Role-Tailored Map Dashboards—A New Approach for Enhancing the Forest-based Supply Chain

Caroline Atzl,Laura Knoth,Bernhard Vockner,Johannes Scholz,Manfred Mittlboeck

doi:10.3390/ijgi8010041

Abstract

The article presents a map dashboard aimed at enhancing the information flow in the forest-based supply chain (FbSC). We especially focus on the procurement stage and connect the stakeholders in (near) real-time via standardized data models, interfaces and services, as well as using open-source software only. For the communication strategy, we use a new approach that incorporates the user’s roles and tasks to create role-tailored views on the dashboard showing specific task-oriented web maps. Hence, the first research question aims at identifying the roles and tasks in Austrian forestry. We identified four major roles (site managers & foresters, forest workers, truck drivers, customers) and six tasks during group discussions. The second research question deals with the effects of a role-tailored map dashboard. Therefore, we evaluated the prototype in a two-week test phase that concludes with a field study with five experts. The results are twofold: qualitative using the results from field interviews and quantitative based on a now vs. then comparison with regard to the number of media disruptions. This comparison reveals that up to 80% of the media disruption in our use case scenario could be removed by using the role-tailored map dashboard.

Highlights

In 2016, the forest sector in Austria had a production value of around 1.5 Billion Euros [1] with its main activities lying in the production of forestry goods, in forestry services as well as in additional non-forestry services
We present a prototypical role-tailored map dashboard, which aims at enhancing the procurement processes in the forest-based supply chain (FbSC) by reducing media disruptions as well as providing a graphical communication tool for Austrian forest enterprises
As we presented several results in this paper, we divide our conclusions into four sections: (1) technical conclusion dealing with the process of developing a role-tailored map dashboard, (2) conclusions drawn from including roles and tasks into our approach, (3) conclusions drawn from our contextual inquiry containing field observations and interviews, and (4) conclusions about quantifying media disruptions in the FbSC procurement process using a vs. comparison

Summary

Introduction

In 2016, the forest sector in Austria had a production value of around 1.5 Billion Euros [1] with its main activities lying in the production of forestry goods (mainly timber, and forest fuels), in forestry services as well as in additional non-forestry services. The temporal sequence of activities from raw product to the final product is called forest-based supply chain (FbSC) (e.g., [2]) and comprises four distinct phases: procurement, production, distribution and sales. The process of procurement is defined as the production of the raw material in the forest, including the transportation to the first production facilities (i.e., saw mill). Production, distribution and sales encompass the activities to create marketable intermediate or final products and the distribution as well as sales process thereof. These processes are carried out by different stakeholders that are connected by the FbSC—i.e., flows of material, money and information. From an information and communication technology point of view, it seems obvious that these stakeholders and processes could be connected to ensure a seamless information flow in the FbSC

Objectives

Results

Conclusion