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LESSON 10
Support Systems
Seeing the benefits of MIS for middle level managers, Computerised systems have been devised for other employees in the organization to help them complete their work efficiently and effectively.
10.1 Support systems can be classified into two categories
Office automation systems Decision support systems
10.1.1 Office Automation Systems
Office automation system includes formal and informal electronic systems primarily concerned with the communication of information to and from persons both inside and outside the firm. It supports data workers in an organization.
For Instance Word processing Desktop publishing Imaging & Web publishing Electronic calendars – manager’s appt. calendars Email Audio & video conferencing – establishing communication between geographically dispersed persons.
10.1.2 Decision Support Systems
Before moving forward with the concept of decision support system, we would take a look at the definition of MIS
“An integrated man-machine system for providing information to support the operations, management and decision making functions in an organization.” ( Prof. Gordon Davis University of Minnesota)
Four Criteria for designing models and systems to support management decisions making were laid down by J.D.C. Little. These were
• Robustness
• Ease of Control
• Simplicity
• Completeness of relevant detail
Decision Support Systems was defined by Bill Inmon, father of data warehouse, as
“a system used to support managerial decisions. Usually DSS involves the analysis of many units of data in a heuristic fashion. As a rule, DSS processing does not involve the update of data”
Heuristic simply means a particular technique of directing one’s attention in learning, discovery or problem solving. It assists in non-routine decision making process due to powerful analytical abilities.
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For Instance
For any scenario all the related factors with their ranges of variability are entered into DSS, which helps guide managers for any new scenario that emerges. DSS can stimulate innovation in decision making by helping managers to existing decision making procedures.
An example of Decision Support System
An outfit store maintains ready made garments and stitched clothes for various classes of society. Due to fluctuating changes in fashion trends, pre-seasonal planning becomes critical.
• A Planning and forecasting software can be used by management to
• Measure customer reactions to re-pricing
• When to initiate clearance sales for old stock
• Deciding about discount percentages
• When to order new stock for the season
10.2 Functionalities of MIS and DSS
Sr. No. MIS DSS 1 Provides information on monitoring and controlling the business.
Helps in non routine decision making.
2 Fixed and regular reports are generated from data kept in TPS.
Users are not linked with the structured information flows.
3 Report formats are predefined. Greater emphasis on models, display graphics & ad hoc queries.
4 User is part of the system DSS is a small part of users’ actions.
5 Controlled by IT Dept. Directly used by middle level managers
Table 10. 10.3 Types of DSS DSS, may either be
• Model Driven DSS
• Data Driven DSS
10.3.1 Model Driven DSS
Model driven DSS uses following techniques
What-If analysis Attempt to check the impact of a change in the assumptions (input data) on the
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The term data warehouse generally refers to the combination of many different databases across an entire enterprise.
Data warehouses contain a wide variety of data that present a coherent picture of business conditions at a single point in time.
Data warehouses are generally batch updated at the end of the day, week or some period. Its contents are typically historical and static and may also contain numerous summaries.
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