An online performance evaluation of business partners system: OLAP based approach

The core of manufacturing activities has shifted from the physical production of goods to the systematic processing of knowledge to create value for the customers from shortened product development cycle, integrated enterprise modelling, improved outbound logistics and fast response to market needs using innovative information tools and digital technology in the network environment. Manufacturing-related business services that capitalize on information technology are expanding fast. The competitiveness of tomorrow's manufacturing enterprise lies in the development and adoption of a wide range of digital technologies and tools and the creation of virtual and fast-response enterprise to meet the new industrial order of the next century. The formation of digital manufacturing networks is taking up momentum to meet this challenge. In this new business model of virtual enterprise, the partnership synergy is an important issue to be addressed. This paper attempts to provide a model to analyze the issue of partner synergy in a digital manufacturing network. In particular, a model to evaluate the performance of partners in "real time" based on the OnLine Analytical Processing (OLAP) technology has been proposed. In this paper, a case example has also been covered to evaluate the feasibility of this approach.