The INSYSTED Platform is an open-source e-learning platform where students manage their own production process. To optimize their production the students will have to make various decisions e.g. whether to invest in a new machine or not. The kind of decisions can be adapted to the knowledge gained in the lessons and therefore help students understand the different production processes better.

The Design module

The Design module gives teachers the opportunity to implement process models of their own. There are different elements available which can be dragged onto the workspace and configured according to the users’ wishes. By clicking on the Icons like “ Warehouse” the specific parameters can be adapted. The teachers also can decide which information is shown to the students and which one is hidden. By double-clicking on the icons different graphs can be shown. For example shows the Sales Office the ordered number of boxes per day from the customers. The user can implement deterministic processes or introduce uncertainty by associating distributions to the elements.

The Student – Game Interface

The students can see the production line and click on the icons to get further information. For example if you click on the Warehouse item, you’ll get information about the current inventory, the storage costs or the reorder point. The students can change some values to optimize the production process like the reorder point. Also they can get information from graphs, which show up if you double click on a item. The graph from the Warehouse shows the inventory at the end of the day, which can help analyze the process.

The Gaming module

In the Gaming module students compete in groups in synchronous or asynchronous planning processes . They have limited information and have to derive factors by analyzing past model outputs. They can test their knowledge regarding the capacity management, machine management and contract management. While competing, the students can also see how their team is doing in comparison to the other students, as shown in the picture above.

The platform can be used in all English-speaking teaching contexts to engage the students and give them a better feeling for the consequences of their decisions and the impact uncertainties have on the supply chain. Our company partners will be involved to make sure that real world problems are discussed and necessary skills are developed to prepare for entering the global connected workforce.

The connection between teachers in the operations management and management science fields, as well as the connection between the teachers and relevant industry partners will be fostered to the benefit of the students. After completing the game, students should have gained an intuition for simulation software and implementing models should be easy.

The serious game is open-source so that it can be played and individualized by all the Alliance4Tech partners, other interested faculties and other universities.

Web-based access to the game design platform to create and play own games, as well as to invite students or student teams to play the game: https://insysted.pom.tu-berlin.de

Docker files to host the platform on other servers and installation documentation: https://gitlab.com/insysted/insysted/-/tree/master

Description of the integration into LMS systems: https://gitlab.com/insysted/insysted/-/blob/master/Usage.md

GitLab code base of the platform implementation: https://gitlab.com/insysted/insysted