Transmission losses cost allocation in restructed electricity market environment

During these recent decades, the restructuring system of electricity market has been taken places around the whole world. Due to the restructuring (deregulation), the electrical power system has been divided into three separates categories according to the function. First stage of power system is the generation companies (GENCOs), followed by transmission companies (TRANSCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs). The competitive environment will be handling by a non-profit entity, independent system operator (ISO) that functioning as the system securities that have to make sure that the power system continues to operate in a stable and economical manner. However, restructuring system can give effect during the energy transmission. One of the transmission issues is regarding the power losses. To overcome the losses, generators must generate more power. The issue regarding the transmission losses in deregulated system is how to allocate it to the user and charge them in fair ways as in for instance the pool trading model, it is hard to trace the power contribution and losses of each user in transmission line. In addition, the users didn’t want to pay the losses, it means that the ISO have to responsible for the losses and it will be unfair to put the responsible to ISO alone. Therefore, in this project, the allocation of transmission losses and loss cost methods which are the pro-rata and proportional sharing method will be investigated. Comparison between those methods will be done in order to identify which types of method that reflect an efficient and fair way to distribute the cost of the transmission losses to the user. These chosen methods will be tested on IEEE bus system

Designing Successful Strategy for Business Process Outsourcing Based on Ontological Knowledge Map

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is an advanced type of IS outsourcing. This study will investigate the obstacles and challenges of BPO Industry. One of the most important problem in this area is identifying existing explicit knowledge and using it to create further knowledge for decision making, so deep investigation on a conceptual model is needed that helps realize the complexities of outsourcing areas especially for business process outsourcing. Most of outsourcing literature has focused on social and cultural impacts and very few tools have been developed to assist manager in making outsourcing decision by modelling the knowledge. In this paper we propose a methodology for modelling the knowledge of a domain in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs). This methodology is based on ontological knowledge map. Findings of this research overcome these obstacles through the use of a formal organizational ontology and knowledge structure maps. The ontology guides decision makers in managing the complexity of outsourcing with holistic approach to the domain of outsourcing. Ontologies as a conceptual model provide a framework to facilitate efficient and effective knowledge-sharing, knowledge reusing and improving communication by modelling the domain of discourse. Keywords: business process outsourcing, ontology, knowledge ma

Antecedents of success in IS offshoring projects - Proposal for an empirical research study

The paper presents a research model and a measurement instrument for a research-in-progress study on the antecedents of success in IS offshoring projects. In this empirical-confirmatory study, we intendto analyse the impact of the constructs “offshoring expertise”, “trust in offshore service provider”, “project suitability”, “knowledge transfer”, and “liaison quality” on offshore project success. Constructs and indicators are derived from an extensive literature review. We plan to formulate astructural equation model and to test it using partial least squares (PLS) as an analysis technique. Our research model addresses the paucity of research that quantitatively examines offshoring success

The success of selective and total outsourcing of firm-wide IT-infrastructure: an empirical evaluation

In literature, Information Technology outsourcing is often investigated as a generic phenomenon. In practice, outsourcing transactions and services are varying. Hence IT services can be outsourced selectively or as a whole. We investigate the outsourcing of firm-wide IT infrastructure, and evaluate empirically if the successes of selective and total outsourcing differ, as a whole and in technology and application related services. We utilize a new instrument to measure IT-outsourcing success. Not surprisingly, total outsourcers have more ambitious objectives than selective outsourcers, whereas there are no significant differences in outsourcing success for either service type. Our results imply that there is little connection between the targets and the success of outsourcing, since perceptions of success are similar despite different targets. Our results also indicate that evaluations of total outsourcing success dominate evaluations of individual success items. To practitioners we suggest that in order to achieve the objectives set for outsourcing, they must prioritize objectives clearly and measure their achievement repeatedly throughout the entire life-cycle of an outsourcing transaction

Antecedents and drivers of IT-business strategic alignment: Empirical validation of a theoretical model

Aligning information technology (IT) strategy with business strategy has been one of the top concerns of practitioners and scholars for decades. Despite the documented positive effects of strategic alignment on organizational success, only a few organizations consider themselves in alignment. Although numerous studies exist about how to accomplish IT-business alignment, empirical studies based on strong theories have been rare in the literature. This study attempts to fulfill this gap by proposing and empirically validating a comprehensive strategic alignment model. Drawing on prior literature, we identified five antecedents of alignment; centralization, formalization, shared domain knowledge, successful IT history and relationship management. We further hypothesized that the effects of these antecedents are mediated by two drivers of alignment, which are conceptualized as the level of connection of IT and business planning and the level of communication between IT and business managers. Using survey data and structural equation modeling methodology, we show that both drivers had significant effects on alignment, and the effect of connection is about twice that of communications. Our findings also confirm the effects of all antecedents except centralization. Overall, the main contribution of this study is the development and empirical validation of a comprehensive strategic alignment model, providing a more ample prescriptive insight for managing IT-business strategic alignment

SETTING TARGETS RIGHT! HOW NON-RATIONAL BIASES AFFECT THE RISK PREFERENCE OF IT-OUTSOURCING DECISION MAKERS - AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

During the past 20 years, a rich but diverse body of knowledge has accumulated regarding information technology outsourcing (ITO). Researchers have studied several factors that explain ITO decisions. So far, previous studies resorted mainly to rational efficiency criteria. In recent years researchers started to integrate soft factors into the explanatory models. In many cases, the failure of ITO projects still cannot be fully explained. By expanding ITO research in the direction of behavioral economics, this paper integrates psychological concepts that demonstrate that IT decision makers suffer from non-rational biases. Representing a broad variety of biases, this empirical study focuses on cognitive dissonance and reference point dependency. Using a structural equation model, based on an online survey with 198 participants, we show that IT decision makers use targets of past decisions as reference points. The assessment of target achievement in a subsequent decision can evoke cognitive dissonance that non-rationally affects the risk preferences of the decision maker. Two fictional scenarios demonstrate the practical implications of our study. Setting targets too high can cause non-rational risk affinity, potentially leading to project failure. Conversely, setting targets too low may cause non-rational risk aversion restraining the decision maker to make use of the full performance of a project

Information Systems Outsourcing Adoption

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de InformaçãoInformation systems outsourcing (ISO) is the management of information systems operations performed by an external organization. It has an enormous potential and capability to improve business processes and technological innovations for companies. However, the adoption rates of ISO are still lower than expected. It is therefore desirable to make more efforts to identify determinants of ISO adoption. Based on the combination of a technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, we develop a conceptual model to study the determinants of the ISO adoption. Data collected from 261 firms in Portugal were used to test the proposed research model. Based on logistic regression we find five contextual factors (relative advantage, firm size, top management support, perceived benefits, and competitive pressure) to be determinants of ISO adoption. Among them, perceived benefits was found to be the most significant driver, followed by competitive pressure. Overall, these results indicate that the adoption of ISO is affected mainly by the organizational context, compared to the remaining contexts proposed (technology, environment, and individual leader characteristics). These findings are particularly useful for managers, suppliers, and academics, since they provide important insights when focusing mostly on the organizational field

Information systems outsourcing in major Portuguese companies - contracting services

The information systems outsourcing presents itself as a strategic option for companies and continues to evolve in size and in type of contracts.In order to identify the most frequently outsourced services and aiming to get a better comprehension on the hiring process, a study was made based on a survey sent to information systems managers of large Portuguese companies.The study allowed to identify the information systems services usually outsourced, the main criteria used for selecting suppliers, the aspects considered in contracts, the difficulties that arise in relationships between customers and suppliers, and the mechanisms adopted for conflict resolution.- (undefined

The strategic motivation factors for it outsourcing decisions in the banking sector

Outsourcing is the fact of delegating the supply of a given service to an external organization. This phenomenon is a widespread strategy in the corporate business world. The outsourcing of information technology in the banking sector has particularly called our attention. Banking activity is highly dependent on the information technology (IT) process. Banks opt for an Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) strategy to enjoy expertise from a supplier without hiring experts. Therefore, ITO gives the bank access to technological skills. Meanwhile, it allows the bank to improve the quality of services, reduce cost, provide flexibility, and focus on core activity. Our aim is to study the main factors that motivate ITO strategic decisions in the banking sector. To answer this inquiry, we develop a conceptual model consisting of four ITO factors corresponding to four hypotheses, which will be tested based on the data collected by a survey performed within a multinational bank. Inspiring by solid and contemporaneous scientific research, we apply a survey within our targeted sample and collect data through email. Our result has shown that majority of responders preconize ITO. They recognize ITO strategic motivation factors as saving cost, allowing access to new technology, and focusing on core business and quality service improvement. Besides those benefits, ITO strategy may arise some risks summarized in this paper. We conclude that a successful ITO alliance enables the bank to achieve a competitive advantage over their competitors

Moving Towards an Integrated Framework of IT-Outsourcing Success

Offshore information technology outsourcing is a popular strategic choice for businesses today. Firms are increasingly outsourcing their complex information technology-based projects, business processes, and services to offshore locations to achieve competitive advantage. Traditionally, offshore information technology outsourcing was a means to reduce costs and/or increase efficiencies by focusing on core activities. Recently, the emphasis has shifted to pursuing it as a strategy for cooperative advantage through resource sharing and building long-term relationships with the offshore partners. However, many such offshore outsourcing relationships fail due to a lack of understanding and proper operationalization of the critical success factors that influence global client–vendor partnerships. In the current study, the authors draw upon existing literature to identify popular theoretical perspectives and key operational, environmental, and relational factors influencing the success of offshore information technology outsourcing relationship. A framework of offshore information technology outsourcing success is then developed by integrating these theoretical perspectives and critical success factors. Exploratory data suggests that the proposed framework is valid for understanding offshore information technology outsourcing success and has important implications for theory and practice