Decision Support Systems and Expert Systems Al Bento University of Baltimore

Decision-Making Model Intelligence Design Choice problem definition alternative s resolutio n

Decision type DSS TPS IQS STRUCTUREDSEMI-STRUCTURED UNSTRUCTURED Intelligence knowledge no knowledge Designof all of one or two of any of the Choicesteps

Decision problems and management activities

DSS generators Specific DSS tools manager managers, users technical support intermediary DSS Generator USERS DSS Builder toolsmith

Anatomy of a DSS users data base model base dialog,user interface DSS generator DBMS MBMS DGMS

Dialog styles n Basic types t Q&A - Question and answer t Command language t Menu t Input Form/Output Form t Input-in-Context-of-Output n Pros and cons n Mixed dialogs

n DSS plus: – Communications server – Groupware n Facilities GDSS - Group Decision Support Systems LAN decision network WAN decision network Decision roomTeleconferencing close far high low Decision frequency

Executive Information Systems n present information for top management H supports problem/opportunity discovery and assessment H is used for control and strategic planning n are multimedia systems n provide summary and detailed information, with the ability to "drill down" into the data n provide internal and external information n provide different time and space information

Expert systems...an intelligent computer program that uses knowledge and inference procedures to solve problems that require significant human expertise for their solution. The knowledge of an expert systems consists of facts and heuristics. Facts constitute the body of information publicly available and agreed upon by experts in a field. Heuristics are mostly private rules of good judgement that characterize expert-level decision making in a field. E. Feigenbaum, Stanford University

Anatomy of an expert system Knowledge base Inference engine Blackboard language processor justifier facts rules interpre- ter schedu- ler consistency enforcer plan agenda solution USER

n Expert systems products n Expert systems shells n Expert systems players l knowledge user l knowledge engineer l domain expert Use and development of ES