Management Support Systems

Executive Summary

This paper aims to investigate into challenges faced by Management Support Systems available today in resolving the 3 different types of problems. The MSS are users' assistants in term of identify and analyze data. Then users can make decisions based on those extracted information. The key components of MSS are DSS, EIS and ES. The DSS are the systems that are used to support decision making for specific problem in specific fields. They are used effectively toward unstructured problems by letting users change their model accordingly to specific situations. The EIS are systems that are designed for senior executives or top managements. The EIS gather all relevant information and present them in the user friendly ways. With the requirement of an updated data, top managements can use EIS as tools forecasting firms' strategies. The ES provide assistances for semi-structured problems because they combine the expertise of person together with the processing of data. The report attempt to identify three types of problems related to MSS. Those are structured, semi-structured, and unstructured problem, and also the linkage to three contributes of MSS. All these systems can be applied to organization as a whole.

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In everyday life, every people concern with making decisions, they behave and act differently as a result of what decision they make. The differences in making decision can define black or white results. Thus in order to archive an effective decision there are ways to do so, one of the ways is to learn and understand the systems that contribute the thinking processes. As the world competition is stronger and stronger, one bad decision can put firm into crisis for several years. With the risk from today managements may consider the support system the help them make appropriate decision and that system is MMS.

Statement on MSS: There is no such thing as a tangible MSS because it is only conceptual. MSS are not the system themselves, until implementers put together all the information and processes, then manipulate, and distribute meaningful data response to the need of subsystems that users need. Users have to understand what MSS consisted of in order to be able to implement the right subsystems of MSS. The MSS consisted of three main contributes, DSS, EIS, and ES. Management refers to "the control and making of decision in a business or similar organization" and also Planning organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling . From the definition above it is clear that management task deal with making decision as a significant part. Thus MSS are here to provide aid to decision making processes. The major part of MSS are to helps when users implement, collect , and manipulate data together.

Decision Support Systems: "DSS are interactive computer-based facilities for assisting decision making in less structured environments" The DSS differ from MIS and other systems because it is designed to cope with specific decision making or it can be identified as an individual support systems. The DSS allow user to change the model to suit their specific desires, by changing parameters in equations. These methods are like an experiment to users and the prediction of alternatives that hopefully can light user the way to the best solution. The data related to the problem that is stored by this system is found from both external and internal sources. With the qualifications of DSS, they can be used in Goal-Seeking analysis. For example, DSS can be used if firms want to know the reaction of people when gasoline price is increasing and in the same time government is trying to support "Natural Gas Vehicle", so firm can predict and decide to invest in new business. The DSS are created to solve particular problems, unlike MIS that are used for regular and recurring situations; DSS therefore is flexible.

Executive Information Systems: The EIS are computer-based systems that senior executives or top managers used to support their decision making processes. The functions of EIS are that, the data is viewed from another perspective and used the computer to create warnings for the decision makers by look for relationships, correlations, patterns within the data that can't be seen without statistical methods.

The data itself is gathered from broad categories and put together accordingly to what top managers want to know from that department. For example, the data from sale department and from research and development department, together they can create some kind of relationship. Top managers after using EIS as a tool providing guideline should have general understanding of things such as, decision choices and other related problem information. The EIS focus on communications such as external scanning for information on government regulations and competition, also as company performance data on matters such as sales and production.

Expert Systems: "An expert is one who possesses specialized skill, experience, and knowledge that most people do not have along with the ability to apply this knowledge using tricks, shortcuts, and rules-of-thumb to resolve a problem efficiently" ES refer to technique in using knowledge related to the problems. The ES provide assistance by using the data together with the expertise knowledge.

This knowledge usually comes from experts who have analyzed the problem or from external sources. From example, if firm wants to start expanding its market to neighbor countries, it should know the markets there, who are the leader and what are they good at base on criteria that firm want to compete with. The ES find advice by "(a) access problem knowledge, (b) structure the problem facts, and (c) simulate expertise". This is a step by step process where user can have a consultant. To get a clear picture; we compared to the user to the owner of the car and ES as the technician. Once user car just stop running the question raised why the car stop running. Then the technician must find the condition that the car is in; is the gas is full or the battery is low? Next, if when user switch the key on there is sound that's means the battery is still good. Now the technician can get rid of one cause and if there is no gasoline smell when the key switch is on that means the car is out of gas. The technician now can advise the cause but it is the user task to go and get the car filled.

The linkages between MSS statement and constitutes of MSS. "Management deals with