Towards a taxonomy of process quality characteristics for assessment

Previous assessment of process quality have focused on process capability (i.e. the ability of a process to meet its stated goals). This paper proposes a taxonomy of alternative process quality characteristics based on intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes. The ultimate goal of this taxonomy is to provide a framework to conduct process assessments using different process quality aspects. Such a framework would considerably broaden process quality perspectives beyond the primary measure of process capability. It would also allow practitioners to identify and evaluate relevant quality characteristics for processes based on specific contexts and implications. For the process assessment model developers, it offers a list of process quality characteristics that could be used to develop relevant process measurement frameworks

An ontology for interoperability assessment: a systemic approach

International audienceEnterprise Interoperability is a requirement for ensuring an effective collaboration within a network of enterprises. Therefore, interoperability should be continuously assessed and improved for avoiding collaboration issues. To do so, an interoperability assessment can be performed by the concerned enterprises. Such an assessment provides an overview of the enterprise systems' strengths and weaknesses regarding interoperability. A plethora of assessment approaches are proposed in the literature. The majority of them focus on one single aspect of interoperability. In general, to have a holistic view of the assessed systems, i.e. consider different aspects, enterprises have to apply different approaches. However, the application of multiple approaches may cause redundancy and confusion when assessing the same system using different metrics and viewpoints. Therefore, this article is to propose an ontology for interoperability assessment. The main objective of such an ontology is to provide a sound description of all relevant concepts and relationships regarding an interoperability assessment. Inference rules are also provided for reasoning on interoperability problems. A case study based on a real enterprise in presented to evaluate the proposed ontology

Applying an adaptation of the Prado Project Management Maturity Model in an academic context

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de InformaçãoThe organization’s strategy of a company is determinant in its performance. Failing strategies compromise the achievement of its goals. Thus, the interest in the field of project management has been increasing and has generated several tools used by companies. The need to develop methodologies to evaluate the performance of projects in organizations has a strong contribution to the development of maturity models. Maturity models help organizations to define their organizational strategy. The lack of knowledge of these maturity models causes organizations to experience problems in the development and improvement of their project management processes. In this dissertation, it was developed an analysis of the most relevant models of project management maturity by comparing them. The main objective of this dissertation is to adapt and apply a maturity model to assess the evolution of the maturity of project management practices in development teams in the academic environment. Afterward the theoretical study of the different maturity models, it was applied the Prado Project Management Maturity Model. This simplified model assesses the performance and maturity to development teams in the IT area. The model is applied to the project teams of curricular subjects of Development of Computer Applications of the second academic year and Information Systems and Technologies Project of the fourth academic year of the Integrated Masters in Engineering and Management of Information Systems course at the University of Minho. To achieve this goal, the methodology used was the Case Study because its purpose is to gather information about the real context that allows a greater and more detailed knowledge about the topic. The Case Study was developed through questionnaires answered by the project managers of the different teams. Through the application of the model, it was possible to compare the maturity between the two curricular units and to verify the effectiveness of the learning methods and strategies, and results in project management competencies throughout the course. Observing that there is a significant evolution in maturity from the Information Systems and Technologies Project teams compared to Development of Computer Application teams.A estratégia organizacional de uma empresa é determinante no seu desempenho. Estratégias que falham põem em causa o alcance dos seus objetivos. Desta forma, o interesse na área de gestão de projetos tem vindo a aumentar e tem gerado várias ferramentas que podem ser utilizadas pelas empresas. A necessidade de metodologias de avaliação do desemprenho de projetos nas organizações contribui para o desenvolvimento de modelos de maturidade. Os modelos de maturidade auxiliam as empresas a definir a sua estratégia organizacional. A falta de conhecimento destes modelos de maturidade faz com que as organizações tenham problemas no desenvolvimento e melhoria dos seus processos de gestão de projetos. No presente trabalho foram analisados os mais relevantes modelos de maturidade de gestão de projetos, através da comparação dos mesmos. O principal objetivo desta dissertação consiste na adaptação e aplicação de um modelo de maturidade para avaliar a evolução da maturidade das práticas de gestão de projetos em equipas de desenvolvimento em ambiente académico. Após a análise teórica dos diferentes modelos de maturidade, aplicou-se o Modelo de Maturidade em Gestão de Projetos de Prado. Este modelo simplificado restringe a avaliação do desempenho e maturidade a equipas de desenvolvimento na área das TI. Este modelo foi aplicado nas equipas de projeto das unidades curriculares de Desenvolvimento de Aplicações Informáticas do segundo ano letivo e Projeto de Tecnologias e Sistemas de Informação do quarto ano letivo do curso Mestrado Integrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de Informação da Universidade do Minho. Para concretizar o objetivo proposto, a metodologia utilizada foi o Estudo de Caso pois o seu propósito é a junção de informação sobre um contexto real que permite um maior e mais detalhado conhecimento sobre o mesmo. O Estudo de Caso foi desenvolvido através de questionários respondidos pelos gestores de projetos das diversas equipas. Através da aplicação do modelo, foi possível comparar a maturidade entre as equipas das duas unidades curriculares e verificar a eficácia dos métodos e estratégias de ensino em competências de gestão de projetos ao longo do curso. Observando-se, assim, que existe uma evolução significativa da maturidade de gestão de projetos das equipas de Projeto de Tecnologias de Sistemas de Informação em relação às equipas de Desenvolvimento de Aplicações Informáticas

Maturity model of incident management

Over the last 25 years the concern of most organizations with Information Technology (IT) has been clearly exponential. In order to plan, organize, select, support and deliver IT services, it was necessary to implement IT frameworks. These frameworks are a set of the best practices to implement on IT service management. These frameworks are included in several processes of different areas of IT. This research work is focused very concretely on the Incident Management process. Once the organizations technical consulting services are available 24/7, an implementation of this process is crucial. Many of the IT frameworks contain similar processes. Many organizations, when trying to apply more than one framework, end up doing redundant work. Therefore, eliminating overlaps of activities becomes very useful for any process of IT frameworks. In this way, the process becomes simpler and less expensive for the organization. Given the need of the organizations evaluate the maturity of their incident management process and different organizations and different IT frameworks, was born the need for this research. This thesis proposes a Maturity Model for the incident management process that covers the main and most used IT frameworks.Nos últimos 25 anos a preocupação da generalidade das empresas com as Tecnologias da Informação (TI) é claramente exponencial. De tal forma que, para conseguirem organizar, planear, selecionar, suportar e entregar os serviços de TI, foi necessário implementar frameworks de TI. Estas frameworks são um conjunto de boas práticas a implementar para gestão de serviços de TI. Nestas frameworks estão incluídos vários processos das diferentes áreas das TI. Este trabalho de investigação focou-se muito concretamente no processo de Gestão de Incidências. Sendo que a operacionalidade da generalidade dos serviços requerer disponibilidade de quase 24/7, a implementação deste processo é fulcral. Muitas das frameworks de TI contem processos similares. Muitas organizações, quando tentam aplicar mais que uma framework acabam por fazer trabalho redundante. Assim sendo, a eliminação de sobreposições das atividades torna-se bastante útil para qualquer processo das frameworks de IT. Desta forma o processo torna-se mais simples e menos dispendioso para a organização. Dada a necessidade das organizações de avaliarem a maturidade do seu processo de gestão de incidências e que diferentes organizações têm diferentes frameworks de TI, nasceu a necessidade deste trabalho de investigação. Esta tese propõe um Modelo de Maturidade para o processo de gestão de incidências que abranja as principais e mais utilizadas frameworks de TI

Development of the EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) Criteria for Data Centres, Server Rooms and Cloud Services

The development of the Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for Data Centres, Server Rooms and Cloud Services is aimed at helping public authorities to ensure that data centres’ equipment and services are procured in such a way that they deliver environmental improvements that contribute to European policy objectives for energy, climate change and resource efficiency, as well as reducing life cycle costs. Three priority areas of focus are identified as the basis for criteria: 1) ICT System Performance, 2) Mechanical and electrical system performance, 3) Reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) Emissions. For each area of focus, one or more criteria are provided, accompanied by the background technical rationale and a summary of the stakeholder contributions that support the final version of each criterion. Procurers can apply the criteria and engage tenderers to reduce the life cycle environmental impacts of their activities, focusing on those areas presenting the most improvement opportunities from cost and market perspectives and for which performance can be verified. The identified procurement processes and final green criteria are also described in a separate document, published as a Staff Working Document of the Commission: SWD(2020) 55 final. Together these two documents aim to provide public authorities with orientation on how to effectively integrate these GPP criteria into their procurement processes.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Climate Change and COP26: Are Digital Technologies and Information Management Part of the Problem or the Solution? An Editorial Reflection and Call to Action

The UN COP26 2021 conference on climate change offers the chance for world leaders to take action and make urgent and meaningful commitments to reducing emissions and limit global temperatures to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. Whilst the political aspects and subsequent ramifications of these fundamental and critical decisions cannot be underestimated, there exists a technical perspective where digital and IS technology has a role to play in the monitoring of potential solutions, but also an integral element of climate change solutions. We explore these aspects in this editorial article, offering a comprehensive opinion based insight to a multitude of diverse viewpoints that look at the many challenges through a technology lens. It is widely recognized that technology in all its forms, is an important and integral element of the solution, but industry and wider society also view technology as being part of the problem. Increasingly, researchers are referencing the importance of responsible digitalization to eliminate the significant levels of e-waste. The reality is that technology is an integral component of the global efforts to get to net zero, however, its adoption requires pragmatic tradeoffs as we transition from current behaviors to a more climate friendly society

Sichere Werkzeugketten und werkzeugunterstütztes Assessment - Verwendung komplexer Werkzeugketten für die Entwicklung und Bewertung sicherheitsrelevanter Software

Eine stark wachsende Zahl eingebetteter elektronischer Systeme implementiert sicherheitsrelevante Funktionen. Diese Funktionen werden zunehmend in Software implementiert. Die einschlägigen Normen zur Funktionalen Sicherheit erfordern den Einsatz von „vertrauenswürdigen“ Softwareentwicklungswerkzeugen und Werkzeugketten. Diese Arbeit leitet einen generischen, projektunabhängigen Ansatz für die Qualifizie-rung von Softwarewerkzeugen her, die bei der Entwicklung sicherheitsrelevanter Systeme eingesetzt werden. Auf Basis dieser Methodik wird in einem zweiten Schritt ein Vorgehen entwickelt, dass es ermöglicht, die Bewertung der Funktionalen Sicherheit (Safety Assessment) werkzeugunterstützt durchzuführen. Dies führt zu einer signifikanten Effizienzsteigerung bei der Begutachtung sicherheitstechnischer Systeme

Una propuesta basada en el paradigma dirigido por modelos para la integración del ciclo de vida de la medición al ciclo de vida del proceso

Context: Measurement enables organizations to gain knowledge about its processes and projects, also to reach predictable performance and high capability processes, which places organizations in better positions to make appropriate decisions. Measuring the software development process supports organizations in its endeavor to understand, evaluate, manage, and improve its development processes and projects. In the last decades, the software development process has evolved to meet the market needs and to keep abreast of modern technologies and infrastructures that have influenced the product development and its use. These changes in the development processes have increased the importance of the measurement and caused changes in the measurement process and the used measures. Objective: This thesis aims to contribute to the software process measurement domain in two main aspects; first, propose a novel solution to support the identification and the operational definition of the measurement concepts and objectives. The second is defining a measurement lifecycle and integrate it into the process lifecycle. Method: We have carried out a survey and mapping study to understand the current state of the art, and to identify existing gaps. After that, we have proposed a theoretical solution to support the software process measurement, and finally, we have developed this solution to allow its practical use in real environments, enabling its application and evaluation in a real project. Results: The proposed solution consists of three main components: (i) Measurement lifecycle; which define the measurement activities throughout the process lifecycle, (ii) Measurement metamodels; these metamodels support the measurement lifecycle and its integration into the process lifecycle, (iii) Transformation process; which allow the derivation of the necessary measurement models, artifacts, and activities throughout the process lifecycle. Conclusion: The solution presented in this dissertation allows organizations to manage and improve their processes and projects; the proposed information model supports the unification of the measurement concepts vocabulary, coherently connects them, and ensures the traceability between these concepts. The defined measurement process lifecycle provides a clear and comprehensive guide for the organizations to establish the measurement objectives and carry out the necessary activities to achieve them. The proposed measurement definition metamodel support and guide the engineers to define the measurement concepts and their relationships completely and operationally. Moreover, the proposed transformations use this metamodel to support the measurement process and to derive the necessary measurement artifacts and activities throughout the process lifecycle.Contexto: la medición permite a las organizaciones obtener conocimiento sobre sus procesos y proyectos, también alcanzar un rendimiento predecible y procesos de alta capacidad, lo que pone las organizaciones en mejores posiciones para tomar decisiones apropiadas. La medición del proceso de desarrollo de software apoya a las organizaciones en su esfuerzo para comprender, evaluar, gestionar y mejorar sus procesos y proyectos de desarrollo. Objetivo: Esta disertación propone una solución novedosa para respaldar la identificación y la definición de los conceptos y objetivos de medición en una forma operativa. Además, busca definir un ciclo de vida de la medición e integrarlo en el ciclo de vida del proceso. Método: Hemos llevado a cabo una encuesta y estudios de mapeo para comprender el estado del arte e identificar brechas existentes. Posteriormente, hemos propuesto una solución teórica para respaldar la medición del proceso del software y, finalmente, hemos desarrollado esta solución para permitir su uso práctico en entornos reales, permitiendo su aplicación y evaluación en un proyecto real. Resultados: La solución propuesta consta de tres componentes principales: (i) Ciclo de vida de la medición; que define las actividades de medición a lo largo del ciclo de vida del proceso, (ii) Metamodelos de medición; estos metamodelos apoyan el ciclo de vida de la medición y su integración en el ciclo de vida del proceso, (iii) Proceso de transformación; que permite la derivación de los modelos de medición, artefactos y actividades necesarios a lo largo del ciclo de vida del proceso. Conclusión: la solución presentada en este trabajo permite a las organizaciones gestionar y mejorar sus procesos y proyectos; El modelo de información propuesto apoya la unificación del vocabulario de los conceptos de medición, los conecta de forma coherente y garantiza la trazabilidad entre estos conceptos. El ciclo de vida del proceso de medición proporciona una guía clara y completa para que las organizaciones establezcan los objetivos de medición y realicen las actividades necesarias para lograrlos. El metamodelo de definición de la medición apoya y guía a los ingenieros para definir los conceptos de medición y sus relaciones de manera completa y operativa; además, las transformaciones propuestas utilizan este metamodelo para respaldar el proceso de medición y derivar los artefactos y las actividades de medición necesarios durante el ciclo de vida del proceso

Climate change and COP26: Are digital technologies and information management part of the problem or the solution? An editorial reflection and call to action

The UN COP26 2021 conference on climate change offers the chance for world leaders to take action and make urgent and meaningful commitments to reducing emissions and limit global temperatures to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels by 2050. Whilst the political aspects and subsequent ramifications of these fundamental and critical decisions cannot be underestimated, there exists a technical perspective where digital and IS technology has a role to play in the monitoring of potential solutions, but also an integral element of climate change solutions. We explore these aspects in this editorial article, offering a comprehensive opinion based insight to a multitude of diverse viewpoints that look at the many challenges through a technology lens. It is widely recognized that technology in all its forms, is an important and integral element of the solution, but industry and wider society also view technology as being part of the problem. Increasingly, researchers are referencing the importance of responsible digitalization to eliminate the significant levels of e-waste. The reality is that technology is an integral component of the global efforts to get to net zero, however, its adoption requires pragmatic tradeoffs as we transition from current behaviors to a more climate friendly society.</p