************************************************************ DSS News by D. J. Power March 11, 2001 -- Vol. 2, No. 6 A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM ************************************************************ Check the Case Studies page at http://dssresources.com ************************************************************ Featured: * DSS Wisdom * Ask Dan! -- How can one obtain an educational copy of the IFPS software? More on IFPS ... * What's New at DSSResources.COM * DSS News Stories ************************************************************ Each week, we have about 3000 unique visitors at DSSResources.COM. This newsletter has more than 475 subscribers from 50 countries. Please forward this newsletter to people interested in Decision Support Systems. ============================================================ SUBMIT A PAPER to AMCIS 2001! Papers due Monday, March 12. Find out about the Decision Support Systems Minitrack. http://ecampus.bentley.edu/org/amcis2001/index.html ============================================================ DSS Wisdom Peter Drucker (1954) wrote in his chapter titled "Making Decisions" that ".. management is always a decision-making process." He notes in the same chapter that in regard to the "new" decision tools from Operations Research managers "must understand the basic method involved in making decisions. Without such understanding he will either be unable to use the new tools at all, or he will overemphasize their contribution and see in them the key to problem-solving which can only result in the substitution of gadgets for thinking, and of mechanics for judgment. Instead of being helped by the new tools, the manager who does not understand decision-making as a process in which he has to define, to analyze, to judge, to take risks, and to lead to effective action, will, like the Sorcerer's Apprentice, become the victim of his own bag of tricks." (p. 368) Drucker, P. The Practice of Management. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1954. ************************************************************ Ask Dan! How can one obtain an educational copy of the IFPS software? Posted By Nick on February 24, 2001 Nick's question led me to contact Comshare for more information on the status of IFPS. A Comshare sales representative, Greg Bowar of Ban-Koe Companies in Minneapolis, contacted me by email March 1, 2001. Greg and I chatted by phone March 5. Greg was not familiar with IFPS, but he and I discussed various Comshare products. After our conversation, Greg posted the following message to the DSSResources.COM Bulletin Board. : Nick : : Comshare has a program called Comshare Planning. After talking : to Dan it sounds like the program your looking for. I'm not : sure if it is the successor or a new creation. A simple : description is multidimensionsal Excel. It uses natural language : rather than cell links. (ie net sales = total sales - COGS rather : than A1-B6=B7) It can be used as a stand alone or in conjunction : with the MPC suite. The Comshare web site provides few details on the Comshare Planning product. The site materials state "Comshare Planning provides powerful, multidimensional modeling, reporting, and analysis that overcomes the limitations of inflexible spreadsheets. Strategic initiatives can be accurately modeled by project, product or any other applicable business dimension. Comshare Planning allows organizations to implement effective, enterprise-wide Management Planning and Control solutions." Greg offered to demonstrate the program. I'll see if I can get a scaled-down or instructional version. MORE on substitutes for IFPS ... Rick Horocholyn of Manitoba Hydro in Winnepeg, Canada sent me an informative and helpful note on IFPS Saturday, 10 March 2001. Rick wrote "In response to those who have been asking for a good replacement for IFPS, I most heartily disagree that any spreadsheet is the answer, especially Excel. I have over 15 years experience using IFPS, and several with Excel. I only use Excel because my clients demand it, thinking that having a model built in a tool that they know how to use is more important than having a model that they can read and understand." Rick suggested two alternative financial modeling systems: Visual DSS from TrueBlue Systems at http://www.trueblue.com.au/ and CUFFS-88 from Cuffs Planning & Models, Ltd. at http://www.cuffs88.com/. Trueblue has a student pack at $A35 (approximately USD$18), but Universities need a site licence that costs USD$255 for students to get this special rate. Rick likes VDSS if you need an updated tool, with a modern Windows GUI. He say "the product has essentially the same capabilities as IFPS". The Cuffs site indicates they offer "substantial discounts for use of CUFFS-88 in MBA programs". ************************************************************ What's New at DSSResources.COM 02/28/2001 Published case study by Lyons, T. "Maytag International Refines Data Distribution with DI-Diver", Dimensional Insight, Inc., February, 2001, URL DSSResources.COM/cases/maytaginternational.htm, as the featured case for March 2001. ============================================================ If you are interested in forming an AIS special interest group related to data management and decision support, please contact me by e-mail, power@dssresources.com. ============================================================ ************************************************************ DSS News Stories - Feb. 10, 2001 to Feb. 25, 2001 03/09/2001 Call for papers: 6th Conference of International Society for Decision Support Systems will be held in West London, UK July 2-4, 2001. Papers due April 6, 2001. 03/08/2001 Simulation Sciences awarded contract with Chevron for real-time optimization support using ROMeo for refinery control system. 03/07/2001 Call for papers: 3rd Int'l Workshop on Design and Management of Data Warehouses (DMDW'2001), June 4, 2001, Interlaken, Switzerland. Papers due March 21. 03/06/2001 Swiss Re deploys dual Plumtree-powered portals to streamline internal processes and deliver client services online. 03/05/2001 BioComp Systems announced today the deployment of their Process Intellect system in a large-scale chemical manufacturing operation. 03/05/2001 LODESTAR Corporation announced PricingExpert software for "on-the-spot" pricing analysis and proposals for energy retailers. 03/05/2001 Iowa Bankers Mortgage Corp. selects INTERLINQ MortgageWare Enterprise solution to streamline lending and servicing operations. 03/02/2001 CBH partners with Adaytum to deliver enterprise business planning solutions. 03/01/2001 New online decision-support tool from Ironmax automates equipment cost evaluations. 03/01/2001 DigitalReach Corporation announced beta software release; database-driven software to streamline human capital management processes. 02/28/2001 Call for papers: Decision Technologies in Management Track, HICSS35, abstracts due 03/31/2001. 02/28/2001 Sagent announced analytic applications for Insurance, Financial Services and Web Analytics. 02/28/2001 Check Point announced a security dashboard for managing Internet security. 02/27/2001 CUseeMe® Networks announced the second generation of its web-based client collaboration technology. 02/27/2001 Deltek improves customer support, increases productivity with WebEx real-time meetings. 02/26/2001 Otis Elevator is deploying Polycom’s ViewStation and ViaVideo to increase productivity and decrease costs. ************************************************************ This newsletter is available online at http://dssresources.com/newsletters/ . ************************************************************ DSS News is copyrighted (c) 2001 by D. J. Power. Please send your email to power@dssresources.com. You have previously subscribed to the DSS News Mailing List. To unsubcribe, send an email to dssresources-unsubscribe@topica.com . |