Decision Support Systems in Singapore: Issues in their management and their beneficial contributions

A survey of 146 organizations in the key industry sectors of Singapore indicates a trend towards the use of computer-based Decision Support Systems (DSS) to support managers in decision making. The organizations consider four issues in the management of DSS critical to their success: (a) identification of managers’ information and decision support needs, (b) selling the idea to top management, (c) effective planning and design of the support system, and (d) systems integration. The significant beneficial contributions of DSS: (a) are improved quality of information for decision making, (b) increased managerial productivity, and (c) support for achievement of competitive advantage. Cross-industry analysis of the data shows a high degree of consensus among industries on the ranking of critical management issues for the success of DSS and significant beneficial contributions of DSS.