This dissertation presents an application of multicriteria decision analysis to understand and support pricing decisions in fields where goods are unique and described by their characteristics. The specific application area of this research is antique silver objects, where a complete iteration of the multicritia decision process is performed. This includes two problem structurings using SODA which provide rich detail into this application area. Multi-attribute additive models are constructed, with attribute partial value functions elicited using different methods: directly (bisection methods), indirectly (MACBETH and linear interpolation) and with discrete choice experiments. The applicability and advantages of each method is discussed. Additionally, an open source R package to implement the design of discrete choice experiments is created. The multi-attribute models provide key insights into decision maker's reasoning for price; and contrasting different decision maker's models explains the market. A risk adverse relationship between multicriteria model score and price is characterised and various inverse utility functions investigated. Two decision support systems are fully developed to address the needs of Cape silver decision makers in South Africa.

Collaborative dispatching allows several dispatchers to view the routing solution as a dynamic model where changes to the vehicle routes can be made in real-time. In this paper we discuss implications of collaborative dispatching on real-time decision support tools for motor carriers. We present a collaborative dispatching system which uses real-time information obtained from a telematics system. Messages sent from the vehicles are automatically analysed and actual data, such as exact arrival and departure times, as well as discrepancies between actual and planned data are identified. The collaborative dispatching system not only allows several dispatchers to concurrently modify the schedule, but also a dynamic optimisation method. The optimisation method is capable of taking into account that input data may change at any time and that dispatchers can concurrently modify the schedule and may add or relax certain constraints relevant to the optimisation model.

Die Krise der Hochschulen scheint seit den frühen 90er Jahren nicht mehr abzureißen. Die angestrebte Strukturreform, die Gesetzesänderungen im Hochschulrahmengesetz und die in der Öffentlichkeit diskutierten Reformansätze machen das sehr deutlich. In dieser Arbeit werden bereits erkannte kritische Erfolgsfaktoren der universitären Anpassung an die Umweltbedingungen aufgegriffen und ausgehend von der gegenwärtigen Situation der Hochschulen ein Ansatz zur Unterstützung der Reformbemühungen vorgeschlagen. Dazu werden Konzepte zur Strukturierung von Handlungsebenen an Universitäten und deren Versorgung mit Entscheidungsrelevanten Informationen mittels adäquater Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien in Form eines Management-Support-Systems (MSS) vorgestellt. Insbesondere wird die Konzeption eines Online-Lehrevaluationsinstrumentes für die Universität Osnabrück als Teilsystem eines Hochschul-MSS bearbeitet und die Eingliederung des Systems in die IT-Infrastruktur der Hochschule verdeutlicht. Die Erweiterung des Typenspektrums des MSS durch die mittels der Evaluation gewonnenen qualitativen Daten, deren Integration in die MSS-Datenbasis, die Funktionsweise des Evaluationsinstrumentes und der verbundenen Komponenten wird anhand einer prototypischen Implementierung erläutert. Abschließend wird ein Ausblick auf Erweiterungsmöglichkeiten gegeben, die Nutzenpotentiale der vorgeschlagenen technisch-organisatorischen Infrastruktur identifiziert und kritische Erfolgsfaktoren bei deren Einführung respektive Übertragung auf andere Bereiche der Hochschule betrachtet.

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The data produced and collected by organizations represents both challenges and opportunities for the modern firm. Business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) comprises a wide variety of information management technologies and information seeking activities designed to exploit these information resources. As a result, BI&A has been heralded as a source of improved organizational outcomes in both the academic and practitioner literature, and these technologies are among the largest continuous IT expenditures made over the last decade.Despite the interest in BI&A, there is not enough theorizing about its role in improving firm performance. Scholarly investigations of the link between BI&A and organizational benefits are scarce and primarily exploratory in nature. Further, the majority of the extant research on BI&A is techno-centric, conceptualizing BI&A primarily an organizational technical asset. This study seeks to explicate the relationship between BI&A and improved organizational outcomes by viewing this phenomenon through the lens of dynamic capabilities, a promising theoretical perspective from the strategic management discipline. In so doing, this research reframes BI&A as an organizational capability, rather than simply a technical resource. Guided by a comprehensive review of the BI&A and dynamic capabilities literature, as well as a series of semi-structured focus groups with senior-level business practitioners with BI&A experience, this study develops and tests a model of BI&A enabled firm performance. Using a snowball sample, an online survey was administered to 137 business professionals in 24 industries. The data were analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings support the contention that BI&A serve as the sensing and seizing components of an organizational dynamic capability, while transformation is achieved through business process change capability. These factors influence firm financial performance through their impact on the functional performance of the firm’s business processes. Further, this study demonstrates that traditional BI&A success factors are positively associated with BI&A sensing capability. This study makes several important contributions to BI&A research. First, this study addresses a gap in the scholarly literature by establishing a theoretical framework for the role of BI&A in achieving firm performance which is grounded in an established strategic management theory. Second, by drawing on the sense-seize-transform view of dynamic capabilities, this dissertation proposes a new conceptualization of BI&A as sensing and seizing organizational capabilities. Third, this research links the use of BI&A to improved organizational outcomes through the transformation of business processes, consistent with the view that the value of IT is derived from its impact on the value generating processes of the firm. Fourth, by viewing BI&A and business process change as distinct but inter-related components of dynamic capabilities, this research clarifies the role of BI&A in the dynamization of organizational processes, providing insight into the relationship between BI&A and business agility. Finally, this dissertation shows how BI&A capabilities are related to BI&A success factors identified in prior research.

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In this study, five real-life problem situations were used to explore the challenges of developing and implementing decision support tools for management of an urban water utility in Uganda. The study sought to explore how the degree of adoption of formal decision support tools in practice, generally perceived to be low, could be improved. In the study, an Action Research (AR) approach was used. AR is an inquiry process that involves partnership between researchers and practitioners for the purpose of addressing a real-life problem issue, while simultaneously gener-ating scientific knowledge. Unlike other research methods where the researcher seeks to study organizational phenomena but not to change them, the action researcher attempts to create or-ganizational change and simultaneously to study the process. It is recognized that AR methods provide a potential avenue to improve the practical relevance of Information Systems (IS) re-search. The five cases that were considered in the study involved participatory problem structuring to address water distribution bottlenecks; identification of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) reduction strategies; facilitation of decentralized management of customer accounts; monitoring and con-trol of procurements and expenditure; and geospatial investigation of declining water sales. Dur-ing the study, participation in problem identification was achieved through discussions and brain-storming sessions bringing together top and middle managers within the organization. A number of prototype decision support tools were developed and implemented. Maps and other geovisu-alization tools were also used to inform and enhance the processes of collective problem identifi-cation and structuring. Results of the study emphasized the need for proper problem structuring prior to the formula-tion of actions; the challenge of moving from planning to action; the importance of user in-volvement in the development of tools; and the need to manage IS implementation as part of a holistic, organization-wide change process. The challenges of embedding formal decision support within existing work systems in organizations were highlighted, and recommendations were made on how best to achieve this. The AR approach was found to be useful in bridging the gap be-tween academic research and technological practice, thus supporting the development of IS with immediate and practical benefits to organizations. / QC 20101115

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NIRA is a company based in Linköping and operates within the automotive industry. NIRA's Tire Grip Indicator is one of their products used to create friction values during normal driving conditions. This data is, together with additional sensor information from the vehicle, such as environmental sensors, collected in NIRA's cloud environment RSI. Utilising hundred of thousand of vehicles, several products are created and offered to the market. This master thesis will focus on the winter maintenance industry business where NIRA provides refined information to support decision making and quality control for the winter maintenance operations both in Sweden and internationally. The master thesis will be conducted in close cooperation with several actors active in the winter maintenance business within the scope of a collaboration project.  The thesis explores how road surface information can be used as decision support for actors within road maintenance. The thesis starts with a literature study describing different perspectives of winter maintenance and its relation to decision support systems. Through the study, several decision support systems are used to analyse the road climate and the maintenance operations in the city of Gothenburg. The analysis takes the form of a case study where each day during the winter season is analysed. Several features are extracted from the cases and are used to classify each case as one of 6 categories. Finally, the cases are valued within three cost areas: traffic accidents, accessibility, and fuel consumption.  The findings of the thesis show that the different systems within the project fulfil different functions in the work for more efficient winter road maintenance operations, where the forecasting tools can be seen as tools for planning measures. At the same time, friction data from fleets of connected vehicles can help evaluate the outcome of maintenance actions. This applies especially to the possibility of implementing and evaluating preventive measures. The findings also show several potential benefits in using road surface forecasts and road friction data in terms of financial, socio-economic, and environmental perspectives.