Article ID: | iaor2005533 |
Country: | Netherlands |
Volume: | 37 |
Issue: | 3 |
Start Page Number: | 343 |
End Page Number: | 365 |
Publication Date: | Jun 2004 |
Journal: | Decision Support Systems |
Authors: | Sundarraj R.J. |
Keywords: | commerce, decision theory: multiple criteria, internet, analytic hierarchy process |
Despite the gainful use of the Web as a communication medium, recent research suggests that very little work has been done to leverage this new technology for enabling changes in the planning process. This paper, motivated by a situation at a Fortune 100 company, describes a prototype Web-based decision support system for the management of service contracts, which are being increasingly purchased by a variety of businesses. The planning for spare parts needed to support service contracts is hampered by unpredictable and extremely low demands, thereby necessitating a subjective manual approach that is inherently non-standardized and non-coordinated among the various constituents of the organization. In this paper, we describe how a Web-based system can enable the standardization of the process of managing and supporting service contracts. In addition, our DSS supports geographically and functionally dispersed decision-making roles, thereby displaying characteristics of an organizational decision support system.