Resumen
In the past, Decision Support Systems (DSS) and Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) were viewed as distinct types of information systems, designed to accomplish unique and specific tasks within the enterprise. As organizations have become more global and have come to rely upon ever-increasing bodies of data to inform action within their business processes, these two categories of information systems have evolved into symbiotic tools of management. For its part, KMS capture expert best practices and other corporate intellectual property where as DSS take longitudinal transactional data and explore patterns, trends and relationships among measures of business activity as a means to evaluate performance and to make informed choices. But the systematic analysis of outcomes employing DSS many times suggest best practices that in turn find their way into sister KMS as frameworks, guidelines, standards or benchmarks governing day-to-day activity. These knowledge artifacts in turn contribute to the reshaping of business processes and influence individual worker performance. The outcomes of these changes are then tracked over time through DSS data capture. As part of subsequent data analysis, DSS help to continuously refined the knowledge guiding future corporate action, and so it goes. This article will explore the complementary and mutually reinforcing relationship of DSS and KMS, drawing upon evidence from a number of industries including: architectural consulting and construction, high-tech manufacturing and services, consumer goods manufacturing and distribution, and healthcare.