Using Polya to Teach System Development Methodologies: Fostering a Role Perspective in IS Students

The role of IS is changing from a task perspective to a role perspective focused on aligning IS with business needs and goals. In this paper we present a problem solving perspective for teaching systems development methodologies as a means of fostering this shift in perspective in IS students. Polya\u27s formal problem solving process is synthesized with the traditional systems development life cycle. This synthesis makes explicit the tacit knowledge embedded in system development methodologies and enables the transfer of domain knowledge to the broader organizational context and the alignment of IS with business needs and goals

Expert system technology

The expert system is a computer program which attempts to reproduce the problem-solving behavior of an expert, who is able to view problems from a broad perspective and arrive at conclusions rapidly, using intuition, shortcuts, and analogies to previous situations. Expert systems are a departure from the usual artificial intelligence approach to problem solving. Researchers have traditionally tried to develop general modes of human intelligence that could be applied to many different situations. Expert systems, on the other hand, tend to rely on large quantities of domain specific knowledge, much of it heuristic. The reasoning component of the system is relatively simple and straightforward. For this reason, expert systems are often called knowledge based systems. The report expands on the foregoing. Section 1 discusses the architecture of a typical expert system. Section 2 deals with the characteristics that make a problem a suitable candidate for expert system solution. Section 3 surveys current technology, describing some of the software aids available for expert system development. Section 4 discusses the limitations of the latter. The concluding section makes predictions of future trends

Applications of aerospace technology in the public interest: Pollution measurement

This study of selected NASA contributions to the improvement of pollution measurement examines the pervasiveness and complexity of the economic, political, and social issues in the environmental field; provides a perspective on the relationship between the conduct of aerospace R and D and specific improvements in on site air pollution monitoring equipment now in use; describes the basic relationship between the development of satellite-based monitoring systems and their influence on long-term progress in improving environmental quality; and comments on how both instrumentation and satellite remote sensing are contributing to an improved environment. Examples of specific gains that have been made in applying aerospace R and D to environmental problem-solving are included

Decision Making and Information Systems Development - A Conceptual Framework

A long-standing anomaly within information systems development (ISD) exists - claims made for the benefits of methodology usage and the actuality of practice are poles apart. While both academics and practitioners have been aware of this credibility gap, the information systems (IS) community continue to have difficulty reconciling it. Apparent breakthroughs such as structured and object-oriented methods fall well short of guaranteeing success. It is contended that neither methodological nor amethodical approaches fully explain or express the complexity of systems development and that a new perspective drawing on decision-making theory may yield fresh insights. A framework is developed, combining an analysis of decision-making within the systems development life cycle, key models of decision-making and the actors involved in the process of systems development. It is contented here that ISD is, in essence, a problem-solving and decision-making process and that systems development is neither deterministic or without structure - it is creative yet somewhat ordered, improvisational yet explicit, and both rational and political. The paper concludes that a deeper understanding of differing viewpoints on systems development held by actors and other phenomena can be illustrated with the framework

Agent-based hybrid framework for decision making on complex problems

Electronic commerce and the Internet have created demand for automated systems that can make complex decisions utilizing information from multiple sources. Because the information is uncertain, dynamic, distributed, and heterogeneous in nature, these systems require a great diversity of intelligent techniques including expert systems, fuzzy logic, neural networks, and genetic algorithms. However, in complex decision making, many different components or sub-tasks are involved, each of which requires different types of processing. Thus multiple such techniques are required resulting in systems called hybrid intelligent systems. That is, hybrid solutions are crucial for complex problem solving and decision making. There is a growing demand for these systems in many areas including financial investment planning, engineering design, medical diagnosis, and cognitive simulation. However, the design and development of these systems is difficult because they have a large number of parts or components that have many interactions. From a multi-agent perspective, agents in multi-agent systems (MAS) are autonomous and can engage in flexible, high-level interactions. MASs are good at complex, dynamic interactions. Thus a multi-agent perspective is suitable for modeling, design, and construction of hybrid intelligent systems. The aim of this thesis is to develop an agent-based framework for constructing hybrid intelligent systems which are mainly used for complex problem solving and decision making. Existing software development techniques (typically, object-oriented) are inadequate for modeling agent-based hybrid intelligent systems. There is a fundamental mismatch between the concepts used by object-oriented developers and the agent-oriented view. Although there are some agent-oriented methodologies such as the Gaia methodology, there is still no specifically tailored methodology available for analyzing and designing agent-based hybrid intelligent systems. To this end, a methodology is proposed, which is specifically tailored to the analysis and design of agent-based hybrid intelligent systems. The methodology consists of six models - role model, interaction model, agent model, skill model, knowledge model, and organizational model. This methodology differs from other agent-oriented methodologies in its skill and knowledge models. As good decisions and problem solutions are mainly based on adequate information, rich knowledge, and appropriate skills to use knowledge and information, these two models are of paramount importance in modeling complex problem solving and decision making. Follow the methodology, an agent-based framework for hybrid intelligent system construction used in complex problem solving and decision making was developed. The framework has several crucial characteristics that differentiate this research from others. Four important issues relating to the framework are also investigated. These cover the building of an ontology for financial investment, matchmaking in middle agents, reasoning in problem solving and decision making, and decision aggregation in MASs. The thesis demonstrates how to build a domain-specific ontology and how to access it in a MAS by building a financial ontology. It is argued that the practical performance of service provider agents has a significant impact on the matchmaking outcomes of middle agents. It is proposed to consider service provider agents\u27 track records in matchmaking. A way to provide initial values for the track records of service provider agents is also suggested. The concept of ‘reasoning with multimedia information’ is introduced, and reasoning with still image information using symbolic projection theory is proposed. How to choose suitable aggregation operations is demonstrated through financial investment application and three approaches are proposed - the stationary agent approach, the token-passing approach, and the mobile agent approach to implementing decision aggregation in MASs. Based on the framework, a prototype was built and applied to financial investment planning. This prototype consists of one serving agent, one interface agent, one decision aggregation agent, one planning agent, four decision making agents, and five service provider agents. Experiments were conducted on the prototype. The experimental results show the framework is flexible, robust, and fully workable. All agents derived from the methodology exhibit their behaviors correctly as specified

Unveiling the Concept of Packaging Logistics

An increasingly competitive environment, technological advancements and globalisation are a few of the factors placing higher demands on today’s company activities, e.g. development, production and distribution processes. Company activities have hereby become a complex system, even more so if one company is seen as part of a network of companies. The aim of this article is to present and elaborate on an approach that deals with these matters in an integrated manner – packaging logistics, where the logistics systems are studied from a packaging perspective. This is carried out through putting package definitions and logistics definitions into a model framework based on Porter’s value chain and Christopher’s network theory. Rather than studying packaging and logistics separately, the integrated concept of packaging logistics will give a more complete perspective in problem solving and research. The contribution of this article is to theorise and introduce suggestions to define the subject of packaging logistics

Analysis of Two Theoretical Perspectives on Information Systems Development: Towards an Integrated Perspective

In this paper, we analyze two theoretical perspectives and investigate their explanatory power on information systems development (ISD) projects. Building upon a case study, we illustrate that the perspectives of ISD as an economic transformation process and ISD as complex problem solving address different but complementary ISD phenomena. By integrating both theoretical perspectives, we are able to analyze and predict more ISD phenomena than each of the theories individually. Therefore, the contribution of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it supports researchers in their selection of a theory when addressing ISD phenomena. Secondly, it serves as an example of how researchers can develop a new theoretical perspective to address a phenomenon of interest not covered appropriately by existing theories

Method Emergence in Practice - Influences and Consequences

This paper explores the relationship between what influences and shapes the unique and locally situated method-in-action and how it consequently emerges. Based on a synthesis of prominent Information Systems (Development) literature, an analytical framework is developed. The framework is organised into three perspectives: 1) the structuralist, 2) the individualist and 3) the interactive process perspective. Each perspective supplies a set of key concepts for conceptual understanding and empirical exploration. The analytical framework is used to structure and analyse a two-year longitudinal case study of method emergence in a web-based ISD project. The paper concludes with a summary of the research and its implications. We propose that this research and future theoretical and empirical contributions that address the relationship between the whats and hows of method emergence will support and improve ISD researchers’ and practitioners’ ability to pay attention to and act in accordance with the myriad characteristics, actors and events that shape the method-inaction in practice. Such contributions we argue will build up a vigilance and capacity for problem spotting as well as problem solving

Assessing Training Impact: Exploring Perspectives on Leadership Training in Healthcare through a Multi-frame Lens

A major concern for most leadership development teams is aligning training and development goals to desired outcomes, especially when looking at overall costs to plan and implement effective training programs. Leadership training in healthcare is increasing due to the complexity of duties and the need to deal with conflicting situations on a regular basis. This study explored whether goals and assessment instruments identified and applied by program development managers were adequate to reflect a multi-frame perspective, and whether participant feedback articulates benefits encompassing multiple frames. Four main questions were used in the study: “What potential benefits do leadership development staff who select, design, and evaluate training articulate; and do they capture a multi-frame perspective? How do the goals of the program development managers align with the assessment of evaluation instruments, and do the assessments reflect a multi-frame perspective? How does the perception of training benefits align with leadership development goals and multi-frame perspective? What effect does training in competencies such as, problem-solving, conflict management, and effective communication have on leaders in healthcare?” To highlight a potential link between behavior, change and organizations; Social Cognitive, Human Needs, and Systems Theories were utilized. A mixed-method design applying Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Descriptive Statistics was used. Results of the study indicate that the goals identified by leadership development do align with trainees outcomes in terms of: serving as a support mechanism to ensure effective team-building; facilitating growth towards promotion through education and effective feedback; and enhancing leadership core competencies such as, emotional intelligence, conflict management and communication skills

Hospitality unit diagnosis: an expert system approach

Formal methods of management problem-solving have been extensively researched. However, these concepts are incomplete in that they assume a problem has been correctly identified before initiating the problem-solving process. In reality management may not realise that a problem exists or may identify an incorrect problem. As a result, considerable time and effort may be wasted correcting symptoms rather than the true problem. This research describes the development of a computerised system to support problem identification. The system focuses specifically on the area of hospitality management, encompassing causes and symptoms of prominent problems in the hospitality industry. The system is based on knowledge rather than data. Research has shown that Expert Systems allow reasoning with knowledge. As a result, Expert Systems were selected as an appropriate technology for this application. Development is undertaken from the perspective of a hotel manager, using appropriate software development tools. The required knowledge is generally obtained from either expert interviews or textbook analysis. Gaining commitment from sufficient industry experts proved too difficult to allow the use of the former method, and therefore the latter method was utilised. However, knowledge acquired in this manner is limited in both quality and quantity. In addition, essential experience based judgmental knowledge is not available from this source. To counteract this, the personal knowledge of the author, a qualified hotel manager, was used. When developing an Expert System, knowledge acquisition and representation are of paramount importance. In this research, these issues are problematic due to the broad interdisciplinary nature and scope of hospitality management. To counteract this problem, some structure was required. Finance, Marketing, Personnel, Control, and Operations were selected as important functions within the hospitality business and therefore were represented within the system for diagnosis. A modular approach was used with modules being developed for each functional area. An initial top level module performs a general diagnosis, and then separate subordinate modules diagnose the functional areas. This research established that the knowledge required for incorporation into such a system is not available. The possibility of acquiring this knowledge is beyond the bounds of this research. However, sufficient marketing knowledge was sourced to facilitate the development of the Expert System structure. This structure demonstrates the application of the technology to the task and could subsequently be used when more knowledge is elicited. The research findings show that the development of a modular diagnostic system is possible using an Expert System Shell. The major limiting factor encountered is the total lack of the relevant knowledge. As a result, further research is recommended to establish the factors influencing diagnosis in the hospitality industry