1. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-1 Chapter 6 Decision Support System Development Decision Support Systems

2. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-2 Outline 1.The system development life cycle Tools 2. Alternative development methodologies 3. DSS development methodology 4. DSS technology levels and tools 5. DSS development tool selection 6. Team developed DSS 7. User developed DSS

3. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-3 1.Systems Development Life Cycle Four phases –Planning –Analysis –Design –Implementation Cyclical Can return to other phases Waterfall model

4. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-4 Tools Computer-aided software engineering design tools –Upper CASE – Creates systems diagrams –Lower CASE Manages diagrams and code –Integrated CASE Combination RAD (rapid application development) design tools –Enterprise class repository and collaboration tools –UML modeling Analysis and design software Code debugging methods Testing and quality assurance tools

5. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-5 Successful Project Management Establish a baseline Define scope of project Manage change and scope creep Get support from upper management Establish timelines, milestones, and budgets based on realistic goals Involve users Document everything

6. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-6 Implementation Failures Lack of stakeholder involvement Incomplete requirements Unclear purpose Unrealistic expectations Project champion leaves Lack of skill or expertise Inadequate human resources New technologies

7. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-7 Project Management Tools Project management software can allow: –Collaboration among disparate teams –Resource and program management –Portfolio management –Web enabled (to allow collaborative teamwork online over time and distance) –Aggregates and analyses project data

8. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-8 2.Alternative Development Methodologies Parallel development –Multiple development on separate systems RAD –Quick development allowing fast, but limited functionality Phased development –Sequential serial development (each version has more functionality than the previous one) Prototyping –Rapid development of portions of projects for user input and modification –Small working model or may become functional part of final system Throwaway prototyping –Pilot test on simple development platforms to learn about user requirements and the final system to be developed

9. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-9

10. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-10 Agile Development A new form of rapid prototyping Extreme Programming (XP) is the most popular example of agile processes Used for: –Unclear or rapidly changing requirements –Speedy development Characteristics of the tools: –Heavy user input –Incremental delivery with short time frames –Tend to have integration problems

11. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-11 DSS Development Methodology Most DSS are developed through the prototyping process. Iterative design Evolutionary development Middle-out process Adaptive design Incremental design

12. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-12 DSS Prototyping Short steps –Planning –Analysis –Design –Prototype Immediate stakeholder feedback to ensure that the development is proceeding correctly Iterative –In development of prototype –Within the system in general –Evaluation is integral part of the development process Control mechanism

13. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-13 3.DSS Prototyping Advantages –User and management involvement –Learning explicitly integrated –Prototyping bypasses information requirement –Short intervals between iterations –Low cost –Improved user understanding of system Disadvantages –Changing requirements –May not have thorough understanding of benefits and costs –Poorly tested –Dependencies, security, and safety may be ignored –High uncertainty –Problem may get lost –Reduction in quality –Higher costs due to multiple productions

14. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-14 Change Management Crucial to DSS People resistant to change Examine cause of change May require organizational culture shift Lewin-Schein change theory: three steps –Unfreeze Create awareness of need for change People support what they help create –Move Develop new methods, attitutes and behaviors Create and maintain momentum –Refreeze Reinforce desired changes Establish stable environment

15. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-15 4.DSS Technology Levels DSS primary tools –Fundamental elements Programming languages, graphics, editors, query systems DSS generator (engine) –Integrated software package for building specific DSS Modeling, report generation, graphics, risk analysis –Examples: Excel, OLAP systems, Lingo. Specific DSS –DSS application that accomplishes the work DSS primary tools are used to construct integrated tools that are used to construct specific tools

16. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-16 DSS technology levels

17. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-17 5. DSS Development Tool Selection Hardware –PCs to multiprocessor mainframes Software –Involves multiple criteria (when selecting software) –Develop in house, outsource, or buy off the shelf –Off the shelf software rapidly updated; many on market –Prices fluctuate –Different tools available

18. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-18 6. Team developed DSS Team developed DSS requires substantial effort to build and manage. The systems are constructed by a team composed of users, DSS developers, technical support experts, and IS personnel. Developing a DSS with a team is a complex, lengthy, costly process. Since early 2000s, tools and generators have improved, smaller teams can handle complex DSS development.

19. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-19 End user developed DSS Decision-makers and knowledge workers develop to solve problems or enhance productivity –Advantages Short delivery time User requirements specifications are eliminated Reduced implementation problems Low costs –Risks Quality may be low May have lack of documentation Security risks may increase

20. © 2005 Prentice Hall, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th Edition, Turban, Aronson, and Liang 6-20 7.Developing DSS: Putting the system together Two important concepts: –The use of highly automated tools throughout the DSS development process –The reuse of prefabricated components. DSS is much more than just a DBMS, MBMS, GUI, interface, and knowledge component. There are interfaces among the components and with outside systems. The system core includes a development language or a DSS generator.