Abstract

Efficient and effective decision making in the chaotic environment of humanitarian relief distribution (HRD) is a challenging task. Decision makers, in such situations, are required to concentrate on numerous attributes classified by three decision factors: objectives, variables, and constraints. Recent HRD literature mainly focuses on optimizing procedures while neglecting the quantification of influential requirements (factors) for information systems to provide decision-making support. This article addresses this gap by accumulating those affecting attributes from the literature. It investigates their practical implications in HRD by measuring the preferences of a Delphi panel of 23 experts. The results quantify the importance of each attribute – along with the newly added ones by the experts – in the proposed process model for HRD in a large-scale sudden onset. Our work provides future researchers not only with a comprehensive set of practically feasible decision-making factors in HRD but also with an understanding of their influences or correlations.

Recommended Citation

Rahman, M. T. & Majchrzak, T. A. (2019). Assessing Requirements for Decision Support Systems in Humanitarian Operations. In A. Siarheyeva, C. Barry, M. Lang, H. Linger, & C. Schneider (Eds.), Information Systems Development: Information Systems Beyond 2020 (ISD2019 Proceedings). Toulon, France: ISEN Yncréa Méditerranée.

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Assessing Requirements for Decision Support Systems in Humanitarian Operations

Efficient and effective decision making in the chaotic environment of humanitarian relief distribution (HRD) is a challenging task. Decision makers, in such situations, are required to concentrate on numerous attributes classified by three decision factors: objectives, variables, and constraints. Recent HRD literature mainly focuses on optimizing procedures while neglecting the quantification of influential requirements (factors) for information systems to provide decision-making support. This article addresses this gap by accumulating those affecting attributes from the literature. It investigates their practical implications in HRD by measuring the preferences of a Delphi panel of 23 experts. The results quantify the importance of each attribute – along with the newly added ones by the experts – in the proposed process model for HRD in a large-scale sudden onset. Our work provides future researchers not only with a comprehensive set of practically feasible decision-making factors in HRD but also with an understanding of their influences or correlations.