Facilitating Electronic Business Planning with Decision Making Support Systems

Abstract

Decision making support has evolved over time and across disciplines [3] with much research focusing on ways to improve such support. In the process, there has been an evolution from simple data access and reporting to complex analytical, creative support. Meanwhile electronic business planning, a complex process, that can be facilitated through management science, economics, statistics, and other technological tools, has shown great promise for overall business control and management in the new E-era. However, managers are rarely aware of these tools, are unskillful in their use, unwilling to, or incapable of, acquiring the proficiency. In this ongoing project, we intend to explore how decision making support systems (DMSS) can facilitate electronic business planning by deriving an operational e-business model and illustrating how the model can be delivered through a DMSS. Such delivery will enable managers to measure and evaluate the impact of plans on electronic business performance.