Intelligent decision support: Strategies for integrating decision support, database management, and expert system technologies

摘要

In the past, corporate strategic planning has been aided by conventional decision support and database management tools. There are a number of stages in the planning process where these conventional tools offer minimal assistance (e.g., automated diagnosis of problems). In an attempt to overcome these deficiencies, efforts have been made to combine these conventional tools with expert systems technology in order to create an intelligent decision support system (IDSS). This article examines four basic architectures for integrating these systems. The architectures are distinguished by their “degree of integration” and by the “focus of the knowledge base” embedded in the IDSS. Each of the architectures is illustrated by reference to existing prototypes and commercial products. The benefits and limitations of each are also considered.