Ballast Water Management Decision Support System - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 224

Decision Support System Generic Structure
DSSs may have different elements and structures depending on their fi eld of
application and complexity (Denzer 2005 ). However, their very generic frame-
work may be similar in different fi elds of application and generally contains deci-
sions and data management. Decisions comprise of management decision steps
and decision models (see Fig. 1 ) which represent the core elements of the DSS. The
data management as component of a DSS comprises databases for data retrieval
and data storage.
The integration of basic DSS elements is important for the preparation of a
computer support architecture (Denzer 2005 ). As an example, the focus/application
of a DSS may use different methodologies supporting the decision making process
as, e.g., multicriteria decision making (e.g., Vincke 1993 ), fuzzy logic (e.g., Ru and
Eloff 1996 ; Ekel 2002 ; David and Malej 2002 ), neural networks, etc. Once a com-
puter model for a DSS process is prepared, this may also be used, with some adap-
tations, for another similar application and hence facilitate the development of a
new DSS.
Fig. 1 Basic structure of a decision support system (DSS) showing how decision models and data
management are related