Mr. Andrew Martin
E-mail Andrew.Martin@wbs.ac.uk
www.warwick.ac.uk/~bsral
Tel. 02476 522453, Fax: 02476 524539
Please
contact me to discuss possible projects especially the following general areas:
·
Business Simulations/Games, including interactive networked simulations
·
Project Management
·
Systems Analysis, Design and Development
·
Current issues in Information Systems Management
·
Process / quality improvement in systems development organisations
·
Innovative use of IT, e.g. Internet
Specific Project Ideas 2004-5
Flight Yield Management Simulation /
Game
The pricing strategies of airlines are becoming increasingly openly visible to the general public, through advertisements and direct enquiries over the Internet. One way prices, ‘low cost’ airlines, and differential prices demonstrate that airlines are working hard to maximise the yield from the market and their carrying capacity. Airlines can dynamically adjust the prices for seats on an almost real-time basis. This makes an interesting and topical study and application of marketing / pricing strategy, optimisation of revenues, and buyer behaviour.
The project objectives are:
· Consider an existing spreadsheet simulation of seat pricing that can dynamically adjust prices to aim for maximum revenue from a flight, given a model of demand that depends primarily on price and time-to-flight.
· Consider enhancements to this model in the following or other ways that you identify and are agreed, in the light of the CBS course and literature on this situation:
o Investigate which pricing strategy maximises revenue (statically or dynamically) and use this to give the user appropriate feedback.
o One of the fundamental teaching points emerging from the scenario is that of marginal pricing. Could other teaching points be emphasised, or further ‘levels’ developed?
o Incorporate adding appropriate costs to the changing of the seating plan, in the higher levels of the simulation.
o Evaluate the sensitivity of the model to given parameters and the demand pattern. Identify one or more natural / suitable sets of parameters.
o Develop the simulation into a tool that can teach pricing / demand management or strategy as well as marginal costing
o Consider ways in which the model could be made more user-friendly or functional
o
Consider
alternative implementations, such as over the Internet.
By undertaking this project, the student will extend their operational research problem modelling and computing skills.
See current user guide and latest version of the spreadsheet.
An applied investigation or within an organisation known to the student
The student may
actually engage in a small scale activity, or observe at close
hand a larger scale activity. The activity may be an information analysis,
a systems development project, an information systems strategy or other
relevant topic as discussed in IS courses, including web-enabled or e-commerce
initiatives. The student should expect to give significant emphasis to
reflecting on the process to evaluating the exercise (for instance the
implementation of a new system). This
could relate to student work experience, but has to be carefully managed to
reflect the objectives of the project.
Graphical Dynamic Project Network Presenter
The Contract
& Construct simulation (www.contract-and-construct.com)
supports the teaching of concepts and practice of project management. The program includes an activity (‘PERT’)
network chart. Currently this is static
and determined at design time. It would
be desirable to be able to generate such a network at run time, in order to
allow activities and dependencies to change, whilst still supporting the
interaction afforded by the current game.
The network diagram must be well presented and meaningful to the human
eye (e.g. no minimal crossing lines), and should support user events at run
time such as clicking on a node. It would require implementing an appropriate
algorithm for designing the layout. The component
should be implemented in at least two of
Stock market simulation (CBS)
A stock market simulation has been established that simulates trading and the working of the stock market in a competitive setting. The continuous server connection architecture was proven in 2002-2003, but requires a PC server connected temporarily. IT services are reviewing the capability of providing an environment that will support such developments.
Further, a number of areas for development of the simulation have been proposed, such as implementing the ‘market maker’ agent that mediates between buyers and sellers to establish the market price and liquidity of supply of shares.
This project is to investigate, set up and prove a central server solution, as well as further develop the simulation including the market maker role.
By undertaking this project, the student will develop their java and web server skills, be exposed to the idea of dynamic interactive real time simulations, and become familiar with the workings of the stock market.
Pre-requisite: the student should already be comfortable with exploring unpackaged PC-based application development tools and with the detailed control required to manage networked connections and java server and client applet programs.
An environment for an on-line interactive ‘Cluedo’ game has been developed, including an automatic player implemented in a client-server architecture to support an interactive game of ‘Cluedo’. It uses java server program and java applet. The environment needs developing into a package into which
Further player strategies can be developed and compared
By undertaking this project, the student will develop their java and web server skills, and be exposed to the idea of dynamic interactive real time simulations.
Pre-requisite: the student should already be comfortable with exploring unpackaged PC-based application development tools and with the detailed control required to manage networked connections and java server and client applet programs.
Business IT ‘fads’, fashions and foundations for the future: a life-cycle study
The IT industry is renowned for being driven by fads or bandwagons whereby the latest trend or ‘silver bullet’ follows a lifecycle of initiation, hype, early adoption, rapid growth, disillusionment, then more limited growth towards steady state, decline or incorporation into another bandwagon. Typically these trends focus on a new technology, a new or re-invented business/management process, or both. Examples are many, including (roughly chronologically) Management Information Systems, Personal Computing, Fourth Generation Languages, Expert Systems/ Artificial Intelligence, Open Software, Computer-Aided Software Engineering, Document Management, GroupWare, Competitive Advantage, Strategic IS Planning, Business Process Re-engineering / Transformation, Enterprise Resource Planning, Data Mining / Warehousing, Customer Relationship Management, Outsourcing, Agent-based systems and Offshore development/support.
Some of these trends can indeed be called fads, passing from vogue relatively quickly; others have stood the test of time somewhat better and have become part of established business IT thinking. Some represent management processes, others relate more directly to technologies.
This project will:
· review the literature to identify a comprehensive set of these trends, and investigate a number of them in detail
· track their life-cycle and classify them according to their nature, track record and contribution, drawing on appropriate general literature such as innovation theory to formulate a suitable set of attributes and metrics. These attributes might differentiate between the academic and practical aspects of their role, and may be drawn from academic and practitioner literature.
· consider the extent to which IT is unique in this experience
· consider what are the drivers of this cycle, what are the learning points that emerge from each trend, and what insights are generated into the essential characteristics of IT and the IT field
· identify common patterns in events, functionality, adoption rates, contribution and attitudes. It will attempt to use the model(s) to predict or test the life-cycle trajectories for the next ‘fad’.
By undertaking this project, the student will extend their literature search skills and develop a key perspective on the evolution of the IT field.
Pre-requisite: this project is fairly open, and the student must be comfortable with the idea of an intensive search through the literature.