MobDesctop: A Mobile Decision Support Application for Monitoring Real-time Container Terminals Operations

Transcription

1 Association for Information Systems AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) PACIS 2017 Proceedings Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) Summer 2017 MobDesctop: A Mobile Decision Support Application for Monitoring Real-time Container Terminals Operations Frobin Mnale Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), frobin.mnale@ejust.edu.eg Shady Salama Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), shady.salama@ejust.edu.eg Jaehyun Park Tokyo Institute of Technology, park.j.ai@m.titech.ac.jp Amr B. Eltawil Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), eltawil@ejust.edu.eg Follow this and additional works at: Recommended Citation Mnale, Frobin; Salama, Shady; Park, Jaehyun; and Eltawil, Amr B., "MobDesctop: A Mobile Decision Support Application for Monitoring Real-time Container Terminals Operations" (2017). PACIS 2017 Proceedings This material is brought to you by the Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been accepted for inclusion in PACIS 2017 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contact elibrary@aisnet.org.

2 MobDesctop: A Mobile Decision Support Application for Monitoring Real-time Container Terminals Operations Completed Research Paper Frobin M. Mnale Industrial Engineering and Systems Management, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt. frobin.mnale@ejust.edu.eg Jaehyun Park Department of Industrial Engineering and Economics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan park.j.ai@m.titech.ac.jp Shady Salama Industrial Engineering and Systems Management, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt shady.salama@ejust.edu.eg Amr B. Eltawil Industrial Engineering and Systems Management, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt eltawil@ejust.edu.eg Abstract This paper highlights information systems development of a mobile decision support system application that monitors real-time container terminal operations. Previous information systems studies have argued lack of information and communication in the container port regarding its managerial operations and flow of information among port stakeholders. Their endeavours do not provide any efficient systems for monitoring the container terminal operations. To address this problem, in this study, we adopted a design thinking approach for identifying possible requirements of the multiple stakeholders and generated several prototypes on it. As a result, Mob-Desctop was developed as a mobile application solution. It makes three contributions. First, it empirically conducts an information system project to enable users to monitor the real-time of container terminal operations. Second, it practically seeks to solve the top managers information flow problems in container terminals. Third, it methodologically enhances the body of knowledge of decision support systems researchers and practitioners of how they could invite a design thinking approach and application development in information systems development. Keywords: Decision Support System, Container Terminal, Internet of things(iot), Design Thinking, Information System Development, Mobile Application

3 Introduction Container terminals (CT) have become a core of logistics centres in the global supply chains. Around 85% of international trades is being transported by the sea (UNCTAD 2015). This means that container ports are vital hubs of the shipping operation, and efficient resource management has measured their capabilities and competitiveness. The dynamic operations in container terminals must be supported by the development of information systems that can provide real-time monitoring and control capabilities. Currently, the ports call for more efficient resource management due to the tremendous growth of global shipping transportation and requirements of ICT-enabled solutions (Posti et al. 2011). Therefore, the ports involved in the global supply chain have encountered challenges, struggling with the complex operations and multiple stakeholders. A few established ICTenabled solutions for container terminals have sought to offer a variety of features and functions with the human-machine interfaces and monitoring real-time data based on the unique decision-making capabilities (Singgih et al. 2016). Yet, these solutions have a variety of limitations to overcome the real-time issues on CT. Recently, the container port community persuasively argued that the efficiency and competency of communications among multiple stakeholders are critical issues in the efficient operation of the terminal. Information sharing among multiple shipping companies, truck companies, customs agency, and terminal operators has become critical for better performance (Azab et al. 2016). In reality, the functionality of these systems still suffers from miscommunications and the inefficient information exchanges, especially in developing countries in general, and in our case in Egypt. These inefficiencies include higher processing times and poor customs system, poor handling of information exchange among managers. For example, when there is an interruption of vessels or truck arrivals, the information will be delayed to other managers, which in turn adjourn the process. In general, the issues observed can be condensed into three main problems as follows: 1. The importance of the seamless flow of information in decision making between stakeholders: due to the competitive, dynamic nature of the freight business and the advancement of information and communications technologies the pressure on ports actors has increased. This pressure aims to enhance their market flexibility and approachability to customer satisfaction while keeping track of their information resources efficiently. In this case, information technology can act as the central tool that will enable sharing information among multiple stakeholders of the port. 2. Container terminal business process management (yard operations decisions and queuing systems): container terminal operations have become more challenging in managing, there are quite some decisions made within the yard operations and seaside, besides the process involves information transfer between all terminal operators. The seaside operators collaborate with the yard operators to ensure the smooth container flow to the outside of the terminal, whereas, information technology provides support of the business transactions that is conducted in the container terminal. Nevertheless, the movement of information between the seaside and the yard is still not efficiently managed in many conventional ports as compared to automated ones, especially those operating in developing countries. 3. Maritime and shipping open data sharing: using open data over the internet has been a common practice in the information technology in different sectors (Chen et al. 2014). For instance, the Marine Traffic API 1 provides comprehensive container vessel information (such as vessel capacity and length), as well as global container port information (Chen et al. 2016). Container terminal management software is very expensive and although it provides a source of useful information about the terminal assets and operations. Many yard operations take a long time to be reflected in the system. Also, such systems are very expensive, which justifies the need for cheaper IT based solutions for monitoring and control of container terminal operations. Consequently, to tackle these problems, this study focuses on the use of information technology to improve the connectivity of interrelated operational components and collaboration among managers within the container terminal. Also, to facilitate availability, transparency, and consistency of the flow of information and the real-time updates throughout the shipping process in developing countries 1

4 container port. The study incorporates design thinking as the approach in building the information system. The developed system provides the answer to the following three research questions: How to achieve high efficiency through consistency of shipping information by making a fast and reliable decision? What state of the facilities and technology to be used to achieve optimum operation output and up-to-date information of terminal business operation through fingertips? How to merge open data information to multiple port stakeholders? To address these three questions, we invited a design thinking approach (Melles et al. 2015; Newman et al. 2015) to elucidate the managers requirements and their unmet needs. Following that, we generated multiple types of design prototypes (Newman et al. 2015) in identifying features and functions to support the manifest and latent requirements in the Information System Design (ISD). Typically, top management makes decision-making (Yard Manager, Quay crane manager, hinterland manager). They all interact with each other to ensure better operation connectivity. However, the connectivity among managers possibly will sometimes be interrupted by the failure of real-time updates and ambiguity in information flow. To address this, a mobile decision support prototype following a clear insight of manager s operations was developed to facilitate the fast decision making. Moreover, the operation conducted on mobile prototype involves the data filling, updates, and making real-time decisions on site. On the other hand, the data transferred between managers will be shared and merge to the servers to allow records and track of on ongoing operations so that it can be moved to other port stakeholders using a port community service. This research has three contributions. First, it provides an information and communication system to facilitate and enable users to monitor the real-time operations of container terminals. Second, it practically seeks to enhance and solve the top managers communication flow complications in container terminals. Third, it invites a design thinking approach and application development process in ISD to meticulously enhance the body of knowledge of decision support systems researchers and practitioners. The rest of the paper is organised as follows. Section 2 provides an overview of the related works in the information technology and decision support systems in container terminal operations. The next section demonstrates a detailed design thinking approach to build the information system. The following section presents the development of the mobile decision support application for the port operation. In the last section, the features of the MobDesctop application are illustrated and the future research prospects are summarised. Literature Review In this study, we reviewed related works in decision support systems and information and communication application as a relevant scope of a literature review to summarise the previous scholar s endeavours. In the traditional decision-making process, most of the container terminals decisions follow the ranks and flow of information from the top managerial panel to lower ranks of operation (i.e. dependent process). Managers communicate with each other to make their decision according to their functionalities. For instance, Ngai et al. (2011) designed and developed a prototype of an intelligent context aware decision support system for real-time monitoring of container terminals. Their system employed a ZigBee-based ubiquitous sensor network which collects data (trucks, Rubber tire gantry and quay cranes) through wireless sensor nodes. These sensors record and update the system in real time and then monitors display the information about the past or present state of physical containers and their environment. Moreover, Ursavas. (2014) Addressed a Decision Support System (DSS) of the quayside operations in container terminals; they developed a DSS to optimise the operations and decision made in determining the berth and crane allocation simultaneously. Furthermore, Halabi et al. (2015) presented an artefact as a conceptual intelligent decision-making support module (i-dmss) to advance cooperative container terminal decision-making in environmental and ecological sustainability. They introduced three interconnected activities of data collection, descriptive and normative modelling, which incorporate processes of handling the decision side and processes integrating engineering requirements to produce the conceptual i-dmss module. Their module

5 demonstrates how the capture and inter-operation communication and decisional structures can be well managed. In a viewpoint of information and communication, much work on the potential of ICT has been carried out. For example, Dullaert et al. (2009) develop an agent-based, communication platform the MamMoeT. The MamMoeT platform is a real-time decision support system in which operational information is shared between multiple stakeholders in the interconnected transport chain. Users are represented by software managers. The communication platform work for three main purposes: matching supply and demand of barge transport, tracking and tracing of consignments and facilitate proper reactions to uncertainties. Dotoli et al. (2010) investigated the impact of new information communication technology developments on the operational management and control of an interconnected transport chain. The authors described a case study of an interconnected transport system in Italy. The system is modelled as a planned Petri net with a higher degree of information exchange due to new information communication technology tools. Their proposed methodology allows computing benefits of integrating information technology solutions in a transport system. Furthermore, Azab et al. (2016) developed a smart transportation system in logistics management they synthesise a web-based prototype for the truck appointment system in container terminals. Their prototype built with a negotiation feature between the truck companies and container terminal operator to facilitate fast, reliable and on-time delivery of cargo to customers. The platform will improve the productivity of the terminal by minimising the congestion at the gate system and outside the parking areas. To the best of our knowledge, a limited number of articles have addressed decision support systems in container terminals regarding the operational flow of information specifically in designing a mobile application to provide mobility of the decision made in CT. In this paper, the development and operations of a mobile decision support application that incorporates the top manager s functionality in making decision during operations in container terminal is presented. The Design Thinking Approach Design Thinking is the primarily forward-looking methodology that incorporates the creative thinking strategies to provide a meaning solution to the complex problem in business Wang and Wang (2011). It is mainly used by designers for understanding the business-customer relationships in the product development. Moreover, the design thinking process involves a series of stages followed by the thinker in solving the problems associated with customer and business operators. In this study, we have introduced the design thinking methodology as the tool in building a concrete solution for the container terminal operation. The process followed a number of stages shown in fig.1 below. Figure 1. Design thinking Stages To create a meaningful solution and flexible tool the process began by understanding the users and environment of container terminals (i.e. who are the operators, who are stakeholders) this was done through empathise (human- centred design process), the work to understand the number of people their environment and operational activities. However, engaging with different people directly discloses a remarkable amount of information about the way they reason and the principles they hold. On occasion, these thoughts and principles are not apparent to the people who hold them. Besides, good conversation conducted with container terminal experts on the subject revealed a clear insight into the situation and operational activities. For instance, Jim Argiropoulos, President of mobile operations platform Lexray said: When you add in operations management tools the entire command centre is available on a tablet or phone. This is just the beginning of what mobile apps can provide for port security. Add screen-in-

6 screen video and managers can guide each worker through a process or problem while using their mobile app or notepad to enter data or take notes. (Port Technology 2017) Nevertheless, after a clear insight provided by the container terminal operator then framing of the right problem it is the only way to create a correct solution to customers. Brainstorm sessions were conducted to define the problems facing the container terminal. All defined problem where evaluated accordingly by developing a 3D representation of container terminal to visualise each problem in a broader perspective. Then, using insight matrix tool, for learning the patterns of relationship between individual problems. These problems were written down in each cell in the matrix with different interrelation weights from one to three, expressing the relationship between the row and column problems. Weights of each problem were based on operators and expert s opinions from the container terminal. As the matrix is sorted, the order of cells in a row or column will change, but never the contents. This creates a profile for each problem. Finally, the problems were clustered in three main problems, as mentioned below. Figure 2 and figure 3 show the 3D representation of the container terminal and insight matrix. 1. Business process management (yard side); operations conducted within yard area termed as a specific operational area that involves some decisions made by yard manager, transfer on ground managers. 2. Information flows between operational decision makers; observed, within the container terminal interaction between managers in different areas and their effect on the performance output of the container terminal. 3. Business process management (Quayside); operation conducted within quay and berth that involve some decisions made by Quay manager and optimisation systems Figure 2. 3D Representation of the container terminal

7 Application Design and Prototype Figure 3: Insight matrix This section aims to present how the outcome information communication problem obtained in the previous section can be solved by a mobile application that incorporates the internet of things paradigm, and it will enhance the collaboration and connectivity of the managers in making decisions. Based on the design thinking analysis, we synthesised mobile application prototype MobDesctop developed under the following stages; concept model development, information architecture, and appearance prototypes with particular features and functions of container terminals. The Conceptual Model The conceptual model development follows users requirements from the application. The model explains the ideal concept of what is the product, who are the users, how the application will be used, benefits and general outcomes that the application will provide. Our application incorporates the top Manager, Process Manager, Yard Manager, and Equipment and Dispatching managers (hinterland manager, Quay crane, and transfer on ground manager) in the decision-making process. Each manager has his operation duties and decisions to make within his section as shown figure 4. MobDesctop is a mobile decision support for the container terminal, the idea behind it is that the tool

8 will provide a real-time decision support on a remote operation between top managers in a container terminal. The application will provide fast and reliable updates since the operation will be done on fingertips each manager will be able to work efficiently by receiving each update on time; hence the app will facilitate connectivity and collaboration more effectively. The Information Architecture Various information transfers are required before or after a manager perform a function or a piece of equipment starts or finishes performing a task. Information transfer acts as a triggering event or provides real-time information for a manager to perform a function. For example, the transfer on ground manager performs the dispatching process after receiving a task completion notification from a quay crane manager, and transfer in block (TB) manager determines the storage location of a receiving container after receiving storage slot entrants from a yard manager. A manager transfers information to another manager to update the status of the resultant equipment. The developed Prototype consists of the planning system, managers, equipment, and database, as shown in figure 5. All of the decisions are made in a real-time approach while employing the outcomes of the berth allocation optimisations, quay crane scheduling, and shipment sequencing in the planning process. Figure 4. Conceptual model Each manager performs specific functions, and the essential information is transmitted to the responsible manager from another manager if necessary. However, since all of the functions are executed in a real-time, all the information required to accomplish a function are sent to the accountable manager. This is conducted right before the function is going to be performed to attain the most updated information about the status of the equipment, utilisation of the storage yard, and traffic in the transfer on the ground network. When the equipment needs to perform a container transfer operation, the manager to the equipment gives a decision. This decision includes comprehensive information such as the transfer points for the equipment to travel at each node during the travel, or the type of operation that must be performed. After the equipment completes the container transfer operations, the responsible manager records the status and update task completion information. Furthermore, the information about the completion of tasks is always sent to the process manager to assess the performance of the planned schedules and perform any required rescheduling, while the responsible manager to another manager conveys the outcome of a function if it is required to accomplish another task. For example, in order to perform a receiving order, the target storage area is determined by the yard manager. The information required to determine the target storage area includes the workloads of the yard cranes in each block and the current information about the

9 containers stored in the storage yard. The information about the workloads of the yard cranes in each block must be obtained from the fleet manager. Therefore, the yard manager requests this information from the fleet manager after an external truck enters the gate. Then, the fleet manager obtains information about the workloads of the yard cranes and sends this information to the yard manager, who then determines the designated storage location where the container will be stored. In this application, decisions are made while considering the up-to-date information representing real-time situations in the container terminal. The information should always be updated after any task performed by a manager. Figure 5. Information Architecture of the Developed Application

10 The Appearance Prototype Finally, a complete prototype of the MobDesctop application is demonstrated presenting different features that will apply to the app; the application has been developed using AXURE software (Axure RP 2016) with some features which include; Real-time decision. Surveillance camera operations, Announcements, and status updates, Onsite capture The prototype is illustrated in figure 6. Benefits and Outcomes in Future: Towards the future and industry 4.0 most of the container terminals and industries have tried to incorporate and enhance the use of information technology in their daily operations. This growth of ICT triggers the development of internet of things (IoT) paradigm which it is at infancy stage to promote effective and efficient operation within the terminal. Internet of Things (IoT) is the intercommunication to selected subdivisions of a system for the development of digital services. The IoT is where devices, objects and equipment build a network and exchange information with each other. In most cases, mobile applications act as the concave tool where all the information is collected and displayed to the user. The IoT is becoming necessary for joining physical devices, which are used to build a network that communicates large amounts of data. In summary, mobile apps have their place in some different areas of a port s operations. Nevertheless, to make the best practice of a mobile application, it is significant to consider how well a port is linked regarding its digital substructure, i.e. the IoT framework that is connected to facilitate these apps. Once a container terminal has the suitable digital network set up, such as Wi-Fi, cloud services, Bluetooth and other internet technologies, this will pave the way for developing thousands of apps that can be used and have applications across an entire spectrum of a container terminal. Figure 6. Prototype interface

11 Conclusion In this study, we sought to identify the flow of information in decision making as the problems and to generate multiple types of prototypes in synthesising MobDesctop. We have presented a case study of monitoring real-time decision making, tracking and tracing of trucks, and equipment in container operations. We designed the MobDesctop that facilitates the seamless flow of information among top managers in the container terminals. The prototype provides the precise information to the terminal managers at the right place and time to support the operations. Furthermore, a design thinking approach has been invited to address the problem and capture the users requirements. The use of design thinking provides a new approach to practitioners and researchers in container terminal industry for enhancing the body of knowledge about innovative ways of how the user-centered ICT-enabled solutions could bring new features and functions that the other approaches could not deliver. The mobile app can be used in other application areas such as facility management with the goal of saving time and costs among managers in daily operations. The greater the extent to which information technology and information systems academics and operations management researchers collaborate with other disciplines, the more important stream of interdisciplinary research they will provide. More research might be conducted as interdisciplinary studies, concerning internet of things and container terminal to facilitate the next generation ports for utilising fully operational information and communication systems Acknowledgements This research project is sponsored by the Pharco Corporation Graduate Scholarship to the Egypt- Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) and support of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). References Axure RP Axure Software, (available at retrieved January 10, 2017). Azab A., Mostafa N., and Park J OnTimeCargo : A Smart Transportation System Development in Logistics Management by a Design Thinking Approach,. Chen L., Zhang D., Ma X., Wang L., Li S., Wu Z., and Pan, G Container Port Performance Measurement and Comparison Leveraging Ship GPS Traces and Maritime Open Data, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (17:5). Chen, L., Zhang D., Pan G., Wang L., Ma X., Chen C., and Li, S Container Throughput Estimation Leveraging Ship GPS Traces and Open Data, Ubicomp, pp Dotoli, M., Fanti, M. P., Mangini A. M., Stecco G., and Ukovich W The impact of ICT on intermodal transportation systems: A modelling approach by Petri nets, Control Engineering Practice (18:8), Elsevier, pp Dullaert W., Neutens T., Vanden Berghe G., Vermeulen T., Vernimmen B., and Witlox, F MamMoeT: An intelligent agent-based communication support platform for multimodal transport, Expert Systems with Applications (36:7), Elsevier Ltd, pp Halabi A. X., Montoya-Torres J. R., Richards D., and Neira N. O Computational Intelligence to Support Cooperative Seaport Decision-Making in Environmental and Ecological Sustainability, Springer International Publishing, pp Melles G., Anderson N., and Barrett T Problem Finding through Design Thinking in Education, -Based Learning for (available at Newman P, Ferrario M, Simm W., and Forshaw, S The role of design thinking and physical prototyping in social software engineering, Proceedings of the 37th International Conference on Software Engineering (2), pp Ngai E. W. T., Li C.-L., Cheng T. C. E., Lun Y. H. V., Lai K.-H., Cao J., and Lee M. C. M Design and development of an intelligent context-aware decision support system for real-time

12 monitoring of container terminal operations, International Journal of Production Research (49:12), pp Port Technology Perfecting Port Operations? There s a Mobile App for that - Port Technology International, (available at _that; retrieved January 10, 2017). Posti A., H.akkinen J., and Tapaninen U Promoting Information Exchange with a Port Community System Case Finland, International Supply Chain Management and Collaboration Practices, p Singgih I. K., Jin X., Hong S., and Kim K. H Architectural Design of Terminal Operating System for a Container Terminal Based on a New Concept, (15:3), pp UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2015 Unctad. Ursavas E A decision support system for quayside operations in a container terminal, Decision Support Systems (59:1), Elsevier B.V., pp Wang S., and Wang H Teaching Design Thinking Through Case Analysis: Joint Analytical Process*, (9:1), pp