IENG 423 – Designing Decision Support Systems

Sample DSS Analysis

DSS Analysis

DEVELOPMENT OF A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR ASSESSMENT OF MOBILE BRIDGES

by Vikram Ramamoorthy

Masters Thesis in Industrial Engineering

West Virginia University

1999

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Problem- focused on Armored Vehicle

Launched Bridges – AVLB mobile bridges transported on

armored vehicles used to transport heavy military equipment (tanks) across rivers and streams in combat zones

DSS for Mobile Bridges

from Vikram Ramamoorthy, 1999

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Problem: More specifically there was need to

have better decision, more informed decisions regarding the maintenance of the mobile bridges and the minimization of mobile bridge failure

Bridge failure could mean lost routes for advance or retreat of equipment, loss of tanks, equipment, personnel

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Target user not clearly defined in the report context of the report suggests that

the users are Army repair technicians and Army repair supervisors

both cases highly trained with respect the bridges and their repair

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Decisions- in broad terms the decisions were- take no action repair damaged or failing components replace damaged or failing

components remove equipment from service due

to likely failure decisions made on a component

by component basis

DSS for Mobile Bridges

DSS Architecture- Included the definition for procedures

for the visual inspection of the equipment/components (data collection)

Included a database with images to support the visual inspection process

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Components – Vehicle data base

Vehicle identification and history, year of manufacture, part number, part number id, number of crossings, etc.

Visual inspection database component by component data on

missing, damaged, cracked, or worn parts

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Components Vibration/stress test data

sag, crack growth, strain energy, frequency shift

On-line maintenance manual

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Components Database of component history Knowledge based Expert System

factor available data to predict component of system failure

recommend course of action – decomission

Web-base user interface

DSS for Mobile Bridges

Performance Addressed issues concerning

performance, validity, etc.

Very little attention to actual evaluation of this system

DSS for Mobile Bridges

FYI Database developed in MS Access Web frontend used MS Access and MS

Personal Web Server Prototype Expert System in VP-Expert Final ES implemented in VBscript