Intro to IACT 422/922 Prof. Aditya K. Ghose Director Decisions Systems Lab School of IT & Computer Science University of Wollongong

Agenda Who am I? More importantly, who are you? A brief discussion of what we will cover in this subject Class admin

My background PhD (Computing Science): University of Alberta, Canada MSc (Computing Science): University of Alberta, Canada Bachelor of Computer Science and Engineering: Jadavpur University, India Other places I’ve worked at: –Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada –University of Tokyo –University of Sydney

My research Artificial intelligence: –Formal knowledge representation and reasoning –Constraint programming and its applications –Agent technology and its applications Other: –Requirements engineering –Business process management –Service-oriented computing –Supply chain management

Research funding Approx. $1.2 million in research funding Funding sources: –Australian Research Council –Japanese Institute for Advanced Information technology –BHP Information Technology (current CSC) –Bluescope Steel –CSIRO Mathematical and Information Sciences –NSW State Emergency Services –EDMEN Other organizations I work with: Pillar Administration, GS1 Australia

My research lab: The Decision Systems Laboratory A cross-department, cross-faculty research laboratory spanning the School of IT and Computer Science and the Information Systems Discipline in Commerce

Class admin Read the subject outline Consult the subject webpage frequently (URL in subject outline) Attend all lectures Attend all tutes Talk to me frequently (preferably during consulting hours – but at other times if it is urgent)

The case study (1/2) The case study is worth 20% of your final mark. Select a specific organization that is interesting from a supply chain perspective. You should ideally select a real-life organization for this purpose. If you are unable to conduct a case study of a real-life organization, you may construct a realistic scenario with a hypothetical organization. This should be only attempted as a last resort and you must consult your tutors and your lecturer before taking this course of action. Your case study must be based on publicly available, real information about organizations. If you are obliged to construct a scenario with a hypothetical organization, you must ensure thqat there is a strong resemblance to real-life situations. Study this organization from the perspective of its supply chain operations. You should describe these in detail. You should focus on how IT is currently being used to support these operations. Your choice of organization for this case study is critical. You will be required to use the same organization as the basis for your business case assessment item, and subsequently the presentation.

The case study (2/2) Your deliverable is a written case study document, no less than 5000 words in length (be careful in interpreting these guidelines - it is better to hand in a short document with large amounts of useful content than to hand in a long document with little useful content). The document must include the following (note that this list is not exhaustive, and should be treated as a lower bound, and not an upper bound): –A short history of the organization being studied. –A description of the organization's current business and business context. –A detailed description of the supply network in which this organization is situated. You must describe the upstream and downstream entities, procurement arrangements, selling arrangements, any e-marketplaces or other B2B markets that the organization participates in, the relevant information, material and financial flows, logistics and shipping arrangements etc. –A detailed description of how IT is used to support these operations. –A detailed description of the strengths and weaknesses of the current configurations.

The business case (1/3) The business case is worth 20% of your final mark. A business case is a document which makes a "case" for a specific investment or initiative to the decision makers within an orgnization (such as senior management within a company). In your instance, you will write a business case for the senior management of the company that you have written the case study about. You will identify a specific initiative to deploy IT to support and streamline the supply chain operations of the company in question. Your business case document will explain to senior management why this initiative is worthy of investment. It is assumed that the business case document will make frequent reference to the preceding case study document.

The business case (2/3) There are several different ways in which a business case might be structured. One useful structure is as follows: –Identify the business need. This could be an existing supply chain related process that could be made more efficient through the deployment of IT tools. This could also be an existing IT application that could be improved through the introduction of new technologies. Describe the business requirements that will be met by the proposed system. –Describe the solution. Describe in detail the initiative that you are making a business case for. Describe the technology it is based on. Describe the tools and technology platforms involved. Describe the business context in which the IT solution will be situated. Provide example scenarios of the use of the proposed system. –Explain how the proposed solution meets the business need. –Explain the financial and organizational challenges that will need to be addressed in deploying the proposed solution. Explain why you believe the project to be feasible from these perspectives.

The business case (3/3) Examples of possible initiatives that you might make a business case for include the following: –A novel constraint programming based optimization system production scheduling. –An agent-based transport and logistics coordination system. –A semi-automated e-marketplace for procurement. –An intelligent supply chain execution monitoring system. Note that these are only representative examples. A wide range of ideas can form the basis for the business case. Feel free to discuss your ideas with your instructor and your tutors.

The project The project is worth 40% of your final mark. The project is intended to assess your ability to develop and execute innovative yet practical ideas pertaining to IT-based supply chain solutions. The following are some examples of some of the modes in which you might develop your project: –As a business plan for an IT-based business in the supply chain space. For instance, you might write a business plan for a business that offers online fourth-part logistics coordination service. –As a technology-oriented exercise in developing novel classes of IT applications in the supply chain space. For instance, your project might develop a novel track-and-trace system for perishable goods based in RFID technology. –As an exercise in evaluating the effectiveness of certain information technologies from a supply chain business perspective. For instance, your project might evaluate the effectiveness of agent-based market-oriented programming techniques in solving supply chain resource allocation problems. Other project ideas are also possible. All project ideas must be approved by your instructor and/or tutor. Make sure that you start thinking about project ideas now. Projects are individual.

Other things you could do Think creatively: –This is interesting stuff – what can I do with it? –Is there a research idea I can commercialize? Attend research seminars, e.g., Café DSL, SITACS Student Seminars etc. Attend industry events (DSL will organize a few over this semester) Read a lot – over and above what is required for this class Think a lot….

More about this subject This subject looks at supply chain technologies and management. You will gain, in equal measure, an understanding of: –Technology –Management practices, processes and methodologies