The cornerstones of Decision Support Systems are Operational Research and Optimization. These fields of applied mathematics provide the necessary tools for modelling and optimising procedures that emerge in the modern business environment. The objective of Decision Support Systems is the calculation of the set of parameters that decrease the operational cost, leverage the quality of products & services, and finally, maximise profit resulting from all business activities of a company. One of the main characteristics of Decision Support Systems developed by PRIMARY is their complete adaptability to existing procedures. This feature is based on the accurate data mining and analysis, which are feasible through the close cooperation of PRIMARY with our clients.

PRIMARY follows a collaboration framework with main axes the clearly defined strategy, the constant communication and updating to the customer as well as the focus and dedication to meeting the objectives set. The technology used by PRIMARY as the core of the developed Decision Support software involves state-of-the-art algorithms from the fields of Operational Research and Optimisation: Linear Programming, Mixed Integer Programming, Evolutionary Algorithms, Constraint Programming. The algorithms used for mathematical modelling of the business procedures as well as for the optimisation of the parameters that control their outcome have proven efficiency in hundreds of implementations worldwide.

The most frequent applications concern the following procedures:

• Supply Chain Management
• Production Planning
• Shift Scheduling
• Transportation Planning
• Planning of Promotional/Advertisement Campaigns

Today’s complex business environment in parallel to the evermore narrowing margins set to operational costs, require the adoption of solutions that are able to deal with the increasing complexity and can indicate decisions that minimise operational costs and maximise profit. This objective is met through the development and deployment of state-of-the-art Decision Support Systems adapted to the exact conditions and needs of a company.

Advanced Analytics is a wide set of techniques for extracting business knowledge by analyzing business data. The scope is to provide support to Marketing, Sales, and Customer Relations. Companies invest in maintaining & updating large volumes of business information in electronic databases: Transactions, Suppliers, Customers, Supply Chain data. PRIMARY analyzes this information using Advanced Analytics in order to extract significant business knowledge. Indicatively, Advanced Analytics produce business knowledge about demand (forecast, trends, seasonality, etc.), sales patterns, associations that lead to cross-selling / up-selling, customer segmentation, evaluation of promotional actions, etc. as well as ad-hoc business knowledge per case & per specific company nature.

Critical business questions can be answered by Advanced Analytics such as: How is demand associated to time & product / service type? Which associations exist between different products / services? Who are my customers? What is the impact of my promotional actions?

The immediate tangible benefits from the answers result to improved cross-selling / up-selling strategies, optimized promotional campaigns, correct customers / prospects identification and targeting, etc.