Capturing and Representing Decision Processes in the Design of an Information System

Abstract

Incorporating the decision processes used by people in complex decision tasks is one of the most significant challenges facing designers of information systems. The need to capture and represent those decision processes is a fundamental part of the development of any information system and requires input from users. The purpose of this paper is to present an approach to the design of information systems that identifies the information needs of the user, reveals the reasoning process and decision strategies employed by users to make decisions, and represents those processes and information requirements in such a way as to enhance system development. The research combines user needs analysis with cognitive modeling to provide the basis for the design of a prototype information system. The paper shows how user needs analysis provides the knowledge and information necessary to cognitively model the decision processes of users in a particular problem domain.