The characteristics of railway service disruption: implications for disruption management

Rail disruption management is central to operational continuity and customer satisfaction. Disruption is not a unitary phenomenon - it varies by time, cause, location and complexity of coordination. Effective, user-centred technology for rail disruption must reflect this variety. A repertory grid study was conducted to elicit disruption characteristics. Construct elicitation with a group of experts (n=7) captured 26 characteristics relevant to rail disruption. A larger group of operational staff (n=28) rated 10 types of rail incident against the 26 characteristics. The results revealed distinctions such as business impact and public perception, and the importance of management of the disruption over initial detection. There were clear differences between those events that stop the traffic, as opposed to those that only slow the traffic. The results also demonstrate the utility of repertory grid for capturing the characteristics of complex work domains

Intelligent monitoring of the health and performance of distribution automation

With a move to 'smarter' distribution networks through an increase in distribution automation and active network management, the volume of monitoring data available to engineers also increases. It can be onerous to interpret such data to produce meaningful information about the health and performance of automation and control equipment. Moreover, indicators of incipient failure may have to be tracked over several hours or days. This paper discusses some of the data analysis challenges inherent in assessing the health and performance of distribution automation based on available monitoring data. A rule-based expert system approach is proposed to provide decision support for engineers regarding the condition of these components. Implementation of such a system using a complex event processing system shell, to remove the manual task of tracking alarms over a number of days, is discussed

Inter-organizational fault management: Functional and organizational core aspects of management architectures

Outsourcing -- successful, and sometimes painful -- has become one of the hottest topics in IT service management discussions over the past decade. IT services are outsourced to external service provider in order to reduce the effort required for and overhead of delivering these services within the own organization. More recently also IT services providers themselves started to either outsource service parts or to deliver those services in a non-hierarchical cooperation with other providers. Splitting a service into several service parts is a non-trivial task as they have to be implemented, operated, and maintained by different providers. One key aspect of such inter-organizational cooperation is fault management, because it is crucial to locate and solve problems, which reduce the quality of service, quickly and reliably. In this article we present the results of a thorough use case based requirements analysis for an architecture for inter-organizational fault management (ioFMA). Furthermore, a concept of the organizational respective functional model of the ioFMA is given.Comment: International Journal of Computer Networks & Communications (IJCNC

Expert perceptions of game-changing innovations towards net zero

Current technological improvements are yet to put the world on track to net-zero, which will require the uptake of transformative low-carbon innovations to supplement mitigation efforts. However, the role of such innovations is not yet fully understood; some of these ‘miracles’ are considered indispensable to Paris Agreement-compliant mitigation, but their limitations, availability, and potential remain a source of debate. We evaluate such potentially game-changing innovations from the experts' perspective, aiming to support the design of realistic decarbonisation scenarios and better-informed net-zero policy strategies. In a worldwide survey, 260 climate and energy experts assessed transformative innovations against their mitigation potential, at-scale availability and/or widescale adoption, and risk of delayed diffusion. Hierarchical clustering and multi-criteria decision-making revealed differences in perceptions of core technological innovations, with next-generation energy storage, alternative building materials, iron-ore electrolysis, and hydrogen in steelmaking emerging as top priorities. Instead, technologies highly represented in well-below-2°C scenarios seemingly feature considerable and impactful delays, hinting at the need to re-evaluate their role in future pathways. Experts' assessments appear to converge more on the potential role of other disruptive innovations, including lifestyle shifts and alternative economic models, indicating the importance of scenarios including non-technological and demand-side innovations. To provide insights for expert elicitation processes, we finally note caveats related to the level of representativeness among the 260 engaged experts, the level of their expertise that may have varied across the examined innovations, and the potential for subjective interpretation to which the employed linguistic scales may be prone to

Knowledge-based platform for the provisioning system

The study examined the effectiveness and application of the tacit knowledge in the area of service delivery and order provisioning. The selected organization for this study is a corporate telecommunication body namely Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) and their specific customer called Government Integrated Telecommunication Network (GITN). The study was conducted on the chosen domain and organizations due to the special business arrangement which is based on wholesale approach between TM and GITN. It is noted that the current Order Management System (OMS) in TM is inefficient to provide the required analysis and real-time status reports of the service delivery due to its poor handling of bulk service orders. The real-time analysis and service delivery reports in relation to service provisioning are vital drivers to TM management for the decision making process. It is the key objective of this study to propose a solution to improve TM current business process particularly in the area of tracking and monitoring. The approach proposed in this study is to make use of the tacit knowledge acquired from the experts at ground level. In the process of leveraging the underlying tacit knowledge in TM day-to-day business process, the study requires the process of elicitation, adoption of effective interview technique, codification of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge and building up appropriate system rules for the prototype. In general, the results have shown an acceptable improvement especially in the project management of service delivery area. The findings of this study are sufficient to encourage further work on the research model. Several recommendations are presented for future research. (Author's abstract

Towards a Performance Measurement Framework for Community Development Finance Institutions in the UK

Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) are publicly funded organisations that provide small loans to people in financially underserved areas of the UK. Policy makers have repeatedly sought to understand and measure the performance of CDFIs to ensure the efficient use of public funds, but have struggled to identify an appropriate way of doing so. In this article, we empirically derive a framework which measures the performance of CDFIs through an analysis of their stakeholder relationships. Based on qualitative data from 20 English CDFIs, we develop a typology of CDFIs according to three dimensions: organisational structure, type of lending, and type of market served. Following on from this, we derive several propositions that consider how these dimensions relate to the financial and social performance of CDFIs, and provide the basis for a performance measurement framework.Community Development Finance, Performance Measurement, Stakeholder Theory

Requirements Engineering

Requirements Engineering (RE) aims to ensure that systems meet the needs of their stakeholders including users, sponsors, and customers. Often consid- ered as one of the earliest activities in software engineering, it has developed into a set of activities that touch almost every step of the software development process. In this chapter, we reflect on how the need for RE was first recognised and how its foundational concepts were developed. We present the seminal papers on four main activities of the RE process, namely (i) elicitation, (ii) modelling & analysis, (iii) as- surance, and (iv) management & evolution. We also discuss some current research challenges in the area, including security requirements engineering as well as RE for mobile and ubiquitous computing. Finally, we identify some open challenges and research gaps that require further exploration

An Empirical Assessment of User Perceptions of Feature versus Application Level Usage

Users often use application software because of particular features. However, little remains known on whether user perceptions of application use is merely feature-driven or whether users perceive their application use as being more than an amalgamation of features. As the software industry ushers trends such as Web services, it becomes evermore important for vendors and users alike to clarify how users perceive features and applications. The paper is an attempt to confirm whether users can perceptively unbundle application software features from the overall applications themselves. Using a modified version of the repertory grid technique, this study investigates user perceptions of application features using data collected from users in the design and development departments across five firms. The results suggest that user perceptions of overall applications overshadow their perceptions of independent features, suggesting application-level lock-in effects and pointing out the difficulty in vendor attempts to unbundle features from feature categories and applications. The study closes with a discussion of the findings and offering cues for future research

A framework for managing global risk factors affecting construction cost performance

Poor cost performance of construction projects has been a major concern for both contractors and clients. The effective management of risk is thus critical to the success of any construction project and the importance of risk management has grown as projects have become more complex and competition has increased. Contractors have traditionally used financial mark-ups to cover the risk associated with construction projects but as competition increases and margins have become tighter they can no longer rely on this strategy and must improve their ability to manage risk. Furthermore, the construction industry has witnessed significant changes particularly in procurement methods with clients allocating greater risks to contractors. Evidence shows that there is a gap between existing risk management techniques and tools, mainly built on normative statistical decision theory, and their practical application by construction contractors. The main reason behind the lack of use is that risk decision making within construction organisations is heavily based upon experience, intuition and judgement and not on mathematical models. This thesis presents a model for managing global risk factors affecting construction cost performance of construction projects. The model has been developed using behavioural decision approach, fuzzy logic technology, and Artificial Intelligence technology. The methodology adopted to conduct the research involved a thorough literature survey on risk management, informal and formal discussions with construction practitioners to assess the extent of the problem, a questionnaire survey to evaluate the importance of global risk factors and, finally, repertory grid interviews aimed at eliciting relevant knowledge. There are several approaches to categorising risks permeating construction projects. This research groups risks into three main categories, namely organisation-specific, global and Acts of God. It focuses on global risk factors because they are ill-defined, less understood by contractors and difficult to model, assess and manage although they have huge impact on cost performance. Generally, contractors, especially in developing countries, have insufficient experience and knowledge to manage them effectively. The research identified the following groups of global risk factors as having significant impact on cost performance: estimator related, project related, fraudulent practices related, competition related, construction related, economy related and political related factors. The model was tested for validity through a panel of validators (experts) and crosssectional cases studies, and the general conclusion was that it could provide valuable assistance in the management of global risk factors since it is effective, efficient, flexible and user-friendly. The findings stress the need to depart from traditional approaches and to explore new directions in order to equip contractors with effective risk management tools

A risk management system for healthcare facilities service operators

The 24-hour post-modern society in which the NHS delivers healthcare today in the UK as a business has resulted in purchasers and providers of non clinical/FM services continuing to face more and more service delivery and operational risks (Payne and Rees, 1999). These business risks are mainly caused by uncertainties in customer supply and demand service chain, limited support resources (human, capital, modern healthcare facilities and information technology) and the dynamic NHS service scape (environment). This has resulted in non clinical service decisions being reached in an ad-hoc manner and often with no effective business strategy. Furthermore, this approach has led to disastrous business planning and caring consequences, particularly in a highly politicised and consumer-sensitive environment like healthcare service provision (Wagstaff, 1997). These risks are also mainly attributed to the apparent lack of best practice guidelines that are available to assist FM service operators in identifying and managing non-clinical service operations effectively. In addition, there is evidence from NHS literature that clearly indicates the lack of best practice models for managing business risks associated with hotel, estates and site (non-clinical/FM) services delivery (Okoroh et al., 2000; DoH, 1999; CFM, 1993; Smith, 1997; Featherstone, 1999; HFN 17,1998). To date, no research has been carried out in the NHS using FM service operators' (domain experts) knowledge to develop an integrated risk management system for managing non-clinical services using modern business approaches. This thesis presents research findings from healthcare executives and FM experts on business risks faced by service operators (purchasers and providers) when managing non- clinical services effectively in the UK NHS. The research methodology used were, a detailed analysis of a best practice hospital case study, structured interviews with domain healthcare FM experts, pilot and major questionnaire surveys and Repertory Grid interviews. The research has established that in managing non clinical/FM services in the NHS, there are seven major common management-related risk classes identified as critical; customer care; financial and economic; commercial; legal; facility-transmitted; business transfer and corporate. Further research using second factor analysis established that these classical non-clinical risk factors could further be subdivided into forty-eight (48) constructs/sub-attributes highly rated by healthcare facilities executives. Using these risks factors and sub-attributes the research has developed a decision support system for risk management that can be used by FM operators to manage business risks in NHS trust hospitals