Towards a Data Governance Framework for Third Generation Platforms

The fourth industrial revolution considers data as a business asset and therefore this is placed as a central element of the software architecture (data as a service) that will support the horizontal and vertical digitalization of industrial processes. The large volume of data that the environment generates, its heterogeneity and complexity, as well as its reuse for later processes (e.g. analytics, IA) requires the adoption of policies, directives and standards for its right governance. Furthermore, the issues related to the use of resources in the cloud computing must be taken into account with the aim of meeting the requirements of performance and security of the different processes. This article, in the absence of frameworks adapted to this new architecture, proposes an initial schema for developing an effective data governance programme for third generation platforms, that means, a conceptual tool which guides organizations to define, design, develop and deploy services aligned with its vision and business goals in I4.0 era.This work is partially funded by Spanish Government through the research project TIN2017-86520-C3-3-R

A utilização de mecanismos de governança da informação contábil no contexto organizacional

O contexto digital pressiona as organizações a encontrarem formas eficientes de lidarem com o volume crescente de dados e o impacto de novas tecnologias. Na contabilidade, os cuidados com os ativos de informação são imperativos, tendo em vista o seu papel em fornecer informações úteis a diferentes usuários. Os dados contábeis utilizados nas diversas técnicas relacionadas à função contábil são altamente dependentes de uma sólida gestão da informação. Nesse sentido, a Governança da Informação (GovInfo) apresenta-se como uma área de pesquisa favorável para a contabilidade, pois considera um conjunto de práticas (mecanismos), que vão desde o estabelecimento de políticas e direitos decisórios até procedimentos específicos sobre a gestão dos dados e informações. Porém, a forma com que as empresas implementam e utilizam os mecanismos de Governança da Informação (MecGovInfo) é pouco explorada. Tais lacunas acentuam-se ao considerar mecanismos e estruturas de governança efetivos e específicos para o gerenciamento das informações contábeis. Os MecGovInfo promovem benefícios no desempenho das empresas, tornando necessário compreender como esses efeitos intermediários afetam os resultados estratégicos dos negócios. Ainda, o aprimoramento da GovInfo nas organizações é vinculado a análises em relação aos custos transacionais que as organizações incorrem. Considerando esses aspectos, a presente tese tem como objetivo geral caracterizar a utilização dos mecanismos de governança da informação contábil no contexto das organizações. Para o desfecho desse objetivo, esta tese foi estruturada em três artigos que buscam: 1) Analisar quais Mecanismos de Governança da Informação Contábil contribuem para a obtenção de benefícios e efeitos intermediários no desempenho das empresas; 2) Apresentar como a literatura de Governança da Informação reporta as características dos Mecanismos de Governança da Informação e quais elementos são potenciais para uso na área contábil; e 3) Analisar a utilização dos Mecanismos de Governança da Informação Contábil no contexto organizacional. De modo geral, os resultados evidenciam a associação de alguns grupos de itens exploratórios de MecGovInfoCont com benefícios que afetam o desempenho das empresas, ressaltando a necessidade de maior aprofundamento de tais práticas nas organizações. Por conseguinte, um amplo conjunto de características de MecGovInfo abrangentes e suas principais abordagens são apresentados, além de elementos potencialmente úteis para uso na contabilidade. Essas evidências permitiram a obtenção de detalhamentos práticos de iniciativas que formalizam a execução da GovInfoCont em empresas de grande porte, destacando sua influência na diminuição de custos transacionais e na ampliação das formas de processamento de dados contábeis. Os achados da pesquisa podem solucionar diversos obstáculos na geração, na coleta e no processamento de dados contábeis, beneficiando o planejamento, o controle e a tomada de decisão nas organizações.The digital context puts pressure on organizations to find efficient ways of dealing with the growing volume of data and the new technologies impact. In accounting, care for information assets is imperative, given their role in providing useful information to different users. The accounting data used in the various techniques related to the accounting function are highly dependent on solid information management. In this sense, Information Governance presents itself as a favorable research area for accounting, as it considers a practices (mechanisms) set, ranging from the policies establishment and decision-making rights to specific procedures on the data and information management. However, the way in which companies implement and use Information Governance mechanisms is little explored. Such gaps are accentuated when considering effective and specific governance mechanisms and structures for managing accounting information. Information Governance mechanisms promote benefits in company performance, making it necessary to understand how these intermediate effects affect strategic business results. Furthermore, the Information Governance improvement in organizations is linked to analyzes in relation to the transactional costs that organizations incur. Considering these aspects, the general objective of this thesis is to characterize the accounting information governance mechanisms usage in the organizations context. To achieve this objective, this thesis was structured into three articles that seek to: 1) Analyze which Accounting Information Governance Mechanisms contribute to obtaining benefits and intermediate effects on company performance; 2) Present how the Information Governance literature reports the characteristics of Information Governance Mechanisms and which elements are potential for use in the accounting area; and 3) Analyze the Accounting Information Governance Mechanisms usage in the organizational context. In general, the results show some groups association of exploratory items from Accounting Information Governance Mechanisms with benefits that affect company performance, highlighting the need for greater depth of such practices in organizations. Consequently, a broad set of comprehensive Information Governance mechanisms characteristics and their main approaches are presented, in addition to potentially useful elements for use in accounting. This evidence allowed us to obtain practical details of initiatives that formalize the execution of Accounting Information Governance in large companies, highlighting its influence on reducing transactional costs and expanding the ways of processing accounting data. The research findings can solve several obstacles in the generation, collection and processing of accounting data, benefiting planning, control and decision-making in organizations

Eliciting Metrics for Accountability of Cloud Systems

Abstract Cloud computing provides enormous business opportunities, but at the same time is a complex and challenging paradigm. The major concerns for users adopting the cloud are the loss of control over their data and the lack of transparency. Providing accountability to cloud systems could foster trust in the cloud and contribute towards its adoption. Assessing how accountable a cloud provider is becomes then a key issue, not only for demonstrating accountability, but to build it. To this end, we need techniques to measure the factors that influence on accountability. In this paper, we provide a methodology to elicit metrics for accountability in the cloud, which consists of three different stages. Since the nature of accountability attributes is very abstract and complex, in a first stage we perform a conceptual analysis of the accountability attributes in order to decompose them into concrete practices and mechanisms. Then, we analyze relevant control frameworks designed to guide the implementation of security and privacy mechanisms, and use them to identify measurable factors, related to the practices and mechanisms defined earlier. Lastly, specific metrics for these factors are derived. We also provide some strategies that we consider relevant for the empirical validation of the elicited accountability metrics