An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for ERP System Selection: Case of a Petrochemical Company

As a comprehensive software solution, ERP seeks to integrate all departments and functions of a company into a single computer system that can satisfy all departments’ information needs. Nowadays, many companies have invested in the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. But, a large number of them have wasted millions of dollars as a consequence of failed ERP implementation and adoption. Some of the failures come back to the selection of inappropriate ERP systems. This paper seeks to propose a method for selecting appropriate ERP systems, to enable firms’ decision-makers to achieve an overall consensus by using a multicriteria decision making model

A novel cross-docking EOQ-based model to optimize a multi-item multi-supplier multi-retailer inventory management system

Nowadays, the retail industry accounts for a large share of the world’s economy. Cross-docking is one of the most effective and smart inventory management systems used by retail companies to respond to demands efficiently. In this study, the aim is to develop a novel cross-docking EOQ-based model for a retail company. By considering a two-stage inventory procurement process, a new multi-item, multi-supplier, multi-retailer EOQ model is developed to minimize the total inventory costs. In the first stage, the required items are received from suppliers and are held in a central warehouse. In the second stage, these items are delivered to several retail stores. The total inventory costs include four main parts, i.e., holding costs at the central warehouse, holding costs at the retail stores, fixed ordering costs from the suppliers, and fixed ordering costs from the central warehouse. The optimal inventory policy is obtained by analyzing extrema, and a numerical example is used to confirm the efficiency of the proposed model. Based on the obtained results, it is evident that the proposed model produces the optimal policy for the cross-docking system. Furthermore, the model enables managers to analyze the effects of key factors on the costs of the system. Based on the obtained results, the annual demand of each retailer, the ordering cost by the central warehouse, the ordering cost at each retail store, and the holding cost at each retail store have a direct impact on the optimal cost. Furthermore, it is not possible to describe the effects of the holding cost at the central warehouse on the optimal cost of the system generally

Urban bus fleet routing in transportation network equipped with park-and-ride: a case study of Babol, Iran

Recently, most cities have tried to connect park-and-ride facilities with public transit vehicles. The present study aims to design urban bus routes in the transportation network equipped with park-and-ride. Seven important factors which affect the design of urban bus network are identified through the literature review. These factors include demand coverage, route directness, passengers’ satisfaction, minimum length of bus route, budget, use of existing bus routes and number of lines. In this article, by use of the mentioned factors, a new model is developed to determine the urban bus routes. The new model figures the routes with park-and-ride as origin and Central Business District (CBD) as destination, in such a manner that the covered demand is maximized. Our novel method is more effective than other options currently available. In fact, it uses the most important factors in designing urban bus routes. Furthermore, an efficient Genetic Algorithm (GA) based approach is represented to solve large-scale problems. Numerical results show the effectiveness of this approach. At last, the developed model is applied to design the urban bus routes in the transportation network of Babol (Iran)

Risk Management in Construction Projects Considering the Cross-Dependency Project Risks: Utility Maximization

Nowadays, risk management is a good way to deal with the risks that may occur in a project. In risk response analysis, risks are often assumed to be interdependent. In fact, the risks affect each other in project. Implementing and managing various projects, including construction projects, has a lot of ambiguous cases. Such cases, called uncertainty, change the outcome sometimes better, and sometimes worse than anticipated. Complexity, challenge and uncertainty are more common in building projects with different interactions between the pillars inside and outside it. Therefore, in order to realize the quantitative and qualitative goals of these projects, it is necessary to use a framework for identifying risks, monitoring and controlling them in relation to the activities and complexity of their communications .In this article, first we consider a construction project and then, with experts' opinions and a brain storm meeting, we identified the risks involved, then, according to experts, we determined the strategy for each risk. Finally, we have used an optimal model for choosing risk response strategies with respect to the risks’ interdependence. The main finding through the analysis of the project is that the low attention or neglect of the interdependence of risk, reduces the expected utility and increases the implementatio

Fuzzy-Data Envelopment Analysis approach to Enterprise Resource Planning system analysis and selection

Nowadays, companies have invested considerable resources in the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. As a comprehensive software solution, ERP seeks to integrate all departments and functions of a company into a single computer system that can satisfy all departments' information needs. Many companies have wasted millions of dollars as a consequence of failed ERP implementation and adoption. Some of these failures come back to the selection of an ineffective ERP system. This article seeks to propose a method for selecting appropriate ERP systems, to enable firms' decision-makers to achieve an overall consensus by using a decision support process. In addition, since estimating distinct and precise data in the field of Information Systems is hard, a Fuzzy-Data Envelopment Analysis model is used to evaluate the value of each ERP software solution using subjective judgments made by a group of high prestigious IT experts in the petrochemical industry.No Full Tex

A multicriteria decision model for supplier selection in portfolios with interactions

Supplier evaluation and selection problems are inherently multicriteria decision problems. Numerous analytical techniques ranging from simple weighted scoring to complex mathematical programming approaches have been proposed to solve these problems. However, traditional supplier selection models too often fail to consider the interaction and the capacity interdependency among the suppliers. Suppliers may exhibit internal interactions if the evaluation criteria used for one supplier are believed to be significantly affected by the evaluation criteria used by one or more of the other suppliers in the group. We propose a new branch-and-bound algorithm that generates portfolio alternatives based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The DEA model proposed in this study evaluates alternative supplier portfolios with a multicriteria model that considers possible interactions among the suppliers

A methodology for selecting portfolios of projects with interactions and under uncertainty

Effective project evaluation and selection strategies can directly impact organizational productivity and profitability. Numerous analytical techniques ranging from simple weighted scoring to complex mathematical programming approaches have been proposed to solve these problems. However, traditional project selection methods too often fail to consider both the uncertainties in projects and the interaction among projects. Some prior studies have considered the interaction among projects in deterministic environments. Others have dealt with stochastic environments but have not considered project interdependencies. This study aspires to fill this gap in the project portfolio selection literature. Information system/information technology (IS/IT) projects are used in this study because they are frequently subject to uncertainties due to estimation difficulties and bounded by interactions due to technological interdependencies. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to select the best portfolio of IS/IT projects while taking both project uncertainties (modeled as fuzzy variables) and project interactions into consideration simultaneously. We also present a numerical example to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework and exhibit the efficacy of the procedures