CROSS-CONTEXTUAL USE OF INTEGRATED INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The international industry of engineering products and services is characterized by high complexity and competition. Corporations that expand globally have experienced that managing interdependent activities and business processes across several countries requires an effective deployment of advanced information technology. Whereas the literature has described implementation of global information systems as a means to coordinate and control the business processes, empirical studies have shown that introducing a large-scale information systems involves several managerial challenges when organizations are geographically dispersed. This paper studies deployment of a global enterprise system to support evolvement of global business processes. On the basis of a qualitative case study of a multinational corporation implementing an enterprise system across several geographical locations, we identify counteracting forces in the process of global standardization of IS and business processes and discuss how the organization try to manage these forces and challenges therein. The findings suggest that global business processes develop through diverse processes of learning and negotiation between local practices of use and infusion of the global enterprise system

A requirements engineering framework for integrated systems development for the construction industry

Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) systems are computer environments through which collaborative working can be undertaken. Although many CIC systems have been developed to demonstrate the communication and collaboration within the construction projects, the uptake of CICs by the industry is still inadequate. This is mainly due to the fact that research methodologies of the CIC development projects are incomplete to bridge the technology transfer gap. Therefore, defining comprehensive methodologies for the development of these systems and their effective implementation on real construction projects is vital. Requirements Engineering (RE) can contribute to the effective uptake of these systems because it drives the systems development for the targeted audience. This paper proposes a requirements engineering approach for industry driven CIC systems development. While some CIC systems are investigated to build a broad and deep contextual knowledge in the area, the EU funded research project, DIVERCITY (Distributed Virtual Workspace for Enhancing Communication within the Construction Industry), is analysed as the main case study project because its requirements engineering approach has the potential to determine a framework for the adaptation of requirements engineering in order to contribute towards the uptake of CIC systems

Rethinking bank business models: the role of intangibles

<p>Purpose: This paper provides a new way of rethinking banking models by using qualitative research on intangibles. This is required because the banking sector has been transformed significantly by the changing environment over the past two decades. The 2007-2009 financial crisis also added to concerns about existing bank business models.</p> <p>Design/Methodology approach: Using qualitative data collected from interviews with bank managers and analysts in the UK, this paper develops a grounded theory of bank intangibles.</p> <p>Findings: The model reveals how intangibles and tangible/financial resources interact in the bank value creation process, how they actively respond to environmental changes, how bank intangibles are understood by external observers such as analysts, and how bankers and analysts differ in their views.</p> <p>Research implications: Grounded theory provides the means to further develop bank models as business models and theoretical models. This provides the means to think beyond conventional finance constructs and to relate bank models to a wider theoretical literature concerning intellectual capital, organisational and social systems theory, and ‘performativity’.</p> <p>Practical implications: Such development of bank models and of a systems perspective is critical to the understanding of banks by bankers, by observers and for their ‘critical and reflexive performativity’. It also has implications for systemic risk and bank regulation.</p> <p>Social implications: Improvement in bank models and their use in open and transparent processes are key means to improve public accountability of banks.</p> <p>Originality: The paper reveals the core role of intellectual capital (IC) in banks, in markets, and in developing theory and research at firm and system levels. </p&gt

Architectural implications for context adaptive smart spaces

Buildings and spaces are complex entities containing complex social structures and interactions. A smart space is a composite of the users that inhabit it, the IT infrastructure that supports it, and the sensors and appliances that service it. Rather than separating the IT from the buildings and from the appliances that inhabit them and treating them as separate systems, pervasive computing combines them and allows them to interact. We outline a reactive context architecture that supports this vision of integrated smart spaces and explore some implications for building large-scale pervasive systems

A psychology literature study on modality related issues for multimodal presentation in crisis management

The motivation of this psychology literature study is to obtain modality related guidelines for real-time information presentation in crisis management environment. The crisis management task is usually companied by time urgency, risk, uncertainty, and high information density. Decision makers (crisis managers) might undergo cognitive overload and tend to show biases in their performances. Therefore, the on-going crisis event needs to be presented in a manner that enhances perception, assists diagnosis, and prevents cognitive overload. To this end, this study looked into the modality effects on perception, cognitive load, working memory, learning, and attention. Selected topics include working memory, dual-coding theory, cognitive load theory, multimedia learning, and attention. The findings are several modality usage guidelines which may lead to more efficient use of the user’s cognitive capacity and enhance the information perception

Integrating case study and survey research methods: An example in information systems

The case for combining research methods generally, and more specifically that for combining qualitative and quantitative methods, is strong. Yet, research designs that extensively integrate both fieldwork (e.g. case studies) and survey research are rare. More¬over, some journals tend tacitly to specialize by methodology thereby encouraging purity of method. The multi-method model of research while not new, has not been appreciated. In this respect it is useful to articulate and describe its usage through example. By reference to a recently completed study of IS consultant engagement success factors this paper presents an analysis of the benefits of integrating case study and survey research methods. The emphasis is on the qualitative case study method and how it can compliment more quantitative survey research. Benefits are demonstrated through specific examples from the reference study.</i

Towards a user-centric and multidisciplinary framework for designing context-aware applications

Research into context-aware computing has not sufficiently addressed human and social aspects of design. Existing design frameworks are predominantly software orientated, make little use of cross-disciplinary work, and do not provide an easily transferable structure for cross-application of design principles. To address these problems, this paper proposes a multidisciplinary and user-centred design framework, and two models of context, which derive from conceptualisations within Psychology, Linguistics, and Computer Science. In a study, our framework was found to significantly improve the performance of postgraduate students at identifying the context of the user and application, and the usability issues that arise

ACon: A learning-based approach to deal with uncertainty in contextual requirements at runtime

Context: Runtime uncertainty such as unpredictable operational environment and failure of sensors that gather environmental data is a well-known challenge for adaptive systems. Objective: To execute requirements that depend on context correctly, the system needs up-to-date knowledge about the context relevant to such requirements. Techniques to cope with uncertainty in contextual requirements are currently underrepresented. In this paper we present ACon (Adaptation of Contextual requirements), a data-mining approach to deal with runtime uncertainty affecting contextual requirements. Method: ACon uses feedback loops to maintain up-to-date knowledge about contextual requirements based on current context information in which contextual requirements are valid at runtime. Upon detecting that contextual requirements are affected by runtime uncertainty, ACon analyses and mines contextual data, to (re-)operationalize context and therefore update the information about contextual requirements. Results: We evaluate ACon in an empirical study of an activity scheduling system used by a crew of 4 rowers in a wild and unpredictable environment using a complex monitoring infrastructure. Our study focused on evaluating the data mining part of ACon and analysed the sensor data collected onboard from 46 sensors and 90,748 measurements per sensor. Conclusion: ACon is an important step in dealing with uncertainty affecting contextual requirements at runtime while considering end-user interaction. ACon supports systems in analysing the environment to adapt contextual requirements and complements existing requirements monitoring approaches by keeping the requirements monitoring specification up-to-date. Consequently, it avoids manual analysis that is usually costly in today’s complex system environments.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft