A web-based consumer-oriented intelligent decision support system for personalized e-services

Due to the rapid advancement of electronic commerce and web technologies in recent years, the concepts and applications of decision support systems have been significantly extended. One quickly emerging research topic is the consumer-oriented decision support system that provides functional supports to consumers for efficiently and effectively making personalized decisions. In this paper we present an integrated framework for developing web-based consumer-oriented intelligent decision support systems to facilitate all phases of consumer decision-making process in business-to-consumer e-services applications. Major application functional modules comprised in the system framework include consumer and personalized management, navigation and search, evaluation and selection, planning and design, community and collaboration management, auction and negotiation, transactions and payments, quality and feedback control, as well as communications and information distributions. System design and implementation methods will be illustrated using an example. Also explored are various potential e-services application domains including e-tourism and e-investment.