************************************************************ DSS News by D. J. Power April 8, 2001 -- Vol. 2, No. 8 A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM ************************************************************ Special Offer: Subscribe at DSSResources.COM for USD$20 ************************************************************ Featured: * DSS Wisdom * Ask Dan! -- Is there an "information culture" that encourages building Decision Support Systems? * 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 500 subscribers from 50 countries. Please forward this newsletter to people interested in Decision Support Systems. ************************************************************ DSS Wisdom Alvin Toffler (1970) argued "Information must flow faster than ever before. At the same time, rapid change, by increasing the number of novel, unexpected problems, increases the amount of information needed. It takes more information to cope with a novel problem than one we have solved a dozen or a hundred times before. It is this combined demand for more information at faster speeds that is now undermining the great vertical hierarchies so typical of bureaucracy." (p. 121) Toffler, Alvin., Future Shock, New York: Random House, 1970. ************************************************************ Is there an "information culture" that encourages building Decision Support Systems? Let's assume there is such a phenomenon as an "information culture". Culture refers to shared assumptions, beliefs and ideas of a group. Information culture would then refer to shared assumptions, beliefs and ideas about obtaining, processing, sharing and using information in decision-making and organizational management. Rick Tanler, who founded Information Advantage, identified four different information cultures. In a Decision Wire column titled "Becoming the Competitor All Others Fear", Tanler stated "The four information cultures are Spectator (observes changes within their market); Competitor (initiates change within their market); Predator (attacks market principles); and Information Anarchy (the dysfunctional information culture)." Tanler noted in that same column that "Almost every data warehouse is justified to senior management in terms of the competitive advantages that will accrue to the enterprise if better information is available to decision-makers." Tanler argued the Competitor Culture will encourage managers to develop better information systems and that will lead to better decisions and better corporate performance. This conclusion is very optimistic ... and it assumes that initiating change always leads to positive outcomes. Also, Tanler argued many companies have a Spectator Culture and need to move to a Competitor Culture. Tanler believed the "difference between the Spectator Culture and the Competitor Culture is that the former focuses on decision-support (What information do users need?) and the latter focuses on decision-implementation (What are users doing with the information?)." Tanler's four culture categories create a "buzzword" approach to organizational change. It sounds like he is really concerned about how to design systems rather than about culture. Certainly we need to ask what are and what might users do with information and how can we better support their decision-making. Building a DSS is much more than asking potential users what information they need. Relying on managers to "divine" what information will be or is needed won't work; such an approach is much too passive to succeed. Tanler noted we need to examine the "role of information within the context of the entire decision cycle." We need to understand what a decision cycle is to bring about this change. In the management and decision making literature, a decision cycle or process starts with the identification of an opportunity or recognition of a problem. The cycle includes analysis and formulation of decision alternatives. The cycle also includes approval of a decision and communications and actions needed to implement the decision and measure its impact. Tanler argued the "objective is to compress the decision cycle". He concluded that by "moving from a Spectator Culture to a Competitor Culture, an organization can make smarter decisions in shorter cycle times to ultimately become the competitor that all others fear." Reducing the cycle time is a desirable goal, but in and of itself a shorter decision cycle does not improve decision making and if decision support is provided inappropriately to reduce cycle time, then decisions can be negatively impacted and results will be much worse and not better. We need to maintain a humble attitude when our goal is to improve human decision behavior. Decision-making is as much art as science and we may be able to inform decision-making with facts and analysis. In my opinion, a positive information culture encourages active information use and recognizes that technology can help with a variety of decision tasks and can speed up the clerical side of those tasks, but that people remain the thinkers and decision makers who must assume responsibility for organizational actions. Businesses aren't intelligent, people are. Decision support has to focus on helping managers make decisions. Well ... I didn't set out to critique Tanler's ideas on information culture and successful implementation of technologies to support decision making, but in a general way this Ask Dan has done that. Let me know what you think of when you hear the term information culture ... Is there a proactive, decision support culture? Tanler, Rick. "Becoming the Competitor All Others Fear", DecisionWire, Vol. 1, Issue 11, January 1999. ************************************************************ What's New at DSSResources.COM 04/02/2001 Created Ask Dan! folder in Subscriber Zone for premium content questions. 04/01/2001 Moved 7 JavaScript Decision Aids to the Subscriber Zone. 03/30/2001 Published Power, D. J. "Tips for Choosing Enterprise-wide DSS Software". DSstar, The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support, November 18, 1997: Vol. 1, No. 7. as a print-enabled PDF file in the Subscriber Zone. 03/30/2001 Published Power, D. J. "What is a DSS?". DSstar, The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support, October 21, 1997: Vol. 1, No. 3. as a print-enabled PDF file in the Subscriber Zone. 03/29/2001 Published Power, D. J. " Web-based Decision Support Systems". DSstar, The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support, August 18 and 25, 1998: Vol. 2, Nos. 33 and 34. as a print-enabled PDF file in the Subscriber Zone. 03/29/2001 Created DSS Articles - PDF Print Format page in the Subscriber Zone. 03/28/2001 Published Power, D. J. "Justifying a Data Warehouse Project", Part I and II. DSstar, The On-Line Executive Journal for Data-Intensive Decision Support, February 3 and 10, 1998: Vol. 2, No. 5 and 6. as a print-enabled PDF file in the Subscriber Zone. 03/21/2001 Published Power, D., "Supporting Decision-Makers: An Expanded Framework", Informing Science eBook, June 2001. as a print-enabled PDF file in the Subscriber Zone. ************************************************************ DSS News Stories - Mar. 26 to Apr. 6, 2001 04/06/2001 RER announced the release of MetrixND v. 2.6 software for short-term energy and price forecasting. 04/06/2001 Frontline Group released KnowHow2, a Web-based organizational learning system. 04/05/2001 Information Builders, EDS, and the Pennsylvania State Police today announced the launch of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System Web site. 04/04/2001 Vite announced enhanced enterprise project management solution; it includes simulation software. 04/03/2001 Park City Group launched a new decision support product for supermarket operations. 04/02/2001 Leading Insurance company implements Versant's ODBMS for executive reporting and analysis application. 03/30/2001 NASA Ames Research Center installed the world's first 512-Processor SGI Origin 3000 Series single system. 03/29/2001 U.are.U fingerprint recognition technology added to next-generation keyboard. 03/28/2001 Crystal Decisions announced that it will provide business intelligence components for the iBaan Portal. 03/27/2001 Expertcity, Inc. announced 2-Way ScreenSharing support in its DesktopStreaming product. 03/27/2001 Canon revamps global product quality analysis system with Informix Software's Red Brick Decision Server. 03/27/2001 Anderson Trucking implemented BroadVision personalized information, logistics and e-business services. 03/26/2001 Tuttle Decision Systems announced FAS 133 solution for mortgage lenders. ************************************************************ Frost and Sullivan Business Intelligence Conference One of the greatest challenges for companies today is consolidating information and analyzing the data from all divisions in order to make better decisions. Learn how to cultivate and leverage your internal Business Intelligence sources at: What: Frost & Sullivan's Eighth Annual Business Intelligence Conference and Exhibition East When: April 23-26, 2001 Where: Wyndham Miami Beach Resort, Miami Beach, Florida To review the conference agenda, or to access a brochure, please visit http://www.frost.com/conferences/CIB or contact Cara Battaglia, cbattaglia@frost.com, or call (210) 348-1018. Mention DSSResources.com and qualify for 2-for-1 registration. ************************************************************ 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 . |