SYST 542
Decision Support Systems Engineering
Kathryn Blackmond Laskey
Department of Systems Engineering
George Mason University
Course Description
Fall, 2006
This course studies the design of computerized systems to support
individual or organizational decisions. The course teaches a systems
engineering approach to the decision support system (DSS) lifecycle
process. This course studies factors leading to effective computerized
support for decisions, characteristics of tasks amenable to
computerized support, basic functional elements of a decision support
system, the decision support lifecycle, and factors leading to
successful integration of a DSS into an organization.
Additional topics include support for multi-person decisions, support
for distributed decision processes, support for time-critical
decisions, and how to refine and improve an organization's DSS
development capability. A DSS is built on a theory (usually
implicit) of what makes for
successful
decision support in the given context. Empirical evaluation of the
specific
DSS and underlying theory should be carried on throughout the
development
process. The course examines some prevailing theories of decision
support,
considers the issues involved in obtaining empirical validation for a
theory, and discusses what if any empirical support exists for the
theories
considered. Students design a DSS for a semester project.
Class Email List
There is a class email list to which all students will be subscribed
with their university email address. University policy requires
students to monitor their GMU email. Students are permitted to
subscribe to the class email list with an alternate email address.
Textbook
There is no required texts. The following texts are recommended:
Decison Support Systems, George Marakas,
Prentice-Hall, 2003
Decision
Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, Ephraim Turban and Jay
Aronson, Prentice-Hall, 2005.
Making Hard Decisions Second Edition, Robert Clemen, Duxbury,
1996
Decision Support Systems Hyperbook, Power, D.J., accessed August, 2006 at http://dssresources.com
Course Requirements
Grades will be based on asynchronous discussion of a
regular discussion question, facilitation or recording of one in-class discussion, a
paper
review, and a group project,
worth 30%, 5%, 15%, and 50% of the grade, respectively. Here is a schedule for facilitators, recorders, and paper presenters.
Internet Lectures
This course is being offered as both a regular lecture course and an Internet course using the Network EducationWare (NEW)
software developed at GMU's Network and Simulation Lab. Students
may attend lectures in person or may participate from home over the
Internet. Students logged in electronically can hear lectures, see
vugraphs, see what the instructor writes on the electronic whiteboard,
and ask questions. All lectures will be recorded and can be played back
at students' convenience. Instructions for using the student
client software can be found here.
Lecture Notes
Lecture notes for each chapter will be made available from the distance education site before class, as well as from the site here. You will need to download Adobe Acrobat
Reader to read these lecture notes.
Discussion Question
Each week (with occasional weeks off) a discussion question will be
posed to the class for asynchronous electronic discussion prior to the
next class. Discussion questions are based on a common theme and
cumulatively lead to a collaboratively developed case study. Artifacts from the CBNAIR case study (SYST 442/542, PUBP 692 Spring 2002) are available online.
Discussion question process:
- Logistics: The discussion question will be posted
by noon the day after class and will be based on issues raised
during the previous class. Each student is required to
post at least one comment to the group forum during the open discussion
period.
- Open discussion: Open discussion ends at 12:00 AM
EST Sunday morning. Open discussion will be via WebCT. In the event that WebCT
is down at the time of the deadline for posting for open discussion,
you may email the class list and post your discussion
later.
- Moderated in-class discussion: Student will be chosen as moderator and scribe
for each class discussion. Each student will
moderate or take minutes for
one class discussion. No more than 30 minutes of class time
will be
allocated to the discussion question. The participation grade
depends
on participation in both the email forum and the in-class
discussion.
- Each student must submit a written response to the
instructor by 7:00PM EST on the Friday after the class in which the
discussion occurs. The content
grade will be based on this written response.
- Final response: Your final response is due by 7:00 PM on the Friday following the in-class discussion. It should be
uploaded to the "Final Response" section of WebCT or sent
by email to the instructor. The file name should
be DISQ<n>_<emailname>, and your name must be on every
page of the document. Emails should have the header DISQ<n>
<emailname>: Final response. I will set my filter to send
these
to a discussion question folder. If you don't type the correct
header, I may miss your response. For example, if your email name
is jsmith3 and you are responding to discussion question 2, you would
type
Subject: DISQ2 jsmith3: Final response
- Content -- Open discussion: To receive full
participation grade, you must submit an open discussion post
which has non-trivial content: For example, "I agree with Mary
Jones,"
does not count as participation with content. However, a brief
summary of Mary's position, how it contrasts with the positions given
by other students, and your reasons for agreeing with Mary, will
receive full participation grade.
- Content -- Final response: With possible exceptions as
noted by the instructor, the written part of your summary must
be less than one typed page. In some cases, a graphic may be
appropriate. If so, you can embed the graphic in your document or
attach a separate image file. There should be no more than one
page of graphics. Your response may draw on any points made
during open discussion. It must be a self-contained response to
the discussion question, written in your own words.
- Grading: Grading on open discussion will be 50%
participation and 50% content. The content grade will be based
both on the final response and contribution to the open
discussion.
A total of 20 points is possible: 10 for participation and 10 for
content. Each student will receive his or her grade by email
during the week following submission.