9:10am-10:00am
2008 INFORMS Prize Winner: Integrating Analytics into Organizational Decision Making
The INFORMS Prize is awarded annually to the company that has repeatedly applied OR/MS principles in pioneering, novel and lasting ways, and has integrated analytics into its decision making. The 2008 winner will be announced during the Edelman Award Ceremony on Monday evening. In this Tuesday session, company representatives will describe the analytics work that earned them this prestigious award.
10:30am-11:20am
Panel Discussion: Funding Analytics within the Organization
Panelists: Glenn Wegryn, Associate Director of Global Analytics, Procter & Gamble; Jack Levis, Director of Package Process Management, UPS; Sam Parker, Executive Director of Research, Analysis & Systems, AT&T; Shailendra Jain, HP Solutions and Service.
Moderator: Zahir Balaporia, Director of Decision Engineering, Schneider National Inc.
If structure drives behavior, shouldn't successful OR/MS groups share some structure that enables their success? In this session we bring four successful programs together, but each aligned a little differently within their organizations. We then “follow the money” and understand how they are funded and how that enables them to be successful. The panelists are Glenn Wegryn, Associate Director of Global Analytics, P&G; Jack Levis, Director of Package Process Management, UPS; Sam Parker, Executive Director of Research, Quantitative Analysis & Systems, AT&T; Shailendra Jain, HP Solutions & Service. The moderator is Zahir Balaporia, Director of Decision Engineering, Schneider National.
11:30am-12:20pm
Business Modeling: The First Step to Identifying Pain, Selling Change and Driving Results
Rungson Samroengraja, PhD, Vice President, New Product Development, Pitney Bowes
As OR practitioners, we are well-versed in solving all manner of complex problems. The challenge in today’s complex business environment is being able to model business processes in such a way as to demonstrate deep understanding of the operation yet abstract enough so as not to put senior business leaders to sleep when trying to make the case for change. Samroengraja will demonstrate a modeling methodology used at Pitney Bowes that made a difference in improving operations, reducing transformation cycle time and simplifying new product development. Key topics include:
The impact of Business Process Management and Continuous Improvement (Six Sigma, Lean) on the evolution of business modeling.
Overview of xBML, a modeling methodology which improves on standard flowcharting by capturing information in five critical dimensions: Who, What, Which, When and Where.
How getting the modeling done right helped Pitney Bowes in changing the sales process, implementing new automation tools and improving time-to-market for product development.
3:10pm-4:00pm
ILOG’s Methodology for Implementation of Decision-Support Systems
Jean Pommier, MS, Vice President of Methodology, ILOG Inc.
Over 20 years, ILOG has been involved in hundreds of resource optimization projects, not only as a technology supplier but also in a solution provider role, leading or participating in the actual implementation of this technology in all industries. Pommier will share some of ILOG’s insights, tips and lessons learned to keep such projects under control. By highlighting the specifics of decision-support systems and strategies to address them, he will also expose the foundation and principles of ILOG’s methodology (ISIS: ILOG Solution Implementation Standard), an extension of the Open Unified Process and 5,600-page online methodology and knowledge repository.
4:10pm-5:00pm
Towards a Theory of Practice: Are We There Yet?
Sanjay Saigal, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Intechné
“Theories of OR Practice” has emerged as a hot topic over eight years of the INFORMS Practice Conference. The subject attracts the best-known thinkers in OR, the most attendees, generates very high satisfaction ratings, and creates a great deal of coffee break conversation. The first two Practice Conference programs, in 2001 and 2002, did not contain much discussion on the effective practice of OR. However, starting with the 2003 meeting in Phoenix, exploration of OR “best practices” and the question of whether they have a theoretical basis, has become de rigueur; each of the 2006 and 2007 meetings featured six presentations related to the issue. What led to this increased emphasis on understanding and characterizing effective practice? What is a “theory of practice” anyway? Do these (multiple?) theories add up to a coherent body of knowledge? And are any of these ideas usable by an OR practitioner in the field? In this session, Saigal will explore these and other implications of theorizing about OR practice, with the aim of moving the discussion to the proverbial next level.
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