Assessing the validity of a group decision support system

Summary form only given. This paper examines an application of a group decision support system (GDSS) to aid groups of research and development managers concerned with developing strategy, and addresses some issues concerned with the validity of using the GDSS in this context. The application concerns the implementation of a GDSS with a large pharmaceutical company to help determine the development portfolio of projects through a series of management meetings supported by the GDSS. The determination of a this development portfolio needs to take into account issues of risk, resources, stage of development of each project and mix of projects. The decision making processes required to determine the development portfolio involved a number of management meetings within each of the different therapeutic areas, each involving representatives of technical and marketing functions, and these meetings prioritized development projects within each of a number of specific therapeutic areas. Two separate prioritized lists were determined in each therapeutic area, one for 'early stage' projects and the other for 'near market' projects. This process was followed by a further series of meetings of the development committee. This committee, which comprised senior managers including representatives of each therapeutic area, distilled the prioritized lists of projects for each therapeutic area into an overall prioritized development portfolio, again split between 'early stage' and 'near market' projects. The Teamworker GDSS was used in management meetings within both stages of the process.