Customization is based on the direct involvement of the end-user, and the
consideration of institutional context and the specifics of the problem domain in
systems design and development. It is the users view of the problem and their
experience in many aspects of the management and decision making process
that the system is designed to support. This then must be central to a system's
implementation to provide the basis for user acceptance and efficient use.
Decision support systems, and their interfaces, are representations of the
problems they address as much as of the planning and decision making
processes they are designed to support. In the latter field, if not also in the
former, their users are the real experts. Thus, their expertise and experience
needs to be included in the systems.As a consequence, users must be
involved in the design and development, so that they can accept responsibility
and ownership for the software system.