Mohamed Tounsi

The role of BPR in the implementation of ERP systems

Purpose – The role of business process re‐engineering (BPR) in implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is of paramount importance. A variety of approaches are used for such re‐engineering as the best‐fitting ERP solution can only give a maximum of 80 percent fit with the existing workflow of the organization in which ERP is being implemented. The aim of this paper is to focus on the issues involved. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents some sample ERP installations to come out with various types of business BPR, ranging from small‐r to big‐R, practised while implementing ERP. Findings – Based on the literature review, it could be found that all organizations implementing ERP have chosen their own approach based on organizational constraints and the needs. The importance of BPR in ERP implementation is highlighted in earlier studies. Research limitations/implications – The recursive relationship between BPR and information technology has only resulted in the rapid evolution of ERP systems. ERP integration with supply chain management and its web readiness are major agenda for ERP developers. Many re‐engineering possibilities are yet to evolve based on research in knowledge, artificial intelligence and expert database systems. A suitable approach to implement the same in an organization can only be done using the most suitable approach and hence the importance of the BPR approaches presented here along with their advantages and disadvantages. Practical implications – As the various BPR approaches are categorized based on implementation followed by major corporations, it is definitely a forerunner for any ERP‐implementing organization under study. Also the common problems encountered during re‐engineering for ERP implementation and the suggested remedial measures are presented based on earlier work. Originality/value – An attempt has been made to identify BPR problems, causes and approaches used in implementing ERP solutions. It is only aimed at synthesis of technical and general issues using the literature.

An Iterative local-search framework for solving constraint satisfaction problem

In this article, we introduce a new solving framework based on using alternatively two local-search algorithms to solve constraint satisfaction and optimization problems. The technique presented is based on the integration of local-search algorithm as a mechanism to diversify the search instead of using a build on diversification mechanisms. Thus, we avoid tuning the multiple parameters to escape from a local optimum. This technique improves the existing methods: it is generic especially when the given problem can be expressed as a constraint satisfaction problem. We present the way the local-search algorithm can be used to diversify the search in order to solve real examination timetabling problems. We describe how the local-search algorithm can be used to assist any other specific local-search algorithm to escape from local optimality. We showed that such framework is efficient on real benchmarks for timetabling problems.

On the Adequacy of Tabu Search for Global Robot Path Planning Problem in Grid Environments

Abstract This paper investigates the capabilities of tabu search for solving the global path planning problem in grid maps. Accordingly, a tabu search system model is designed and a tabu search planner algorithm for solving the path planning problem is proposed. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted using the proposed model and algorithm, in terms of solution quality and execution time. A comparison between our results with those of A* and genetic algorithms (GA) is presented for small, medium and large-scale grid maps. Simulation results show that the tabu search planner is able to find the optimal solution for small scale environments. However, for large scale maps, it provides near-optimal solutions with small gap while ensuring shorter execution times as compared to the A* Algorithm. A discussion about the advantages and limitations of TS for solving a path planning problem is also presented.

An object oriented intelligent environment for ERP systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate object‐oriented (OO) features in a language, suitable for artificial intelligence (AI), which will execute in a web environment. Earlier researchers have claimed that such a possibility will pave the way for better enterprise systems of tomorrow.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the key OO features, inheritance and polymorphism, are presented using suitable examples. Visual Prolog™ is the language used to demonstrate the examples and the same executes in web environment.Findings – This premise definitely matches the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of existing systems which can aptly be called business process reengineering (BPR) in this field of study. A monolithic/homogeneous expert database design based system supporting AI and OO capabilities which executes in web environment is the result of this study.Research limitations/implications – There is no argument about the optimality of the search which is carried out while using ...

COROS: A Multi-Agent Software Architecture for Cooperative and Autonomous Service Robots

Building distributed applications for cooperative service robots systems is a very challenging task from software engineering perspective. Indeed, apart from the complexity of designing software components for the control of a single autonomous robot, cooperative multi-robot systems require additional care in the design of software components to ensure communication and coordination between the robotic agents. This chapter proposes COROS, a new multi-agent software architecture for cooperative and autonomous service robots with the objective to make easier the design and development of multi-robot applications. We present a high-level conceptual architecture for multi-agent robotics systems that represents a generic framework for cooperative multi-robot applications. Furthermore, we present an instantiation of this generic architecture with an implementation software architecture on top of the Robot Operating System (ROS) middleware. The proposed concrete software architecture follows a component-based approach to ensure modularity, software reuse, extensibility and scalability of the multi-robot operational software. In addition, one major added value of our architecture is that it provides a tangible solution to supporting multi-robot software development for the ROS middleware, as ROS was originally designed for single-robot applications. We also demonstrate a sample of real-world case studies of cooperative and autonomous service robots applications in an office-like environment, including discovery and courier delivery applications.

A Bluetooth-enabled mobile intelligent remote healthcare monitoring system: analysis and design issues

Many studies have shown that mobile phones are in great demand; smart phones in particular have an ever-growing market. It is evident that with greater number of mobile users, people can be facilitated with mobile accessible applications. Of many beneficial applications one such application is providing remote healthcare on mobile devices. Much work has been done in this area of research; however using Bluetooth enabled smart phones with Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology implementing an intelligent remote healthcare system has been proposed. A rule based expert system can identify diagnosis for remotely located patients to off location expert physicians and subsequent analysis can be delivered to the patient relieving her from frequent visits to healthcare service provider thus reducing the load of patients on existing infrastructure. This paper presents design and implementation of Mobile Intelligent Remote Healthcare Monitoring System (MIRHMS) and discusses issues.

The development of an intelligent agent prototype for mutual fund investment

This paper introduces the development aspects of an intelligent agent for mutual fund investment decisions. The success of next-generation Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems mainly depends on making intelligent systems more useful for automated planning and strategic-level decisions, rather than using them merely for transaction processing at the operational level. The required knowledge for the development of the rule base has been adapted from the literature and the working of the intelligent agent prototype has been demonstrated using suitable examples. The developed system, based on fuzzy logic, takes a wide range of values as input and comes out with a unique decision, whereas an ordinary expert system would have given multiple decisions as output. Vagueness handling is possible on the internet and this helps the evolution of ERP, for which internet enabled strategic decision-making is of paramount importance.

A heuristic-based technique for university resource allocation problems

Most academic institutions face the problem of scheduling both courses and examinations in every year. As the difficulty of the problem increases, due to a large number of students, courses, exams, rooms and invigilator constraints, an automated resource allocation system that can produce feasible and high quality timetables is often required. To provide a good university planning, a fast and efficient solver is required. Various techniques are proposed to solve the timetabling problem, since course planning is a combinatorial optimization problem, we apply a heuristic based approach to solve it. In this paper we propose a solver based on using an efficient heuristic for planning: tabu search. We show how all hard and soft constraints are taken into account to solve some real life benchmarks. We conclude the paper by presenting some issues to improve the proposed algorithm and discussing their the possibility for hybridizing with other powerful heuristics.

A Genetic-Based Approach for Satisfiability Problems

We present a genetic-based approach to solve SAT problem and NP-complete problems. The main idea of the approach presented here is to exploit the fact that, although all NP-complete problems are equally difficult in a general computational sense, some have much better genetic representations than others, leading to much more successful use of genetic-based algorithm on some NP-complete problems than on others. Since any NP-complete problem can be mapped into any other one in polynomial time by a transformation, the approach described here consists of identifying and finding a canonical or generic NP-complete problem on which genetic algorithm work well, and solving other NP-complete problems indirectly by translating them onto the canonical problem. We presented some initial results where we have the Boolean Satisfiability Problem (SAT) as a canonical problem, and results on Hamiltonian Circuit problem which represent a family of NP-complete problems, it can be solved efficiently by mapping them first onto SAT problems.

A Bluetooth intelligent e-healthcare system: analysis and design issues

Many studies have shown that internet access in many countries had failed to penetrate the general public as expected. With less than 3% members of the public accessing the internet, it is evident that most of the useful applications offered by the internet are inaccessible. On the contrary, mobile phones are in great demand; smart phones in particular have an ever-growing market. It is evident that with a greater number of mobile users, people can be facilitated with mobile accessible applications. Of many beneficial applications, one such application is providing remote healthcare on mobile devices. Much work has been done in this area of research; however, using Bluetooth, enabled smart phones with Wireless Application Protocol technology implementing an intelligent remote healthcare system has been proposed. A rule-based expert system can identify diagnosis for remotely-located patients to offer location expert physicians and subsequent analysis can be delivered to the patient relieving him/her from frequent visits to a healthcare service provider thus reducing the load of patients on the existing infrastructure. This article presents design and implementation of one such system, Mobile Intelligent Remote Healthcare Monitoring System and discusses issues.