D-Side: A Facility and Workforce Planning Group Multi-criteria Decision Support System for Johnson Space Center

"To understand and protect our home planet, to explore the universe and search for life, and to inspire the next generation of explorers" is NASA's mission. The Systems Management Office at Johnson Space Center (JSC) is searching for methods to effectively manage the Center's resources to meet NASA's mission. D-Side is a group multi-criteria decision support system (GMDSS) developed to support facility decisions at JSC. D-Side uses a series of sequential and structured processes to plot facilities in a three-dimensional (3-D) graph on the basis of each facility alignment with NASA's mission and goals, the extent to which other facilities are dependent on the facility, and the dollar value of capital investments that have been postponed at the facility relative to the facility replacement value. A similarity factor rank orders facilities based on their Euclidean distance from Ideal and Nadir points. These similarity factors are then used to allocate capital improvement resources across facilities. We also present a parallel model that can be used to support decisions concerning allocation of human resources investments across workforce units. Finally, we present results from a pilot study where 12 experienced facility managers from NASA used D-Side and the organization's current approach to rank order and allocate funds for capital improvement across 20 facilities. Users evaluated D-Side favorably in terms of ease of use, the quality of the decision-making process, decision quality, and overall value-added. Their evaluations of D-Side were significantly more favorable than their evaluations of the current approach. Keywords: NASA, Multi-Criteria Decision Making, Decision Support System, AHP, Euclidean Distance, 3-D Modeling, Facility Planning, Workforce Planning

A case study in multiple criteria decision support systems

Evaluation of strategic alternatives is an important task for strategic managers. This is a difficult task due to inherent complexities of the evaluation process and lack of structured information. The evaluation process must consider external opportunities and threats, and internal strengths and weaknesses. This paper presents a case study in multiple criteria decision support systems. The decision support system presented in this paper utilizes the model presented in the appendix along with several computer systems including EXPERT CHOICE and Spreadsheets to enhance and aid the decision maker\u27s- intuition in evaluating potential alternatives

Software Tool Integrating Data Flow Diagrams and Petri Nets

Data Flow Diagram - Petri Net (DFPN) is a software tool for analyzing other software to be developed. The full name of this program reflects its design, which combines the benefit of data-flow diagrams (which are typically favored by software analysts) with the power and precision of Petri-net models, without requiring specialized Petri-net training. (A Petri net is a particular type of directed graph, a description of which would exceed the scope of this article.) DFPN assists a software analyst in drawing and specifying a data-flow diagram, then translates the diagram into a Petri net, then enables graphical tracing of execution paths through the Petri net for verification, by the end user, of the properties of the software to be developed. In comparison with prior means of verifying the properties of software to be developed, DFPN makes verification by the end user more nearly certain, thereby making it easier to identify and correct misconceptions earlier in the development process, when correction is less expensive. After the verification by the end user, DFPN generates a printable system specification in the form of descriptions of processes and data

Legal Bills That Make Sense: A Case of a Strategic Pricing DSS

The complexity and heterogeneity of today\u27s world have resulted in an increasingly litigious society which finds a growing need for more lawyers. In the midst of such growth, many law firms are challenged by their clients over their legal bills. Problematic billing practices are not a secret in the law practitioners\u27 circle [4][7][10][16]. The amount of legal fees paid to a lawyer is typically determined by such factors as the lawyer\u27s specialty, education, experience, title, and reputation. Although clients would hire a law firm that would charge less, the cost alone is not a deciding factor when selecting attorneys, which implies that a low price or a good pricing strategy may not be a core competence [11][12] for a law firm. Nevertheless, a good pricing strategy coupled with reliable analytical techniques remains an important business factor. Take legal fee disputes for instance. As the demographics of clients shift from individuals to corporations, more clients can afford the financial and human resources to fight their legal bills [1][2][5][7][10][22]. This trend calls for a serious reconsideration on how to structure and determine legal fees, not simply because of disputes and nuisance but because the billing process must be approached from a strategic point of view so that legal bills may make sense for both the law firms and the clients. In the law practitioner\u27s community, numerous forums are being reported surrounding the issue of how to structure legal fees [13][17][18][24]. This phenomenon clearly indicates two facts: (i) there is no consensus among law practitioners on how legal fees should be determined, and (ii) a \u27system\u27 or a rational model of fee determination is acutely in need. While various methods are currently employed by law practitioners for different types of services, they can be categorized into a few groups. The most popular billing method is called \u27hourly billing.\u27 Legal fees are calculated by multiplying a predetermined hourly rate by the number of hours the lawyer spends on the case. While law firms find it inadequate to set fees arbitrarily (which they do), surveys confirm that this billing method is predominant [8][24]. As this approach was found inappropriate in some special cases, several alternative billing methods were introduced. Such alternative methods are often referred to as \u27value billing.\u27 Three commonly used value billingapproaches are: fixed fees, unconventional time-based billing, and result-based billin

A clustering algorithm to identify information subsystems

This paper presents an algorithm to cluster the entities and relationships identified by database designers into a set of internally cohesive subsystems. Our algorithm is based on the calculation of a distance score that is inversely related to the similarity of interactions of a pair of entities with the relationships in a binary entity-relationship matrix. Our algorithm avoids manual manipulation of rows and columns required by some of the available approaches (Feldman et al, 1986; Teorey, et al, 1989). It has been implemented on a PC, and does not require a super computer as the Wei and Gaither (1990) method does. Using a part-machine clustering problem presented by King (1980), we also show that our algorithm is superior to King\u27s rank order cluster algorithm which requires manual intervention to suppress exceptional entries before one can arrive at the final solution. Directions for further research are identified

A hybrid Delphi-SWOT paradigm for oil and gas pipeline strategic planning in Caspian Sea basin

The Caspian Sea basin holds large quantities of both oil and natural gas that could help meet the increasing global demand for energy resources. Consequently, the oil and gas potential of the region has attracted the attention of the international oil and gas industry. The key to realizing the energy producing potential of the region is the development of transnational export routes to take oil and gas from the landlocked Caspian Sea basin to world markets. The evaluation and selection of alternative transnational export routes is a complex multi-criteria problem with conflicting objectives. The decision makers (DMs) are required to consider a vast amount of information concerning internal strengths and weaknesses of the alternative routes as well as external opportunities and threats to them. This paper presents a hybrid model that combines strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis with the Delphi metho

Euclid: An Interactive Decision Support System with Applications

Euclid is a simple and yet sophisticated Interactive Decision Support System. Euclid uncovers some of the complexities inherent in the evaluation of strategic alternatives.Euclid is based on a simple concept of dividing decision criteria into: Maximizing (Opportunities/Strengths) and Minimizing (Threats/Weaknesses) . Euclid can be used in an interactive mode for‘‘goal seeking’’and‘‘what-if’’analysis.Decision makers often need a rational model like Euclid to help them manage this complex process and make informed decision

Information technology's impact on productivity in conventional power plants

The economy has undergone a profound structural transformation in the last two decades. The Information Technology (IT) revolution has expanded well beyond the cutting-edge high-tech sector redefining the rules of global competition. In general, a direct correlation between IT spending and organisational productivity (often referred to as the 'productivity paradox') has been very elusive. Numerous studies have been undertaken to either explain or dispel this paradox. While findings from earlier studies have been conflicting, recent firm-level studies indicate that IT investment has a positive impact on productivity. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been widely used to evaluate the comparative efficiencies of production processes. We propose a two-stage DEA model to decompose the IT investment impacts on productivity in the power plant industry. IT plays an important role in the effective and efficient generation of electricity in conventional power plants. The proposed model allows the integration of production performance and investment performance and provides management with a comprehensive performance evaluation system. We also propose a benchmarking model in conjunction with our DEA model to measure performance against the 'best-in-class'. The data from 20 public conventional power plants in Iran are used to illustrate and validate our model

A Self-regulating Information Acquisition Algorithm for Preventing Choice Regret inMulti-perspective Decision Making

In a world filled with an increasing number of choices people must carefully select the information they acquire in order to make sound decisions that they will not regret in the future. This ranges from everyday life decisions to those made by experts in the business world. The authors introduce a novel information acquisition algorithm based on the value that information has when preventing a decision maker from regretting his or her current decision. The main features of the model include the capacity to account for different risk attitudes of the decision maker aswell as his or her forwardlooking behavior, the ability to assess choice objects (projects or products) defined by multiple characteristics and a self-regulation mechanism for the information acquisition process, even in the absence of information acquisition costs. The main properties of the algorithm are examined numerically