Management of Soft Information in Sales and Operations Planning

With a Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process, a company aims to manage the demand and supply by planning and forecasting. The studied company uses an integrated S&OP process to improve the company's operations. The aim of this thesis is to develop this business process by finding the best possible way to manage the soft information in S&OP, whilst also understanding the importance and types (assumptions, risks and opportunities) of soft information in S&OP. The soft information in S&OP helps to refine future S&OP planning, taking into account the uncertainties that affect the balance of the long-term demand and supply (typically 12-18 months). The literature review was used to create a framework for soft information management process in S&OP. There were not found a concrete way how to manage soft information in the existing literature. In consequence of the poor literature available the Knowledge Management literature was used as the base for the framework creation, which was seen in the very same type of information management like the soft information management is. The framework created a four-stage process to manage soft information in S&OP that included also the required support systems. First phase is collecting and acquiring soft information in S&OP, which include also categorization. The categorization was the cornerstone to identify different requirements that needs to be taken into consideration when managing soft information in S&OP process. The next phase focus on storing data, which purpose is to ensure the soft information is managed in a common system (support system) in a way that the following phase makes it available to users in S&OP who need by help of sharing and applications process. The last phase target is to use the soft information to understand assumptions and thoughts of users behind the numbers in S&OP plans. With this soft management process the support system will have a key role. The support system, like S&OP tool, ensures that soft information is stored in the right places, kept up-to-date and relevancy. The soft information management process in S&OP strives to improve the relevant soft information documenting behind the S&OP plans into the S&OP support system. The process offers an opportunity to individuals to review, comment and evaluate soft information in S&OP made by their own or others. In the case company it was noticed that without a properly documented and distributed soft information in S&OP it was seen to cause mistrust towards the planning.

Ikkuna virtuaaliympäristöön

Tämän kandidaatintutkielman tavoitteena on rakentaa käyttäjien laitteiden sijaintia monitoroiva järjestelmä luokkahuonetilaan. Sijaintitiedot siirretään visualisointiohjelmistoon, joka näyttää laitteet virtuaaliympäristössä. Työssä käydään läpi jo olemassa olevat toteutukset ja käydään lävitse käytettyjen työkalujen valintaperusteet. Työn toteutus kuvataan suunnittelusta toteutukseen. Työssä tehdään 3 erillistä testiä, joista saaduilla tuloksia käytetään tutkimusongelmien ratkaisussa.

Development of category planning process in construction business

The aim of this thesis was to develop the category planning process in the case company operating in construction industry. As the interest in the field of research has just recently started to emerge towards the benefits of category management and planning, the theoretical background was derived from literature of subjects with a relation to category planning i.e. procurement strategy, purchasing portfolio model, information flow management and cost analysis. The background for the development of category planning process was derived from retail industry, to where the category planning is more researched. The empirical study was executed with mixed method approach: quantitative data of the categories was analyzed and qualitative data was gathered through semi-structured interview and discussions within the case company. As a result, the category planning process was critically analyzed and development proposals addressed for improving the process description. Additionally a tool was developed based on the empirical study to support the category planning process of the case company.

Slöjd som process och produkt : Talking Tools som dokumentations- och utvärderingsverktyg

Syftet med denna studie är att granska hur användningen av smarttelefoner kan stöda elevens reflektion av sin egen slöjdprocess och samtidigt se hur eleven dokumenterar sin slöjdprocess med hjälp av Talking Tools (TT). Fokus i denna studie ligger på dokumentation av elevens slöjdprocess, men jag behandlar även presentation av slöjdprodukter och olika möjligheter till och sätt på hur eleverna använder TT på en smarttelefon i slöjdundervisningen. En förändring i hur informations- och kommunikationsteknik (IKT) används sker och kommer även att ske i fortsättningen i grundskolan. Då en ny läroplan för den grundläggande utbildningen tas i bruk år 2016 kommer IKT att ha en avsevärt större roll. Denna förändring lägger press på lärare och på skolan överlag för att skapa ändamålsenliga metoder i användningen av IKT. Studien baserar sig på intervjuer med elever som använt TT under ett arbetsområde i slöjden. Elva elever presenterade först sina slöjdprodukter för forskaren varefter eleverna intervjuades. Eleverna hade tillgång till sina slöjdbloggar gjorda i TT under intervjutillfällena. Intervjuerna filmades och lades ihop med bloggarna för att förenkla analysen av materialet. I den här undersökningen framkom att dokumentationen av slöjdprocessen bidrog till en reflektion av när bilder och texter från bloggarna användes under presentationerna. Då kraven på dokumenteringen av arbetet i skolan blir högre i och med läroplanen 2016 tror jag att Talking Tools kan vara ett hjälpmedel för elever och lärare i förverkligandet av bland annat användningen av IKT i arbetet i skolan. Detta förutsätter att eleverna ges tid för användningen samt att tekniken fungerar.

Teollisuuspuhaltimien runkorakenteiden ja siipipyörien suunnittelu

Tämä diplomityö tehtiin Voikkaalla Dust Control Systems Oy:lle. Työ on osa teollisuuspuhaltimien tuotekehitystä yrityksen olemassaolevan puhallinratkaisujen, sekä suunnitteluprosessin kautta. Työn tavoitteena oli tutkia puhaltimen toiminnasta aiheutuvan värähtelyn vaikutusta puhaltimen rakenteisiin nykyisillä puhallinmalleilla, sekä tutkia eri rakenneratkaisujen käyttöä yrityksen normaalista tuotelinjasta suuremmilla puhaltimilla. Työ toteutettiin kahden toteutuneen puhallinprojektin yhteydessä, joiden rakenteellisia ominaisuuksia pyrittiin arvioimaan normaalin suunnitteluprosessin ohella puhallinkomponenttien mitoituksen suhteen. Molemmat projektit olivat yrityksen mittakaavassa huomattavan suuria sekä suunnittelultaan haastavia, joten ne sopivat diplomityön toteutukseen hyvin. Suunnittelussa käytettiin FE-mallinnukseen Femap ja COMSOL-ohjelmistoja, sekä värähtelyn simulointiin yliopistolla kehitettyä RoBeDyn – laskentaohjelmaa. Työn aikana todettiin, että tarkempi FE-mallinnus yrityksen valmiista 3D-malleista on varsin hankala toteuttaa ja vaatisi mallien suunnittelun erityisesti lujuuslaskentaa varten. Laskennassa päädyttiin käyttämään yksinkertaistettuja malleja, joiden avulla saatiin johdonmukaisia arvioita puhaltimien toiminnasta eri materiaalivahvuuksilla. Käytännössä tuloksien oikeellisuutta päästään arvioimaan kesällä 2015 puhaltimien valmistuttua.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN B2B COMPANIES – The Roles of Marketing Communication Tools in the Digital Age

Marketing communications has gone through significant changes during the last decades and new online tools have been leading this change for the last decade. Now, in the digital age, if wanting to be successful companies need to experiment new things and seize the opportunities online provides and adapt to the new environment. However, during this time the marketing communication mix and the meanings given to the various components of it have not changed dramatically, and personal selling, direct marketing, sales promotion, advertising and public relations activities are still regarded as important tools in the marketing communications mix. The purpose of this study was to examine business-to-business marketing communications and the tools used by companies in their marketing communications efforts in the digital age and in a global environment. The research questions dealt with the marketing communication tools and their roles as well as the role of online marketing communication and the way it has shaped the field of b2b marketing communications. In order to answer these questions, qualitative approach was chosen and the data was collected by theme interviews with six representatives of Finnish global companies from the b2b sector being interviewed. The theoretical framework covers the general field of b2b marketing communications and its main elements. The online environment as well as the concept of a global marketplace and integrated approach to marketing communication activities is also discussed. The theory was supported by the interviews regarding the activities and roles of the marketing communication tools and both theory as well as the interviews found personal selling to be a vital tool. However, the importance of online has grown and online marketing activities have risen right next to personal selling. The use of analytics and marketing automation was found to be of great interest in the interviews and they were seen as a growing domain in b2b marketing communications. The importance of targeted and personalised messages from relevant medias was a repeating theme as was the customer-centric approach in marketing communication activities. Also, offline and online tools and channels were seen as something that should be treated together as an entity rather than as separate activities. Relevant content created according to the needs of the customer with the gathered data from analytics were seen as the future of b2b marketing communications. Online has added its input to the more traditionally perceived tools and they are executed within the framework of the digital age. Nevertheless, even though online has increased its presence in the b2b marketing communications mix, the more traditionally perceived marketing communication tools, especially personal selling, have not lost their meaning or place in the b2b marketing communication mix.

4D-aikataulutuksen mahdollisuudet voimalaitosprojekteissa

4D-aikataulutus yhdistää aikataulun ja 3D-mallin animaatioelokuvaksi, jossa projektin rakentuminen esitetään ajan funktiona. Tässä työssä on perehdytty 4D-aikataulutukseen voimalaitosprojektien kannalta. Lisäksi työssä on perehdytty projektijohtamiseen, ja sitä kautta aikataulun merkitykseen projekteille. Työn lopuksi on esitetty 4D-aikataulutuksen käyttöönottoa ja siinä huomioon otettavia seikkoja. 4D-aikataulutuksen avulla projektin asennussuunnittelua voidaan toteutusvaiheessa tehostaa, sillä 4D-aikataulutuksen avulla asennusten törmäysten tarkastelua voidaan tehdä hyvissä ajoin suunnitteluvaiheessa. Lisäksi vaihtoehtoisten asennusmallien tekeminen on mahdollista, ja niitä voidaan keskenäään vertailla. Projektit voivat 4D-aikataulutuksen avulla analysoida myös aikatauluviiveitä, sekä esittää vaihtoehtoisia toteutustapoja projektille. 4D-aikataulutus mahdollistaa myös projektivaiheiden jälkeisen käytön. Projektin jälkeen projektin suunnitteltua ja toteutunutta aikataulua voidaan analysoida keskenään ja siten saada toisiin projekteihin vertailukelpoista tietoa. Lisäksi seisokkitöiden suunnittelussa on 4D-aikataulun avulla mahdollista suunnitella töiden järjestäminen tehokkaasti sekä ottaa myös turvallisuusnäkökohdat huomioon.

User Experience of Geocaching and Its Application to Tourism and Education

Advances in technology have provided new ways of using entertainment and game technology to foster human interaction. Games and playing with games have always been an important part of people’s everyday lives. Traditionally, human-computer interaction (HCI) research was seen as a psychological cognitive science focused on human factors, with engineering sciences as the computer science part of it. Although cognitive science has made significant progress over the past decade, the influence of people’s emotions on design networks is increasingly important, especially when the primary goal is to challenge and entertain users (Norman 2002). Game developers have explored the key issues in game design and identified that the driving force in the success of games is user experience. User-centered design integrates knowledge of users’ activity practices, needs, and preferences into the design process. Geocaching is a location-based treasure hunt game created by a community of players. Players use GPS (Global Position System) technology to find “treasures” and create their own geocaches; the game can be developed when the players invent caches and used more imagination to creations the caches. This doctoral dissertation explores user experience of geocaching and its applications in tourism and education. Globally, based on the Geocaching.com webpage, geocaching has been played about 180 countries and there are more than 10 million registered geocachers worldwide (Geocaching.com, 25.11.2014). This dissertation develops and presents an interaction model called the GameFlow Experience model that can be used to support the design of treasure hunt applications in tourism and education contexts. The GameFlow Model presents and clarifies various experiences; it provides such experiences in a real-life context, offers desirable design targets to be utilized in service design, and offers a perspective to consider when evaluating the success of adventure game concepts. User-centered game designs have adapted to human factor research in mainstream computing science. For many years, the user-centered design approach has been the most important research field in software development. Research has been focusing on user-centered design in software development such as office programs, but the same ideas and theories that will reflect the needs of a user-centered research are now also being applied to game design (Charles et al. 2005.) For several years, we have seen a growing interest in user experience design. Digital games are experience providers, and game developers need tools to better understand the user experience related to products and services they have created. This thesis aims to present what the user experience is in geocaching and treasure hunt games and how it can be used to develop new concepts for the treasure hunt. Engineers, designers, and researchers should have a clear understanding of what user experience is, what its parts are, and most importantly, how we can influence user satisfaction. In addition, we need to understand how users interact with electronic products and people, and how different elements synergize their experiences. This doctoral dissertation represents pioneering work on the user experience of geocaching and treasure hunt games in the context of tourism and education. The research also provides a model for game developers who are planning treasure hunt concepts.

Defining Sales and Operations Planning Process in an Environmental Management Company

Sales and operations research publications have increased significantly in the last decades. The concept of sales and operations planning (S&OP) has gained increased recognition and has been put forward as the area within Supply Chain Management (SCM). Development of S&OP is based on the need for determining future actions, both for sales and operations, since off-shoring, outsourcing, complex supply chains and extended lead times make challenges for responding to changes in the marketplace when they occur. Order intake of the case company has grown rapidly during the last years. Along with the growth, new challenges considering data management and information flow have arisen due to increasing customer orders. To manage these challenges, case company has implemented S&OP process, though initial process is in early stage and due to this, the process is not managing the increased customer orders adequately. Thesis objective is to explore extensively the S&OP process content of the case company and give further recommendations. Objectives are categorized into six different groups, to clarify the purpose of this thesis. Qualitative research methods used are active participant observation, qualitative interviews, enquiry, education, and a workshop. It is notable that demand planning was felt as cumbersome, so it is typically the biggest challenge in S&OP process. More proactive the sales forecasting can be, more expanded the time horizon of operational planning will turn out. S&OP process is 60 percent change management, 30 percent process development and 10 percent technology. The change management and continuous improvement can sometimes be arduous and set as secondary. It is important that different people are required to improve the process and the process is constantly evaluated. As well as, process governance is substantially in a central role and it has to be managed consciously. Generally, S&OP process was seen important and all the stakeholders were committed to the process. Particular sections were experienced more important than others, depending on the stakeholders’ point of views. Recommendations to objective groups are evaluated by the achievable benefit and resource requirement. The urgent and easily implemented improvement recommendations should be executed firstly. Next steps are to develop more coherent process structure and refine cost awareness. Afterwards demand planning, supply planning, and reporting should be developed more profoundly. For last, information technology system should be implemented to support the process phases.

Palveluprosessin kehittäminen kampaamoketjussa

As the competitive situation becomes more intense, companies must strive for growth and the ability to renew themselves. Innovations and the development of services will take an important role in this situation. Involving users in the service design process creates additional value and a chance to stand out from the com-petition. The goal of the target company is to produce high-quality services with the customers' needs in mind. This is why the company wants to develop their services systematically and aims to collect information about the service needs of both their employees and customers, which can be used to develop new and ap-pealing service packages. The aim of the study is to find out what the target company's current service pro-cess is like and how it can be developed further. The work is a case study in which the development process of the new service is followed through according to the approach, process and tools of the service design. Information is collected through focused interviews and a client survey. Participant observation gave a good overview of how employees of the target company react to the development of services. The study also found that the ser-vice path enables the collecting of ideas concerning the practical planning and development of the service process.

Ohjelmistotestauksen käytänteet Suomessa

Ohjelmistotestauksen merkitys on kasvanut sen mukaan mitä enemmän ohjelmisto-tuotteet vaikuttavat jokapäiväisesseen elämämme. Tämän vuoksi yritysten investointien ja laadunvarmentamisen yhteys on ilmeinen. Organisaatiot panostavat yhä enemmän ei–funktionaaliseen testaukseen, kuten turvallisuuden, suorituskyvyn ja käytettävyyden testaamiseen. Tämän työn tarkoituksena on tutkia ohjelmistotestauksen nykytilannetta Suomessa. Syy tähän on uudistaa ja parantaa ohjelmistotestauksen kurssitarjontaa Turun yliopistossa vastaamaan parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla yritysten tarvetta. Opinnäyte on toteutettu replikaatio-tutkimuksena. Pääosa kyselystä sisältää kysymyksiä ohjelmistotestauksen menetelmistä ja työkaluista testausprosessin toimintojen aikana. Lisäksi on yleisiä kysymyksiä yrityksistä ja niiden ohjelmistotestausympäristöistä. Kyselyssä otetaan myös kantaa yritysten käyttämiin monenlaisiin testaus-tasoihin, -tyyppeihin ja testauksessa kohdattuihin haasteisiin. Tämä opinnäyte perustuu testausprosessistandardeihin. Ohjelmistotestausstandardit ovat keskeisessä asemassa tässä työssä, vaikka ne ovat olleet viime aikoina vahvan kritiikin kohteena. Epäilys standardien välttämättömyyteen on syntynyt muutoksista ohjelmistokehityksessä. Tämä työ esittelee tulokset ohjelmistotestauksen käytännöistä. Tuloksia on verrattu aiheeseen liittyvän aiemman kyselyn (Lee, Kang, & Lee, 2011) tuloksiin. Ajanpuutteen havaitaan olevan suuri haaste ohjelmistotestauksessa. Ketterä ohjelmistokehitys on saavuttanut suosiota kaikissa vastaajien yrityksissä. Testauksen menetelmät ja työkalut testauksen arviointiin, suunnitteluun ja raportointiin ovat hyvin vähäisessä käytössä. Toisaalta testauksen menetelmien ja työkalujen käyttö automaattiseen testauksen toteuttamiseen ja virheiden hallintaan on lisääntynyt. Järjestelmä-, hyväksyntä-, yksikkö- ja integraatiotestaus ovat käytössä kaikkien vastaajien edustamissa yrityksissä. Kaikkien vastaajien mielestä regressio- sekä tutkiva- ja ei-funktionaalinen testaus ovat tärkeitä tekniikoita.

Capital investments planning and life cycle simulations for the new valves manufacturing facility in Russia

The focus of the research is on the derivation of the valid and reliable performance results regarding establishment and launching of the new full-scale industrial facility, considering the overall current conditions for the project realization in and out of Russia. The study demonstrates the process of the new facility concept development, with following perfor-mance calculation, comparative analyzes conduction, life-cycle simulations, performance indicators derivation and project`s sustainability evaluation. To unite and process the entire input parameters complexity, regards the interlacing between the project`s internal technical and commercial sides on the one hand, and consider all the specifics of the Russian conditions for doing business on the other hand, was developed the unique model for the project`s performance calculation, simulations and results representation. The complete research incorporates all corresponding data to substantiate the assigned facility`s design, sizing and output capacity for high quality and cost efficient ferrous pipe-line accessories manufacturing, as well as, demonstrates that this project could be suc-cessfully realized in current conditions in Russia and highlights the room for significant performance and sustainability improvements based on the indexes of the derived KPIs.