Many academics and practitioners have found spreadsheets to be a viable platform for quantitative analysis of supply chain related problems. This paper will give an IBM Research account of the way spreadsheets have been helping us in our projects. We will briefly describe a number of projects that benefitted from the use of spreadsheets. For each project, we will mention the reasons and considerations that led to the choice of spreadsheet usage, and explain how this choice impacted the success of the project. We will summarize the lessons learned and try to put them in perspective as to when and how spreadsheets can be used under different circumstances. We will give a prescriptive view of what factors to consider, what questions to ask, what advantages/disadvantages and weaknesses/strengths to consider about the use spreadsheets. We will do this from both technical and business perspectives.
By: Sheneeta W. White; Kaan Katircioglu; Tarun Kumar
Published in: RC24041 in 2006
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