To Host a Legacy System to the Web

The dramatic improvements in global interconectivity due to intranets, extranets and the Internet has led to many enterprises to consider migrating legacy systems to a web based systems. While data remapping is relatively straightforward in most cases, greater challenges lie in adapting legacy application software. This research effort describes an experiment in which a legacy system is migrated to a web-client/server environment. First, this thesis reports on the difficulties and issues arising when porting a legacy system International Invoice (IIMM) to a web-client/server environment. Next, this research analyzes the underlying issues, and offer cautionary guidance to future migrators and finally this research effort builds a prototype of the legacy system on a web client/server environment that demonstrates effective strategies to deal with these issues

A conceptual model for megaprogramming

Megaprogramming is component-based software engineering and life-cycle management. Magaprogramming and its relationship to other research initiatives (common prototyping system/common prototyping language, domain specific software architectures, and software understanding) are analyzed. The desirable attributes of megaprogramming software components are identified and a software development model and resulting prototype megaprogramming system (library interconnection language extended by annotated Ada) are described

Database recovery

Recovery techniques are an important aspect of database systems. They are essential to ensure that data integrity is maintained after any type of failure occurs. The recovery mechanism must be designed so that the availability and performance of the system are not unacceptably impacted by the recovery algorithms running during normal execution. On the other hand, enough information must be stored so that the database can be restored or transactions backed out in a reasonable amount of time. Concepts, techniques, and problems associated with database recovery will be presented in this thesis. The recovery issues for both centralized and distributed systems will be discussed, along with the tradeoffs of different recovery tools. The database recovery schemes in IMS/VS, DB2 and SDD-1 will be described to show approaches in existing systems

Skills supply strategy in large high technology organisations

This thesis pursued three objectives: (1) to identify policies and practices which are related to the retention of professionals and managers with critical skills; (2) to document why and how these policies and practices have changed in relation to the business strategy; and (3) to assess whether the organisation's skill supply patterns constitute a strategy, that is, explicit, consistent and coordinated efforts supporting the business strategy. Guided by a contextual theoretical framework and methodology, the researcher undertook a pilot stuay of two Canadian high technology firms, and followed with three case studies of large UK-based high technology organisations with an R&D Division. The findings indicated the importance of hard benefits (compensation) as a necessary condition for recruitment and retention, and the complementary impact of twelve soft benefits (job characteristics and other factors tied to the work, organisational and social environments) with special relevance for retention. Lifetime employment as a policy and as the dominant skills supply pattern proved to be resistant to change. The HRM context (comprising the history of the organisation, managerial and professional cultures, the personnel function, and workforce planning) was found to inhibit skill initiatives, but certain features became less negative over time. In particular, the cumulative effect of recruitment of new skills over several years altered the internal labour market such that many employees supported new ways of doing business. Skills were found to be solidly embedded in the work and social organisation, and high levels of energy were required to modify the organisation-wide skillbase. Both single lever and multiple lever SKISSs were identified. b1iddle managers proved to be potential key actors in obtaining skill advantages for the entire R&D Division. Top management paid attention to skill issues under extreme circumstances such as a shift from the public to private sector, and a change of mission. The thesis leads to a number of policy recommendations and avenues for future research

Large-scale computing systems study

abstract: The State of Arizona has made great advances in the use of technology to improve and enhance the efficiency, effectiveness and timeliness of those processes which are critical to the management of information technologies

Drei Studien zu Analyse und Management von Online-Konsumentenverhalten

Over the last two decades, the Internet has fundamentally changed the ways firms and consumers interact. The ongoing evolution of the Internet-enabled market environment entails new challenges for marketing research and practice, including the emergence of innovative business models, a proliferation of marketing channels, and an unknown wealth of data. This dissertation addresses these issues in three individual essays. Study 1 focuses on business models offering services for free, which have become increasingly prevalent in the online sector. Offering services for free raises new questions for service providers as well as marketing researchers: How do customers of free e-services contribute value without paying? What are the nature and dynamics of nonmonetary value contributions by nonpaying customers? Based on a literature review and depth interviews with senior executives of free e-service providers, Study 1 presents a comprehensive overview of nonmonetary value contributions in the free e-service sector, including not only word of mouth, co-production, and network effects but also attention and data as two new dimensions, which have been disregarded in marketing research. By putting their findings in the context of existing literature on customer value and customer engagement, the authors do not only shed light on the complex processes of value creation in the emerging e-service industry but also advance marketing and service research in general. Studies 2 and 3 investigate the analysis of online multichannel consumer behavior in times of big data. Firms can choose from a plethora of channels to reach consumers on the Internet, such that consumers often use a number of different channels along the customer journey. While the unprecedented availability of individual-level data enables new insights into multichannel consumer behavior, it also makes high demands on the efficiency and scalability of research approaches. Study 2 addresses the challenge of attributing credit to different channels along the customer journey. Because advertisers often do not know to what degree each channel actually contributes to their marketing success, this attribution challenge is of great managerial interest, yet academic approaches to it have not found wide application in practice. To increase practical acceptance, Study 2 introduces a graph-based framework to analyze multichannel online customer path data as first- and higher-order Markov walks. According to a comprehensive set of criteria for attribution models, embracing both scientific rigor and practical applicability, four model variations are evaluated on four, large, real-world data sets from different industries. Results indicate substantial differences to existing heuristics such as “last click wins” and demonstrate that insights into channel effectiveness cannot be generalized from single data sets. The proposed framework offers support to practitioners by facilitating objective budget allocation and improving team decisions and allows for future applications such as real-time bidding. Study 3 investigates how channel usage along the customer journey facilitates inferences on underlying purchase decision processes. To handle increasing complexity and sparse data in online multichannel environments, the author presents a new categorization of online channels and tests the approach on two large clickstream data sets using a proportional hazard model with time-varying covariates. By categorizing channels along the dimensions of contact origin and branded versus generic usage, Study 3 finds meaningful interaction effects between contacts across channel types, corresponding to the theory of choice sets. Including interactions based on the proposed categorization significantly improves model fit and outperforms alternative specifications. The results will help retailers gain a better understanding of customers’ decision-making progress in an online multichannel environment and help them develop individualized targeting approaches for real-time bidding. Using a variety of methods including qualitative interviews, Markov graphs, and survival models, this dissertation does not only advance knowledge on analyzing and managing online consumer behavior but also adds new perspectives to marketing and service research in general.Das Internet hat die Interaktion zwischen Unternehmen und Kunden grundlegend verändert. Die Etablierung eines interfähigen Marktumfelds bringt neuartige Herausforderungen für Marketingforschung und -praxis mit sich. Dazu zählt die Entstehung von innovativen Geschäftsmodellen ebenso wie eine Vervielfachung der verfügbaren Marketingkanäle und eine bislang unbekannte Fülle an Daten. Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht diese Herausforderungen in drei unabhängigen Studien

Conceptualizing an omnichannel approach for social marketing under the assumptions of the transtheoretical model of change

Background: Digital technologies are important touchpoints to stimulate marketing audiences. In the field of social marketing, digital marketing is considered important, but has been mainly used to raise awareness of social causes. Focus of the Article: This paper considers the conceptualization of a model to conduct the conversion of behavior change, using both offline and digital marketing techniques. Research Question: The paper seeks to investigate existing research on how digital marketing concepts can be integrated into a social marketing strategy. Approach: The proposed conceptual model follows the process of the stages of change and considers the theoretical social marketing frameworks, applying the assumptions of citizens’ journey and the use of adequate digital and physical touchpoints to convert behavior. Importance to the Social Marketing Field: The model offers theoretical advances for social marketing, going beyond the stage of raising awareness of social causes in social networks, and integrates the assumptions of an omnichannel strategy for social marketing interventions focused on behavior change conversion. Methods: The paper follows the benchmark method of theories to build a conceptual model. Results: The Omnichannel Social Marketing Model Through Stages of Change presents adequate digital and physical marketing techniques for the different stages of the social change process. Recommendations for Research or Practice: The model can be used in future research to measure the effectiveness of social marketing, considering the inclusion of digital technologies and marketing techniques in social marketing strategy. The model also guides social marketing managers in using both digital and offline marketing techniques in an integrated and strategic manner for effective and long-term conversion of change. Future research can apply the model to social marketing cases to generalize its application. Limitations: The conceptual model is designed in a bottom-up approach, based on the literature review.FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(UIDB/04647/2020