The Use of Decision Support Systems - Essay Example

Running Head:  Q5 Topic: Q5 Lecturer: Presentation What are the decision support systems (DSS)? Does your organization use DSS? Identify the top three benefits of using DSS.  Decision support systems refer to a category of organizational systems based on computers that are applied in the enhancement of decision making in organizations. They are also regarded as knowledge based organizational systems. These systems are significant to the management in when rapid changes may be occurring in the organization with little or no prior information regarding the changes. The modern decision systems are advanced due to the application of computers. However, the systems are not restricted to computers only. The modern DSS comprises of an organizational system based on software, which the decision makers interact with to come up with a crucial decision for the organization. It involves inputting relevant data, company information, and knowledge from individuals in the decision making panel as well as business models to come up with solutions to problems facing the organization as well as important decisions for the organization (Power, 2002).  My organization applies the decision support systems often to acquire and conduct an analysis of data on turnover, budgets as well as sales forecasts. The marketing strategies are often updated whenever the analysis is performed using the decision support systems. The information that is gathered by the decision support systems include; records of the organization’s assets and data warehouses. There are also relational data sources as well as proportional information on sales in recurrent weeks. The systems also gather information on the organization’s revenue projections based on the assumptions made as regards the sale of new products. The decision support systems have the benefit of maintaining efficiency among the decision makers. They enhance decision making through speedy identification of problems as well as solutions. Moreover, interpersonal communication in the organization is enhanced. Control of the organization is enhanced, and it is possible for organizational learning and training of staff to be accomplished more easily. For the management to be credible as regards the decisions that are made in the organization, the decision support systems are needed to provide fresh evidence to uphold the decision. The organizational competitiveness is increased and also empowers the decision makers to explore and discover better strategies for accomplishment of organizational decision making. It is also a major step towards automation of the organizational management as well as introduction of new methods of thinking as regards problems facing the organization Efraim et al. (2008). References Efraim, T., Jay E. A., and Ting-Peng, L. (2008). Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Pearson/prentice Hall. Power, D. J. (2002). Decision support systems: concepts and resources for managers. Westport, Conn., Quorum Books. 2- Many decision support systems employ mathematical models to solve business decision-making problems. If the quality of the input data to the models cannot be guaranteed for accuracy, are there still any needs to use these decision support systems?  According to Power (2002), the effectiveness of organizational decision making depends on the quality of data that the management introduces to the decision support systems. In essence, good results can not be expected if the data that is introduced in the decision support systems is wrong. The wrong data will eventually give wrong results. The decision support systems have the capacity to select relevant information for use in decision making. The inputs comprise many alternatives from which the systems select the information to be used in decision support systems. The output of the DSS is subjected to a critical analysis by the management to act as the basis for strategy development. Efraim et al. (2008) argue that it is not the people who are involved in the decision making process or the use of computers that matters. Rather, what matters is the process of data collection, putting it correctly in to the decision support systems and using it to help in decision making. It is important to understand that the role that humans play in the entire process is paramount to the success of decision making. The input data for decision support systems need to be reliable because the entire organization depends on the decisions made by the management to remain competitive. If inaccurate data is input in the organization’s decision support systems there is a likelihood of failure in the organization. If data is unreliable, comparisons can not be done with the historical data to provide a basis for making suggestions regarding the future of the organization. Mamaghani (2006) observes that the wrong data can be detrimental to the organization’s performance since the results are used to measure the organizational competitiveness against other competitors. The wrong information may lead to an organization losing its foothold in the market by underestimating the competitors’ capabilities. Further on, future interventions are planned according to the decision support systems. This may fail if the DSS give the wrong impression thereby preventing the managers from undertaking the necessary actions. It is therefore important to use the decision support systems only when the accuracy of the input data is guaranteed, otherwise, they need not be used. References Efraim, T., Jay E. A., and Ting-Peng, L. (2008). Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Pearson/prentice Hall. Mamaghani, F. (2006). “Impact of information technology on the workforce of the future: An analysis”. International Journal of Management, 23(4), 845-850.  Power, D. J. (2002). Decision support systems: concepts and resources for managers. Westport, Conn., Quorum Books. 3- When creating a risk model:  Which domains would you consider first? DMZ is the domain that is isolated from the trusted network and has the greatest vulnerability especially due to the fact that it is generally used as the network that comprises resources that can be accessed by the public. It should be separated from the trusted networks. The trusted networks should be protected from the domain. Plans should be put in place to ensure that an attack is mitigated within the shortest time possible. However, if the attack from the public server gets access on the servers available to the public, the DMZ can be significant in preventing it from accessing the trusted network. It is also important to consider the International Domain Name (IDN), which is trusted but is faced with a risk of a spoofing attack whereby the dishonest site that is the host redirects users from the intended site to a different site in which a third party may access confidential information. If unassigned code points are encoded, it is automatically expected that the resultant domain names are prohibited. However, the emergence of a new version of IDNA may affect the security if it makes the prohibited names legal or if there occurs a filtering effect of the illegal letters to create a legal domain name. Internet Untrusted is among the domains that are usually at a high risk of attack. Other domains include the MCI IP Network, as well as the Client Untrusted network (Palaniswamy and Frank, 2002). What factors would you consider? It is important to consider factors such as potential exploit threat so as to make an informed decision as regards the capacity of the risk model to control risk. On the other hand, it is also important to consider the level of risk to the organization’s asset. The resources need to be used depending on the imminence of the risk as well as the probability of occurrence. The value of the assets to the organization is also motivators towards risk modeling. Of much importance is the skill level of the attacker. Some of the attackers are able to vary their attack such that the risk model does not work (Tipon et al. 2001). What strategies and steps would you use?  The first step is to identify security objectives, which should be known by the quality assurance teams. All the significant issues as regards the security objectives should be highlighted. The application should then be surveyed to ensure that its components, the flow of data as well as trust boundaries are known to everybody. The third step is to further analyze the application to understand the assumptions, decisions, data flow and storage. The fourth step is to identify any threats that are known and then assess the vulnerabilities (Tipon et al. 2001). References Palaniswamy, R., & Frank, T. G. (2002). “Oracle ERP and computing architecture: Implementation and performance”. Information Systems Management, 19(2), 53. Tipon, H., Krause, H., & Ozier, W. (2001). Risk analysis and assessment. Information Security Management Handbook, Newport Beach: Auerbach Publication   Read More