Building Decision Support Systems
Building Decision Support Systems
Value analysis: justifying decision support systems
MIS Quarterly
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
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Both researchers and practitioners consider usability of decision support systems (DSS) to be the most important feature that an effective DSS should possess. The buzzword 'user-friendly' is so overused by vendors and system designers that it has almost lost its meaning. In this era when DSSs are deployed by organizations towards strategic ends, it makes sense to determine at what price userfriendliness should be obtained. The main purpose of this study was to determine empirically whether user-friendliness is indeed associated with DSS effectiveness. Results from a mail survey of 201 DSS users indicated that user-friendliness has a positive association with decision quality and overall satisfaction, but has no significant relationship with time savings and cost effectiveness. The results also indicate that user-friendliness may hinder productivity. This finding has some implications for DSS designers/developers and researchers. Overall, the findings suggest that while user-friendliness is highly desirable of a DSS, it does not contribute to DSS effectiveness in terms of some of the major measures - time savings, productivity, and overall cost effectiveness.