Decision Support Systems

Decision Support Systems

Using Decision Support Systems

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Using a decision support system involves an interactive analytical process  Decision makers are not demanding pre-specified information  They are exploring possible alternatives What-If Analysis 

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Sensitivity Analysis 

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Observing how repeated changes to a single variable affect other variables

Goal-seeking Analysis 

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Observing how changes to selected variables affect other variables

Making repeated changes to selected variables until a chosen variable reaches a target value

Optimization Analysis 

Finding an optimum value for selected variables, given certain constraints

Decision Support Systems What If-Analysis

Sensitivity Analysis

Important Decision Support Systems Analytical Models

Goal-Seeking Analysis

Optimization Analysis

Using Decision Support System 

What-If Analysis 

End user makes changes to variables, or relationships among variables, and observes the resulting changes in the values of other variables

Sensitivity Analysis  

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A special case of what-if analysis The value of only one variable is changed repeatedly, and the resulting changes on other variables are observed Typically used when there is uncertainty about the assumptions made in estimating the value of certain key variables

Goal-Seeking Analysis 

Instead of observing how changes in a variable affect other variables, goal-seeking sets a target value (a goal) for a variable, then repeatedly changes other variables until the target value is achieved

Optimization Analysis  

A more complex extension of goal-seeking The goal is to find the optimum value for one or more target variables, given certain constraints