A RIA based VRP Information System: Application to Real-World Petroleum Products Distribution

Over the years, a large body of research and development covers the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) and its multiple characteristics, but few investigations examine it as an Information System, and far fewer as how it should be addressed from a development and implementation point of view. This paper tries to address this situation by describing the implementation decisions made by the authors toward the development of an Information System for a VRP solution. In order to achieve a viable VRP Information System in real world activities, authors have developed a Web-based solution with multiple web frameworks for each architecture layer, focusing on functionality and usability. To achieve these goals, authors have used SmartGWT as a powerful Web based RIA SPA framework with Java integration, and multiple server frameworks and OSS based solutions, applied to development of a very complex VRP system for a logistics operator ofpetroleum products.