The implementation of an almost real-time control system for administrative services

Paper in proceeding, 2008

Real-time control is a dream from the sixties that with the advent of cheap micro-computers can today be materialised without higher investments. Still, in administrative operations this opportunity is far from bearing fruit. Many systems for e.g. financial control are still working with a thirty days’ delay between observations which makes them unreliable in a world in which speed of reaction is highly valued. The paper proposed here has the intention to describe the principles upon which an adaptive system for the control of administrative operations can be conceived as well as the implementation steps of such a system. The system itself is a combination of manual and computer generated elements that, in a later stage, may be entirely automated. Today it is based on visible planning but exhibits the features of a “good controller” as specified in cybernetics: a model of the situation, a model of itself, short delay between situation, observation and decision, filtering using mathematical criteria, etc. There is also a discussion of the rules upon which operational autonomy can be established for the department. The expected impact on operations is an improvement of the value delivered. The study is conducted in industry in a real, operational environment.