<p>The main purpose of this research is to use Hermeneutic research approach to find out how Decision Support System (DSS) is used in banks and financial services. The research started from one stance, from which the further process could be extended to reach more complete picture of Decision Support System’s usage in strategic decision makings in banks. The research is also trying to find out the drawbacks and benefits of the DSS which have been used nowadays in banks. Furthermore, the future improvements of using DSS to make better decisions related with moral and different environments are also being discussed in the research findings.</p><p>During the primary data collection, resources from different channels have been used to support the research. The primary data sources include lectures and discussion in three banks’ visiting opportunities in Stockholm, Sweden, one interview with IT Vice president from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, New York, two interviews with a professor and a director respectively from Lund University and Financial Services Innovation Centre in University College Cork, Ireland.</p><p>Experiences from both academic and practical have been shared to strength the research’s validity and trustworthiness. Hermeneutic research approach addresses through the whole research process which needs to be open-minded and flexible.</p><p>Unawareness of DSS for people who are working in banks is one of the issues today. Different embedded models regarding various functions are not so clear to bank staff; thus there is a gap between human decisions and system decisions. There is a variation of requirements between central banks, retail banks, commercial banks, investment banks. Hence there should be a differentiation when implementing a system. Banking systems are widespread systems which are influenced by environment factors, political, economic, socio-cultural and technological variables.</p>

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to explore how support systems enable human control within normal flight operations. The thesis focuses on the use of memory supports during flight, such as a handheld computing device, memory strategies and checklists. The support systems are studied from the theoretical perspective of Human Factors. In particular, decision making theories have contributed to the thesis. From previous research it is found that feedback to the operator in case of a human error is essential to keep him or her in a safe sequence of decisions and actions.</p><p>To facilitate the pilots’ tasks in cockpit, computing devices are out on the market. Several of the technical aids are computers installed in cockpit whereas others are smaller, portable devices with hardware not specifically designed for use in cockpit. Jump-seat observations have been performed at an airline company to explore the pilots’ work process in cockpit where a handheld computing device, with hardware not specifically designed for cockpit, is in use. Subsequent semi-structured interviews were conducted to receive the pilots’ experiences of findings from the observations and to receive descriptions of decisions and support systems.</p><p>The thesis includes a description of flight operations from a pilot perspective. The main focus is on operations in the preflight phase where the new computing device is used. Identified characteristics in flight operations are factors such as cooperation, communication, interruptions. Furthermore, identified factors in the decision making were such as routine, environmental constraints, discrete alternatives and dependency between decisions. Feedback points during the sequence of tasks performed with the handheld computing device were distinguished. These points are moments when feedback is possible. For example, when the pilots cross-check tasks they receive feedback from each other. It was found that the pilots did not use every opportunity to receive feedback on their performance. The reason of the non-used feedback point was that it was not required by the Standard Operating Procedures or by any functions or design of the device. Within flight operations in general, it was found that the most important techniques to detect a human error such as a memory lapse were by pilots’ earlier experiences, the use of checklists and by receiving feedback from the other pilot.</p>

<p>In this study, five real-life problem situations were used to explore the challenges of developing and implementing decision support tools for management of an urban water utility in Uganda. The study sought to explore how the degree of adoption of formal decision support tools in practice, generally perceived to be low, could be improved. In the study, an Action Research (AR) approach was used. AR is an inquiry process that involves partnership between researchers and practitioners for the purpose of addressing a real-life problem issue, while simultaneously gener-ating scientific knowledge. Unlike other research methods where the researcher seeks to study organizational phenomena but not to change them, the action researcher attempts to create or-ganizational change and simultaneously to study the process. It is recognized that AR methods provide a potential avenue to improve the practical relevance of Information Systems (IS) re-search.</p><p>The five cases that were considered in the study involved participatory problem structuring to address water distribution bottlenecks; identification of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) reduction strategies; facilitation of decentralized management of customer accounts; monitoring and con-trol of procurements and expenditure; and geospatial investigation of declining water sales. Dur-ing the study, participation in problem identification was achieved through discussions and brain-storming sessions bringing together top and middle managers within the organization. A number of prototype decision support tools were developed and implemented. Maps and other geovisu-alization tools were also used to inform and enhance the processes of collective problem identifi-cation and structuring.</p><p>Results of the study emphasized the need for proper problem structuring prior to the formula-tion of actions; the challenge of moving from planning to action; the importance of user in-volvement in the development of tools; and the need to manage IS implementation as part of a holistic, organization-wide change process. The challenges of embedding formal decision support within existing work systems in organizations were highlighted, and recommendations were made on how best to achieve this. The AR approach was found to be useful in bridging the gap be-tween academic research and technological practice, thus supporting the development of IS with immediate and practical benefits to organizations.</p>

<p>This thesis investigates computer-based support tools to facilitate decision-making in civilian and military operations. As flexibility is essential when preparing for unknown threats to society, this support has to be general. Further motivations for flexible and general solutions include reduced costs for technical development and training, as well as faster and better informed decision-making.</p><p>We use the term <i>Effects-Based Management of Operations</i> to denote the accomplishment of desired effects beyond traditional military goals by the deployment of all types of available capabilities. Supporting this work, DISCCO (Decision Support for Command and Control) is a set of network-based services including <i>Command Support</i>, helping commanders in the human, collaborative and continuous process of evolving, evaluating, and executing solutions to their tasks, Decision Support, improving the human process by integrating automatic and semi-automatic generation and evaluation of plans, and a <i>Common</i> <i>Situation Model</i>, capturing the hierarchical structure of the situation regarding own, allied, neutral, and hostile resources.</p><p>The use of the DISCCO has been investigated in three different applications: planning for establishing surveillance of an operation area, planning for NBC defense, and executing a riot control operation. Together, these studies indicate that DISCCO is applicable in many different classes of Effects-Based Management of Operations. Hence, this generic concept will contribute to the work of both the civilian and military defense in dealing with a broad range of current and future threats to the society.</p>

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität St. Gallen, 2001.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 1999. Graduate Programme in Business. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-208). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ56268.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 1993. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 150-158).

Thesis (M. Sc.(Computer Science))--University of Pretoria, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 144 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis was aimed at the development of a Geographical Information System (GIS) based model to support the Rwanda Land Use and Development Master Plan. Developing sustainable land management is the main task of this master plan. Stakeholder’s involvement was of key importance. Their demands should be analysed and visualised to support discussions and the decision-making process. Spatial Multicriteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a proven method for land-use planning purposes. However, most land-use planning applications focus on a specific theme, such as urban development. In addition, land-use planning is often limited to a relatively small area. This thesis focused at the development of a countrywide GIS model, containing all land-uses accommodated in three main land-use categories: urban, agriculture and conservation. The GIS model was largely based on the Land-Use Conflict Identification Strategy (LUCIS) model. Many of the goals, objectives, and subobjectives that described the earlier mentioned land-use categories were adopted from the original model. However, a significant number of them were dropped, and new were created to suit the Rwandan situation. Stakeholder’s involvement was realized by assigning weights to the goals and preference maps. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used as weighting method. ESRI’s ArcGIS ModelBuilder was used to give the model shape in the GIS. Firstly, suitability maps were created of all elements in the model. The suitability maps were then transformed into preference maps by weighting them. In the next step the preference maps were collapsed in three classes: low, medium and high preference. Finally, the preference maps of the three land-use categories were combined, in order to visualize conflict areas. Ortho photos proved to be useful when acting as reference for the suitability and preference maps. Despite a large number of missing datasets, the GIS model was executed to simplify the understanding. However, many of the obtained results were unreliable because of the incompleteness of datasets, and can therefore not be used for decision-making.  Unfortunately, due to the stage of the project it was not possible to obtain weights from the stakeholders, and should therefore be done when the time is right. Right Choice DSS, a very user-friendly decision support application, was proposed to use for calculating weights. To conclude, the developed GIS model integrated countrywide land-use suitability mapping and stakeholders’ wishes that can be used for discussions and decision making.