The document discusses various types of organizational support systems including executive information systems (EIS), decision support systems (DSS), group decision support systems (GDSS), groupware, and multimedia. These technologies can transform businesses by supporting managers with data and decision making tools, facilitating coordination and knowledge sharing within organizations. Specific examples of DSS applications at American Airlines and Air Products and Chemicals are provided to illustrate how these systems work.

1. Organization Support Systems: DSSs, GDSSs, EISs, Groupware, Multimedia

2. Focus on Change The technologies described in this chapter can play a major role in transforming the way you do business and manage the firm. Executive information systems, decision-support systems, and groupware offer support to the manager and are

3. ways to coordinate the organization that would not be possible without IT. These technologies have great potential for changing the way people in the organization perform their jobs.

4. DECISION-SUPPORT SYSTEMS A decision-support system (DSS) is a computer-based system that helps the decision maker utilize data and models to solve unstructured problems (Sprague and Carlson, 1982). One of the most frequently used DSSs is a spreadsheet package. The user builds a model and looks at the impact of changing certain variables or assumptions. A user might look at the impact of a change in interest rates on a possible investment in a new manufacturing plant,

5. DSS Design How does the development of a DSS differ from traditional design? The focus is on decisions, not data flows. The construction of a DSS tends to follow an iterative or prototyping approach. Building one of these systems forces the user to become involved in the design process. The system may be designed with the help of a systems analyst or by the user alone. Many decision makers build their own DSSs for PCs.

6. With a DSS, the user looks to be able to interact with the system and change parameters, doing what-if analyses and trying different scenarios. Even in a DSS that is used primarily to supply data and statistical analysis, it is helpful for the user to be able to generate interactively the statistics from a Pc.

7. EXAMPLES OF DSSs Yield Management: How to Overbook Gracefully American Airlines ' operations research group developed a series of models to attack three more manageable subproblems (Smith et aI., 1992):

8. 1. The first of the models controls overbooking, the practice of intentionally selling more reservations for a flight than there are seats on the aircraft. An airline overbooks because it expects a certain number of cancellations and no-shows at the gate. 2. The second model helps American Airlines decide how many discount seats to offer on a flight. 3. The third model, traffic management, controls reservations by passenger origin and destination to maximize revenue. Because of the current hub-and-spoke system, the flights are interdependent; a passenger flying into the DallaslFort Worth hub may leave on any number of other flights to reach his or her final destination.

9. Overbooking Overbooking allowsthe airline to accommodate more passengers, but there are penalties associatedwith denying passengers boarding if they have a confirmed reservation. Discount Seats The large number of special fares and discounts greatly complicatesthe problem of maximizing revenue from a flight. Because there is a fixed number of seats on a plane, selling a seat at a discount that could be sold for a full fare reduces overall revenue.

10. Results Overbooking DSS has been in use since 1990, and it is estimated to have increased revenue by more than $200 million each year. The discount-seat allocation model is estimated to have obtained from 30 to 49 percent of the revenue opportunity from discount sales, resulting in additional revenue of $200 to $300 million.

11. The Vehicle Scheduling System of Air Products and Chemicals (APC) APC formed a team to improve the operational efficiency of delivery scheduling. The completed system, developed and tested carefully before being widely implemented, makes use of six data files:

12. 1. Customer file, including capacity of tanks, safety stock levels, and historical product usage 2. Resource file, containing a description of each truck in the system, capacity by state, and a list of customers feasibly served by each truck

13. 3. Cost file, including a per-mile rate for vehicle fuel and maintenance and driver pay regulations 4. Mileage file, a network representation of the road system of the United States 5. Time and distance file, containing the distance, travel time, and toll cost between any pair of customers computed from the mileage file 6. Schedule file, containing the schedules developed by the system

14. EXECUTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEMS Companies build an EIS to bring to senior management information that needs its attention. For example, the executive vice president of Phillips Petroleum uses an EIS to check the state of the firm's oil and chemicals business. The system also provides a summary of world news. The vice president feels that the system saves him an hour a day because it pulls together previously less accessible information in one place.

15. GROUP DECISION·SUPPORT SYSTEMS A GDSS consists of special software and physical facilities, such as a conference room containing pc’s for each person in the room. The software helps identify issues and evaluate alternative decisions and actions. A GDSS might also contain a model whose solution provides participants in the group with insights into their problem.

16. Technology-Assisted Meetings A number of companies use specially equipped meeting rooms with GDSS software to conduct meetings. IBM installed a number of electronic meeting rooms based on a room developed at the University of Arizona. A typical meeting room has participants seated at a horseshoe-shaped table, each with a personal computer connected to a network and file server. A projection screen is laced at the open end of the horseshoe to show what is on the discussion leader's (facilitator's) Pc.

17. Do the electronic meeting rooms work? Participants in meetings generally seem enthusiastic about their experiences. Some claim that the use of these facilities and software reduce the frequency of meetings by a factor of 10. It has also been argued that solutions are better because no one will be intimidated by a superior, as contributions are anonymous.

18. GROUPWARE AND ORGANIZATIONAL KNOWLEDGE For the first three or four decades of information technology, IT did little to help managers in their day-to-day tasks, often because IT staff did not understand managers. There were few management information systems, though many companies claimed to have them. The last five years have witnessed the development of groupware, designed to support both the daily tasks of management and coordination, and to provide a repository of organizational intelligence.

19. This technology lets managers and other workers redesign their tasks. It provides a great deal of flexibility and a number of alternatives for the flow of work, communications, and coordination.

20. Most information systems prior to the development of groupware were oriented toward solving problems in the organization, such as how much of a good to produce, how to process orders, and so on. Groupware is aimed at what a manager does-it supports members of the organization who have a common task and who operate in a shared environment.

21. Groupware is sometimes called "coordination software" because it helps managers coordinate the work of others in the firm to ensure that the resources of the firm are applied to achieving its objectives. Coordination means managing dependencies, that is, seeing that individuals or groups that depend on each other or on common resources function effectively.

22. MULTIMEDIA FOR BUSINESS, EDUCATION, AND ENTERTAINMENT Multimedia is generally defined as a combination of different presentation media which are coordinated through a personal computer workstation. Media that might be included are:

23. • Artwork or still pictures • Full or partial motion video • Sound • Text • Graphics • Animation