DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

Decision Support System

A Decision Support System (DSS) is a computer-based information system that supports business or organizational decision-making activities.

DSSs serve the management, operations, and planning levels of an organization and help to make decisions, which may be rapidly changing and not easily specified in advance.

Decision support systems can be either fully computerized, human or a combination of both.

DSSs include knowledge-based systems. A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based system intended to help decision makers compile useful information from a combination of raw data, documents, and personal knowledge, or business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

Components

Typical Decision support systems have four components:

1.    Data management,

2.    Model management,

3.    Knowledge management and

4.    User interface management.

·         Data Management Component

o   The data management component performs the function of storing and maintaining the information that you want your Decision Support System to use. The data management component, therefore, consists of both the Decision Support System information and the Decision Support System database management system.

·         The model management component

o   The model management component consists of both the Decision Support System models and the Decision Support System model management system. A model is a representation of some event, fact, or situation. Decision Support Systems help in various decision-making situations by utilizing models that allow you to analyze information in many different ways. The models you use in a Decision Support System depend on the decision you are making and, consequently, the kind of analysis you require. The model management system stores and maintains the Decision Support Systems models. The model management component cannot select the best model for you to use for a particular problem that requires your expertise but it can help you create and manipulate models quickly and easily.

·         The user interface management component

o   The user interface management component allows you to communicate with the Decision Support System. It consists of the user interface management system. This is the component that allows you to combine your know-how with the storage and processing capabilities of the computer.

·         The knowledge management component

o   The knowledge management component, like that in an expert system, provides information about the relationship among data that is too complex for a database to represent. It consists of rules that can constrain possible solution as well as alternative solutions and methods for evaluating them.

Data mining importance in Decision Support System:

1.    Data mining can help identify relations and rules that can be incorporated in Knowledge-driven DSS.

2.    Case-based reasoning can be used to create a specific Knowledge-driven DSS that can be used by a manager or a knowledge worker who is trying to diagnosis problems in that "case" environment.

3.    Data visualization tools can be incorporated with a structured data set to assist managers in making a recurring decision where the data set is routinely updated.

4.    Other tools like neural networks may also have a place in creating capabilities in specific DSS.

5.    One can also identify DSS applications that use data mining tools in fraud detection, category management and direct marketing.