Chapter 16

INTEGRATION, IMPACTS, AND THE FUTURE OF MANAGEMENT SUPPORT SYSTEMS

Learning Objectives

• Understand the need for systems integration for MSS

• Describe the difficulties in integrating systems

• Describe major models of MSS integration

• Describe MSS integration with enterprise systems

• Describe organizational impacts of MSS

Learning Objectives

• Learn the potential impacts of MSS on individuals

• Describe societal impacts of MSS

• List and describe major ethical and legal issues of MSS implementation

• Define the digital divide and discuss how to close it

• Provide an overview regarding the future of MSS

Systems Integration: An Overview • Types of integration

– Functional integration

The provision of different support functions as a single system through a single, consistent interface

– Physical integration

The packaging the hardware, software, and communication features required to accomplish functional integration

Systems Integration: An Overview • Why integrate?

– Implementing MSS– Increasing the capabilities of the MSS

applications– Enhancing the capabilities of non-MSS

applications– Enabling real-time decision support– Enabling more powerful applications– Facilitating system development– Enhancing with intelligent tools

Systems Integration: An Overview • Levels of integration

– Across different MSS – Within MSS– Embedded intelligent systems– Integration and the Web

Types of Management Support Systems Integration• Models of Integrating ES and DSS

– Intelligent systems attached to DSS components1. Database intelligent component

2. Intelligent system for the model base and its management

3. Intelligent system for improving the user interface

4. Intelligent consultant to DSS builders

5. Intelligent consultant to users

Types of Management Support Systems Integration

Types of Management Support Systems Integration• Models of Integrating ES and DSS

– An ES as a separate component in a DSS• ES output as input to BA• Analysis output as input to ES• Feedback

• Issues and Configurations in MSS integration

– Representative integration factors (see Table 16.3, p. 717

– Sharing in the decision-making process– Feedback loops in integrated systems

Types of Management Support Systems Integration

Integration with Enterprise Systems and Knowledge Management

• Integration with ERP and SCM Systems

• Integration with KMS– Integration of KMS with Other business

information systems– Integrating DSS and Knowledge management– Integration of Intelligent systems and

knowledge management– Other Knowledge Management–Related

Integration

Integration with Enterprise Systems and Knowledge Management

Integration with Enterprise Systems and Knowledge Management

Integration with Enterprise Systems and Knowledge Management

• Integration approaches1. Second-generation ERP systems

2. Enterprise application integration

3. Comprehensive systems

4. Web services

The Impacts of Management Support Systems: An Overview• MSS impacts:

– Particular individuals and jobs– Work structures of departments and units

within an organization– Total organizational structures– Entire industries, communities, and society

as a whole

The Impacts of Management Support Systems: An Overview• MSS impacts on society:

– Changing role of home-bound people– Computer crime and fraud– Consumers– The digital divide– Employment levels– Opportunities for the disabled– Quality of life– Work in hazardous environments

The Impacts of Management Support Systems: An Overview

Management Support Systems Impacts on Organizations• New organizational units

– Management support department– BI department (unit)– Artificial intelligence department– Knowledge management department that

can be combined with or replace a quantitative analysis unit

Management Support Systems Impacts on Organizations• Organizational culture

• Restructuring business processes and virtual teams– Business process reengineering (BPR)

Changes in structure, organizational culture, and processes within an entire organization

– Simulation modeling and organizational restructuring

Management Support Systems Impacts on Organizations• The impacts of ADS systems

– Reduction of middle management– Empowerment of customers and business

partners– Improved customer service (e.g., faster reply

to requests)– Increased productivity of help desks and call

centers

Management Support Systems Impacts on Organizations

• Other organizational impacts– Increased productivity, speed, customer

satisfaction, quality, and supply-chain improvements resulting in strategic advantage

– Entire industries are affected

Management Support Systems Impacts on Organizations

Management Support Systems Impacts on Individuals• Job satisfaction

• Inflexibility, dehumanization, stress, and anxiety– Job stress and anxiety

• Cooperation of experts

Automating Decision Making and the Manager’s Job• The affect of MSS on managers’ activities and their

performance– Less expertise (experience) is required for making many

decisions.– Faster decision making is possible – Less reliance on experts and analysts is required – Power is being redistributed among managers– Support for complex decisions makes them faster to make and

of better quality– Information needed for high-level decision making is expedited

or even self-generated– Automation of routine decisions may eliminate some managers

Automating Decision Making and the Manager’s Job• Can managers’ jobs be fully automated?

– Some of their routine decisions, such as scheduling, can be automated; other decisions that involve behavioral aspects cannot

– The job of top managers is the least routine and therefore the most difficult to automate

Issues of Legality, Privacy, And Ethics• Legal issues

– What is the value of an expert opinion in court when the expertise is encoded in a computer?

– Who is liable for wrong advice (or information) provided by an ES?

– What happens if a manager enters an incorrect judgment value into an MSS and the result is damage or a disaster?

– Who owns the knowledge in a knowledge base?– Should royalties be paid to experts who provide

knowledge to an ES or a knowledge base? – Can management force experts to contribute their

expertise?

Issues of Legality, Privacy, And Ethics• Privacy

The right to be left alone and the right to be free from unreasonable personal intrusions

– Two rules followed fairly closely in court decisions: 1. The right of privacy is not absolute. Privacy

must be balanced against the needs of society2. The public’s right to know is superior to the

individual’s right to privacy

Issues of Legality, Privacy, And Ethics• Privacy

– Collecting information about individuals– The Web and information collection– Homeland security and individual privacy

Issues of Legality, Privacy, And Ethics• Ethics in decision making and support

– Personal values constitute a major factor in the issue of ethical decision making

– Framework describing ethics processes and systems

1. Who is the agent?

2. What action was actually taken or is being contemplated?

3. What are the results or consequences of the act?

4. Is the result fair or just for all stakeholders?

• Non-work related use of the Internet

Issues of Legality, Privacy, And Ethics

Intelligent and Automated Systems and Employment Levels

• The impact of MSS on employment levels

– MSS have the potential to significantly affect the productivity and employment of many types of employees as well to partially or even completely eliminate jobs

– Technology is getting less expensive and more capable and thus is bringing about substantial changes in jobs and job content

Intelligent and Automated Systems and Employment Levels

• The impact of MSS on employment levels

– Two extreme positions are massive unemployment and increased employment

– There are a number of newly created MSS-related jobs

Intelligent and Automated Systems and Employment Levels

• The impact of MSS on employment levels– Questions about how intelligent systems will affect

employment• Is some unemployment really socially desirable?• Should the government intervene more in the distribution

of income and in determination of the employment level?• Can the “invisible hand” in the economy, which has

worked so well in the past, continue to be successful in the future?

• Will artificial intelligence make most of us idle but wealthy?

Other Societal Impacts of MSS and the Digital Divide• Representative positive effects of MSS

– Work in hazardous environments– Opportunities for the disabled and elderly– The changing roles of single parents and home-

bound people– Improvements in health care delivery– Aids for the consumer– Quality of life at home and in the workplace– Law enforcement and homeland security

improvement

Other Societal Impacts of MSS and the Digital Divide• Potential negative effects

– Computer crime and internet fraud– Too much power– The dangers of the web– Blaming the computer phenomenon– Social responsibility

Other Societal Impacts of MSS and the Digital Divide• Digital divide

Growing gap between those who have and those who do not have the ability to use the technology

– The gap exists both within and between countries as well as between large and small businesses

– One device that is helping to close the gap is the smart phone that enables Internet access without the need of having a PC

The Future ofManagement Support Systems• MSS will play a larger role in strategic

management due to BPM systems• Increased use of the Web for MSS

development and applications• BI is being combined with other Web-based

enterprise systems (CRM, ERP, and KM)• Intelligent systems have become major

contributors in the fight against terrorism and fraud, as well as contributors to productivity and quality of life improvements

The Future ofManagement Support Systems• Web-based advisory services will mushroom

on the Internet• More complex MSS applications are expected

—so more complex problems will be solved.• The trend toward making MSS more

intelligent will • Advancements in mobile, wireless, and

pervasive computing require the use of a• greater and more diversified number of

intelligent devices

The Future ofManagement Support Systems• MSS will be available for dissemination via

application service providers (ASP) • Natural language-based search engines will

populate• the Internet, facilitating MSS construction by

reducing costs• The semantic Web will increase the use of• MSS• The use of voice technologies and natural

language processing will further facilitate the usage of MSS

The Future ofManagement Support Systems• Frontline decision support technologies that mostly

support CRM will become an integral part of IT in most medium-sized and large organizations

• MSS will continue to be integrated with ERP to provide better SCM, including manufacturing planning and control

• Large numbers of experts will offer expertise on the Internet and will become an important part of knowledge dissemination

• More and more companies will initiate formal KM programs; some will sell that knowledge to others

The Future ofManagement Support Systems• The usage of wireless technologies will allow

employees to access MSS and knowledge bases anytime and from anywhere

• Intelligent agents will roam the Internet and intranets, assisting decision makers in the monitoring and interpretation of information

• Groupware technologies for remote collaboration and communication will become easier to use, more powerful, and less expensive

The Future ofManagement Support Systems• Decision support tools for e-commerce

will expand to include more and better tools

• ADS systems are spreading across and within industries, empowering and sometimes replacing employees.

• Grid computing will be used for analysis of very large amounts of data