149 research outputs found
Improving Information Flow within the Production Management System with Web Services
The efficiency of the production planning and control process in construction depends
significantly on the reliability and timely availability of resource information. The
Last Planner system for production control mandates that a construction task should
not be started unless all the seven resource prerequisites are in satisfactory condition.
Failure to do so results in wasteful processes. However, this information is not readily
available due to the lack of systems integration that prevails within the industry. Current implementations of the last planner system mostly rely on the team leadersā and foremanās ability to gather the required information for the weekly planning meetings and also for the look-ahead planning. However, much time is wasted chasing relevant information due to the above-mentioned problems. Also, the reliability of planning could be much improved if there is a system available, which aggregates resource information from various project stakeholders in one place. In such a situation, web services could provide an ideal platform for integration as they provide a flexible way to integrate disparate systems, with choreography based on identified business processes drawn from Last Planner and implemented using BPMN/BPEL. With the improvement in connectivity as a result of better availability
of high speed Internet through mobile and fixed networks, there is a better opportunity for information integration through web services. A conceptual framework based on web services is put forward which aims to improve the information flow within the industry and provide the right information at the right time to enable better planning and control within the production system
Generating eScience Workflows from Statistical Analysis of Prior Data
A number of workflow design tools have been developed specifically to enable easy graphical specification of workflows that ensure systematic scientific data capture and analysis and precise provenance information. We believe that an important component that is missing from these existing workflow specification and enactment systems is integration with tools that enable prior detailed analysis of the existing data - and in particular statistical analysis. By thoroughly analyzing the existing relevant datasets first, it is possible to determine precisely where the existing data is sparse or insufficient and what further experimentation is required. Introducing statistical analysis to experimental design will reduce duplication and costs associated with fruitless experimentation and maximize opportunities for scientific breakthroughs. In this paper we describe a workflow specification system that we have developed for a particular eScience application (fuel cell optimization). Experimental workflow instances are generated as a result of detailed statistical analysis and interactive exploration of the existing datasets. This is carried out through a graphical data exploration interface that integrates the widely-used open source statistical analysis software package, R, as a web service
An Empirical Analysis of Development Processes for Anticipatory Standards
There is an evolution in the process used by standards-development
organizations (SDOs) and this is changing the prevailing standards
development activity (SDA) for information and communications technology
(ICT). The process is progressing from traditional SDA modes, typically
involving the selection from many candidate, existing alternative
components, into the crafting of standards that include a substantial
design component (SSDC), or 'anticipatory' standards. SSDC require
increasingly important roles from organizational players as well as
SDOs. Few theoretical frameworks exist to understand these emerging
processes. This project conducted archival analysis of SDO documents for
a selected subset of web-services (WS) standards taken from publicly
available sources including minutes of meetings, proposals, drafts and
recommendations. This working paper provides a deeper understanding of
SDAs, the roles played by different organizational participants and the
compliance with SDO due process requirements emerging from public policy
constraints, recent legislation and standards accreditation
requirements. This research is influenced by a recent theoretical
framework that suggests viewing the new standards-setting processes as a
complex interplay among three forces: sense-making, design, and
negotiation (DSN). The DSN model provides the framework for measuring
SDO progress and therefore understanding future generations of standards
development processes. The empirically grounded results are useful
foundation for other SDO modeling efforts
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