Was sind die besten Möglichkeiten, die OP-Softwareentwicklung in Geschäftsprozesse zu integrieren?

First and foremost, understand not only the business but also the domain, the current trends, what exactly would be beneficial for the company, how they can use the tools (providing a very good solution that will not be used...). So in short, having a very good understanding of what is at stake is the first and foremost important step. Know your problem inside out, know your environment inside out and know what is possible now and later. Especially that politics often is at play. Also try to propose a solution that makes sense business wise. For instance, a good enough solution might do the trick instead of aiming for a very good solution (is the management ready?).

Integrating Operations Research (OR) software with business processes involves understanding business needs, collaborating between OR experts and developers, adopting agile methodologies, prioritizing user experience, rigorous testing, designing for scalability and integration, fostering continuous improvement, and supporting change management and training for smooth implementation. This alignment ensures effective utilization of OR to optimize processes and drive better decision-making within businesses.

Integrating software development with business processes involves: 1) Understanding business needs, 2) Forming cross-functional teams, 3) Adopting Agile methodologies, 4) Implementing CI/CD for automation, 5) Mapping use cases and user stories, 6) Maintaining requirements traceability, 7) Establishing feedback loops, 8) Prototyping for user feedback, 9) Comprehensive documentation, 10) Business process modeling, 11) Aligning technology stack, 12) Effective change management, and 13) Monitoring KPIs. These practices ensure alignment, flexibility, and responsiveness, enhancing the success and impact of software solutions.

Nowadays, there isn't any good reason not to couple OR with data driven methods, in particular with ML. OR in itself is extremely powerful for optimization and taking decisions but you can not take your input/data for granted and thus you should add some ways to mitigate the sources of input. In particular, you always should test if your input but also your outputs are really aligned with the reality. Optimizing a huge problem and then discovering that the solution can not be applied because of this or that that wasn't supposed to happen... happens a lot more than people realise.

One thing I've found helpful is to make sure that everybody in the project team, especially the folks who represent the end users, feels like they are the owner of the project and the resulting product. This requires frequent and straightforward communication, without much jargon but with loads of active listening. This way, you can secure the user buy-in from day 1.

An important aspect to be considered in most of the complex business OR problems is a trade-off between solution time and quality. So, one thing that I've found useful is to decide the important evaluation metrics and agree on what is a realistic minimal & good to have numbers in the initial stage of problem solving. This helps both OR scientists and stakeholders to align towards a common goal from the starting of the process, and also fosters better assessment of ROI.

7- Collaborate cross-functionally Encourage collaboration between the OR software development team and various departments within the organization. 8- Establish a feedback loop Implement a feedback mechanism that allows continuous input from end-users and stakeholders throughout the development process. This iterative feedback loop helps in addressing evolving requirements, refining features, and ensuring the final product meets the dynamic demands of the business environment. 9- Consider scalability and flexibility Design the OR software with scalability and flexibility in mind. Business processes may evolve, and the software should adapt seamlessly to changes in scale, scope, or requirements without requiring significant redevelopment.

Figuring out how various systems and data can interact and streamline business processes has become increasingly important. Historically, BPI wasn’t something small businesses might encounter. But this is changing with the rise in popularity and accessibility of third-party software systems. However, achieving integration between OR systems can be surprisingly difficult. The applications and data structures an organization uses might not have been developed with connectivity in mind. Furthermore, as an organization grows their business rules and systems tend to get more complex.