An Intelligent Multiple Group Decision Support System: Prototype, Application and Evaluation

Decision support system (DSS) has been widely researched over the last two decades. Newconcepts and tools of DSS have appeared in the literature to aid decision makers in the mostuser-friendly fashion. Research on DSS has spread into multiple objective based DSS(MODSS) and group DSS (GDSS), among many others, offering many innovativeapplications in the literature. However, optimization based MODSSs have deterred manyprospective users because of the mathematical orientation of the specific multiple objectiveoptimization methods. Also, a variety of MODSSs are reported in the literature each using aspecific multiple objective optimization method, adding further complexity of choosing theright MODSS for the right problem.This paper proposes to alleviate the above problems by adding intelligent front end toMODSS. An intelligent MODSS architecture is proposed within a group decision-makingframework. An integrated multiple methodological approach, centered around systemdevelopment methodology, is adopted to develop the prototype. The Intelligent MultipleObjective Group DSS (IMOGDSS), as it is called, is extremely flexible which containsdatabase, multiple objective methodology base, knowledge base, and group decision makingmethod base. The paper also presents a sample application of IMOGDSS for "novice" users.It also presents the initial evaluation of IMOGDSS in a laboratory experimental setup, theresults of which are very positive. Future directions of research are also highlighted.