Sistemas de apoio a tomada de decisão: um estudo empírico sobre o uso do sistema visual flash na gestão industrial

Abstract

An increasingly competitive and globalized market require organisations able to obain quick answers to daily problems. This study intends to understand how large industrial organisations use the information provided by a decision support system to support its daily operations. The starting point for this study was the identification of key hypothesis found in the literature on the topic. Then these hypothesis weretested using a questionnaire that explored how directors, managers and analysis from Usiminas Steel company use "Visual Flash, the organisations main decisionsupport mystem. The survey contained 17 assertions that had to be evaluated in terms of how strongly the interviewee agreed/disagreed with the stated in a Likert scale. Based on the results provided by the questionnaire as well as unstructured qualitative data collected during the interview process, this studyshowed that some users complained about the excess amount of data inputs required by Visual Flash and reported that in some cases they consult the system only to obtain data able to justify decisions already taken, so partially challenging its role as a primary decision-making tool. At the same time, most respondents confirmed that the system plays a key role in providing timely and precise organisational information at both operational and strategic levels, being recognised as a valuable asset for the company.