Projects are usually somewhat open-ended. If we do not specify how you have to do something, then you are free to use your own imagination. You may use any of the code from M1 and M2 (that you or your teammates wrote),or you may decide to throw it all out and start over. Many of the economic models are left to your own development. I have put some information in the description, but you may use other numbers and formulae that make your simulation more realistic.
A few extra credit opportunities are suggested. You may propose other ideas by sending them to me via email. This milestone is in two parts. You will develop your deliverables as detailed below. Then you will set up a time to meet with your TA. Your TA will look over your design and make recommendations. You will then turn in the corrected information. You will have only 1 week total to work on this milestone, so plan ahead to meet with the TA in time to incorporate their suggestions.
Your project team should have 5 people. You may have fewer than 5, but I may assign lone students to your team if you are smaller than 5. The requirements are the same for all teams regarless of size, so most people opt for the full 5 people. Please post your project team pages as soon as possible so I can ensure all students are on a team.
Credits: This project is adapted from an OOPSLA design-fest competition problem, "Web-based Supply Chain Management System" by Raju, Rajendran and Fayad.
Disclaimer: Mention of actual companies is for illustrative purposes only, and does not constitute an endorsement by the professor, Georgia Tech, or the state of GA.
As you may have surmised from M1 and M2, this semester's project is designing and implementing an application/simulation of a Supply Chain management system. For those of you who are business or ISYE majors, you will have to bite your tongue a little since this application is a simplification of a real supply chain application. A supply chain is typically a complex network of suppliers, factories, warehouses, distribution centers and retailers. Traditionally, the marketing, distribution, planning, manufacturing and purchasing organizations along the supply chain have operated independently. To enhance productivity and profit, these diverse organizations need to be tied together into a coherent system. We will code a simple application/simulation of the major components of an SCMS for this semesters project. The three major parts of the SCMS are the Point of Sale Location, the main coordination system, and the supplier.
The whole purpose of the SCMS is to ensure that when you go to a retailer, the goods you wish to purchase are there. On the other hand, retailers don't want to carry a huge inventory of goods, since that ties up their money and warehouse space. For our purposes, the system may have some number of point of sale locations each of which represent a single location like Home Depot or Best Buy. Each point of sale location keeps track of the inventory at that location. To accomodate multiple locations, each store also has a number--thus there is a Home Depot 234 which may have different inventory and order points than a different store location like Home Depot 132.
The central coordination system (CCS) handles the interface between all the POS locations and all the suppliers in the system. It receives orders from the POS locations (either normal or emergency) and routes them to the appropriate supplier. For our simulation there is only one supplier for each unique item, but you may allow a supplier to provide more than one item. Thus for X-Box 360 for example if Acme, Inc is the supplier then it is the only place to order the X-Box from. Acme, Inc may also supply PS-3 consoles, but again if that is true, then no other supplier will provide that item either.
When the supplier sends an invoice to the CCS, the CCS routes it to the appropriate POS location. When the POS location receives the invoice, it also receives the items on that invoice. You do not have to model the transportation delay (except maybe for extra credit).
A supplier represents a single supplier in the system. A supplier may provide one or more items. For any item, only 1 supplier will supply that item. The Supplier receives orders from the CCS and fills them when it has enough items to satisfy the order. (Backorders and partial fulfillment are extra credit, so for basic credit you can assume the supplier always has enough items).