IDSSE-M: A Software System Engineering Methodology for Developing Intelligent Decision-Making Support Systems

Decision-making Support Systems (DMSSs) have been traditionally designed and built by using mainly the Waterfall method, Prototyping-Evolutive, or Adaptive approach in the last three decades. In this paper, the authors argue that while such approaches have guided to DMSS developers, they have been also demanded for adding ad-hoc, non-standardized activities and extra techniques based on their own expertise due to the scarcity of open-access available information of them. Additionally, from a Software Systems Engineering (SSE) viewpoint, such approaches cannot be considered as well-defined methodologies. This article contributes to the research stream of SSE-based DMSS development methodologies by reporting an initial empirical evaluation of IDSSE-M, a free-access methodology for designing and building Intelligent Decision Support Systems. IDSSE-M extends and adapts Turban and Aronson’s DSS Building Paradigm (open access), and Saxena’s Decision Support Engineering Methodology (proprietary). IDSSE-M offers DMSS developers at least a moderate level of usefulness, compatibility, and results demonstrability, which leads to a positive, good and beneficial attitude of using the methodology.