A Decision Support System for Ship Maintenance Capacity Planning

In this paper, the basic framework and algorithms of a decision support system are discussed, which enhance process and capacity planning at a large repair shop. The research is strongly motivated by experiences in a project carried out at a dockyard, which performs repair, overhaul and modification programs for various classes of navy ships. We outline the basic requirements placed upon order acceptance, process planning and capacity scheduling for large maintenance projects. In subsequent sections a number of procedures and algorithms to deal with these requirements, in particular a procedure for workload-based capacity planning, a database system to support process planning are developed, as well as a resource-constrained project scheduling system to support work planning at a more detailed level. The system has been designed to support decision making at the Navy Dockyard in particular, however, we believe that, due to its generic structure, it is applicable to a wide range of project-based manufacturing and maintenance environments

Model based decision support for planning of road maintenance

In this article we describe a Decision Support Model, based on Operational Research methods, for the multi-period planning of maintenance of bituminous pavements. This model is a tool for the road manager to assist in generating an optimal maintenance plan for a road. Optimal means: minimising the Net Present Value of maintenance costs, while the plan is acceptable in terms of technical admissibility, resulting quality, etc. Global restrictions such as budget restrictions can also be imposed.\ud \ud Adequate grouping of maintenance activities in view of quantity discounts is an important aspect of our model. Our approach is to reduce the complexity of the optimisation by hierarchical structuring in four levels. In the lowest two levels maintenance per lane sector is considered, first with an unbounded planning horizon and next with a bounded planning horizon and time-windows for maintenance. The grouping of maintenance activities for a specific road is the topic of the third level. At the fourth level, which we will not consider in this article, the problem of optimal assignment of the available maintenance budgets over a set of roads or road sections takes place. Here, some results are presented to demonstrate the effects of grouping and to show that this hierarchical approach gives rise to improvements compared with previous work

Advanced resource planning as decision support module to ERP.

In this paper, we show that the planning and decision-support capabilities of the MPC (Manufacturing Planning and Control) system, which forms the core of any ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) package, may be substantively enhanced by including a Decision Support Module (DSM) as an add-on at the midterm planning level. This DSM, called Advanced Resource Planning (ARP), serves as parameter setting process as well as tool for improving the structure of the ERP system itself. The ultimate goal of the DSM is to yield realistic information both for scheduling, sales and marketing, strategic and operational decision making and suppliers and customers.

Decision support system for the long-term city metabolism planning problem

A Decision Support System (DSS) tool for the assessment of intervention strategies (Alternatives) in an Urban Water System (UWS) with an integral simulation model called “WaterMet²” is presented. The DSS permits the user to identify one or more optimal Alternatives over a fixed long-term planning horizon using performance metrics mapped to the TRUST sustainability criteria (Alegre et al., 2012). The DSS exposes lists of in-built intervention options and system performance metrics for the user to compose new Alternatives. The quantitative metrics are calculated by the WaterMet² model and further qualitative or user-defined metrics may be specified by the user or by external tools feeding into the DSS. A Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach is employed within the DSS to compare the defined Alternatives and to rank them with respect to a pre-specified weighting scheme for different Scenarios. Two rich, interactive Graphical User Interfaces, one desktop and one web-based, are employed to assist with guiding the end user through the stages of defining the problem, evaluating and ranking Alternatives. This mechanism provides a useful tool for decision makers to compare different strategies for the planning of UWS with respect to multiple Scenarios. The efficacy of the DSS is demonstrated on a northern European case study inspired by a real-life urban water system for a mixture of quantitative and qualitative criteria. The results demonstrate how the DSS, integrated with an UWS modelling approach, can be used to assist planners in meeting their long-term, strategic level sustainability objectives

Taxonomic classification of planning decisions in health care: a review of the state of the art in OR/MS

We provide a structured overview of the typical decisions to be made in resource capacity planning and control in health care, and a review of relevant OR/MS articles for each planning decision. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, to position the planning decisions, a taxonomy is presented. This taxonomy provides health care managers and OR/MS researchers with a method to identify, break down and classify planning and control decisions. Second, following the taxonomy, for six health care services, we provide an exhaustive specification of planning and control decisions in resource capacity planning and control. For each planning and control decision, we structurally review the key OR/MS articles and the OR/MS methods and techniques that are applied in the literature to support decision making

An integrated MCDA software application for forest planning : a case study in southwestern Sweden

Forest planning in Sweden today translates not only into planning of timber production, but also for the provision of other functions and services. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) methods provide a way to take also non-monetary values into account in planning. The purpose of this study was to gain experience on how to use a forest decision support system combined with an MCDA tool in practical forestry. We used a new forest planning tool, PlanWise, which includes an integrated MCDA module, PlanEval. Using the software, the decision maker can compare different forest plans and evaluate them against his/her objectives in a structured and analytical manner. The analysis thus provides a ranking of the alternatives based on the individual preferences of the decision maker. PlanEval and the MCDA planning process are described in a case study, where the manager of a forest estate in southwestern Sweden used the program to compare different forest plans made for the estate. In the paper, we analyze possibilities and challenges of this approach and identify problems such as the adherence to formal requirements of MCDA techniques and the difficulty of comparing maps. Possibilities to expedite an MCDA planning process further are also discussed. The findings confirm that integration of an MCDA tool with a forest decision support system is valuable, but requires expert assistance to be successful

Using a knowledge-based approach: the way healthy communities make decisions

The planning for Knowledge Cities faces significant challenges due to the lack of effective information tools. These challenges are magnified while planning healthy communities. The Australian Health Information Council (AHIC) concluded in its last report that health information needs to be shared more effectively (AHIC, 2008). Some research justifies the use of Decision Support Systems (DSS) as an E-planning tool, particularly in the context of healthy communities. However, very limited research has been conducted in this area to date, especially in terms of evaluating the impact of these tools on decision-makers within the health planning practice. The paper presents the methodological instruments which were developed to measure the impact of the E-planning tool (i.e., Health Decision Support System [HDSS])) on a group of health planners, namely, the Logan Beaudesert Health Coalition (LBHC). The paper is focused on the culture in which decisions were made before and after the intervention of the HDSS. Subsequently, the paper presents the observed impact of the HDSS tool, to facilitate a knowledge-based decision-making approach. This study is an attempt to make some contribution to the Knowledge Cities literature in the context of planning healthy communities by adopting E-planning tools