*SIM Competition Paper:* Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Planning and Budgeting: A Study of Decision Support System Evolution

This paper describes the evolution of a planning and budgeting decision support system. The system supports farm program planning and budgeting within the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service of the US Department of Agriculture. Online interactive techniques are used through the Foresight planning and System 2000 database software. Numerous extensions of these techniques are formulated and comparisons made with industry. The study probes the nature of the system development process in a highly volatile environment, and the psychological motives of professionals involved. The forces at work are generalized to fit other environments. The results shed light on how other successful systems might be developed employing similar methods and techniques. Future extensions of this system and new scenarios are postulated and generalized in order to provide a basic framework for analysis of key decision support functions.