Operations Research Management Science - INFORMS Online

<BODY bgcolor="#ffffff" link="cc0000" vlink="cc0000" text="#000000"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br>   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480><tr valign=top> <td width=10><img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 hspace=4 border=0></td> <td width=470> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><I><A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top">OR/MS Today</A> - February 2004</I></B></font><BR> <hr size="1"> <img src="cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <font face="times new roman, times"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B><A HREF="http://www.informs.org" TARGET="_new">INFORMS Online</A></B></FONT><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <FONT SIZE="+2"><B>The State of IOL</B></FONT><BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=6 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><B>By Matthew Saltzman</B></FONT><br> <hr size="1"> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br>    This column is the first of my second term as IOL editor in chief, so it seems like an appropriate time to bring you up to date on the state of IOL and our plans for the near future. Our mission remains unchanged from when I began my first term: INFORMS is a Web-based association, and INFORMS Online is the association's point of presence on the World Wide Web.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>Highlights</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> One of the goals I set for my first term was to "professionalize" certain parts of IOL. I was particularly concerned with the operational aspects  the key member and customer services, especially e-commerce services. Some of these services have been outsourced and some have been taken over by INFORMS staff. Outsourcing of some other services is still being investigated. <P><B><I>Member profile and renewals.</I></B> IOL now serves as a gateway to outsourced e-commerce services to support member profile updates and subscription renewals. New-member signup is still under development. <P><I><B>Meeting programs and abstract submission.</B></I> The new meeting program software is completely Web-based. Cluster, track, session and abstract data are submitted by the people responsible and are automatically entered in the database. Scheduling is Web-based as well, and the online bulletin accesses the database directly. The database is used to generate the printed bulletin, and provides up-to-the minute online searches. For the Atlanta conference, we were once again able to offer personalized bulletins. The only feature that remains to be implemented is the transfer of abstracts to the searchable abstract archive. This feature should be available soon. <P><B><I>The resources page.</I></B> Through 2001, the premier portal to Web resources related to operations research was Mike Trick's OR page. In 2002, Mike moved his portal to IOL and in 2003, he generously donated the portal and its contents to INFORMS. IOL now claims the mantle of "premier OR portal," thanks to Mike, who also continues to edit the page. <P><B><I>Graphical design.</I></B> The graphical layout of IOL is now primarily the responsibility of INFORMS staff. While the overall look of the main pages of IOL is in the process of being revamped, many pages have been redone case by case. These include the JPS, the Speakers Program page, the <I>Topics in OR</I> book series page and the recent conference pages. <P>Much more has happened in various areas of the site, but there isn't space to describe them all here.<BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=12 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=3><B>What's Coming Up</B></FONT><BR> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> The following initiatives will be coming online in the near future. <P><B><I>New servers and co-location.</I></B> As IOL's role as a portal for member services increases in importance, ensuring the reliability of the servers and their network connections becomes more critical. Three new servers have been acquired for IOL, and they will soon be installed at a "co-location facility" outside of the INFORMS office. The facility provides reliable, very high-speed network access, redundant power and safe backups. The servers will provide storage and computational power necessary to support the additional overhead associated with some of our other plans. <P><B><I>New databases.</I></B> The <I>Annual Comprehensive Index</I> is being replaced by two services. <I>International Abstracts in OR</I> is now available to members through INFORMS Pubs On Line. A new public database will provide searchable abstracts of all articles ever published in INFORMS journals. The new database will also index abstracts of meeting abstracts for all meetings that had online bulletins. We are also looking into revamping the working paper and presentation databases at some point in the future. <P><B><I>Content management.</I></B> IOL consists of more than 20,000 files, including HTML, Perl scripts, images, etc., and IOL content is still managed in this raw form. Content management systems (CMS) are software systems that support separation of form from content and allow "look and feel" to be applied consistently to pages. They also support workflow management and dynamic page generation. <P>Our most ambitious plan for my new term is to convert most of IOL to a CMS. A CMS represents a major commitment to a new way of managing IOL, so it must be chosen with care. The transition will take some time, but the result will be an IOL that is more responsive to the changing needs of the INFORMS community and a smaller burden on the maintainers. <P>INFORMS Online is brought to you through the efforts of a great many people. Thanks especially to Deputy Editor Brian Borchers; volunteer Associate Editors Jeffrey Herrmann, Jay Rajgopal, Gary Koehler, Robin Lougee-Heimer, Vicki Sauter and Mike Trick; INFORMS staffers Mary Steffens, Shirley Mohr, Mike Harris, Randy Kiefer, Lisa Klose, Barry List, Shannon Leyhe, Christy Kline, Betsy Fruehling and the rest of the staff; and many other volunteers who manage related sites including subdivision and journal editor pages, the Student Union and others. <P>We look forward to continuing to serve the INFORMS membership and the OR community. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Please write to me at <A HREF="mailto:iol_editor@mail.informs.org">iol_editor@mail.informs.org</A>. <BR> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <IMG SRC="../barbluehook.gif" WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="4"><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=2 border=0><br> <FONT face="verdana, arial, helvetica" SIZE=2><I><B>Matthew Saltzman</B> (<A HREF="mailto:mjs@ces.clemson.edu">mjs@ces.clemson.edu</A>) is an associate professor of Mathematical Sciences at Clemson University and the editor of INFORMS Online.</i></font><BR>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=5 border=0><br>  <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <font face="verdana, arial, helvetica" size="1"> <CENTER><script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script></CENTER><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="tocfr.html" Target="_top"><I>Table of Contents</A><br> <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=4 border=0><br> <LI> <A HREF="../../ORMS.shtml" TARGET="_top"><I>OR/MS Today</I> Home Page</A><br>  <img src="../cleardot.gif" width=1 height=1 vspace=8 border=0><br> <img src="../barblue.gif" width=468 height=1 border=0 alt=" "><br> <b><i>OR/MS Today</i></b> copyright © 2004 by <A HREF="http://www.informs.org/" target="_new">the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences</a>. 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