O.R./Analytics at Work Blog
Blog Entries for model
As we say a final farewell to our favorite Harry Potter characters this summer and return to the land of the Muggles, I have to wonder what these muggles – non-wizardy folks with no magical ability – had to say about the events that were taking place right under their noses. Did they even realize they were benefiting from the magic surrounding them? Were the “Mudbloods” ever at a graphic design conference trying to explain how the society they worked for had the potential to make the world a better, more efficient place to live? Oh, wait, that was me.
One of the challenges we face is getting the OR/MS and analytics professions more recognized in fields that need it the most. Many times this requires an explanation and selling of the benefits of O.R. to the uninitiated. So this lighthearted blog challenge for June inspired some of our own O.R. wizards to give their take on trying to explain operations research and analytics to “muggles.” And while it may not be magic, O.R. does have the power to transform.
A warm welcome to David Woods, who posted his first entry to the INFORMS Blog Challenge! He posted on his blog, Simplexify, “Let’s learn from owls and disrupt the postal service.” Note to David: Maybe team up with Mike Trick based on his upgrade from being a mail muggle.
The Capgemini Blog Team submitted four entries in a series featuring the potential for analytics in the London 2012 Olympic Games, including comics!
- Olympic tickets – were you in the winning segment?
- Olympic Tickets bought – How do I get there?
- Mining Olympic Data Gold
- Forecasting a Successful Olympics
"Modelling Magic", the blog entry from O.R. at Work’s John Poppelaars, gives a great condensed history of O.R. and some examples of the magic in action.
“The Science of Better Owl Deliveries,” posted by David Smith, convincing us that O.R. is alive and well at Hogwarts.
Laura McLay gives 10 good reasons "Why We Need Operations Research" on her blog, Punk Rock Operations Research.
“The model as spell and the solver as a wand: O.R. magic for a muggles’ world,” submitted by Thiago Serra.
Mike Trick blogs on “Explaing O.R. to, and being, a Muggle.”
O.R. by the Beach not only blogged but provided a three-part series, written and illustrated by Talleys Yunes, titled “Rescue Mission.”
Paul Rubin blogs on “Hitting the Muggles from All Sides.” And while we take full responsibility for the term “muggles” in the challenge, hopefully you get a bump in traffic anyway.
July’s challenge is O.R. and social networking. Send entries to graphics@mail.informs.org by August 4th.
Electronic medical record (EMR) systems may have drawbacks
I'm excited to be seeing you soon at the INFORMS Healthcare conference. It’s amazing that this specialized conference, offered for the first time, features 13-14 parallel tracks. Congratulations to the organizing committee for putting together such a rich schedule.
As part of my preparations for leaving, I was looking over the latest travel news and noticed that a computer glitch at United Airlines had led to the stranding of thousands of passengers. The problem seems to have hit both United’s reservation and flight scheduling systems (“our computers are just paperweights” said one customer service agent).
Despite such occasional problems, there is no doubt that computerized reservation and scheduling systems have been a boon to the airlines – leading to more efficient airplane utilization and lucrative revenue management. But centralized computer systems can be fragile, and a focus on analysis may sometimes lead firms to deemphasize customer service (e.g., see Guillaume Roels’ blog post from INFORMS Austin).
A similar trade-off may be appearing right now, as hundreds of hospitals implement electronic medical record (EMR) systems. These systems may lead to both lower costs and improved quality – in part, because they would allow us to apply the sort of analytics that we hold so dear (there will be many talks on this subject at the conference). But there is the chance that these systems may be more fragile, on the whole, than paper records. And electronic systems may reduce the human contact that can be vital in services. For example, at our local hospital, implementation of EMR meant that physicians no longer hand their prescriptions directly to nurses but instead enter them into the EMR, to be processed later. This eliminates an opportunity for instantaneous error-checking and feedback between the nurse and the MD.
In general, as we develop our models and tools, we might be on the lookout for such unintended consequences. Have you noticed, or worried about, similar issues? Please feel free to comment, below.
INFORMS’ first Blog Challenge was a hit! We received 14 entries on the topic of O.R. and the Holidays. As you might suspect, the travelling salesman problem was noted, with Santa needing to make his marathon delivery to all of the good little girls and boys of O.R. However, the O.R. suggestions for holiday success were not limited to Santa, with the elves receiving tips on inventory optimization, making the most of the family vacation with revenue management, maximizing baking production, a mixing model for picking the teams for the office bowling party, and finding the “perfect” parking spot at the mall. Rounding out the bunch was an interview with “Dr. O.R. Field” about her New Year’s Resolutions. Thanks to everyone who contributed, and a Happy New Year to all.
So here they are, in no particular order.
The Joy of Baking (Optimally), Tallys Yunes
OR and … Parking?? Paul Rubin
Help Wanted: Elves with OR Background, Patricia Randall
Graph Coloring Problems Over the Holiday, Laura McLay
Santa’s Problem, Capgemini OR Team
OR and the holidays, David Smith
A Professor who Loves to Bake and Give Out Cookies, Anna Nagurney
Rogo Puzzle and Operations Research, Niclola Petty
Holiday Buying Season and Inventory Optimization, Michael Watson
Happy Holidays thanks to OR, John Poppelaars
New Year’s Resolutions from Dr. O.R. Field, Michael Trick
A Very Operations Christmas, John Angelis
Santa Claus- A Traveling Salesman Problem, Phillip Mah
Christmas Company Competition Problem: Mixing Teams, Hakan Kjellerstrand
Have a topic you would like to blog on or read about? Send the topic to graphics@mail.informs.org. We’d love to hear your ideas.
Topic for January 2011: O.R. and Politics
