GSB 626 Decision Support Systems
This unit explores the area of Decision Support Systems (DSS) and investigates their application domains related to various business activities.
As part of this unit, the basic concepts of decision-making and decision support systems, as well as the decision-making phases and the systems approach are presented. The types of DSS, and their comparison with human decision making processes will be discussed; technical and non-technical DSS development issues will be considered; the different kinds of models useful for decision support will be presented; The effects of the World Wide Web on DSS are stated; Optimisation, Group Decision Support Systems, Executive Information Systems, and Data Warehouses will be discussed; the application of Expert Systems to DSS will be considered and the software and hardware environments appropriate for DSS will be discussed. Knowledge Acquisition, representation and reasoning is introduced, as well as Intelligent systems over the internet and some of their applications.
After successfully completing this unit the student will be able to understand decision support system types, characteristics and the modelling of such systems. As well as being able to understand the analysis, design and implementation of decision support systems, the student will be aware of the advantages and disadvantages of using DSS in different types of business environments. And finally, the student will able to analyse the issues concerning the suitability of a DSS application.
The unit assessment is comprised of two (2) compulsory reports and a final compulsory two (2) hour examination.