A group decision support system for value management studies in the construction industry

Group Decision Support System (GDSS) is a branch of information technology, which combines communication, computing and decision support technologies to facilitate the formulation and solution of unstructured problems by a group of people [DeSanctis G, Galluple RB. A foundation for the study of group decision support systems. Management Science 1987;33(May):598-600]. It has the potential to promote active participation, encourage interactions, and facilitate decision analysis in Value Management (VM) studies. Because of this potential and the strong demand for improving VM studies in Hong Kong and the rest of the world, this paper presents findings of a research project which demonstrates how GDSS can improve VM studies and the potential benefits of using a GDSS in VM studies. It begins with an introduction to the GDSS technology and its development, followed by a detailed description of the structure and functionalities of an Interactive Value Management Systems (IVMS)-a special GDSS designed for supporting and improving VM studies. The potential benefits of using the system in VM studies are also discussed.