The Use of Spreadsheets for Decision Support

Chapter 5 - Using Spreadsheets as a Decision Support Tool: An Application for Small Businesses
Managing IT in Government, Business & Communities
by Gerry Gingrich (ed)
Idea Group Publishing 2003

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The Use of Spreadsheets for Decision Support

Spreadsheets have been used as decision support tools in many different ways. For instance, one recent example describes the use of spreadsheets to allocate production resources and combine raw materials in an optimal mix in wood panel manufacturing (Buehlmann, Ragsdale and Gfeller, 2000).

Spreadsheets, Decision Support, and Small Business

Spreadsheets provide users with the capability to alter figures and to see the effects the alterations have on recommendations. Although spreadsheets have been associated with the concept of decision support for a number of decades (Stair and Reynolds, 1999), there are few documented examples of their successful use in small businesses. Much of the limited research into small businesses has investigated the success factors for information technology, based upon the current use of IT/DSS or the design and development of specific DSSs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). Little work has been done specifically to identify those areas that have not been adapted to DSS, but show potential for its introduction for the small business (Duan, Kinman and Xu, 2002). In relation to their use of IT, small businesses are often resource-poor - suffering from a lack of appropriate know-how in relation to using IT effectively, and lacking the time, financial resources, and planning ability to improve their situation (Burgess, 2002).

A 2001 study of 133 manufacturing small businesses in the UK revealed limited use of decision support systems (Duan, Kinman and Xu, 2002). A lack of staff time to analyse needs and identify solutions was the primary reason given for the lack of use. Where used effectively, firms with a more strategic outlook implement them. They mainly take the form of previously developed packages and most of them are targeted towards support routine decisions.

Because of these factors, there is an opportunity for effective decision support tools to make a real impact on small businesses (Duan, Kinman and Xu, 2002).

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