© 2007 by Prentice Hall Management Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 1 Management Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod Jr. and George P. Schell

© 2007 by Prentice Hall Management Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 2 Chapter 11 Decision Support Systems

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 3 Problem-Solving and Decision Making Review ► Problem solving consists of response to things going well and also to things going badly. ► Problem is a condition or event that is harmful or potentially harmful to a firm or that is beneficial or potentially beneficial. ► Decision making is the act of selecting from alternative problem solutions. ► Decision is a selected course of action.

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 4 Problem-Solving Phases ► Herbert A. Simon’s four basic phases:  Intelligence activity–Searching the environment for conditions calling for a solution.  Design activity–inventing, developing, and analyzing possible course of actions.  Choice activity–Selecting a particular course of action from those available.  Review activity–Assessing past choices.

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 5 Problem vs. Symptoms ► Symptom is a condition produced by the problem. ► Structured problem consists of elements and relationships between elements, all of which are understood by the problem solver. ► Unstructured problem is one that contains no elements or relationships between elements that are understood by the problem solver. ► Semistructured problem is one that contains some elements or relationships that are understood by the problem solver and some that are not.

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 6 Types of Decisions ► Programmed decisions are “ repetitive and routine, to the extent that a definite procedure has been worked out for handling them so that they don ’ t have to be treated de novo (as new) each time they occur. ” ► Nonprogrammed decisions are “ novel, unstructured, and unusually consequential. There ’ s no cut-and- dried method for handling the problem because its precise nature and structure are elusive or complex, and or because it is so important that it deserves a custom-tailored treatment. ”

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 7 Model ► Model is an abstraction of something. It represents some object or activity, which is called an entity.

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 8 Uses of Models ► Facilitate Understanding. ► Facilitate Communication. ► Facilitate Communication. ► Predict the Future.

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 9 Artificial Intelligence ► Artificial intelligence (AI) is the activity of providing such machines as computers with the ability to display behavior that would be regarded as intelligent if it were observed in humans.

© 2007 by Prentice HallManagement Information Systems, 10/e Raymond McLeod and George Schell 10 Group Decision Support System ► Group decision support system (GDSS) is “a computer-based system that supports groups of people engaged in a common task (or goal) and that provides an interface to a shared environment”.