Coordination in shared facilities: A new methodology

Abstract

Shared facilities are a good example of the difficulties inherent in coordination problems and the benefits to be derived from creative solutions. Traditional methods employed by engineers and others, because they ignore an important aspect of the problem, can yield solutions that appear successful but which significantly underutilize these facilities. This article is intended to be an introduction to the types of problems that can arise and to a new method for systematically studying these problems. The method is illustrated with the results of a study done for NASA, on the coordination of the use of a Space Station, which produced a new computer‐assisted institution that outperforms existing institutions.