Metagraphs: A Tool for Modeling Decision Support Systems

Amit Basu and Robert W. Blanning
Additional contact information
Amit Basu: Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203
Robert W. Blanning: Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203

Management Science, 1994, vol. 40, issue 12, 1579-1600

Abstract: Most decision support systems (DSS) contain stored data, data analysis procedures, and decision models. However, many DSS have grown to the point that the average end user is presented with a bewildering array of information resources that are difficult to manage in an effective manner. As a result users often gravitate to a few familiar models and are unaware of the data resources available to them and how these resources relate to the various models. For example, they may think that a model requires data that is unavailable, when in fact that data has recently been added to the data base or could be calculated from another model. Or they may believe that all of the data needed to execute a set of models is available and find out well into the analysis that it is not. Existing tools for DSS design do not provide an effective and comprehensive foundation for modeling all the components of a DSS, or for addressing all the important DSS analysis and design issues. In this paper we show how a new graph-theoretic structure, called a metagraph, can be used as a unifying basis for addressing many important questions in DSS development and use.

Keywords: model management; decision support systems; graph theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1994
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.40.12.1579 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:40:y:1994:i:12:p:1579-1600

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().