Dirk Cattrysse - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Dirk Cattrysse

European Journal of Operational Research, 2015

Distribution companies that serve a very large number of customers, courier companies for example... more Distribution companies that serve a very large number of customers, courier companies for example, often partition the geographical region served by a depot into zones. Each zone is assigned to a single vehicle and each vehicle serves a single zone. An alternative approach is to partition the distribution region into smaller microzones that are assigned to a preferred vehicle in a so-called tactical plan. The moment the workload in each microzone is known, the microzones can be reassigned to vehicles in such a way that the total distance traveled is minimized, the workload of the different vehicles is balanced, and as many microzones as possible are assigned to their preferred vehicle.

A GIS is capable of identifying a set of land units meeting positional, temporal, topological and... more A GIS is capable of identifying a set of land units meeting positional, temporal, topological and multiple on-site attribute criteria. Based on the combination of its generic analytical functionalities, a GIS can also be used to rank the alternative land units and propose the best or worst ones in terms of the non-weighted or weighted criteria. More advanced multi-criteria decision methods are however not easily incorporated in the GIS-framework so that extension with dedicated tools is required to upgrade the GIS to a full blown sDSS. In this paper we illustrate this upgrading of GIS to sDSS and we argue that when also temporal alternatives are dealt with, the DSS can be termed spatio-temporal. Three statements are made: (i) the presented rationale is challenged by phenomena of spatial and spatio-temporal interaction, (ii) important research avenues are present in order to optimize topological and off-site decision attributes in the spatial and spatio-temporal decision problems and (iii) the forestry domain is very suitable for study and application of all the mentioned issues due to the explicit spatial and temporal nature of the management issues which must be addressed.

Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone accor... more Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone according to their observed or modelled performance to produce quantity and quality of a given commodity or service . In contemporary land evaluation exercises, the geometric and semantic definition of the land units and their performance attributes are typically stored in a geospatial database. Statistical and geospatial (GIS) tools are then used to assess the land units and to present the results as suitability maps. When current land use and boundary conditions are considered, land evaluation answers the 'What ?' question: 'What is the current performance of a land unit and how does it compare to the other land units in the study area ?'. Rather 'What if ?' questions are at stake when hypothetical or potential use and/or conditions are evaluated.

Holonische productiebesturingssystemen beheren de interne logistiek en aanverwante activiteiten i... more Holonische productiebesturingssystemen beheren de interne logistiek en aanverwante activiteiten in een fabriek. Het HMES besturingssysteem -ontwikkeld aan de K.U.Leuven -heeft een extreem schaalbaar ontwerp . Dit systeem werkt bottom-up en blijkt in staat door te groeien naar transport en logistiek. Dit artikel beschrijft hoe de concepten en principes van dit holonisch besturingssysteem

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences, Apr 14, 2013

Academic libraries have recently been subjected to continuous budget reductions, mainly due to th... more Academic libraries have recently been subjected to continuous budget reductions, mainly due to the increasing costs of information and the global economic crisis. As the primary purpose of an academic library is to provide well-balanced collections and a wide range of services to support education and research, an efficient use and allocation of limited resources is vital. However, allocating resources such as money, staff, time, and infrastructure between the library collection and services represents a challenge due to the multitude of data sources required to consult during a decision-making process.
Academic libraries are accustomed to keeping voluminous statistics on their collection and services; however these data are not fully used for decision-making processes due to the lack of an efficient structure for grouping this information. The authors in a previous study state that prior to decision making, data must be collected based on a holistic approach that incorporates all of the key elements that may influence a decision. It is in this sense that to holistically assess libraries, an approach combining a theoretical framework with several measurement tools is proposed in that study. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to document early experiences and lessons learned in implementing the holistic approach in an academic library in Belgium. To do so, the academic library is evaluated in two dimensions. The first dimension analyzes the library system and its collection, whereas the second dimension analyzes the perspective of both the user and the internal stakeholders. During the initial implementation stages, the proposed approach proved to be valuable to ensure a complete view of the library collection and services. There are, however, important considerations to be borne in mind such as the time required to implement the complete approach, as well as the need of a system to integrate the collected information.

Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, Jan 2014

With the rapid increase in demand of new digital services, the high cost of information, and the ... more With the rapid increase in demand of new digital services, the high cost of information, and the dramatic economic slowdown, libraries have been pressured to improve their services at lower costs. To cope with these conditions, library managers must improve their knowledge and understanding of cost behaviour, as well as be aware of the different costs involved in the library. Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) is a cost management technique that allows developing accurate cost information on a wide range of activities. Few case studies have been implemented in libraries regarding very specific processes such as inter-library loan and acquisition processes. More research is still needed to determine whether TDABC is useful and feasible to implement for a more extensive set of library activities. Through an analysis performed at an academic library in Belgium, this document introduces TDABC as a useful method for supporting lending and returning processes.

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 2014

ReBEL - Review of Business and Economic Literature, Mar 2013

This article provides a comprehensive literature review of Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TD... more This article provides a comprehensive literature review of Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TDABC), a relatively new tool to improve the cost allocation to products and services. After a brief overview of traditional costing and activity based costing systems (ABC), we present a detailed description of the TDABC model and a comparison between this methodology and its predecessor ABC. The emphasis of this paper is on the revision of thirty-five empirical contributions carried out with TDABC over the period 2004-2012. We divide the literature according to the main areas of application such as logistics, manufacturing, services, health, hospitality and other nonprofit services. Afterwards we identify potential benefits and challenges. Finally, we end the paper by identifying interesting directions for future research.

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 2014

INTED2011 Proceedings, Mar 8, 2011

Shrinking funds, the development of new technologies and the upcoming customer demands, make urge... more Shrinking funds, the development of new technologies and the upcoming customer demands, make urgent the need for change and innovation in libraries especially in higher education. Because of this challenging situation, libraries should find alternative ways to deliver their services. One of the options is the use of the Library 2.0 model. This model is a revolutionary concept that encourages a constant change due, among other things, to the use of technological tools. This includes online services such as SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information), forums, social networks, electronic newsletters, enhanced OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog), virtual reference, etc. In Ecuador, the University of Cuenca is currently executing the project “Institutional change to strengthen research and education” (2007-2012). This project is being developed in the collaboration of the Institutional University Cooperation Program of the Flemish Inter-university Council. One of the main goals of this project is to have the Regional Documentation Centre “Juan Bautista Vazquez” - CDRJBV leaning towards a Library 2.0 system.
Based on an analysis related to the CDRJBV's situation, several changes were planned. In the technological area, the focus was on: 1) the strengthening and modernization of the technological infrastructure, 2) the development of a new Web Site, 3) the improvement and expansion of digital databases, 4) the implementation of new services through the Library 2.0 philosophy, and 5) the training of library staff and users. In the organizational and policy area, the proposed changes were: 1) the adequacy of organizational structure, 2) the optimization of internal processes, 3) the improvement of interpersonal relationships, 4) the positioning of the Centre both internally and externally, and 5) the update of regulations.
After 3 years of project implementation, CDRJBV has obtained new physical and digital services that follow the Library 2.0 philosophy: the new Web Site has implemented all the new services planned and a modern technological infrastructure has enabled quick, direct and friendly access. Regarding the organizational part, the results are reflected in the adaptation and adoption of new library policies and procedures, the formation of the "Library Council" that supports and legitimizes the change process within the University. It is also important to note that the library staff has become aware of the "need to change", resulting in the emergence of new organizational and technological practices.
However, up to now this process has taken too much time and the results have been only partially achieved. Despite of the many troubles, important lessons should be learned out of this process, such as: 1) an evolution process towards a Library 2.0 system should be seen as an integral process, where technological and organizational components are managed simultaneously; 2) the stakeholders of the process must be involved from the earliest stages of planning to increase their overall cooperation; 3) the library staff needs to acquire and master new skills and knowledge in order to provide these new services. In addition, the technological tools that have been implemented have been one of the biggest supports during the deployment and execution stage; although their optimal and comprehensive development is limited by the policies and processes and not by the technological constraints.

status: …, Nov 25, 2011

This paper focuses on change management and stakeholder management. We study the relation between... more This paper focuses on change management and stakeholder management. We study the relation between these two in a case study. The change process from a traditional library to a Library 2.0 model in the University of Cuenca, Ecuador. The paper presents the experiences acquired from change management during the implementation of the Library 2.0 model from 2007 till 2010. Data for this case study have been obtained through semi-structured interviews and official and unofficial documents. Qualitative methodology was used and particularly case study approach.
After 3 years of implementing the change, the stakeholders’ perception about the results is that they were partially fulfilled. Three critical elements were identified: First, the need of a structured process is necessary to perform the change. Second, without a clear and strong leadership, it is not possible to implement the change successfully. Third, an adequate management of stakeholders in order to increase the support for the change is required. Furthermore, this case study shows that a high emphasis was given to strategic, technological and structural issues, but issues such as human resources and human process are barely developed. The modernization of a traditional library to a new model for library services should manage the four elements in an integrated way to achieve success.

Liber Quarterly, Feb 12, 2014

TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing pro... more TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing processes, which is gaining attention in libraries. This is because TDABC is a fast and simple method that only requires two parameters, an estimation of time required to perform an activity and the unit cost per time of supplying capacity. A few case studies Lorena Siguenza-Guzman et al.

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2003

ABSTRACT

European Journal of Operational Research, 1990

ABSTRACT

LIBER Quarterly, Feb 12, 2014

TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing pro... more TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing processes, which is gaining attention in libraries. This is because TDABC is a fast and simple method that only requires two parameters, an estimation of time required to perform an activity and the unit cost per time of supplying capacity. A few case studies have been documented with regard to TDABC in libraries; all of them being oriented to analyse specific library activities such as inter-library loan, acquisition and circulation processes. The primary focus of this paper is to describe TDABC implementation in one of the most important library processes, namely cataloguing. In particular, original and copy cataloguing are analysed through a case study to demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of TDABC to perform cost analysis of cataloguing processes.

Computers & Operations Research, 2013

In the traveling repairman problem with profits, a repairman (also known as the server) visits a ... more In the traveling repairman problem with profits, a repairman (also known as the server) visits a subset of nodes in order to collect time-dependent profits. The objective consists of maximizing the total collected revenue. We restrict our study to the case of a single server with nodes located in the Euclidean plane. We investigate properties of this problem, and we derive a mathematical model assuming that the number of visited nodes is known in advance. We describe a tabu search algorithm with multiple neighborhoods, and we test its performance by running it on instances based on TSPLIB. We conclude that the tabu search algorithm finds good-quality solutions fast, even for large instances.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2014

Biomass supply chain optimisation is essential to overcome barriers and uncertainties that may in... more Biomass supply chain optimisation is essential to overcome barriers and uncertainties that may inhibit the development of a sustainable and competitive bioenergy market. The number of research papers presenting optimisation models in the field of bioenergy systems rises exponentially. This paper gives an overview of the optimisation methods and models focussing on decisions regarding the design and management of the upstream segment of the biomass-for-bioenergy supply chain. After a general description of the supply chain and the decisions coming along with the design and management, all selected publications are classified and discussed according to (1) the mathematical optimisation methodology used, (2) the decision level and decision variables addressed and (3) the objective to be optimised.

Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone accor... more Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone according to their observed or modelled performance to produce quantity and quality of a given commodity or service . In contemporary land evaluation exercises, the geometric and semantic definition of the land units and their performance attributes are typically stored in a geospatial database. Statistical and geospatial (GIS) tools are then used to assess the land units and to present the results as suitability maps. When current land use and boundary conditions are considered, land evaluation answers the 'What ?' question: 'What is the current performance of a land unit and how does it compare to the other land units in the study area ?'. Rather 'What if ?' questions are at stake when hypothetical or potential use and/or conditions are evaluated.

European Journal of Operational Research, 2015

Distribution companies that serve a very large number of customers, courier companies for example... more Distribution companies that serve a very large number of customers, courier companies for example, often partition the geographical region served by a depot into zones. Each zone is assigned to a single vehicle and each vehicle serves a single zone. An alternative approach is to partition the distribution region into smaller microzones that are assigned to a preferred vehicle in a so-called tactical plan. The moment the workload in each microzone is known, the microzones can be reassigned to vehicles in such a way that the total distance traveled is minimized, the workload of the different vehicles is balanced, and as many microzones as possible are assigned to their preferred vehicle.

A GIS is capable of identifying a set of land units meeting positional, temporal, topological and... more A GIS is capable of identifying a set of land units meeting positional, temporal, topological and multiple on-site attribute criteria. Based on the combination of its generic analytical functionalities, a GIS can also be used to rank the alternative land units and propose the best or worst ones in terms of the non-weighted or weighted criteria. More advanced multi-criteria decision methods are however not easily incorporated in the GIS-framework so that extension with dedicated tools is required to upgrade the GIS to a full blown sDSS. In this paper we illustrate this upgrading of GIS to sDSS and we argue that when also temporal alternatives are dealt with, the DSS can be termed spatio-temporal. Three statements are made: (i) the presented rationale is challenged by phenomena of spatial and spatio-temporal interaction, (ii) important research avenues are present in order to optimize topological and off-site decision attributes in the spatial and spatio-temporal decision problems and (iii) the forestry domain is very suitable for study and application of all the mentioned issues due to the explicit spatial and temporal nature of the management issues which must be addressed.

Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone accor... more Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone according to their observed or modelled performance to produce quantity and quality of a given commodity or service . In contemporary land evaluation exercises, the geometric and semantic definition of the land units and their performance attributes are typically stored in a geospatial database. Statistical and geospatial (GIS) tools are then used to assess the land units and to present the results as suitability maps. When current land use and boundary conditions are considered, land evaluation answers the 'What ?' question: 'What is the current performance of a land unit and how does it compare to the other land units in the study area ?'. Rather 'What if ?' questions are at stake when hypothetical or potential use and/or conditions are evaluated.

Holonische productiebesturingssystemen beheren de interne logistiek en aanverwante activiteiten i... more Holonische productiebesturingssystemen beheren de interne logistiek en aanverwante activiteiten in een fabriek. Het HMES besturingssysteem -ontwikkeld aan de K.U.Leuven -heeft een extreem schaalbaar ontwerp . Dit systeem werkt bottom-up en blijkt in staat door te groeien naar transport en logistiek. Dit artikel beschrijft hoe de concepten en principes van dit holonisch besturingssysteem

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences, Apr 14, 2013

Academic libraries have recently been subjected to continuous budget reductions, mainly due to th... more Academic libraries have recently been subjected to continuous budget reductions, mainly due to the increasing costs of information and the global economic crisis. As the primary purpose of an academic library is to provide well-balanced collections and a wide range of services to support education and research, an efficient use and allocation of limited resources is vital. However, allocating resources such as money, staff, time, and infrastructure between the library collection and services represents a challenge due to the multitude of data sources required to consult during a decision-making process.
Academic libraries are accustomed to keeping voluminous statistics on their collection and services; however these data are not fully used for decision-making processes due to the lack of an efficient structure for grouping this information. The authors in a previous study state that prior to decision making, data must be collected based on a holistic approach that incorporates all of the key elements that may influence a decision. It is in this sense that to holistically assess libraries, an approach combining a theoretical framework with several measurement tools is proposed in that study. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to document early experiences and lessons learned in implementing the holistic approach in an academic library in Belgium. To do so, the academic library is evaluated in two dimensions. The first dimension analyzes the library system and its collection, whereas the second dimension analyzes the perspective of both the user and the internal stakeholders. During the initial implementation stages, the proposed approach proved to be valuable to ensure a complete view of the library collection and services. There are, however, important considerations to be borne in mind such as the time required to implement the complete approach, as well as the need of a system to integrate the collected information.

Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy, Jan 2014

With the rapid increase in demand of new digital services, the high cost of information, and the ... more With the rapid increase in demand of new digital services, the high cost of information, and the dramatic economic slowdown, libraries have been pressured to improve their services at lower costs. To cope with these conditions, library managers must improve their knowledge and understanding of cost behaviour, as well as be aware of the different costs involved in the library. Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TDABC) is a cost management technique that allows developing accurate cost information on a wide range of activities. Few case studies have been implemented in libraries regarding very specific processes such as inter-library loan and acquisition processes. More research is still needed to determine whether TDABC is useful and feasible to implement for a more extensive set of library activities. Through an analysis performed at an academic library in Belgium, this document introduces TDABC as a useful method for supporting lending and returning processes.

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 2014

ReBEL - Review of Business and Economic Literature, Mar 2013

This article provides a comprehensive literature review of Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TD... more This article provides a comprehensive literature review of Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (TDABC), a relatively new tool to improve the cost allocation to products and services. After a brief overview of traditional costing and activity based costing systems (ABC), we present a detailed description of the TDABC model and a comparison between this methodology and its predecessor ABC. The emphasis of this paper is on the revision of thirty-five empirical contributions carried out with TDABC over the period 2004-2012. We divide the literature according to the main areas of application such as logistics, manufacturing, services, health, hospitality and other nonprofit services. Afterwards we identify potential benefits and challenges. Finally, we end the paper by identifying interesting directions for future research.

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 2014

INTED2011 Proceedings, Mar 8, 2011

Shrinking funds, the development of new technologies and the upcoming customer demands, make urge... more Shrinking funds, the development of new technologies and the upcoming customer demands, make urgent the need for change and innovation in libraries especially in higher education. Because of this challenging situation, libraries should find alternative ways to deliver their services. One of the options is the use of the Library 2.0 model. This model is a revolutionary concept that encourages a constant change due, among other things, to the use of technological tools. This includes online services such as SDI (Selective Dissemination of Information), forums, social networks, electronic newsletters, enhanced OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog), virtual reference, etc. In Ecuador, the University of Cuenca is currently executing the project “Institutional change to strengthen research and education” (2007-2012). This project is being developed in the collaboration of the Institutional University Cooperation Program of the Flemish Inter-university Council. One of the main goals of this project is to have the Regional Documentation Centre “Juan Bautista Vazquez” - CDRJBV leaning towards a Library 2.0 system.
Based on an analysis related to the CDRJBV's situation, several changes were planned. In the technological area, the focus was on: 1) the strengthening and modernization of the technological infrastructure, 2) the development of a new Web Site, 3) the improvement and expansion of digital databases, 4) the implementation of new services through the Library 2.0 philosophy, and 5) the training of library staff and users. In the organizational and policy area, the proposed changes were: 1) the adequacy of organizational structure, 2) the optimization of internal processes, 3) the improvement of interpersonal relationships, 4) the positioning of the Centre both internally and externally, and 5) the update of regulations.
After 3 years of project implementation, CDRJBV has obtained new physical and digital services that follow the Library 2.0 philosophy: the new Web Site has implemented all the new services planned and a modern technological infrastructure has enabled quick, direct and friendly access. Regarding the organizational part, the results are reflected in the adaptation and adoption of new library policies and procedures, the formation of the "Library Council" that supports and legitimizes the change process within the University. It is also important to note that the library staff has become aware of the "need to change", resulting in the emergence of new organizational and technological practices.
However, up to now this process has taken too much time and the results have been only partially achieved. Despite of the many troubles, important lessons should be learned out of this process, such as: 1) an evolution process towards a Library 2.0 system should be seen as an integral process, where technological and organizational components are managed simultaneously; 2) the stakeholders of the process must be involved from the earliest stages of planning to increase their overall cooperation; 3) the library staff needs to acquire and master new skills and knowledge in order to provide these new services. In addition, the technological tools that have been implemented have been one of the biggest supports during the deployment and execution stage; although their optimal and comprehensive development is limited by the policies and processes and not by the technological constraints.

status: …, Nov 25, 2011

This paper focuses on change management and stakeholder management. We study the relation between... more This paper focuses on change management and stakeholder management. We study the relation between these two in a case study. The change process from a traditional library to a Library 2.0 model in the University of Cuenca, Ecuador. The paper presents the experiences acquired from change management during the implementation of the Library 2.0 model from 2007 till 2010. Data for this case study have been obtained through semi-structured interviews and official and unofficial documents. Qualitative methodology was used and particularly case study approach.
After 3 years of implementing the change, the stakeholders’ perception about the results is that they were partially fulfilled. Three critical elements were identified: First, the need of a structured process is necessary to perform the change. Second, without a clear and strong leadership, it is not possible to implement the change successfully. Third, an adequate management of stakeholders in order to increase the support for the change is required. Furthermore, this case study shows that a high emphasis was given to strategic, technological and structural issues, but issues such as human resources and human process are barely developed. The modernization of a traditional library to a new model for library services should manage the four elements in an integrated way to achieve success.

Liber Quarterly, Feb 12, 2014

TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing pro... more TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing processes, which is gaining attention in libraries. This is because TDABC is a fast and simple method that only requires two parameters, an estimation of time required to perform an activity and the unit cost per time of supplying capacity. A few case studies Lorena Siguenza-Guzman et al.

Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2003

ABSTRACT

European Journal of Operational Research, 1990

ABSTRACT

LIBER Quarterly, Feb 12, 2014

TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing pro... more TDABC is a relatively new costing management technique, initially developed for manufacturing processes, which is gaining attention in libraries. This is because TDABC is a fast and simple method that only requires two parameters, an estimation of time required to perform an activity and the unit cost per time of supplying capacity. A few case studies have been documented with regard to TDABC in libraries; all of them being oriented to analyse specific library activities such as inter-library loan, acquisition and circulation processes. The primary focus of this paper is to describe TDABC implementation in one of the most important library processes, namely cataloguing. In particular, original and copy cataloguing are analysed through a case study to demonstrate the applicability and usefulness of TDABC to perform cost analysis of cataloguing processes.

Computers & Operations Research, 2013

In the traveling repairman problem with profits, a repairman (also known as the server) visits a ... more In the traveling repairman problem with profits, a repairman (also known as the server) visits a subset of nodes in order to collect time-dependent profits. The objective consists of maximizing the total collected revenue. We restrict our study to the case of a single server with nodes located in the Euclidean plane. We investigate properties of this problem, and we derive a mathematical model assuming that the number of visited nodes is known in advance. We describe a tabu search algorithm with multiple neighborhoods, and we test its performance by running it on instances based on TSPLIB. We conclude that the tabu search algorithm finds good-quality solutions fast, even for large instances.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2014

Biomass supply chain optimisation is essential to overcome barriers and uncertainties that may in... more Biomass supply chain optimisation is essential to overcome barriers and uncertainties that may inhibit the development of a sustainable and competitive bioenergy market. The number of research papers presenting optimisation models in the field of bioenergy systems rises exponentially. This paper gives an overview of the optimisation methods and models focussing on decisions regarding the design and management of the upstream segment of the biomass-for-bioenergy supply chain. After a general description of the supply chain and the decisions coming along with the design and management, all selected publications are classified and discussed according to (1) the mathematical optimisation methodology used, (2) the decision level and decision variables addressed and (3) the objective to be optimised.

Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone accor... more Land evaluation delivers a classification and ranking of land units in an intervention zone according to their observed or modelled performance to produce quantity and quality of a given commodity or service . In contemporary land evaluation exercises, the geometric and semantic definition of the land units and their performance attributes are typically stored in a geospatial database. Statistical and geospatial (GIS) tools are then used to assess the land units and to present the results as suitability maps. When current land use and boundary conditions are considered, land evaluation answers the 'What ?' question: 'What is the current performance of a land unit and how does it compare to the other land units in the study area ?'. Rather 'What if ?' questions are at stake when hypothetical or potential use and/or conditions are evaluated.

A GIS is capable of identifying a set of land units meeting positional, temporal, topological and... more A GIS is capable of identifying a set of land units meeting positional, temporal, topological and multiple on-site attribute criteria. Based on the combination of its generic analytical functionalities, a GIS can also be used to rank the alternative land units and propose the best or worst ones in terms of the non-weighted or weighted criteria. More advanced multi-criteria decision methods are however not easily incorporated in the GIS-framework so that extension with dedicated tools is required to upgrade the GIS to a full blown sDSS. In this paper we illustrate this upgrading of GIS to sDSS and we argue that when also temporal alternatives are dealt with, the DSS can be termed spatio-temporal. Three statements are made: (i) the presented rationale is challenged by phenomena of spatial and spatio-temporal interaction, (ii) important research avenues are present in order to optimize topological and off-site decision attributes in the spatial and spatio-temporal decision problems and (iii) the forestry domain is very suitable for study and application of all the mentioned issues due to the explicit spatial and temporal nature of the management issues which must be addressed.