Vendor Optimizer Part of Radar/Space-Time www.cs.cmu.edu/~eugene/Radar/services.html

Main functions Determine a near-optimal set of orders Suggest steps for converting the current set of orders into a better set Elicit additional information about available vendors and their prices

User responsibilities Modify the set of orders according to the system’s suggestions Provide information in response to the system’s questions

Optimization steps Input Output Intermediate Results Old Orders Schedule Output Vendors and Costs Resource Calc Resource Optimizer Vendor Chooser Order Diff Utility Calc Prioritized Changes Cost Function Resource Functions Pre- Orders New Orders Order Changes Total Cost Intermediate Results

Inputs List of item types Mapping from item types into preferences Cost function Current schedule Current total cost Available vendors Available items and their costs Current orders fully specified partially all or none

Possible sources of data Hand-coding before the tests Automated extraction from the available (external) databases Forced input through forms Voluntary input through forms Response to elicitation through forms Natural-language processing

Inputs List of item types Mapping from item types into preferences Cost function Current schedule Current total cost Available vendors Available items and their costs Current orders hand-coding available hand-coding and elicitation NL processing

Possible display easier No display of orders Simple text Structured forms with text Extension to Space-Time GUI easier nicer