Decision Support System Review

¶ … sketch out a threefold process that includes work performed by the stakeholders involved in DSS. I make the case that each stage is crucial and for one stage to succeed it must be preceded and succeeded by the competent completion of the other two stages. In short, the end user must be presented with a list of options that are complete, adequately capturing the essence of the technological construct that the end user wishes to procure. The second stage, which involves the sales agent who interfaces with the customer, does not always involve personal with an expertise allowing him or her to fully anticipate the needs of the end user. Therefore, it is crucial that the third stage -- involving the Excel programmer -- includes as much specificity as possible in the template that the programmer constructs in order to assist the sales agent in the process of obtaining the appropriate and relevant information from the end user, who will ultimately be the one left with the final product.

A Decision Support System (DSS) that commends a model of personal computer (CBC) to the potential buyer operates by discerning the needs of the user and automatically comparing them to a size of PC with optimized components. This process is pertinent because the more robust the computer the greater the cost. The customer cannot be expected to buy a more powerful PC than his needs imply.

The success of this DSS rests on its capability of successfully stimulating and channeling the end users perception of need and, correspondingly, locating the appropriate product. Thus, the DSS functions as a hybrid of marketing and product engineering.

Decision support systems have become critical in marketing technical consumer products. Without automation, the recommendation for a product would frequently be faulty; although individuals who have the responsibility would tend to compensate by erring on the side of high capacities. Even with the assistance of DSS, customers, sales persons, and DSS developers and administrators bare responsibility for thoughtfulness and accuracy. Garbage in and garbage out with the DSS would be even less accurate than unsupported human judgment.

A Decision Support System for the recommendation of capacity and functionality in a personal computer maybe viewed from the perspective of three of the processes stakeholders. First, the customer who is shopping for a PC must consider the import of each question posed by the DSS. The DSS should communicate to him that misjudgments have consequences. For instance, if the end user wants to play videos and other media forms on his computer but does not purchase adequate system memory, then he or she might end up paying extra for a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) that possess extra gigabytes of memory.

The customer should realize that any sells person that he is dealing with may not be able to guess answers for him because technical strength that might be embodied in the sales force has been superseded by a program created by an expert. This expert combines engineering and communications skills to create customer questions that correspond both to the capacities and functionalities of the various PCs available. The questions shown below are designed to capture the capacity of the CPU and ancillary devices in the PC. The questions are stated at the level of the typical PC user, and yet are designed to illicit the specific information that can be translated into product specifications.

1. Describe the kind of word processing you do.

I create complex documents using tables.

2. How much would you like to pay for the computer system?

Approx. $1,000.

3. What is the absolute maximum you would pay for the computer system approx. $1,500.

4. How often will you watch DVD's on the computer?

Often.

5. How many DVD videos will you store on the computer?

Between 25 and 75.

6. How many different programs are you likely to run at the same time on the computer?

I often run two programs like email and the internet.