D. TCHOFFA¹, L. DUTA², A. El MHAMEDI^1
1 Equipe MGSI – Université de Paris8 / LISMMA
140, rue de la nouvelle France, 93100 Montreuil, France
d.tchoffa@iut.univ-paris8.fr, a.elmhamedi@iut.univ-paris8.fr
² Automation and Computer Science Department,
Valahia University of Targoviste, Romania
duta@valahia.ro

Abstract: Distributed systems are characterized by heterogeneity and also by multiple applications often interdependent whose programming is done by separate teams with no communications between them. Dysfunctions and problems that occur in these systems have multiple and important consequences. Difficulties encountered during discovering origins and causes of these problems are proportional with user information quality demand. In this paper a method to manage incidents in information systems using decision analysis is proposed.

Keywords: Decision analysis, incidents management, case basis reasoning, influence diagrams.

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CITE THIS PAPER AS:
D. TCHOFFA, L. DUTA, A. El MHAMEDI, Decision Analysis in Management of Information Systems Incidents, Studies in Informatics and Control, ISSN 1220-1766, vol. 22 (2), pp. 123-132, 2013. https://doi.org/10.24846/v22i2y201302

Introduction

In actual economic situation, enterprises must be more effective and innovating in order to create added value for their customers. Pressed by the emergency of results, they are forced to improve the efficiency and the productivity of their employees. Some enterprises cannot undergo the manual and reduce process inefficiency. It is the moment to transform their processes more reactively facing their customers, to improve their efficiency, to reduce the costs and to limit the risks.

While using their best practice and experience in information and processes management, enterprises can adopt a new approach in their work. Thus, treating of industrial system’s dysfunctions, incidents (or risk) management process is undergoing and it imposes itself as one that asks for more ingenuity in design and setup of an efficient method to minimize the maintenance costs of industrial applications.

In all sectors of activities, the impact of cascade incidents became one of most elevated budgets. The continuous interest growth for finding efficient dysfunctions management methods is justified by the trained teams, more effective tools of production and huge investments in decision aid tools so as to minimize incidents occurrence.

Using a tool for incidents management allows minimizing delays between treatment phases, to reduce services unavailability, and costs dues to the loss of service. However, methods used for this management are various. In literature, the main idea is to integrate intelligence in incidents management systems, either using a predefined formal set of rules (Rule Based Reasoning – RBR) or set of cases that summarizes and diagnoses previous dysfunctions and gives resolutions (Case Based Reasoning – CBR). A RBR diagnosis system implies a knowledge base that memorizes in a formal language the specific knowledge for the occurred problems and the operators reasoning their current operations. The major inconvenience of a RBR system is that the rules are established only for specific problems and are hardly maintainable (Luger, 2005). A CBR system finds, adapts and reuses old solutions to already met problems to solve new occurred problems or to criticize new solutions.

Taking into account previous considerations, one aims to conceive a tool, not only for incidents statistical analysis, but also to assist operators in finding solutions at the time of the procedures.

Our approach includes automatic incidents treatment and it is close to CBR architecture. A decision aid tool that establishes influences and causes between actions and incidents is presented in this paper.

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