Planning and control of virtual corporations in the service industry: the prototype VICOPLAN

Virtual corporations as well as traditional companies need a planning and control system in order to guarantee the organization\´s competitiveness in markets. This paper outlines the design of VICOPLAN (VIrtual COrporation PLANning and control system), a prototype of a planning and control system for virtual corporations in the service industry. VICOPLAN consists of three modules to support the management of virtual corporations. These modules allow the offering and allocation of sub-orders within the pool of partner companies of a virtual corporation. Furthermore, with VICOPLAN, orders may be calculated and costs may be controlled during the execution of the orders. VICOPLAN also offers multiple analysis methods, including the analysis of the behaviour of the partner companies, the allocation of sub-orders, as well as the goals of the partner companies. Finally, the implementation and testing of VICOPLAN is described briefly. An outlook on the "next generation" of VICOPLAN is also given.