Decision support and BI systems ch10

Decision Support and Business Intelligence Systems Chapter 10: Collaborative Supported Technologies and Computer-Group Support Systems...  Describe the three settings of GDSS Describ

Decision Support and Business

Intelligence Systems

Chapter 10:

Collaborative Supported Technologies and

Computer-Group Support Systems

 Describe the three settings of GDSS

 Describe how a GDSS uses parallelism and anonymity and how they lead to process/task gains and losses

 Understand how the Web enables collaborative computing and group support of virtual meetings

 Describe the role of emerging technologies

 Define creativity and explain how it can be facilitated

by computers

 What is it?

“… making joint effort toward achieving

an agreed upon goal.”

 Meeting is a common form of collaboration

 Why collaborate?

Collaboration is Difficult

Waiting to speak

Domination Fear of Speaking Misunderstanding

Inattention Lack of Focus Inadequate Criteria

Premature Decisions

Missing Information

Distractions

Wrong People Groupthink Poor Grasp of Problem Ignored Alternatives Lack of Consensus Poor Planning

Hidden Agendas Conflict

Inadequate Resources Poorly Defined Goals

Ineffective Collaboration

Collaboration is Expensive

 15 Million formal Sessions / day

 ? Million Informal Sessions / day

 4 Billion Sessions / year

 30-80% Manager’s time

Fortune 500 Companies 3M Corporation Study

How Do People Collaborate?

Level 1 Collected Work : Uncoordinated Individual Efforts

Level 2 Coordinated Work:

Coordinated Individual Efforts

Level 3 Concerted Work:

Concerted Team Effort

 Joint activity

 Equal or near equal status

 Outcome depends on participant’s knowledge, etc.

 Outcome depends on group composition

 Outcome depends on decision-making process

 Disagreement settled by rank or negotiation

Meetings (a form of collaboration)

 Dozens of people attends

 Everyone …

talks at once hears everything understands

remembers

 The impossible dream?

The Ideal Meeting

Traditional Meetings

Only ONE person can speak at a time

GSS Meetings

By using the computer everyone can SPEAK and be understood simultaneously

Communication Support

 Vital

 Needed for collaboration

 Modern information technologies provide inexpensive, fast, capable, reliable means of supporting

communication

 Internet / Web

A Time/Place Communication Framework

 Lotus Notes / Domino Server

Includes Learning Space

 Netscape Collabra Server

 Goal: to support groupwork

 Increase benefits / decrease losses of collaboration

 Based on traditional methods

“Individuals work alone to generate ideas which are pooled under guidance of a trained facilitator”

“A structured process for collecting and distilling knowledge from a group of experts by means of questionnaires”

 Electronic Meeting System (EMS)

Group Support Systems

Process Gains:

 Parallelism ( simultaneous contributions )

 Larger groups can participate

 Anonymity ( promotes equal participation )

 Focus on content not personalities

 Triggering ( stimulates thinking )

 Synergy ( integrates ideas )

 Structure ( facilitates problem solving )

 Record keeping ( promotes organizational memory )

Process Loses:

 Free-riding

 Flaming

GSS – Important Features

 More ideas leads to

more quality ideas

 Defuses tough

political discussions

 Decision room

 Multiple use facility

 Web-based

GSS Enabling Technologies

 12 to 30 networked personal computers

 Usually recessed into the desktop

 Server PC

 Large-screen projection system

 Breakout rooms

 Need a Trained Facilitator for Success

The Decision (Electronic Meeting) Room

IBM Corp.

Cool Decision Rooms

US Air Force

Cooler Decision Rooms

Murraysville School District Bus

Mobile Decision Rooms

On-Demand Decision Rooms

 High Cost

 Need for a Trained Facilitator

 Requires Specific Software Support for Different Cooperative Tasks

 Infrequent Use

 Different Place / Different Time Needs

Few Organizations Use Decision Rooms

 Multiple Use Facility

 Cheaper

 Still need a facilitator

 Cheaper: no extra hardware needed

 Still need facilitator

Other Technologies

 From GroupSystems.com, Tucson, AZ

ThinkTank: Supported Activities

 Supported tools and activities:

 Agenda and Other Planning Activities

GSS Meeting Process

Iterate until

the solution is

reached…

Visit a GSS Meeting

Step 1: Prepare an Agenda

agenda

 …

Step 2: Collect Information

… think about the risks to the company if they launch

a new line of sports

Step 3: Refine Information

Step 4: Prioritize Options

Step 5: Review Prioritized Options

Step 5: Review Prioritized Options…

 Chose Risks

for Further

Analysis…

Step 5: Review Prioritized Options…

Step 5: Review Prioritized Options…

 Review

Comments on

Risks…

Step 6: Create an Action Plan

 Create an

Action Plan…

Step 7: Distribute Session Transcripts

 Create and

Distribute a

Final Report…

Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment (CPFR)

An industry-wide project in

which suppliers and retailers

collaborate in planning and

demand forecasting in order

to ensure that members of

the supply chain will have the

right amount of raw materials

and finished goods when they

need them

Collective Intelligence

 A shared intelligence that emerges from the intentional cooperation, collaboration, and/or coordination of many individuals.

 Examples: Wikipedia, video games, online advertising, learner-generated context, …

 In order for CI to happen:

A Taxonomy of Collective Intelligence

 Creativity is the product of …

a genius vs an idea generation environment

 Creative people tend to have creative lives

 Idea Generation via Electronic Brainstorming

1 Cognitive variables: intelligence, knowledge, skills, etc.

2 Environmental variables: cultural and socioeconomic factors, working conditions, etc.

3 Personality variables: motivation, confidence, sense of freedom, etc.

 Software that shows creativity

 Intelligent Agents (Softbots)

 Creativity is an intelligent behavior

 Software that facilitates human creativity

out of your habitual thought process

 IdeaFisher: provides language specific universality - thesaurus

 Freedom, Collaboration, Prototyping

End of the Chapter

 Questions / comments…

All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc

Publishing as Prentice Hall