Currently DSS (Decision Support Systems) play an important role in the performance of decision-making in companies, Information systems are a set of very important components within an organization because they allow capturing, processing, store and distribute information and at the same time carry out a feedback process to evaluate and correct planning and decision-making procedures.
Currently the computer is a key tool for the development and success of organizations. Information Technologies already play an important role in the development, success and growth of a company since they have provided companies with countless opportunities to improve processes. Now more than ever, information and how to use it is a fundamental key in organizations. One of the objectives of Information Technology is to support administrators in solving problems that arise inside and outside the organization, thus being able to specify and make decisions in a faster, more efficient way and in this way help to success and organization development. Information technologies allow the construction and operation of information systems.But it is important to highlight that these advances depend on the economic, political and cultural infrastructure of each country. In Mexico, DSS are beginning to play a very important role in the development and improvement of companies, but there is still a long way to go.
Information systems are a set of very important components within an organization because they allow to capture, process, store and distribute information and at the same time carry out a feedback process, to evaluate and correct planning and decision-making procedures. In the business world, decision-making is always a delicate concept, not only because of the risks that must be assumed, but also because of the time in which the decision is made to correct a problem or even prevent it. The dynamics of business is increasingly complex and requires to be updated and to use tools that help this process.
The evolution and the need for accurate and timely information has resulted in information systems having increased the rise of administrative support systems. These constitute a group of tools that support executives and administrators in their tasks in general and in making decisions.
Among the most important information systems we have:
The Decision Support System or DSS (Decision Support System) which is an interactive computer-based system, designed with the purpose of helping executives and managers make decisions. The DSS help them to retrieve, summarize and analyze relevant and important information, in other words, the DSS are computational-based tools that aid in decision-making, presenting information and interpretations of strategies to follow to evaluate and select among various alternatives, viewing them from various points of view or scenarios. They are characterized by their interactivity, frequency of use, variety of user, flexibility, development, environmental interaction, interorganizational communication, access to databases and simplicity.
Surveys and statistics carried out have identified the reasons why organizations should integrate a decision support system. Some of them are:
- Competition has increased day by day. Requirements for fast, clear and up-to-date information have increased in almost immediate times. Cost reduction is an advantage when using a DSS. Electronic commerce is a way of life for organizations.
Currently information systems play a fundamental role for the success of companies. It is a great challenge that an organization can control the variables of planning, organization, control and direction of the company. In order to be able to control them, it is necessary to make the right decisions that can lead the organization in the desired direction.
Within the implementation we must take into account some strategic elements such as:
- Define the situation you want to analyze, clearly defining the objective you want to achieve. The important thing to define an objective is to establish a measure, sometimes you want to minimize the objective but in others you want to maximize. For example, the sales manager would expect an increase in sales, on the other hand, the administrator would expect a decrease in costs. Once the objective is defined, the variables or causes that affect or influence the achievement of said objective must be identified. Normally the person (s) who define the objective are the ones who can best establish which variables will affect the objective. You must define the model (s) for the situation you want to analyze. The model or models are the steps or procedures of how the input variables modify the objective. Several models can be defined,this will allow a greater range of alternatives to simulate the situation. The models can be mathematical or heuristic models defined by experts in the situation. The types of analysis "What if" must be defined. One of the objectives of a DSS is to allow generating various situations by modifying the input values or variables, to see WHAT HAPPENS with the objective. For example, you can change the number of units produced in a period and the number of new customers and see what happens to sales in the period. You must define the "Goal Seek" analysis types. Another objective of a DSS is to allow the objective to be modified directly and to see how the variables or input values must be adapted or modified to obtain the desired objective. Several alternate situations can be generated to obtain the same objective,so you can define additional filters, which allow you to define which variables we want to be adjusted and which ones not. For example, we would like the sales in a period to be some specific value, and we want to see how the number of new customers should be adjusted for this to happen.
The above are some of the basic steps to understand everything that a DSS must have for its implementation and development. However, it must be clarified that to develop a DSS the person who knows the situation to be modeled or simulated plays a very important role. The people in charge of developing it only take care of the technical part.
It is recommended to take into account several factors that will allow DSS to be a factor of success or failure within the organization:
- Business growth and expansion plans in the medium term. Evaluation of the current technological infrastructure. Evaluation of the human capital of the key areas to implement a DSS. Evaluation of human capital in the key areas to implement a DSS. Financial situation of the company
A DSS is an important information technology for the manager, which can be used to provide timely data and analysis to support his decisions, based not on simple judgment or intuition, but on information generated through deductive and analytical methods. As part of an organization, the implementation of a Decision Support System requires a process of change within it, especially for the main actors in the area: administrators.
When a change originates in any organization, and more if it is a severe change, a phenomenon called "resistance to change" is originated, which is produced by the uncertainty that is generated in people, even at the administrative level, when they perceive a certain degree of threat in the new way of doing things, or even discomfort at having to change the conventional way of doing things.
Like any type of technology, the inclusion of a decision support system in the organization can cause resistance to change. And this is where we would have to implement actions that allow us to make changes, but without resistance to it.
One way to reduce the negative impact of change in an organization is through its management. To achieve this, some resources can be used, such as: people (through personal development, permanent training and man-work harmony), knowledge (through technology management and risk and opportunity management), information (shared, useful, with management of visible and shared planning) and leadership (with articulation of vision, personal conviction, participation and recognition of achievements).
Some methodologies that can facilitate the management of change in the organization are based on the development of high-performance work teams, the management of best practices, and the minimization of resistance to change through participation, communication and training. The change process must be a consensual activity, that is, one that has the involvement of all stakeholders, since it has been shown that totally controlled or paralyzed change does not work. No change can be successful without the participation of all stakeholders.
conclusion
DSS are powerful software tools that allow people at different levels of a company to collect the necessary data and process it in different ways to simulate a reality situation. This allows these people to make better decisions due to the broad and rapid way of generating scenarios of the same situation in which they must make a decision. The lack of knowledge of what it is, its implementation and its costs have prevented the development of these systems, many companies have been left in the attempt to systematize their processes or have only partially succeeded. This is due to one or more of the reasons stated above. It is unfortunate that technology does not support the demands of 21st century companies every day technology is increasingly necessary,However, it is up to us to give that added value which allows us to belong to successful companies without depending solely on technology, of course, without ceasing to be necessary for this purpose.
References
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