The project aimed to support the transition to a multiple book system, which will be implemented in primary and secondary education starting from the 2023-24 school year.
It included two main actions:
A. Highlighting Best Practices in Implementing the Multiple Book System
The Publications Directorate has conducted a relevant study on implementing the multiple book system in other countries. This action aimed to update the findings of this study and conduct field research on specific issues (e.g., multiple books and students with visual impairments), with a focus on leveraging new teaching practices that extensively utilize digital material. The goal was to highlight best practices that could be efficiently applied within the Greek educational system.
B. Development of New Statistical Models and Optimization Algorithms for the Multiple Book Supply Cycle
To efficiently execute the supply cycle, the Publications Directorate has developed numerous applications and functions that manage the scheduling and data of the supply cycle. These applications record and manage data used in operational decision-making, create schedules for book production, packaging, and distribution, and monitor the progress and completion of these schedules. The data collected and recorded includes, among other things:
Student populations organized by school unit and by class/city/region/nationwide.
Distribution of school units.
Titles of school books and their linkage to Ministerial Decisions and the corresponding pre-print material.
Stock of book titles in our central warehouse and in the designated Distribution Centers nationwide.
Orders of school books in the private market.
This data varies from year to year, creating time series. It is collected from different databases and systems and is used to determine volume estimates, optimize time and cost, and create forecasts such as the number of copies per title and school unit, production print runs, and more.
The transition to the multiple book system introduces new requirements and challenges, as it changes the scale of the supply cycle’s operation (ook title will be 3 to 4 times more than before, and the packaging capacity 3 times bigger, etc.).
Thus, the aim of this action was to produce new, more reliable statistical models and demand forecasting algorithms, advanced reporting systems, and new optimization algorithms for production and distribution times. These algorithms will utilize combinatorial optimization, probabilistic data analysis, machine learning techniques, Open Source INTelligence (OSINT) tools, and more. Additionally, new data groups were defined for collection and analysis, and new databases were developed to feed these algorithms.
Finally, new methods of interaction with school units were explored through simulations and online surveys regarding the new processes for selecting titles and managing the book registry, as well as the overall understanding of the new system.