Siscog
Encyclopedia
SISCOG is a software company that provides decision support systems for resource planning and management in transportation companies, with special experience in the field of railways.
and Ernesto Morgado
were Ph.D.
students in artificial intelligence
at the State University of New York at Buffalo. These ideas were influenced by the success of the first commercial expert systems, and led to the company's incorporation in 1986.
Through these last 20 years, SISCOG has developed several software products that offer users different levels of decision support, from just validating all the constraints pertaining the problem and performing helpful calculations while the users build the plan (manual mode), to pointing out directions for achieving a good solution (semi-automatic mode) or even achieving an optimised solution by just themselves (automatic mode). These products use a combination of artificial intelligence and operational research optimisation technologies to produce nearly optimal solutions that fit the customer needs.
SISCOG has implemented its decision support systems in companies like the Portuguese Railways, Dutch Railways, Finnish Railways, Norwegian State Railways, Danish State Railways, S-Tog - Copenhagen Suburban Trains, London Underground
and Lisbon Metro
.
SISCOG's products have been awarded in 1997 and 2003 with the "Innovative Application Award" given by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
(AAAI) and was laureated with the Computerworld
Honor in 2006.
ONTIME, a product that creates detailed timetables
, all the way from the annual timetables down to day-to-day adjustments due to special holidays, large-scale events, and track engineering work. ONTIME plans and manages the allocation of two important resources to the company trips: space (routes, railway lines/tracks, air routes/corridors, etc.) and time (departure and arrival times of all trip legs).
FLEET, a product for fleet planning and management. It creates optimised vehicle schedules, considering expected passenger figures, fleet specifications, and operational constraints. FLEET produces long-term cyclic plans, calendar short-term plans, handles vehicles planned maintenance, and provides decision-support during day-to-day operation.
CREWS, a product for planning and managing the work of staff. CREWS optimises the use of both on-board personnel (drivers, guards, conductors, catering staff, etc.) as well as local staff (station, contact centre, and railway yard staff, etc.). CREWS produces long-term cyclic plans (duties and rosters) as well as short-term calendar plans, taking into account special days of operation and staff’s individual schedules and preferences. It maintains several kinds of individual work time accounts, provides individual inspection of work, and provides standard interfaces to payroll and HR management systems.
History
The initial ideas for founding SISCOG started to be discussed in 1982 while João Pavão MartinsJoão Pavão Martins
João Pavão Martins is a Full Professor of Computer Science and Engineering in Instituto Superior Técnico .He was one of the persons behind the creation of the Computer Science and Engineering degree of Instituto Superior Técnico, in 1988, and one of the founders of the Department of Computer...
and Ernesto Morgado
Ernesto Morgado
Ernesto M. Morgado is Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering in Instituto Superior Técnico since 1992...
were Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
students in artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
at the State University of New York at Buffalo. These ideas were influenced by the success of the first commercial expert systems, and led to the company's incorporation in 1986.
Through these last 20 years, SISCOG has developed several software products that offer users different levels of decision support, from just validating all the constraints pertaining the problem and performing helpful calculations while the users build the plan (manual mode), to pointing out directions for achieving a good solution (semi-automatic mode) or even achieving an optimised solution by just themselves (automatic mode). These products use a combination of artificial intelligence and operational research optimisation technologies to produce nearly optimal solutions that fit the customer needs.
SISCOG has implemented its decision support systems in companies like the Portuguese Railways, Dutch Railways, Finnish Railways, Norwegian State Railways, Danish State Railways, S-Tog - Copenhagen Suburban Trains, London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
and Lisbon Metro
Lisbon Metro
The Lisbon Metro is the metro system of Lisbon, Portugal. Opened in December 1959, it was the first subway system in Portugal.As of 2011, the four Lisbon subway lines total about in length and comprise 52 stations.- History :- Idea :...
.
SISCOG's products have been awarded in 1997 and 2003 with the "Innovative Application Award" given by the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
American Association for Artificial Intelligence
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence or AAAI is an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines...
(AAAI) and was laureated with the Computerworld
Computerworld
Computerworld is an IT magazine that provides information for senior IT leaders. It is published in many countries around the world under the same or similar names. Its publisher is International Data Group. Computerworld serves the needs of IT management via print and online...
Honor in 2006.
Software Products
SISCOG offers a family of integrated products, each one composed of several integrated modules. These modules address the whole resource planning and management cycle in transportation companies and are fully customisable to the reality and needs of each individual company.ONTIME, a product that creates detailed timetables
Public transport timetable
A public transport timetable is a representation of public transport information to assist a passenger with planning a trip using public transport. A timetable details when vehicle will arrive and depart specified locations and may be organised for by route or for a particular stop...
, all the way from the annual timetables down to day-to-day adjustments due to special holidays, large-scale events, and track engineering work. ONTIME plans and manages the allocation of two important resources to the company trips: space (routes, railway lines/tracks, air routes/corridors, etc.) and time (departure and arrival times of all trip legs).
FLEET, a product for fleet planning and management. It creates optimised vehicle schedules, considering expected passenger figures, fleet specifications, and operational constraints. FLEET produces long-term cyclic plans, calendar short-term plans, handles vehicles planned maintenance, and provides decision-support during day-to-day operation.
CREWS, a product for planning and managing the work of staff. CREWS optimises the use of both on-board personnel (drivers, guards, conductors, catering staff, etc.) as well as local staff (station, contact centre, and railway yard staff, etc.). CREWS produces long-term cyclic plans (duties and rosters) as well as short-term calendar plans, taking into account special days of operation and staff’s individual schedules and preferences. It maintains several kinds of individual work time accounts, provides individual inspection of work, and provides standard interfaces to payroll and HR management systems.