Summary
This article is intended to explain to the reader what are decision support systems? and justify the reasons why they are important.
Showing definitions, characteristics, components, advantages and application examples of these systems, as well as a brief description of the decision-making process involved in the subject. Seeking to raise awareness that decisions are part of the lives of people and companies, and therefore the ideal is to make them as best as possible.
Introduction
As time goes by, it seems that things become more complex in every way, if we talked with our grandparents, and asked them what opinion they could give comparing their times when they were young, with today, they will surely say that before it was calmer, safer, there were no contamination problems, etc. And the first thing that would come to light is that in his time life was simpler and quieter, you didn't have to break your head to make decisions.
Definitely the key word is "decisions", throughout the course of our lives, we continually have to decide, for one thing or the other, I do this or that. And for companies it is the same situation, currently everything has accelerated, technology advances drastically second by second, the market becomes very dynamic and unstable, the digital economy emerges, there is more competition, the information we need has increased in large quantities, and the time you have to decide is less and less.
That is why organizations need tools according to the moment they are living, so that they can move forward, and change in sync with the environment that surrounds them. One of these tools arises thanks to technology, and is known as Decision Support Systems or DSS for its acronym in English, which come to support a fundamental process that is decision-making.
What is a DSS?
There are different definitions of a DSS and this term is nothing new, however it has evolved over time. The term of DSS began in 1971 with Professors G. Anthony Gorry and Michael S. Scott Morton of MIT. They proposed to support decision-making through the development of computer applications, which would allow them to group problems and administrative levels in a structured way, as well as implement specific rules or processes. (Bobadilla, 2001). Later it is defined more broadly by Turban, McLean and Wetherbe (2002), they say that it is a computer-based information system that combines models and data in an attempt to solve semi-structured problems with full user involvement.One more definition is that made by Elizondo (2002) who says that a DSS is generally made up of rules and mechanisms, an organizational knowledge base where there are different alternatives to the solution of a specific problem. With this, the administrator can visualize what will happen if he decides to make a decision or if he decides to change it and combine it with other scenarios.
Just as there are different terms or concepts but in essence they can coincide at critical points, it also means different things to different people. A DSS can be seen as an approach or a philosophy, rather than a methodology.
Tools
The Decision Support Systems tools, listed by their increasing complexity, and which are increasingly used to support decision-making, and which Roque (2001) mentions are:
- Transaction Processing (TPS) Management Information Systems (MIS) Decision Support Systems (DSS) Expert Systems (ES) Executive Information Systems (EIS) Neural Networks (NN) Office automation (OA)
Why is a DSS necessary ?
Information is a critical factor for business success, it is increasingly abundant and diverse, coming from multiple sources, arriving in different formats, which must be collected, ordered, exploited, and manipulated to obtain added value, it is part of the competitive strategy of organizations.
If the information of a company is not managed properly and is not available for use at the right time, it can lose all value in the decision-making process. This makes clear the need for processes and tools that facilitate the management and interpretation of the data produced by the operation and production systems. (Roque, 2001). To understand a DSS it is necessary to also understand what decision making is.
Decision making.
Decision-making is an essential part in the existence and survival of organizations, and unfortunately in many cases it is not a simple and fast activity, in addition to the fact that other factors are involved in making a good decision, such as Information and the judgment of the person.
As the years go by, this becomes more and more complex, due to the dynamics of companies and the environment in which they are immersed, and as time goes by, this will increase. Hence the need to be always up-to-date regarding relevant information for the company, not only internal, but external, and on the other hand, to have the necessary tools to support the decision-making process.
According to a study carried out, some reasons why it now becomes more complex and difficult are the following (Bobadilla, 2001):
- The number of available alternatives is now greater due to the emergence of communication technologies and systems The cost of administrative errors can be very great due to the complexity and magnitude of the operations and the reactions that these errors can cause. Making decisions can be difficult to access and has increased exponentially. Decisions must be made quickly.
To better understand decision-making it is important to know the stages that are involved in this process. Rivera (2001) and Turban (2001) divide them and describe them as follows:
- Intelligence: It is the stage in which the individual collects information to identify the problems that occur in the organization.
- Design: It is when the individual conceives the possible alternatives to the problem in the organization.
- Selection: The individual selects an alternative among the possible solutions.
- Implementation: Here the individual finally executes the decision and reports the progress of his decision.
characteristics
As mentioned above, despite the fact that for different people, a DSS has different meanings, there are certain characteristics that identify it in common. Turban, McLean and Wetherbe (2002) first define the components or subsystems, these are shown in the following figure.
Once the components have been seen, it is necessary to know that the DSS works with models, within these are:
- Scale models Analogue models Mathematical models (they are the most used) Simulation
It is not enough to use a model to implement the DSS, it is also necessary to follow a decision-making process, which was mentioned above.
Another thing that must also be defined is the type of analysis to be carried out, for this there are two options; What if and goal seek). What if analysis is an important feature of DSS and indicates what will happen to the solution if an input variable is changed. And on the other hand, goal seek analysis calculates the value of the necessary inputs or what is needed to achieve a goal or goal.
Advantages of using a DSS
The advantages that are listed below are commented by different authors such as Bobadilla (2001), Elizondo (2002) and Turban (2001).
- High quality decision-making Greater communication Cost reduction Greater productivity Saving time in decision-making Greater customer and employee satisfaction Analyze and process large volumes of information, necessary for correct decision-making decisions Quick access to information Some of these systems are already prepared to quickly implement integrated systems for measuring objectives or other key indicators, by strategic areas or areas of responsibility and their control through notices that focus attention on weak points of the organization and allow to act directly on them They present, through a friendly and easy-to-use interface, a key vision of the organization according to the critical factors defined in its creation.They allow the analysis of data «on line» and in real time, through multiple perspectives: geographical, products, distribution, etc.; look for significant statistical patterns: relationships between data, segmentation, etc., build synoptic information systems and oriented to senior management or the electronic distribution of information through document servers.
Examples of application areas
Some examples of more specific applications according to Sterling (2003) are:
- Market research and planning Operational and strategic planning Sales support
Conclusions
Companies can no longer continue using the same tools of 10 or 20 years ago, they need to evolve in all aspects, it is not only about talking about automation and now, the role of Information Technology including DSS is changing, and now They must be aligned with the objectives and strategies of the companies, so that they can be a point of leverage for the organizations.
Decision Support Systems are definitely essential tools for businesses, they can no longer continue using the same tools that they used 10 or 20 years ago, nor are they a simple fad, since decision making is a critical factor for business. survival of organizations, because the right decisions are the key to business success. (Rivera 2001).
However, we must not forget that the DSS must be implemented and designed correctly in order to function well, and that it does not replace the decision maker (person), this system is only a tool for whoever is responsible for deciding and can do their job better. If you were a decision maker, would you implement a decision support system or not? Do you think they are useful? That decides?.
Bibliography
- Business code (2001). Manuel Rivera Aguirre. Business Key (2001). Martha Patricia Bobadilla.Gestiopolis (2001). Silvia Roque Moranchel.Monografias.Com (2004). Omar Arzate Carrasco. Netmedia.info (2003). Jorge E. Sterling Bernal.Netmedia.info. (2002). Monica Elizondo GzzTurban E., Malean E., Wetherbe J. (2002). Information Technology for Management: Transforming Business in de Digital Economy. Ed. Wiley.Turban E., Aronson JE (2001). Decision support systems and intelligent systems. Ed. Prentice.
