A work system view of Decision Support Systems in its fourth decade

The initially revolutionary DSS agenda is now ancient history. This paper argues that “decision support” provides a richer basis than “DSS” in both practice and research. Using a loan-processing example involving two banks, it shows how work system concepts might be applied to understand decision support in real world settings, and how decision support can come from many sources other than technical artifacts such as DSS. Shifting the focus from “DSS as artifact” to “decision support within a work system” reduces the chances of being misled by techno-hype, vendor sales pitches, and incomplete understanding of determinants of success in organizations.