Higher education decision making and decision support systems

The authors illustrate several issues in decision support and decision support systems (DSS), state of the art research in these fields, and also their own studies in designing a higher education DSS. The final section contains our contribution in outlining the modules of the DSS, involving the present systems and databases of FSEGA and UBB, results and activities belonging to FSEGA students, teaching and research staff, to assist decisions for all the actors implicated in the processes, in various specific situations.decision support, decision support systems (DSS), higher education institutions, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

An Agent-Based Simulation for Water Sharing Between Different Users

Water sharing has become a serious problem in France. One of the objectives of 1992 and 2000 directives proposed by the European Union was to reduce both the frequency and the extent of water conflicts through the establishment of multilateral negotiations, where different public and private interests can be represented in a structured institutional environment. In France, many negotiations take place at local level between farmers, water supplies, public services and environmental lists to allocate water resources between users. We suggest that Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) using a multi-agent approach could help negotiations between different players by showing the consequences of water allocation rules and taking in consideration the players' respective attitudes and their ability to change their behaviour.Multiagent-based simulation, user and agent modelling, conflict resolution and negotiation, irrigation application, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Integration of decision support systems to improve decision support performance

Decision support system (DSS) is a well-established research and development area. Traditional isolated, stand-alone DSS has been recently facing new challenges. In order to improve the performance of DSS to meet the challenges, research has been actively carried out to develop integrated decision support systems (IDSS). This paper reviews the current research efforts with regard to the development of IDSS. The focus of the paper is on the integration aspect for IDSS through multiple perspectives, and the technologies that support this integration. More than 100 papers and software systems are discussed. Current research efforts and the development status of IDSS are explained, compared and classified. In addition, future trends and challenges in integration are outlined. The paper concludes that by addressing integration, better support will be provided to decision makers, with the expectation of both better decisions and improved decision making processes

An Architectural Framework of a Decision Support Platform for e-Business

The rapid development of e-Business urges the need for online integrative partnership and collaborative business process management. These trends call for a new dimension of decision support: online multiplicitive decision interoperability. We define it as a decision support platform for e-Business, which facilitates inter-organizational decision making process allowing dynamic partnership. As it is not the common decision support system we familiar with, we propose a new architectural framework of this decision support platform. This framework carries a set of unique characteristics that should be incorporated in the design and development of such platform

ADDRESSING THE INHERENT LIMITATIONS OF TRADITIONAL MODELLING FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY

This article addresses the literatures in respect of the inherent limitations of traditional modelling techniques forsustainable energy planning in a Developing Economy (DE). DE are undergoing socio-economic changes in theirenergy settings - socio-economic policies such liberalisation, financial sourcing and climate change implication ofenergy projects. This article describes a critical review of the inherent dynamics of Sustainable Energy Development(SED) and reveals the limitations of traditional planning tools such as optimisation, econometric and generalsimulation models. It argues that traditional approaches are inadequate for SED in the DE due to its inherentweakness in guiding future policy decisions. Optimisation based models may be suited for well-defined solutions,however, the macro-energy scene at a decision support level in most DE do not lend itself to simplified modellingtechnique that are rooted on past algorithms. Econometric models has seen applications across many economies,sadly, they fail to consider the technological nature of energy supply (production) and demand (consumption) in arapidly changing DE. Further, they fail to demonstrate the path taken and erroneously assumed conditions ofequilibrium for energy planning and policy formulation. This article bridge the gaps in literatures by showcasing theinherent weaknesses of traditional planning approaches and the urgent need to seek an alternative paradigm shift forsustainable energy planning and policy formulation in the DE.Keywords: Energy, Developing Economy, Frameworks, Optimization, Modelling

Integrating group Delphi, fuzzy logic and expert systems for marketing strategy development:the hybridisation and its effectiveness

A hybrid approach for integrating group Delphi, fuzzy logic and expert systems for developing marketing strategies is proposed in this paper. Within this approach, the group Delphi method is employed to help groups of managers undertake SWOT analysis. Fuzzy logic is applied to fuzzify the results of SWOT analysis. Expert systems are utilised to formulate marketing strategies based upon the fuzzified strategic inputs. In addition, guidelines are also provided to help users link the hybrid approach with managerial judgement and intuition. The effectiveness of the hybrid approach has been validated with MBA and MA marketing students. It is concluded that the hybrid approach is more effective in terms of decision confidence, group consensus, helping to understand strategic factors, helping strategic thinking, and coupling analysis with judgement, etc

Higher education decision making and decision support systems

The authors illustrate several issues in decision support and decision support systems (DSS), state of the art research in these fields, and also their own studies in designing a higher education DSS. The final section contains our contribution in outlining the modules of the DSS, involving the present systems and databases of FSEGA and UBB, results and activities belonging to FSEGA students, teaching and research staff, to assist decisions for all the actors implicated in the processes, in various specific situations

Higher education decision making and decision support systems

The authors illustrate several issues in decision support and decision support systems (DSS), state of the art research in these fields, and also their own studies in designing a higher education DSS. The final section contains our contribution in outlining the modules of the DSS, involving the present systems and databases of FSEGA and UBB, results and activities belonging to FSEGA students, teaching and research staff, to assist decisions for all the actors implicated in the processes, in various specific situations