A Web-Based Decision Support Systems Framework for Ill-Structured Decision Situations

Decisions and actions in an ill-structured situation often include high-time constraints, lack of information, and poor cognitive efforts. Obtaining the necessary information through an information systems tool is supposed to be the best solution in such situations. To expose the decision situation, this study has taken the fire and civil defense service as the field of study. In exploring the required information resources, elements of the system architecture, and suitability of the proposed system in the current field, this study has resorted to the qualitative approach. To assess the dependability and performance of the systems, this study has used the RAS metrics and a black-box test. The result showed that the reliability stood within 62.70–70.00%, and its availability stood at 99.00% with a downtime of 3.65 days/year from a three-month study. As per the black-box test with standard 4G network connection, the system takes an average loading time of 1.00s for alphanumeric contents, 3.50s for images and graphics, and 5.50s for loading maps and navigations. This research evidenced that, the local emergency response and rescue units in developing countries like Bangladesh might want to use a well-designed response support system for improved acquisition, dissemination, and utilization of response information.