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Business Intelligence

Unit 1

Decision Support
System

Decision Support System


DSS are a natural progression from information
reporting systems and transaction processing
systems.
DSS are interactive, computer-based information
systems that use decision models and specialized
databases to assist the Decision-Making processes of
Managerial End users.
They provide Managerial End users with information
in an interactive session on ad hoc basis.
DSS provides managers with analytical modeling,
simulation,
data
retrieval
and
information
presentation capabilities.

Managers generate the information


they need for more unstructured
types decisions in an interactive ,
simulation-based process.
For Eg electronic spreadsheets
allow a Manager to pose a series of
what-if questions and receive
interactive responses to such ad
hoc requests for information.

Decision Support System


ADecision Support System(DSS) is a computerbased Information Systemthat supports business or
organizational decision-makingactivities.
DSSs serve the management, operations, and
planning levels of an organization (usually mid and
higher management)
It helps to make decisions, which may be rapidly
changing and not easily specified in advance
(Unstructured
and
Semi-Structured
decision
problems).
Decision support systems can be either fully
computerized, human or a combination of both.

DSS by its characteristics


DSS tends to be aimed at the less well structured,
underspecifiedproblemthat
upper
levelmanagerstypically face;
DSS attempts to combine the use of models or
analytic techniques with traditionaldata accessand
retrieval functions;
DSS specifically focuses on features which make
them easy to use by non-computer people in an
interactive mode; and
DSS
emphasizesflexibilityandadaptabilityto
accommodate changes in theenvironmentand
thedecision-making approach of the user.

DSSs includeknowledge-based systems.


A properly designed DSS is an interactive software-based
system intended to help decision makers compile useful
information from a combination of raw data, documents,
and personal knowledge, or business models to identify
and solve problems and make decisions.
Typical information that a decision support application
might gather and present includes:
Inventories of information assets (including legacy and
relational data sources, cubes,data warehouses,
anddata marts),
Comparative sales figures between one period and the
next,
Projected revenue figures based on product sales
assumptions.

History
The concept of Decision Support has evolved from two
main areas of research:
The theoretical studies of organizational Decision Making done at theCarnegie Institute of
Technologyduring the late 1950s and early 1960s, and
the technical work on Technology in the 1960s.
DSS became an area of research of its own in the middle
of the 1970s, before gaining in intensity during the
1980s.
In the middle and late 1980s, aqExecutive Information
Systems (EIS),Group Decision support systems(GDSS),
and Organizational Decision Support Systems (ODSS)
evolved from the single user and model-oriented DSS.

History
In the 1970s DSS was described as "a computerbased system to aid Decision Making".
In the late 1970s the DSS movement started
focusing on "interactive computer-based systems
which help decision-makers utilize data bases and
models to solve ill-structured problems".
In the 1980s DSS should provide systems "using
suitable and available technology to improve
effectiveness of managerial and professional
activities
Towards the end of 1980s DSS faced a new challenge
towards the design of Intelligent Workstations.

In
1987,Texas
Instrumentscompleted
development of the Gate Assignment Display
System (GADS) forUnited Airlines.
This decision support system is credited with
significantly reducing travel delays by aiding
the management of ground operations at
variousairports,
beginning
withO'Hare
International AirportinChicagoand Stapleton
Airport inDenver Colorado.
Beginning
in
about
1990,Data
WarehousingandOn-line
Analytical
Processing(OLAP) began broadening the
realm of DSS. As the turn of the millennium
approached, new Web-based analytical
applications were introduced.

The advent of better reporting technologies has


seen DSS start to emerge as a critical component of
ManagementDesign.
DSS also have a weak connection to theuser
interfaceparadigm ofhypertext. Both theUniversity
of VermontPROMIS system (for medical decision
making) and the Carnegie MellonZOG/KMSsystem
(for military and business decision making) were
decision support systems which also were major
breakthroughs in user interface research.
Furthermore, althoughhypertextresearchers have
generally been concerned withinformation
overload, certain researchers, notably Douglas
Engelbart, have been focused on decision makers in
particular.

Components

Design of Decision Support System


Three fundamental components of a
DSSarchitecture are:
1. Thedatabase(orknowledge base),
2. Themodel(i.e., the decision context
and user criteria), and
3. Theuser interface.
4. Theusersthemselves

Development
frameworks
DSS systems are not entirely different from other
systems and require a structured approach. Such a
framework includes people, technology, and the
development approach.
The Early Framework of Decision Support System
consists of four phases:
1. IntelligenceSearching for conditions that call for
decision.
2.DesignDeveloping and analyzing possible
alternative actions of solution.
3.ChoiceSelecting a course of action among those.
4.ImplementationAdopting the selected course of
action in decision situation.

DSS Technology Levels (of hardware and software) may include:

This is the part of the application that allows the


decision maker to make decisions in a particular
problem area. The user can act upon that particular
problem.
Generator contains Hardware/software environment that
allows people to easily develop specific DSS
applications. This level makes use of case tools or
systems such as Crystal,AnalyticaandiThink.
Tools include lower level hardware/software. DSS
generators including special languages, function
libraries and linking modules
An iterative developmental approach allows for the DSS
to be changed and redesigned at various intervals. Once
the system is designed, it will need to be tested and
revised where necessary for the desired outcome.

Classification
There are several ways to classify DSS applications. Not
every DSS fits neatly into one of the categories, but may be
a mix of two or more architectures.
DSS is classified into the following six frameworks:
1. text-oriented DSS,
2. database-oriented DSS,
3. spreadsheet-oriented DSS,
4. solver-oriented DSS,
5. rule-oriented DSS,
6. compound DSS.
. A compound DSS is the most popular classification for a
DSS. It is a hybrid system that includes two or more of the
five basic structures described

The support given by DSS can be


separated into three distinct,
interrelated categories:
Personal Support,
Group Support, and
Organizational Support.

DSS components may be classified


as:
Inputs:Factors, numbers, and
characteristics to analyze
User Knowledge and
Expertise:Inputs requiring manual
analysis by the user
Outputs:Transformed data from
which DSS "decisions" are generated
Decisions:Results generated by the
DSS based on user criteria

DSSs
which
perform
selectedcognitivedecision-making
functions and are based onartificial
intelligenceorintelligent
agentstechnologies are calledIntelligent
Decision Support Systems(IDSS)
The
nascent
field
ofDecision
engineeringtreats the decision itself as an
engineered object, and applies engineering
principles
such
asDesignandQuality
assuranceto an explicit representation of
the elements that make up a decision.

Group Decision Support


System

Time/Place Framework
Same Time/Same Place
decision room

Same Time/Different Place


telephone conferencing, video
conferencing

Different Time/Same Place


project/team rooms, shared offices

Different Time/Different Place


email, workflow management systems

Group Decision Support


Systems (GDSS)
Group Support Systems (GSS)
Electronic Meeting Systems
Collaborative Computing
Evolved as information technology researchers
recognized that technology could be
developed for supporting meeting activities
Idea generation
Consensus building
Anonymous ranking
Voting, etc.

Important Characteristics
of a GDSS
Specially Designed Information
System
Goal of Supporting Groups of
Decision Makers
Easy to Learn and Use
May be designed for one type of
problem or for many
organizational decisions
Designed to encourage group
activities

Three Levels of GDSS


Support
Based on DeSanctis and Gallupe
Level 1: Process Support
Level 2: Decision-making Support
Level 3: Rules of order

Level 1: Process Support


Supports the basic communication
process between participants
electronic messaging
network linking the PCs
public screen
anonymous input of votes and ideas
solicitation of ideas or votes
summary and display of ideas and
opinions
format for an agenda

Level 2: Decision-Making
Support
Decision Modeling and Group Decision
Techniques aimed at reducing Uncertainty
and that occur in the group decision
process
adds capabilities for modeling and
decision analysis
planning and financial models
decision trees
probability assessment models
resource allocation models

Level 3: Rules of Order


Rule of order ensures that the group involved in
the group meeting can conduct its business in
a way that is both fair and effective.
Characterized by machine-induced group
communication patterns
Control the pattern, timing, or content of
information exchange
Special software containing rules of order is
added
rules determining the sequence of speaking, the
appropriate response, or voting rules

Groupware Technologies

Groupware technologies
Groupware is defined as any software that enables
group collaboration over a network.
These technologies have the potential to increase
collaboration at a distance while reducing the cost of
travel and the time knowledge workers waste in
transit.
Groupware provides
flexible communication structures (connecting people
in new ways),
increased communication speed,
increased work performance and productivity,
organizational memory capability, etc.

Examples of Groupware
Technologies include:
Shared authoring tools such as MS Office applications (Word,
Excel, etc.) which include common word processing programs,
graphics programs and sound-editing facilities. Many standalone applications can be considered as groupware if they can
access and modify a document on the web or a common server
E-mail systems such as MS Outlook Express, support multiple
text-based communications and is the most often used
groupware Online forums are real-time, text-based systems that
allow group posting and response to text messages. They are
self-archiving, in that the sequence of text-based conversations
involving dozens or even hundreds of contributors is maintained
for review by others
Instant messaging such as AOL messenger, is a growing form
of groupware that allows knowledge workers working away from
their desks to exchange short items of information

Screen sharing allows a user with the appropriate access


privileges to connect to and take control of a remote PC. It is
popular in training and troubleshooting situations where a
support person can show the trainee at a remote site how to
perform an operation and then watch as the trainee attempts to
do the operation
Electronic whiteboard provides a virtual whiteboard drawing
space that enables multiple collaborators to take turns at
authoring and modifying hand-drawn graphics or simply by
posting a slide for a presentation. They are used in conjunction
with other products, such as videoconferencing which is the realtime, multi-way broadcasting of video and audio
Videoconferencing such as Skype conferences, allow realtime, multi-way broadcasting of video and audio, using
telephone lines for audio and the Internet or other networks for
the video channels
Multimodal conferencing supports real-time group sharing of
an electronic whiteboard, a text forum, audio, and multiplechannel video and audio.

Groupware

What is Groupware?
Tools (hardware, software, processes) that
support person-to-person collaboration
This can include e-mail, bulletin boards,
conferencing systems, decision support
systems, video and workflow systems,
etc
Some common groupware acronyms:

Group Support Systems (GSS)


Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)
Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS)
Bulletin Board Systems (BBS)
Group Collaboration Systems (GCS)
Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)
systems

Groupware and Levels of


Collaboration
Groupware can be divided into three categories depending on the
level ofcollaboration:
1. Communicationcan be thought of as unstructured interchange of
information. A phone call or anIMChat discussion are examples of
this.
2. Conferencing(or collaboration level, as it is called in the academic
papers that discuss these levels) refers to interactive work toward a
shared goal. Brainstorming or Voting are examples of this.
3. Co-ordinationrefers to complex interdependent work toward a
shared goal. A good metaphor for understanding this is to think
about a sports team; everyone has to contribute the right play at
the right time as well as adjust their play to the unfolding situation but everyone is doing something different - in order for the team to
win. That is complex interdependent work toward a shared goal:
collaborative management.

Electronic Communication Tools


Electronic communication tools send messages, files,
data, or documents between people and hence
facilitate the sharing of information. Examples include:
Synchronous conferencing
Asynchronous conferencing
E-mail
Faxing
Voice mail
Wikis
Web publishing
Revision control

Electronic Conferencing
Tools
Electronic conferencing tools facilitate the sharing of information, but in a more interactive
way. Examples include:
Internet forums(also known as message boards or discussion boards) a virtual
discussion platform to facilitate and manage online text messages
Online chat a virtual discussion platform to facilitate and manage real-time text
messages
Instant Messaging
Telephonytelephones allow users to interact
Videoconferencing networked PCs share video and audio signals
Data conferencing networked PCs share a commonwhiteboard that each user can
modify
Application sharing users can access a shared document or application from their
respective computers simultaneously in real time
Electronic meeting systems(EMS) originally these were described as "electronic meeting
systems," and they were built into meeting rooms. These special purpose rooms usually
contained video projectors interlinked with numerous PCs; however, electronic meeting
systems have evolved into web-based, any time, any place systems that will accommodate
"distributed" meeting participants who may be dispersed in several locations.

Collaborative Management (coordination) Tools


Collaborative management tools facilitate and manage group
activities. Examples include:
Electronic calendars(also calledtime
managementsoftware) schedule events and automatically
notify and remind group members
Project managementsystems schedule, track, and chart
the steps in a project as it is being completed
Online proofing share, review, approve, and reject web
proofs, artwork, photos, or videos between designers,
customers, and clients
Workflow systems collaborative management of tasks
and documents within a knowledge-based business process
Knowledge Management Systems collect, organize,
manage, and share various forms of information

Enterprise Bookmarking collaborative


bookmarking engine to tag, organize, share, and
search enterprise data
Prediction Markets let a group of people
predict together the outcome of future events
ExtranetSystems (sometimes also known as
'project extranets') collect, organize, manage
and share information associated with the delivery
of a project (e.g.: the construction of a building)
Social SoftwareSystems organize social
relations of groups
Online Spreadsheets collaborate and share
structured data and information
Client Portals interact and share information
with your clients in a private online environment

Benefits of GDSS
supports parallel generation of ideas
supports larger groups
rapid and easy access to external
information
parallel computer discussion
anonymous input
automatic documentation of the
group meetings

Groupware
(Collaborative software)
Collaboration,
with
respect
to
information technology, seems to
have several definitions. Some are
defensible but others are so broad
they lose any meaningful application.
Understanding the differences in
human interactions is necessary to
ensure the appropriate technologies
are employed to meet interaction
needs.

Collaborative Software
Collaborative software helps facilitate the action-oriented
team working together over geographic distances by
providing tools that help communication, collaboration and the
process of problem solving by providing the team with a
common means for communicating ideas and brainstorming.
Additionally, collaborative software may support project
management functions, such as task assignments, timemanagement with deadlines and shared calendars.
The artifacts, the tangible evidence of the problem solving
process, including the final outcome of the collaborative effort,
typically require documentation and archiving of the
process itself, and may involve archiving project plans,
deadlines and deliverables.

The primary ways in which humans


interact in an organization
Conversational interactionis an exchange of information between
two or more participants where the primary purpose of the interaction is
discovery or relationship building. There is no central entity around
which the interaction revolves but is a free exchange of information
with no defined constraints generally focused on personal
experiences.Communication technology such as telephones,instant
messaging, and e-mail are generally sufficient for conversational
interactions.
Transactional interactioninvolves the exchange of transaction
entities where a major function of the transaction entity is to alter the
relationship between participants. The transaction entity is in a
relatively stable form and constrains or defines the new relationship.
One participant exchanges money for goods and becomes a customer.
Transactional interactions are most effectively handled by transactional
systems that manage state and commit records for persistent storage.

InCollaborative Interactionsthe main function of


the participants' relationship is to alter a collaboration
entity (i.e., the converse of transactional). The
collaboration entity is in a relatively unstable form.
Examples include the
development of an idea,
the creation of a design,
the achievement of a shared goal. Therefore, real
collaboration technologies deliver the functionality for
many participants to augment a common deliverable.
Record or document management,
threaded discussions,
audit history, and other mechanisms designed to
capture the efforts of many into a managed content
environment are typical of collaboration technologies.

By method used we can divide


Collaborative Software into
Web-based collaborative tools
Software collaborative tools

By area served we can divide


collaborative software into:

Knowledge managementtools
Knowledge creation tools
Information sharing tools
Collaborative project management
tools

Collaborative Project
Management Tools
Collaborative project management tools (CPMT)are
very similar to collaborative management tools (CMT)
except that CMT may only facilitate and manage a certain
group activities for a part of a bigger project or task,
while CPMT covers all detailed aspects of collaboration
activities and management of the overall project and its
related knowledge areas.
Another major difference is that CMT may include social
software, Document Management System (DMS) and
Unified Communication (UC)
while CPMT mostly considers business or corporate
related goals with some kind of social boundaries most
commonly used for project management.

Collaborative project
management tools (CPMT)
CPMT facilitate and manage social or group project based
activities.
Examples include:
Electronic calendars
Project managementsystems
Resource Management
Workflowsystems
Knowledge management
Prediction markets
Extranet systems
Social software
Online spreadsheets
Online artwork proofing, feedback, review and approval tool

Collaborative Management
Tools (CMT)

In addition to most CPMT examples, CMT also includes:


HR and equipment management
Time and cost management
Online chat
Instant messaging
Telephony
Videoconferencing
Web conferencing
Data conferencing
Application sharing
Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS)

Synchronous conferencing
E-mail
Faxing
voice mail
Wikis
Web publishing
Revision control
Charting
Document-centric collaboration

Document retention
Document sharing
Document repository
Evaluation and survey

Group Decision Making


Many of the decisions in today's workplace are made
by groups of individuals
Groups bring many advantages to the choice process:
Multiple source of knowledge and experience
A wider variety of prospectives
Potential synergy associated with collaborative
activity
Some times too many decision makers result in either
a bad decision or no decision at all.
Group in term of decision making can be defined
as : a collective entity that is independent of the
properties of its members.
Multiparticipant decision maker (MDM): An
activity conducted by a collective entity composed of
two or more individuals and characterised in terms of
both the properties of the collective entity and of its
individual members

Classification of Multi-participant
Decision -Making structures

Decision structure, two types:


Collaborative
Group decision structure: Formal
participants and multiple decision maker
Negotiation decisions
Majority decisions

Noncollaborative
Team decision structure: Formal participants
and single decision maker
Negotiation decisions
Majority decisions

Individual decision structure

Communication Networks
The structure of an MDM is primarily based on
the interaction and flow of communication among
the various members.
Communication can be thought as any means by
which information is transmitted to one or more
members of the MDM.
Basic Types of Networks Structures
1.
2.
3.
4.

Wheel Network
Chain Network
Circle Network
Completely Connected Network

Classification of networks according to centrality


Highly Centralised

They are efficient to routine and recurring decisions.


They tend to strengthen the leadership position of the
central members.
They tend to result in a stable set of interactions among the
participants.
They tend to produce lower average levels of satisfaction
among the participants.

Highly Decentralised

They tend to produce higher average levels of satisfaction


among participants.
They facilitate nonroutine or nonrecurring decisions.
They promote innovation and creative solutions.

Factors used in determining Decision Structure


1.

The importance of the quality of the decision.

2.

The extent to which the decision maker possess the knowledge and
expertise to make the decision.

3.

The extent to which potential participants have the necessary information.

4.

The degree of structuredness of the problem context.

5.

The degree to which the acceptance or commitment is critical to


successful implementation.

6.

The probability of acceptance of an autocratic decision.

7.

The degree of motivation among the participants to achieve the


organisational goals.

8.

The degree of potential conflicts among the participants over a preferred


solution.

Problems with Group Decisions

1.Size
The most widely studied and consequential component of
group decision making.
Studies show that as the size of a group increases,
individual satisfaction tends to decrease.
As the size increases, the less active members tend to
become noticeably less productive.
Logic suggests that the management of an MDM
requiring consensus or majority is easier when the size is
small.

Problems with Group Decisions: Size..


Member cohesiveness decreases as MDM size increases.
When membership is high, subgroups and internal
coalitions tend to form that serve redirect the focus of the
participant away from the common goal.
The increased likelihood for certain members of large
MDMs to feel threatened reluctant to participate because
the size magnifies the impersonal nature of the problem
context.
Despite the disadvantages when the size of the MDM
increases, in certain situations such as quantitative
judgment in statistics, the larger the membership of the
MDM, the more likley it is that the results of the judgment
must be made.

Effects related to MDM (Management DM) size


Participant interaction tends to decrease as size increase.
Affective or emotional relationships tend to decrease as size
increases.
Central, dominant leadership tend to increase as size increases.
Conflicts is resolved with political rather than analytical
solutions as size increases.
Despite the disadvantages when the size of the MDM increases,
in certain situations such as quantitative judgment in statistics,
the larger the membership of the MDM, the more likely it is that
the results of the judgment must be made.

Problems with Group Decisions


2. Groupthink: a mode of thinking that people engage in when
they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group.
The more friendly and cooperative the members of a
group, the greater the likelihood that independent critical
thinking will be suspended in deference to group norms.
Unfavourable outcomes associated with Groupthink
1.
2.
3.
4.

Tends to prevent a complete open-mind analysis of opportunities in


the development of objectives.
Holds back a meaningful search for information and tends to bias any
searches toward a self fulfilling selectivity.
Limits the participants ability to appraise possibilities associated
with the cost of failure.
Tends to eliminate the formation of incident of fallback position.

Problems with Group Decisions


3. Other Social issues
Conflict
The desire to be viewed as a good member and to be
accepted by the other participants often leads to conflict
avoidance.
Natural group dynamics such as struggle of power can result
in some form of conflict.
Anonymity
One common method used to control sources of potential
conflict and to support other MDM processes is participant
anonymity, i.e. vote.
In many cases anonymity results in the generation of more
and better information.

MDM Support Technologies


Tools used in MDM environment to support the processes
and activities related to the decision making process.
Usual group meeting description .. (Gray 1981).
New technologies and telecommunications
MDM support technologies can be classified based on
decision maker styles .

MDM Support Technologies


The four basic levels of MDM technology:
1. Organisational Decision Support System (ODSS): A complex
system of computer based technologies- including those that
facilitate communication- that provides support for decision
makers.
2. Group Support Systems (GSS): A collective of computer based
technologies used to aid MDM in identifying and addressing
problems, opportunities, and issues.
3. Group Decision support System (GDSS):A collective of
computer based technologies designed to support the activities
and processes related to MDM.
4. Decision Support System (DSS): a computer program under
the control of one or more persons that provides staff within
organisations with support tools capable of enhancing the
results of the decision making process.

Gains and Losses Associated with MDM Activities


Some of the Gain
1.
2.
3.
4.

Collective has greater knowledge than a single participant.


Allows for synergistic results.
Interaction stimulates the generation of knowledge.
Participants can improve individual performance through
learning from others.

Some of the Losses


5.
6.
7.
8.

Can block the production of ideas.


Can produce information overload much faster.
Relative collection of speaking time is reduced with MDM size
Increase opportunities of socialising over goal focus.

Types of MDM Support Technologies


Types by features offered in support of the multiparticipant decision-making activities:
1.

Reduce communication barriers.

2.

Reduce uncertainty and noise.

3.

Organize decision process.

Types of MDM Support Technologies


Types by technology used:
1.

Electronic boardroom.

2.

Teleconference room.

3.

Group network.

4.

Information centre .

5.

Collaboration laboratory.

6.

Decision room.

Collaborative Support Technologies


Groupware: A particular type of MDM support technology
specifically focused on issues related to collaborative
processes among people. You can think of it as a tool that,
when deployed and used appropriately, positively affects
that way people communicate with each other, resulting in
an improvement in the way people work.

Current market leaders of Groupware:


Lotus Notes

Microsoft Exchange
Oracle Office
GroupWise
Team Office

Groupware refers to programs that help people


work together collectively while located remotely
from each other. Programs that enablereal
timecollaboration are calledsynchronous
groupware.
Groupware services can include the sharing of
calendars, collective writing, e-mail
handling, shared database access,
electronic meetings with each person able
to see and display information to others,
and other activities.
Sometimes called collaborative software,
groupware is an integral component of a field of
study known as Computer-Supported
Cooperative Work or CSCW.

Groupware is often broken down into


categories describing whether or not work
group members collaborate in real
time(synchronous groupwareand
asynchronous groupware).
Some product examples of groupware
include Lotus Notes and Microsoft Exchange,
both of which facilitate calendar sharing, email handling, and the replication of files
across a distributed system so that all users
can view the same information.
Electronic "face-to-face" meetings are
facilitated by CU-See Meand Microsoft
NetMeeting.

A GDSS Example

Video Conferencing

Groupware system

Five Basic group processes


co-operation

co-ordination

communication
learning by
knowledge
sharing

social interaction
team building

Dynamic Group Interaction model


Processes

Group
characteristics

Outcomes

Individual interpretation and performance

Group
Technology

Persons

Task

Formal
Group
structur
Cultur
e
Physicale
setting

cooperation coordination
Life
cycles

communication

Reflection
Learning
Appropriation

Organisational environment

learning

social
interaction

Individual
rewards
Group vitality

Organisational
outcomes

Emerging
structures
Changes in organisational setting

Basic Principles

The effectiveness of a group can be expressed in terms of


three types of outcomes, i.e. (quality and quantity of the )
products, individual rewards and vitality of the
social relations.
Effectiveness depends on the quality of the individual
preformance and six group processes, which have to match
The quality of the group processes depends on the support
of six conditions, and on the interaction with the
environment.
The six aspects of the context-of-use have to fit to each
other.
Groups develop and tools become adopted and adapted to,
through interaction processes and feedback.
SUPPORT MATCH ADAPTATION

Lessons learned (1)


1. Groupware is part of a social system. Design not for a tool as
such but for a new socio-technical setting.
2. Design for several levels of interaction, i.e. for user friendly
human
computer
interaction,
adequate
interpersonal
communication,
group
co-operation
and
organisational
functioning.
3. Design in a participative way, i.e. users and possibly other
stakeholders should be part of the design process from the
beginning.
4.Analyse carefully the situation of the users. Success of
collaboration technology depends on the use and the users, not
on the technology. Introduction should match their skills and
abilities, and also their attitudes, otherwise resistance is
inevitable.
5.
Analyse carefully the context, since success of collaboration
technology depends on the fit to that context. The more a new
setting deviates from the existing one the more time, energy
and other resources should be mobilised to make it a success.

Lessons learned (2)


6.

Introduce the new system carefully. Apply proper project


management, find a champion, try a pilot, inform people
intensively
7. Train and support end-users extensively
8. Measure success conditions and success criteria before,
during and after the development process. Only in this
way you can learn for future developments.
9. Plan for a long process of introduction, incorporation,
evaluation and adaptation. Groupware is not a quick fix.
10. Despite careful preparations groupware is appropriated
and adapted in unforeseen ways. Keep options open for
new ways of working with the groupware, because this
may result in creative and innovative processes.

Expert Systems

Inartificial intelligence, anExpert systemis a computer


system that emulates the decision-making ability of a
human expert.
Expert systems are designed to solve complex problems
byreasoningabout knowledge, represented primarily
asifthen
rulesrather
than
through
conventionalprocedural code.
The first expert systems were created in the 1970s and
then proliferated in the 1980s.
Expert systems were among the first truly successful
forms ofAIsoftware.
An Expert System is divided into two sub-systems:
TheInference Engineapplies the rules to the known
facts to deduce new facts. Inference engines can also
include explanation and debugging capabilities.
The Knowledge Base which represents facts and rules.

Expert Systems are computer programs


that are derived from a branch of computer
science
research
calledArtificial
Intelligence(AI).
AI's scientific goal is to understand
intelligence by building computer programs
that exhibit intelligent behavior.
It is concerned with the concepts and
methods
of
symbolic
inference,
or
reasoning, by a computer, and how the
knowledge used to make those inferences
will be represented inside the machine.

AI programs that achieve Expert-Level


competence in solving problems in task
areas by bringing to bear a body of
knowledge about specific tasks are
calledKnowledge-basedorExpert
Systems.
Often, the term Expert Systems is
reserved for programs whose knowledge
base contains the knowledge used by
human
experts,
in
contrast
to
knowledge gathered from textbooks or
non-experts.

More often than not, the two terms,


Expert Systems (ES) and
Knowledge-Based Systems (KBS),
are used synonymously.
Taken together, they represent the most
widespread type of AI application. The area of
human intellectual endeavor to be captured in an
expert system is called thetask domain.
Taskrefers to some goal-oriented, problemsolving activity.
Domainrefers to the area within which the task is
being performed.
Typical tasks are Diagnosis, Planning, Scheduling,
Configuration and Design.
An example of a task domain is aircraft crew
scheduling,

The Building Blocks of Expert


Systems

Every expert system consists of two principal parts:


the knowledge base; and
the reasoning, or inference, engine.
Theknowledge baseof expert systems contains both
Factual and
Heuristic knowledge.
Factual knowledgeis that knowledge of the task domain that is widely
shared, typically found in textbooks or journals, and commonly agreed
upon by those knowledgeable in the particular field.
Heuristic knowledgeis the less rigorous, more experiential, more
judgmental knowledge of performance. In contrast to factual
knowledge, heuristic knowledge is rarely discussed, and is largely
individualistic. It is the knowledge of good practice, good judgment,
and plausible reasoning in the field. It is the knowledge that underlies
the "art of good guessing."

Knowledge
representationformalizes
and
organizes the knowledge. One widely used
representation
is
theproduction
rule,
or
simplyrule.
A rule consists of an IF part and a THEN part
(also called aconditionand anaction).
The IF part lists a set of conditions in some logical
combination.
The piece of knowledge represented by the
production rule is relevant to the line of reasoning
being developed if the IF part of the rule is
satisfied; consequently, the THEN part can be
concluded, or its problem-solving action taken.
Expert systems whose knowledge is represented in
rule form are calledrule-based systems.

Another widely used representation, called


theunit(also known asframe,schema, orlist
structure) is based upon a more passive view of
knowledge.
The unit is an assemblage of associated symbolic
knowledge about an entity to be represented.
Typically, a unit consists of a list of properties of the
entity and associated values for those properties.
Since every Task Domain consists of many entities
that stand in various relations, the properties can
also be used to specify relations, and the values of
these properties are the names of other units that
are linked according to the relations.
One unit can also represent knowledge that is a
"special case" of another unit, or some units can be
"parts of" another unit.

Theproblem-solving model,orparadigm, organizes


and controls the steps taken to solve the problem.
One common but powerful paradigm involves chaining
of IF-THEN rules to form a line of reasoning.
If the chaining starts from a set of conditions and
moves toward some conclusion, the method is
calledforward chaining.
If the conclusion is known (for example, a goal to be
achieved) but the path to that conclusion is not known,
then reasoning backwards is called for, and the method
isbackward chaining.
These problem-solving methods are built into program
modules
calledinference
enginesorinference
proceduresthat manipulate and use knowledge in the
knowledge base to form a line of reasoning.

Components of an Expert
System
Expert System
Knowledge
Base
User
Interface
Inference
Engine
User

As Expert Systems evolved, many new


techniques were incorporated into
various types of Inference Engines. Some
of the most important of these were:
1. Truth Maintenance. Truth maintenance
systems record the dependencies in a
knowledge-base so that when facts are
altered dependent knowledge can be
altered accordingly. For example, if the
system learns that Socrates is no longer
known to be living, it will revoke the
assertion that Socrates is mortal.

2. Hypothetical Reasoning. In
hypothetical reasoning, the
Knowledge Base can be divided up
into many possible views, aka
worlds.
. This allows the Inference Engine to
explore multiple possibilities in
parallel. In this simple example, the
system may want to explore the
consequences of both assertions,
what will be true if Socrates is living
and what will be true if he is not?

Though an expert system consists primarily of a


knowledge base and an inference engine, a couple of
other features are worth mentioning: reasoning with
uncertainty, and explanation of the line of reasoning.
Knowledge is almost always incomplete and
uncertain. To deal with uncertain knowledge, a rule
may have associated with it aconfidence factor or a
weight.
The set of methods for using uncertain knowledge in
combination with uncertain data in the reasoning
process is calledreasoning with uncertainty.
An important subclass of methods for reasoning with
uncertainty is called "fuzzy logic," and the systems
that use them are known as "fuzzy systems."

Fuzzy Logic. One of the first extensions of simply


using rules to represent knowledge was also to
associate a probability with each rule. So, not to
assert that Socrates is mortal but to assert
Socrates may be mortal with some probability
value. Simple probabilities were extended in some
systems with sophisticated mechanisms for
uncertain
reasoning
and
combination
of
probabilities.
Ontology Classification. With the addition of
Object classes to the Knowledge Base a new type
of reasoning was possible. Rather than reason
simply about the values of the Objects, the system
could also reason about the structure of the
objects as well. In this simple example Man can
represent an Object Class and R1 can be redefined
as a rule that defines the class of all men.

These types of special purpose


Inference
Engines
are
known
asClassifiers.
Although they were not highly used
in Expert systems, Classifiers are
very
powerful
for
unstructured
volatile domains and are a key
technology for the Internet and the
emergingSemantic Web.

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