Development and Evaluation of a Holistic Framework and Maturity Assessment Tools for Data Governance in Cloud Computing Environments

Cloud computing is an emerging technology that is changing the way that public sector organisations consume Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in different countries. The adoption rate of cloud computing services is still very low to none in many countries. Saudi Arabia, for instance, despite their huge investments in the Digital Transformation, as part of the recent Vision 2030, the loss of governance and control of data is one of their major barriers facing the adoption of cloud computing services. Cloud Data Governance, is not only a Saudi concern, it is actually a worldwide challenge, which is under researched and mostly not practiced. This research attempted, for the first time to unlock this challenge in Saudi Arabia, more specifically, for the Public Sector, by advancing research in this field and proposing means by which Cloud Data Governance programmes can be implemented. In this research, existing data governance frameworks were analysed – these frameworks were limited as they lacked consideration of the cloud computing perspective. Hence, the purpose of this research is to develop a generalised Strategy Framework that can be utilised to design, deploy and sustain an effective cloud data governance programme; it also aims to provide knowledge for organisations that wish to apply a cloud data governance programme, to empower them to control their data in cloud environments. Understanding data governance taxonomy and its key dimensions for non-cloud and cloud computing was an important step in developing the proposed Framework. To support the development of the proposed Framework, the Analytic Theory and concept of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) were adopted. The Framework includes a number of complex operations, therefore, to ensure an effective Cloud Data Governance programme, organisations need to have means by which they can assess their current state and define their requirements. To facilitate this, a Maturity Model was proposed together with an Assessment Matrix. The proposed Framework and Maturity Model alongside the Assessment Matrix, were then validated and evaluated for the Public Sector in Saudi Arabia, as a Case Study. Mixed research methods, Qualitative and Quantitative, were adopted for this purpose, where the State of the Art of cloud adoption, data governance and cloud data governance, in the Saudi Public Sector were all analysed. Moreover, a number of Barriers and Critical Success Factors were identified for the case study. For validation purposes, the Focus Group approach was adopted, with appropriate representations from the Saudi Public Sector. The Structural Equation Modelling was adopted for the evaluation of the proposed Framework, using quantitative results from the questionnaire. The Evaluation of the Assessment Matrix was done by developing a Tool, which allows organisations to identify their levels of maturity for cloud data governance programmes, and define requirements for target levels

Cloud service localisation

The essence of cloud computing is the provision of software and hardware services to a range of users in dierent locations. The aim of cloud service localisation is to facilitate the internationalisation and localisation of cloud services by allowing their adaption to dierent locales. We address the lingual localisation by providing service-level language translation techniques to adopt services to dierent languages and regulatory localisation by providing standards-based mappings to achieve regulatory compliance with regionally varying laws, standards and regulations. The aim is to support and enforce the explicit modelling of aspects particularly relevant to localisation and runtime support consisting of tools and middleware services to automating the deployment based on models of locales, driven by the two localisation dimensions. We focus here on an ontology-based conceptual information model that integrates locale specication in a coherent way

Information Technology Platforms: Definition and Research Directions

The concept of an information technology (IT) related platform is broad and covers phenomena ranging from the operating system Linux to the Internet. Such platforms are of increasing importance to innovation and value creation across many facets of industry and daily life. There is, however, a lack of common understanding in both research and industry about what is mean by the term platform when related to IT. This lack of consensus is detrimental to research and knowledge development. Thus, the aims of this study are to: (i) provide a sound definition of the IT-platform concept by identifying its distinguishing dimensions; and (ii) identify important current research directions for the IT-platform concept. To achieve these aims a systematic literature review was undertaken with 133 relevant articles taken from major information systems journals, conferences, and business publications. The study contributes by providing a sound base for future research into IT-platforms.Comment: Research-in-progress ISBN# 978-0-646-95337-3 Presented at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems 2015 (arXiv:1605.01032

Innovative public governance through cloud computing: Information privacy, business models and performance measurement challenges

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach: We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, behavioral, business and technical) and conducted a conceptual analysis for analyzing the associated challenges. We conducted focus group interviews in two countries for evaluating the performance models that resulted from the conceptual analysis. Findings: This study identifies and analyzes several challenges that may emerge while adopting innovative technologies for public governance and e-government services. Furthermore, it presents suggested solutions deriving from the experience of designing a related platform for public governance, including issues of privacy requirements, proposed business models and key performance indicators for public services on cloud computing. Research limitations/implications: The challenges and solutions discussed are based on the experience gained by designing one platform. However, we rely on issues and challenges collected from four countries. Practical implications: The identification of challenges for innovative design of e-government services through a central portal in Europe and using service federation is expected to inform practitioners in different roles about significant changes across multiple levels that are implied and may accelerate the challenges' resolution. Originality/value: This is the first study that discusses from multiple perspectives and through empirical investigation the challenges to realize public governance through innovative technologies. The results emerge from an actual portal that will function at a European level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Towards evaluation design for smart city development

Smart city developments integrate digital, human, and physical systems in the built environment. With growing urbanization and widespread developments, identifying suitable evaluation methodologies is important. Case-study research across five UK cities - Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Peterborough - revealed that city evaluation approaches were principally project-focused with city-level evaluation plans at early stages. Key challenges centred on selecting suitable evaluation methodologies to evidence urban value and outcomes, addressing city authority requirements. Recommendations for evaluation design draw on urban studies and measurement frameworks, capitalizing on big data opportunities and developing appropriate, valid, credible integrative approaches across projects, programmes and city-level developments