The Real-Time and Predictive Decision Support System : An Industrial Case Study

The focus of IT business applications has shifted from information processing to decision making since late 1990s. In many corporations, a large amount of operational and transactional data are tracked and kept in the integrated database. With help of BI software, the data can be processed into different types of performance measurements for further analysis. For managers, the challenge is how to use the information to manage business processes effectively and efficiently. For IT professionals, the challenge is to develop solutions to automate decision making processes. This paper looks into the decision making at the order fulfillment stage, where operational managers make tactical decisions to reconcile discrepancies between what has been promised and what can be physically fulfilled. The pressure on them to make right decision is very high as there is little or no margin for error in era of the zero inventory and Just-in-time practice. The paper analyses characteristics of the decision making process and proposes a real-time predictive decision support system to help the managers make right decisions. Then the paper presents a case study on the development of the real time predictive decision support system for production managers in a semiconductor plant. The paper describes in detail how the system had been developed and what are lessons learned from the application. In conclusion, the paper calls for a common development platform for real-time predictive decision support systems