Group operating systems for decision factories of the future: an extended relational GDSS architecture

The authors focus on technological issues for a unifying GDSS (group-decision-support system architecture) architecture. A relational GDSS architecture using extended database concepts and an associated processing kernel or GDSS operating system (GOS) are set forth. The proposed architecture is sufficiently robust to represent existing and anticipated group decision support systems. Major benefits include: (1) system configuration, session control, group work products, and research variable settings are stored in and can be retrieved from a common database; (2) a GOS is recognised to be a query processor used to define, control, and coordinate group sessions; (3) the relational structure supports distributed implementations; and (4) the architecture is consistent with research proposing the integration of data, models, and solvers for decision applications