<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

Decision Sciences, Operations Management, and Information Systems

In this paper, we have formulated Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models to reduce the inputs in an inefficient Decision Making Unit (DMU) when the specific inputs are under the constant sum constraint. We have also extended the models to reallocate the excess input without any reduction in efficiency of other DMUs. These DEA models and methods developed in this work will help decision makers in developing an optimal strategy to transfer excess input to other DMUs. Theoretical results have been illustrated with the help of a case study. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014.

World University root node

(SME) School of Management and Entrepreneurship

Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Algorithms in Operations Research

Efficiency improvement strategy under constant sum of inputs

This paper provides a simulation model for scheduling service task operations and distributing related human resources in dispersed work centres. The managerial concern for the minimisation of temporal overhead costs of task operations in the face of fluctuating, short-term service demands is examined under restrictions imposed by resource availability, work hour flexibility and task-backlog fulfilment. Scheduling strategies are developed directly from the constrained reduction of temporal overheads of appointment and release operations in distributed, non-interlinked work centres. To ensure the models structural validity, simulated task backlogs are adjusted to the actual backlog-reducing procedures in real applications. The model provides means for setting up balanced work schedules that can greatly lower temporal overheads of appointment and release operations if workers are selected in accordance with compatible time availability and task qualifications. Direct comparisons of worker productivities in the different centres can also be made, allowing managers to locate bottleneck points of service operations when productivity falls short of desired expectations. The robustness of the model is ensured by finding significant parameter domains through Monte Carlo simulations, centred on data points collected from real-time demand functions in actual service operations. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

International Journal of Production Research

Distributed task scheduling and human resource distribution in industrial service solution production: A simulation application

For many organizations today building goods and services over a period of time, the continuous production of documented product development information is necessary for immediate as well as future internalization and reuse. Especially, in an environment where multiple, often geographically dispersed, teams of workers are involved, it becomes imperative that the information be generated in optimally balanced distributions of project resources, so that it can be disseminated and reused efficiently. We introduce in this study a model to address this problem. The model is validated by formulating its structure on the essential characteristics of the underlying problem domain. To simulate development situations where creative human endeavor is more emphasized than automated applications of routine procedures, we use a set of human-centered input decision variables and examine the optimal output production relative to their dynamics and control. Our model is not tied to the characteristics of any individual project per se but can be easily modified and generalized to address other allied types of production situations. Simulations are performed for a variety of practical decision-making scenarios. Our results suggest that workers' contextual work experience, interactions, and background learning all govern production optimality, although nonuniformly in distinct temporal domains of development. © 1988-2012 IEEE.

IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management

Optimal information production in product development environments: A model with simulations

The Indian National Action Plan for Climate Change (NAPCC) envisages several measures to address global climate change. One of the important measures identified involves increasing the share of renewable energy in total electricity consumption in the country. This would mean NAPCC envisages renewable energy to constitute approximately 15% of the energy mix of India by 2020. To achieve the target set by the NAPCC, Indian Ministry of Power launched Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) mechanism in November 2010. However, participation in the REC markets is low and RECs have failed to attract significant investment so far. In this study a preliminary attempt has been made to assess the performance of existing REC mechanism in India. After highlighting the salient features of the Indian renewable energy policy framework a brief description of renewable purchase obligation (RPO) and source specific RPOs for different states is discussed along with an overview of REC market in India to date. The performance of Indian REC mechanism is evaluated by cost competiveness, decentralized distributed generation and renewable energy portfolio diversity and their effectiveness has also been measured on the basis of the available data. Although, it is difficult to make any conclusive remark on the success or failure of REC mechanism due to its short experience, this study examines the process to date to come out with some recommendations which can be used to fine tune the functioning of existing REC market in India. For instance, REC price bounds should be revised because it has been not explicitly supporting cost competiveness by offering 60.33% higher average price than the existing average feed-in tariff (FiT). It is also observed that state-wise contribution in registered capacity is skewed towards few states like Tamil Nadu (27%), Maharashtra (23%), and Uttar Pradesh (22%), which puts pressure on policy makers to restructure the existing REC mechanism. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Renewable energy certificate mechanism in India: A preliminary assessment

In recent years concurrent, overlapping development activities of engineering tasks have proved to be a cost-effective and time-efficient way to build products geared toward meeting the demands of a competitive and quality-conscious market. In this study, we examine the structure and dynamics of a software project in information technology industrial research and development that has this methodology as its foundation. We first describe a number of software engineering aspects of the project that elucidate how various development activities in its concurrently unfolding component projects are overlapped and integrated to gradually build the product over time. Using the mathematical tools of dynamic systems analysis, we next derive a number of results that characterize the long-term, stable behavior of the project. These results are then used in a numerical simulation to illustrate a procedure by which relevant resources can be distributed across the components in a way that maintains continued stability of the project over time. Our modeling approach is flexible enough to allow the theoretical results and the simulation techniques to be easily generalized to study, in real time, the stability, maintenance, and management of similar concurrent projects. The usefulness of the method lies in motivating and refining managerial decisions that drive overlapping development activities of such projects. © 2010 IEEE.

Concurrent, overlapping development and the dynamic system analysis of a software project

Adopting the framework of a multicomponent, distributed outsourced project in information technology research and development, the present paper introduces a quantitative model of the asymptotic stability of development output in the outsourced project components. Empirical production functions are employed to formulate stochastic distributions of the parameters in the model Observational data from actual industrial projects are compared with prediction results from Monte Carlo simulations of the underlying project dynamics to determine the span of the linear regime of development progress. Simulation-based analysis further provides domain maps of parameter stability. These are valuable tools for project managers and management practitioners to control and sustain the long-term evolution of the project. The points of departure from linearity as well as some of their probable causes are also indicated and discussed. © 2009 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.