from DSSResources.com

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                          DSS News 
                    D. J. Power, Editor 
              May 11, 2003 -- Vol. 4, No. 10 
       A Bi-Weekly Publication of DSSResources.COM 

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Call for Papers: Special issue of DSS Journal on Web-based
Decision Support. Contact bhargava@computer.org, power@uni.edu
or daewons@psu.edu

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Featured: 

* DSS Wisdom
* Ask Dan! - What are some examples of web-based DSS?
* DSS News Releases 

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DSS News has more than 900 subscribers from 50 countries. 
Please forward this newsletter to people interested in DSS.

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DSS Wisdom

Cohen, March and Olsen wrote: "An organization is a collection of 
choices looking for problems, issues and feelings looking for decision 
situations in which they might be aired, solutions looking for issues to 
which they might be the answer, and decision makers looking for work 
(1972, p. 2)."

From Cohen, M. D., J. G. March, and J. P. Olsen.  "A garbage can model 
of organizational choice."  Administrative Science Quarterly, 17, pp. 
1-25, 1972.

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    Check the article by David Marco at DSSResources.COM
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Ask Dan!

What are some examples of web-based DSS?
by Dan Power

Most people who read about decision support systems want to try one.  
This is understandable given the promise associated with an information 
system that is intended to support and improve decision making.  A 
previous Ask Dan! identified some DSS demonstration software that could 
be downloaded (DSS News, 01/05/2003). Those systems show some of the 
possibilities, but web-based and web-enabled DSS are more accessible and 
as powerful as DSS built using client/server technologies. In general, 
it is much easier to try or "test drive" a web-based DSS. Web 
technologies have expanded the range of DSS that are built and deployed, 
but some "new" DSS are more impressive and consequential than others. A 
few vendors have demonstrations on their sites of DSS built using their 
software and there are many DSS targeted to the general public that are 
available on the web. In general, narrowly targeted or focused DSS and 
intra-organizational (internal) DSS are not accessible to the public.

Most types of DSS can be found on the web, but it is hard to find 
publicly available examples of sophisticated, web-based, 
communications-driven DSS.  A first generation web-based GDSS, TCBWorks 
(cf., Dennis, 1998), was available for academic use in the mid-90s, but 
it is no longer accessible. Current demonstrations of web-based, 
communications-driven DSS tend to have low levels of functionality and 
focus on asynchronous communications.

Recently, Prof. Shashidar Kaparthi and I (Power and Kaparthi, 2002) 
wrote an article that expanded and updated Chapter 11 in my DSS book. 
Also, this semester my students evaluated some web-based DSS. So this 
Ask Dan! shares some links and a fun exercise involving categorizing and 
evaluating Web-based DSS. Innovative examples of all 5 categories of DSS 
can be found on the Web, see if you can sort out the following web-based 
DSS. 

Web-based DSS Links

Some of these sites have multiple decision support tools and you may 
need to "look hard" to find them. Some of the simpler tools are called 
"calculators" and the more complex tools are full-fledged DSS.

Big Charts -- http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/

Databeacon Demos -- http://www.storydata.com

Documentum eRoom - http://www.documentum.com

elaws Family and Medical Leave Act Advisor - 
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/fmla.htm

Fidelity Calculators - http://www.401k.com/401k/tools/tools.htm

Inspire - http://interneg.carleton.ca/inspire/

MSN Autos - http://autos.msn.com/Default.aspx

Pinnacor - http://finance.pinnacor.com/

Principal Financial - http://www.principal.com/calculators/index.htm

WATERSHEDSS - http://www.water.ncsu.edu/watershedss/

Categorization and Evaluation Exercise

Please evaluate one of the above web-based DSS. What type or category of 
DSS is the application? Communications-driven, Data-driven, 
Document-driven, Knowledge-driven or Model-driven? What is the purpose 
of the specific DSS? Who are the targeted or intended users of the DSS? 
What is your evaluation of the DSS? Is it useful? Is it likely to 
improve decision making? Please explain and justify your conclusions. 

References

Dennis, Alan R., "Lessons from Three Years of Web Development", 
Communications of the ACM, v41, n7, July 1998, pp. 112-113.

Power, D., "Where can I find or download a DSS demo?" DSS News, 
01/05/2003.

Power, D. and S. Kaparthi, "Building Web-based Decision Support 
Systems", Studies in Informatics and Control, Vol. 11, Number 4, Dec. 
2002, pp. 291-302, URL http://www.ici.ro/ici/revista/sic2002_4/art1.pdf  


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DSS News Releases - April 28 to May 9, 2003

05/09/2003 Cognos 'Planning Leadership Awards' honor 'Best-In-Class' 
enterprise planning solutions.

05/09/2003 California National Guard soldiers sharpen warfighting skills 
with experimental training program.

05/09/2003 Creeth, Richman & Associates, Inc. releases OLAPObjects for 
TM1 3.0.

05/09/2003 Raytheon's Risk Doctor(TM) solution selected by University of 
North Carolina Health Care to meet HIPAA security requirements.

05/08/2003 Yale New Haven Health System selects Instantis to automate 
Six Sigma project management and knowledge sharing across the 
organization.

05/08/2003 Cognos delivers on corporate performance management vision.

05/08/2003 Logility Voyager Solutions 7.0 unveiled at Connections 2003.

05/07/2003 Junior Achievement launches online business simulator for 
students.

05/06/2003 SAS forms partnership with leading risk management expert.

05/06/2003 BEA highlights enterprise access and integration to business 
performance management software at Hyperion Solutions 2003.

05/06/2003 BMW Selects WebSurveyor for Online Survey Solutions.

05/06/2003 Cognos(R) BI Series 7 wins Network Computing Magazine 2003 
Well-Connected Award for business intelligence.

05/06/2003 Microsoft and HP develop the industry's first dynamic data 
center prototype.

05/06/2003 SGI tops graphics, server and workstation categories in World 
Oil visualization center survey.

05/05/2003 Centerpulse selects Business Objects for end-to-end business 
intelligence solution.

05/05/2003 Hyperion customers gain business insight with management 
dashboards.

05/05/2003 Oracle demonstrates continued supply chain success with more 
than 500 customers choosing Oracle Advanced Planning.

05/05/2003 Pinnacle releases Summit, a new XML-based global reporting 
solution.

05/05/2003 Hyperion bridges financial and operational planning.

05/02/2003 CIOs face value quandary, Deloitte & Touche/IDG Survey shows; 
analysis pinpoints delivery and communication of business value as top 
challenges in IT. 

05/02/2003 Teradata enables banks to find and cut hidden IT costs with 
data mart consolidation program.

05/02/2003 EA's Command & Conquer Generals triumphs at retail outlets 
nationwide; modern warfare-based game holds top position on sales charts 
for two consecutive months.

05/01/2003 Business Objects drives enterprise performance management at 
top government agencies in the U.S. and worldwide.

05/01/2003 Intergraph customers sweep three of four poster session 
categories at 2003 GIS-T Symposium.

04/30/2003 Hummingbird maps out new GIS solution by linking documents to 
geographic features.

04/30/2003 Microsoft Business Solutions releases Microsoft Business 
Portal.

04/30/2003 Experian and Scorex form new global venture in decision 
support and consulting sector.

04/29/2003 Decisioneering announces that Shell will begin worldwide 
deployment of Crystal Ball risk analysis software.

04/29/2003 CorVu announces CorStrategy.Finance: budgeting and financial 
consolidation software empowers organizations to link budgeting with 
strategy. 

04/29/2003 Brio Software delivers performance dashboards to Comerica 
offices throughout the U.S.

04/29/2003 Boeing Center for Integrated Defense Simulation selects 
Quantum3D independence for advanced military aviation simulation 
applications.

04/28/2003 Polycom showcases breakthrough new products and 
interoperability solutions at Networld+Interop.

04/28/2003 TANDBERG teams with WebEx to expand collaborative 
conferencing offering.

04/28/2003 Government agencies seek better access to internal and 
external information, new Artafact survey shows.

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