A Metrics Approach for Collaborative Systems

This article presents different types of collaborative systems, their structure and classification. This paper defines the concept of virtual campus as a collaborative system. It builds architecture for virtual campus oriented on collaborative training processes. It analyses the quality characteristics of collaborative systems and propose techniques for metrics construction and validation in order to evaluate them. The article analyzes different ways to increase the efficiency and the performance level in collaborative banking systems.collaborative system, collaborative learning, virtual campus, banking, metric

The Outsourcing of National Defense

The outsourcing of military activities and services has grown dramatically in recent decades. My objective is to understand and explain this phenomenon at work in the United States Department of Defense (DoD) using theoretical frameworks of strategic efficiency, political ideology and organizational theory factors. This study seeks to answer the question, why has the DOD outsourced support activities and functions that contribute to larger national security objectives and were traditionally performed by DoD personnel? I\u27ll use a case-study methodology to examine outsourcing in the DoD between 1970 and 2005, to include an in-depth look at the information technology (IT) networks area of the military services. I\u27ve chosen these cases because they combine to represent a broad perspective of outsourcing behavior across each service over time as well as a specific core area relevant to the war-fighting mission of each service. Since the phenomenon is under explored in political science, my study will be valuable in expanding our understanding of the factors influencing the increasing role of market actors in national defense activities. I\u27ll also address issues regarding the distribution of power, authority and public accountability while identifying relevant bureaucratic, ideological and organizational factors affecting the development and implementation of national security

Survival in the e-conomy: 2nd Australian information warfare & security conference 2001

This is an international conference for academics and industry specialists in information warfare, security, and other related fields. The conference has drawn participants from national and international organisations

A Comparative Assessment of Knowledge Management Programs across the United States Armed Services

Knowledge is a corporate resource that is required to accomplish business processes, to make decisions, and to improve efficiency and effectiveness. To completely take advantage of the benefits of knowledge, organizations must harvest and leverage the collective knowledge of the entire workforce. This can be achieved through effective knowledge management. Knowledge management involves processes to create, to store, and transfer knowledge to accomplish business objectives and to achieve a competitive advantage. The United States armed services have also recognized the benefits of knowledge management in meeting the emerging challenges of modern warfare. This study investigated knowledge management programs in the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force. Using a case study methodology, each of the service\u27s knowledge management programs were assessed against Stankosky et al.\u27s (1999) Four Pillar Framework which outlines key elements of leadership, technology, organization/culture, and learning associated with robust knowledge management programs. Based on the evidence reviewed for this research, the results indicate each of the services are making progress albeit with slightly different approaches towards a more mature KM program with the U.S. Army having the most complete approach according to the evaluation criteria. The research also revealed that there is much collaboration and work yet to be done among the services if the concepts of knowledge management are to be used to operate and fight more effectively as a joint force

Managing information cycles for intra-organisational coordination of humanitarian logistics

As the humanitarian aid sector is expanding, the need for enhancing coordination capabilities increases as well. This holds especially for the area of logistics, because humanitarian operations typically take place in unstable and risky environments, where infrastructure is poor, while staff turnover is high. The effectiveness of humanitarian logistics critically depends on the availability and quality of logistics support information, but data is often scarce and ICT support to remote areas is limited. The challenges caused by these constraints call for conceptual insight into the intra-organisational coordination process in humanitarian aid. In order to assess current practice of intra-organisational logistics information management for humanitarian aid, we combine humanitarian logistics and organisational literatures to develop a model that ties in information cycles with activity cycles that ultimately should lead to value creation. The model serves as a basis to analyse coordination practice at the Dutch filial of Médecins Sans Frontiéres (MSF-Holland) and develop implications for research and practice

Sourcing Policy: Selected Developments and Issues

[Excerpt] Sourcing policy refers, generally, to determining which sector—public (government) or private—will perform an agency’s function(s). Both federal employees and contractor employees have valid roles to play in performing the work of the federal government. This combined workforce is known as a blended workforce. Determining which sector will perform which functions, including determining when federal employee performance is, or should be, required can be challenging, however. Efforts to address this issue, and related questions, have been the subject of the federal government’s sourcing policy since at least the 1950s. This report begins with a history of sourcing policy that focuses on the terms commercial and inherently governmental, and the policy of government reliance on the private sector. The following section examines the two strains of sourcing policy: competitive sourcing and multi-sector workforce management. The juxtaposition of the Bush Administration’s competitive sourcing initiative and the Obama Administration’s multi-sector workforce management effort aids in understanding different, yet potentially complementary, facets of sourcing policy. Policy issues that may be of interest to the 112th Congress are also discussed

Information Outlook, October 2004

Volume 8, Issue 10https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2004/1009/thumbnail.jp

Usability and Accessibility of Air Force Intranet Web Sites

The Air Force is moving to a network centric environment where information must be data visible, accessible, and understandable. This transformation has seen the adoption of the Internet web browser as a de facto standard for information access. The Technology Acceptance Model suggests that information systems must not only be useful but also be usable and a large body of usability engineering knowledge exists to support usable design. In addition, the U.S. government mandates specific minimum design features required to support disabled user access. This research effort seeks to establish an understanding of how well common practice usability design principles and government mandated accessibility guidelines are followed by Air Force intranet web sites. Heuristic evaluation is used to investigate web site usability. Accessibility is inspected against government guidelines. The results of this study suggest that Air Force intranet web sites do not adequately comply with many usability principles and that accessibility compliance varies from site to site. Furthermore, although the majority of usability and accessibility design principles are not captured in military guidance, scores were higher for those principles that are captured in the guidance than for those that are not