Differential benefits derived from decision support tools for domain novices versus experts

There is a commonly perceived need for decision support systems and other computer tools to support practitioners working in complex problem solving domains. These practitioners are frequently domain experts. However, very few such tools are actually adopted in the workplace. Users often perceive them to require too much work to justify the benefits derived. In this work, we 1) examine differences in the quantity and type of benefits derived by domain novices and experts from a specific decision support system, and 2) discuss how understanding of these differential benefits can help system developers to select a target user group, select appropriate DSS strategies to meet the needs of this user group, and where to focus development efforts.