KP-LAB Knowledge Practices Laboratory -- Specification of end-user applications

deliverablesThe present deliverable provides a high-level view on the new specifications of end user applications defined in the WPII during the M37-M46 period of the KP-Lab project. This is the last in the series of four deliverables that cover all the tools developed in the project, the previous ones being D6.1, D6.4 and D6.6. This deliverable presents specifications for the new functionalities for supporting the dedicated research studies defined in the latest revision of the KP-Lab research strategy. The tools addressed are: the analytic tools (Data export, Time-line-based analyser, Visual analyser), Clipboard, Search, Versioning of uploadable content items, Visual Model Editor (VME) and Visual Modeling Language Editor (VMLE). The main part of the deliverable provides the summary of tool specifications and the description of the Knowledge Practices Environment architecture, as well as an overview of the revised technical design process, of the tools’ relationship with the research studies, and of the driving objectives and the high-level requirements relevant for the present specifications. The full specifications of tools are provided in the annexes 1-9

Software Engineers' Information Seeking Behavior in Change Impact Analysis - An Interview Study

Software engineers working in large projects must navigate complex information landscapes. Change Impact Analysis (CIA) is a task that relies on engineers' successful information seeking in databases storing, e.g., source code, requirements, design descriptions, and test case specifications. Several previous approaches to support information seeking are task-specific, thus understanding engineers' seeking behavior in specific tasks is fundamental. We present an industrial case study on how engineers seek information in CIA, with a particular focus on traceability and development artifacts that are not source code. We show that engineers have different information seeking behavior, and that some do not consider traceability particularly useful when conducting CIA. Furthermore, we observe a tendency for engineers to prefer less rigid types of support rather than formal approaches, i.e., engineers value support that allows flexibility in how to practically conduct CIA. Finally, due to diverse information seeking behavior, we argue that future CIA support should embrace individual preferences to identify change impact by empowering several seeking alternatives, including searching, browsing, and tracing.Comment: Accepted for publication in the proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Program Comprehensio

Evolutionary Model of e-Procurement Adoption: A Case of the Vietnam Construction Industry

In order to propose more effective solutions to improve the diffusion of e-procurement technologies in the construction sector, it is very important to get a better understanding on the practical evolutionary process of e-procurement adoption at the enterprise level. This cases-study seeks to investigate the strategic evolution of e-procurement adoption in construction companies. Data collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews was analyzed by within-case and cross-case analyses to understand well the similarities and differences between the company cases regarding the way e-procurement technologies have been adopting and implementing. The present study found out a six-stage evolutionary model of e-procurement implementation specific for the context of Vietnamese construction industry. Further, it also proposed the best practical solutions for the cases studied as well as for the general context toward more collaborative e-procurement environment. Although this study is based on the experience of the construction section in a specific country, it is believed its results may be applicable to other developing countries. Using the evolutionary model developed, construction companies are able to self-assess and locate their e-procurement adoption level, and so that establish appropriate practical solutions to move forward a higher level of e-procurement applicability

Feasibility of SOA in a Legacy Environment

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is currently viewed as the “silver bullet” solution for all of the integration issues that a business faces in this very competitive world. SOA technologies vendors would also like everyone to believe the “silver bullet” myth. While there is definitely some truth to the notion of SOA being able to solve many integration issues, SOA does not apply to all integration issues and it should not be considered as the only technology solution. The core argument is whether SOA is a technology or a methodology. Most experts will argue that it is a methodology with definite software architecture pattern, but many case studies have shown that it is a complete mindset change, a new ideology as to how software should be created to solve business problems. This ideology of SOA has been around for decades in many forms and it is coming to fruition as the internet is creating the concept of a global information village. The global information village is giving people the opportunity to enhance communication and find solutions to all sorts of problems eliminating the need to recreate solutions. The idea of reusability is catching up very fast and that’s where SOA is claiming most of it benefits like speed to market and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) for software development. SOA is definitely not for everyone, especially for environments that are accustomed to legacy technologies and associated software development practices. There is a limited scope for SOA in legacy environments and not all problems can be solved with SOA. For instance if a company already has a monolithic system that is performance oriented and is meeting the needs of the business, then future enhancements will never dictate the need for SOA as the initial investment into SOA is very high. From a performance perspective, a monolithic system will always be faster since network latency due to dispersed and segregated multiple computing engines integration is the nature of SOA. A good application of SOA in the legacy environment would be e-commerce where monolithic system capabilities can be abstracted out and made web enabled. In this approach one does not have to rewrite its monolithic system but only use SOA to define a new interface to interact with the monolithic system

A Study of the Progression of E-Business Maturity in Australian SMEs: Some Evidence of the Applicability of the Stages of Growth for E-Business Model

This paper reports on the results of an empirical study investigating the progression of ebusiness maturity in Australian SMEs and the applicability of the stages concept in explaining that progression. Using multiple case studies within medium-sized manufacturing organisations, the authors explore the issues and challenges experienced by organisations when moving forward with their e-business initiatives. The paper is particularly interested in establishing the applicability of the stages of growth for e-business model for mapping the ebusiness progression faced by these organisations. The cases presented in this paper suggest that the stages of growth model provides a valuable perspective in examining the progression of the organisation's e-business

Who Moved My Intranet? The Human Side of Introducing Collaborative Technologies to Library Staff

In the Fall of 2007, the San Diego State University (SDSU) Library changed from an HTML intranet to a Wiki intranet (Dworak & Jeffery, 2009) using the MediaWiki software. This change was carried out by a group of three people (two librarians and an IT staff person who was the intranet webmaster). In doing so, the group shifted the responsibility for content development and maintenance from a single webmaster (with several backups) to all library employees. This change was made in the hopes that this would lead to a more dynamic, relevant, and current intranet. In order for such a major reallocation of accountability to be successful, library employees had to be persuaded to participate in this process. Without voluntarily participation, the move to this new, more dynamic format would be a wasted effort. This paper explores the measures that were taken to try to garner involvement in this technology change, analyzes the results of these efforts, and offers suggestions and next steps

Industry-Specificity of Employee Portal Success: A Multi-Group Comparison

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of employee portal success and to investigate the industry differences with regard to the success factors. We introduce a theoretical model for this that is based on the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model, which considers the specific requirements of employee portals. We tested the associations between our model’s different success dimensions by using more than 6,000 employees’ responses that were collected in a survey of 22 companies across different industries participating in an international benchmarking study. Furthermore, we analyzed potential industry differences by means of a multi-group comparison. We applied structural equation modeling to carry out the data analysis. The study’s results indicate that, besides the factors contributing to the success of IS in general, other success dimensions – like the quality of the collaboration and process support – have to be considered when aiming for a successful employee portal. The results of the multi-group comparison further indicate that the impacts of the success factors differ in intensity and significance between the industries in our sample. The study’s findings make it possible for practitioners to understand the industry-specific levers with which to improve their employee portals and to prioritize their investments accordingly. By empirically validating a comprehensive success model for employee portals, the study\u27s results advance the theoretical development in this area and present a basis for further research in this field

Web 2.0 and micro-businesses: An exploratory investigation

This is the author's final version of the article. This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here. Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited.This article was chosen as a Highly Commended Award Winner at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013.Purpose – The paper aims to report on an exploratory study into how small businesses use Web 2.0 information and communication technologies (ICT) to work collaboratively with other small businesses. The study had two aims: to investigate the benefits available from the use of Web 2.0 in small business collaborations, and to characterize the different types of such online collaborations. Design/methodology/approach – The research uses a qualitative case study methodology based on semi-structured interviews with the owner-managers of 12 UK-based small companies in the business services sector who are early adopters of Web 2.0 technologies. Findings – Benefits from the use of Web 2.0 are categorized as lifestyle benefits, internal operational efficiency, enhanced capability, external communications and enhanced service offerings. A 2×2 framework is developed to categorize small business collaborations using the dimensions of the basis for inter-organizational collaboration (control vs cooperation) and the level of Web 2.0 ICT use (simple vs sophisticated). Research limitations/implications – A small number of firms of similar size, sector and location were studied, which limits generalizability. Nonetheless, the results offer a pointer to the likely future use of Web 2.0 tools by other small businesses. Practical implications – The research provides evidence of the attraction and potential of Web 2.0 for collaborations between small businesses. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to report on use of Web 2.0 ICT in collaborative working between small businesses. It will be of interest to those seeking a better understanding of the potential of Web 2.0 in the small business community.WestFocu

Improving the Success of Employee Portals: A Causal and Performance-Based Analysis

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of employee portal success and to identify the levers for its improvement. We introduce a theoretical model for this that is based on the DeLone and McLean IS Success Model, which considers the specific requirements of employee portals. We tested the associations between our model’s different success dimensions by using more than 4,400 employees’ responses. These responses were collected in a survey of twelve companies across different industries participating in an international benchmarking study. We applied structural equation modeling to carry out the causal analysis. Furthermore, within a performance-based analysis, we investigated the success dimensions’ improvement potentials from both a strategic and action-oriented perspective. The results of our causal analysis indicate that besides the factors contributing to the success of IS in general, other success dimensions – like the quality of the collaboration and process support – have to be considered when aiming for a successful employee portal. The performance-based analysis emphasizes the significance of collaboration quality to improve an employee portal and indentifies the respective fields of action. The study’s findings make it possible for practitioners to understand the levers with which to improve their employee portals and to prioritize their investments accordingly. By empirically validating a comprehensive success model for employee portals, the study\u27s results advance the theoretical development in this area and present a basis for further research in this field