# Collaborative Planning in Non-Hierarchical Networks--An Intelligent Negotiation-Based Framework
## 3 Framework Proposal
### Intelligent Collaborative Planning Framework  
The proposed intelligent collaborative planning framework is intended to help companies support the demand of short lifecycle products such as innovative and fashionable products. It is a result of a literature and sector case analysis and is focused on developing a practical operational alignment for supply chain configuration and operation planning at an aggregated level. Figure 5 presents the overall view of the intelligent collaborative planning framework proposal presenting its main elements. The collaborative planning framework is composed of the actors or roles, the methods and functionalities, and the set of tools. The framework integrates the following elements:  
* Actors--identifies and characterizes the entities that participate in the collaborative negotiation process and their role. * Methods--comprises the procedures, techniques, and approaches required to implement the intended functionalities. * Toolset--the set of software tools and modules that provide the required functionalities. * Regarding the actors, the framework identifies the following roles:
* Customer--entity that generates the business opportunity by creating a quotation request for the collaborative network in which it is defined the product or service requirements;
* Broker--entity that acts as a front-office support with the customer and coordinates in a decentralized way the collaborative negotiation process;
* Partner--entity involved initially in the negotiation for the formation of the supply chain and subsequently with the participation in the networked manufacturing process. Concerning the methods definition, the framework includes the following procedures:
* Partner selection--mechanism that supports partner profiling and searching capabilities to support the set-up of supply chains;
* Definition of assessment criteria--method that collaboratively establishes the criteria for the evaluation of the possible solutions;
* Definition of end negotiation rules--mechanism that allows the closing of the negotiation process when the established conditions are met;
* Multi-objective analysis--since the assessment of the possible planning solutions is based on a multicriteria approach, the multi-objective analysis provides the adequate evaluation;
* Network mathematical model--a multistage process mathematical model supports the identification of optimal solutions for the selected assessment criteria;
* Constraint framing compliance--given that production planning in collaborative networks involves multistage manufacturing operations, it is necessary to ensure that stage operations do not overlap, and that transit intervals are considered;
* Assessment of current plan--since the collaborative negotiation process is based on trust, the procedure assessment of each possible planning solutions is performed transparently using the defined criteria;
* Definition of next iteration framing--since the collaborative planning negotiation process is performed iteratively, and the challenge is to reduce the number of iterations (with the consequent request for quotation and response from each partner), the aim of  
Figure 5: Intelligent collaborative planning framework. this procedure is to define an intelligent definition of next iteration multistage framing dates for each partner's request for quotation. * Quality analysis of solutions--using the multi-objective analysis and the relevant data collected during the negotiation, this procedure allows a quality evaluation of the solutions obtained and a subsequent update of the relevant indicators for each partner. Concerning the Toolset, the framework contains the following tools:
* The partner search module--tool that facilitates the search, negotiation, and selection of potential partners for each stage of the manufacturing process of the customer-requested product. * Multiciteria optimization module--tool responsible for multicriteria analysis of the multistage partners' proposals using an optimization approach to identify the best solutions.