Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Higher Education Al-Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University College of Computer and Information Sciences Types of DSS chapter 3 (3.12) From “Decision Support & Business Intelligence Systems” Book

Classification of DSS Since the definition of Decision Support Systems can be stretched to include almost any application that processes data there is some confusion as to exactly what constitutes a DSS. In an effort to clarify the term, DS systems were classified based on different criterion. 2IS Department

The AIS SIGDSS Classification 1. Communication-Driven and group DSS(GSS) 2. Data Driven DSS 3. Document-driven DSS 4. Knowledge-driven DSS, data mining and management ES applications 5. Model-Driven DSS There may also be hybrid of these categories that combine two or more. These are also called compound DSS 3IS Department

1. Communications-Driven (C-D) and Group DSS A Communication-Driven DSS is a type of DSS that enhances decision-making by enabling communication and sharing of information between groups of people. At its most basic level a C-D DSS could be a simple threaded e- mail. At its most complex it could be a web-conferencing application or interactive video. Communication-Driven DSS will exhibit at least one of the following characteristics: 1. Supports coordination and collaboration between two or more people 2. Facilitates information sharing 3. Enables communication between groups of people that supports group decisions 4IS Department

Example : Google Forms 5IS Department

2. Data-Driven DSS Data-driven DSS are a form of support system that focuses on the provision of internal (and sometimes external) data to aid decision making. Many DSS developed in OLAP and data mining software systems fall into this category Most often this will come in the form of a data warehouse (a database designed to store data in such a way as to allow for its querying and analysis by users) For more information on data warehouse (refer to section 5.2, p.209) Refer to application case 3.11 (p.119; DSS book) Another example of a data-driven DSS would be a Geographic Information System (GIS), which can be used to visually represent geographically dependant data using maps. There is minimal emphasis on utilizing mathematical models 6IS Department

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3. Document-Driven DSS Document-driven DSS are support systems designed to convert documents into valuable business data. While data-driven DSS rely on data that is already in a standardised format that lends itself to database storage and analysis, document-driven DSS makes use of data that cannot easily be standardised and stored. None of these formats lend themselves easily to standardised database storage and analysis, so managers require DSS tools to convert them into data that can be valuable in the decision making process. 8IS Department

3. Document-Driven DSS Document-driven DSS rely on knowledge coding, analysis, search, and retrieval for decision support. There is minimal emphasis on utilizing mathematical models Document-driven DSS is the newest field of study in Decision Support Systems. Examples of document-driven tools can be found in Internet search engines, designed to sift through vast volumes of unsorted data through the use of keyword searches. 9IS Department

3. Document-Driven DSS The three primary forms of data used in document driven DSS are:  Oral (i.e. transcribed conversations);  Written (i.e. reports, memos, and other correspondence);  Video (i.e. TV commercials and news reports). 10IS Department

4. Knowledge-Driven DSS, Data Mining and Management Expert Systems Applications. Knowledge-driven DSS are systems designed to recommend actions to users. Typically, knowledge-driven systems are designed to sift through large volumes of data, identify hidden patterns in that data and present recommendations based on those patterns. All artificial intelligence-based DSS fall into this category. ANN (Artificial Neural Network) and ES (Expert Systems) are included here 11IS Department

5. Model-Driven DSS Model-driven support systems incorporate the ability to manipulate data to generate statistical and financial reports, to aid decision-makers. They are DSS that primarily include one or more optimization and simulation models. Model-based decision support systems can be extremely useful in forecasting the effects of changes in business processes, as they can use past data to answer complex ‘what- if’ questions for decision makers. The most common end user tool for developing DSS is the spread sheet Microsoft Excel. Excel includes dozens of statistical packages, linear programming package (Solver) and many financial and management Science models. 12IS Department

ANOTHER TERMS 13 IS Department

Spreadsheet-based DSS Model- and Data-driven DSS can be built using spreadsheets. Spreadsheets offer decision makers easy to understand representations of large amounts of data. Additionally, spreadsheet data is arranged in such a way as to make it easy to convert the data into visualisations to further aid decision-makers. 14IS Department

Web-based DSS Any type of DSS can be web-based. The term simply describes any decision support system that is operated through the interface of a web browser, even if the data used for decision support remains confined to a legacy system such as a data warehouse. 15IS Department