************************************************************ DSS News D. J. Power, Editor September 26, 2004 -- Vol. 5, No. 20 A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM ************************************************************ Check the case by Stellent "University of Alberta increases timely access to policies and procedures" at DSSResources.COM ************************************************************ Featured: * Ask Dan! - What is the difference between a DSS and a DSS generator? * What's New at DSSResources.COM * DSS News Releases ************************************************************ Ask Dan! What is the difference between a DSS and a DSS generator? by Dan Power This Ask Dan! expands upon the question "What is a DSS?" from September 12, 2004. John Wen had asked on the Free DSS Forum at DSSResources.COM about the difference between a DSS and a DSS generator and that interchange of ideas lead to this summary response. Let me quote and paraphrase from John's September 2, 2004 posts: "Dr. Power, What is the difference between DSS and a Decision support software/generator (e.g. Excel, Expert Choice, MicroStrategy, etc)? For example with Excel, you just make use of some of the functionalities in Excel to solve problems which helps or assists in decision making. Then you call this a DSS. But in fact you only use the functionalities of Excel. Why don't you directly call Excel a Decision Support System? After I pondered over the differences, I still don't know the difference between a DSS and Excel or Expert Choice. When you use functionalities of Excel or Expert Choice you are using that software. But the book just claims that you are 'building' a DSS instead of using a DSS. I still think Excel or Expert Choice itself is a DSS because you are using functionalities of Excel or Expert Choice to help make a decision. This problem has puzzled me for a long time, I hope you can understand and solve my problem. Thank you!" The term "decision support systems" is used to refer to a class of information systems and decision support system refers to a specific example of such a system. The acronym DSS refers to both the singular and plural terms. Some authors have tried adding a lower case "s" and then using the acronym DSSs for the plural concept, but it never seemed to gain widespread acceptance. When we build a DSS (singular), we are referring to a specific decision support system. To add some other subtle distinctions, DSS refers to multiple decision support systems in an organization; DSS refers to a field of research; and DSS refers to a concept that can be defined in terms of specific characteristics and attributes. For more than 20 years, the academic literature has drawn a distinction between a specific DSS and a DSS generator (cf., Sprague and Carlson, 1982). I think the distinction remains useful, but it is not universally recognized. Some vendors DO call application development software (DSS generator software) a decision support system. Also, as I mentioned in a short article titled "What is a DSS?" in 1997, "Keep in mind as you read articles in the DSS literature that if a computerized system is NOT an on-line transaction processing system (OLTP), someone will be tempted to call it a DSS." Distinctions "get lost" in casual conversation and vendor marketing materials. No one can really "buy" an off-the-shelf specific DSS. My DSS book (2002) defines a DSS generator as a "computer software package that provides tools and capabilities that help a developer build a specific DSS (cf., Sprague and Carlson, 1982, p. 11). Microsoft Excel is an example of a DSS generator for creating small-scale data and model-driven DSS. See development environment (p. 226)." A specific DSS is a software/hardware system for use in a specific situation as part of a decision process. Sprague and Carlson argue "systems that actually accomplish the work might be called Specific DSS. These involve an information systems 'application,' but with characteristics that are significantly different from those of a typical data processing application. Specific DSS are the hardware/software that allow a specific decision maker or group of them to deal with specific sets of related problems (p. 10)." A DSS generator is a software package for developing the user interface and in some cases a model, rules or a database schema for a DSS. A DSS generator is used to create a specific DSS. Sprague and Carlson (1982) discuss DSS generators in detail (pp. 69-72; pp. 306-314). They identify "two basic objectives of the DSS Generator: 1. To permit quick and easy development of a wide variety of specific DSS; and 2. The Generator must be flexible and adaptive enough to facilitate the iterative design process by which Specific DSS can respond quickly to changes". A DSS generator is a software "package" that provides a set of capabilities to build specific DSS quickly and easily. A DSS generator for developing a specific data-driven DSS is very different than one for building a model-driven DSS. Perhaps we would be better served by using phrases like "application development environment", "fourth generation language", "template", "toolkit", or "shell", rather than DSS generator. Is the term DSS generator still useful? In my opinion YES, but it is important to define it and use it consistently. It is important to think about and draw distinctions like the one John Wen is struggling with. What about Excel and Expert Choice? Microsoft Excel is a general purpose, application development environment and an end-user productivity tool. The addition of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) expanded Excel into a much more sophisticated DSS development environment. Excel can be used to "generate" a specific DSS and it can be used to conduct personal, one-time analyses and studies. Excel is definitely not a DSS, but it may be much more than a DSS generator. So while many people use only a small fraction of Excel's capabilities, Excel is a sophisticated DSS application development environment and hence it can be called a DSS generator. A software package like Expert Choice can be used for a one-time decision analysis or it can be used to help structure a recurring decision situation and the Analytical Hierarchy specified in the Expert Choice environment then becomes the core of a specific, model-driven DSS that is used repeatedly in the situation. Sprague and Carlson identified Interactive Financial Planning System (IFPS), EXPRESS from TYMSHARE, Executive Information System (EIS) marketed by Boeing Computer Services and Geodata Analysis and Display System (GADS) from IBM Research Lab in San Jose as examples of DSS generators. But in 2004, as was true in 1982, there are no "full service" DSS generators. DSS are customized information system applications. Building a DSS remains a challenging task and it remains important to create DSS development environments, a.k.a. DSS generators, to help and facilitate development of a specific DSS. ******************************* References Power, D. J., Decision Support Systems: Concept and Resources for Managers, Westport, CT: Quorum/Greenwood, 2002. Power, D. J., "What is a DSS?", DS*, The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support, Vol. 1, No. 3, October 21, 1997. Power, D. J, "What is a DSS?", DSS News, Vol. 5, No. 19, September 12, 2004. Sprague, R. H. and E. D. Carlson, Building Effective Decision Support Systems, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. ************************************************************ Put your ad here! Reach specialists interested in DSS Email power@dssresources.com for details ************************************************************ What's New at DSSResources.COM 09/17/2004 Posted case by Stellent Staff, "University of Alberta increases timely access to policies and procedures". Check the cases page. ************************************************************ DSS News - September 13 to September 24, 2004 Read them at DSSResources.COM and search the DSS News Archive 09/23/2004 The Bank of New York's Pershing Unit to provide customers with access to NaviPlan Extended Financial Planning Software. 09/23/2004 Business Objects to host 10th Annual International User Conference. 09/22/2004 CEOs aware, but not acting on threats to information security, says Ernst & Young's 2004 Information Security survey. 09/22/2004 SAS delivers breakthrough solutions for IT. 09/21/2004 Boeing technology allows navigation of Techsphere's airships from remote locations worldwide. 09/21/2004 Laptop computer lets doctor do house calls the modern way. 09/20/2004 Intergraph awarded $3 million (U.S.) contract to spatially enable the Dutch National Emergency Police Response System. 09/20/2004 Companies worldwide embrace MicroStrategy Report Services. 09/20/2004 KnowNow introduces powerful event-driven integration solution. 09/20/2004 Texas Tech chooses SAS(R) for Grid Computing. 09/20/2004 Hyperion introduces Profitability Management to help organizations discover true value of customer relationships. 09/20/2004 Hyperion Essbase 7X debuts with faster speeds, increased scalability -- first analytic technology optimized for both finance and line of business users. 09/16/2004 Want proactive leadership in the C-suite? Hire a prosumer. 09/16/2004 DriverTech connects Truck PC with SiriCOMM. 09/16/2004 Wells Fargo installs SYNORAN's Net Settlement System. 09/15/2004 Kunami.com announces affordable Web-based suite of eCollaboration and communications tools for small businesses. 09/15/2004 Integrated pharmacy workflow management systems demonstrate ability to provide value for money. 09/14/2004 MapInfo and MicroStrategy deliver location-enabled business intelligence. 09/14/2004 PriceGrabber provides candidate comparison engine for 2004 elections. 09/14/2004 Teradata selected by Vivo to unify data warehouse environments. 09/14/2004 eBid Systems delivers procurement tools to small-business market. 09/13/2004 Palo Alto Software unveils 2005 version of its award-winning Business Plan Pro. 09/13/2004 Cognos PowerPlay(R) Test Drive allows business travelers to analyze air travel performance. ************************************************************ Subscribe to DSSResources.COM. One month $10, six months $25. Visit http://dssresources.com/subscriber/subscriber.html ************************************************************ DSS News is copyrighted (c) 2004 by D. J. Power. Please send your questions to daniel.power@dssresources.com. |