Academic Panel: Can Self-Managed Systems be trusted?

Trust can be defined as to have confidence or faith in; a form of reliance or certainty based on past experience; to allow without fear; believe; hope: expect and wish; and extend credit to. The issue of trust in computing has always been a hot topic, especially notable with the proliferation of services over the Internet, which has brought the issue of trust and security right into the ordinary home. Autonomic computing brings its own complexity to this. With systems that self-manage, the internal decision making process is less transparent and the ‘intelligence’ possibly evolving and becoming less tractable. Such systems may be used from anything from environment monitoring to looking after Granny in the home and thus the issue of trust is imperative. To this end, we have organised this panel to examine some of the key aspects of trust. The first section discusses the issues of self-management when applied across organizational boundaries. The second section explores predictability in self-managed systems. The third part examines how trust is manifest in electronic service communities. The final discussion demonstrates how trust can be integrated into an autonomic system as the core intelligence with which to base adaptivity choices upon

Exploring the Benefits from B2B Implementations Through ERP

This paper reports on research carried out in 1999-2001 on the use of e-business applications in SAPbased organisations. Structured interviews were used to collect data on eleven established organisations from a diverse range of industries. The findings are analysed according to the level of sophistication of e-business models. These early adopters of e-business show a trend towards cost reductions and administrative efficiencies from procurement and self-service applications used by customers and employees A complex case study of e-business integration with a global supplier and its corporate customers is analysed to identify specific antecedents for success. Collectively the set of case studies is used to demonstrate the increased benefits derived from an e-business architecture based on a network of ERP enabled organisations

Supporting Collaborative Communication in a Multi-layer Meta-process Model for Evolutionary Shared Workflows

A key planning activity within a Virtual Enterprise (VE) is to establish agreed inter-organizational processes. This activity, or meta-process, has to allow for gradual evolution of the VE processes and for a multi layer development from informal business agreements to precise workflows. To support this meta-process, a collaborative electronic whiteboard supported by a tuplespace is proposed. The whiteboard supports a mixed graphical and text interface, with support for keeping track of the changes made. The participating organizations upload workflow definitions from their own IT systems into the tuplespace. Workflows are then discussed, modified and evolved before being downloaded again and mapped to the partners’ individual systems

A Heterogeneous Approach to Agile Tailoring

Self-organisation is recognised as one of the fundamental principles of Agile software development since the introduction of the Agile Manifesto. In large-scale agile, self- organising teams must cooperate to produce a software product jointly. Previous research has identified barriers to self-organising autonomous teams in large-scale agile, such as lack of guidelines for how teams should be organised, and other challenges related to building autonomous teams and aligning them. The Spotify model is an example of a very large-scale agile approach, which is driven by creating loosely coupled, yet tightly aligned squads. However, there is a conflicting trade-off between squads autonomy and alignment. Too much alignment might hinder squad autonomy, but without alignment, the squads are autonomous but are not effective.This research aims to (1) explore how Agile practitioners, from a FinTech organisation, resolve the conflicting trade-offs between squads autonomy and alignment, and (2) develop and evaluate new architectural governance practices, in a FinTech organisation tailoring the Spotify model. To address these aims, a qualitative research design was utilised. This research comprises two parts, a longitudinal embedded case study and an intervention embedded case study, which were conducted in a FinTech organisation (i.e., FinTechOrg).The longitudinal embedded case study lasted over 21 months, during which 225 ceremonies were observed, 14 semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted, and data were collected from different sorts of artefacts. The collected data were analysed using an approach informed by the Grounded Theory method.The analysis identified influential factors on different aspects of Spotify Tailoring, which contribute to resolving the conflicting trade-offs between squads autonomy and alignment. These aspects are (1) establishing and building autonomous squads, (2) aligning autonomous squads, and (3) performing B2B product development by tailoring the Spotify model. The first contribution is identifying factors influencing establishing and building autonomous squads. The second contribution is identifying factors influencing aligning autonomous squads. The third contribution is identifying the impact of product development on Spotify tailoring as well as factors influencing Spotify Tailoring for B2B product development. Each identified factor is supported by a set of practices and attributes, which can aid Agile practitioners in improving squad autonomy, aligning autonomous squads, or facilitating the conduct of B2B product development.The fourth contribution is identifying a novel approach to Agile tailoring, called Heterogeneous Tailoring. Three key features characterise this approach. Firstly, each autonomous squad is empowered to select and tailor its development method. Secondly, each squad is aligned with other squads and to common product development goals and objectives. Thirdly, the product steering committee draws the strategy of squads’ missions and aligns the product backlog among autonomous squads. This novel approach to Agile tailoring has improved the creativity for some squads and increased the productivity for others, as reported by the practitioners of FinTechOrg.The Spotify model and the revealed Heterogeneous Tailoring approach do not provide practices or guidelines for governing Agile architecture across autonomous squads. Thus, an embedded case study intervention was conducted to contribute to facilitating Agile architecture governance. In this intervention, a novel approach to architectural governance was developed and evaluated in FinTechOrg, which is considered the last contribution. This approach incorporates a structural change and an architecture change management process. The intervention lasted 3 months, during which 32 ceremonies were observed and 8 semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted. The collected data was analysed using an approach informed by the Grounded Theory method.Based on the results of the intervention, the Heterogeneous Tailoring approach was adapted to accommodate the novel approach to architectural governance. This adaptation has impacted the key features of the Heterogeneous Tailoring approach. Establishing autonomous squads was impacted by the introduced structural change. The alignment of autonomous squads was impacted by governing Agile architecture. Product development was impacted by the needs for planning architecture based user stories. Also, the adaptation of the Heterogeneous Tailoring approach revealed a new key feature, called Release Strategy, which is concerned with the continuous delivery of architecture enablers

Towards an understanding of business design within enterprise architecture management: a cautionary tale

Includes bibliographical references.Business Design represents a set of concepts that are described in the literature as providing a sound foundation for sustainable competitive advantage into the future. The particular values underpinning Business design are based on the enablement of a design thinking approach to solving the imponderable problems that organisations regularly encounter. In particular, the application of a design thinking approach to Business Design requires that resultant system designs are economically viable and technologically feasible. Enterprise Architecture Management plays a vital role in supporting these latter two requirements. Yet the definition of Enterprise Architecture Management as the 'normative restriction of design freedom' (Deitz, 2011) implies constraints that could impose limits on such business design. Consequently, the qualitative inductive research described in this document was undertaken to explore the perceived paradoxical relationship between Business Design and Enterprise Architecture Management. This dissertation recounts the process and results of this research initiative based on data recorded during interviews with a number of management level staff at a leading South African Insurance organisation. The participants were intimately involved in a programme to, amongst other objectives, establish a platform to support enterprise-wide Business Design within Enterprise Architecture Management, a programme that was experiencing a number of challenges and that was still underway at the time of completion of this research. Findings arising from this research were that the varying perceptions and levels of commitment of business and IT stakeholders associated with the programme and its requirements, contributed significantly to these challenges. In addition to providing a rich description of the case organisation's journey towards the establishment of a Business Design platform, a sensitising framework – 'The 6 Cs Framework in Support of the Successful Enablement of Business Design within Enterprise Architecture Management' – is proposed as a useful tool to assist organisations that might be considering a similar programme in the future

The Complementary Perspective of System of Systems in Collaboration, Integration, and Logistics: A Value-Chain Based Paradigm of Supply Chain Management

The importance and complexity of the problems associated with coordinating multiple organizations to configure value propositions for customers has drawn the attention of multiple disciplines. In an effort to clarify and consolidate terms, this conceptual research examines both supply chain management (SCM) and system of systems (SoS) literature to postulate, from a value-chain perspective, what roles integration and collaboration play in helping supply chains satisfy customer requirements. A literature review analysis was used to identify the commonalities and differences between supply chain management and system of systems approaches to examining interfirm coordination of value creation efforts. Although a framework of integration and collaboration roles in value creation is proposed, further empirical testing of the concept is required to substantiate initial conclusions. The concepts proposed may help clarify where strategic and operational managers need to focus their efforts in coordinating supply chain member firms. The incorporation of SoS engineering into the supply chain field will draw the linkage between the constituent principles, and concepts of Systems Theory as appropriate for the supply chain management field. This is the first effort to reconcile two separate but parallel scholarship streams examining the coordination of multiple organizations in value creation. This research shows that there are some methodologies, principles, and methods from the SoS field that can supplement supply chain management research. Mainly due to a unit of analysis issue, systems based approaches have not been in the mainstream of supply chain management field development

An architecture governance approach for Agile development by tailoring the Spotify model

The role of software architecture in large-scale Agile development is important because several teams need to work together to release a single software product while helping to maximise teams’ autonomy. Governing and aligning Agile architecture across autonomous squads (i.e., teams), when using the Spotify model, is a challenge because the Spotify model lacks practices for addressing Agile architecture governance. To explore how software architecture can be governed and aligned by scaling the Spotify model, we conducted a longitudinal embedded case study in a multinational FinTech organisation. Then, we developed and evaluated an approach for architectural governance by conducting an embedded case study. The collected data was analysed using Thematic Analysis and informed by selected Grounded Theory techniques such as memoing, open coding, constant comparison, and sorting. Our approach for architectural governance comprises an organisational structure change and an architecture change management process. The benefits reported by the practitioners include devolving architectural decision-making to the operational level (i.e., Architecture Owners), enhancing architectural knowledge sharing among squads, minimising wasted effort in architectural refactoring, and other benefits. The practitioners in our case study realised an improved squad autonomy by the ability to govern and align architectural decisions. We provide two key contributions in this paper. First, we present the characteristics of our proposed architectural governance approach, its evaluation, benefits, and challenges. Second, we present how the novel Heterogeneous Tailoring model was enhanced to accommodate our architectural governance approach

Exploring The Antecedents Of Successful E-business Implementations Through ERP : A Longitudinal Study of SAP-based Organisations 1999-2003

This research was carried out between 1999 and 2003 on the use of e-business applications in ERP-based organisations. A composite research method based on structured case studies was developed for this study. It combined the application of case methods by Carroll et al. (1998], Klein and Myer (1998), and Eisenhardt (1989). This was used to provide a focused, yet flexible structure, as a dynamic approach to case study interpretive research. The research method used three distinct models at three progressive stages of the study, to provide a multi-faceted view of each case. This composite case-based method was developed to maintain the balance between research rigour and relevance. A pilot case study of nine Australian SAP sites helped ground the theory of the study. This was followed by three stages of study of eleven international cases within a diverse industry context. The method revealed the antecedents of e-business success using the findings from case analyses against three separate research models B2B interaction, e-business change, and virtual organising. A final conceptual framework was developed as new theory of e-business transformation. The theory views e-business transformation as realising the benefits from virtual organising within complex B2B interactions by utilising the facilitators of successful e-business change. The research demonstrates that successful e-business transformation with ERP occurs when value propositions are realised through integration and differentiation of technologies used to support new business models to deliver products and services online. The associated management practice evolves through efficiency from self-service, effectiveness through empowerment towards customer care, and value enhancement from extensive relationship building with multiple alliances. The new theory of e-business transformation identifies the stages of e-business growth and development as a comprehensive plan that should assist managers of ERP-based organisations in migrating their company towards a successful e-business organisation. The detailed analysis of the findings offers a foundational per11pectlve of strategies, tactics and performance objectives for e-ERP implementations. The strength of the theory lies in the synthesis of multiple case analyses using three different lenses over three separate time periods. The triangulation of the three research frameworks provides a method for study at appropriate levels of complexity. It is evolutionary in nature and is content driven. Other researchers are urged to apply similar multi-viewed analysis

IT supported business process negotiation, reconciliation and execution for cross-organisational e-business collaboration

In modern enterprises, workflow technology is commonly used for business process automation. Established business processes represent successful business practice and become a crucial part of corporate assets. In the Internet era, electronic business is chosen by more and more organisations as a preferred way of conducting business practice. In response to the increasing demands for cross-organisational business automation, especially those raised by the B2B electronic commerce community, the concept of collaboration between automated business processes, i.e. workflow collaboration, is emerging. Otherwise, automation would be confined within individual organisations and cross-organisational collaboration would still have to be carried out manually. However, much of the previous research work overlooks the acquisition of the compatible workflows at build time and simply assumes that compatibility is achieved through face-toface negotiation followed by a design from scratch approach that creates collaborative workflows based on the agreement resulted from the negotiation. The resource-intensive and error-prone approach can hardly keep up with the pace of today’s marketplace with increasing transaction volume and complexity. This thesis identifies the requirements for cross-organisational workflow collaboration (COWCO) through an integrated approach, proposes a comprehensive supporting framework, explains the key enabling techniques of the framework, and implements and evaluates them in the form of a prototype system – COWCO-Guru. With the support of such a framework, cross-organisational workflow collaboration can be managed and conducted with reduced human effort, which will further facilitate cross-organisational e-business, especially B2B e-commerce practices