The proposed research focuses on four general topics to develop a System of Systems approach to Business Intelligence by combining business operations data with reliability engineering methods. These general topics are Warranty Data Analysis, Call Center Operations, Sales Forecasting, and Supply Chain Logistics.

RESEARCH:

Probabilistic methodologies have enhanced many areas of engineering as a modern, more realistic approach to problem solving. As systems become more complex and turnaround times for meaningful information are shortened, the need to make better and more informed decisions has grown rapidly. BI (Business Intelligence) applied to large, complex systems has become increasingly important. The ability to convert data into meaningful information for decision makers provides a premium value to organizations.

One area of particular importance is CRM (Customer Relationship Management) with particular emphasis given to operations associated with Supply Chain Logistics, Warranty Data Analysis, Call Center Operations and Sales Forecasting. These areas are often viewed independently and without consideration of relationships that may exist amongst not only themselves, but also other areas of the organization. Ignoring such relationships leads to less informed decisions within an organization.

Because of the interdisciplinary nature of these areas, requirement for diverse theoretical perspectives and solution methods from multiple areas should be considered and used as needed. In preliminary research, partial solutions for each of the four areas Supply Chain Logistics, Warranty Data Analysis, Call Center Operations and Sales Forecasting have been developed; overarching system level models that incorporate more global methods are under development.

The research uses quantitative methods of reliability engineering and systems engineering to appropriately develop holistic solutions to a wide variety of problems in BI (Business Intelligence). The focus is on both fundamental methods development and demonstration of real world applications.