Using Autonomous Software Agents to Create the Next Generation of Decision Support Systems*
研究探索自主软件代理在决策支持系统中的应用潜力，通过构建和增强一个现有系统，提出代理增强型决策支持系统的通用框架，指出其构建难度更大但能带来显著用户收益。
The purpose of this research is to explore the promise of autonomous software agents in Decision Support Systems (DSS). Because definitions of software agents extant in the literature are divergent, we develop and provide a descriptive definition useful for our purpose. The benefits of agents and the particular characteristics of agents leading to DSS enrichment are examined. To facilitate this we build a DSS described elsewhere in the literature and enhance it with different types of autonomous software agents. From this experience, a general framework for agent‐enabled DSS is suggested. It is concluded that such a DSS in general will be more difficult to build than traditional DSS, but at least some agent‐enabled DSS will bring significant benefit to users.