Scenarios for the development of smart grids in the UK: literature review

Smart grids are expected to play a central role in any transition to a low-carbon energy future, and much research is currently underway on practically every area of smart grids. However, it is evident that even basic aspects such as theoretical and operational definitions, are yet to be agreed upon and be clearly defined. Some aspects (efficient management of supply, including intermittent supply, two-way communication between the producer and user of electricity, use of IT technology to respond to and manage demand, and ensuring safe and secure electricity distribution) are more commonly accepted than others (such as smart meters) in defining what comprises a smart grid. It is clear that smart grid developments enjoy political and financial support both at UK and EU levels, and from the majority of related industries. The reasons for this vary and include the hope that smart grids will facilitate the achievement of carbon reduction targets, create new employment opportunities, and reduce costs relevant to energy generation (fewer power stations) and distribution (fewer losses and better stability). However, smart grid development depends on additional factors, beyond the energy industry. These relate to issues of public acceptability of relevant technologies and associated risks (e.g. data safety, privacy, cyber security), pricing, competition, and regulation; implying the involvement of a wide range of players such as the industry, regulators and consumers. The above constitute a complex set of variables and actors, and interactions between them. In order to best explore ways of possible deployment of smart grids, the use of scenarios is most adequate, as they can incorporate several parameters and variables into a coherent storyline. Scenarios have been previously used in the context of smart grids, but have traditionally focused on factors such as economic growth or policy evolution. Important additional socio-technical aspects of smart grids emerge from the literature review in this report and therefore need to be incorporated in our scenarios. These can be grouped into four (interlinked) main categories: supply side aspects, demand side aspects, policy and regulation, and technical aspects.

Designing a Framework for Exchanging Partial Sets of BIM Information on a Cloud-Based Service

The rationale behind this research study was based on the recognised difficulty of exchanging data at element or object level due to the inefficiencies of compatible hardware and software. Interoperability depicts the need to pass data between applications, allowing multiple types of experts and applications to contribute to the work at hand. The only way that software file exchanges between two applications can produce consistent data and change management results for large projects is through a building model repository. The overall aim of this thesis was to design and develop an integrated process that would advance key decisions at an early design stage through faster information exchanges during collaborative work. In the construction industry, Building Information Modeling is the most integrated shared model between all disciplines. It is based on a manufacturing-like process where standardised deliverables are used throughout the life cycle with effective collaboration as its main driving force. However, the dilemma is how to share these properties of BIM applications on one single platform asynchronously. Cloud Computing is a centralized heterogeneous network that enables different applications to be connected to each other. The methodology used in the research was based on triangulation of data which incorporated many techniques featuring a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results identified the need to re-engineer Simplified Markup Language, in order to exchange partial data sets of intelligent object architecture on an integrated platform. The designed and tested prototype produced findings that enhanced project decisions at a relatively early design stage, improved communication and collaboration techniques and cross disciple co-ordination

Shipbuilding 4.0 Index Approaching Supply Chain

The shipbuilding industry shows a special interest in adapting to the changes proposed by the industry 4.0. This article bets on the development of an index that indicates the current situation considering that supply chain is a key factor in any type of change, and at the same time it serves as a control tool in the implementation of improvements. The proposed indices provide a first definition of the paradigm or paradigms that best fit the supply chain in order to improve its sustainability and a second definition, regarding the key enabling technologies for Industry 4.0. The values obtained put shipbuilding on the road to industry 4.0 while suggesting categorized planning of technologies

Cloud Computing Implementation Organizational Success in the Department of Defense

The DoD tends to implement user based IT systems without quantifying whether those systems would be properly utilized by the target populous. Focus is generally emphasized on mission enhancement rather than looking at how or if it will be utilized by organizations. There would appear to be no reason for cloud computing to be implemented with the same disregard for acceptance and success. The day of large amounts of data is here and needs to converge with what this thesis investigates, the factors that positively influence organization acceptance and success of cloud computing specifically in the DoD so that is can properly maintain, utilize and store that data. This research focused in depth on that utilization

RISK FACTORS OF ENTERPRISE INTERNAL CONTROL: GOVERNANCE REFERS TO INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT) ENVIRONMENT

This study aims to investigate enterprise risk factors for governing the risk of Internet of Things (IoT) environment. Under the guidance of Gowin’s Vee knowledge map strategy, this study reviewed the related literature and used Delphi expert questionnaire to construct and revise the defined risk factors. Two rounds of expert survey were conducted. A total of 24 experts from the fields of information technology, audit management, and risk management were selected to conduct the questionnaire survey. Eighty-three question items were obtained and categorized into various types of risk factors including environment, process, decision-making, operation, authority, data processing and information, moral, and finance. These factors were categorized according to the consistent opinion of experts. Program SPSS 12.0 was adopted to analyze feedback information from expert questionnaire by conducting statistical analyses and validity testing. All risk factors were integrated and designed carefully, supplemented by verification through statistical value of mean, inter-quartile range, and content validity ratio (CVR). The results of this research can be used as reference in the study of risk factors under IoT governance, and to enhance the development of knowledge on qualitative research. Further, in the new generation of IoT governance practice, the related factors of enterprise risk management can be regarded as key measurement items in internal control and auditing

Customer Relationship Management in a Public Cloud environment – Key influencing factors for European enterprises

Customer Relationship Management is crucial influencing factor for competitiveness in saturated markets. Public cloud-computing services for customer-relationship management provide many benefits. However, their usage in Europe is reluctant. Our research identifies several core and sub-influence factors and reveals how strong they are. Enterprises strive for covering risks in terms of safety and security. Further important influencing factors are functional completeness and integration into the existing environment. Our research provides new knowledge of the use of public cloud services in general and in particular for the use of customer relationship in a public cloud environment

What attracts vehicle consumers’ buying:A Saaty scale-based VIKOR (SSC-VIKOR) approach from after-sales textual perspective?

Purpose: The increasingly booming e-commerce development has stimulated vehicle consumers to express individual reviews through online forum. The purpose of this paper is to probe into the vehicle consumer consumption behavior and make recommendations for potential consumers from textual comments viewpoint. Design/methodology/approach: A big data analytic-based approach is designed to discover vehicle consumer consumption behavior from online perspective. To reduce subjectivity of expert-based approaches, a parallel Naïve Bayes approach is designed to analyze the sentiment analysis, and the Saaty scale-based (SSC) scoring rule is employed to obtain specific sentimental value of attribute class, contributing to the multi-grade sentiment classification. To achieve the intelligent recommendation for potential vehicle customers, a novel SSC-VIKOR approach is developed to prioritize vehicle brand candidates from a big data analytical viewpoint. Findings: The big data analytics argue that “cost-effectiveness” characteristic is the most important factor that vehicle consumers care, and the data mining results enable automakers to better understand consumer consumption behavior. Research limitations/implications: The case study illustrates the effectiveness of the integrated method, contributing to much more precise operations management on marketing strategy, quality improvement and intelligent recommendation. Originality/value: Researches of consumer consumption behavior are usually based on survey-based methods, and mostly previous studies about comments analysis focus on binary analysis. The hybrid SSC-VIKOR approach is developed to fill the gap from the big data perspective

WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT CRITERIA FOR CLOUD SERVICE PROVIDER SELECTION? A DELPHI STUDY

Selecting an appropriate cloud service provider (CSP) is one of the most important challenges affecting sourcing performance. Although cloud computing (CC) relies on the principle of information technology outsourcing (ITO), it remains unclear if selection criteria for ITO provider hold true. Hence, the purpose of this research is to identify the most important criteria for the selection of cloud service providers (CSP). We do this by conducting a Delphi study which includes 16 cloud service decision makers across different cloud service models, company sizes, and industry types. Our results show consensus on CSP selection criteria and identify functionality, legal compliance, contract, geolocation of servers, and flex-ibility as top five CSP selection criteria. From a theoretical perspective, we demonstrate that results from ITO research hold true for CC research as differences in delivery model and arrangement between ITO and CC will be considered. Practitioners like CSP and cloud decision makers get guidance from our findings to conduct optimal cloud service investments. This is the first study which provides a com-prehensive view on relevant criteria for CSP selection

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

The Effects of Computer Crimes on the Management of Disaster Recovery

The effects of a technology disaster on an organization can include a prolonged disruption, loss of reputation, monetary damages, and the inability to remain in business. Although much is known about disaster recovery and business continuance, not much research has been produced on how businesses can leverage other technology frameworks to assist information technology disaster recovery. The problem was the lack of organizational knowledge to recover from computer crime interruptions given the maturity level of existing disaster recovery programs. The purpose of this Delphi study was to understand how disaster recovery controls and processes can be modified to improve response to a computer crime caused business interruption. The overarching research question in this study was to understand what factors emerge relative to the ability of disaster recovery programs to respond to disasters caused by computer crimes. The conceptual framework included a maturity model to look at how programs might be improved to respond to the computer crimes threat. Research data were collected from a 3 round Delphi study of 22 disaster recovery experts in the fields of disaster recovery and information security. Results from the Delphi encompass a consensus by the panel. Key findings included the need for planning for cyber security, aligning disaster recovery with cyber security, providing cyber security training for managers and staff, and applying lessons learned from experience. Implications for positive social change include the ability for organizations to return to an acceptable level of operation and continue their service benefiting employees, customers, and other stakeholders