Many of the terms used throughout this description will be covered during the course of the semester. Don’t panic if you are not familiar with the terminology!
This is a
joint project across the JDEP Sophomore block. The fall semester portion of the
project is to create a "mini-MRP" system. It should be scalable and
maintainable because it will be extended in the spring by converting your
“mini-MRP” system into an ERP system.
The fall semester portion of the project is fairly well structured in
terms of features that your system must include. The spring semester will be much more open ended, allowing you to
identify those features of an ERP system that you believe to be most useful and
capable of building before final deadlines.
Your fall
semester “mini-MRP” system will be able to forecast orders, generate a master
production schedule (MPS), and create planned order schedules and exception
reports when the production schedule is not feasible. The focus of this project is the computational engine. A fancy graphical interface is not required,
nor is it expected.
The primary components of your system will be: a
forecasting module, a bill of materials (BOM) data structure, an inventory
records/inventory status data structure, a MPS module, and an MRP module.
The
forecasting module will read a file of historical orders to be used for your
forecasting. This file will be
provided. The forecasting module will
support, at a minimum, one forecasting algorithm per team member. Users will be
able to select the forecasting method of choice. Not all of the forecasting
methods chosen can come from the business textbooks for the sophomore
block. Your system should also analyze
the accuracy of the set of forecasting algorithms and recommend the most
accurate algorithm based on the historical data. After the forecasting algorithm has been selected, the module
will forecast product orders for the next k
time buckets, where the user inputs the desired k.
The MPS module
will accept the monthly order forecast as input and create a master schedule to
satisfy forecasted demand. The forecast
schedule will be displayed on the screen and the user will be given the
opportunity to make changes to the forecast.
Once the changes (if any) are made and the user accepts the schedule,
MPS will be set.
The MRP module
will accept as input the MPS, read a BOM file, inventory records/inventory
status file, and determine the inventory and purchasing needs to meet the
MPS. The MRP system will generate
reports that detail the planned order schedule that are organized by release
date, order date, supplier, and by product.
The user will have the option of selecting any of these order schedule
reports to be displayed on the screen.
If a feasible schedule cannot be created, an exception report will be
generated that identifies the problem part and the earliest point in time at
which the schedule becomes infeasible.
This is often called pegging.
The format and
content of the inventory and BOM files will be provided. Your team will define the format of the
displays and reports generated. The
user must be able to either specify the filenames as arguments to the program,
or should be able to enter them during execution.
The MRP engine
must execute on a Linux/Unix system and be written in C++.
Your team will
be required to create a set of milestones for your project. You will send email
to the course instructors (CS and Business) at each milestone that summarizes
your status, indicates any problems encountered, and describes any risk
mitigation strategies being considered or adopted.
A final CS
report will be required that introduces the problem you are solving, describes
your solution with moderate detail, such as the types of data structures and
algorithms used for major components, discusses alternative designs and why
your design was chosen, analyzes the time and space complexity of your main
algorithms, and describes how your system was evaluated. The report should follow the standard CS template
available from Dr. Goddard’s Writing Resources pages (linked from the course
webpage).
A user manual
and training session are also required.
The user manual is due December 3.
The training sessions will be held Dec 6 and 8. The final CS system report and source code
for your project is due 9:00pm Saturday, December 11, 2004. Work with the communications faculty (i.e.,
Rick and Mary) during the preparation of your user manual, CS final report, and
training session.
As usual, the
coding standard must be followed and a Makefile must be submitted with the
source code. Use CSE Web handin to
submit your code, and submit a hardcopy of the report in class.
This project will be scored at follows for your CS course:
Program correctness (as defined) 30%
Quality of design/readability 25%
In-line documentation/coding standard 10%
Final report 30%
Thoroughness
of test cases 05%
While the final grade in the
business course will be developed by the combination of business and communications
faculty, the following breakdown provides an overall picture of the importance
of the different areas of emphasis:
Accuracy of Results (forecasts and reports) 30%
Ease of Use 10%
User’s Manual 20%
Training
Session 20%
Professionalism
20%