Interface Design for Decision Systems

A key aspect of well-designed decision systems is the recognition of important decision functions implemented as explicit facets of the system. The literature is replete with discussion about what these facets ought to be. The essential ones involve the decision model, agents to handle task distribution and completion, data, solvers that execute model instances, visualization, and scenario development to explore problem instances. The interaction among these facets in conjunction with the user is what makes for effective problem solving. The additional dimension that must be recognized in design is the fact that users typically possess a wide range of abilities but are all vested with decision making authority. This makes it necessary for the interface design to provide the functionality described above while allowing for effective interaction by a range of users. We use a classification scheme for users by labeling them as system builders, professionals, and naïve users. We develop a framework that juxtaposes system facets with user abilities to derive some interface design principles. We present the results of our work with examples in the supply chain domain.