ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the systems approach in dealing with the notions and applications of decision making in time. It provides an approach for the modeling of decision making systems over time or control. The chapter aims to distinguish between three forms of control: Input control, Transformation process control and Output control. A combination of input-transformation process controls may also yield a variety of other problems known as adaptive control problems. These problems are characterized by uncertainty concerning the transformation processes, and manipulation of some of the inputs. Adaptive control occurs when the manager is required to control an unknown process. He is required to identify the process and represent it by a structural form whose parameters are estimated on the basis of system observations. When a transformation process is unknown the information system attempts alternative parameters and functional representations of the transformation processes and uses a given set of criteria to choose a particular representation.
