Spreadsheets Grow Up: Three Spreadsheet Engineering Methodologies for Large Financial Planning Models

Many large financial planning models are written in a spreadsheet programming language (usually Microsoft Excel) and deployed as a spreadsheet application. Three groups, FAST Alliance, Operis Group, and BPM Analytics (under the name “Spreadsheet Standards Review Board”) have independently promulgated standardized processes for efficiently building such models. These spreadsheet engineering methodologies provide detailed guidance on design, construction process, and quality control. We summarize and compare these methodologies. They share many design practices, and standardized, mechanistic procedures to construct spreadsheets. We learned that a written book or standards document is by itself insufficient to understand a methodology. These methodologies represent a professionalization of spreadsheet programming, and can provide a means to debug a spreadsheet that contains errors. We find credible the assertion that these spreadsheet engineering methodologies provide enhanced productivity, accuracy and maintainability for large financial planning models

Use of live video overlay on 3D data for distributed collaborative review

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-85).Using everyday skills, such as pointing and drawing freehand sketches, facilitates effective communication when reviewing visual information. However, for sharing three-dimensional (3D) data, it is difficult to support such approaches of using hands and real ink in a seamless way. This thesis proposes a new system design called AnnoScape as an approach to performing a remote collaborative review of 3D digital data using a live video overlay of the desktop image on the viewports of the 3D scene. The system's virtual viewports are controlled with tangible handles and can be left spatially in the 3D data space. The viewports can be shared with remote collaborators both asynchronously and in real time. The system allows distributed users to navigate shared 3D space individually or jointly (synchronizing the viewport); generate an overlay of the live video of hand drawings, physical objects, and printed images from the desktop surface with the viewport; and control the legibility of the visual contents. This spatial video overlay technique in the 3D data space allows distributed users to share the live annotations over the synchronized viewports. We report the prototype design and initial experiments to explore AnnoScape's possibilities through the scenario of having remote collaborators review the exterior site and interior reconfiguration of an existing architectural setting.by Austin Seungmin Lee.S.M

Quality Enhancement Themes: the First Year Experience. Curriculum Design for the First Year

This report outlines the work and outcomes of a practice-focused development project 'Curriculum design for the first year'. The project was one of nine funded by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) under the First-Year Experience Enhancement Theme of the Scottish quality enhancement agenda. The stages of this curriculum design project included: completing a literature review; running staff workshops to gather and disseminate information; holding student focus groups to gather students, views and experiences of the curriculum; collecting case studies of interest to the sector; and reporting findings to the sector. Key findings from the literature are presented in this report. They include the need to adopt student-centred active learning strategies (Harvey, Drew and Smith, 2006; Oliver-Hoyo and Allen, 2005; Barefoot, 2002) and the importance of providing early formative feedback to students (Davidson and Young, 2005; Barefoot, 2002). Many suggestions for improving learning and teaching strategies have been adopted at module level, but could be implemented strategically across the breadth of a programme curriculum. Kift and Nelson (2005) supported this view and argued that it is equally important to support these principles with systemic university-wide change, including administrative and support programmes that are also integrated with the curriculum and student needs

IT jigyo bun\u27ya ni okeru mondai purojekuto hassei boshi ni kansuru kenkyu

制度:新 ; 報告番号:甲3286号 ; 学位の種類:博士(工学) ; 授与年月日:2011/3/15 ; 早大学位記番号:新559

A framework for benchmarking e-governance projects in developing countries

Investigations reveal that the failure rate of e-governance projects in developing countries is between 35% and 50% whereby, 35% is classified as a total failure and 50% is considered a partial failure. Furthermore, previous e-governance frameworks lack reliable project discipline to deliver e-governance systems effectively to stakeholders for further exploits. This is one of the major reasons why e-governance projects fail to deliver the expected value to the citizenry and thereby, negatively impacting on socio-economic development. The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for benchmarking e-governance projects for socio-economic development in developing countries. The Design Science Research methodology was relied upon for the purpose of the study in order to answer its various research questions. Preliminary research investigations led to the identification of a range of critical success factors necessary for effective and efficient delivery of an e-governance project that fulfils expectations throughout the project lifecycle. Further investigations demonstrated that the foregoing critical success factors represent crucial and effective mechanisms for performing project assurance in the ambit of Monitoring and Evaluation. A generic framework for benchmarking e-governance projects was proposed. Further evaluation and validation exercises were undertaken on the framework through a survey involving a comprehensive sample of participants recruited from the Ghana ecosystem, a country considered a developing country. Experts who had comprehensive knowledge of challenges experienced when engaging in e-governance projects were also recruited from the international community as additional respondents in the survey. The study used a combination of simple random sampling and purposive sampling. Simple random sampling method was used to select 19 practising project managers, while purposive sampling method was employed to include e-governance experts in academic and research institutions as well as non-governmental organizations, with valuable insights concerning the research questions being addressed. The data collected was analysed using thematic analysis, and Pearson Chi-square test. The outcome of the evaluation and validation exercises produced an improved framework of which an appropriate prototyped proof of concept was developed for the purpose of enabling e-governance project stakeholders to perform project quality assurance throughout its lifecycle. Such as prototype, if implemented in real-life will go a long way in addressing many challenges faced in the entire e-governance project value chain from a prioritization, learning, cost, quality, time and impact perspectives. The overall outcome of this study showed that despite the reality that the failure rate of e-governance projects remains high in developing countries, there is strong evidence indicating that the aforementioned situation could be circumvented. The research found that success is achievable by embarking on a rigorous process of monitoring and evaluation based on well-defined performance metrics that embody time, quality, budget and scope. As such, the significant minimization of the failure rate of e-governance projects in developing countries would become reality provided that sound monitoring and evaluation are performed in all phases of the project even after its deployment.Information SciencePh. D. (Information Systems

Trends in life science grid: from computing grid to knowledge grid

BACKGROUND: Grid computing has great potential to become a standard cyberinfrastructure for life sciences which often require high-performance computing and large data handling which exceeds the computing capacity of a single institution. RESULTS: This survey reviews the latest grid technologies from the viewpoints of computing grid, data grid and knowledge grid. Computing grid technologies have been matured enough to solve high-throughput real-world life scientific problems. Data grid technologies are strong candidates for realizing "resourceome" for bioinformatics. Knowledge grids should be designed not only from sharing explicit knowledge on computers but also from community formulation for sharing tacit knowledge among a community. CONCLUSION: Extending the concept of grid from computing grid to knowledge grid, it is possible to make use of a grid as not only sharable computing resources, but also as time and place in which people work together, create knowledge, and share knowledge and experiences in a community