A knowledge-based decision support system for portfolio investment

Project investigates an intelligent decision support system on stock portfolio investment - the Portfolio Investment Decision Support System (PIDSS). There are a number of knowledge-based systems and decision support systems in the finance domain. Knowledge-based systems and decision support systems can also be combined in intelligent decision support systems, which result in more desirable features. In this research project, an intelligent decision support system on stock portfolio investment, the Portfolio Investment Decision Support System (PIDSS), was developed and evaluated. The main themes of investigation were: (i) the system architecture of an intelligent decision support system, (ii) the use of PIDSS as a learning tool, and (iii) comparison of PIDSS with other financial advising systems. PIDSS was developed under a Personal Computer Windows platform with Visual Basic and PROLOG. The domain expertise was stock portfolio investment, based on Modem Portfolio Theory and the Capital Asset Pricing Model. PIDSS was trialed with Finance students at Central Queensland University. Data was gathered using questionnaires and interviews. With its graphical representation and explanation facility, PIDSS was found to be helpful for students' learning. This was consistent with previous research in educational software. PIDSS also appeared to have potential to be further developed as a professional tool. A number of areas relating to functionality and system architecture efficiency were identified, however, as additional improvement.