Modeling the Strategic Process of Decision-Making Support Systems Implementations: A System Dynamics Approach Review

Implementing decision-making support systems (DMSS) is considered an organizationally complex and risky task that is influenced by dynamic technical and social-political issues. Consequently, DMSS implementation failures, with associated economic loses, are still reported. While several statistics-based (static) quantitative models of successful factors and qualitative (descriptive) models to implement DMSS are available, few quantitative dynamic models have been posed. In this paper, we illustrate how a dynamic simulation model of the DMSS implementation process can be designed. We use a system dynamics approach via an extended methodology, which is called critical realism-based methodology for studying soft systems dynamics. Validation is realized through 1) the theoretical validity of the model, 2) the model´s capability in reproducing historical DMSS implementation paths, and 3) the model´s capability in predicting new DMSS implementation paths from new cases. Simulation results suggest the adequacy of using these modeling methods to complement the knowledge on the DMSS implementation processes.