What is real-time decision support?
The question of “real-time” decision support has been addressed in articles and books for almost 30 years, but as computing, sensor, and networking technology changes and provides new capabilities our expectations for “real-time” DSS are increased. At a fundamental level, the hope has always been that our information and decision support systems will help decision makers monitor events, and evaluate, choose and act on alternatives as events actually unfold.An email from Neil Raden in late October prompted this Ask Dan! and my investigation of “real-time” decision support. Neil wrote “I read the article about Anderson Clayton, and I’m scratching my head a little. What is it about this application that you consider “real-time”? As far as I can tell, the implication is that if you request a report and/or analysis, and the system responds to you, it’s real-time. I don’t think this is a standard definition. What makes BI real-time is some form of straight-through processing, flowing data in
