Enterprises have to react instantly to changing market conditions and disturbances that occur during execution of value creation processes. Depending upon the processes’ context, the goal is to significantly reduce lead times, reaction times, and time-to-market, among others. The vision of a real-time enterprise (RTE), which is able to sense and analyze events from internal and external sources, and perform adequate (re-)actions, has been envisaged by manufacturing enterprises. Daniel Metz presents a framework based on EDA and CEP towards the realization of RTE in manufacturing. The framework closes the vertical integration gap, and further, establishes feedback in (near) real-time among enterprise levels. As such, the framework provides a holistic and closed-loop control of (manufacturing) processes, and encompasses results and insights from management, engineering, and computer science. The framework has been implemented for a small and medium sized foundry in Germany. The developed control approach has led to a significant increase in (manufacturing) processes’ efficiency (i.e., performance, quality, and availability).

The basic idea of the real-time enterprise is to become quicker. A business which wants to become a real-time enterprise has to acquire three main abilities: - Internal and external data is integrated quickly and in real time in a well-organized company data pool, - Analyses of information in the company data pool can be obtained in real time, across function boundaries and at the touch of a button, - The number of working steps performed in batch mode is shifting dramatically in favor of immediate completion in real time. The issue of communications - or real-time communications - plays a special role here. Studies have shown that processing times sometimes double when necessary communication events are handled in batch mode in the business process and not in real time. In other words, when an activity cannot be completed and lies around for days because an urgently needed partner cannot be contacted. The necessity of acquiring these three abilities has implications for the process-related, technical and organizational aspects of a business that are dealt with in detail in this book.

Successful management teams can identify the cost and return derived from the implementation of new technology, and they can properly apply the technology toward gaining a competitive advantage. IT and business managers alike need a resource that enables them to prepare for future operating conditions, identify beneficial solutions, and use high te

After the IPS2 conferences in Cranfield and Linköping in 2009 and 2010 the 3rd CIRP International Conference on Industrial Product Service Systems (IPS2) 2011 takes place in Braunschweig, Germany. IPS2 itself is defined as “an integrated industrial product and service offering that delivers value in use”. The customers expect comprehensive solutions, which are adapted to their individual needs. IPS2 offers the possibility to stand out from competition and for long-term customer loyalty. Particularly in times of economic crisis it becomes apparent which producing companies understand to satisfy the needs and requirements of their customers. Especially in this relatively new domain IPS2 it will be important to keep track of the whole context and to seek cooperation with other research fields and disciplines. The 3rd CIRP International Conference on Industrial Product Service Systems (IPS2) 2011 serves as a platform for such collaborations and the discussion of new scientific ideas.

This book explains the functional scope, the data model, the solution architecture, the underlying engineering concepts, and the programming model of SAP S/4HANA as the most well-known enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The approach is to start with general concepts and then to proceed step-by-step to concrete implementations in SAP S/4HANA. In the first part the reader learns about the market view of ERP solutions and vendors. The second part deals with the business processes for sales, marketing, finance, supply chain, manufacturing, services, procurement, and human resources which are covered with SAP S/4HANA. In the third part the underlying concepts of SAP S/4HANA are described, for example in-memory storage, analytics and search, artificial intelligence, process and data integration, security and compliance, lifecycle management, performance and scalability, configuration and implementation. The book is concluded with a final chapter explaining how to deploy an appliance to explore SAP S/4HANA. The target audience for the book are managers and business analysts who want to understand the market situation and future ERP trends, end users and process experts who need to comprehend the business processes and the according solution capabilities provided with SAP S/4HANA, architects and developers who have to learn the technical concepts and frameworks for enhancing SAP S/4HANA functionality, and consultants and partners who require to adopt and configure SAP S/4HANA.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Business Intelligence for the Real-Time Enterprise, BIRTE 2009, held in Lyon, France, in August 2009, in conjunction with VLDB 2009, the International Conference on Very Large Data Bases. The volume contains the carefully reviewed selected papers from the workshop, including one of the two keynotes, the six research, two industrial, and one experimental paper, and also the basic statements from the panel discussion on “Merging OLTP and OLAP”. The topical focus is on models and concepts, architectures, case-studies, and applications of technologies for real-time enterprise business intelligence.

Technological advancements are contributing to shape future business models and the industrial scenario. Companies face the challenge of having to adapt to the frequently shifting technology landscape. Therefore, organizations must exploit technological advances to thrive in the digital revolution. This book presents and discusses emerging digital business models in the Industry 4.0. These models are illustrated with real case studies and include data-driven, platform, smart factory and servitization among others. The book introduces a detailed classification to help organizations to redesign their current business models and discusses how to gain unique competitive advantages. The book includes not only theoretical concepts to understand the context of digital transformation but also an assessment framework to enable and support innovation in organizations and create new revenue streams. The book will be of interest to students and professionals alike who want to understand the core of the Industry 4.0.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is influencing the future of almost every sector and human being. AI has been the primary driving force behind emerging technologies such as big data, blockchain, robots, and the internet of things (IoT), and it will continue to be a technological innovator for the foreseeable future. New algorithms in AI are changing business processes and deploying AI-based applications in various sectors. The Handbook of Research on AI and Knowledge Engineering for Real-Time Business Intelligence is a comprehensive reference that presents cases and best practices of AI and knowledge engineering applications on business intelligence. Covering topics such as deep learning methods, face recognition, and sentiment analysis, this major reference work is a dynamic resource for business leaders and executives, IT managers, AI scientists, students and educators of higher education, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

Decision support systems (DSS) are widely touted for their effectiveness in aiding decision making, particularly across a wide and diverse range of industries including healthcare, business, and engineering applications. The concepts, principles, and theories of enhanced decision making are essential points of research as well as the exact methods, tools, and technologies being implemented in these industries. From both a standpoint of DSS interfaces, namely the design and development of these technologies, along with the implementations, including experiences and utilization of these tools, one can get a better sense of how exactly DSS has changed the face of decision making and management in multi-industry applications. Furthermore, the evaluation of the impact of these technologies is essential in moving forward in the future. The Research Anthology on Decision Support Systems and Decision Management in Healthcare, Business, and Engineering explores how decision support systems have been developed and implemented across diverse industries through perspectives on the technology, the utilizations of these tools, and from a decision management standpoint. The chapters will cover not only the interfaces, implementations, and functionality of these tools, but also the overall impacts they have had on the specific industries mentioned. This book also evaluates the effectiveness along with benefits and challenges of using DSS as well as the outlook for the future. This book is ideal for decision makers, IT consultants and specialists, software developers, design professionals, academicians, policymakers, researchers, professionals, and students interested in how DSS is being used in different industries.