Past, present, and future of decision support technology

    Authors

    J. P. Shim; M. Warkentin; J. F. Courtney; D. J. Power; R. Sharda;C. Carlsson

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Decis. Support Syst.

    Keywords

    decision support technology; DSS development; collaborative support; systems; virtual teams; optimization-based decision support; COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION; SYSTEMS; ORGANIZATIONS; PERFORMANCE; DSS; Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence; Computer Science, Information; Systems; Operations Research & Management Science

    Abstract

    Since the early 1970s, decision support systems (DSS) technology and applications have evolved significantly. Many technological and organizational developments have exerted an impact on this evolution. DSS once utilized more limited database, modeling, and user interface functionality, but technological innovations have enabled far more powerful DSS functionality. DSS once supported individual decision-makers, but later DSS technologies were applied to workgroups or team, especially virtual teams. The advent of the Web has enabled inter-organizational decision support systems, and has given rise to numerous new applications of existing technology as well as many new decision support technologies themselves. It seems likely that mobile tools, mobile e-services, and wireless Internet protocols will mark the next major set of developments in DSS. This paper discusses the evolution of DSS technologies and issues related to DSS definition, application, and impact. It then presents four powerful decision support tools, including data warehouses, OLAP, data mining, and Web-based DSS. Issues in the field of collaborative support systems and virtual teams are presented. This paper also describes the state of the art of optimization-based decision support and active decision support for the next millennium. Finally, some implications for the future of the field are discussed. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

    Journal Title

    Decision Support Systems

    Volume

    33

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2002

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    111

    Last Page

    126

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000175648000002

    ISSN

    0167-9236

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