Abstract
Effective utilization of information has become more important in information systems of inter/intranet era, such as real time decision support systems or mass-customization systems. In this paper, a concept of information potential is proposed for considering the effectiveness of information utilization. This concept is analogous to the potential field theory, where the information potential shows the degree of necessity of information in the decision and the information power shows the effect of information in the decision. Based on the proposed concept, a design method of decision support systems is proposed, where the intelligent agent technology is used for evaluating information potential. This method is applied to a real time decision support system, especially a securities dealing decision support system to confirm its effectiveness.
