Knowledge-Intensive Processes: Characteristics, Requirements and Analysis of Contemporary Approaches

Engineering of knowledge-intensive processes (KiPs) is far from being mastered, since they are genuinely knowledge- and data-centric, and require substantial flexibility, at both design- and run-time. In this work, starting from a scientific literature analysis in the area of KiPs and from three real-world domains and application scenarios, we provide a precise characterization of KiPs. Furthermore, we devise some general requirements related to KiPs management and execution. Such requirements contribute to the definition of an evaluation framework to assess current system support for KiPs. To this end, we present a critical analysis on a number of existing process-oriented approaches by discussing their efficacy against the requirements

Product to process lifecycle management in assembly automation systems

Presently, the automotive industry is facing enormous pressure due to global competition and ever changing legislative, economic and customer demands. Product and process development in the automotive manufacturing industry is a challenging task for many reasons. Current product life cycle management (PLM) systems tend to be product-focussed. Though, information about processes and resources are there but mostly linked to the product. Process is an important aspect, especially in assembly automation systems that link products to their manufacturing resources. This paper presents a process-centric approach to improve PLM systems in large-scale manufacturing companies, especially in the powertrain sector of the automotive industry. The idea is to integrate the information related to key engineering chains i.e. products, processes and resources based upon PLM philosophy and shift the trend of product-focussed lifecycle management to process-focussed lifecycle management, the outcome of which is the Product, Process and Resource Lifecycle Management not PLM only

Forum Session at the First International Conference on Service Oriented Computing (ICSOC03)

The First International Conference on Service Oriented Computing (ICSOC) was held in Trento, December 15-18, 2003. The focus of the conference ---Service Oriented Computing (SOC)--- is the new emerging paradigm for distributed computing and e-business processing that has evolved from object-oriented and component computing to enable building agile networks of collaborating business applications distributed within and across organizational boundaries. Of the 181 papers submitted to the ICSOC conference, 10 were selected for the forum session which took place on December the 16th, 2003. The papers were chosen based on their technical quality, originality, relevance to SOC and for their nature of being best suited for a poster presentation or a demonstration. This technical report contains the 10 papers presented during the forum session at the ICSOC conference. In particular, the last two papers in the report ere submitted as industrial papers

Kesan pembelajaran koperatif terhadap pencapaian pendidikan alam sekitar dalam kalangan pelajar sekolah menengah rendah

Pembelajaran koperatif merupakan satu teknik pembelajaran yang melibatkan pelajar bekerjasama dalam satu kumpulan untuk mencapai matlamat tertentu. Dalam topik Pendidikan Alam Sekitar, pelajar didapati agak lemah dalam memahami sesuatu istilah dan tidak dapat mengaitkan topik dengan pengalaman serta persekitaran mereka. Sebelum ini, pengajaran dan pembelajaran lebih berpusatkan guru. Pembelajaran koperatif pula hanya melibatkan mata pelajaran yang menggunakan makmal atau bengkel. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau kesan pembelajaran berkumpulan terhadap pencapaian pelajar dalam Pendidikan Alam Sekitar melalui mata pelajaran Geografi. Bentuk kajian yang digunakan ialah kuasi-eksperimen yang dijalankan dengan menggunakan ujian pra dan ujian pasca ke atas kumpulan eksperimen dan kumpulan kawalan. Sampel kajian adalah dua kumpulan pelajar tingkatan 1 dari Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Luar Bandar di negeri Johor. Sampel kajian terdiri daripada 37 orang pelajar kumpulan eksperimen dan 35 orang pelajar kumpulan kawalan. Kumpulan eksperimen merupakan kumpulan yang menggunakan kaedah pembelajaran koperatif manakala kumpulan kawalan diajar tanpa pembelajaran koperatif. Instrumen kajian ialah ujian pencapaian, borang soal selidik, jadual pemerhatian dan temubual. Hasil kajian mendapati min pencapaian kumpulan eksperimen adalah tinggi iaitu 18.16 berbanding dengan min kumpulan kawalan, iaitu 13.91. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan terdapat peningkatan pencapaian bagi pelajar yang menjalani pembelajaran koperatif berbanding dengan pelajar yang tidak mengamalkan kaedah pembelajaran tersebut. Pelajar juga dapat menerima penggunaan pembelajaran koperatif dalam proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran. Kesimpulannya, pembelajaran koperatif bukan sahaja dapat meningkatkan hasil malah dapat meningkatkan kualiti proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran

Designing Community Collaboration Support System to Facilitate the Resilience of Supply Chains During Crises

This study explores how to design an information system that facilitates the resilience of supply chains and the collaboration of different stakeholders during various crises. The ultimate objective of this study is to develop a knowledge base for formalizing design principles essential for designing and conceptualizing the Community Collaboration Support System to facilitate the resilience of supply chains during a crisis. To derive the design principles, we followed the design science research approach. Drawing from the literature, this paper used kernel theories as a part of the process. The design principles are well positioned and aligned with the acquired knowledge base. This study contributes to the existing research in distributed and collaboration technology. Additional explanatory studies are needed to validate posited design principles

Business Strategy in E-bussiness environment

E-business is heralding what is being called “the new economy.” To help managers negotiate this new business landscape, this article review the business and technologies requirements of modern extended organizations and discuss how adaptive business objects and controlled interoperability are the key enabling technologies to the challenge of integrated value chains. We know unlike previous decades where enterprises prized independence, the next decade will be one of business alliances and competing, end-to-end value chains. Enterprise value chains comprised of powerful business alliance partners will exceedingly compete as single entities for customers. Such extended corporations reach out not only with business relationships; they must integrate their value business processes and information systems to realize their business goal