The evaluation of managerial support systems in German companies

The development and evaluation processes of managerial support systems were studied in a survey of German companies. This paper concentrates on influences between variables within the evaluation process and external factors. Within the evaluation process, there was only weak evidence of the relationship between evaluation criteria and methods often postulated in the theoretical literature. In contrast, there were several strong influences from external factors. Interdependencies exist between the type of system (management information systems vs decision support system) and the criteria used for evaluation. There is also a strong influence from the initiators of the system on criteria, especially when systems are initiated by functional departments rather than top management. Further connections were established between characteristics of the development process and evaluation methods.