Information Systems
College of Business Administration
University of Missouri - St. Louis
Decision Support Systems
Assignments

Individual Assignments:

One of the most current (and theoretical) applications of decision support systems today is the Total Information Awareness Project, which is part of the recently passed Homeland Security Bill. The goal behind this project is to collect, organize and mine information about citizens and aliens in an effort to predict (and hence stop) terrorism and other security problems. Since this project cuts through all aspects of the class topic, and since it is covered in the news media, we will use it in discussions in class. Hence, to ensure that we all are knowledgeable about it, and are thinking about it, we will maintain "blogs" (a sort of a journal of news articles) on the topic during the semester. One example blog that I maintain on data mining is available at http://www.umsl.edu/~sauter/mining.

At the beginning of the semester, we will use the creation of the blog to refresh our web page building skills. Hence, you will need to start a blog with at least 4 references of relevance and a paragraph that explains the reason for the blog. This paragraph should summarize what the project is intending to do and convince me that you have at least some understanding of what the federal government is attempting to do. In addition, this blog should demonstrate that you can create a web page that has at least the following characteristics:
  • Your page must have a theme that is displayed in the background, icons and layout of the page.
  • You must include at least two images or graphics on your home page. You may either copy the image to your public_html directory, or you may create a direct link to the image's original site.
  • You must include two or more buttons on the page.
  • You must also include one or more tables in the design of your page.
  • Your home page must have a title (what the browser displays at the top of the window).
  • The page must have a link to a blog "index page" that will be located at http://www.umsl.edu/~sauter/DSS/blog_index.html.
  • The page should include a link to any other web pages you maintain.
  • The body of the personal home page should have your name and a hot-linked e-mail address.
  • Make use of the available headings to give a professional appearance to your page.
  • You are free to add more and make your page more interesting and "cool."

Post the webpage on the internet and send the url to Professor Sauter. These preliminary pages are due by January 22.

As we experiment with new HTML and JavaScript tools, you will need to incorporate these into your blog as well.

You will need to maintain the blog throughout the semester by including materials that you believe would be of interest to the reader.

Group Projects :

For the DSS Profile and the Project, students will work in groups of 3-5, which will be created randomly by the instructor. However, she will take into account students' preferences for group members. No later than January 27, each individual must email the instructor with a list of names of individuals with whom he or she does want to work and a list of names of individuals with whom he or she would prefer not to work. Groups should be announced no later than January 29.

DSS Profile : Each group will prepare a report about an online DSS available from the Internet. This report will be web-based, and will serve as the basis for a 15 minute presentation/demonstration of the selected DSS. For each system, you should cover:

  1. What kind of decision or task does the DSS support?
  2. What role does the system play in making this decision or supporting this task?
  3. How would one characterize the support provided, including
    a. What knowledge does it provide?
    b. What problem(s) does it solve during decision making?
    c. What kinds of support does it furnish?
    d. How could the system be used?
  4. Describe how knowledge and/or information are input to the DSS (and updated in the DSS), knowledge presentation and knowledge selection abilities.
  5. What are the benefits of the DSS?

The presentations will all occur on February 24, and will be scheduled by lottery. Students must also turn in a URL for the group paper on February 24. Web pages should be informative and attractive, and include appropriate links.

Systems Development: Each student will get "hands-on" experience with the development of a decision support system/expert system. This semester, we will develop decision support systems to facilitate MIS student career planning. The project teams will decide on the specific functions built into the system. However, theoretically, the system would be available to help students select electives, plan internships and other experience opportunities, prepare for the job search and ultimately help the student to select a position.

The system must be able to accommodate a variety of decision making styles in these choices. These systems must include some "intelligence." That is, the system must be able to make some decisions on its own as a function of its "knowledge" of the user and/or its "knowledge" about the the student's interests. Students may (and are encouraged) to fabricate (or invent) any other data they need for the system; they are not expected to collect it. Groups are not required to use the provided information and may re-formulate information into other databases.

Systems and Final Reports: The groups will provide a disk or URL with the working system that they write as well as a report justifying their system. This paper must identify and justify the system characteristics. It must include a discussion of what the system does, and why your group elected to implement the system in the fashion chosen. This includes:

1. a description of the decision process
2. a justification for how the process would be improved with this system
3. the goals/objectives of the DSS
4. a discussion of how those goals/objectives meet the needs of the users
5. a discussion of how the DSS might be integrated into normal work processes
6. an explanation of what types of information will the system require, and how will that information be maintained
7. an explanation of what type(s) of modeling the DSS will use

Students will probably want to include a section, "what we wanted to do, but didn't know how or didn't get to." Papers must be typed (or word-processed), double-spaced with one-inch margins on all sides, and with page numbers. The maximum length for the paper is 10 pages. The paper and system will be due on May 8.

Progress Reports: In addition to the paper, the analysis group must provide the instructor with regular reports on group activity. These reports are due from the group on each week at the beginning of class beginning on February 3. These reports must include: (a) brief minutes of the discussion and decisions considered during any group meetings during the week; (b) action items for the next week; (c) task assignments; (d) problems and/or opportunities faced by the group that week. In addition, these reports should discuss how the group is addressing the various topics discussed in class. Specific topics that should be addressed by specific dates are noted below. Additional, specific sections may be required from time to time, and will be announced in class. These assignments can be as long or as brief as is relevant for the activities of the group. In addition, they can be provided as a paper, email or web page.

Decisions and Decision Making
February 10
User Interface Functions
February 24
Data and Data Warehouse Issues
March 17
Models, Data Modeling, Data Mining and Model Management
April 7
International Issues
April 28

While the entire group generally will receive the same grade, I reserve the right to assign grades differentially to reflect substantially different levels of work being completed by members of the group. At the end of the semester, group members must evaluate the amount of work done by others in the group using the Group Member Evaluation Form.

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This page was last modified on: 01/13/2003 06:32:31
URL: https://www.umsl.edu/~sauterv/DSS/306_assgts.html
Page Owner: Professor Sauter (Vicki.Sauter@umsl.edu)
© 2003, Vicki L. Sauter. All rights Reserved.