Identifying Challenges in BRM Implementations Regarding the Verification and Validation Capabilities at Governmental Institutions

Since an increasing amount of business rules management solutions are utilized, organizations search for guidance to design such solutions. As the amount of BRMS-implementations increase, the amount of implementation challenges experienced in practice increase as well. Therefore, it is of importance to gain insights into these implementation challenges which can help guide future implementations of BRMS. Smit, Zoet and Versendaal (2017) described the challenges regarding elicitation, design and specification of business decisions and business logic; in this study, we identify the main challenges regarding 1) the verification and 2) validation of business decisions and business logic in the Dutch governmental context. Building on the collection and the analysis of two three-round focus groups and two three-round Delphi studies we report on the 17 challenges experienced by the participants. The presented results provide a grounded basis from which empirical and practical research on best practices can be further explored

Identifying Challenges in Business Rules Management Implementations regarding the Elicitation, Design, and Specification Capabilities at Dutch Governmental Institutions

Proper decision making represent one of an organization’s most important capabilities. To manage decisions and underlying business rules, an increasing number of organizations have begun to use business rules management (BRM). However, given BRM research’s and practice’s nascence, we need to more deeply understand the challenges in implementing BRM capabilities. As such, from collecting and analyzing two three-round focus groups and two three-round Delphi studies, we identified 28 main challenges that five Dutch governmental institutions experienced in eliciting, designing, and specifying business rules. We also discuss directions for future research

Identifying Challenges in Business Rules Management Implementations Regarding the Governance Capability at Governmental Institutions

As the number of BRMS-implementations increases, more and more organizations search for guidance to design such solutions. Given these premises, more implementation challenges experienced from practice become evident. In this study, we identify the main challenges regarding the governance capability as part of BRM, in the Dutch governmental context. To be able to do so, we utilized a four-round focus group and a three-round Delphi study set-up to collect our data. The analysis resulted in eight implementation challenges experienced by the participants. The presented results provide a grounded basis from which empirical and practical research on best practices can be further explored

Responsible AI and Power: Investigating the System Level Bureaucrat in the Legal Planning Process

Numerous statements and pamphlets indicate that governments should increase the transparency of ICT-implementations and algorithms in eGovernment services and should encourage democratic control. This paper presents research among civil servants, suppliers and experts who play a role in the automation of spatial policymaking and planning (e.g. environment, building, sound and CO2 regulation, mobility). The case is a major digitalisation programme of that spatial planning in the Netherlands. In this digital transition, the research assumption is that public and political values such as transparency, legitimacy and (perceived) fairness are difficult to validate in the practice of the design process; policy makers tend to lose sight of the algorithms and decision trees designed during the ICT -implementation of eGovernment services. This situation would implicate a power shift towards the system level bureaucrat. i.e., the digitized execution of laws and regulations, thereby threatening democratic control. This also sets the stage for anxiety towards ICT projects and digital bureaucracies. We have investigated perceptions about ‘validation dark spots’ in the design process of the national planning platform that create unintended shifts in decision power in the context of the legal planning process. To identify these validation dark spots, 22 stakeholders were interviewed. The results partially confirm the assumption. Based on the collected data, nine validation dark spots are identified that require more attention and research

Business Rules Management and Decision Mining - Filling in the Gaps

Proper decision-making is one of the most important capabilities of an organization. Adequately managing these decisions is therefore of high importance. Business Rules Management (BRM) is an approach that helps in managing decisions and underlying business logic. However, questions still arise if the decisions are properly improved based on decision data. Decision Mining (DM) could complement BRM capabilities in order to improve towards effective and efficient decision-making. In this study, we propose the integration of BRM and DM through a simulation using a government and a healthcare case. During this simulation, three entry points are presented that describe how decision-related data should be utilized between BRM capabilities and DM phases to be able to integrate them. The presented results provide a basis from which more technical research on the three DM phases can be further explored

The Decision Transparency Framework: A framework and key transparency indicators to measure the business decisions and business logic transparency

Business decisions and business logic are an important part of an organization’s daily activities. In the not so near past they were modelled as integrative part of business processes, however, during the last years, they are managed as a separate entity. Still, decisions and underlying business logic often remain a black box. Therefore, the call for transparency increases. Current theory does not provide a measurable and quantitative way to measure transparency for business decisions. This paper extends the understanding of different views on transparency with regards to business decisions and underlying business logic and presents a framework including Key Transparency Indicators (KTI) to measure the transparency of business decisions and business logic. The framework is validated by means of an experiment using case study data. Results show that the framework and KTI’s are useful to measure transparency. Further research will focus on further refinement of the measurements as well as further validation of the current measurement

Comparing Enterprise Architecture Frameworks – A Case Study at the Estonian Rescue Board

Igal organisatsioonil on strateegilised eesmärgid, mida ta soovib saavutada. Ilma tervikliku arhitektuurita, mis kombineerib kõik erinevad elemendid - äriprotsessid, infosüsteemid, andmevood ja platvormid -, ei saa olla kindel, kas või kuidas viivad investeeringud eemärkide täitmisele. Kuna ühegi Eesti riigiasutuse kohta ei ole teadaolevalt selleteemalist uurimust tehtud, valiti selles magistritöös juhtumiuuringu näiteks Päästeamet. Magistritöös antakse esmalt süstemaatiline ülevaade erialasest kirjandusest eesmärgiga leida sobivad organisatsiooni arhitektuuri raamistikud ning kriteeriumid raamistike võrdleva analüüsi läbiviimiseks ja edasiseks hindamiseks Päästeameti näitel. Valitud allikate põhjal vastatakse uurimisküsimustele. See aitas tuvastada seitse ettevõtte arhitektuuri raamistikku, mida hinnati ja jättis alles kolm raamistikku edasiseks rakendamiseks: The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), The Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Seejärel modelleeritakse juhtumiuuringus erinevaid raamistikke kasutades detailselt 2-3 teenust ning viiakse kirjanduse ülevaates kirjeldatud kriteeriumite abil läbi hindamine ja arutelu Päästeameti töötajatega. Juhtumiuuring ja kohapealne kohtumine päästeametis seadsid ettevõtte organisatsioonide arendamiseks organisatsiooni arhitektuuri raamistikud jaoks kõige olulisemad kaks peamist asjaolu: organiseerida arhitektuur seisukohtadesse, mis on organisatsiooni infoküsimuste struktuuri alamhulk ja mõista, kuidas organisatsiooni eesmärgid on toetatud. Töö tulemus on heaks aluseks organisatsiooni arhitektuuri edasisele arendamisele Päästeametis ja teistes Eesti riigiasutustes.Every organisation has strategic goals it wants to achieve, and if it does not have an architecture combining all different elements such as business processes, enabling information systems, data flows and platforms, it will not be sure which investments will lead to achieving which objectives. Since there has not been any research like this performed for Estonian Government Organisations, the Estonian Rescue Board is taken as an example for conducting a case study. A systematic literature review is performed, for identifying Enterprise Architecture Frameworks, criteria for performing a comparative analysis of the framework as well as for the further evaluation at the Estonian Rescue Board. The identified final papers are analysed in order to answer the Research Questions (RQ). This helped to identify seven Enterprise Architecture Frameworks, which were evaluated and left only three frameworks for further implementation: The Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF), The Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework (FEAF), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). In the case study, the selected frameworks are modelled, showing 2 or 3 services in details, with further evaluation and discussion of them during the meeting at the Rescue Board, following the criteria, which are described in the literature review. Case study and on-site meeting at the Rescue Board set two main things to be the most vital while developing Enterprise Architecture Framework in the organisation: organising architecture into views that are subsets of the organisation information architecture and understanding how the goals in the organisation are supported. This can be a good backbone for further developing Enterprise Architecture in the Rescue Board, and other Estonian Government Organisations in general

Relationship Between Corporate Governance and Information Security Governance Effectiveness in United States Corporations

Cyber attackers targeting large corporations achieved a high perimeter penetration success rate during 2013, resulting in many corporations incurring financial losses. Corporate information technology leaders have a fiduciary responsibility to implement information security domain processes that effectually address the challenges for preventing and deterring information security breaches. Grounded in corporate governance theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between strategic alignment, resource management, risk management, value delivery, performance measurement implementations, and information security governance (ISG) effectiveness in United States-based corporations. Surveys were used to collect data from 95 strategic and tactical leaders of the 500 largest for-profit United States headquartered corporations. The results of the multiple linear regression indicated the model was able to significantly predict ISG effectiveness, F(5, 89) = 3.08, p = 0.01, R² = 0.15. Strategic alignment was the only statistically significant (t = 2.401, p \u3c= 0.018) predictor. The implications for positive social change include the potential to constructively understand the correlates of ISG effectiveness, thus increasing the propensity for consumer trust and reducing consumers' costs

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation

The 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES) was held on November 2-6, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. There were 327 delegates from 22 countries. The program included 12 long papers, 15 short papers, 33 posters, 3 demos, 6 workshops, 3 tutorials and 5 panels, as well as several interactive sessions and a Digital Preservation Showcase