Investigation of System of Criteria within Selection Processes for ERP Systems

The application and introduction of ERP systems have become a central issue for management and operation of enterprises. The competition on market enforces the improvement and optimization of business processes at enterprises to increase their efficiency, effectiveness, and to manage better the resources outside of the company. The primary task of ERP systems is to achieve the before-mentioned objectives. For this reason the selection of a particular ERP system has a decisive effect on the future operation and profitability of the enterprise, i.e. the selection phase is highly relevant step within the introduction and implementation stage of an ERP system. The issues that are worth investigating are the criteria applied at the decision. The qualitative correlation between the size of enterprises, market position, etc. and the applied selection criteria for ERP systems could be analyzed as to whether which criteria are made use of at multinational enterprises or at SMEs. Our research is grounded in a literature review and case studies of everyday practice related to introduction, implementation and roll-out of ERP systems and it tries to provide answers for the above raised questions

The Emerging Internet of Things Marketplace From an Industrial Perspective: A Survey

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a dynamic global information network consisting of internet-connected objects, such as Radio-frequency identification (RFIDs), sensors, actuators, as well as other instruments and smart appliances that are becoming an integral component of the future internet. Over the last decade, we have seen a large number of the IoT solutions developed by start-ups, small and medium enterprises, large corporations, academic research institutes (such as universities), and private and public research organisations making their way into the market. In this paper, we survey over one hundred IoT smart solutions in the marketplace and examine them closely in order to identify the technologies used, functionalities, and applications. More importantly, we identify the trends, opportunities and open challenges in the industry-based the IoT solutions. Based on the application domain, we classify and discuss these solutions under five different categories: smart wearable, smart home, smart, city, smart environment, and smart enterprise. This survey is intended to serve as a guideline and conceptual framework for future research in the IoT and to motivate and inspire further developments. It also provides a systematic exploration of existing research and suggests a number of potentially significant research directions.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing 201

Live-Migration in Cloud Computing Environment

O tráfego global de IP aumentou cinco vezes nos últimos cinco anos, e prevê-se que crescerá três vezes nos próximos cinco. Já para o período de 2013 a 2018, anteviu-se que o total do tráfego de IP iria aumentar a sua taxa composta de crescimento anual (CAGR) em, aproximadamente, 3.9 vezes. Assim, os Prestadores de Serviços estão a sofrer com este acréscimo exponencial, que é proveniente do número abismal de dispositivos e utilizadores que estão ligados à Internet, bem como das suas exigências por vários recursos e serviços de rede (como por exemplo, distribuição de conteúdo multimédia, segurança, mobilidade, etc.). Mais especificamente, estes estão com dificuldades em: introduzir novos serviços geradores de receitas; e otimizar e adaptar as suas infraestruturas mais caras, centros de processamento de dados, e redes empresariais e de longa distância (COMpuTIN, 2015). Estas redes continuam a ter sérios problemas (no que toca a agilidade, gestão, mobilidade e no tempo despendido para se adaptarem), que não foram corrigidos até ao momento. Portanto, foram propostos novos modelos de Virtualização de Funções da Rede (NFV) e tecnologias de Redes de Software Definidos (SDN) para solucionar gastos operacionais e de capital não otimizado, e limitações das redes (Lopez, 2014, Hakiri and Berthou, 2015). Para se ultrapassar tais adversidades, o Instituto Europeu de Normas de Telecomunicações (ETSI) e outras organizações propuseram novas arquiteturas de rede. De acordo com o ETSI, a NFV é uma técnica emergente e poderosa, com grande aplicabilidade, e com o objetivo de transformar a maneira como os operadores desenham as redes. Isto é alcançado pela evolução da tecnologia padrão de virtualização TI, de forma a consolidar vários tipos de equipamentos de redes como: servidores de grande volume, routers, switches e armazenamento (Xilouris et al., 2014). Nesta dissertação, foram usadas as soluções mais atuais de SDN e NFV, de forma a produzir um caso de uso que possa solucionar o crescimento do tráfego de rede e a excedência da sua capacidade máxima. Para o desenvolvimento e avalização da solução, foi instalada a plataforma de computação na nuvem OpenStack, de modo a implementar, gerir e testar um caso de uso de Live Migration.Global IP traffic has increased fivefold over the past five years, and will continue increasing threefold over the next five years. The overall IP traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) nearly 3.9-fold from 2013 to 2018. Service Providers are experiencing the exponential growth of IP traffic that comes from the incredible increased number of devices and users who are connected to the internet along with their demands for various resources and network services like multimedia content distribution, security, mobility and else. Therefore, Service Providers are finding difficult to introduce new revenue generating services, optimize and adapt their expensive infrastructures, data centers, wide-area networks and enterprise networks (COMpuTIN, 2015). The networks continue to have serious known problems, such as, agility, manageability, mobility and time-to-application that have not been successfully addressed so far. Thus, novel Network Function Virtualization (NFV) models and Software-defined Networking (SDN) technologies have been proposed to solve the non-optimal capital and operational expenditures and network’s limitations (Lopez, 2014, Hakiri and Berthou, 2015). In order to solve these issues, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and other standard organizations are proposing new network architecture approaches. According to ETSI, The Network Functions Virtualization is a powerful emerging technique with widespread applicability, aiming to transform the way that network operators design networks by evolving standard IT virtualization technology to consolidate many network equipment types: high volume servers, routers, switches and storage (Xilouris et al., 2014). In this thesis, the current Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) solutions were used in order to make a use case that can address the increasing of network traffic and exceeding its maximum capacity. To develop and evaluate the solution, OpenStack cloud computing platform was installed in order to deploy, manage and test a Live-Migration use-case

Improving Cloud Governance by Increasing Observability

Rise in popularity of Cloud computing has introduced new challenges for IT-governance. The multitude of different services and possible configurations Cloud providers offer can make it hard to get a comprehensive overview of the environment. To successfully govern an organisations Cloud environment it is important to be able to easily make accurate and reliable observations of the environments state, security, and changes to the configurations. This thesis takes a look into the research literature to find out what kinds of risks have been identified in governing the Cloud environment and ways to mitigate them. One of the latest advancements in improving the Cloud governance is the introduction of automated formal reasoning tools for configuration analysis. One customer case where multiple vendors are building services on multiple cloud accounts is used as an example. Architecture for application, security, and audit log collection, indexing, and monitoring is described. Special attention is given to the identity and access management requirements. The thesis concludes with the assessment of the selected approach and tools and services used to implement it. Some alternative solutions, possible improvements, and further development to the implementation are considered

Increasing the business potential of companies by ensuring continuity of the development of their information systems by current information technologies

This paper deals with applications of information and communication technologies in the management of companies and institutions. It also focuses on Competitive Intelligence and Business Intelligence and the description of their position in business management. The paper presents current trends in information and communication technologies with emphasis on the use of virtualization and Cloud Computing technologies. The author discusses the importance of Cloud Computing to maintain the continuity of information system of enterprises with low financial impact, thereby increasing its stability. Theoretical framework and literature support the assumption that information and communication technologies are essential for the competitiveness of small and mediumsized enterprises. Discussed are factors that affect management and use of information and communication technologies in small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular the use of cloud computing. Based on the results obtained from a questionnaire survey carried out in the Czech Republic, the author proposed methodological recommendations to facilitate the transition to cloud computing

Construction Management Initial Construction Preparation

The process of planning and managing a construction project is of the utmost importance to ensure the success of the project. This allows the managers of the project to monitor the compliance of deadlines and budget, to try and mitigate or reduce any possible deviations that might occur due to unforeseen circumstances. Although there are already solutions in the market, which were the target of a market study, many are still lacking key functionalities, or could be improved. This is what motivated this project, and as such this project will focus on developing a solution with state-of-the-art technologies that focuses on providing its users the best user experience possible, while also providing all the tools necessary to plan and manage a construction project. The contents of this document follow a logical sequence. Starting with an introduction to the problem, its objectives and the approach used. Following, is an analysis where the problem is contextualized, and a market study is also performed with the goal of identifying and detailing the opportunity. Next, in this document is included the process of analyzing the business to identify all the requirements for the solution as well as a discussion of possible design alternatives for the implementation of the solution and the chosen approach. Lastly, the implementation of the designed solution is detailed and evaluated to assess whether the main objective was achieved. By the end of this project, the system was implemented and evaluated, and scored high regarding its quality, had a good user acceptance, even without all the requirements present. This outcome was the result of a continuous iterative process and transparency with the stakeholdersO processo de planeamento e gestão de um projeto de uma construção é de extrema importância para garantir o sucesso do projeto. Isto permite que os gestores do projeto acompanhem o cumprimento de prazos e orçamento, para tentar mitigar ou reduzir eventuais desvios que possam ocorrer devido a circunstâncias imprevistas. Apesar de já existirem soluções no mercado, que foram alvo de um estudo de mercado, muitas ainda carecem de funcionalidades chave, ou podem ser melhoradas. Foi isto que motivou este projeto, e como tal este projeto irá focar-se no desenvolvimento de uma solução com tecnologias de ponta que foca em proporcionar aos seus utilizadores a melhor experiência de utilizador possível e, ao mesmo tempo, disponibilizar todas as ferramentas necessárias para planear e gerir um projeto de construção. O conteúdo deste documento segue uma sequência lógica. Começando com uma introdução ao problema, seus objetivos e a abordagem utilizada. A seguir, é feita uma análise onde o problema é contextualizado, e também é realizado um estudo de mercado com o objetivo de identificar e detalhar a oportunidade. Em seguida, neste documento está incluído o processo de análise do negócio para identificar todos os requisitos para a solução, bem como uma discussão de possíveis alternativas de design para a implementação da solução e a abordagem escolhida de entre as alternativas. Por fim, a implementação da solução desenhada é detalhada e, por fim, a solução desenvolvida é avaliada para quantificar sua qualidade. No final deste projeto, a solução desenhada foi desenvolvida e avaliada, e pontuou bastante alto quanto à sua qualidade, teve uma boa aceitação dos utilizadores, mesmo sem todos os requisitos presentes. A solução desenvolvida é intuitiva e fácil de usar e , mesmo com alguns dos requisitos em falta, motiva os utilizadores a trocar as ferramentas atuais, tendo assim atingido o objetivo que se propôs alcançar. Este resultado foi fruto de um processo iterativo contínuo e da transparência total com as partes interessada

Cloud Cost Optimization: A Comprehensive Review of Strategies and Case Studies

Cloud computing has revolutionized the way organizations manage their IT infrastructure, but it has also introduced new challenges, such as managing cloud costs. This paper explores various techniques for cloud cost optimization, including cloud pricing, analysis, and strategies for resource allocation. Real-world case studies of these techniques are presented, along with a discussion of their effectiveness and key takeaways. The analysis conducted in this paper reveals that organizations can achieve significant cost savings by adopting cloud cost optimization techniques. Additionally, future research directions are proposed to advance the state of the art in this important field

Cloud computing contribution to manufacturing industry

Manufacturing industry has been always facing challenge to improve the production efficiency, product quality, innovation ability and struggling to adopt cost-effective manufacturing system. In recent years cloud computing is emerging as one of the major enablers for the manufacturing industry. Combining the emerged cloud computing and other advanced manufacturing technologies such as Internet of Things, service-oriented architecture (SOA), networked manufacturing (NM) and manufacturing grid (MGrid), with existing manufacturing models and enterprise information technologies, a new paradigm called cloud manufacturing is proposed by the recent literature. This study presents concepts and ideas of cloud computing and cloud manufacturing. The concept, architecture, core enabling technologies, and typical characteristics of cloud manufacturing are discussed, as well as the difference and relationship between cloud computing and cloud manufacturing. The research is based on mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, and a case study. The case is a prototype of cloud manufacturing solution, which is software platform cooperated by ATR Soft Oy and SW Company China office. This study tries to understand the practical impacts and challenges that are derived from cloud manufacturing. The main conclusion of this study is that cloud manufacturing is an approach to achieve the transformation from traditional production-oriented manufacturing to next generation service-oriented manufacturing. Many manufacturing enterprises are already using a form of cloud computing in their existing network infrastructure to increase flexibility of its supply chain, reduce resources consumption, the study finds out the shift from cloud computing to cloud manufacturing is feasible. Meanwhile, the study points out the related theory, methodology and application of cloud manufacturing system are far from maturity, it is still an open field where many new technologies need to be studied.siirretty Doriast

Cost Optimization Through Unifying Multi-Cloud Resources

The goal of this project is to create a multi-cloud web interface that provides users with the cheapest resource provisioning options from Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. The user can choose between predefined allocations based on workloads or specify a custom amount of resources needed. In addition, our application handles deployments to respective cloud providers. By handling the end-to-end functionality of finding cloud resources and managing deployments, the user is able to optimize costs from multiple providers