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The name Decision Support Systems appears practically anywehre, where data are being processed in order to support decision making. Since decisions are made practically anywhere, almost any piece of software likes to
be called decision support system. However, in practice you will find the term mostly linked to systems, which collect and store data in order to transform them into information via statistical analysis. In this
respect, the understanding of decision support in the context on www.apuuli.de bases on topics from the areas data warehouses as storage technology and on-line analytical processing (OLAP) as analysis technology.
My first working experience with decision support systems in health was in Fort Portal, Uganda, where I worked on the improvement of the existing health management information system (HMIS) of the district. Since then I am caught by HMIS, especially by the topics
- development of standard software for HMIS and
- data presentation techniques, which suit the needs of the health workers.
Today I am working in the data warehousing group of a major european financial service provider in Heidelberg, Germany. In that context I get to work with
front-line data-warehousing technologies, namely SAP Business Information Warehouse and SAS Data Warehouse. It feels good to see, that the own ideas one had when programming in the bush are not too far off those of
the high-techs.
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