Evaluating Government Portal Websites in China

Government portal websites are the core components of e-Government because it is a platform integrating different government resources. This article was devoted to study the government portal websites in China in order to disclose the development status of e-Government in China. In order to do this, two questions are answered: from which aspects should government portal websites be evaluated; how to develop the indexes for different aspects of government portal website evaluation. In our solution, we aligned the evaluation of government portal website with new public administration principles so that government can provide better services to the users because new focuses of public administration bring new strategies for e-Government. The proposed framework emphasizes content, function, and construction of government portals. The validation analysis showed that the proposed evaluation framework is well fitted. 30 major cities’ government portal websites in China are evaluated. The results suggested China has implemented advanced e-Government services such as e-democracy but the performance of those services is not appreciated by the user very well

Modelling Organizational Resilience in the Cloud

Cloud computing (CC) is a promising information and communication technologies (ICT) services delivery model that has already had a significant impact on Government agencies, small and medium enterprises and large organisations. Even though its adoption is moving from the early stage to mainstream, many organisations are still afraid that their resilience might deteriorate because of the additional levels of abstraction that CC introduces. This additional complexity makes the assessment of ICT operational resilience more difficult and no consensus exists of such analysis. Following a multi-method approach, this research proposal first extends prior research in the field, looking at new possible categories of resilience-oriented requirements when working in CC environments. Based on the results, this research will propose a conceptual model that helps organisations to maintain and improve Organisational Resilience (OR) when working in CC environments, from the ICT operational perspective. Particularly, as a lack of coordination has been identified as one of the main problems when facing disruptive incidents, using coordination theory, this research will identify the fundamental coordination processes involved in the proposed model. The results of this research should be of interest to academic researchers and practitioners

A Threat Assessment Model under Uncertain Environment

Threat evaluation is extremely important to decision makers in many situations, such as military application and physical protection systems. In this paper, a new threat assessment model based on interval number to deal with the intrinsic uncertainty and imprecision in combat environment is proposed. Both objective and subjective factors are taken into consideration in the proposed model. For the objective factors, the genetic algorithm (GA) is used to search out an optimal interval number representing all the attribute values of each object. In addition, for the subjective factors, the interval Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is adopted to determine each object’s threat weight according to the experience of commanders/experts. Then a discounting method is proposed to integrate the objective and subjective factors. At last, the ideal of Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is applied to obtain the threat ranking of all the objects. A real application is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model

Performing Continuity of/in Smart Infrastructure : Exploring Entanglements of Infrastructure and Actions

Nearly everything we do in contemporary organizations and societies builds on some form of infrastructure. Our reliance on infrastructures underscores the importance of the continuity of these infrastructures. However, the infrastructures are inherently unreliable and unpredictable and achieve veneers of permanence and stability only through constant and ongoing efforts. In their functioning, they become established through complex and uncertain processes that involve a number of actors and factors. Consequently, understanding those processes is a key concern for organizations that are responsible for these infrastructures. Traditionally, the literature on the business continuity of organizational functions has emphasized the importance of planning and management approaches. Practitioners and academics have brought forth frameworks to aid organizations in planning and managing their continuity-related issues. The frameworks offer universally applicable processes and procedures that organizations should follow to improve their continuity. However, these frameworks tell little about continuity itself. Organizations rarely function as they document or as management describes organizational work. As such, the complex and uncertain processes of continuity cannot be directly inferred from the documents or from the managerial descriptions of work. If we wish to enact meaningful changes to those complex and uncertain processes through which infrastructure continuity becomes established, we need to understand how those processes unfold in practice. This dissertation focuses on infrastructure continuity in a smart infrastructure context. Smart infrastructures are traditional infrastructures that have been extended with digital technologies. In this research, infrastructure continuity is approached from the perspective of technicians working in the smart infrastructure context. The technicians’ work in these contexts is constitutively entangled with information systems and the technologies that form the infrastructures. As such, the smart infrastructures form an intriguing and fruitful yet rather unexplored context for information systems research. Theoretically, this research builds on sociomaterial theorizing and especially on Karen Barad’s agential realism. The purpose of this dissertation is to increase understanding on how the continuity of smart infrastructure becomes performed. This purpose is explored through six research articles that form the foundations of this dissertation. Methodologically, this research builds on conceptual and empirical research approaches. The conceptual research focuses on developing and clarifying business continuity- and sociomateriality-related concepts and approaches through argumentation and a literature review. The empirical research builds on a qualitative research approach and, more specifically, on ethnographic research. As is typical for ethnographic research, the empirical material was collected from a single organization that was studied extensively over a several-month participant observation. Reflecting the purpose of the study, the ethnography was conducted in a centralized operations center of a smart infrastructure (smart power grid) where technicians work with information systems and technologies. This dissertation contributes to the literature on infrastructure continuity and on sociomateriality. The primary contribution to the infrastructure continuity literature is a performative conceptualization of the infrastructure continuity. This conceptualization suggests that business continuity is not an attribute of any single measure but is an outcome of a joint accomplishment of sociomaterial networks of agencies that becomes established through recurrent actions. As such, the findings of this research challenge some of the taken-for-granted assumptions embedded in the literature but also extend the earlier literature. In addition, this dissertation extends discussions on sociomaterial agency. In the light of the findings, when agency is situated in the context of a smart infrastructure, agency becomes historic, polycentric, dynamic, and discontinuous.Lähes kaikki mitä me teemme nyky-yhteiskunnassa nojaa infrastruktuureihin. Voimmekin sanoa elävämme keskellä infrastruktuurien verkostoa. Riippuvaisuutemme infrastruktuureista korostaa niiden toiminnan jatkuvuuden tärkeyttä. Nämä infrastruktuurit ovat kuitenkin perustaltaan epäluotettavia ja arvaamattomia. Niiden toimivuus syntyy monimutkaisten ja epävarmojen prosessien kautta, jotka sisältävät moninaisia toimijoita ja tekijöitä. Näiden prosessien ymmärtäminen on keskeistä organisaatioille, jotka vastaavat näistä infrastruktuureista. Perinteisesti kirjallisuudessa, joka keskittyy toiminnan jatkuvuuteen (eng. business continuity), on korostettu suunnitelmien ja hallinnoinnin merkitystä. Suunnitteluun ja hallinnointiin on kehitetty useita johtamisen viitekehyksiä. Ne tarjoavat universaaleiksi tarkoitettuja määrämuotoisia prosesseja ja menettelytapoja, joita organisaatioiden tulisi noudattaa. Nämä viitekehykset kertovat kuitenkin hyvin vähän siitä mitä tai miten toiminnan jatkuvuus itsessään käytännössä ilmenee. Organisaatiot harvoin toimivat kuten dokumentoivat tai kuten organisaatioiden johto kuvailee toimintaa, joten näistä ei voida suoraan päätellä organisaation toimintaa. Kuitenkin jos haluamme toteuttaa merkityksellisiä muutoksia niihin monimutkaisiin ja epävarmoihin prosesseihin, joiden kautta toiminnan jatkuvuus syntyy, meidän tulee ymmärtää paremmin näitä prosesseja käytännössä. Tässä tietojärjestelmätieteisiin sijoittuvassa väitöskirjassa keskitytään toiminnan jatkuvuuteen älykkäiden infrastruktuurien (eng. smart infrastructure) kontekstissa. Älykkäillä infrastruktuureilla tarkoitetaan tässä tutkimuksessa perinteisiä infrastruktuureja, kuten sähköverkkoja, vedenjakelua, ja tieverkostoa, jotka ovat digitalisoitu. Aihetta lähestytään erityisesti infrastruktuurin parissa toimivien teknikoiden työn kautta. Teknikoiden työ näissä ympäristöissä on nivoutunut kiinteästi yhteen tietojärjestelmien ja teknologioiden kanssa, jotka muodostavat infrastruktuurin. Älykkäät infrastruktuurit muodostavatkin näin erityisesti tietojärjestelmätieteiden tutkimukselle kiinnostavan, mutta vähän tutkitun kontekstin. Tutkimus pohjautuu teoreettisesti sosiomateriaalisuuteen ja nojaa erityisesti Karen Baradin filosofiseen ja teoreettiseen viitekehykseen toimijarealismista (eng. agential realism). Tutkimuksen tavoite on tuottaa ymmärrystä siitä, miten infrastruktuurien jatkuvuus toteutuu käytännössä. Tätä tavoitetta on tässä väitöskirjassa tutkittu kuuden vertaisarvioidun artikkelin kautta. Menetelmällisesti tutkimuksessa on nojattu sekä konseptuaaliseen että empiiriseen tutkimukseen. Konseptuaalinen tutkimus keskittyy toiminnan jatkuvuuden ja sosiomateriaalisuuden käsitteiden ja lähestymistapojen kehittämiseen sekä selventämiseen argumentoinnin ja kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla. Empiirinen tutkimuspohjautuu laadulliseen tutkimusotteeseen ja nojaa etnografiseen tutkimusmenetelmään. Kuten etnografiselle tutkimusmenetelmälle on luonnollista, aineisto pohjautuu pääosin osallistuvaan havainnointiin yhdessä organisaatiossa, jota on tutkittu intensiivisesti. Heijastaen tutkimuksen tavoitetta ja ongelmanasettelua, etnografinen tutkimus suoritettiin älykkään infrastruktuurin (sähköverkon) keskitetyssä valvomossa, jossa teknikoiden työtä tietojärjestelmien ja teknologioiden parissa seurattiin useiden kuukausien ajan. Tutkimuksen tulokset osallistuvat infrastruktuurien toiminnan jatkuvuuden ja sosiomaterialisuuden keskusteluihin. Tutkimuksen keskeisin tulos toiminnan jatkuvuuden tutkimukseen on toiminnan jatkuvuuden konseptualisointi suoritettuna toimintana. Tämän konseptualisoinnin mukaan toiminnan jatkuvuus ei ole jonkin menetelmän ominaisuus vaan jatkuvuus tuotetaan yhteisesti sosiomateriaalisessa toimijoiden verkossa toistuvien tekojen kautta. Tutkimuksen tulokset siis haastavat mutta myös edistävät aiempaa kirjallisuutta toiminnan jatkuvuudesta. Lisäksi, tutkimuksen tulokset edistävät keskusteluita toimijuuden sosiomateriaalisuudesta. Tulosten valossa, kun toimijuutta tarkastellaan infrastruktuurikontekstissa, on toimijuus historiallinen, polysentrinen, dynaaminen ja yllätyksellinen.Siirretty Doriast

La computación en la nube, como solución a los problemas de disponibilidad y continuidad en los servicios informáticos de la aeronáutica civil

Tener acceso a la información desde cualquier sitio, utilizando dispositivos móviles, ha permitido a los miembros de las organizaciones agilizar sus relaciones comerciales y realizar sus actividades laborales, sin la necesidad de estar presentes en las oficinas de la compañía. Esto se ha logrado gracias a modelos tecnológicos como la computación en la nube, en el cual los servicios informáticos se procesan fuera de los centros de datos propiedad de las empresas y se acceden desde internet, transfiriendo así parte de la gestión de TI, a proveedores expertos en este tipo de servicios. De esta forma, las organizaciones pueden orientar sus acciones al logro de sus objetivos, encargando, a los proveedores de servicio, de las actividades que no son la misión empresarial, dando así solución a problemas como: la disponibilidad y continuidad en el acceso a la información, la falta de recurso humano calificado para administración de TI y los altos costos para la operación de TI. Este es el caso de la Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia, donde los servicios informáticos y la gestión de TI, presentan estos problemas, por lo cual se plantea la computación en la nube como solución a los mismos. Para realizar este planteamiento, se revisa el marco teórico general sobre el modelo de computación en la nube, sus ventajas y desventajas, y su aplicabilidad en el mundo empresarial real, siendo necesario, previamente, evaluar la capacidad y uso de la infraestructura de cómputo, analizar las causas de las interrupciones que generan la no disponibilidad de la información y realizar la clasificación de los servicios de TI, según su criticidad para la organización.Abstract. Access information from anywhere using mobile devices, has enabled employees, to streamline their business relationships and carry out their work activities, without the need to be present in the headquarter. This has been achieved through technological models, such as cloud computing, where computer services are processed outside the data center business ownership and access from internet, thus transferring the IT management to suppliers skilled in this type of service. In this way, organizations can direct their actions to achieve its objectives, charging service providers, activities that are not business mission, giving solutions to problems such as availability and continuity of access to information the lack of qualified human resources for IT management and high costs for the IT operation. This is the case with The Colombian Civil Aviation Authority, where computer services and IT management, present these problems, which raises the cloud computing as a solution to them For this approach, we review the general theoretical framework of cloud computing, its advantages and disadvantages and its applicability in the real business world, being necessary to previously assess the capacity and use of the computing infrastructure, analyze causes disruptions generating the unavailability of information and performing the sort of IT services, according to their criticality to the organization.Maestrí

Model for adaptive e-business continuity management

Предмет ове докторске дисертације је иновативни модел адаптивног управљања континуитетом електронског пословања, који је емпиријски тестиран у три финансијске организације. Истраживање је фокусирано на управљање континуитетом пословања у организацијама које користе савремене технологије електронског пословања: интернет, мобилно рачунарство, електронске сервисе и виртуалну инфраструктуру, због чега уводи прелазак са традиционалног управљања континуитетом пословања (енгл. Business Continuity Management, скраћено BCM) на управљање континуитетом електронског пословања (енгл. e- Business Continuity Management, скраћено eBCM) које је погодно за модерна технолошка окружења. Како се у данашње време технологије електронског пословања брзо мењају и развијају, предложени модел обезбеђује адаптивни eBCM, узимајући у обзир промене окружења у коме организација послује. Модел је развијен у складу са ISO 22301 стандардом. Мотив за истраживање је дефинисање општег оквира за успостављање адаптивног eBCM-а. Модел се састоји од практичних корака за дефинисање елемената система управљања континуитетом пословања: анализе утицаја на пословање, процене ризика у вези са континуитетом електронског пословања и плана континуитета пословања. Модел је примењен у пракси у три финансијске организације, након чега је спроведено његово оцењивање. Кључни резултат оцењивања је да је модел ефикасан у успостављању адаптивног eBCM-а, а да су за његову ефикасност најзначајније две компоненте: метод за спровођење анализе утицаја на пословања и метод за континуирано унапређење система управљања континуитетом пословања. Остале компоненте модела имају мањи, али не и занемарљив, ефекат. Предложени модел је општи и може се применити на било коју организацију која користи савремене технологије електронског пословања.The doctoral dissertation research subject is an innovative model for adaptive e-business continuity management, which has been empirically tested in three financial organizations. The research is focused on business continuity management in organizations that use modern e-business technologies: the Internet, mobile computing, e-services, and virtual infrastructure, for which reason it introduces the shift from traditional Business Continuity Management (BCM) towards “e-Business Continuity Management” (eBCM) suitable for modern technological environments. Since e-business technologies are rapidly changing and developing, the proposed model provides adaptive e-business continuity management, taking into account changes in the environment in which the organization operates. The model is developed in accordance with the ISO 22301 standard. The motive for this research is to define a general framework for the establishment and continuous improvement of an adaptive eBCM. The model consists of practical steps for defining elements of a business continuity management system (BCMS): business impact analysis, business continuity risk assessment and a business continuity plan. The model was implemented and evaluated within three financial organizations. The key finding is that the model is effective in establishing an adaptive eBCM and that the following two model components are the most important for its effectiveness: the Business Impact Analysis Method and the Method for Continual BCMS Improvement. Other model components have a smaller, but not negligible, effect on the implementation of an adaptive eBCM. The proposed model is general and can be applied to any organization that uses modern e-business technologies

What Support Does Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Offer to Organizational Improvisation During Crisis Response ?

While evidence of the exceedingly important role of technology in organizational life is commonplace, academics have not fully captured the influence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on crisis response. A substantive body of knowledge on technology and crisis response already exists and keeps developing. Extensive research is on track to highlight how technology helps to prepare to crisis response and develop service recovery plans. However, some aspects of crisis response remain unknown. Among all the facets of crisis response that have been under investigation for some years, improvisation still challenges academics as a core component of crisis response. In spite of numerous insights on improvisation as a cognitive process and an organizational phenomenon, the question of how improvisers do interact together while improvising remains partly unanswered. As a result, literature falls short of details on whether crisis responders can rely on technology to interact when they have to improvise collectively. This dissertation therefore brings into focus ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response in two steps: We first address this question from a general standpoint by reviewing literature. We then propose an in depth and contextualized analysis of the use of a restricted set of technologies – emails, faxes, the Internet, phones - during the organizational crisis provoked by the 2003 French heat wave. Our findings offer a nuanced view of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response. Our theoretical investigation suggests that ICTs, in a large sense, allow crisis responders to improvise collectively. It reports ICT properties - graphical representation, modularity, calculation, many-to-many communication, data centralization and virtuality – that promote the settling of appropriate conditions for interaction during organizational improvisation in crisis response. In the empirical work, we provide a more integrative picture of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response by retrospectively observing crisis responders’ interactions during the 2003 French heat wave. Our empirical findings suggest that improvisation enables crisis responders to cope with organizational emptiness that burdens crisis response. However, crisis responders’ participation in organizational improvisation depends on their communicative genres. During the 2003 French heat wave crisis, administrative actors who had developed what we call a “dispassionate” communicative genre in relation to their email use, barely participated in organizational improvisation. Conversely, improvisers mainly communicated in what we call a “fervent” communicative genre. Therefore, our findings reveal that the ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response is mediated by the communication practices and strategies that groups of crisis responders develop around ICT tools

Quel apport des technologies de l’information et de la communication (tic) a l’improvisation organisationnelle durant la réponse à la crise ?.

Notre travail doctoral, structuré autour de deux études théoriques et d’une étude empirique, explore l’apport des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC) à l’improvisation organisationnelle lors de la réponse à la crise. La première étude confirme la diversité de la littérature sur l’improvisation et révèle que les auteurs adoptent des postures différentes à quatre étapes du processus de recherche. La deuxième étude propose cinq mécanismes organisationnels fondamentaux au développement de l’improvisation organisationnelle. A partir de cette proposition, nous identifions six propriétés des TIC qui soutiennent l’improvisation de crise. Enfin, notre étude rétrospective qualitative du cas de la réponse à la crise provoquée par la canicule de 2003 en Île-de-France montre que le développement de l’improvisation, réponse au vide organisationnel qui pèse sur la réponse à la crise, dépend non seulement des propriétés des TIC mais également des genres de communication développés par les acteurs autour des moyens de communication. Durant la canicule, le genre fervent a facilité l’improvisation parmi les opérationnels. Au contraire, le genre dépassionné, prédominant dans les échanges électroniques, a freiné la participation des acteurs administratifs à l’improvisation. Certains d’entre eux sont tout de même parvenus à participer à l’improvisation en adaptant le genre dépassionné lors de leur utilisation du fax. Si les TIC facilitent certaines interactions, la faculté des acteurs à improviser dépend également de leur capacité à adapter leurs genres de communication.We explore Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support to organizational improvisation during crisis response by completing three studies. The first study confirms diversity in research on improvisation and suggests that author’s perspectives on improvisation diverge with respect to four tasks within the research process. The second study identifies five constituents of organizational improvisation. In addition, it reports six ICT properties that promote the settling of appropriate conditions for interaction during organizational improvisation in crisis response. In the empirical work, we provide a more integrative picture of ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response by retrospectively observing crisis responders’ interactions during the 2003 French heat wave. Our empirical findings suggest that improvisation enables crisis responders to cope with organizational emptiness that burdens crisis response. However, crisis responders’ participation in organizational improvisation depends on their communicative genres. During the 2003 French heat wave crisis, administrative actors who had developed what we call a dispassionate communicative genre in relation to their email use, barely participated in organizational improvisation. Conversely, improvisers mainly communicated in what we call a fervent communicative genre. Therefore, our findings reveal that the ICT support to organizational improvisation in crisis response is mediated by the communication practices and strategies that groups of crisis responders develop around ICT tools.Ile-de-France; Gestion de l'information; Vagues de chaleur; Comportement organisationnel; Nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication;