Contingent Information Systems Development

Situated approaches based on project contingencies are becoming more and more an important research topic for information systems development organizations. The Information Services Organization, which was investigated, has recognized that it should tune its systems development approaches to the specific situation. A model has been developed, dealing with the matching between prevailing contingency factors and the preconditions of already existing situated approaches. Furthermore, a generic process model for systems development, including the information systems operations stage, is proposed. This model makes it possible to derive from it specific systems development strategies. A number of basic development strategies, specific for the Information Services Organization, are described. Preconditions, specific for this organization, are added to the standard situated approaches

Information System Development With Comparison of Waterfall and Prototyping Models

The System Development Life Cycyle or better know as SDLC is the most commonly used method for developing information systems. SDLC consist of several stages, which include palanning, analysis, design, implementation, to maintenance. The concept in the SDLC underlies various types of software development to form a framework for planning and controlling the manufacture of information systems. SDLC models that are often used inlcude waterfall and prototyping. Thus, the comparison of the two models states that the waterfall model is more suitable for generic systems or software, meaning that the systems can identify all its needs form the start with general specification

Generic Information Systems Design Strategies

Legacy systems are now recognised as a major problem in the design and implementation of information systems to support new business strategies and novel business processes. Information Systems (IS) research into the strategic applications of the technology typically focuses on the alignment of business and IS strategies. However it does not explicitly consider the impact of legacy information systems and their impact on new systems design strategies. Similarly the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) literature assumes a green-field site and does not prescribe strategies for overcoming problems associated with the existing systems and business practices. In this paper the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) approach is compared with other generic strategic options. The results suggest that although ERP projects are inherently riskier than less radical approaches the potential benefits are much higher, and the resulting systems provide a platform for longer-term development

Multi-Lane Perception Using Feature Fusion Based on GraphSLAM

An extensive, precise and robust recognition and modeling of the environment is a key factor for next generations of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and development of autonomous vehicles. In this paper, a real-time approach for the perception of multiple lanes on highways is proposed. Lane markings detected by camera systems and observations of other traffic participants provide the input data for the algorithm. The information is accumulated and fused using GraphSLAM and the result constitutes the basis for a multilane clothoid model. To allow incorporation of additional information sources, input data is processed in a generic format. Evaluation of the method is performed by comparing real data, collected with an experimental vehicle on highways, to a ground truth map. The results show that ego and adjacent lanes are robustly detected with high quality up to a distance of 120 m. In comparison to serial lane detection, an increase in the detection range of the ego lane and a continuous perception of neighboring lanes is achieved. The method can potentially be utilized for the longitudinal and lateral control of self-driving vehicles

The Generic Spacecraft Analyst Assistant (GenSAA): A tool for automating spacecraft monitoring with expert systems

Flight Operations Analysts (FOAs) in the Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) are responsible for monitoring a satellite's health and safety. As satellites become more complex and data rates increase, FOAs are quickly approaching a level of information saturation. The FOAs in the spacecraft control center for the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite are currently using a fault isolation expert system named the Communications Link Expert Assistance Resource (CLEAR), to assist in isolating and correcting communications link faults. Due to the success of CLEAR and several other systems in the control center domain, many other monitoring and fault isolation expert systems will likely be developed to support control center operations during the early 1990s. To facilitate the development of these systems, a project was initiated to develop a domain specific tool, named the Generic Spacecraft Analyst Assistant (GenSAA). GenSAA will enable spacecraft analysts to easily build simple real-time expert systems that perform spacecraft monitoring and fault isolation functions. Lessons learned during the development of several expert systems at Goddard, thereby establishing the foundation of GenSAA's objectives and offering insights in how problems may be avoided in future project, are described. This is followed by a description of the capabilities, architecture, and usage of GenSAA along with a discussion of its application to future NASA missions

Generification by Translation: Designing Generic Systems in Context of the Local

While the mechanisms of generification during implementation and use of large-scale systems are well known, this paper extends and analyzes the notion into the design phase of generic systems and provides insight into the associated socio-technical key mechanisms at play. The paper draws on the information infrastructure literature, and emphasizes how generic systems’ designs always face infrastructural challenges and opportunities in the development process. The paper illustrates how a vendor solved the infrastructural challenges by (to a large degree) lending on local practice, translating perspectives, and carefully adjusting their design strategy over time. We argue that our findings have implications for practice because they underscore the malleability of the collaboration process between vendor and users. First, we suggest that designing a generic system calls for a flexible vendor willing to change and adjust the development strategy along with the evolving project. Second, to strengthen the user-developer collaboration, we highly recommend giving the user-participants, at the very early stage of a development project, a basic understanding of software design, and raising their skills in making precise contextual narratives. Third, we emphasize the importance of the project management’s engagement in recruiting clinical personnel and in making it possible for the clinicians to participate in the project. Empirically, the paper presents the initial stages of a large electronic patient record (EPR) development project that has been running from 2012 in the North Norwegian health region and is due to finish in 2016

The design and evaluation of non-visual information systems for blind users

This research was motivated by the sudden increase of hypermedia information (such as that found on CD-ROMs and on the World Wide Web), which was not initially accessible to blind people, although offered significant advantages over traditional braille and audiotape information. Existing non-visual information systems for blind people had very different designs and functionality, but none of them provided what was required according to user requirements studies: an easy-to-use non-visual interface to hypermedia material with a range of input devices for blind students. Furthermore, there was no single suitable design and evaluation methodology which could be used for the development of non-visual information systems. The aims of this research were therefore: (1) to develop a generic, iterative design and evaluation methodology consisting of a number of techniques suitable for formative evaluation of non-visual interfaces; (2) to explore non-visual interaction possibilities for a multimodal hypermedia browser for blind students based on user requirements; and (3) to apply the evaluation methodology to non-visual information systems at different stages of their development. The methodology developed and recommended consists of a range of complementary design and evaluation techniques, and successfully allowed the systematic development of prototype non-visual interfaces for blind users by identifying usability problems and developing solutions. Three prototype interfaces are described: the design and evaluation of two versions of a hypermedia browser; and an evaluation of a digital talking book. Recommendations made from the evaluations for an effective non-visual interface include the provision of a consistent multimodal interface, non-speech sounds for information and feedback, a range of simple and consistent commands for reading, navigation, orientation and output control, and support features. This research will inform developers of similar systems for blind users, and in addition, the methodology and design ideas are considered sufficiently generic, but also sufficiently detailed, that the findings could be applied successfully to the development of non-visual interfaces of any type

Risk Management in Financial Information Systems using Bayesian Networks

During the last 20 years many technological advances have inundated the entire spectrum of our everyday lives. None of these advances has had such an impact like the IT revolution which can only compare with the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century. The advent and acceptance of Information Technology as the norm rather the exception has seen this sector move from a tedious and cumbersome manually managed and run sector, to an almost paperless industry that is almost entirely dependent on Information Systems. With the growth of the dependency on IT, the impact of risk concerns on the development and exploitation of information systems has also increased exponentially. Within the financial services industry, risk management involves assessing and quantifying business risks, then taking measures to control or reduce them. These methods are generally built around a well structured process. However, the product coming from the different risk management steps is still largely informal, and often not analytical enough. This lack of formality hinders the automation of the management of risk-related information. Furthermore, these risk management system focuses on specific phases of the software life cycle, without recognizing that risks in one stage can have an impact on other stages. This necessitates the proposed study in order to propose a generic approach that may be deployed to mitigate risks from the early stages of financial information systems development for daily financial institution operations until the post-implementation phases. This paper proposes a new approach for performing a risk analysis study of financial information systems. It is aimed at developing a generic approach for Risk Analysis and Management applicable from the early phases of information system development unlike in the existing models which are applied after the development process. It can be utilized for identifying and valuating the assets, threats, and vulnerabilities of the information system, followed by a graphical modeling of their interrelationships using Bayesian Networks. The proposed approach will exploit the results of the risk analysis for developing a Bayesian Network model, which presents concisely all the interactions of the undesirable events for the system. Based on “what–if” studies of system operation, the Bayesian Network model identifies and prioritizes the most critical events. Keywords: Riks, risk management, Bayesian Network mode