Using Intelligent Agents to Manage Business Processes

This paper describes work undertaken in the ADEPT (Advanced Decision Environment for Process Tasks) project towards developing an agent-based infrastructure for managing business processes. We describe how the key technology of negotiating, service providing, autonomous agents was realised and demonstrate how this was applied to the BT business process of providing a customer quote for network services

On social function: new language for discussing technology for social action

Designers of technology for social action can often become embroiled in issues of platform and technical functionality at a very early stage in the development process, before the precise social value of an approach has been explored. The loyalty of designers to particular technologies and to ways of working can divide activist communities and, arguably, has weakened the social action world’s performance in exploiting technology with maximum usefulness and usability. In this paper, we present a lexicon for discussing technology and social action by reference to the intention and relationship to use, rather than to detailed functionality. In short, we offer a language to support discussions of social function, and thus to avoid premature commitment or argument about architecture or implementation details.</p

Project Management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (also referred to as Industry 4.0) is driven by a massive utilization of new technologies, such as robots, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Quantum Computing and Quantum Communications, replacing humans by machines in certain tasks or the development of new or more efficient tasks. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is originating huge modifications in society and organizations. Human adaptation to the new paradigm is required, as it will have a high impact on jobs and on the required skills

Exploring The Antecedents Of Successful E-business Implementations Through ERP : A Longitudinal Study of SAP-based Organisations 1999-2003

This research was carried out between 1999 and 2003 on the use of e-business applications in ERP-based organisations. A composite research method based on structured case studies was developed for this study. It combined the application of case methods by Carroll et al. (1998], Klein and Myer (1998), and Eisenhardt (1989). This was used to provide a focused, yet flexible structure, as a dynamic approach to case study interpretive research. The research method used three distinct models at three progressive stages of the study, to provide a multi-faceted view of each case. This composite case-based method was developed to maintain the balance between research rigour and relevance. A pilot case study of nine Australian SAP sites helped ground the theory of the study. This was followed by three stages of study of eleven international cases within a diverse industry context. The method revealed the antecedents of e-business success using the findings from case analyses against three separate research models B2B interaction, e-business change, and virtual organising. A final conceptual framework was developed as new theory of e-business transformation. The theory views e-business transformation as realising the benefits from virtual organising within complex B2B interactions by utilising the facilitators of successful e-business change. The research demonstrates that successful e-business transformation with ERP occurs when value propositions are realised through integration and differentiation of technologies used to support new business models to deliver products and services online. The associated management practice evolves through efficiency from self-service, effectiveness through empowerment towards customer care, and value enhancement from extensive relationship building with multiple alliances. The new theory of e-business transformation identifies the stages of e-business growth and development as a comprehensive plan that should assist managers of ERP-based organisations in migrating their company towards a successful e-business organisation. The detailed analysis of the findings offers a foundational per11pectlve of strategies, tactics and performance objectives for e-ERP implementations. The strength of the theory lies in the synthesis of multiple case analyses using three different lenses over three separate time periods. The triangulation of the three research frameworks provides a method for study at appropriate levels of complexity. It is evolutionary in nature and is content driven. Other researchers are urged to apply similar multi-viewed analysis

Service Supply Chain Design by Using Agent-Based Simulation

Supply chain management is an important function in the service delivery. It comprises of physical materials and tools needed as well as intangible operational parts. The process of designing service supply chains is a task combining the aspects of customer-server interaction, resourcing, and service delivery. Operational and structure-related decisions are evaluated by using key performance indicators. Agent-based modelling (ABM) offers a possibility to simulate the behaviour of such system. Customers and servers can be modelled as agents obeying rules and operating in a common world. Interactions and events may occur based on agent type, geographic location, or past events. ABM approach can answer what-if questions or test the limit conditions of a designed delivery system.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Passionate and proactive: the role of the secondary principal in leading curriculum change.

It is widely recognised that the leadership of school principals is a crucial factor in school-based curriculum change. With the recent introduction of a new national curriculum in New Zealand, schools will need to develop strategies to incorporate this new curriculum into their programmes. This paper outlines evidence from international literature about how the leadership of principals is linked to change. It also examines evidence from case studies of early adopter schools. A major finding is that there appear to be common factors at work across effective secondary school principals, in particular an enthusiasm for proactive leadership of changes in school culture involving fundamental shifts in thinking and behaviour

Student-centred schools make the difference

The primary focus of this review is on how school leaders can develop and sustain a student-centred philosophy at all levels within their schools in order to increase the quality of education for all students. The authors draw on research literature from Australia and internationally to examine the impact that student-centred education can have on student outcomes, particularly for those students in disadvantaged contexts. The review initially explores the concept of student-centred schools and how this notion is nested within a range of theoretical and philosophical constructs. The authors draw from research into student-centred pedagogy, learner-centred education, student-centred teaching and learning, and student-centred/ learner-centred leadership to provide a description of a student-centred school. They then consider models of leading student-centred schools, drawing from AITSL’s Australian Professional Standard for Principals and looking at the large-scale student-centred reforms in Ontario, Canada. The authors use Viviane Robinson’s five dimensions of school leadership that impact on student outcomes: 1) Establishing goals and expectations, 2) Resourcing strategically, 3) Ensuring quality teaching, 4) Leading teacher learning and development, and 5) Ensuring a safe and orderly environment.&nbsp; They then extend this framework to include three additional dimensions of student-centred schooling that emerged from the literature: a) Working with the wider community, b) Ethical Leadership, and c) Student voice. This report offers a critical review of literature to address the hypothesis that student-centred schools make the difference

Explorations of knowledge management in a defence engineering environment

This thesis originates from first hand early experiences of the researcher regarding current processes and practices in operation in BAE SYSTEMS Ltd (now referred to hereafter as `the Company'), and recognises the potential for improvement within the realm of knowledge management. The huge volume of internal and external information overwhelms the majority of organisations and knowledge management provides solutions to enable organisations to be effective, efficient, and competitive. The software agent approach and information retrieval technique indicates great potential for effectively managing information. This research seeks to answer the questions of whether software agents can provide the Company with solutions to the knowledge management issues identified in this inquiry and whether they can also be used elsewhere within the organisation to improve other aspects of the business. The research analysis shows that software agents offer a wide applicability across the Company; can be created with relative ease and can provide benefits by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of processes. Findings also provided valuable insight into human-computer-interface design and usability aspects of software agent applications. The research deals with these questions using action research in order to develop a collaborative change mechanism within the Company and a practical applicability of the research findings in situ. Using a pluralistic methodology the findings provide a combination of the subjective and objective views intermittently within the research cycles thereby giving the researchera more holistic view of this research. Little attention has been paid to integrating software agent technologies into the knowledge management processes.This research proposes a software agent application that incorporates: (1) Co-ordination of software agents for information retrieval to manage information gathering, filtering, and dissemination; (2) To promote effective interpretation of information and more efficient processes;(3) Building accurate search profiles weighted on pre-defined criteria; (4) Integrating and organising a Company resource management knowledge-base; (5) Ensuring that the right information gets to the right personnel at the right time; and (6) So the Company can effectively assign the right experts to the right roles within the Company