ABSTRACT
Human service professionals need to be aware of the variety of management information technology (IT) applications to communicate with IT professionals and to select applications that support their work and solve their problems. This chapter attempts to organize, clarify, and simplify terms and concepts related to management applications relevant to the human services. It discusses the five categories of management applications: data processing; management or agency information system; knowledge-based system, expert systems; decision support system (DSS); and performance support system. Data processing tasks include collecting, storing, retrieving, manipulating, transferring, and outputting data. The IT applications have their roots in efforts to improve organizational decision making, to create artificial intelligence, and to train workers. Artificial intelligence applications model human intelligence and acquire knowledge to solve intellectually challenging problems. A DSS is a computer-based application designed to assist professionals in making complex decisions. A DSS helps the user retrieve, manage, and display information about a decision.
