Chapter 12 - Minicase 1

A DSS Reshapes the Railway in the Netherlands

1. Why were management science optimizations by themselves not sufficient in this case?

   Management science tools are principally optimization tools. The Netherlands Railway (NS) case is not just about optimization, but about a compromise between social value & profit goals.

2. What kind of Decision Support System (DSS) is this?

   The system used is a management support systems.

3. Enter NS.nl and find information about NS’s business partners and the system. (English information is available in some pages.)

   Business partners include the interconnecting railroads from other countries like Belgium, Germany, etc. Also, bus companies and other transportation providers, including airlines are good examples of partners.

   Would we view the government as a business partner?

4. Given the environment described in the case, which of the DSS generic characteristics described in this chapter are likely to be useful, and how?

   The major help of the DSS is in decision-making. Mostly quantitative tools are presented, and will show the consequences of the decisions.

5. In what steps of the process can simulation be used, and for what?

   Simulation can be used to show passenger flow analyses. The number of people using a train is not a fixed number at any time. Thus the “what if” analysis should be used.

6. Identify sensitivity analysis in this case.

   Sensitivity analysis is most evident it is in PROLOP and DONS.

   Identify other situations in which sensitivity analysis could/would be used.