OR/MS Today - October 1997

OR/MS Today, October 1997

A Survey of Logistics Web Sites

By ManMohan S. Sodhi

Continuing the discussion on virtual electronic communities and the Web from my recent columns, I will survey three logistics Web sites from the viewpoint of how such Web sites enable communication among professionals. The first site, Logistics Mosaic, illustrates use of the Web for communication and distributing documents in a large organization. The second site, Loglink, provides a database of Web sites of companies in the logistics industry using a "low maintenance" design. The third site is that of the Council of Logistics Management emphasizing clean design. In their own way, all three illustrate design elements and choices for creating virtual communities.

The Logistics Mosaic
The Logistics Mosaic (http://www.acq.osd.mil/log/mosaic), an official U.S. government system for authorized unclassified use, provides many DoD documents and other information in six categories: (1) (Information) Systems, (2) Organizations, with links to Web sites of various DoD logistics-related organizations, (3) Commodities in categories ranging from Clothing to Construction, (4) Processes with documents like the Overall Logistics Process Chart, (5) Functions with sub-categories like Materiel Management, and (6) Infrastructure with such documents like Defense Information Infrastructure. The site should be quite useful not only to DoD logistics professionals, but also to vendors. The site also provides such information as speeches or presentations in audio or video form along with presentation slides. Design features include:

Direction from the top: A successful Web site in an organization should not only have support but also guidance on objectives from the leadership. According to the site's Webmaster, Jay Thomas, "The Logistics Mosaic was built on a concept developed by Mr. John Phillips, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Logistics. My boss, Raymond Archer, turned the concept of logistics as the interaction of thousands of [supply, maintenance, transportation, etc.] elements into a foundation [comprising] six elements on the main page."
Useful research information and tools: These include such external Web sites as Congressional records, CNN News, and text of the U.S. budget potentially useful to a DoD logistics professional writing a proposal, complete with links to sites providing an online dictionary and thesaurus.
Open to all: One feature that large geographically dispersed companies should consider is the open access feature of the site. You would expect such a site to be restricted to DoD, but when you think about DoD as an umbrella of DoD groups as well as its vendors and civilian employees, the open design makes sense.

Loglink
Loglink (http://www.loglink.com) is primarily a database of Web sites of companies in the logistics industry. The main menu has a simple search facility and a long category list, with each menu item actually querying the database when clicked. There is a large number of categories — air cargo, colleges and universities, fleet management, rail, etc. — but not all menu selections retrieve information. All in all, the "low maintenance" design has both pros and cons:

Centralized database: All entries go to a central database, with the menu items simply doing a query. So there are no additional Web pages to maintain.
User-supplied information: If users provide information — and they should do so willingly as they get to advertise their product/services — there is little work for the Webmaster. However, information can get out-of-date as was the case with conferences.
Leveraging external sources of information: The site has links to other sites including Associated Press and Fox News, and clicking such a link sends a query for trucking news.

Council of Logistics Management (CLM)
The CLM site (http://www.clm1.org/) — note the "1" (one) after CLM in the Web address — focuses on CLM services to its members. The design highlight of this site is indeed its simple interface and the work that must go into keeping it that way. Design features include:

Clear communication about the organization: The main page includes organization-specific information in these categories: Mission, Membership, Services, Publications, Roundtables and Allied Organizations. Also, the site details staff responsibilities in order to make it easier for CLM members to interact with them.
Simplicity of interface: The interface, structured like a printed newsletter, is quite pleasant with just the right amount of menu items and links so you do not have to click repeatedly for related information.
Hooks for the broader community: The CLM site has a target audience larger than its membership, and it has provided information for this audience: results from an annual survey of logistics executives conducted by Ohio State University, and a well-designed alphabetical list of logistics programs offered by different universities that is worth emulating by INFORMS Online for listing OR/MS programs.

Conclusion
So how does one create a virtual electronic community, or even a useful Web site? As the above sites show, there is a huge range of design choices based on needs of the target users of such a service and on the amount of time and resources one wants to put in creating and maintaining the site.

Dr. ManMohan S. Sodhi is Senior Consultant at Sabre Technology Solutions. He is the founder of the OR news group, sci.op-research, and helped design and create INFORMS Online. He can be reached at MohanSodhi@AOL.com.

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