Interoperability of Information Systems and Heterogenous Databases Using XML

Interoperabilily of information systerrrs is the most critical issue facing businesse! that need to access information from multiple idormution systems on tlifferent environments ancl diverse platforms. Interoperability has been a basic requirement for the modern information systems in a competitive and volatile business environment, particularly with the advent of distributed network system and the growing relevance of inter-network communications. Our objective in tltis paper is to develop a comprehensiveframework tofacilitate interoperability smong distributed and heterogeneous information systems and to develop prototype software to validate tlte application of XML in interoperability of infurmation systems and databases

Managing Distributed Information Systems Resources in a Globalized Environment

Research on international information systems suggests that alignment between IS service structures and the organizational structure is an important but complex issue. Little empirical work has been done, however, to identify how such alignment might be achieved. This paper reports on the results of a study examining the organizational factors which might be expected to have an impact on the alignment of IS resources in MNCs. Based on previous international research, nineteen factors are proposed and discussed through eight perspectives: organizational context, system owner, system goal, data, people, organizational structure, computer system and organizational environment. Finally, the results and findings of a questionnaire surveyand case studies regarding the structural alignment issues oflS in MNCs are presented. These show that only three of these factors have a strong influence on structural alignment and relate to the internal consistency of the organization rather than the external environment. Anumberofsecondaryfactorsarealsoidentifiedthroughthecaseanalyses. Theauthorssuggestthatmanyofthe proposed factors are based on out-dated principles and further suggest that the challenges of globalization are not fully understood by either practitioners or researchers

Risk Management of Information Systems Development in Distributed Environment

Risk management has been recognized as an effective way to reduce system development failure. Information system development (ISD) is a highly complex and unpredictable activity associated with high risks. With more and more organizations outsource or offshore substantial resources in system development, organizations face up new challenges and risks not common to traditional development models. Classical risk management approaches have relied on tactical, bottom-up analysis, which do not readily scale to distributed environment. Therefore, risk management in distributed environment is becoming a critical area of concern. This paper uses a systemic approach developed by Software Engineering Institute to identify risks of ISD in distributed environment. Four key risk factors were identified from prior literature: objective, preparation, execution, and environment. In addition, the impact of these four risk factors on the success of information system development will also be examined

Towards a Novel Cooperative Logistics Information System Framework

Supply Chains and Logistics have a growing importance in global economy. Supply Chain Information Systems over the world are heterogeneous and each one can both produce and receive massive amounts of structured and unstructured data in real-time, which are usually generated by information systems, connected objects or manually by humans. This heterogeneity is due to Logistics Information Systems components and processes that are developed by different modelling methods and running on many platforms; hence, decision making process is difficult in such multi-actor environment. In this paper we identify some current challenges and integration issues between separately designed Logistics Information Systems (LIS), and we propose a Distributed Cooperative Logistics Platform (DCLP) framework based on NoSQL, which facilitates real-time cooperation between stakeholders and improves decision making process in a multi-actor environment. We included also a case study of Hospital Supply Chain (HSC), and a brief discussion on perspectives and future scope of work

An integrated decision support environment for organisational decision making

Traditional decision support systems are based on the paradigm of a single decision maker working at a stand-alone computer or terminal who has a specific decision to make with a specific goal in mind. Organisational decision support systems aim to support decision makers at all levels of an organisation (from executive, middle management managers to operators), who have a variety of decisions to make, with different priorities, often in a distributed environment. Such systems are designed and developed with extra functionality to meet the challenge. This paper proposes an Integrated Decision Support Environment (IDSE) for organisational decision making. The IDSE is designed and developed based on distributed client/server networking, with a combination of tight and loose integration approaches for information exchange and communication. The prototype of the IDSE demonstrates a good balance between flexibility and reliability

General specifications for the development of a USL/DBMS NASA/PC R and D distributed workstation

The general specifications for the development of a PC-based distributed workstation (PCDWS) for an information storage and retrieval systems environment are defined. This research proposes the development of a PCDWS prototype as part of the University of Southwestern Louisiana Data Base Management System (USL/DBMS) NASA/PC R and D project in the PC-based workstation environment

A Unified Model For Developmental Robotics

We present the architecture and distributed algorithms of an implemented system called NeuSter, that unifies learning, perception and action for autonomous robot control. NeuSter comprises several sub-systems that provide online learning for networks of million neurons on machine clusters. It extracts information from sensors, builds its own representations of the environment in order to learn non-predefined goals

A miniaturized display network for situated glyphs

We demonstrate a novel approach for building situated information systems using wirelessly connected miniaturized displays. These displays are spatially distributed in a physical work environment and present situated glyphs - human-readable abstract graphical signs - to provide activity centric notification and feedback. The demo will showcase how such miniaturized display networks can be used in dynamic workplaces, e.g., a hospital to support complex activities