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DSS News
D. J. Power, Editor
September 26, 2004 -- Vol. 5, No. 20
A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM
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Check the case by Stellent "University of
Alberta increases timely access to
policies and procedures" at DSSResources.COM
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Featured:
* Ask Dan! - What is the difference between a DSS and a DSS generator?
* What's New at DSSResources.COM
* DSS News Releases
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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.
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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.
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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.
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DSS News - September 13 to September 24, 2004
Read them at DSSResources.COM and search the DSS News Archive
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