Development of a Web-Based Decision Support System for Child Growth Evaluation using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) Method at the Narwastu Child Development Center

Abstract

Monitoring child growth is an essential activity for assessing children's health and development from an early age. The Narwastu Child Development Center (CDC) routinely measures children's weight and height every month as the basis for growth evaluation. However, the current manual or semi-digital recording and evaluation process presents several challenges, including data processing errors, difficulties in managing historical measurement records, and inefficient evaluation procedures. This study aims to develop a web-based Decision Support System (DSS) to facilitate a more effective and structured child growth evaluation process using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method. The SAW method is employed to evaluate children's growth based on weighted criteria of body weight and height, producing preference values and corresponding growth status classifications. The system development process consisted of requirements analysis, system design, implementation, and testing using the Black Box Testing method. The results indicate that the developed system is capable of managing child growth data, performing automatic SAW calculations, presenting growth evaluation results, and providing historical records as well as graphical visualizations of children's growth. Based on the testing results, all system functions operated as expected and met the specified requirements. Therefore, the developed system effectively improves the efficiency of child growth data management and supports decision-making in the child growth evaluation process at the Narwastu Child Development Center.