************************************************************ DSS News D. J. Power, Editor May 26, 2002 -- Vol. 3, No. 11 A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM ************************************************************ We apologize for an error that sent a duplicate copy of the DSS News, May 12, 2002, Vol. 3, No. 10 to subscribers. ************************************************************ Featured: * DSS Wisdom * Ask Dan! - Who are the major vendors of Excel add-in programs for building model-driven DSS? * More Ask Dan! - What is the reaction to your new DSS book? * What's New at DSSResources.COM * DSS News Releases ************************************************************ Check Dan Power's new book, Decision Support Systems: Concepts and Resources for Managers. Get information at http://www.dssresources.com/dssbookstore/power02.html . ************************************************************ This newsletter has more than 850 subscribers from 50 countries. Please forward this newsletter to people interested in Decision Support Systems or suggest they visit DSSResources.COM. ************************************************************ DSS Wisdom Gerald R. Wagner, the founder of EXECUCOM Systems, wrote in 1983 "... optimization in decision support has its greatest potential in the allocation of resources among a diverse variety of alternative futures -- that is strategic planning: doing the right things as opposed to doing things right. After all, the strategic issues are where executive minds excel, and it is there that support will be most fruitful." (p. 432) from Wagner, G. R. "Optimizing Decision Support Systems." In House, W. C. (editor). Decision Support Systems: A Data-Based, Model-Oriented, User-Developed Discipline. New York: Petrocelli Books, 1983 pp. 421-432. (reprinted from Datamation). ************************************************************ Check the IAP Systems DSS case using Exsys CORVID at DSSResources.COM ************************************************************ Ask Dan! by Daniel J. Power Who are the major vendors of Excel add-in programs for building model-driven DSS? In an attempt to provide a comprehensive answer to this question, I visited the web sites of vendors listed on the Spreadsheet-based DSS vendor page at DSSResources.COM, did some searches on "add-ins" with Google and conducted an email interview with Charles Von Thun, CEO of Decisioneering, Inc. (http://www.crystalball.com). This Ask Dan! column reports my findings. First, what is an Excel add-in program? An add-in program enhances the basic functionality of a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel. There are two types of add-in programs: those that provide optional commands and features and that are packaged with the spreadsheet application and are selected when the spreadsheet is installed, and commercial add-in programs available from independent vendors at an additional cost. Second, who are the major vendors? At least 12 companies have Excel add-in programs that can be used to increase the sophistication of a specific spreadsheet-based, model-driven DSS. The purpose and design of a DSS determines whether the proposed DSS requires the purchase of an add-in program. My search identified three major vendors of commercial add-in programs that are useful in building model-driven DSS: Decisioneering, Frontline Systems, and Palisade Software. Third, what did Mr. Charles Von Thun have to say? In an email interview received Thursday, May 16, 2002, Mr. Von Thun, CEO of Decisioneering wrote: "Many companies use enterprise scale systems to collect and organize transactional and financial information. But what these systems offer in size and power they lack in flexibility and robustness. Even the largest companies push a snapshot of data to a spreadsheet model where they ultimately make their most important decisions. The add-ins are the tools that enhance this process." From a technical perspective Von Thun cautioned "It is important to distinguish between the applications that access Excel for data interchange and the true plug-ins. These external applications are usually not modeling centric, which we think is a huge minus." Further Mr. Von Thun notes, "We have seen continuous evolution and improvement of spreadsheet add-ins. Excel used to support only .xla add-ins (VBA macros), but evolved to supporting .xll (library) add-ins in 1997. Microsoft recently added macro security using certificates and code signing, and with the move to Office XP and .NET capabilities, we now have a whole new way to manipulate and build within Excel. Von Thun also indicated "the most exciting trend we are seeing is the increased attention we are getting from the mainstream business users. Risk modeling and simulation are no longer the domain of power users, and with this trend we expect the demand for easy-to-use, high-quality add-ins to increase." Fourth, so what do the commercial add-in packages do? Are they interchangeable and competing products or do they serve different modeling functions? In the next few paragraphs, I'll provide a few highlights, but you'll need to check them out and see how each might meet your needs. The major product of Decisioneering, Inc. is Crystal Ball 2000 Professional Edition. It is a suite of Excel-based risk analysis, optimization and forecasting tools. You can visit Decisioneering at either http://www.decisioneering.com or at http://www.crystalball.com. Frontline Systems (http://www.solver.com and http://frontsys.com) provides the optimization add-in or "Solver" that is packaged with Excel, but they also sell Premium Solver Platform Version 3.5. It is a more powerful program and comes with example spreadsheet models and a user guide. Palisade Software (http://www.palisade.com) markets the well-known @RISK add-in. @RISK 4.5 is available in three editions: Standard, Professional, and Industrial. The Palisade DecisionTools Suite includes five products: @RISK, PrecisionTree®, TopRank®, BestFit®, and RISKview™. Other optimization add-ins include GeneHunter (http://www.wardsystems.com), Evolver (http://www.palisade.com), What'sBest (http://www.lindo.com) and XPRESS (http://www.dash.co.uk). Decision Support Services has a product called Decision ToolPak (http://www.decisiontoolpak.com). It consists of three decision modeling add-ins for Microsoft Excel: TreePlan, SensIt and RiskSim. XLSIM (http://www.analycorp.com) is a Monte Carlo Simulation add-in for Excel. Simtools.xla (http://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/addins.htm) adds statistical functions and procedures for doing Monte Carlo simulation and risk analysis in spreadsheets. Some add-ins can also help with building data-driven DSS. Analyse-it! (http://www.analyse-it.com) and XLSTAT (http://www.xlstat.com) are statistical software add-ins. The XLSTAT add-in offers over 40 different functions to enhance data analysis. Finally, what can we conclude about spreadsheet add-in programs? DSS developers need to learn when it is appropriate to use add-ins to build more powerful model-driven DSS and managers need to understand the purpose of spreadsheet add-ins. In my email interview, Charles Von Thun (CEO at Decisioneering) took a broad perspective on spreadsheet add-in products. Let me end this Ask Dan! with another quote from him. Von Thun noted "Every business we talk to uses spreadsheets to model decisions. Some users are more sophisticated, some barely scratch the surface of the power of modeling, but there is no doubt that spreadsheets (more specifically Excel spreadsheets) are the standard for decision modeling." I agree with you, Charles! We have just begun to understand how spreadsheets and add-ins can be used to build more powerful model-driven DSS ... If you're interested in learning more about Excel add-ins to enhance model-driven DSS, you should follow the vendor links. Many thanks to Charles Von Thun, CEO of Decisioneering, Inc., and Jennifer Mogck, Marketing Communications Manager at Decisioneering, Inc. You can contact Jennifer at jmogck@decisioneering.com. ************************************************************ More Ask Dan! by Daniel J. Power Editor, DSSResources.COM What is the reaction to your new DSS book? My book, "Decision Support Systems: Concepts and Resources for Managers" will probably never be a non-fiction best seller, but it continues to move up the sales ranking at Barnes & Noble. Some of the online book retailers have it in stock for immediate delivery. Also, Wal-Mart.COM started stocking it with their "everyday low price" 30% discount. If you're searching for it, the ISBN # is 1-56720-497-X. Alexander Verharen, Global Practice Manager for eBusiness Services at QAD Global Services (http://www.qad.com), sent me an encouraging email May 18. Alexander wrote: "I ordered my personal copy immediately FURTHERMORE I have ordered another 8 for my colleagues!!!! I found I had an "Aha! Erlebnis" on almost every page! Keep up the good work!" I'll try Alexander and thanks for the feedback! For more information about my book, check http://dssresources.com/dssbookstore/power02.html or send me an email, Daniel.Power@DSSResources.COM. ************************************************************ What's New at DSSResources.COM 05/22/2002 Created For Professors page at DSSResources.COM. The page is still under construction. Please send your suggestions to power@dssresources.com. 05/12/2002 Posted case by EXSYS Staff, "IAP Systems Using Exsys CORVID Expert System Software to Support Corporate Families on Overseas Assignments", EXSYS, Inc., 2002, URL DSSResources.COM/cases/. ************************************************************ DSS News - May 9, 2002 to May 23, 2002 Complete news releases can be found at DSSResources.COM. 05/23/2002 Healthcare and pharmaceutical organizations praise MicroStrategy's New 7i Business Intelligence platform. 05/23/2002 Schneider Logistics uses Cognos Global Extranet to turn information into competitive advantage. 05/22/2002 VistaPortal Software announces enhancements to VistaJDBC for streamlined supply chain integration and enterprise reporting. 05/22/2002 Applied OLAP, Inc. Announces New Alliance with ThinkFast Consulting, Inc. 05/21/2002 SPSS Inc.’s Web-based interactive report distribution software now delivers native language output. 05/21/2002 Optiant Co-Founder named a top young innovator by MIT Technology Review. 05/21/2002 IDC finds three-month payback for Network Appliance enterprise content delivery networks. 05/21/2002 Iteration and Sagent team enable real-time delivery of business intelligence. 05/20/2002 Informatica data integration software supports military health system's data warehouse, data mart initiatives. 05/20/2002 Crystal Decisions reaches milestone with 11 million licenses shipped worldwide. 05/20/2002 Brio Software announces Brio Metrics Builder 7. 05/20/2002 GeoDecisions and IntelliWhere partner to deliver logistics solution for real-time deployment of military and emergency personnel. 05/20/2002 ProClarity wins Technical Excellence Award at SQL Server Magazine Live! and Windows & .NET Magazine Live! Event. 05/15/2002 Databeacon helps make Baxter Healthcare a safer place. 05/15/2002 Teradata data warehouse implementation listed by Gartner, Inc. as a leader in "Ability to Execute" and "Completeness of Vision". 05/15/2002 Business Objects introduces BusinessObjects Broadcast Agent 5.5. 05/15/2002 MarketFirst to integrate industry leading analytic applications from Business Objects. 05/15/2002 CVS drugstores enters major deal with MicroStrategy. 05/14/2002 Health Net Dental and Vision launches new tool for contracting brokers. 05/14/2002 IMC Holdings, Inc. uses Comshare® for strategic tool to drive performance and profitability. 05/13/2002 digiMine Provides Dow Jones with data mining and analysis solutions for web properties. 05/13/2002 Hermes Pensions Management Limited goes live on Macgregor Trade Order Management System. 05/13/2002 Discrete Wireless introduces improved Fleet Management Services. ************************************************************ You can read 696 DSS News releases in the Subscriber Zone at DSSResources.COM. ************************************************************ This newsletter is available online in the Subscriber Zone at http://dssresources.com/newsletters/ . ************************************************************ DSS News is copyrighted (c) 2002 by D. J. Power. Please send your questions to daniel.power@dssresources.com. You have previously subscribed to the DSS News Mailing List. |