Participation in Tactical/operational forest planning in a Portuguese integrated Pulp and Paper Company

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General case description

Brief overview

The project aims the Forest Tactical/Operational Decision Support System (SADPOF) specification, applying an adaptation of the Enterprise Architecture methodological approach. This DSS addresses forest tactical and operational optimization problems specified according to forest practitioners real-life requirements. Thus, a team of the Portuguese Grupo Portucel-Soporcel forest experts participates in several workshop meetings aiming its direct involvement in all DSS development phases.

Organization

This research project was conducted by ISA [[2]] in a partnership with the IT Company Link Consulting [[3]] and the forest experts from Grupo Portucel Soporcel [[4]]. The participation process involved the Grupo Portucel Soporcel forest experts during the entire SADPOF development project, following the Enterprise Architecture methodological approach [1]  :

  • It started with a detailed review of existing Forest Tactical and Operational planning systems and modeling approaches.
  • A brief identification of Forest Tactical and Operational planning problems, which were characterized and prioritized by the forest experts, in the course of problem identification workshop meetings.
  • A mathematical model was defined for each problem in order to identify the decision variables, constraints and required model information.
  • The forest experts were responsible for all real-life data collection. They took part in the process architecture workshop meetings, conducted by the IT experts for DSS architecture specification. This phase encompassed also the information, application and technology architectures (see Pulpwood Supply Chain Planning in a Portuguese integrated Pulp and Paper Company for further EA details). Meanwhile, the adequate solution method was defined by the OR experts. They write the Simulated Annealing pseudo-coding implementation in order to facilitate its implementation by the IT developers team.
  • Afterwards, proper DSS testing and cost-benefit analysis were conducted by all participants.
  • The project ended with a dissemination event

The project team includes:

  • 1 project manager (20% allocation, 13 months)
  • 1 EA expert (100% allocation, 6 months)
  • 2 DSS developers (100% - 6 months; 50% - 6 months)
  • 2 OR experts (100% - 13 months; 50% - 13 months)
  • 2 forest experts (30% allocation, 13 months)

Problem structuring

The FTOP problems identification was based in the Wood Supply Chain Matrix [2] Each FTOP problem was briefly described and analyzed by the forest experts. They decide which were the priorities and the specific characteristics of the problems to be addressed in the research project.

Intelligence

Stakeholders

The project partnership included IT developers from Link, OR experts from ISA and forest experts from Grupo Portucel Soporcel. The latter were chooseb by Portucel Soporcel Administration regarding the project scope. They were involved in all project phases through problem definition, DSS specification and testing workshops. Their contribution focused the project scope on the industry real-life requirements and concerns, which was a projects key success factor.

Information

According to the EA methodology approach [3], the process architecture specification workshop meetings aim the characterization of the following artifacts:

  • Entities/roles
  • Business processes
  • Activities performed
  • Data flows and information attributes, required and produced by the activities
  • Current systems and data repositories

Design

An hierarchical top-down processes architecture was adopted. It encompasses the Context Diagram, the Portucel Soporcel business model and the FTOP processes flowcharts, drawn according to the BPMN standard [[5]]. The future SADPOF data model and modular components complete specification emerge from the process architecture, according to the Enterprise Architecture methodological approach. Additionally, the decision processes are a useful baseline for organization strategic decision-making, working procedures definition and adoption of process-based certification schemas.

Choice

This public participatory process does not involve a Choice phase.

Monitoring

The forest expert´s opinions over the project activities and results were gathered in the several workshop meetings and during the results validation phases. No specific success criteria were monitored.

References

Cited references

  1. ↑ Marques, A. F., Borges, J.G., Sousa, P., Moura, P., Ferrinho, M., 2009. Designing computerized systems to support operational forest management planning. Computer and Electronics in Agriculture (prep)
  2. ↑ Carlsson, D., S. D'Amours, A. Martel, and M. Ronnqvist. 2006. Supply Chain Management in the Pulp and Paper Industry. Working Paper DT-2006-AM-3. [[1]]
  3. ↑ Marques, A. F., Borges, J.G., Sousa, P., Pinho, A., 2009. PulpWood Supply Chain Architecture. An application in Portugal. European Journal of Forest Research (submitted)
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