Finished Goods Inventory
All Manufacturing and Marketing Companies hold Finished Goods inventories in various locations and all through FG Supply Chain. While finished Goods move through the supply chain from the point of manufacturing until it reaches the end customer, depending upon the sales and delivery model, the inventories may be owned and held by the company or […]
The Case against Export Credit Agencies
Export credit agencies are quasi-government agencies. These agencies are usually backed by government institutions. This means that they are under the purview of government authorities and also have access to taxpayer funds. All developed countries in the world have created their own export credit agencies. Collectively these agencies wield a tremendous amount of influence on […]
Documenting a Process – Importance and Its Benefits
While improving business processes, it is essential that one document the process as well as any improvements made to it. Most consultants will document both the “As-Is Process” as well as the “To-Be Process”. While many think about it as customary and do it for the same reasons, there are other important reasons to document […]
Economic Impact of the Failed Coup in Turkey
In 2016, Turkey faced an attempted military coup. The coup was supposedly orchestrated by a US citizen of Turkish origin. His name is Fethullah Gulen. Apparently, the coup did not go as planned and President Erdogan was able to come out victorious. However, this attempted coup has made him paranoid. This has led him to […]
Case Study of the Indian Aviation Sector: Soaring High or Turbulence Ahead
Takeoff from Modest Beginnings: The Evolution of the Indian Aviation Sector The Indian Aviation sector is poised to take off and soar high in an unprecedented manner. Indeed, the Aviation sector in India has come a long way from the humble beginnings in the pre-independence era where the legendary JRD Tata, pioneered the industry and […]
Organizations are decision-driven. The success or failure of each decision impacts a company’s strategy directly or indirectly. If organizational decision making is aligned with the right kind of artificial intelligence system, chances are that the performance of the organization will improve to a great extent.
The alignment of human intellect with computerized decision support systems has become essential for rapid, more appropriate and agile decision making. Given the pace of change and continuous economic turbulence, it’s become vital to combine strategy, human cognition and technology. And this is why computerized decision support systems have become an integral part of organizational decision making.
This means that each organization needs to build some sort of IT infrastructure to support decision making. Though they realize its importance and also put a lot of effort in building one to fulfill their needs. However, in some organizations, a DSS is built in an inept and incompetent manner. The design process is shortened and is carried out in a hasty manner.
While this is understandable because of the cut throat competition, ever changing business environment and economically unstable setting, but companies need more time to gather creative inputs, work on design and infrastructure of a DSS along with DSS analysts and programmers and identify potential security and networking issues. This will help in building a strong, more appropriate and highly effective decision support system.
Unless each component of a DSS is carefully designed and developed, it’s impossible to create a standalone computer system to support decision making. This requires equal involvement of decision makers and DSS analysts, designers and programmers. Each of the DSS architecture components requires a careful approach and stanch support from all the parties.
DSS architecture, network and security are interconnected. The study of DSS architecture involves obtaining an in-depth understanding about how a user is going to interact with the system and how information will flow from one point to another. DSS network is concerned about how hardware is organized, how data is distributed throughout the system, how DSS components are connected and whether the information is fed/accessed using internet, extranet or intranet.
While DSS architecture is concerned about conception of the structure, model and behavior of a system which is to be developed, networking is all about connection between the components – software and hardware.
Security is central to any computer software system and a DSS is no exception to the rule. A virus attack, a hacking attempt or information leakage can cause damage to the system as well as the organization. As a decision support system contains secret information, it needs to be 100% safe and secure. It’s also necessary for safeguarding employee and customer data.
Let’s take a close look at these components.
There are four fundamental components of DSS architecture:
In the previous article, we learnt what it takes to design and build an effective user interface design. Since it’s a full-fledged subject of study, we looked at the prerequisites of a good user interface design, concerns pertaining to dialogue development, flexibility, mode of feeding information, interface design rules and factors influencing the success of a user interface design.
Next, comes the database. It serves as the storehouse of information. It contains:
A DSS accesses information directly from the database, depending upon your needs and type of decision you are making. A decision support system architecture scheme focuses on
This component of DSS architecture takes care of:
While a model is a representation of context, a situation or an event, a DSS model management system stores and maintains DSS models.
A model makes an important component of DSS architecture because it allows you to carry out a particular type of data analysis that you need for a particular kind of decision-making. For example, you need to understand what happens if you change a particular variable. A spreadsheet-based model will help you conduct what-if analysis.
A model management system just stores and manages DSS models. But it doesn’t help you decide the best model for a decision type. Decision makers can use their expertise to decide the model for resolving a particular model.
This element of DSS architecture provides information about the relationship among data, which is too complex. It manages the knowledge and provides decision makers with alternative solutions of a problem. It also sends signals to decision makers when there is any mismatch between forecasted and actual results.
A well defined DSS architecture scheme addresses:
A decision support system is connected to various computers (workstations), databases and servers. This connection is important for a DSS to work; however, this can give rise to a number of networking and computing issues.
Also, the increasing trend of internet-based DSS system may add to the intensity of networking and security issues. In this section, we’re going to learn about basic networking concepts and related issues.
DSS architecture is based on the physical connection among its various components as well hardware. And the way in which components or systems are networked define how information flows. However, before we discuss this in detail, let’s understand what a network is and how it can be established:
Network: A network is an assortment or a group of computers that are connected with each other or in a specific way, in order to communicate with each other. This connection facilitates the sharing of information among the connected computer systems.
To communicate among the connected systems requires:
A computer network is established with a core objective of sharing information. The most common technology for connection and resource sharing is LAN (Local Area Network). It serves hosts within a restricted geographical area.
The resources are managed through an operating system, which is known as NOS (Network Operating System). It acts like a traffic controller that regulates the exchange and flow of information/resources.
WAN (Wide Area Network) is another technology for resource sharing. The difference between LAN and Wan is that the latter is much larger and connects a group of LANs.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol) is a set of standard networking protocols, to enable computer systems to communicate with each other. It defines the rules and formats for the diffusion and reception of information or resources.
The TCP sends data between programs using IP (Internet Protocol). It assigns a unique IP address to each workstation and sends information from one host to another in the form of packets.
The information or data is sent through internet because of its omnipresence and cost effectiveness. However, the information may not be transferred through a secured root. In order to maintain security, it’s essential to address related issues and concerns.
Given the increase in the rate of cyber crime, virus attack and information theft, it has become important to make additional arrangements to ensure data security. The process begins with evaluating security needs and identifying problems and goes through determining appropriate solutions to implementing them.
Once you find answers to all these questions, you can determine whether the security needs are to be addressed or not.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Building Knowledge-Driven Decision Support System and Mining Data
February 12, 2025
