A comprehensive information model for business change projects

Enterprises act in an economic and social environment characterized by frequent changes. Due to this for many enterprisesthe efficient and effective management of change projects is a key factor for staying competitive. The resulting need forchanges and the development of corresponding strategic, organizational or IT characteristics is a very complex task anddepends very much on the ability mapping the information systems (IS), which is a socio-technical system, against the realworld state of adaption. Therefore we introduce a meta model for enterprise modeling that extends existing approaches byproposing not only a set of entities describing the strategic and organizational fit as well as the IT fit but also relevantcomponents to express the overall fit with the cultural and emotional characteristics of an IS. Helping designers of IS tocomprehend the complex relations between the elements that need to be aligned we follow design science research

What Should the Business Know About Information Systems?

This paper presents an exploratory study of Information Systems (IS) competencies of business managers in Europe. Following resource-based theory and a knowledge-based view of IS competencies, an extensive review of the literature is conducted to identify a comprehensive list of IS competencies of business managers. In order to validate the business IS competence model, a Delphi study is conducted using two panels consisting of general managers and IS managers. The results indicate that IS competencies of business managers involve a fluid mix of both explicit and tacit knowledge components, and suggest that ‘core’ IS competencies of business managers involve knowledge and experience in the strategic management of IS. Core business IS competencies involve having knowledge about IS strategy, IS investment management, IS resource allocation, IS sourcing options, IS relationship management and IS change management, and professional experience in IS projects and managing IS. This paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings and provides several directions for future research

CAESAR8: an agile enterprise architecture approach to managing information security risks in business change projects

Implementing an Enterprise Architecture (EA) should enable organizations to increase the accuracy of information security risk assessments. Studies show that EAs provide an holistic perspective that improves information security risk management (ISRM). However, many organizations have been unable or unwilling to fully implement EA frameworks. The requirements for implementation of an EA can be unclear, the full benefits of many commercial frameworks is uncertain and the overheads of creating and maintaining EA artifacts considered unacceptable, especially for organizations following agile business change programs or having limited resource. Following the Design Science Research methodology, this thesis describes a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to design a new model that can be used for the dynamic and holistic reviews of information security risks in business change projects. The model incorporates five novel design principles that are independent of any existing EA framework, security standard or maturity model. This new model is called CAESAR8 - Continuous Agile Enterprise Security Architecture Review in 8 domains. CAESAR8 incorporates key ISRM success factors that have been determined from root cause analysis of information security failures. Combining systems thinking with agile values and lean concepts into the design has ensured that the impact of a change is considered holistically and continuously, prioritizing the EA process over the creation of EA artifacts. Inclusion of human behavioral-science has allowed the capture of diverse and often tacit knowledge held by different stakeholders impacted by a business change, whilst avoiding the dangers of groupthink. CAESAR8’s presentation of the results provides an impactive and easy-to-interpret metric that is designed to be shared with senior business executives to improve intervention decisions. This thesis demonstrates how CAESAR8 has been developed into a working prototype and presents case studies that describe the model in operation. A diverse group of experts were given access to a working IT prototype for a hands-on evaluation of CAESAR8. An analysis of their findings confirms the model’s novel scientific contribution to ISRM

Models for online, open, flexible and technology enhanced higher education across the globe – a comparative analysis

Digital technology has become near ubiquitous in many countries today or is on a path to reach this state in the near future. Across the globe the share of internet users, for instance, has jumped in the last ten years. In Europe most countries have a share of internet users near to or above 90% in 2016 (last year available for international comparisons), in China the current share is 53%, but this has grown from just 16% in 2007, even in Ethiopia the share has grown from 0.4% to 15.4% in the same period (data from ITU). At the same time expectations of widespread adoption of digital solutions in higher education have been rising. In 2017 the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report predicted that adaptive learning would take less than a year to be widely adopted (Adams Becker et al., 2017). And projects such as ‘Virtually Inspired’ are showcasing creative examples of how new technologies are already being harnessed to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Furthermore, discussion of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals emphasise the key potentials that digital technology holds for achieving the goals for education in 2030 (UNESCO, 2017). These developments lead university and college leadership to the question of how they should position their institution. What type of digitalisation initiatives can be found practice beyond best practices and future potentials? This is the question that this study attempts to answer. It sets out to analyse how higher education providers from across the world are harnessing digitalisation to improve teaching and learning and learner support and to identify emerging types of practice. For this, it focuses on the dimensions of flexibility of provision (in terms of time, place and pace) and openness of provision (in terms of who has access to learning and support and who is involved in the design of learning provision), as both of these dimensions can significantly benefit from integration of digital solutions. The method of information collation used by the study was a global survey of higher education institutions (HEIs) covering all world continents, more than thirty countries and 69 cases. The survey found that nearly three-quarters of all HEIs have at least one strategic focus and typologies were developed based on this analysis to group HEIs with similar strategic focuses. Overall, the findings suggest that most higher education providers are just at the beginning of developing comprehensive strategies for harnessing digitalisation. For this reason, the authors of this study believe that providers can benefit from the outcomes of this study’s research, as it can be used by university and college leadership for benchmarking similarities and differences and for cooperative peer learning between institutions. The database of cases and the guidelines for reviewing current strategies, which accompany this study, aim to facilitate this learning and evaluation process

Kresge Foundation 2010-2011 Annual Report

Contains an introduction to Kresge's strategy; board chair's letter; president's letter; foundation timeline; program information; grant summary, including geographic distribution; grants lists; financial summary; and lists of board members and staff

Identifying critical success factors of ERP systems at the higher education sector

In response to a range of contextual drivers, the worldwide adoption of ERP Systems in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has increased substantially over the past decade. Though the difficulties and high failure rate in implementing ERP systems at university environments have been cited in the literature, research on critical success factors (CSFs) for ERP implementations in this context is rare and fragmented. This paper is part of a larger research effort that aims to contribute to understanding the phenomenon of ERP implementations and evaluations in HEIs in the Australasian region; it identifies, previously reported, critical success factors (CSFs) in relation to ERP system implementations and discusses the importance of these factors

Transition UGent: a bottom-up initiative towards a more sustainable university

The vibrant think-tank ‘Transition UGent’ engaged over 250 academics, students and people from the university management in suggesting objectives and actions for the Sustainability Policy of Ghent University (Belgium). Founded in 2012, this bottom-up initiative succeeded to place sustainability high on the policy agenda of our university. Through discussions within 9 working groups and using the transition management method, Transition UGent developed system analyses, sustainability visions and transition paths on 9 fields of Ghent University: mobility, energy, food, waste, nature and green, water, art, education and research. At the moment, many visions and ideas find their way into concrete actions and policies. In our presentation we focused on the broad participative process, on the most remarkable structural results (e.g. a formal and ambitious Sustainability Vision and a student-led Sustainability Office) and on recent actions and experiments (e.g. a sustainability assessment on food supply in student restaurants, artistic COP21 activities, ambitious mobility plans, food leftovers projects, an education network on sustainability controversies, a transdisciplinary platform on Sustainable Cities). We concluded with some recommendations and reflections on this transition approach, on the important role of ‘policy entrepreneurs’ and student involvement, on lock-ins and bottlenecks, and on convincing skeptical leaders

Near Real-Time Extract, Transform and Load

The integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) system requires a maximum one hour data latency for reporting and analysis. The existing system uses trigger-based replication technology to replicate data from the source database to the reporting database. The data is transformed into materialized views in an hourly full refresh for reporting. This solution is Central Processing Unit (CPU) intensive and is not scaleable. This paper presents the results of a pilot project which demonstrated that near real-time Extract, Transform and Load (ETL), using conventional ETL process with Change Data Capture (CDC), can replace this existing process to improve performance and scalability while maintaining near real-time data refresh. This paper also highlights the importance of carrying out a pilot project to precede a full-scale project to identify any technology gaps and to provide a comprehensive roadmap, especially when new technology is involved. In this pilot project, the author uncovered critical pre-requisites for near real-time ETL implementation including the need for CDC, dimensional model and suitable ETL software. The author recommended purchasers to buy software based on currently available features, to conduct proof-of-concept for critical requirement, and to avoid vaporware. The author also recommended using the Business Dimensional Lifecycle Methodology and Rapid-Prototype-Iterative Cycle for data warehouse related projects to substantially reduce project risk

Public Policy Platform on Flexible Work Arrangements

On May 13, 2009, Workplace Flexibility 2010 released a comprehensive set of policy solutions to expand Americans’ access to flexible work arrangements such as compressed workweeks, predictable schedules, and telecommuting. Flexible Work Arrangements (FWAs) alter the time and/or place that work is conducted on a regular basis - in a manner that is as manageable and predictable as possible for both employees and employers. FWAs provide: Flexibility in the scheduling of hours worked, such as alternative work schedules (e.g., non-traditional start and end times, flex time, or compressed workweeks) and arrangements regarding overtime, predictable scheduling, and shift and break schedules; Flexibility in the amount of hours worked, such as part time work, job shares, phased retirement or part year work; and Flexibility in the place of work, such as working at home, at a satellite location or at different locations

Review of Neighborhood Revitalization Initiatives

This document presents introductory information gathered on a wide range of neighborhood revitalization initiatives