89,508 research outputs found
The Dag-Brucken ASRS Case Study
In 1996 an agreement was made between a well-known beverage manufacturer, Super-Cola Taiwan, (SCT) and a small Australian electrical engineering company, Dag-BrĂŒcken ASRS Pty Ltd, (DB), to provide an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) facility as part of SCTâs production facilities in Asia. Recognising the potential of their innovative and technically advanced design, DB was awarded a State Premiers Export Award and was a finalist in that yearâs National Export Awards. The case tracks the development and subsequent implementation of the SCT ASRS project, setting out to highlight how the lack of appropriate IT development processes contributed to the ultimate failure of the project and the subsequent winding up of DB only one year after being honoured with these prestigious awards. The case provides compelling evidence of the types of project management incompetency that, from the literature, appears to contribute to the high failure rate in IT projects. For confidentiality reasons, the names of the principal parties are changed, but the case covers actual events documented by one of the project team members as part of his postgraduate studies, providing an example of the special mode of evidence collection that Yin (1994) calls âparticipant-observationâ
Software development: A paradigm for the future
A new paradigm for software development that treats software development as an experimental activity is presented. It provides built-in mechanisms for learning how to develop software better and reusing previous experience in the forms of knowledge, processes, and products. It uses models and measures to aid in the tasks of characterization, evaluation and motivation. An organization scheme is proposed for separating the project-specific focus from the organization's learning and reuse focuses of software development. The implications of this approach for corporations, research and education are discussed and some research activities currently underway at the University of Maryland that support this approach are presented
Software reliability and dependability: a roadmap
Shifting the focus from software reliability to user-centred measures of dependability in complete software-based systems. Influencing design practice to facilitate dependability assessment. Propagating awareness of dependability issues and the use of existing, useful methods. Injecting some rigour in the use of process-related evidence for dependability assessment. Better understanding issues of diversity and variation as drivers of dependability. Bev Littlewood is founder-Director of the Centre for Software Reliability, and Professor of Software Engineering at City University, London. Prof Littlewood has worked for many years on problems associated with the modelling and evaluation of the dependability of software-based systems; he has published many papers in international journals and conference proceedings and has edited several books. Much of this work has been carried out in collaborative projects, including the successful EC-funded projects SHIP, PDCS, PDCS2, DeVa. He has been employed as a consultant t
Software Sustainability: The Modern Tower of Babel
<p>The aim of this paper is to explore the emerging definitions of software sustainability from the field of software engineering in order to contribute to the question, what is software sustainability?</p
A set of nine principles for distributed-design information storing
The issues of distributed working are many, with problems relating to information access and information acquisition the most common (Crabtree et al., 1997). Keeping track of project and team information is becoming more complex as design is increasingly being carried out collaboratively by geographically dispersed design teams across different time zones. The literature notes that little prescription or guidance exists on information management for designers (Culley et al., 1999) and Hicks (2007) highlights a relative lack of overall principles for improving information management. Additionally, evidence from earlier studies by the author into âHow information is stored in distributed design project workâ reinforces the need for guidance, particularly in a distributed context (Grierson, 2008). Distributed information collections were found to be unorganised, contained unclear information and lacked context. Storing and sharing of distributed information was often time consuming and the tools awkward to use. This can lead to poor project progress and can impact directly on the quality and success of project outcomes (Grierson et al., 2004, 2006). This paper seeks to address these issues by presenting the development, implementation and evaluation of a set of Principles and a Framework to support distributed design information storing in the context of a Global Design class. Through both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods the Principles were found to help in a number of ways â with the easy access of information; the structuring and organising of information; the creation of an information strategy; the making of information clear and concise; the supporting of documentation during project work; and the strengthening of team work; all helping teams to work towards project outcomes
Automated Generation of User Guidance by Combining Computation and Deduction
Herewith, a fairly old concept is published for the first time and named
"Lucas Interpretation". This has been implemented in a prototype, which has
been proved useful in educational practice and has gained academic relevance
with an emerging generation of educational mathematics assistants (EMA) based
on Computer Theorem Proving (CTP).
Automated Theorem Proving (ATP), i.e. deduction, is the most reliable
technology used to check user input. However ATP is inherently weak in
automatically generating solutions for arbitrary problems in applied
mathematics. This weakness is crucial for EMAs: when ATP checks user input as
incorrect and the learner gets stuck then the system should be able to suggest
possible next steps.
The key idea of Lucas Interpretation is to compute the steps of a calculation
following a program written in a novel CTP-based programming language, i.e.
computation provides the next steps. User guidance is generated by combining
deduction and computation: the latter is performed by a specific language
interpreter, which works like a debugger and hands over control to the learner
at breakpoints, i.e. tactics generating the steps of calculation. The
interpreter also builds up logical contexts providing ATP with the data
required for checking user input, thus combining computation and deduction.
The paper describes the concepts underlying Lucas Interpretation so that open
questions can adequately be addressed, and prerequisites for further work are
provided.Comment: In Proceedings THedu'11, arXiv:1202.453
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Case-based analysis in user requirements modelling for knowledge construction
Context: Learning can be regarded as knowledge construction in which prior knowledge and experience
serve as basis for the learners to expand their knowledge base. Such a process of knowledge construction
has to take place continuously in order to enhance the learnersâ competence in a competitive working
environment. As the information consumers, the individual users demand personalised information provision
which meets their own specific purposes, goals, and expectations.
Objectives: The current methods in requirements engineering are capable of modelling the common
userâs behaviour in the domain of knowledge construction. The usersâ requirements can be represented
as a case in the defined structure which can be reasoned to enable the requirements analysis. Such analysis
needs to be enhanced so that personalised information provision can be tackled and modelled. However,
there is a lack of suitable modelling methods to achieve this end. This paper presents a new
ontological method for capturing individual userâs requirements and transforming the requirements onto
personalised information provision specifications. Hence the right information can be provided to the
right user for the right purpose.
Method: An experiment was conducted based on the qualitative method. A medium size of group of users
participated to validate the method and its techniques, i.e. articulates, maps, configures, and learning content.
The results were used as the feedback for the improvement.
Result: The research work has produced an ontology model with a set of techniques which support the
functions for profiling userâs requirements, reasoning requirements patterns, generating workflow from
norms, and formulating information provision specifications.
Conclusion: The current requirements engineering approaches provide the methodical capability for
developing solutions. Our research outcome, i.e. the ontology model with the techniques, can further
enhance the RE approaches for modelling the individual userâs needs and discovering the userâs
requirements
BIM adoption and implementation for architectural practices
Severe issues about data acquisition and management arise during the design creation and development due to complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity. BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a tool for a team based lean design approach towards improved architectural practice across the supply chain. However, moving from a CAD (Computer Aided Design) approach to BIM (Building Information Modelling) represents a fundamental change for individual disciplines and the construction industry as a whole. Although BIM has been implemented by large practices, it is not widely used by SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises).
Purpose: This paper aims to present a systematic approach for BIM implementation for Architectural SMEs at the organizational level
Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is undertaken through a KTP (Knowledge transfer Partnership) project between the University of Salford and John McCall Architects (JMA) a SME based in Liverpool. The overall aim of the KTP is to develop lean design practice through BIM adoption. The BIM implementation approach uses a socio-technical view which does not only consider the implementation of technology but also considers the socio-cultural environment that provides the context for its implementation. The action research oriented qualitative and quantitative research is used for discovery, comparison, and experimentation as it provides ĂŻÂżÂœlearning by doingĂŻÂżÂœ.
Findings: The strategic approach to BIM adoption incorporated people, process and technology equally and led to capacity building through the improvements in process, technological infrastructure and upskilling of JMA staff to attain efficiency gains and competitive advantages.
Originality/Value: This paper introduces a systematic approach for BIM adoption based on the action research philosophy and demonstrates a roadmap for BIM adoption at the operational level for SME companie
Developing a distributed electronic health-record store for India
The DIGHT project is addressing the problem of building a scalable and highly available information store for the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of the over one billion citizens of India
Major project team learning:examining building information modelling
The speed of technological advancement of software development drives the need for individual and team learning to exploit these developments for competitive advantage. Using a major long term redevelopment as a case study a review of learning processes and project team learning in the context of a voluntary approach to adopting of BIM prior to 2016 is examined. The speed of adoption of BIM across a large redevelopment project covering several years is variable and the differences of preparedness between team members from different organisations raises the question of how effective the project team can be in sharing learning and increasing the speed of adoption of BIM. The benefits of understanding the project environment as a formal learning context are recognised where teams are working in partnering arrangements but the focus is usually on post project review of what went wrong with little time to critically evaluate other variables. Knowledge Management has the potential to help understand and then facilitate greater participation amongst stakeholders in project team learning. The research team undertook decision mapping and knowledge elicitation techniques and applied these to the Dundee Waterfront to identify key factors relevant to successful project management, enabling the Waterfront Project Team to understand current practice. The effectiveness of project team learning in relation to BIM within this long-term major redevelopment is influenced by positive motivational drivers for individuals to learn how to use and apply BIM, the level of organisational support for learning and professional development and the project information and communication systems. In practice the current approach to sharing of knowledge within the project team indicates a fragmented approach in relation to the adoption and application of BIM to managing construction projects
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