Managing the Procurement Process in Service Portals

An Automated Matching Approach with Demand-Side Management Methods

Abstract

Because of technological changes (e. g., Web 2.0 and the Internet of Things), service portals like MyHammer, Blauarbeit, and Amazon Home Services become increasingly important for research and practice. To increase the efficiency of service offers, new procurement methods that link service providers and service consumers are necessary. This article uses a scheduling approach that has been applied primary in the context of energy management: Demand-Side Management (DSM). Generally, DSM methods can be used to shift energy demand to favorable timeslots (e. g., lower-cost timeslots or those that help the energy supplier) to achieve goals like a flattened load profile, minimized costs, and grid reliability. In doing so, we argue that the basic concept of DSM is transferable to enable automatic matching of service offers and demands in a service portal. To explore potential benefits and drawbacks, we analyze service portals, including their functionalities and information needs, and compare them with the approaches offered by DSM. Then a mathematical model of an existing DSM approach is used to model the requirements of service portals. As a result, we conclude that DSM strategies can be useful in automating the procurement procedure in service portals, which facilitates more efficient and effective service offers and executions.