Modellgetriebene semi-automatische Bereitstellung von analytischen Informationssystemen

Analytische Informationssysteme werden von Organisationen immer häufiger zur Informationsversorgung und Entscheidungsunterstützung eingesetzt. Vielfach werden hierfür Analytische Informationssysteme mit zu Grunde liegender Informationslogistik (IL)-Infrastruktur verwendet. IL-Infrastruktur beschreibt den bei Analytischen Informationssystemen über Insellösungen in Fachabteilungen hinaus gehenden Teil. Hierzu gehören ein integrierter Datenbestand sowie eine Analyse-Sicht z.B. in Form von OLAP-Servern. Notwendige Schritte zur Bereitstellung von IL-Infrastruktur sind mit einem hohen Aufwand verbunden und somit kostenintensiv. In diesem Artikel wird ein Ansatz zur einfacheren Bereitstellung von IL-Infrastruktur vorgestellt. Dies soll erreicht werden, indem Teile generativ erzeugt werden. Hierbei wird eine bedarfsgetriebene Analyse vorausgesetzt. Realisiert werden soll ein Top-Down-Vorgehen, das mittels Domänen-spezifischer Modellierung (DSM) erreicht wird. In diesem Vorgehen sollen Aspekte von IL-Infrastruktur mittels einer Familie von Domänenspezifischen Sprachen (DSL) beschrieben werden. Durch dieses Vorgehen können Experten der jeweiligen Domäne Teile der IL-Infrastruktur entwerfen und erzeugen lassen. Generiert werden u.a. Kennzahlen, multidimensionale Sicht, Ladeprozesse, Sicherheit und auch dynamische Berichte

Architektur eines Open Source BI Systems mit Geo-Erweiterung

In diesem Paper wird die Kombination von einer Open Source BI Lösung mit geo-bezogener Analyse und Visualisierung adressiert. Im Fokus stehen dabei die Architektur des Gesamt-systems sowie die Kommunikation der BI und Geo-Visualisierungsbezogenen Komponenten. Ziel ist es, eine Widget-basierte Architektur als Best-Practice Ansatz vorzustellen und aufzuzei-gen, welche Vorteile diese in der Nutzung bietet. Die Evaluierung des vorgestellten Ansatzes erfolgt in einem Anwendungsfall aus dem Gesundheitswesen

A Business Intelligence Perspective on the Future Internet

Business Intelligence aims at providing decision support based on available information and tailored to the recipient‟s context due to the level of aggregation and form of delivery. The future internet will dramatically broaden both the spectrum of available information and the user‟s possible contexts. Further, we do not only expect a quantitative dart but a qualitative switch which will require the application of new methods and paradigms. This paper‟s aim is to systematically analyse implications of the future internet on Business Intelligence in order to identify possible perspectives, chances and risks for BI and vice versa by summarizing and categorizing current research

THE IMPACT OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE MATURITY MODELS

Maturity level modeling has been a well-established and important stream of IS research. Maturity models have played a significant role in guiding organizational process improvements in many areas. It is therefore surprising that maturity model design and development methodologies have not yet been scrutinized from cross-cultural and international perspectives. In this research, we have prescribed a rigorous approach to identifying, validating and calibrating maturity models constructs for cross-cultural application. We have employed this new methodology in the context of widely accepted business intelligence maturity model that has been initially developed in Germany. Our current effort involves following our proposed methodology to target and calibrate those nationally specific model components that need modification and calibration for application in the US. We report on our progress, and we discuss implications in terms of both findings relevant to culture in IS research, maturity model methodology research and BI maturity model research

Overcoming Semantical Heterogeneity in Multiple Data Warehouse Systems

Der bedarfsorientierte Zugriff auf ein konsolidiertes Berichtswesen stellt für betriebliche Organisationen einen entscheidenden Erfolgsfaktor dar, um einen Informationsvorsprung gegenüber ihren Wettbewerbern erzielen zu können. Data-Warehouse-Systeme (DWH-Systeme) dienen dazu, Entscheidungsträgern die für ihre aktuelle Aufgabe relevanten Informationen rechtzeitig und in geeigneter Form zur Verfügung zu stellen. In der Praxis existieren jedoch multiple DWH-Systeme, die vor allem auf Ebene der Datenschemata sowie der zugrunde liegenden Terminologien eine starke Heterogenität aufweisen. Inkonsistenzen zwischen den generierten Berichten sowie eine divergente Interpretation der Berichtsergebnisse sind die Folge. Der Aufbau eines konsolidierten Berichtswesens ist daher nur mit nachträglichem, manuellem Abstimmungsaufwand möglich. Die vorliegende Arbeit widmet sich insbesondere dem durch multiple DWH-Systeme offerierten Informationsangebot. Mithilfe der im Semantic Web etablierten Technologie Resource Description Framework (RDF) und der Web Ontology Language (OWL) wird ein Rahmen zur semantisch reichhaltigen Beschreibung von DWH-Metadaten geschaffen. Derartig ausgezeichnete Metadaten unterschiedlicher DWH-Systeme werden anschließend in einer semantischen Homogenisierungsschicht (sHGS) zusammengeführt. Mit diesem Hilfsmittel können Beziehungen zwischen multiplen DWH-Systemen identifiziert und deren semantische Heterogenität überwunden werden.The demand-oriented access to consolidated reporting systems represents a critical success factor for operating organisations in order to achieve an informational advantage over their competitors. Data warehouse systems (DWH systems) provide decision-makers with information relevant to their current task in due time and form. In practice, however, a multitude of highly heterogeneous DWH systems exist which particularly vary in terms of applied data schemata and underlying terminologies. Inconsistencies between the generated reports of those systems as well as a diverging interpretation of the report results are therefore immediate consequences. As a result, the construction of a consolidated reporting system inevitably demands additional manual alignment effort. The thesis at hand is especially dedicated to information provided by multiple DWH systems. By means of the technologies of the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL), which are established in the area of the semantic web, a framework is created to describe DWH metadata in a semantically comprehensive way. The metadata of different DWH systems marked in such a way are finally brought together in a semantic level of homogenisation (sHGS). With this tool, semantic relations between multiple DWH systems can be easily identified and their semantic heterogeneity can be overcome

Sistemas de gestão integrados: desenvolvimento de um modelo para avaliação do nível de maturidade

Tese de doutoramento do Programa Doutoral em Engenharia Industrial e de SistemasIntegração é definida como “o ato ou processo de tornar inteiro” e sistema como “arranjo de elementos interrelacionados e interatuantes, tais como processos que utilizam vários recursos de modo a atingir objetivos predefinidos”. As organizações humanas despendem uma grande quantidade de trabalho a desafiar um dos conceitos mais básicos da física: a entropia. A “ponta do iceberg” visível desta guerra intestina contra a tendência das organizações para a desordem são os sistemas de gestão. Os sistemas de gestão mais reportados a coexistirem num Sistema de Gestão Integrado (SGI) são o Sistema de Gestão da Qualidade (SGQ), implementado segundo a norma ISO 9001, o Sistema de Gestão Ambiental (SGA), implementado segundo a norma ISO 14001 e o Sistema de Gestão de Segurança e Saúde no Trabalho (SGSST), implementado segundo a norma OHSAS 18001. O objetivo do trabalho realizado foi o de analisar o fenómeno da integração de sistemas de gestão, identificar áreas de investigação abertas, propor soluções para colmatá-las, nomeadamente através do desenvolvimento de um modelo que permita avaliar a maturidade de um SGI. Como ponto de partida, a revisão bibliográfica efetuada procedeu ao levantamento de todas as questões abordadas pela literatura científica relacionada com a integração de sistemas e com modelos de maturidade e, a partir da caracterização do estado-da-arte, identificou as áreas para as quais ainda não há respostas ou onde, apesar de já existirem, as mesmas são de natureza difusa. Constatou-se que a integração de sistemas de gestão é um fenómeno caracterizado pelo número elevado de variáveis envolvidas, nomeadamente, a estratégia utilizada, o processo de implementação, a tipologia de auditorias e o nível de integração atingido, entre outras. A revisão bibliográfica inicial permitiu também o desenvolvimento de questionários, que se revelou a principal metodologia de investigação adotada. O recurso a metodologias alternativas na análise de resultados confirmou a relação existente entre as motivações iniciais para implementação de um SGI e os benefícios daí resultantes. A clarificação da posição do SGQ num contexto de integração, identificando as várias posições que este subsistema pode assumir, contribuiu com informação crítica para a gestão de topo, focando o sucesso do processo de integração. O contributo final desta tese consubstanciou-se na elaboração de um modelo de maturidade que permite avaliar a maturidade de um SGI assente em dois componentes: o back office e o front office. Esta tarefa permitiu que outros contributos fossem também possíveis, nomeadamente, a realização de uma macro-análise ao fenómeno da integração de sistemas de gestão a nível mundial, ao desenvolvimento de indicadores macro e à avaliação da sua assertividade por comparação com outros indicadores baseados em diferentes fontes. A natureza diversa da pesquisa bibliográfica realizada permitiu também a identificação de conceitos externos ao processo de integração, mas cuja adoção permite um acréscimo à maturidade dos SGIs. Tópicos como a avaliação e gestão do ciclo de vida, a macroergonomia, a sustentabilidade e a responsabilidade social foram identificados como coadjuvantes para uma integração mais profunda, contribuindo para um SGI com maior maturidade. O desenvolvimento de indicadores macro para avaliação da dispersão a nível mundial dos SGIs permitiu concluir que a sua evolução, durante o período temporal de 1999 a 2011, se traduz num acréscimo acentuado em todas as macro regiões consideradas. A nível nacional, as empresas que desenvolveram um SGI situam-se, principalmente, nas regiões Norte, Centro e de Lisboa sendo a tipologia de SGI mais adotada aquela na qual estão integrados os SGQ, SGA e SGSST. Os resultados do questionário dirigido aos peritos permitiram distinguir empresas com um alto nível de integração. A utilização das mesmas ferramentas e metodologias organizacionais em cada subsistema e o alinhamento de objetivos, bem como o facto de a empresa monitorizar os seus processos com base em indicadores integrados são evidências de um nível de integração máximo. No modelo de maturidade desenvolvido é possível constatar que três variáveis dão um contributo superior às restantes para a variável latente “Maturidade do SGI”. São elas a visão integrada revelada pela gestão de topo, a classificação do nível de integração atingido e a tipologia de auditorias realizadas.Integration is defined as “the act or process of making whole or entire” and System defined as “an interrelated elements array, such as processes, using several resources to achieve set goals”. Human organizations take a lot of work in order to defy basic physics laws namely entropy. The visible “iceberg peak” of this subtle war against organizations disorder trend are the management systems. The most commonly reported subsystems combined into a single Integrated Management System (IMS) are the Quality Management System (QMS) implemented according ISO 9001 standard, the Environmental Management System (EMS) implemented according ISO 14001 standard and the Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) implemented according OHSAS 18001 standard. The main objective of this thesis is to analyse all management systems integration phenomenon, to identify open research paths and to present solutions, namely, through a model development aiming at IMS maturity assessment. The thorough literature review undertaken, focused on open questions identification related to IMS and maturity models, depicted some unanswered questions, some with diffuse answers and some questions never made. The initial literature review allowed the development of the surveys focused on the organizations and on the selected academic and industry experts being this methodology the thesis corner stone. A back office and front office based maturity model development assessing IMS was the ultimate contribution from this thesis. This contribution, on its own, and sustained on multi-methodological tasks, allowed some other contributions, namely, the macro analysis of the management systems integration phenomenon worldwide, macro-indicators development and their evaluation by comparison with other indicators based on different sources. Some alternative methodologies adopted on results analysis contributed on some issues raised by several authors, namely, by confirming the relation between IMS implementation initial motivation and the benefits collected afterwards. Additionally, the QMS reposition after the integration process was assessed and three main strategies were identified. This identification enables top management with crucial information aiming at an integration successful process. Literature review allowed also external concepts identification that relates to IMS maturity. Topics like life cycle management and assessment, macroergonomics, sustainability and social accountability should be taken into account, enabling a deeper integration, and a more mature IMS. The results promoted several critical success factors identification that should be considered when integrating management subsystems. Some characteristics intrinsically related to high integration level organizations and low integration level organizations were identified. It was possible to conclude that management systems integration phenomenon is characterized by the high number of variables involved. The adopted strategy, the implementation process, the audit typology, the IMS typology, the motivation, the benefits, the obstacles and the achieved integration level are among those variables. Through macro-indicators development aiming the IMS dispersion worldwide analysis one may conclude that they evolved positively and increased in number during the time period between 1999 and 2011. At a national level, it is possible to conclude that the organizations that developed an IMS are mostly located at the North, Centre and Lisbon regions. The integrated QMS, EMS and OHSMS is the IMS typology mostly adopted. The results collected from the survey among academic and industry experts allowed the identification of high integration level organizations. According to these results, the development and adoption of the same tools and methodologies by each subsystem and objectives alignment, processes monitoring based in integrated indicators are evidences of a maximum integration level. The maturity model final version allows the conclusion that three variables contribute the mostly to the “IMS Maturity” latent variable. Those variables are the integrated vision by top management, the integration level classification and the audit typology. External concepts and the eight excellence management pillars relate also to the IMS maturity

Anwendungssystemgestuetztes strategisches Controlling

Strategisches Controlling – nur wenige Schlagworte der Betriebswirtschaftslehre zeichnen sich in vergleichbarem Maße durch ein Nebeneinander von großer Beliebtheit und mangelnder inhaltlicher Konkretisierung aus. Es stellt sich somit die Frage, wie eine strategische Controllingkonzeption konkret zu gestalten ist, um für die zahlreichen Problemfelder der strategischen Unternehmensführung Lösungsansätze zu bieten. Christoph Gehrig untersucht in seiner Arbeit darüber hinaus, wie das strategische Controlling durch den Einsatz moderner Anwendungssysteme effizienter gestaltet werden kann. Durch die Analyse des State of the Art des anwendungssystemgestützten strategischen Controllings in deutschen Großunternehmen verbindet die Arbeit sachlich-analytische und empirische Forschung. Das Buch richtet sich an Dozenten und Studenten der Betriebswirtschaftslehre mit den Schwerpunkten Unternehmensführung und Controlling und an Führungskräfte der Unternehmenspraxis, die sich mit der Ausgestaltung eines strategischen Controllings zur Entscheidungsunterstützung des Top-Managements vertiefend befassen