Operations Research - Overview

Overview

Operational research (OR) encompasses a wide range of problem-solving techniques and methods applied in the pursuit of improved decision-making and efficiency, such as simulation, mathematical optimization, queueing theory and other stochastic-process models, Markov decision processes, econometric methods, data envelopment analysis, neural networks, expert systems, decision analysis, and the analytic hierarchy process. Nearly all of these techniques involve the construction of mathematical models that attempt to describe the system. Because of the computational and statistical nature of most of these fields, OR also has strong ties to computer science and analytics. Operational researchers faced with a new problem must determine which of these techniques are most appropriate given the nature of the system, the goals for improvement, and constraints on time and computing power.

The major subdisciplines in modern operational research, as identified by the journal Operations Research, are:

• Computing and information technologies
• Environment, energy, and natural resources
• Financial engineering
• Manufacturing, service sciences, and supply chain management
• Marketing Engineering
• Policy modeling and public sector work
• Revenue management
• Simulation
• Stochastic models
• Transportation.