Critical success factors for Six Sigma Design and deployment to compliment lean operational strategy towards Capability Maturity

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Maturity Models in the Age of Industry 4.0 – Do the Available Models Correspond to the Needs of Business Practice?

Maturity models (MMs) enable users to identify the need for change and to derive the necessary measures to accompany the change process. Existing literature reviews indicate that the number of available models has increased sharply in recent years. At the same time, it is found that the number of model applications does not keep up with the pace of development. Against the background of the current digitization trend, this article empirically investigates which models are actually used in business practice. We find that the degree of application is very low. Moreover, we also examine user-related model requirements, reasons for employing MMs, and the purpose of using MMs, which can support the user-centered development of future MMs

On the road towards IPSAS with a maturity model: a Swiss case study

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) have driven the modernisation of public systems of financial information. The extent and pace of their implementation remain uneven. The goal of this study was to measure whether and how much governmental accounting standards converge towards IPSASs’ true and fair approach. The empirical context of the 26 Swiss cantons was used to apply a simplified maturity model. Under two successive reforms (maturity stages), each canton’s accounting standards were assessed and scored. The derived maturity levels indicate how close—or far—each canton has stood from a state of full IPSAS compliance (full maturity), at each stage of the process. As Swiss cantons have a certain degree of autonomy in setting their own accounting standards, the evolving paths they followed when implementing IPSASs were heterogeneous. The maturity level attained by each canton within each stage thus varies. However, the results show that the two successive reforms had an overall favourable impact on Swiss cantonal accounting standards compliance with IPSAS, and fairly improved the faithfulness of reported financial information. This research contributes to the international literature on public accounting standards and provides new insights for the assessment of convergence with IPSAS

Auxiliary management methods supporting process maturity : has the pandemic changed anything?

PURPOSE: The dynamics of changes in the enterprises’ environment in the last two years can be considered in two ways. On the one hand, the external conditions, including potential market opportunities, have changed dramatically due to the limitations of the Coronavirus pandemic. On the other hand, enterprises were forced to change their work style to a remote one for the same reason. During the conducted research, attempts were made to determine whether external conditions have changed and how they influenced the management of enterprises.DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The research scope includes primarily small and mediumsized enterprises operating in various regions of Poland. The data was collected using an online survey. Due to the inability to obtain complete data for statistical analysis, the authors decided to use the Grey System Theory (GST). A descriptive scale was used in the questionnaire, which is also a good reason for using GST. The fundamental advantage of using GST is the possibility of drawing conclusions based on incomplete information.FINDINGS: This research was conducted shortly before the pandemic in 2019 and 2021. The organization's maturity process awareness level and the scope of using selected management methods were analyzed. The relationship between this maturity process awareness level and the use of specific management methods has been indicated.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The paper presents significant differences between the factors in 2019 and 2021. The distinction is required to determine which elements and how much has changed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This is the first study that determines the impact of each factor in organization maturity process awareness level using GST.This research was funded by the Poznań University of Technology, Faculty of Engineering Management (project number: 0811/SBAD/1031).peer-reviewe

Функціональна модель оцінювання рівня зрілості SOC на основі моделі зрілості

Leading modern organizations that use advanced technologies in their business processes require a high-level approach to managing the cybedefence process, regardless of the appointment of technical means usage - introspection technology (IT), industrial control systems (ICS), cyberphysical systems (CPS), or IoT devices. Therefore, the main task of IS specialists lies in the choice of standards and frameworks in the field of information technology, which contain requirements, guidelines and recommendations for the organization of up-to-date processes of cyberdefense and information security management. Security Operations Centers (SOCs), which functionate under the guidance of organizations, operate on the basis of admitted and documented usage of standards and recommendations. As for today, the problematic issue lies either in documenting instructions for the implementation of their own SOCs as they differ in functionality depending on goals and scale of implementation, available financial resources or models for assessing the maturity and capabilities of SOCs, most of which are poorly described and suggested with IT industry leaders as a commercial service. The purpose of this work is to analyze the functioning of maturity and capability assessment models in the management strategy of organization`s information security sphere and to create the functional model of assessing the level of SOC maturity, which is based on the chosen maturity model. The results of a such model`s implementation allow us to use a single approach in the process of assessing the maturity level of both individual domains and SOC in general, regardless of the choice of a maturity model with analyzing the calculations from simple metrics of achieving goals (Key Result Indicators, KRI) to business-oriented metrics. The subsequent model decomposition enables to formulate specific requirements for simple metrics on which the calculation of complex metrics is based, as well as more precisely determine the methods of analysis of the performed calculations.Развитые современные организации в своих бизнеспроцессах применяют передовые технологии, требуют высококлассного подхода к управлению процессом киберзащиты независимо от назначения применяемых технических средств - информационных технологий (IT), систем промышленного управления (ICS), кибер-физических систем (CPS) или устройств IoT. Поэтому основной задачей специалисты ИБ определяют выбор стандартов и фреймворков в сфере информационных технологий, содержащих требования, установки и рекомендации по организации актуальных процессов киберзащиты и менеджмента информационной безопасности. Компании, под руководством которых функционируют центры оперативного реагирования на киберинциденты (SOCs), при их создании и поддержке эксплуатации аналогично руководствуются признанными задокументироваными стандартами и рекомендациями. На сегодня проблематичным является вопрос описания в виде инструкций по внедрению собственных SOC по мере разности их функциональных элементов в зависимости от целей и масштабов внедрения, имеющихся финансовых ресурсов, модели оценки зрелости и возможностей оперативных центров безопасности, большинство из которых предлагаются лидерами IT индустрии в качестве коммерческой услуги. Целью данной работы является анализ функционирования моделей оценки зрелости и возможностей в управляющей стратегии развития ИБ организации и создания функциональной модели задачи оценивания уровня зрелости SOC на основе выбранной модели зрелости. Результаты внедрения такой модели позволяют использовать единый подход в процессе оценки уровня зрелости как отдельных доменов, так и SOC в целом независимо от выбора модели зрелости, анализируя расчеты от простых метрик достижения целей бизнес-ориентированных метрик. В дальнейшей декомпозиции модель позволяет сформировать конкретные требования к простым метрикам результативности, на которых основывается вычисления комплексных метрик, а также конкретно определять методы анализа проведенных подсчетов.Розвинуті сучасні організації, що у своїх бізнес-процесах застосовують передові технології, потребують висококласного підходу до управління процесом кіберзахисту, незалежно від призначення застосовуваних технічних засобів - інформаційних технологій (IT), систем промислового управління (ICS), кібер-фізичних систем (CPS) або пристроїв IoT. Тому основним завданням фахівці з ІБ вбачають вибір стандартів та фреймворків у сфері інформаційних технологій, що містять вимоги, настанови та рекомендації стосовно організації актуальних процесів з кіберзахисту та менеджменту інформаційної безпеки. Компанії, під керівництвом яких функціонують центри оперативного реагування на кіберінциденти (SOCs), при їх створенні та підтримці експлуатації аналогічно керуються визнаними задокументованими стандартами та рекомендаціями. Станом на сьогодні проблематичним є питання опису як інструкцій із впровадження власних SOC в міру різності їх функціональних елементів залежно від цілей і масштабів впровадження, наявних фінансових ресурсів, так і моделі оцінки зрілості і можливостей оперативних центрів безпеки, більшість із яких пропонуються лідерами IT індустрії у якості комерційної послуги. Метою даної роботи є аналіз функціонування моделей оцінки зрілості і можливостей у керуючій стратегії розвитку ІБ організації та створення функціональної моделі задачі оцінювання рівня зрілості SOC на основі обраної моделі зрілості. Результати впровадження такої моделі дозволяють використовувати єдиний підхід у процесі оцінки рівня зрілості як окремих доменів, так і SOC у цілому незалежно від вибору моделі зрілості, аналізуючи обрахунки від простих метрик досягнення цілей до бізнес-орієнтованих метрик. У подальшій декомпозиції модель дає змогу сформувати конкретні вимоги до простих метрик результативності, на яких ґрунтується обчислення комплексних метрик, а також конкретніше визначати методи аналізу проведених підрахунків

Well-Being in the Information Society. Fighting Inequalities

Developing versatile modern ICT is an insurmountable challenge to many small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Resources, such as skills, money, time [1] and knowledge [2], are scarce [3]. This makes the selection and decision of any development project a key business issue. The most important questions for SMEs are (i) where to start and (ii) what to change. While there are hundreds of descriptive maturity models for organizational development [4, 5], these offer little support for organizational decision-making. We developed a prescriptive maturity model that maps a subjective snapshot of the maturity of a business, and identifies the most promising objects for next development steps. This Business Transformation Map has three interrelated maturity dimensions: business, technology, and social, that span across past, present and future. We used the model in several test cases, and our results show that the model makes business dimensions visible in a way that makes sense to SMEs. The interviewed SME companies state that depicting company maturity levels in this manner brings clarity to overall business growth options, and it helps transforming this understanding into concrete development steps.</div

Process maturity assessment in the SME sector in Poland

PURPOSE: The aim of the paper is to present the research findings concerning process maturity assessment among Polish enterprises. We undertook a study in this field as we had noticed a research gap in the literature on the practical analysis of the implementation of the process approach by business organizations from different industries in the Polish market. There is a scarcity of available studies in this area, which makes it an interesting subject of research. The analysis of the implementation degree of the process approach in Polish business entities is an introduction to more in-depth studies.METHODOLOGY: The responses to the survey questions allowed us to assign enterprises to the respective level of process maturity. Our taxonomy was subjected to thorough analysis, which took into consideration, among other things, the market experience of individual companies.FINDINGS: On this basis, we drew conclusions concerning the current state of the process approach implementation in Polish small and medium enterprises.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: We also attempted to identify the potential directions of the development of the process approach in this group of enterprises.This research was funded by the Poznań University of Technology, Faculty of Engineering Management (project number: 11/145/SBAD/2953).peer-reviewe

Systems thinking and CMM for continuous improvement in the construction industry

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a capability maturity model (CMM) developed to implement continuous improvement in small and medium scale construction companies (SMSCC) in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach A multi-strategy approach involving qualitative studies of SMSCC in Nigeria was conducted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposively selected construction experts in Nigeria to identify variables essential for continuous improvement in SMSCC. Data collected were thematically analysed using NVIVO. Subsequently, a system thinking approach is employed to design and develop the CMM for implementing continuous improvement SMSCC, by exploring possible relationships between the variables established. Findings CMM provided a five-level approach for the inclusion of investigated variables such as team performance; culture; structure; post-project reviews, financial risk management, waste management policy and cost control. These variables are factors leading to continuous improvement in SMSCC, implementable within a six to seven and a half years’ timeline. Practical implications The system thinking model revealed cogent archetypes in the form of reinforcing loops that can be applied in developing the performance of SMSCC. Continuous improvement is feasible. However, it takes time to implement. Further longitudinal studies on the cost of implementing continuous improvement through CMM a knowledge transfer project can be initiated. Originality/value A methodical strategy for enhancing the effectiveness and operations of SMSCC in developing countries can be extracted from the causal loop diagram and the CMM