The Open System for Master Production Scheduling: Information Technology for Semantic Connections between Data and Mathematical Models

Commonly provided by ERP vendors, master production scheduling (MPS) systems often strive to meet the needs of a large user base while limiting software functionality. Subsequently, business process reengineering becomes the means for firms to adapt to MPS software packages. This article develops a flexible approach for MPS delivery as an alternative to packaged software. The article examines the general case of open system architecture to deliver a specific master scheduling model to end-users. The open system approach fulfills a goal to standardize and speed the process of modeling in practice by creating a supply network for mathematical models that is searchable across the Internet with precision. The value lies on quickly putting state-of-the-art modeling in the hands of many users with no local computer implementation other than downloading an Excel spreadsheet.