s)
who know to the person(s) who need to know
throughout the organization; knowledge evolves
and grows during the process
 Business Intelligence ( BI )
The definition of BI

The term is used by different people and software

vendors to characterize a broad range of
technologies, software platforms, specific
applications, and processes.
 Is It Business Intelligence ?

Does it:
• integrate data,
• allow user queries,
• adress a business concern and
• enable better decisions faster?
 10 Biggest BI Challenges

1. Budget 6. Data integration

2. Data quality 7. Training/educ
3. User expectations 8. ROI case
4. Culture change 9. Business rules
5. Time to implement 10. Sponsorship
 Why - what - how

• Huge amount of data to monitor

• Rapidly changing business environment
• Pace of business is increasing
• Increased reporting burden
• Data can be transformed into better, faster
decisions
• You need BI to manage your enterprise and stay
competitive.
 How It all Starts
 Every software project is precipitated by some
business need—
• the need to correct a defect in an existing
application;
• the need to the need to adapt a ‘legacy system’ to a
changing business environment;
• the need to extend the functions and features of an
existing application, or
• the need to create a new product, service, or
system.
Process Flow
 Identifying a Task Set
 A task set defines the actual work to be done to
accomplish the objectives of a software engineering
action.
 A list of the task to be accomplished
 A list of the work products to be produced
 A list of the quality assurance filters to be applied
 The Waterfall
Model
Co m m u nic a t io n
p ro je c t in it ia t io n Planning
re q uire m e n t g a t h e rin g estimating Mo de ling
scheduling
a na lys is Co ns t ru c t io n
tracking
des ign De plo y m e n t
c ode
t es t d e liv e ry
s u pp o rt
f e e d ba c k
The V-Model
The Incremental
Model

incre m e nt # n
Co m m u n i c a t i o n
Pla n n in g

Mo d e lin g
a n a ly s is Co n s t ru c t i o n
d e s ig n
code De p l o y m e n t
t est d e l i v e ry
fe e d b a c k

d e liv e ry o f
n t h in cre me n t
incre m e nt # 2

Co m m u n i c a t i o n
Pla n n in g

Mo d e lin g
a n a ly s is Co n s t ru c t i o n
d e s ig n c ode De p l o y m e n t
t est d e l i v e ry
fe e d b a c k
d e liv e ry o f
incre m e nt # 1 2 n d in cre me n t

Co m m u n i c a t i o n
Pla n n in g
Mo d e lin g
a n a ly s is Co n s t ru c t i o n
d e s ig n c ode
t est
De p l o y m e n t
d e l i v e ry d e liv e ry o f
fe e d b a c k

1 st in cre me n t

project calendar t ime

Evolutionary Models:
Prototyping
Quick
Qu ic k p la n

Co m m u n ic at io n plan
communication

Modeling
Mo d e l i n g
Qu ic k d e s ig n
Quick design

De plo ym e n t
Deployment
De liv e ry
delivery
& Fe e d b a&
ck Co n s t ru c t io n
feedback Construction
of
ofConstruction
prototype
p ro t o t yp e
of prototype
Evolutionary Models: The
Spiral planning
estimation
scheduling
risk analysis

communication

modeling
analysis
design
start

deployment
construction
delivery
code
feedback test
 Concurrent
none

Mode ling a ct ivit y

rep res ents the s tate

Under o f a s o ftware eng ineering
activity o r tas k
de velopment

Await ing
cha nge s

Under review

Under
revis ion

Ba s e line d

Done