328 The Method Framework for Engineering System Architectures
Decision support tool: any software application primarily focused on assisting com-
plex decision-making activities.
Decision support (DS) tools can be used to assist with making complex decisions by allowing
identification and weighting of selection criteria and providing capabilities to analyze the data col-
lected for the criteria. ese tools may be used, for example, to run several “what-if” iterations for
complex decisions that involve multiple, weighted criteria, thus facilitating the decision process.
ese tools typically utilize formal decision-making techniques, an overview of which is given in
Appendix D.
DS tools may be part of larger decision support systems, which c