A graph database management system for a logistics-related service

Abstract: Higher demands on database systems have lead to an increased popularity of certain database system types in some niche areas. One such niche area is graph networks, such as social networks or logistics networks. An analysis made on such networks often focus on complex relational patterns that sometimes can not be solved efficiently by traditional relational databases, which has lead to the infusion of some specialized non-relational database systems. Some of the database systems that have seen a surge in popularity in this area are graph database systems. This thesis presents a prototype of a logistics network-related service using a graph database management system called Neo4j, which currently is the most popular graph database management system in use. The logistics network covered by the service is based on existing data from PostNord, Sweden’s biggest provider of logistics solutions, and primarily focuses on customer support and business to business. By creating a prototype of the service this thesis strives to indicate some of the positive and negative aspects of a graph database system, as well as give an indication of how a service using a graph database system could be created. The results indicate that Neo4j is very intuitive and easy to use, which would make it optimal for prototyping and smaller systems, but due to the used evaluation method more research in this area would need to be carried out in order to confirm these conclusions.