Eliciting And Connecting Information Requirements: A Study Of Brokering Situations In Data Warehouse Development

Information management and logistics rely on underlying data warehouse (DWH) systems. The development of DWHs brings together different communities of practice. In this paper, we concentrate on the role of DWH professionals as a brokering community in DWH development projects. We argue that each time they engage in brokering activities towards neighboring communities of practice, representatives from these communities take brokering roles as well. As a result, a so-called brokering situation resides within the social structure, which builds a brokering community. To closer observe the roles of DWH professionals within these brokering situations, we conducted in-depth interviews with experienced DWH professionals. Based on the analysis, we argue that the selection of the community’s representatives with experience in neighboring communities can improve brokering situations. Objects exchanged between communities of practice during brokering situations can have either positive or negative effects, depending on their capacity and the type of complexity on the boundary

The Role of Brokering Situations in Data Warehouse Development: Creating Knowledge Fit with Brokers and Boundary Objects

Due to their complex nature, data warehouse (DWH) development projects often fail or significantly exceed budgets. Prior literature has revealed that achieving common understanding in the requirements elicitation phase is a key factor for the successful knowledge transfer and overall success of information systems (IS) development. To closer observe these phenomena, we conducted in-depth interviews with participants of several DWH projects. We propose the concept of \u27brokering situations\u27 to examine social interactions between project stakeholders and we analyze multiple brokering situations in reported DWH projects. Brokering situations help to understand the time-dependent development of brokers, the boundary objects, and their relations with regard to knowledge transfer. We augment Carlile’s (2004) classification of the boundary objects according to boundary complexity and development time. We discovered that in case of a low knowledge fit between project participants, involvement of a \u27knowledgeable\u27 broker seems important

THE ROLE OF BOUNDARY OBJECTS AND BOUNDARY SPANNING IN DATA WAREHOUSING – A RESEARCH-IN-PROGRESS REPORT

Data warehouse projects bring together different communities of practice, with the primary objective of producing one body of information which is capable of comparative advantages in business analysis. Due to the number of involved communities and the complexity of their collaboration, data warehouse projects are costly. In this paper we give a closer look at communication problems on boundaries between participating data warehouse projects’ communities. Our analysis enlightens the potential relation between the early creation of language communities of the involved communities and lowering data warehouse project development costs. As today, there is hardly any methodology available for analyzing and aligning mutual understanding between data warehouse project participants. In this paper, we propose a data warehouse development scheme for project improvement based on our discussion as a first step in a design science project

Twenty Years of Boundary Spanning and Brokering in ISD: Implications for the Data Warehouse Domain

Data warehouse (DWH) systems are developed to support the process of decision making. Due to the number of involved communities and the complexity of their collaboration, DWH projects are costly. Nevertheless, despite a growing amount of research on DWH project management, success factors of DWH development projects and so forth, we still lack a thorough understanding of how processes on the borders between participating communities, namely boundary spanning and brokering, influence the DWH development process per se. To our knowledge very few studies and with no extensive research have examined this topic. We therefore conducted literature review of a more general research domain, namely information systems development (ISD). As a result, we found helpful implications for the development of DWHs

A model of the dynamics of organizational communication

We propose a model of the dynamics of organizational communication. Our model specifies the mechanics by which communication impact is fed back to communication inputs and closes the gap between sender and receiver of messages. We draw on language critique, a branch of language philosophy, and derive joint linguistic actions of interlocutors to explain the emergence and adaptation of communication on the group level. The model is framed by Te'eni's cognitive-affective model of organizational communication

Boundary Interactions and Motors of Change in Requirements Elicitation: A Dynamic Perspective on Knowledge Sharing

The building of shared understanding between project stakeholders in the requirements elicitation phase is necessary for knowledge sharing and a key factor for successful information systems (IS) development. However, the processes that lead to shared understanding and successful knowledge sharing are still not well understood. We examine how stakeholders interact and use boundary objects during requirements elicitation in data warehouse development projects. We draw on Carlile’s (2004) framework for managing knowledge across boundaries and introduce the concept of brokering situations. Using the concept of brokering situations, we examine how shared understanding develops and knowledge is shared through the interplay of brokers, their individual knowledge, and boundary objects as well as through the alignment of project participants’ situation models. We contribute to the literature on knowledge sharing and requirements elicitation in three ways: by introducing the concept of brokering situations; by developing a theoretical framework – the boundary interaction framework – that provides an analytical perspective on the dynamics of knowledge sharing in requirements elicitation; and by applying the framework to show that both goal-driven (teleological) and conflict-driven (dialectical) motors of change explain process progress and the changes of brokers as well as boundary objects during the building of shared understanding

Agent fabrication and its implementation for agent-based electronic commerce

In the last decade, agent-based e-commerce has emerged as a potential role for the next generation of e-commerce. How to create agents for e-commerce applications has become a serious consideration in this field. This paper proposes a new scheme named agent fabrication and elaborates its implementation in multi-agent systems based on the SAFER (Secure Agent Fabrication, Evolution & Roaming) architecture. First, a conceptual structure is proposed for software agents carrying out e-commerce activities. Furthermore, agent module suitcase is defined to facilitate agent fabrication. With these definitions and facilities in the SAFER architecture, the formalities of agent fabrication are elaborated. In order to enhance the security of agent-based e-commerce, an infrastructure of agent authorization and authentication is integrated in agent fabrication. Our implementation and prototype applications show that the proposed agent fabrication scheme brings forth a potential solution for creating agents in agent-based e-commerce applications

HR Selection Distortions: A theoretical framework for the Fiji Public Service

Despite being frequently perceived as a pertinent issue necessary to critically examine how incumbents are selected on merit, HR selection distortions is typically illdefined and poorly explained in much debate, hence, more precision in terms of contextualization of practice is needed. Through explaining and synthesizing the work of a number of scholars from different disciplines, the paper develops a theoretical framework for a meta- analysis, which begins with an exploration of the relationship between HR selection, networking and relational ties, employee’s justice perceptions, group heterogeneity and worker performance in Fiji’s public service institutions. The theoretical framework provides the leeway for the research questions to be answerable and the postulated hypotheses testable. However, more needs to be done to explain not only the nature and emergence of HR selection distortions but also the very real problems it faces in sustaining itself, let alone transforming the hiring processes in Fiji’s public service. The value of the paper lies in its theoretical innovation, drawing on a range of disciplines, and its attempt to situate HR selection distortions precisely, conceptually, theoretically, and practically

Creative Placemaking Case Study: Brookland-Edgewood

This case study illustrates how Creative Placemaking, the deliberate integration of arts and culture into comprehensive community development, can serve as a critical catalyst in forming equitable living and working solutions for all the social, economic, and racial constituencies of a neighborhood. It also shows how Creative Placemaking depends on collaboration across several different sectors, each with different goals, mind-sets, work styles, and skills. In the Brookland-Edgewood case, the multi-sector network of stakeholders included a forward-thinking government agency, a visionary nonprofit, a private developer, and the existing residents of a disadvantaged neighborhood

Librarians as Members of Integrated Institutional Information Programs: Management and Organizational Issues

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