Customer Service at SWU’s Occupational Health Clinic

Part I of this case describes a small MIS department responsible for medical information systems that support an occupational health clinic situated in a major university. Their customers are primarily medical and administrative professionals who, for a long time, have been disappointed with the team and the systems. The environment is rather hostile. A new MIS department head is hired and is in a quandary how to ensure success with major MIS projects that are critical to their medical community customers. This part of the case is suitable for discussion in a single class period, separated from the discussion of Part II, which follows

SOA Adoption Phases - A Case Study

The paper argues that attitudes to SOA follow a typical hype cycle from Technological Trigger, Peak of Inflated Expectations, and a Trough of Disillusionment to the more recent realization that SOA is a concept that may offer certain benefits but has several limitations. Themain research question studies how the attitude to SOA changes in various phases of the hype cycle, how the SOA implementation cycle and an increase in business process maturity (BPMa) are interconnected and which factors influence the transition between the hype cycle phases. The paper shows that an organization’s success with implementing SOA depends on its ability to match the SOA implementation with an increase in BPMa. The dual purpose of implementing SOA is shown in the first framework: to assure the coherence of IT assets and to assure business/IT alignment. In the second framework, the interconnection of SOA and BPMa and its role in transiting through the hype cycle phases is outlined. The findings are analyzed using a longitudinal case study of a large Slovenian company

Improving Practices in a Small Software Firm: An Ambidextrous Perspective

Despite documented best practices and specialized tools, software organizations struggle to deliver quality software that is on time, within budget, and meets customer requirements. Managers seeking improved software project outcomes face two dominant software paradigms which differ in their emphasis on upfront planning, customer collaboration, and product documentation: plan-driven and agile. Rather than promoting one approach over the other, this research advocates improving software management practices by developing the organization’s ambidextrous capability. Ambidextrous organizations have the ability to simultaneously succeed at two seemingly contradictory capabilities (e.g. discipline and agility) which leads to enhanced organizational performance. Overall, this study asks the question: How can an ambidextrous perspective facilitate improvement in software practices? Driven by this question, and based on a two year action research study at a small software firm, TelSoft, the objectives of this research are to: 1. Identify dualities involved in improving software practices 2. Design interventions based on these dualities to improve software practices 3. Explore the process of becoming an ambidextrous software organization The resulting dissertation consists of a summary and four papers that each identify and address particular dualities encountered during software process improvement. The first paper asserts that both process-driven and perception-driven inquiry should be used during assessment of software practices, presents a model that shows how this combination can occur, and demonstrates the use of this model at TelSoft. The second paper explicates two theories for understanding and resolving issues in requirements engineering practice – repeat-ability and response-ability – and argues for the need to negotiate between the two. The third paper identifies a tension between managing legacy and current processes and proposes a model for software process reengineering, a systematic process for leveraging legacy processes created during prior SPI efforts. Finally, the fourth paper applies the theoretical lens of ambidexterity to understand the overall change initiative in terms of the tension between alignment and adaptability. The study used a variety of data sources to diagnose software practices, including semi-structured interviews, software process documents, meeting interactions, and workshop discussions. Subsequently, we established, facilitated, and tracked focused improvement teams in the areas of customer relations, requirements management, quality assurance, project portfolio management, and process management. Furthermore, we created and trained two management teams with responsibility for ongoing management of SPI and project portfolio management respectively. We argue that these activities improved software practices at TelSoft and provided a stronger foundation for continuous improvement. Keywords: Ambidexterity, software process improvement (SPI), action research, requirements engineering assessment, action planning, software process reengineering, software management

Benefits and challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning for Pakistani SMEs

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software is used to combine all the functions happening inside the organization with the help of one software. All the data is centralized which makes it easy to manage information for all participants. The literature on ERP is studied thoroughly the whole process of adoption till the implementation and final evaluations. But studies that focus on small and medium sized enterprises are limited in number when compared to the large scale enterprises. In case of Pakistan, research is very limited. In this thesis, the author tries to analyze the current status of SMEs usage of ERP system. The benefits obtained and challenges faced by SMEs of Pakistan are studied. Framework presented by Shang and Seddon (2000) is used to understand the benefits obtained by the SMEs in Pakistan. This is a comprehensive framework that classifies the benefits obtained by the ERP adoption, into five categories: operational benefits, managerial benefits, Strategic benefits, IT benefits, and Organizational benefits. The results show that SMEs of Pakistan are also getting many benefits after adoption of ERP. Most of the firms had implemented SAP software. Operational benefits were mentioned by all the firms. The most important benefits were report generation, quick access to critical information, better product and cost planning. Respondents also mentioned that they had reduced corruption as a result of ERP implementation. It is also an important benefit considering high corruption rate in Pakistan. Along with benefits, challenges faced by Pakistani SMEs included infrastructure problems like electricity, difficulties with integration of one module with other module, costs of adoption and lack of skilled ERP consultants. Further studies in this regard can be conducted on cloud based ERP which is fast growing all around the world

Prerequisites for and impediments to success in logistics reengineering projects

The purpose of this research was to determine the most important prerequisites for success and the most important impediments to success in logistics reengineering projects. The research design was based on a hypothesized relationships between the independent variables (the prerequisites for success and the impediments to success) and the dependent variable, the outcome (success or failure) of reengineering projects, it was further hypothesized that some of the independent variables help the outcome of reengineering projects, while others have little or no impact. In order to fulfill this objective, a three-part research questionnaire was developed to measure logistics practitioner\u27s reengineering project experiences. This instrument was designed to capture measurements of success in reengineering projects and the determinants of success, prerequisites and impediments, in these projects. This instrument was also designed to collect data regarding the firms. The firms selected for this survey were firms where logistics would play a major role in the firm, such as manufacturers, transportation providers, warehousing, and distribution companies. The information regarding the firms was used to classify the firms to determine if there were any differences in the success or failure of reengineering projects within any given classification of firms. The practitioners to be surveyed were selected from three sources. The first two sources of survey practitioners were the membership roles of the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) and the Council of Logistics Management (CLM). The third source of survey practitioners was the Standards and Poor\u27s database. This research found that there was a relationship between project success in reengineering projects and prerequisites for success and impediments to success. This research further found that there was also a relationship between project schedule performance and project budget performance in reengineering projects and prerequisites for success and impediments for success. Further analysis of these relationships resulted in the development of a short list of the most important prerequisites and impediments. Managers now have an opportunity to field test and verify the findings of this research. The list of 34 prerequisites to success and impediments to success developed mainly from the work of consultants has now been shortened to a manageable list. The scope of this research was the determination of the most important prerequisites for success and impediments to success in reengineering projects at firms classically categorized as logistics firms. Beyond this limited scope of reengineering projects initiated at logistically sensitive firms, an examination of other types of projects and other type of firms would be warranted

A wide spectrum type system for transformation theory

One of the most difficult tasks a programmer can be confronted with is the migration of a legacy system. Usually, these systems are unstructured, poorly documented and contain complex program logic. The reason for this, in most cases, is an emphasis on raw performance rather than on clean and structured code as well as a long period of applying quick fixes and enhancements rather than doing a proper software reengineering process including a full redesign during major enhancements. Nowadays, the old programming paradigms are becoming an increasingly serious problem. It has been identified that 90% of the costs of a typical software system arise in the maintenance phase. Many companies are simply too afraid of changing their software infrastructure and prefer to continue with principles like "never touch a running system". These companies experience growing pressure to migrate their legacy systems onto newer platforms because the maintenance of such systems is expensive and dangerous as the risk of losing vital parts of sources code or its documentation increases drastically over time. The FermaT transformation system has shown the ability to automatically or semi-automatically restructure and abstract legacy code within a special intermediate language called WSL (Wide Spectrum Language). Unfortunately, the current transformation process only supports the migration of assembler as WSL lacks the ability to handle data types properly. The data structures in assembler are currently directly translated into C data types which involves many assumptional “hard coded” conversions. The absence of an adequate type system for WSL caused several flaws for the whole transformation process and limits its abilities significantly. The main aim of the presented research is to tackle these problems by investigating and formulating how a type system can contribute to a safe and reliable migration of legacy systems. The described research includes the definition of key aspects of type related problems in the FermaT migration process and how to solve them with a suitable type system approach. Since software migration often includes a change in programming language the type system for WSL has to be able to support various type system approaches including the representation of all relevant details to avoid assumptions. This is especially difficult as most programming languages are designed for a special purpose which means that their possible programming constructs and data types differ significantly. This ranges from languages with simple type systems whose program sare prone to unintended side-effects, to languages with strict type systems which are constrained n their flexibility. It is important to include as many type related details as necessary to avoid making assumptions during language to language translation. The result of the investigation is a novel multi layered type system specifically designed to satisfy the needs of WSL for a sophisticated solution without imposing too many limitations on its abilities. The type system has an adjustable expressiveness, able to represent a wide spectrum of typing approaches ranging from weak typing which allows direct memory access and down casting, via very strict typing with a high diversity of data types to object oriented typing which supports encapsulation and data hiding. Looking at the majority of commercial relevant statically typed programming languages, two fundamental properties of type strictness and safety can be identified. A type system can be either weakly or strongly typed and may or may not allow unsafe features such as direct memory access. Each layer of the Wide Spectrum Type System has a different combination of these properties. The approach also includes special Type System Transformations which can be used to move a given WSL program among these layers. Other emphasised key features are explicit typing and scalability. The whole approach is based on a sound mathematical foundation which assures correctness and integrates seamlessly into the present mathematical definition of WSL. The type system is formally introduced to WSL by constructing an attribute grammar for the language. Type checking and type inference are used to annotate the Abstract Syntax Tree of a given WSL program with type derivations which can be used to reveal and indicate possible typing errors or to infer types if the program did not feature explicit type declarations in the first place. Notable in this approach is also the fact that object orientation is introduced to a procedural programming language without the introduction of new semantics. It is shown that object orientation can be introduced just by adjusting type checking rules and adding some syntactical notations. The approach was implemented and tested on two case studies. The thesis describes and discusses both cases in detail and shows how a migration which ignores type systems could accidentally introduce errors due to assumptions during translation. Both case studies use all important aspects of the approach, Including type transformations and object identification. The thesis finalises by summarising the whole work, identifying limitations, presenting future perspectives and drawing conclusion

Applying systems thinking in business process re-engineering for information technology projects: a case study of the university in South Africa.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This study was a qualitative case study which examined strategies of infusing systems thinking in business process re-engineering (BPR) on information technology (IT) projects at a public university in South Africa. The university seeks to effectively cope with complex and messy situations in pursuit of process improvement by enabling holistic and systematic problem solving for sustainable solutions for BPR IT projects. The university under study relies on IT projects to enable seamless services to the university community while providing education digitally and effortlessly to all the university stakeholders such as students. This study contributed to understanding the interrelatedness, interconnectedness and interdependency of parts of the university as a system-in-focus, and that the sub-optimisation of one part may cripple other parts. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and document analysis and the data collected were analysed in themes. This project added value in BPR IT projects when the projects are initiated and implemented by incorporate systems thinking. The study has also highlighted the inability of reductionism to deal with complexity, change, unpredictability and uncertainty. As new managerialism continues to be infused in public institutions such as the universities, the study has assisted in enhancing our understanding of how complex the university is. This historical but paradigmatic study, which promoted creative holism, has contributed through its findings and recommendations, to the body of knowledge on the re-engineering of business processes in IT projects in order to reduce challenges experienced when initiating and implementing BPR projects in the public university in South Africa. Given these issues, the study recommends that systems thinking should be infused with BPR IT projects at the public university in South Africa, to effectively deal with the complex challenges faced by BPR IT projects at the public university

Personality traits, internal communication, leadership styles, organizational culture and employees’ commitment to change in Malaysian large companies

This study examined the influence of personality traits, internal communication and leadership styles on employees’ commitment to change that are moderated by organizational culture. Employees’ commitment to change is important for large companies to sustain in the global economy. Lewin’s Three Step Model underpinned this study which believed the variables that affect the departure from the status quo to the current state. This study utilized the triangulation approach in order to get both broad and in-depth findings. Quantitative data were collected from 294 employees of large companies in various sectors that were listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) Malaysia. The research used the simple random sampling and the cross-sectional survey. In order to understand the real situation of the concerns of the individuals on their commitment to change, six participants were interviewed. The key results revealed that personality traits and transformational leadership influence employees’ commitment to change, moderated by the organizational culture. In addition, the real views of the employees’ commitment to change showed that a strong leadership is necessary to enable the employees to undertake change. Interestingly, authentic personality and five senses (i.e. sense of belonging, sense of valuing, sense of believing, sense of urgency, and sense of improving) emerged from the study as natural concerns. This study successfully meets the objectives of discovering the factors that influence employees’ commitment to change through a moderating effect (i.e. organizational culture). Hence, it is hoped that the study contributes to the change management and human resource literature. The originality of the study is the establishment of the instruments and the construction of the theory on employees’ commitment to change, which highlights the importance of transformational leadership and personality traits. Likewise, this study implies that both practitioners and leaders need to review how they could increase employees’ commitment to change based on various personalities, internal communication and leadership approaches

Labor, Business, and Change in Germany and the United States

The chapters explore the proposition that the benefits of either the German coordinating institutions or the United States\u27 more decentralized political economy each entail trade-offs that may be necessary but politically unpleasant. The authors also offer comparisons of sectoral and firm-level adjustment processes for change.https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/1181/thumbnail.jp

HKSC Field Guide for Developing a Healthcare Knowledge Services Center

Knowledge is the foundation of our work as librarians; however, because it is intangible, we work directly with assets that result from knowledge. Content, people, and technology are the core knowledge assets. Knowledge assets are referenced throughout the HKSC Field Guide where we define a path to delivering knowledge services. Delivering the best content is achieved through the innovation and competencies of library professionals who leverage technologies to benefit their constituents. The result is excellent knowledge services. This field guide is organized in chapters that are aligned with modules of the HKSC Model Template. The HKSC Field Guide is laid out in a linear progression of activities, with simple commentary to encourage the reader’s thinking toward eventual outcomes and changes that are required to make a transition from a library setting to a Healthcare Knowledge Services Center (HKSC) operation. It is expected that the successful manager will make several passes through the entire guide, gaining a better understanding of all the pieces that must be in place for a strategic and successful plan. Each module/chapter provides descriptions to explain the module theme and to share ideas on how to proceed with the process. Following descriptions and guidance is a worksheet for taking notes and a checklist of tasks. The intent of each worksheet is to focus on a specific data collection, a strategic planning activity, and/or to note details describing required resources. Chapters conclude with a checklist for you to sign off on for tasks considered and/or completed. Some forms may not be completed until multiple passes have been made through the guide; managers are encouraged to refine and hone activities in fine-tuning their work. A separate document (in MS Word format) supplies both worksheets and checklists for you to edit electronically –or- to create separate editable documents in modular fashion