Unit-3

Data Mining Techniques

There are several major data mining techniques have been developing and using in data mining projects
recently including association, classification, clustering, prediction, sequential patterns and decision tree. We
will briefly examine those data mining techniques in the following sections.

Association
Association is one of the best-known data mining technique. In association, a pattern is discovered based on a
relationship between items in the same transaction. Thats is the reason why association technique is also
known as relation technique. The association technique is used in market basket analysis to identify a set of
products that customers frequently purchase together.

Retailers are using association technique to research customers buying habits. Based on historical sale data,
retailers might find out that customers always buy crisps when they buy beers, and, therefore, they can put
beers and crisps next to each other to save time for customer and increase sales

Classification
Classification is a classic data mining technique based on machine learning. Basically, classification is used to
classify each item in a set of data into one of a predefined set of classes or groups. Classification method
makes use of mathematical techniques such as decision trees, linear programming, neural network and
statistics. In classification, we develop the software that can learn how to classify the data items into groups.
For example, we can apply classification in the application that given all records of employees who left the
company, predict who will probably leave the company in a future period. In this case, we divide the records
of employees into two groups that named leave and stay. And then we can ask our data mining software to
classify the employees into separate groups.

Clustering
Clustering is a data mining technique that makes a meaningful or useful cluster of objects which have similar
characteristics using the automatic technique. The clustering technique defines the classes and puts objects in
each class, while in the classification techniques, objects are assigned into predefined classes. To make the
concept clearer, we can take book management in the library as an example. In a library, there is a wide range
of books on various topics available. The challenge is how to keep those books in a way that readers can take
several books on a particular topic without hassle. By using the clustering technique, we can keep books that
have some kinds of similarities in one cluster or one shelf and label it with a meaningful name. If readers want
to grab books in that topic, they would only have to go to that shelf instead of looking for the entire library.

Prediction
The prediction, as its name implied, is one of a data mining techniques that discovers the relationship between
independent variables and relationship between dependent and independent variables. For instance, the
prediction analysis technique can be used in the sale to predict profit for the future if we consider the sale is an
independent variable, profit could be a dependent variable. Then based on the historical sale and profit data,
we can draw a fitted regression curve that is used for profit prediction.
Sequential Patterns

Sequential patterns analysis is one of data mining technique that seeks to discover or identify similar patterns,
regular events or trends in transaction data over a business period.

In sales, with historical transaction data, businesses can identify a set of items that customers buy together
different times in a year. Then businesses can use this information to recommend customers buy it with better
deals based on their purchasing frequency in the past.

Decision trees
The A decision tree is one of the most common used data mining techniques because its model is easy to
understand for users. In decision tree technique, the root of the decision tree is a simple question or condition
that has multiple answers. Each answer then leads to a set of questions or conditions that help us determine the
data so that we can make the final decision based on it..

Other techniques

Several core techniques that are used in data mining describe the type of mining and data
recovery operation. Unfortunately, the different companies and solutions do not always share
terms, which can add to the confusion and apparent complexity.
Let's look at some key techniques and examples of how to use different tools to build the data
mining.

Association
Association (or relation) is probably the better known and most familiar and straightforward data
mining technique. Here, you make a simple correlation between two or more items, often of the
same type to identify patterns. For example, when tracking people's buying habits, you might
identify that a customer always buys cream when they buy strawberries, and therefore suggest
that the next time that they buy strawberries they might also want to buy cream.
Building association or relation-based data mining tools can be achieved simply with different
tools.

Classification
You can use classification to build up an idea of the type of customer, item, or object by
describing multiple attributes to identify a particular class. For example, you can easily classify
cars into different types (sedan, 4x4, convertible) by identifying different attributes (number of
seats, car shape, driven wheels). Given a new car, you might apply it into a particular class by
comparing the attributes with our known definition. You can apply the same principles to
customers, for example by classifying them by age and social group.
Additionally, you can use classification as a feeder to, or the result of, other techniques. For
example, you can use decision trees to determine a classification. Clustering allows you to use
common attributes in different classifications to identify clusters.

Clustering
By examining one or more attributes or classes, you can group individual pieces of data together
to form a structure opinion. At a simple level, clustering is using one or more attributes as your
basis for identifying a cluster of correlating results. Clustering is useful to identify different
information because it correlates with other examples so you can see where the similarities and
ranges agree.
Clustering can work both ways. You can assume that there is a cluster at a certain point and then
use our identification criteria to see if you are correct.
es (birthdays, anniversaries).

Prediction
Prediction is a wide topic and runs from predicting the failure of components or machinery, to
identifying fraud and even the prediction of company profits. Used in combination with the other
data mining techniques, prediction involves analyzing trends, classification, pattern matching,
and relation. By analyzing past events or instances, you can make a prediction about an event.
Using the credit card authorization, for example, you might combine decision tree analysis of
individual past transactions with classification and historical pattern matches to identify whether
a transaction is fraudulent. Making a match between the purchase of flights to the US and
transactions in the US, it is likely that the transaction is valid.

Sequential patterns
Oftern used over longer-term data, sequential patterns are a useful method for identifying trends,
or regular occurrences of similar events. For example, with customer data you can identify that
customers buy a particular collection of products together at different times of the year. In a
shopping basket application, you can use this information to automatically suggest that certain
items be added to a basket based on their frequency and past purchasing history.

Decision trees
Related to most of the other techniques (primarily classification and prediction), the decision tree
can be used either as a part of the selection criteria, or to support the use and selection of specific
data within the overall structure. Within the decision tree, you start with a simple question that
has two (or sometimes more) answers. Each answer leads to a further question to help classify or
identify the data so that it can be categorized, or so that a prediction can be made based on each
answer.
Decision trees are often used with classification systems to attribute type information, and with
predictive systems, where different predictions might be based on past historical experience that
helps drive the structure of the decision tree and the output.
Combinations
In practice, it's very rare that you would use one of these exclusively. Classification and
clustering are similar techniques. By using clustering to identify nearest neighbors, you can
further refine your classifications. Often, we use decision trees to help build and identify
classifications that we can track for a longer period to identify sequences and patterns
 Data Mining - Applications
Data mining is widely used in diverse areas. There are a number of commercial data mining
system available today and yet there are many challenges in this field. In this tutorial, we will
discuss the applications and the trend of data mining.

Data Mining Applications

Here is the list of areas where data mining is widely used

Financial Data Analysis

Retail Industry

Telecommunication Industry

Biological Data Analysis

Other Scientific Applications

Intrusion Detection

Financial Data Analysis

The financial data in banking and financial industry is generally reliable and of high quality
which facilitates systematic data analysis and data mining. Some of the typical cases are as
follows

Design and construction of data warehouses for multidimensional data analysis and data mining.

Loan payment prediction and customer credit policy analysis.

Classification and clustering of customers for targeted marketing.

Detection of money laundering and other financial crimes.

Retail Industry
Data Mining has its great application in Retail Industry because it collects large amount of data
from on sales, customer purchasing history, goods transportation, consumption and services. It
is natural that the quantity of data collected will continue to expand rapidly because of the
increasing ease, availability and popularity of the web.
Data mining in retail industry helps in identifying customer buying patterns and trends that lead
to improved quality of customer service and good customer retention and satisfaction. Here is
the list of examples of data mining in the retail industry

Design and Construction of data warehouses based on the benefits of data mining.

Multidimensional analysis of sales, customers, products, time and region.

Analysis of effectiveness of sales campaigns.

Customer Retention.

Product recommendation and cross-referencing of items.

Telecommunication Industry
Today the telecommunication industry is one of the most emerging industries providing various
services such as fax, pager, cellular phone, internet messenger, images, e-mail, web data
transmission, etc. Due to the development of new computer and communication technologies,
the telecommunication industry is rapidly expanding. This is the reason why data mining is
become very important to help and understand the business.

Data mining in telecommunication industry helps in identifying the telecommunication patterns,

catch fraudulent activities, make better use of resource, and improve quality of service. Here is
the list of examples for which data mining improves telecommunication services

Multidimensional Analysis of Telecommunication data.

Fraudulent pattern analysis.

Identification of unusual patterns.

Multidimensional association and sequential patterns analysis.

Mobile Telecommunication services.

Use of visualization tools in telecommunication data analysis.

Biological Data Analysis

In recent times, we have seen a tremendous growth in the field of biology such as genomics,
proteomics, functional Genomics and biomedical research. Biological data mining is a very
important part of Bioinformatics. Following are the aspects in which data mining contributes for
biological data analysis

Semantic integration of heterogeneous, distributed genomic and proteomic databases.

Alignment, indexing, similarity search and comparative analysis multiple nucleotide sequences.

Discovery of structural patterns and analysis of genetic networks and protein pathways.

Association and path analysis.

Visualization tools in genetic data analysis.

Other Scientific Applications

The applications discussed above tend to handle relatively small and homogeneous data sets for
which the statistical techniques are appropriate. Huge amount of data have been collected from
scientific domains such as geosciences, astronomy, etc. A large amount of data sets is being
generated because of the fast numerical simulations in various fields such as climate and
ecosystem modeling, chemical engineering, fluid dynamics, etc. Following are the applications
of data mining in the field of Scientific Applications

Data Warehouses and data preprocessing.

Graph-based mining.

Visualization and domain specific knowledge.

Intrusion Detection
Intrusion refers to any kind of action that threatens integrity, confidentiality, or the availability
of network resources. In this world of connectivity, security has become the major issue. With
increased usage of internet and availability of the tools and tricks for intruding and attacking
network prompted intrusion detection to become a critical component of network
administration. Here is the list of areas in which data mining technology may be applied for
intrusion detection

Development of data mining algorithm for intrusion detection.

Association and correlation analysis, aggregation to help select and build discriminating attributes.

Analysis of Stream data.

 Distributed data mining.

Visualization and query tools.

Data mining is a process that analyzes a large amount of data to find new and hidden information that
improves business efficiency. Various industries have been adopting data mining to their mission-critical
business processes to gain competitive advantages and help business grows. This tutorial illustrates some data
mining applications in sale/marketing, banking/finance, healthcare and insurance, transportation and medicine.

Data Mining Applications in Sales/Marketing

Data mining enables businesses to understand the hidden patterns inside historical purchasing transaction data,
thus helping in planning and launching new marketing campaigns in prompt and cost effective way. The
following illustrates several data mining applications in sale and marketing.

Data mining is used for market basket analysis to provide information on what product combinations
were purchased together when they were bought and in what sequence. This information helps
businesses promote their most profitable products and maximize the profit. In addition, it encourages
customers to purchase related products that they may have been missed or overlooked.
Retail companies use data mining to identify customers behavior buying patterns.

Data Mining Applications in Banking / Finance

Several data mining techniques e.g., distributed data mining have been researched, modeled and
developed to help credit card fraud detection.
Data mining is used to identify customers loyalty by analyzing the data of customers purchasing
activities such as the data of frequency of purchase in a period of time, a total monetary value of all
purchases and when was the last purchase. After analyzing those dimensions, the relative measure is
generated for each customer. The higher of the score, the more relative loyal the customer is.
To help the bank to retain credit card customers, data mining is applied. By analyzing the past data,
data mining can help banks predict customers that likely to change their credit card affiliation so they
can plan and launch different special offers to retain those customers.
Credit card spending by customer groups can be identified by using data mining.
The hidden correlations between different financial indicators can be discovered by using data
mining.
From historical market data, data mining enables to identify stock trading rules.

Data Mining Applications in Health Care and Insurance

The growth of the insurance industry entirely depends on the ability to convert data into the knowledge,
information or intelligence about customers, competitors, and its markets. Data mining is applied in insurance
industry lately but brought tremendous competitive advantages to the companies who have implemented it
successfully. The data mining applications in insurance industry are listed below:

Data mining is applied in claims analysis such as identifying which medical procedures are claimed
together.
Data mining enables to forecasts which customers will potentially purchase new policies.
Data mining allows insurance companies to detect risky customers behavior patterns.
Data mining helps detect fraudulent behavior.
Data Mining Applications in Transportation

Data mining helps determine the distribution schedules among warehouses and outlets and analyze
loading patterns.

Data Mining Applications in Medicine

Data mining enables to characterize patient activities to see incoming office visits.
Data mining helps identify the patterns of successful medical therapies for different illnesses.

Data mining applications are continuously developing in various industries to provide more hidden knowledge
that increases business efficiency and grows businesses.

Unit-1

Decision Support Systems (DSS) help executives make better decisions by using historical and current
data from internal Information Systems and external sources. By combining massive amounts of data with
sophisticated analytical models and tools, and by making the system easy to use, they provide a much
better source of information to use in the decision-making process.

Decision Support Systems (DSS) are a class of computerized information systems that support decision-
making activities. DSS are interactive computer-based systems and subsystems intended to help decision
makers use communications technologies, data, documents, knowledge and/or models to successfully
complete decision process tasks.

A decision support system (DSS) is a computer-based application that collects, organizes and analyzes
business data to facilitate quality business decision-making for management, operations and planning. A well-
designed DSS aids decision makers in compiling a variety of data from many sources: raw data, documents,
personal knowledge from employees, management, executives and business models. DSS analysis helps
companies to identify and solve problems, and make decisions.

Decision support systems (DSS) are interactive software-based systems intended to help
managers in decision-making by accessing large volumes of information generated from various
related information systems involved in organizational business processes, such as office
automation system, transaction processing system, etc.

DSS uses the summary information, exceptions, patterns, and trends using the analytical models. A
decision support system helps in decision-making but does not necessarily give a decision itself. The
decision makers compile useful information from raw data, documents, personal knowledge, and/or
business models to identify and solve problems and make decisions.

DSS is an interactive computer-based system to help decision makers use communications technologies,
data, documents, knowledge and/or models to identify and solve problems, complete decision process
tasks, and make decisions.
DECISION SUPPORT TOOLS

1. Multi-Dimensional Analysis Software: Also Known as Multi Software or OLAP (OnLine Analytical
Processing) Software that gives the user the opportunity to look at the data from a variety of different
dimensions.
2. Query Tools: Software that allows the user to ask questions about patterns or details in the data.
3. Data Mining Tools: Software that automatically searches for significant patterns or correlations in the
data.

DSS TYPES

1. Model-driven 2. Data-driven 3. Communication-driven 4. Document-driven and 5. Knowledge-driven

# Model-driven DSS

Model-driven DSSs are complex systems that help analyse decisions or choose between different
options. These are used by managers and staff members of a business, or people who interact with the
organization, for a number of purposes depending on how the model is set up - scheduling, decision
analyses etc. These DSSs can be deployed via software/hardware in stand-alone PCs, client/server
systems, or the web

This is the complex DSS, because it help the users to analyze decisions or choose between different options.
Managers and staff members use it to provide solutions to queries or problems.

# Data-driven DSS

Most data-driven DSSs are targeted at managers, staff and also product/service suppliers. It is used to
query a database or data warehouse to seek specific answers for specific purposes. It is deployed via a
main frame system, client/server link, or via the web. Examples: computer-based databases that have a
query system to check (including the incorporation of data to add value to existing databases.

It is mostly used by managers, staff and also suppliers. It is used to query a database or data warehouse to seek
specific answers for specific purposes. It is deployed via a main frame system, client?server link. Examples:
computer-based databases that have a query system to check (including the incorporation of data to add value to
existing databases.

# Communications-driven DSS

Most communications-driven DSSs are targetted at internal teams, including partners. Its purpose are to
help conduct a meeting, or for users to collaborate. The most common technology used to deploy the
DSS is a web or client server. Examples: chats and instant messaging softwares, online collaboration and
net-meeting systems.

Communications driven DSS use network and communications technologies to facilitate decision relevant
collaboration and communication. In these systems, communication technologies are the dominant
architectural component. Tools used include groupware, video conferencing and computer based bulletin
boards.
This kind of DSS are to help conduct a meeting, or for a group of users to collaborate. The most common
technology used to deploy the DSS is a web or client server. The examples are charts and instant messaging
software and online collaboration.

# Document-driven DSS

Document-driven DSSs are more common, targeted at a broad base of user groups. The purpose of such
a DSS is to search web pages and find documents on a specific set of keywords or search terms. The
usual technology used to set up such DSSs are via the web or a client/server system.

Document-driven DSS uses computer storage and processing technologies to provide document retrieval
and analysis. Large document databases may include scanned documents, hypertext documents, images,
sounds and video. Examples of documents that might be accessed by a document-driven DSS are policies
and procedures, product specifications, catalogs, and corporate historical documents, including minutes of
meetings and correspondence.

# Knowledge-driven DSS

Knowledge driven DSS can suggest or recommend actions to managers. These DSS are man machine
systems with specialized problem solving expertise. The "expertise" consists of knowledge about a
particular domain, understanding of problems within that domain, and "skill" at solving some of these
problems. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and expert systems havebeen used for scheduling in reservoir
operation and web based advisory systems. In recent years, connecting expert systems technologies to
relational databases with web based front ends has broadened the deployment and use of knowledge
driven DSS.

Broad range of systems covering users within the organization seting it up, but may also include others interacting
with the organization - for example, consumers of a business. Marketing usually use it to provide management
advice or to choose products/services was covered.

Characteristics of a DSS
Adaptability and flexibility
High levels of Interactivity DSS are computer-based systems designed for interactive use by
decision makers or staff users who control the sequence of interaction and the operations
performed.
Ease of use
Efficiency and effectiveness DSS are intended to improve the accuracy, timeliness, quality
and overall effectiveness of a specific decision or a set of related decisions. It provides a
single platform that allows all users to access the same information and access the same
version of truth, while providing autonomy to individual users and development groups to
design reporting content locally. DSSs are intended to improve the accuracy, timeliness,
quality and overall effectiveness of a specific decision or a set of related decisions.
Complete control by decision-makersThey are not intended to replace decision makers,
instead a DSS can support decision makers at any level in an organization.
 Ease of development As a standalone, integrated, and Web-based systems, a DSS delivers
an interactive, scalable platform for rapidly developing and deploying projects. Multiple
projects can be created within a single shared meta-data. Within each project, development
teams create a wide variety of re-usable meta-data objects. Most DSSs will allow for
extendability ,support for modelling and analysis and support for data access
Facilitation. DSS facilitate and support specific decision-making activities and/or decision
processes.
Ancillary. DSS can support decision makers at any level in an organization. They are NOT
intended to replace decision makers.
Repeated Use. DSS are intended for repeated use. A specific DSS may be used routinely or
used as needed for ad hoc decision support tasks.
Task-oriented. DSS provide specific capabilities that support one or more tasks related to
decision-making, including: intelligence and data analysis; identification and design of
alternatives; choice among alternatives; and decision implementation.
Identifiable. DSS may be independent systems that collect or replicate data from other
information systems OR subsystems of a larger, more integrated information system.
Decision Impact. DSS are intended to improve the accuracy, timeliness, quality and overall
effectiveness of a specific decision or a set of related decisions.
Support for decision-makers in semi-structured and unstructured problems.

Support for managers at various managerial levels, ranging from top executive to line managers.

Support for individuals and groups. Less structured problems often requires the involvement of
several individuals from different departments and organization level.

Support for interdependent or sequential decisions.

Support for intelligence, design, choice, and implementation.

Support for variety of decision processes and styles.

DSSs are adaptive over time.

Benefits of DSS
Improves efficiency and speed of decision-making activities.

Increases the control, competitiveness and capability of futuristic decision-making of the

organization.

Facilitates interpersonal communication.

Encourages learning or training.

 Since it is mostly used in non-programmed decisions, it reveals new approaches and sets up new
evidences for an unusual decision.

Helps automate managerial processes.

Components of a DSS
Following are the components of the Decision Support System:

Database Management System (DBMS): To solve a problem the necessary data may come from
internal or external database. In an organization, internal data are generated by a system such as TPS
and MIS. External data come from a variety of sources such as newspapers, online data services,
databases (financial, marketing, human resources).

Model Management System: It stores and accesses models that managers use to make decisions.
Such models are used for designing manufacturing facility, analyzing the financial health of an
organization, forecasting demand of a product or service, etc.

Support Tools: Support tools like online help; pulls down menus, user interfaces, graphical analysis,
error correction mechanism, facilitates the user interactions with the system.

Components of Decision Support System

1. Dialogue management: It has three subsystems. The user interface subsystem manages the
physical user interface. It controls the appearance of the screen, accepts input from the user and
displays the results. It also checks the user commands for correct syntax. The dialogue control
subsystem maintains a processing context with the user. The request translator is to translate the
user command into actions for the model management or data management components into a
format understandable by the user. Since flexibility and ease of use are important in DSS, GUIs
are becoming the standard for DSS applications. Database is normally through SQL.

2. Model management: The command processor receives the commands from the dialogue
management components and delivers those commands from the dialogue management
components to either the model base management system or the mode execution system.

3. Database management: It stores and manipulates the database as directed by either the model
management component or the dialogue management component. Secondly, it maintains an
interface with data sources that are external to the DSS, viz., TPS database, inter-enterprise
systems, external data utilities and other DSS applications.
Group Decision Support System (GDSS)

GDSS, or group decision support systems, are types of information systems whose purpose is to
help a group of managers solve unstructured or semi-structured problems. Group decision
support systems enhance the management decision-making process by providing groups with the
technology to collaboratively generate ideas, organize ideas, set priorities, resolve conflicts, and
arrive at solutions. Groupthink and destructive conflict miscommunication can be managed
effectively through the use of GDSS. Originally designed to facilitate face-to-face group
meetings, GDSS technology is now widely used in virtual space. Group decision support system
(GDSS) technology supports project collaboration through the enhancement of digital
communication with various tools and resources. These types of programs are used to support
customized projects requiring group work, input to a group and various types of meeting
protocols.
A group decision support system (GDSS) is an interactive computer based system that facilitates
a number of decision-makers (working together in a group) in finding solutions to problems that
are unstructured in nature. They are designed in such a way that they take input from multiple
users interacting simultaneously with the systems to arrive at a decision as a group.
The tools and techniques provided by group decision support system improve the quality and
effectiveness of the group meetings. Groupware and web-based tools for electronic meetings and
videoconferencing also support some of the group decision making process, but their main
function is to make communication possible between the decision makers.
In a group decision support system (GDSS) electronic meeting, each participant is provided with
a computer. The computers are connected to each other, to the facilitators computer and to the
file server. A projection screen is available at the front of the room. The facilitator and the
participants can both project digital text and images onto this screen.
A group decision support system (GDSS) meeting comprises different phases, such as idea
generation, discussion, voting, vote counting and so on. The facilitator manages and controls the
execution of these phases. The use of various software tools in the meeting is also controlled by
the facilitator.

Components of Group Decision Support System (GDSS)

A Group decision support system (GDSS) is composed of 3 main components, namely

hardware, software tools, and people.

Hardware: It includes electronic hardware like computer, equipment used for

networking, electronic display boards and audio visual equipment. It also includes the
conference facility, including the physical setup the room, the tables and the chairs
laid out in such a manner that they can support group discussion and teamwork.
Software Tools: It includes various tools and techniques, such as electronic
questionnaires, electronic brainstorming tools, idea organizers, tools for setting
priority, policy formation tool, etc. The use of these software tools in a group meeting
helps the group decision makers to plan, organize ideas, gather information, establish
priorities, take decisions and to document the meeting proceedings. As a result,
meetings become more productive.
People: It compromises the members participating in the meeting, a trained facilitator
who helps with the proceedings of the meeting, and an expert staff to support the
hardware and software. The GDSS components together provide a favorable
environment for carrying out group meetings.

Features of Group Decision Support System (GDSS)

Ease of Use: It consists of an interactive interface that makes working with GDSS
simple and easy.
Better Decision Making: It provides the conference room setting and various software
tools that facilitate users at different locations to make decisions as a group resulting
in better decisions.
 Emphasis on Semi-structured and Unstructured Decisions: It provides important
information that assists middle and higher level management in making semi-
structured and unstructured decisions.
Specific and General Support: The facilitator controls the different phases of the group
decision support system meeting (idea generation, discussion, voting and vote
counting etc.) what is displayed on the central screen and the type of ranking and
voting that takes place, etc. In addition, the facilitator also provides general support to
the group and helps them to use the system.
Supports all Phases of the Decision Making: It can support all the four phases of decision
making, viz intelligence, design, choice and implementation.
Supports Positive Group Behavior: In a group meeting, as participants can share their
ideas more openly without the fear of being criticized, they display more positive
group behavior towards the subject matter of the meeting.

Group Decision Support System (GDSS) Software Tools

Group decision support system software tools helps the decision makers in organizing
their ideas, gathering required information and setting and ranking priorities. Some of
these tools are as follows:

Electronic Questionnaire: The information generated using the questionnaires helps the
organizers of the meeting to identify the issues that need immediate attention, thereby
enabling the organizers to create a meeting plan in advance.
Electronic Brainstorming Tools: It allows the participants to simultaneously contribute
their ideas on the subject matter of the meeting. As identity of each participant
remains secret, individuals participate in the meeting without the fear of criticism.
Idea Organizer: It helps in bringing together, evaluating and categorizing the ideas that
are produced during the brainstorming activity.
Tools for Setting Priority: It includes a collection of techniques, such as simple voting,
ranking in order and some weighted techniques that are used for voting and setting
priorities in a group meeting.
 Policy Formation Tool: It provides necessary support for converting the wordings of
policy statements into an agreement.

What are Group Decision Support Systems? What are its

Components and Features?
The Decision Support System has been designed in such a way that it can be used conveniently
by the individual decision maker but the decision makers need to work in groups. So this
Decision Support System does not suit such a process which has given way for the development
of the group Decision Support System, which provides with the following advantages over the
Decision Support System

1. Better comprehensive consideration of the problems and the various relating issues.
2. Better group understanding of the problem.
3. Less likelihood of quibbling with the help of the 20/20 hindsight.
4. Better group commitment to the decision.
5. Better communication to/with the implementers.
Group Decision Support System according to De Sanctis and Gallupe is an interactive computer
based system, which helps in solving the various un-structured problems with the help of the
decision makers working in the groups.

Basic components of the Group Decision Support System

1. Hardware
i. Input / output devices.
ii. Audio visual instruments.
iii. Electronic display board/ screens.
iv. Computer equipments.
v. Conferencing infrastructure.
vi. Network systems.
2. Software
i. Database and database management system.
ii. Modeling capabilities.
iii. Dialogue management with multiple user access.
iv. Specialized application programmes to facilitate the group access.
3. People and the procedure
i. Trained facilitators.
ii. Decision making participants.
iii. Support staff.
iv. Laid down procedure.
v. Modus operandi.
Features of the Group Decision Support System
1. Very much similar to the Decision Support System.
2. Is a group decision facilitator.
3. Extension or expansion of the Decision Support System.
4. Helps in concentrating on the merits of the input without considering about the fact that who
gave it.
5. Enables every group member to address the issues.
6. Automated record keeping plays a critical support for the future review and the analysis.
Group Decision Support System success depends on the following factors
1. Improved pre planning.
2. Increased participation.
3. Open, collaborative meeting atmosphere.
4. Criticism free idea generation.
5. Idea organization and then evaluation.
6. Setting priorities.
7. Making decisions depending on the priorities.
8. Documentation.
9. Record keeping of the meetings.
10. Access to the external information.
11. Preservation of the organization memory.

Advantage of GDSS
(1) Time savings. For all categories of decision support systems, research has demonstrated and
substantiated reduced decision cycle time, increased employee productivity and more timely
information for decision making. The time savings that have been documented from using
computerized decision support are often substantial. Researchers, however, have not always
demonstrated that decision quality remained the same or actually improved.

(2) Enhance effectiveness. A second category of advantage that has been widely discussed and
examined is improved decision making effectiveness and better decisions. Decision quality and
decision making effectiveness are however hard to document and measure. Most researches have
examined soft measures like perceived decision quality rather than objective measures. Advocates of
building data warehouses identify the possibility of more and better analysis that can improve decision
making.

(3) Improve interpersonal communication. DSS can improve communication and collaboration
among decision makers. In appropriate circumstances, communications- driven and group DSS have
had this impact. Model-driven DSS provides a means for sharing facts and assumptions. Data-driven
DSS make "one version of the truth" about company operations available to managers and hence can
encourage fact-based decision making. Improved data accessibility is often a major motivation for
building a data-driven DSS. This advantage has not been adequately demonstrated for most types of
DSS.

(4) Competitive advantage. Vendors frequently cite this advantage for business intelligence
systems, performance management systems, and web-based DSS. Although it is possible to gain a
competitive advantage from computerized decision support, this is not a likely outcome. Vendors
routinely sell the same product to competitors and even help with the installation. Organizations are
most likely to gain this advantage from novel, high risk, enterprise-wide, inward facing decision
support systems. Measuring this is and will continue to be difficult.

(5) Cost reduction. Some researches and especially case studies have documented DSS cost saving
from labor savings in making decisions and from lower infrastructure or technology costs. This is not
always a goal of building DSS.

(6) Increase decision maker satisfaction. The novelty of using computers has and may continue
to confound analysis of this outcome. DSS may reduce frustrations of decision makers, create
perceptions that better information is being used and/or creates perceptions that the individual is a
"better" decision maker. Satisfaction is a complex measure and researchers often measure satisfaction
with the DSS rather than satisfaction with using a DSS in decision making. Some studies have
compared satisfaction with and without computerized decision aids. Those studies suggest the
complexity and "love/hate" tension of using computers for decision support.

(7) Promote learning. Learning can occur as a by-product of initial and ongoing use of a DSS. Two
types of learning seem to occur: learning of new concepts and the development of a better factual
understanding of the business and decision making environment. Some DSS serve as "de facto"
training tools for new employees. This potential advantage has not been adequately examined.

(8) Increase organizational control. Data-driven DSS often make business transaction data
available for performance monitoring and ad hoc querying. Such systems can enhance management
understanding of business operations and managers perceive that this is useful. What is not always
evident is the financial benefit from increasingly detailed data.

Disadvantages of GDSS:
Cost -infrastructure costs to provide the hardware and software/room/network connectivity can be
very expensive
Security - especially true when companies rent the facilities for GDSS; also, the facilitator may be a
lower-level employee who may leak information to peers
Technical Failure - power loss, loss of connectivity, relies heavily on bandwidth and LAN/WAN
infrastructure - properly setup system should minimize this risk
Keyboarding Skills - reduced participation may result due to frustration
Training - learning curve is present for users, varies by situation
Perception of messages - lack of verbal communication could lead to misinterpretation
WHAT IS EXPERT SYSTEM?
Artificial intelligence based system that converts the knowledge of an expert in a specific subject
into a software code. This code can be merged with other such codes (based on the knowledge of
other experts) and used for answering questions (queries) submitted through a computer. Expert
systems typically consist of three parts: (1) a knowledge base which contains the information
acquired by interviewing experts, and logic rules that govern how that information is applied; (2)
an Inference engine that interprets the submitted problem against the rules and logic of
information stored in the knowledge base; and an (3) Interface that allows the user to express the
problem in a human language such as English.

A computer application that performs a task that would otherwise be performed by a human
expert. For example, there are expert systems that can diagnose human illnesses, make financial
forecasts, and schedule routes for delivery vehicles. Some expert systems are designed to take
the place of human experts, while others are designed to aid them.

Expert systems are part of a general category of computer applications known as artificial
intelligence . To design an expert system, one needs a knowledge engineer, an individual who
studies how human experts make decisions and translates the rules into terms that
a computer can understand.

Expert system is an artificial intelligence program that has expert-level knowledge about a
particular domain and knows how to use its knowledge to respond properly. Domain refers to the
area within which the task is being performed. Ideally the expert systems should substitute a
human expert. Edward Feigenbaum of Stanford University has defined expert system as an
intelligent computer program that uses knowledge and inference procedures to solve problems
that are difficult enough to require significant human expertise for their solutions. It is a branch
of artificial intelligence introduced by researchers in the Stanford Heuristic Programming
Project.

The expert systems is a branch of AI designed to work within a particular domain. As an expert
is a person who can solve a problem with the domain knowledge in hands it should be able to
solve problems at the level of a human expert. The source of knowledge may come come from a
human expert and/or from books, magazines and internet. As knowledge play a key role in the
functioning of expert systems they are also known as knowledge-based systems and knowledge-
based expert systems. The experts knowledge about solving the given specific problems is
called knowledge domain of the expert.
COMPONENTS OF EXPERT SYSTEMS

Basic Concept of an Expert System Function

An expert system has 3 components:

The Knowledge Base - Where the information is stored in the expert system in the form of facts and rules
(basically a series of IF statements). This is where the programmer writes the code for the expert system.

The User Interface - Where the user interacts with the expert system. In other words where questions are
asked, and advice is produced. As well as the advice that is output, the user interface can output
the justification features of an expert system. This is either How justification - where the system justifies its
reasoning for providing a piece of advice or Why justification - where the system justifies why a particular
question is being asked.
Justification allows the user piece of mind about why a question is asked or a piece of advice is provided,
and can increase their confidence in taking such advice.
It also makes it easier for the programmer of the system to ensure that it works correctly as it will flag up
areas where the expert system provides advice that is not intended by the programmer.

Inference Engine - This applies the facts to the rules and determines the questions to be asked of the user
in the user interface and in which order to ask them. This is the 'invisible' part of the expert system, which
is active during a consultaion of the system (when the user chooses to run the program).

The expert system consists of two major components: knowledge base and inference engine.

Knowledge base contains the domain knowledge which is used by the inference engine to draw
conclusions. The inference engine is the generic control mechanism that applies the axiomatic
knowledge to the task-specific data to arrive at some conclusion. When a user supplies facts or
relevant information of query to the expert system he receives advice or expertise in response.
That is given the facts it uses the inference engine which in turn uses the knowledge base to infer
the solution.

CHARACTERISTICS OF EXPERT SYSTEMS

High performance: They should perform at the level of a human expert.

Adequate response time: They should have the ability to respond in a reasonable amount of time.
Time is crucial especially for real time systems.
 Reliability: They must be reliable and should not crash.

Understandable: They should not be a black box instead it should be able explain the steps of the
reasoning process. It should justify its conclusions in the same way a human expert explains why
he arrived at particular conclusion.

ADVANTAGES OF EXPERT SYSTEMS

Availability: Expert systems are available easily due to mass production software.

Cheaper: The cost of providing expertise is not expensive.

Reduced danger: They can be used in any risky environments where humans cannot work with.

Permanence: The knowledge will last long indefinitely.

Multiple expertise: It can be designed to have knowledge of many experts.

Explanation: They are capable of explaining in detail the reasoning that led to a conclusion.

Fast response: They can respond at great speed due to the inherent advantages of computers over
humans.

Unemotional and response at all times: Unlike humans, they do not get tense, fatigue or panic
and work steadily during emergency situations.

What are the advantages of them?

The knowledge base can be updated and extended

They can contain a large amount of information

But the disadvantages are:

They are not able to learn from the mistakes

They cannot creatively come with new solutions for the issues
Its not easily achievable to mimic the exact knowledge of an Expert in Computer Programs

Advantages

Knowledge storage: Knowledge in an Expert System is easily storable in a computing device,

making it difficult loss.

 Continuity and reliability: As a human expert fatigue and wear over the course of the day and
age as the years pass, an Expert System (SE) suffers no loss of power over time, maintaining,
and even improving their capacity in decision-making.
Cloning Ability: An Expert System is sensitive to be replicated as many times as necessary.
Celerity: The speed with which you can work an Expert System for obtaining information from
a database or when performing numerical calculations is noticeably higher than any human
expert.
Profitable: An Expert System is a high-cost software development in its initial phase, but thanks
to cloning capacity profitability is very interesting for the end user.
Exposed environments: Unlike a human expert, Expert System has no impediment to work in
dangerous hazardous or environments, making it an essential tool for some procedures or
actions.

Limitations

Sense: An Expert System lacks common sense, so it is essential to specify in the Knowledge
Base each and every one of the conditions and circumstances of the context and environment.

Natural language: As a human uses a language in order to maintain communication with

another individual, an Expert System uses a programming language, which prevents the
possibility of an informal conversation.
Willingness to learn: The ability of a person to learn from mistakes is relatively high and fast.
Designing an Expert System that provides these conditions is rather complex.
Prioritize ability: For a human expert is not very difficult to differentiate between the relevant
issues and the irrelevant ones. For an Expert System is not so trivial.
Sensory Aptitude: An Expert System, unlike a human, is unable to perceive any of the five
senses, which limits their ability to perception.