1. 1 CHAPTER 6 Decision Support Systems Development

2. 2 Decision Support System Development n How to develop a DSS n DSS must usually be custom tailored Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

3. 3 System Development Issues n System development life cycle (SDLC) n Prototyping n Forming the development team n Complex process n Technical issues n Behavioral issues n Different approaches Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

4. 4 Traditional Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) (Waterfall) Design Implementation Analysis Need Planning System Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

5. 5 Fundamental SDLC Phases n Planning n Analysis n Design n Implementation Steps and deliverables follow Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

6. 6 Planning Why Build the System? Minor StepDeliverable 1. Identify business valueSystem request 2. Analyze feasibilityFeasibility study 3. Develop work planWork plan 4. Staff projectStaffing plan, Project charter 5. Control and direct projectProject management tools CASE tool Standards list Project binders / files Risk assessment Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

7. 7 Analysis Who, What, When, Where? Minor StepDeliverable 6. Analyze problemAnalysis plan 7. Gather informationInformation 8. Model process(es)Process model 9. Model dataData model Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

8. 8 Design How Will the System Work? Minor StepDeliverable 10. Design physical systemDesign plan 11. Design architectureArchitecture design, Infrastructure design 12. Design interfaceInterface design 13. Design database and filesData storage design 14. Design program(s)Program design Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

9. 9 Implementation System Delivery Minor StepDeliverable 15. ConstructionTest plan, Programs, Documentation 16. InstallationConversion plan, Training plan Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

10. 10 Common Implementation Headaches (DSS in Focus 6.4) n No project team or management support n Hazy purpose; no defined schedule; ballooning scope n Unclear aspects of make vs. buy decisions n Few project integrations are functional out of the box n Qualitative benefits n No user buy in n Poor project management skills n No accountability / no responsibility Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

11. 11 CASE Tools n Information systems for systems analysts n Can help manage system development n Upper CASE (assists in analysis) n Lower CASE (manages diagrams and code generation) n Integrated CASE (both) Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

12. 12 CASE Tools n Oracle Enterprise Development Suite n Rational Rose n Paradigm Plus n Visible Analyst n Logic Works Suite n AxiomSys and AxiomDsn n V32 & X32 n Visual Studio Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

13. 13 Visible Analyst Courtesy of Visible System Corporation (Figure 6.2) Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

14. 14 Project Management (PM) n Team leader must have good PM skills n Major reason for IS development failures-bad PM skills n Only 26% of all projects surveyed (23,000) in 1998 succeeded n 28% failed, 46% challenged n Lower success rates for large companies n Better PM skills needed Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

15. 15 Skills for Project Managers n Technology and business knowledge n Judgment n Negotiation n Good communication n Organization Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

16. 16 Implementation Failures (DW Example) n No user involvement n No clear objectives stated early n No real executive sponsorship More in DSS in Focus 6.5 Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

17. 17 Alternative Development Methodologies n Parallel development n Rapid application development (RAD) methodologies –Phased development –Prototyping –Throwaway prototyping Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

18. 18 Parallel Development n Multiple copies of design and implementation phases n To develop separate subsystems n All come together in a single implementation phase Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

19. 19 Phased Development n Break system up into versions developed sequentially n Each version has more functionality n Evolves into a final system n Users gain functionality quickly n But initial systems are incomplete Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

20. 20 Prototyping n Performing analysis, design, and implementation phases concurrently, and repeatedly n Users see system functionality quickly and provide feedback n Decision maker learns about problem n But can lose gains in repetition Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

21. 21 Prototyping (Figure 6.3) Design Implementation Analysis Need Planning Prototype System Prototype Not OK Prototype OK Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

22. 22 Throwaway Prototyping n Like prototyping and SDLC n Analysis phase is thorough n Design prototypes assist in understanding the system n Example: can use Excel, then Visual Basic n (Figure 6.4) Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

23. 23 Throwaway Prototyping (Figure 6.4) Design Implementation Analysis Need Planning Design Prototype System Design Prototype Not OK Design Implementation Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

24. 24 Prototyping for DSS Development n Problems are semistructured or unstructured n Managers and developers may not completely understand problem n Use prototyping Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

25. 25 Prototyping Terms n Iterative design n Evolutionary development n Middle-out process n Adaptive design n Incremental design Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

26. 26 Prototyping Examples n Opening Vignette: InfoNet HR Portal System at Osram Sylvania n Case Application 6.1: POP DSS at IMERSY Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

27. 27 Prototyping (Figure 6.3 again) Design Implementation Analysis Need Planning Prototype System Prototype Not OK Prototype OK Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

28. 28 Why Prototyping? n Users and managers involved in every phase and iteration n Learning is part of design n Prototyping bypasses the information requirement definition (step 7) n Short interval between iterations n Initial prototype must be low cost Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

29. 29 Advantages of Prototyping n Short development time n Short user reaction time n Improved user understanding n Low cost Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

30. 30 Disadvantages of Prototyping Gains may be lost in n Thorough understanding IS’s benefits and costs n Detailed description of information needs n Easy to maintain IS design n Well-tested IS n Well-prepared users Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

31. 31 DSS Technology Levels and Tools n Three Levels of DSS Technology –Specific DSS [the application] –DSS integrated tools (generators) [Excel] –DSS primary tools [programming languages] n Plus –DSS integrated tools n Now all with Web hooks and easy GUI interfaces n Relationships among the three levels (Figure 6.5) Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

32. 32 DSS Technology Levels (Figure 6.5) Specific DSS DSS Generators (Spreadsheets, …) DSS Tools (Languages, …) Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

33. 33 DSS Development Platforms n General-purpose programming language n Fourth-generation language (4GL) n OLAP with a data warehouse or large database n DSS integrated development tool (generator, engine) n Domain-specific DSS generator n Use the CASE methodology n Integrate several of the above Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

34. 34 Hardware Selection n PCs n Unix workstations n Network of Unix workstations n Web servers n Mainframes n Typically use existing hardware Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

35. 35 Software Selection Complex because n At start, information requirements, etc. are unknown n Hundreds of packages n Software updated rapidly n Price changes n Many people involved in decision n Language capability problems (More) Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

36. 36 n Different tools might be needed n Many criteria n Technical, functional, end-user, and managerial issues n Inaccurate published software reviews n Might prefer a single vendor n Maybe use the AHP!!! Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

37. 37 Team-Developed DSS n Substantial effort n Extensive planning and organization n Some generic activities n Group of people to build and to manage it Size depends on –Effort –Tools Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

38. 38 Team-Developed Versus User- Developed DSS n DSS 1970s and early 1980s n Large-scale, complex systems n Primarily provided organizational support n Team efforts Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

39. 39 End-User-Developed Systems n Personal computers n Computer communication networks n PC-mainframe communication n Friendly development software n Reduced cost of software and hardware n Increased capabilities of personal computers n Enterprise-wide computing n Easy accessibility to data and models n Client/server architecture n Now OLAP Balance Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

40. 40 Organizational Placement of the DSS Development Group 1.Information services (IS) department 2.Highly placed executive staff group 3.Finance or other functional area 4.Industrial engineering department 5.Management science group 6.Information center group Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

41. 41 End-user Computing and User-Developed DSS n End-user Computing (end-user development): development and use of computer-based information systems by people outside the formal information systems areas n End-users –At any level of the organization –In any functional area –Levels of computer skill vary –Growing Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

42. 42 User-Developed DSS Advantages 1.Short delivery time 2.Eliminate extensive and formal user requirements specifications 3.Reduce some DSS implementation problems 4.Low cost Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

43. 43 User-Developed DSS Risks 1.Poor Quality 2.Quality Risks –Substandard or inappropriate tools and facilities –Development process risks –Data management risks 3.Increased Security Risks 4.Problems from Lack of Documentation and Maintenance Procedures Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

44. 44 Issues in Reducing End-User Computing Risks n Error detection n Use of auditing techniques n Determine the proper amount of controls n Investigate the reasons for the errors n Solutions n Spreadsheet errors –Should use same controls as normal IS Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

45. 45 Developing DSS: Putting the System Together n Development tools and generators n Use of highly automated tools n Use of prefabricated pieces n Both increase the developer’s productivity Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

46. 46 DSS Development System Includes n Request (query) handler n System analysis and design facility n Dialog management system n Report generator n Graphics generator n Source code manager (more) Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

47. 47 n Model base management system n Knowledge-base (management) system n Object-oriented tools n Standard statistical and management science tools n Special modeling tools n Programming languages n Document imaging tools Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

48. 48 DSS Development System Components n Some may be integrated into a DSS generator n Others may be added as needed n Components used to build a new DSS n Core of system includes development language or DSS generator n Construction by combining programming modules n Windows environment handles the interface Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

49. 49 DSS Research Directions and The DSS of the Future n More AI n Faster, more powerful computers n The Web - interfaces and DB and model access n More and better GSS n ERM/ERP n Knowledge management n Better GUI n Better telecommunications n More research on theories n More research on methods Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ

50. 50 Summary n DSS are complex and their development can be too n SDLC n Prototyping n DSS technologies n DSS teams or individuals n End user computing n Tool and generator selection can be tricky n DSS research continues Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Efraim Turban and Jay E. Aronson, 6th edition Copyright 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ