Managerial Decision Support
During operation, the system collects a multitude of transactional data such as
workstation availability, user sign-in records, waitlists, issues, cost of repairs, room
occupancy, etc. This data becomes a source for analytical information that
managers can utilize for their decision support. Some of the areas in which the
system can provide decision support include:
- Room scheduling and staffing. Managers may extract historical data about
room occupancy by day of the week and hour of the day. Based on the data,
managers may adjust room schedules and justify staffing requirements for
future periods. If there is a need to cut the labs working hours, the system
will minimize the negative effect by pinpointing periods of minimal occupancy.
- Purchasing. Managers can analyze historical cost of maintenance for each
type of workstation and avoid buying models with high maintenance costs.
Managers can also predict maintenance expenses for future periods based
on prior periods and determine a meaningful maintenance budget. It is also
possible to analyze major sources of failure and proactively acquire necessary
spare parts. These measures will drastically decrease the amount of
downtime in the lab, thus providing better return on lab investment.
- Understanding demand for equipment. Historical data on waitlists, room
occupancy and occupancy by workstation type may help management
understand whether there is a shortage of a particular type of workstation or
an opportunity to repurpose existing equipment so it can perform tasks that
are in high demand. As a result, the lab will purchase only the equipment,
which is in demand; existing equipment can be used efficiently; return on
investment will go up.
- Maintenance. Managers can view trends in equipment downtime to help
them make judgments on the quality of work of technicians and the condition
of the equipment. Old equipment causing lots of downtime can be identified
and replaced promptly. Technicians doing a poor job maintaining the facility
can be identified.
Figure 4. Student sign-in, employee shift, waitlist, maintenance,
availability and other transactional data are analyzed by managers to
make staffing, scheduling, purchasing, budgeting and other decisions.
The decision support component will transform the lab into a truly manageable
business where decisions are made based on precise metrics rather than
guesswork. Managers are empowered with tools that provide a clear picture of
the situation and allow them to make fact-based decisions.
About VeraLab Inc.
VeraLab Inc. is an innovative software company located in
Silicon Valley, CA. Our core business is Computer Lab Management Systems.
Our flagship product is VeraLab, a comprehensive lab management suite targeted
for academic institutions and corporate training centers. To find out more about
VeraLab, please visit
VeraLab Home Page.
