Decision Support Systems - Case Study Example

Decision Support Systems Student’s name: Subject: Lecturer’s Name: Institutional affiliation: Date Due: Project Outline 1. Executive Summary 2. Background 3. Project Case Study 4. Project Objectives 5. SWOT Analysis 6. Conclusion Executive Summary Petrobras Limited, whose headquarters are located in Rio de Janeiro, has of most recent been faced by challenges that are mainly associated with the truck dispatch of oil from Tenoas, which is an oil distribution terminal, to various locations through out Brazil. This challenge has been caused by lack of a proper decision making mechanism to aid in the day to day dispatching of trucks that are charged with the delivery of oil and petrol products to the company’s retail outlets. As a company researcher and analyst, the general manager as requested that I carry out studies on the best decision support system that will enable the company’s staff at Tenoas to come up with the better decisions in regard to the challenge of trucks dispatch. In order to determine the best decision support system, requirements of the system and the inferences on drivers, I had to conduct interviews and on-site studies. The evaluation resulted in the functional requirements that, at the highest degree, were to generate a reasonable yet comprehensible and editable process for establishing the routine dispatching of oil tankers. After carrying out the requested studies, I came up with two suitable decision support systems: matrix layout and map layout decisions support systems. This paper will, therefore, discuss, compare and contrast the two support systems with regards to finding a lasting solution to the challenge. Project Background Petrobras is a Brazilian oil company that is mainly driven by the challenge of distributing oil products with the aim of driving development so as to make certain the future of the community. The company is traded publicly with the major shareholder being the Brazilian government. Apart from distribution the company is actively involved in the exploration, production and refinery of oil and other oil products such as petrochemicals and natural gas. It is also ranked amongst the leading oil companies in the country and internationally as it is present in over 25 nations. As stated earlier, the companies Tenoas distribution terminal has, since inception, been faced by truck dispatching problems with regard to the firm’s distribution business. The difficulty has resulted in time wastage and loss of business opportunities. The manual system that is in use has been noted as the cause of the challenge and, therefore, the company is looking for a means of providing a long lasting solution to the problem. I have, therefore, been appointed by the general manager to carry out a feasibility study of the difficulty and come up with a suitable solution. Problem Case Study As a company researcher and analyst, I have been tasked with carrying out a cognitive task evaluation through observations and interviews with the truck dispatchers so as to come up with a clear picture of the cognitive tasks, goals and challenges that are experienced in the dispatching of the oil tankers. Tenoas oil distribution terminal is charged with the delivery of various oil and petroleum products throughout the Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul. This activity is carried out mainly through the use of trucks and trains. Most clients of the firm have their personal delivery trucks hence they will call to pick up their various orders. Clients who do not possess their own trucks have the option of choosing between two trucking firms that have been contracted by the company to deliver their orders. These firms are Dalcoquoi and Stefani. The contract gives Stefani an estimated 40% while Dalcoquoi gets 60% of the total business within a month. The two companies have a total thirty one trucks, with Stefani having 13 while Dalcoquoi having 18 and their dispatchers have been working at Tenoas for 30 and 11 years respectively. At current, the organization employs a team of seven members whose roles are to coordinate the dispatching activities. One of the team members is tasked with carrying out the dispatching for the day after on a regular basis. The initial dispatching comprises a routine known as round 1, whereby the team makes a decision on who amongst the 31 truck drivers is assigned a given route and post. This decision relies on the requests that were made prior to the dispatching. The round one routine is carried out the night prior to the dispatch because of the fact that the truck drivers arrive from their previous postings at varied times and have to be sent out again. The challenges of dispatching are as a result of the constraints in the system and the non tangible aspects. For instance, the dispatching team has to take into account the volume of the requests, the total number of partitions in every truck, and the trucks capabilities. Other notable aspects include the state of the routes, the distances to be covered, and the total value of every route. The dispatchers also attempt to stabilize the total amount of money made by the truckers on a daily basis, and they also the oil products on different posts on every trip so as to trim down the costs as the trucking companies are paid as if the overall distance travelled were for a single request. The dispatchers are not only engaged in the dispatching activities but also perform other functions. As at current, the dispatching is carried out manually and consumes a lot of time before completion and the truck drivers, therefore, have to wait for a longer duration of time before getting their dispatching orders. In order to solve these crises, the dispatching team requires a decision support system that will enable them to make proper decisions minus affecting their dispatching authorities, and will also reduce the time frame used to make the dispatch decisions. The new system should make sure that the dispatching role is carried out continuously and effectively as opposed to the manual system that is in use and is quite intensive and difficult to comprehend for novel dispatchers. Project Objectives The objective of the assignment is to make sure that all of the cognitive roles that the dispatchers are required to carry out are met. In order to solve the challenges, the decisions support systems must enable the dispatcher to add, remove, and edit all the clients, requests, and truckers and portray all the present unfulfilled requests that include orders that were made the day before (Power D. J., 2009). The support system should be able to portray all the potential drivers for a request and demonstrate all the probable routes for a certain driver. It must also compute the costs of every route, facilitate course allocation to the drivers, demonstrate instances when delivering the products to numerous locations is beneficial and be able erase every request and log action after the trucker has returned. In addition, the decision support system should have a search function that will enable the dispatchers to look for a city, hauler, customers and hauler sorting tasks with consideration to the waiting period, approximated return time, payments made, capabilities and the firm (Rao, 2013). Moreover, the decision support system should display the availability and unavailability of a trucker, the waiting duration at Tenoas, the approximated arrival time at the customer premises and the return time to the distribution terminal, and all the other necessary details on every client, driver and order. Other requirements that should be taken into account include the ability of the system to create reports on the history and correlation of various data aspects at a higher degree. It must be able to show the balance in revenue between the contracted tracking companies while also enabling the dispatchers to observe this over specified durations of time, for instance, one week, two weeks or year-to-date (Schuff, 2010). It should also be enabled to exhibit the particulars of truckers’ deliveries together with dates, clients, locations, routes, earnings, times, and type for the same durations. Similarly, the system must show the customers’ orders for the given time frames and should take account of the ordered types, dates, truckers, amounts and costs. These data factors are the fundamental informational constituents of the system and can be signified using numerous outlines that is, iconic, analogical and propositional (Carter, 1992). The data aspects are as follows: (A). Truck: Truck identity, license plate number, name of the trucker and mobile phone number, carrying aptitude of motor vehicle and the total number of partitions, amount received to date, wages, log of deliveries and the distance covered in the city market. (B). On the client, the data factors should include: Client identity, his or her name, city location, telephone number, log of deliveries made, distance to be covered with the trucks, approximated delivery time frame, charge, and the ideal route (C). Order aspects should include the following: Request identity, customer name, city or location, amount paid, order, time constraint, time when the request was made and requested trucker (D). Delivery factors comprise identity of the delivery, Order identity, and truck identity (E). Route factors comprise: route identity, Delivery identity, an inventory of waypoints, total amount earned and total time SWOT Analysis of the Map and Matrix Layout Systems The two decision support systems are compared and contrasted with regard to their workflow and the probable effect they will have on the drivers and other workers. The study reveals that, if executed, the system will have an immense effect on the workers stationed at Tenoas. Through the system, programmers will get a hold of the truck and location assignments effectively while the drivers will have a shorter waiting period and a reasonable system. The managers are also likely to have a more socially responsible technology (Phillips-Wren, Ichalkaranje, & Jain, 2008). The comparison reveals the following issues: The two decision support systems (matrix and map) portray customer orders and trucks that are available at the moment. They also enable users to automatically and manually allot drivers to various routes by portraying the pertinent information required for making decisions. Even though, the two interfaces are equally decision support systems, they lay emphasis on diverse elements of the system while providing useful information, as opposed to just raw data that enable the dispatchers to have a total comprehension of the condition of the of the decision support system. The strategy towards the resource allotment predicament is similar in the sense that they both offer probable trucker-location arrangement when either a location or a trucker is chosen. When the arrangements are portrayed, contrasts can be arrived at in order to establish the advantages and disadvantages of a specified assignment. Both matrix and map layout systems help the dispatchers in the day to day decision making process through the provision of the reporting functionality and information boxes that can be utilized in establishing why a specified arrangement is more advantageous over the other, with regard to the requirements of the specified period. One of the main strengths of the matrix layout system is found in its ability to allow the user to observe all the probable trucker-location arrangement at an instance. The system exhibits all the possible delivery locations on a specified route together with all the drivers that are capable of delivering on the given route. On the other hand, the key strength of the map layout system is found in its ability to portray the spatial interaction or relationships between orders. This feature of the support system is highly valuable in the sense that it allows the dispatchers to envisage the locations where the truckers will be travelling to and the virtual distance to be covered between the posts. The map layout system is also prone to creating a superior sense of trust between the system itself and its users in that it allows users to observe the allotted routed on a map. This is contrary to the matrix layout system that exhibits text boxes that are prone to creating a sense of confusion and uncertainty of the trucks physical destination. The map layout interface is also known to provide the required information in a more tangible manner while the matrix layout interface is known to offer more data at once. A more general comparison between the two decision support systems reveals that while the matrix layout system focuses on the even allocation of the bad and good routes, the map layout system focus on the ration between the truckers’ wages and Stefani/ Dalcoquoi. Another notable comparison discloses that while the matrix interface presents all the arrangement that focuses on the driver and location and the users’ ability to decide on the hauler-route assignment, the map interface presented the driver’s preferred route, thereby offering a sense of assurance to the dispatcher in that it may be concluded that he or she has chosen the best possible route for the assignment. CONCLUSION In a nut shell, the two decision support system interfaces are designed by two varied designers and can be evaluated and contrasted for advance enhancements. Comparable elements of the support systems, for instance, the driver and route data and the dialogue platforms can be evaluated with the aim of establishing the most effectual characteristics. Once the determination of the effectual attributes is over, one can be able to alter the less satisfactory design aspects so as to imitate the effectual aspects. The proposed alterations will ensure dependability of the two decision support systems thereby making the user feel as if he is using a single system, as opposed to two systems in case of a side by side comparison experiment. I, therefore, recommend that the firm, Petrobras, utilize the two systems at a go because of the fact that the two decision support systems effectively harmonizes each other by assisting the user in the three key processes, namely: perception of pertinent information, creation of the situational appraisal and assumptions on the information, and selection of actions that should be considered. The use of the two systems together will also be advantageous as it will allow the user to make apposite decisions at the specified time (Power D. , 2002). Therefore, one has to note that the matrix and map layout systems were both developed with the aim of enhancing abilities of users through extension of their cognitive decision making aptitudes. A blend of the two interfaces will offer diverse observations of a given system and enable the user or dispatcher to come up with proper decisions that are founded on the most significant aspects of a given situation. References Carter, G. M. (1992). Building organizational decision support systems. waltham, Massachusetts: Academic Press, Inc. PhillipsWren, G, Ichakaranje, N, and Jain, L. C. (2008). Intelligent Decision Making: An AI- Based Approach. New York City: Springer. Power, D. (2002). Decision support systems: concepts and resources for managers. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group,. Power, D. (2009). Decision Support Basics. New York City: Business Expert Press. Rao, V. R. (2013). Decision Making in Manufacturing Environment Through Graph Theory and Multiple Attribute Decision Making Methods: Volume 2, Volume 2. New York City: Springer. Schuff, D. (2010). Decision Support: An Examination of the DSS Discipline. New York City: Springer. Read More