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Kalle Elfvengren

GROUP DECISION
SUPPORT SYSTEMS
(GDSS):

Possibilities, Applications and


Benefits
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GDSS

• GDSS aim at supporting a group to cooperate


and work effectively together to reach its
goals
• Purpose is to support and develop the whole
group decision making process
• GDSS can improve the productivity of
decision-making meetings, either
– by speeding up the decision-making process or
– by improving the quality of the resulting decisions
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GDSS

• GDSS includes a network of computers,


usually in a face-to-face environment and the
software which enables a group to exchange
written comments and voting results
• GDSS meetings are technically different from
conventional meetings in three ways:
– each participant has a PC
– a facilitator helps a chairperson to run a meeting
– combination of oral and IT communication

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Typology of GDSS
Same Time Different Time
Chairs
Public Screen

Same Terminals

Place

Decision Room Local Decision Network

Videocamera

Different
Place

Teleconferencing Remote Decision Making

(adapted from DeSanctis and Gallupe, 1985)


Supporting the
decision
making
The GDSS technology supports
group decision making by:
• eliminating the barriers of communication,
• by offering different tools for a group and
• by managing the use of time and the
handling of meeting items systematically

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General
benefits of
GDSS
• Enables parallel communication among group
members
• Offers equal and anonymous opportunity to contribute
ideas and opinions
• Eliminates too big domination of some group members
in the meeting
• Makes it possible to find out the common and
dissenting opinions quickly among the group members
• Helps to manage the schedule of the meeting
• Provides effective automatic documentation
capabilities
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Lappeenranta University of Technology
DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
AND MANAGEMENT

The GDSS laboratory


The GDSS
laboratory at LUT
• Room for 10 local participants
• Planning began in 1990; fully operational in 1994
• The main software is the GroupSystems for Windows
(Ventana Corporation)
• The laboratory is used for:
– teaching and research of group decision support
processes and systems
– co-operation with companies for group decisions
and group work

26.3.2002 Department ofE-Business


Wireless Industrial Engineering and
Seminar 2002 8
Management
Technical data
Special software:
• GroupSystems for Windows (Univ. of Arizona/
Ventana Corporation) for group decision process
support
• Expert Choice for multi-criteria evaluation
• Idegen ++ for idea generation
• I-Think for system analysis
• Decision Explorer for causal mapping
• QFD Scope for Quality function deployment
Department of Industrial Engineering and
Management
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Research
focuses in LUT
• To examine possibilities of GDSS to
improve the efficiency of different activities
of industrial enterprises, particularly:
– strategic planning of industrial enterprises; e.g.
SWOT-analysis
– new product development
– customer need assessment
– technology selection
– business models

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Recent GDSS-
applications
• The assessment of customer needs: brainstorming
and analyzing the customer-driven ideas for the new
application opportunities
• Requirement definition for a new software product
• The selection of performance measures for R&D
• Criteria for business partner selection
• Technology selection

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Need assessment
cases
• The applications were carried out using GDSS in four
group sessions

• The aim was to generate and prioritize customer-


driven ideas concerning the application opportunities
of wireless technologies for b-to-b -markets

• The participants consisted of company


representatives from a telecom operator and separate
groups from customer companies (from ICT sector
and forest industry)

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The GDSS
processes
Introduction and orientation

Idea brainstorming

Idea clarification and specification

Categorizing and commenting the ideas

Evaluation of the ideas, exploring the benefits

Prioritization of the ideas


result: a categorized and prioritized list of customer-driven
ideas for new products and services
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Experiences
from the cases
• The number of customer driven ideas obtained:
1. case 54 (Sonera - UPM-Kymmene)
2. case 45 (Sonera - Stora Enso)
3. case 40 (Sonera - Republica)
4. case 47 (Sonera)

• The participants were asked to evaluate the session


and the benefits / disadvantages of utilizing the GDSS
• All the respondents declared that they would utilize
the GDSS again for similar types of situations and
would recommend the GDSS to their colleagues

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Combined
Results of Idea
Sessions
Idea categories Importance Number of ideas
Industries: Forest ICT Forest ICT Total
Technology enabling 3,0 3,1 3,3 3,2 23 13 36
Concept innovation 3,5 3,0 3,2 2,2 12 25 37
Logistics & supply chain 3,8 3,7 0,0 0,0 14 0 14
Customer service 3,5 3,3 3,6 3,5 16 12 28
Mgmt of systems & processes 3,7 3,3 3,6 3,1 9 14 23
Mgmt of persons & administration 2,9 3,1 3,4 3,8 19 9 28
Reporting & information 3,5 3,4 4,0 3,1 5 13 18

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Feedback survey (scale 1-10) Avg.
(4 different sessions)

Were the session results worth the effort spent? 8.7

Evaluate the effectiveness of the designed GDSS 8.6


process.
How well were the objectives of the session 8.3
achieved?
How functional were the following phases of the 8.3
meeting: brainstorming,
prioritization, 8.3

classification, 7.3

commenting 7.6
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Benefits of GDSS in
need assesments
• GDSS offers an effective and rapid way to collect and
evaluate the information about customer needs
• The simultaneous collection of customer need and
requirement statements from different experts
• Organizing the collected information into larger,
illustrative categories à facilitates the understanding of
the information
• The prioritization of the information and the rapid
recognition of conflicting and jointly important opinions
• Timesaving; the participants felt that their time has
been effectively and usefully utilized

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Contact
Information

Kalle Elfvengren
kalle.elfvengren@lut.fi
05 621 2669
www.tbrc.fi

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