Agile Development Methodologies: Are they suitable for developing Decision Support Systems

Recently, agile software development methodologies have received considerable attention from practitioners. One of the reasons seems to be that agile methods, to some degree, can be adaptable to different situations. However, as of yet there are no studies examining the suitability of agile methodologies for some kinds of information systems such as DSS. As DSS has a more specific nature (its core concept) than any other system, we need a suitable Software Development Methodology that copes with the significant characteristics of such systems. In this paper we will preview the development methodologies used in building DSS, compare between software development methodologies according to their suitability for building DSS, present the characteristics of DSS development methodology, and propose a new development methodology.