基于多Agent的企业供需网实时决策支持系统

企业供需网业务活动是跨企业并由多个独立的企业实体合作完成的,而每一企业又都占有资源,都具有独立的决策权,这种动态性、分布性特点造成了供需网管理决策的复杂性。应用Agent特性的供需网跨平台的信息系统集成、信息共享在实现系统实时决策,优化协调管理供需网的运作,敏捷适应顾客需求的变化,帮助供需网各企业实体的决策人员做出优化的供需决策起着十分重要的作用。文章提出了一种在Web环境中应用多Agent技术、WWW技术及XML技术的实时决策支持系统体系结构,并通过探讨其多Agent模型、研究分析系统数据交换及供需决策过程,为供需网实现过程优化决策与管理,有效地完成供需网一系列供需任务而提供了一种良好的技术支持。     

Supporting agile supply chains using a service-oriented shop floor

The globalized nature of current business environments led to the emergence of new networked enterprise organizational paradigms (supply chains, extended enterprises, virtual enterprises, collaborative networks, etc.) to meet changing requirements and tackle profitable but volatile opportunities overall agility is required.Eventually the shop floor will have to react and accommodate (re)adjustments in the supply chain making it an important piece in the competitiveness puzzle. So far, the research focus has been in high level aspects of supply chain management and the integration of shop floor activities in the process has been left relatively unattended.However, shop floor data is increasingly required in business tools that support decision making. In this context, failing to support agility at shop floor level can compromise the agility of the supply chain.Recent developments in networked information technologies and embedded devices allow enabling intelligence in shop floor rendering it an active and live entity that further enhances the dynamics of the supply chain.The goal of the present work, supported by an implemented test case in the assembly domain, is to demonstrate how one is able to seamless integrate the shop floor with external tools and achieve a highly reconfigurable environment that adapts to changing production requirements and disturbances using service-oriented technology.     

基于Agent面向软件重用的敏捷供应链模型

敏捷性和快速响应性是现代企业成功的关键因素，供应链管理正成为现代企业提高竞争力而采取的有效的先进手段，它要求敏捷化的信息系统支持，满足企业快速构造供应链的需要，因此，如何实现供应链系统的软件重用，就具有非常重要的现实意义，提出了将企业的商务逻辑与具体事务处理分开的思想，建立基于agent的敏捷化供应链管理模型，通过对商务逻辑的规则模型和软件代理的活动行为模型建立，利用ECA规则协调多代理系统的活动，从而有效地支持供应链动态建立，过程重组，增强供应链系统信息分布处理，软件可重用和规模可扩展能力。     

Building novel capabilities to enable business intelligence agility: results from a quantitative study

The class of business intelligence (BI) systems is widely used to guide decisions in all kinds of organizations and across hierarchical levels and functions. Organizations have launched many initiatives to accomplish adequate and timely decision support as an important factor to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Given today’s turbulent environments it is increasingly challenging to bridge the gap between establishing a long-term strategy and quickly adopting to the dynamics in market competition. BI must address this field of tension as it was originally used to retrospectively reflect an organization’s performance and build upon stability and efficiency. This study aims to understand and achieve an agile BI from a dynamic capability perspective. Therefore, we investigate how dynamic BI capabilities, i.e., adoption of assets, market understanding, and intimacy as well as business operations, impact the agility of BI. Starting from a literature review of dynamic capabilities in information systems and BI, we propose hypotheses to connect dynamic BI capabilities with the agility to provide information. The derived hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling on data collected in a questionnaire-based survey. The results show that the lens of dynamic capabilities provides useful means to foster BI agility. The study identifies that technological advancements like in-memory technology seem to be a technology enabler for BI agility. However, an adequate adoption and integration of BI assets as well as the focus on market orientation and business operations are crucial to reach BI agility.     

商业智能和业务流程管理的集成分析

本文分析了商业智能和业务流程管理进行集成的重要性和主要方式,阐明了利用商业智能来管理和优化业务流程可以帮助决策者在考虑企业的整体状况下更快、更科学地决策,避免孤立地管理流程;而决策者置身于流程之中并以一致的方式来处理事务又可以帮助商业智能的用户更加关注于应优先处理的事情。     

Supply chain intelligence for electricity markets: A smart grid perspective

Smart grid technologies are bringing innovations in electrical power industries, affecting all parts of the electricity supply chain, and leading to changes in market structure, business models and services. In this paper we introduce a model of business intelligence for a smart grid supply chain. The model is developed in order to provide electricity markets with the necessary data flows and information important for the decision making process. The proposed model offers a way to efficiently leverage the new metering architecture and the new capabilities of the grid to reap immediate business value from the huge amounts of disparate data in emerging smart grids. The model was evaluated for the Serbian electricity market in the electric power transmission company Public Enterprise “Elektromre?a Srbije”. The results show that business intelligence solutions can contribute to a more effective management of smart grids, in order to ensure that companies achieve sustainability in the increasingly competitive electricity markets, while still providing the high quality services to end users.     

Building an E-Business from Enterprise Systems

Building their companies into successful e-businesses has become an important objective for today's enterprises. Conceptually, it embodies the enabling of the business with such capabilities as global networking, streamlining business processes, sharing information, agility in responding to the market, and intelligent decision making. But how can these concepts be implemented in actual enterprises? Why do these desirable attributes of business systems suddenly become the definition of competency of companies large and small? This paper describes the framework for building an e-business from the enterprise information systems' perspective. Increasingly enterprise systems have extended beyond the traditional business functions and include such new features as supply-chain management, customer relationship management and electronic commerce. The shifting focus is driven by the adoption of the Web as a new channel for product distribution, marketing, and interacting with customers. The integration of the traditional as well as the Web-oriented functions is the cornerstone for a successful e-business. This paper presents a framework for e-businesses that on one hand build on the enterprise systems but on the other hand encompasses the new e-business dimensions.     

Proposing a context-aware enterprise mashup readiness assessment framework

Web mashups have received a lot of attention recently as more enterprises are engaged in enterprise 2.0 initiatives. So far, there is insufficient research on the adoption and diffusion of Web mashups in an enterprise context. In this paper, we discussed the benefits and issues associated with enterprise mashups. We proposed a context-aware enterprise mashup readiness assessment framework to help enterprise managers and decision makers determine their needs and readiness for enterprise mashups. A case study was conducted to verify the usefulness of the proposed framework. The results show that our work can be used to guide enterprises with their decision making for the adoption of enterprise mashups and thus contribute to the development of a rigorous strategy for enterprise mashup adoption, development and diffusion.     

Behaviour adaptation in the multi-agent, multi-objective and multi-role supply chain

Researchers, practitioners and enterprise software providers are realising the potential of agent-based technology to automate supply chain procurement to achieve consistent, traceable decision making. As the complexity of supply chains grow, these systems will gain more attention. In this paper, we model and simulate a complex autonomous supply chain managed by computational agents that aim to minimise lead time and maximise revenue through evolutionary multi-objective optimisation. The agents are in a competitive environment where they take on the roles of both client and producer. In addition to optimising their production strategy, they also have the opportunity to dynamically fine-tune their decision parameters when it comes to selecting their own suppliers, using the Analytical Hierarchy Process. It is observed that computational agents are capable of functioning in such complex environments, effectively converging to policies in synergy with their market. Multi-objective, multi-role optimisation results in better overall supply chain performance than tests where agents have single-objectives and single-roles. Our study forms an exploratory step towards more realistic agent-based supply chains where analytical methods are unavailable.     

A comparison between Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS methods to supplier selection

Supplier selection has become a very critical activity to the performance of organizations and supply chains. Studies presented in the literature propose the use of the methods Fuzzy TOPSIS (Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) and Fuzzy AHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process) to aid the supplier selection decision process. However, there are no comparative studies of these two methods when applied to the problem of supplier selection. Thus, this paper presents a comparative analysis of these two methods in the context of supplier selection decision making. The comparison was made based on the factors: adequacy to changes of alternatives or criteria; agility in the decision process; computational complexity; adequacy to support group decision making; the number of alternative suppliers and criteria; and modeling of uncertainty. As an illustrative example, both methods were applied to the selection of suppliers of a company in the automotive production chain. In addition, computational tests were performed considering several scenarios of supplier selection. The results have shown that both methods are suitable for the problem of supplier selection, particularly to supporting group decision making and modeling of uncertainty. However, the comparative analysis has shown that the Fuzzy TOPSIS method is better suited to the problem of supplier selection in regard to changes of alternatives and criteria, agility and number of criteria and alternative suppliers. Thus, this comparative study contributes to helping researchers and practitioners to choose more effective approaches for supplier selection. Suggestions of further work are also proposed so as to make these methods more adequate to the problem of supplier selection.     

CIMOSA: enterprise engineering and integration

Enterprises are rather complex systems which have to be managed for their internal affairs, but more importantly for the many relations to the different environments in which they are operating. Today, these environments are changing much more rapidly and the need for relevant information becomes of paramount importance in the decision making processes at all levels of enterprise management. Fluctuations in market demands, technology evolution and changing regulations require very flexible enterprise operations, capable of reacting to those changes. These reactions must be based on relevant and up-to-date information which must be supported by new decision support technology. The challenges in decision support concern the identification of relevant information, easy access and intelligent use of this information. Building and maintaining the enterprise knowledge base and enabling its efficient use for decision support are major tasks of enterprise engineering. Enterprise integration and its subsequent operation in the global environment of customers, suppliers and regulatory bodies will heavily depend on the availability and the continuous extension of this knowledge base. Enterprise modelling will play an important role in creating the knowledge base and in using it for enterprise integration and operational decision support. The paper discusses enterprise engineering as an enterprise life-cycle oriented discipline for identification, design, and implementation of enterprises and their continuous evolution. Current problems in the field are identified and initiatives are presented.     

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Deliver Real-Time Intelligence and Business Process Improvements

As demand for data scientists in audit/Governance, risk management and compliance (GRC), and industry in general, outpaces supply, data science in a box—packaged analytics powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and guided machine learning—can bridge the gap to bring analytics to every major enterprise. Packaged analytics harness the power of AI and machine learning technologies to help operations, finance executives, and GRC professionals do their jobs better; optimize business processes; and deliver actionable insights for better decision making. This article will explore real-world case studies of how companies have used packaged analytics to achieve process improvements, better oversight over financial spend, and significant return on investment. It is a guide to internal auditors and their GRC counterparts on what is available and suggests they can partner or use the products independently and significantly contribute to their companies.     

企业组织与过程的优化重构

可重构性是企业管理系统复杂性和响应环境变化 ,以及同其它企业竞争与合作的核心能力 .由于企业是一个复杂的社会 -技术系统 ,组织与过程的优化重构是制造资源优化配置的基础 .本文首先讨论了企业组织重构的影响因素和企业之间组织重构基本形式 .然后 ,本文讨论企业过程优化重构中渐变 /突变方式、建模问题和关联性分析方法 .企业组织与过程的优化重构技术将有效促进供应链管理、动态联盟和网络化制造等的发展     

Taking value-networks to the cloud services: security services, semantics and service level agreements

Cloud services have become an emerging solution for organizations striving to address today’s need for agility, but little research has addressed transitioning multiple, collaborating organizations to what can be referred to as a “value-network cloud.” We know that organizations adopting cloud services to execute business processes must concomitantly reconfigure their security solutions for their integrated intra- and inter-organizational collaborations. We address the question, “What is needed to make it possible for an entire value-network to take secure, collaborative business process executions to the cloud?” Future value-network cloud solutions will require completely new security approaches that will leverage contracted brokering solutions operating as part of the cloud solution. We view value-network cloud security service provisioning as a bundle decision characterized by a mix of communication patterns relevant to intra- and inter-enterprise collaboration. We propose a cloud service broker model—using semantics and SLA based middleware—to serve as a trusted interface between the enterprise, cloud service providers and other organizations collaborating in a value-network. The approach enables IT governance for value-network cloud services. The architectural requirements adapt design principles for infrastructure management tailored from approaches to how business cartels historically conducted secure business dealings.     

Adapting funding processes for agile IT projects: an empirical investigation

Agile software development that provides software development organizations, the ability to respond to changes in turbulent business environments, has been gaining wide adoption. Agile software development projects are characterized by ‘just enough’ planning and lack of upfront commitment to scope, cost, and schedule. These characteristics pose conflicting demands on managers responsible for making funding decisions, because traditional approaches to funding IT projects are often based on well-defined scope, cost, and schedule. These conflicts demand the adaptation of traditional funding processes to suit to agile projects. We draw from Adaptive Structuration Theory to understand the nature of conflicts between traditional IT project funding processes and the dynamic nature of agile projects, and how these conflicts are addressed by practices that are appropriated in the process of social interaction between funding decision makers and development teams. On the basis of a multisite case study, we present a framework that explains how organizations adapt traditional IT funding approaches to accommodate the unique characteristics of agile IT projects.     

基于多自主元柔性工作流的敏捷供应链研究*

为了提高敏捷供应链的动态性和敏捷性,采用多自主元柔性工作流技术构建敏捷供应链管理系统。在对敏捷供应链和柔性工作流技术进行分析的基础之上,给出用虚拟工作流和柔性工作流对敏捷供应链进行整体描述的方法。为提高柔性工作流的智能决策能力,以自主计算技术为基础,提出了基于多自主元的柔性工作流,使用多自主元的柔性工作流构建了敏捷供应链的管理框架,并通过自主元的模糊推理实例对多自主元柔性工作流的智能性进行了验证, 多自主元柔性工作流能够满足敏捷供应链管理系统快速重构和动态重组的要求。     

Concurrent EDP Auditing an Implementation Approach

Abstract

Success in today's fast-paced global economy requires precision, agility, and speed. Organizations must quickly respond to changing market demands and make timely decisions that impact the success or failure of their business. Through the use of available and proven technologies to increase the velocity of collaborative decision making to match the speed of doing business, the demand for information is driving the need for real-time communications in today's organizations. Instant access to information across internal collaborative groups, important customers, and external trading partners creates business efficiencies and sets the real-time organization above the rest. However, rapid and often unmanaged real-time communications, such as instant messaging (IM) and Voice-over-IP (VoIP), pose grave information and network security risks. Industry analysts Radicati, IDC, and Gartner have all estimated that more than 200 million people, across organizations of all sizes, engage in IM for business and non-business use while at work. Although some companies have policies defining authorized and unauthorized use of IM, most organizations lack the most basic security and management controls. This article explores the underpinnings of the security threats posed by the growing use of unmanaged IM in the enterprise. It also examines the components of a holistic strategy for protecting enterprises against the emerging IM security threat.     

基于供应链的企业信息系统集成设计

企业信息系统集成的体系结构可以考虑从纵向和横向两个方面进行研究。以纵向的观点,在系统的开发设计过程中,结合系统工程与软件工程引入供应链的三链（决策链、支撑链、主链）并使其贯穿于系统开发设计过程的始终;以横向的观点,建立在供应链上的各企业的信息集成可以通过计算机协同工作、人工智能、数据库等技术实现,供应链上的每一个生产单元均是虚拟企业,它们均可以以计算机可以识别的信息进行描述与表示,企业的集成实际上就是这样一些信息企业内部及供应链上（企业之间）进行动态或静态的数据集成。同时,针对任务的转换与分解、智能体系设计、数据组织与管理体系设计等问题分别进行了相应的讨论。     

An advanced supply chain management tool based on modeling and simulation

The paper presents an advanced modeling approach and a simulation model for supporting supply chain management. The first objective is to develop a flexible, time-efficient and parametric supply chain simulator starting from a discrete event simulation package. To this end we propose and advanced modeling approach. The second objective is to provide a decision making tool for supply chain management. The simulator is a decision making tool capable of analyzing different supply chain scenarios by using an approach based on multiple performance measures and user-defined set of input parameters. Our simulator capabilities as decision making tool are strongly amplified if Design of Experiment (DOE) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) are respectively used for experiments planning and simulation results analysis. With regard to supply chain decision making process, we propose an application example for a better understanding of tool potentials. The application example considers a specific supply chain scenario and analyzes the effects of inventory control policies, lead times, customers’ demand intensity and variability, on three different supply chain performance measures.