Principles in Patterns (PiP) : Evaluation of Impact on Business Processes

The innovation and development work conducted under the auspices of the Principles in Patterns (PiP) project is intended to explore and develop new technology-supported approaches to curriculum design, approval and review. An integral component of this innovation is the use of business process analysis and process change techniques - and their instantiation within the C-CAP system (Class and Course Approval Pilot) - in order to improve the efficacy of curriculum approval processes. Improvements to approval process responsiveness and overall process efficacy can assist institutions in better reviewing or updating curriculum designs to enhance pedagogy. Such improvements also assume a greater significance in a globalised HE environment, in which institutions must adapt or create curricula quickly in order to better reflect rapidly changing academic contexts, as well as better responding to the demands of employment marketplaces and the expectations of professional bodies. This is increasingly an issue for disciplines within the sciences and engineering, where new skills or knowledge need to be rapidly embedded in curricula as a response to emerging technological or environmental developments. All of the aforementioned must also be achieved while simultaneously maintaining high standards of academic quality, thus adding a further layer of complexity to the way in which HE institutions engage in "responsive curriculum design" and approval. This strand of the PiP evaluation therefore entails an analysis of the business process techniques used by PiP, their efficacy, and the impact of process changes on the curriculum approval process, as instantiated by C-CAP. More generally the evaluation is a contribution towards a wider understanding of technology-supported process improvement initiatives within curriculum approval and their potential to render such processes more transparent, efficient and effective. Partly owing to limitations in the data required to facilitate comparative analyses, this evaluation adopts a mixed approach, making use of qualitative and quantitative methods as well as theoretical techniques. These approaches combined enable a comparative evaluation of the curriculum approval process under the "new state" (i.e. using C-CAP) and under the "previous state". This report summarises the methodology used to enable comparative evaluation and presents an analysis and discussion of the results. As the report will explain, the impact of C-CAP and its ability to support improvements in process and document management has resulted in the resolution of numerous process failings. C-CAP has also demonstrated potential for improvements in approval process cycle time, process reliability, process visibility, process automation, process parallelism and a reduction in transition delays within the approval process, thus contributing to considerable process efficiencies; although it is acknowledged that enhancements and redesign may be required to take advantage of C-CAP's potential. Other aspects pertaining to C-CAP's impact on process change, improvements to document management and the curation of curriculum designs will also be discussed

Cost reduction using process analysis in company PEGRES obuv s.r.o.

Firma PEGRES obuv s.r.o. se již delší dobu potýká se stagnací v oblasti plánování a řízení výroby. Některé podnikové procesy jsou nyní značně zastaralé a v aktuálních podmínkách již neefektivní. Cíl práce je snížení nákladů s využitím procesní analýzy. Pro dosažení tohoto cíle bude provedena analýza současného stavu zastaralých procesů a budou popsány vybrané metody řízení výroby, které jsou svou povahou relevantní pro výrobu obuvi. Výstupem práce je sada doporučení a návrhů na změny v existujících procesech. Vybrané návrhy budou v prostředí firmy implementovány a práce zahrne zhodnocení výsledků po zavedení těchto změn.Company PEGRES obuv s.r.o. has been long time struggling with stagnation in production planning and control. Some of the internal processes are now obsolete and in current conditions no longer effective. The goal of the paper is to reduce the costs using process analysis. To achieve this goal, analysis of the current state of outdated processes will be performed, followed by description of selected methods of production management, which by their nature are relevant to the production of the shoes. Output of the work is a set of recommendations and proposals for changes to existing processes. Selected proposals will be implemented in the company and paper will include evaluation of results after the implementation of these changes.

Benefits and swot analysis of iknow estudent services system

The implementation of new robust and complex overall systems in any area is in the very least demanding, complicated, extensive, particularized and delicate. Especially if they are planned to be designed for almost entire higher education system in a country. Inevitably at the beginning, the stakeholders in the existing processes and resources will be reluctant to radical change such as the one in the case of iKnow system implementation, setbacks can be experienced in the mentality shifts, workflow adjustments and adaptation, but also in the different starting points in different institutions for such implementations. And this is only before the beginning of usage of the system. As with any big, ERP-like software solution, the first period of implementation may be the scariest, until everyone gets on board. Then the impressions from the intuitive interface, completion of tasks from distance, the overview of many aspects, maybe never even considered before, and the usefulness of the reports will kick in. That is the point from which the added value from the iKnow eStudent Services System will start to pile up improvements in many directions and depths. This paper can serve as an introduction to the benefits, strengths and opportunities that can be expected from iKnow, and food for thought for the involved parties in the realization of the project for its weaknesses and threats. By observing the requirements for the system on one side, and the technical documentation and the software itself on the other, we can conclude that what is asked for has been delivered in the construction area, and time will show that the objectives will be reachable in the very least, if not completely, with timely implementation and proper usage

Enhancing Energy Production with Exascale HPC Methods

High Performance Computing (HPC) resources have become the key actor for achieving more ambitious challenges in many disciplines. In this step beyond, an explosion on the available parallelism and the use of special purpose processors are crucial. With such a goal, the HPC4E project applies new exascale HPC techniques to energy industry simulations, customizing them if necessary, and going beyond the state-of-the-art in the required HPC exascale simulations for different energy sources. In this paper, a general overview of these methods is presented as well as some specific preliminary results.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme (2014-2020) under the HPC4E Project (www.hpc4e.eu), grant agreement n° 689772, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the CODEC2 project (TIN2015-63562-R), and from the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation through Rede Nacional de Pesquisa (RNP). Computer time on Endeavour cluster is provided by the Intel Corporation, which enabled us to obtain the presented experimental results in uncertainty quantification in seismic imagingPostprint (author's final draft

Towards a lean model for production management of refurbishment projects, VTT Technology: 94

This is the Stage 3 Report for the ApRemodel project, which aims at improving processes for multi-occupancy retrofit by generating a lean model for project delivery. In this respect, a process-driven approach has been adopted to investigate what can be done to improve the way that retrofits projects are delivered. An initial literature review, focused on the management of refurbishment works, revealed that the research on this matter is scarce. There are plenty of studies related to the broad refurbishment area, however only a small number refer to the way that those construction projects are delivered. According to the literature, construction organisations have predominantly used traditional methods for managing the production of refurbishment projects. The problem is that those tools and techniques are not often appropriate to cope with the complex characteristics inherent to construction projects, especially in the case of refurbishments. Moreover, they have often not been based on a clear theoretical foundation. As a result, numerous types of waste have been identified in refurbishment projects such as waiting time, disruptions in performing tasks on site, rework, among others. This has led to unsatisfactory project performance in terms of low productivity, project delays, and cost overrun. The first step towards better production management in refurbishment projects is recognising the complexity of the sector in order to adopt the correct approach to cope with this specific scenario. In this respect, lean construction is identified as an appropriate way to deal with the complexity and uncertainty inherent in refurbishment projects, given that this management philosophy fully integrates the conversion, flow, and value views. This document builds on the findings from the literature review as well as evidence from case studies. Managerial practices based on lean construction principles have presented successful results in the management of complex projects. Case studies available in the literature report the feasibility and usefulness of this theoretical foundation. Moreover, the evidence from these studies show considerable potential for improving the management of refurbishment works. A list of methods, tools, and techniques are identified. This report may be used by construction refurbishment organisations and housing associations as a starting point for improving the efficiency in managing production of refurbishment projects. To this end, partnerships between industry and academia are strongly recommended. 4 Although the usefulness of lean principles in complex projects is already proved, further work is needed to check what practices are best for the respective refurbishment context, as well as identifying enablers and barriers for practical adoption. Furthermore, additional studies would be also necessary to better understand the extent to which the implementation of lean philosophy might influence performance of refurbishment projects. This report should be seen as work in progress with much more to learn, as detailed research work around the sustainable retrofit process in a lean way is further developed