Evaluation of Growth Simulators for Forest Management in Terms of Functionality and Software Structure Using AHP

A range of computer models exist for simulating forest growth, with different model functions, spatial resolutions and regional calibration specifications. Choosing a suitable simulator is difficult due to its abundance and complexity. The aim of the project is to evaluate a simulator that could be adapted to conditions in Switzerland and used to support decision‐making processes in both forest enterprises and scientific contexts. Fourteen potentially suitable forest growth simulators were identified through a literature review, which was then narrowed down to four: BWINPro, SILVA, MOSES and PrognAus. In the second phase, these were systematically evaluated in terms of functionality and software structure using AHP, in order to identify a suitable simulator. The AHP evaluation entailed: (1) determining the decision criteria and hierarchy, (2) performing pairwise comparisons and calculating the utility values and (3) conducting a sensitivity analysis. AHP was found to provide a transparent, verifiable evaluation process for simulator selection. This enabled a critical argumentation and assessment of the simulators. In the third phase, not covered by this article, the selected simulator will be parametrised for Swiss conditions and incorporated into an overarching decision‐support system for forest planning and management

A proposed conceptual basis for mode 2 business and management research and development projects based on design science research principles

Due to progressing digitalisation and automatisation, the disciplines of Information Systems and Business / Management will increasingly be merging. It is assumed, therefore, that in Business and Management Research (BMR), there will be a greater demand for artefacts such as conceptual models, particularly in collaborative, Mode 2 research and development projects. Such endeavours require adequate conceptual frameworks, catering for diverse, creative and iterative steps including complementary (multi-)method application in order to handle complexity, uncertainty, user engagement and differing assumptions in a fast-paced environment. They need to be able to do this while rigorously addressing questions in their field or organisation of professionals. Design Science Research (DSR) has been suggested as an suitable approach to fulfil these needs. While numerous examples of applying DSR principles have been reported with respect to Information Systems Research (ISR), the application in BMR has so far been rather modest. This article presents a conceptual basis of DSR principles to apply in Mode 2 BMR artefact development projects, accompanied by a framework for a systematic quality evaluation. By doing so, the article contributes to the advancement of the emerging convergence of BMR and ISR by presenting guidelines embracing iterative and systematic procedures for BMR and ISR researchers

Realizing Adaptive Process-aware Information Systems with ADEPT2

In dynamic environments it must be possible to quickly implement new business processes, to enable ad-hoc deviations from the defined business processes on-demand (e.g., by dynamically adding, deleting or moving process activities), and to support dynamic process evolution (i.e., to propagate process schema changes to already running process instances). These fundamental requirements must be met without affecting process consistency and robustness of the process-aware information system. In this paper we describe how these challenges have been addressed in the ADEPT2 process management system. Our overall vision is to provide a next generation technology for the support of dynamic processes, which enables full process lifecycle management and which can be applied to a variety of application domains

ENABLING RISK-AWARE ENTERPRISE MODELING USING SEMANTIC ANNOTATIONS AND VISUAL RULES

The engagement in professional risk management is today a fact for most large organizations. In order to satisfy regulation and auditing requirements, an important step thereby is the identification and documentation of risks in an organization and the definition of measures for their mitigation. Thereby, the use of enterprise models provides the foundation for a systematic and holistic analysis of processes, organizational structures and IT systems. In the approach at hand we build upon the SeMFIS approach for semantic annotations of enterprise models with concepts from an OWL2 ontology. By providing an ontology for representing risks and mitigation measures, this additional information can be represented through annotations in arbitrary types of enterprise models without having to adapt the originally used modeling language. In addition, the approach provides a visual modeling language for representing rules according to the SWRL specification. This permits to process the semantic information provided by the annotations. The usage of the approach is illustrated through an example from the domain of risk-aware business process management. Upon the representation of risks in business processes using the semantic annotation approach, it is shown how SWRL rules can be used to automatically generate configurable risk reports

Where the action is: distributed agency between humans, machines, and programs

"In this paper it is argued that the advanced technologies take part in the course and constellation of human action and that they do this with real effects, not only metaphorically. The first part starts with the search for a useful concept of agency that enables the researcher to describe and classify all activities that contribute to the performance of an action. The concept shall include different levels of human agency as well as different levels of technologies in action. The following chapter treats the consequences that these activations of technologies have for the human-technology-relation. If technologies change their role from passive means into agents and mediators, then the narrow concept of instrumental action should be replaced by a broader concept of inter-agency. This part of the paper culminates in the presentation of a gradual model of agency that can be used to describe and discriminate between different levels and grades of action without any regard to the ontological status of the acting unit, may it be human-like or machine-like. In the second part of the paper the question 'What is the adequate unit of action?' is answered. It starts with a thought experiment about the question: Who is really flying the Airbus? We learn from both views, the humanist's and the technologist's one, that what is usually called action, like flying 240 tourists to Tenerife airport, consists of many distributed actions that have to be coordinated by social organization or technical configuration. The concept of distributed agency is spelled out during three steps: It presupposes many loci of agency, not one actor. It declares the hybrid constellations made of the mixed human and material agencies to the adequate research unit, neither the homogeneous social organizations nor the technical configurations. Finally, a third mode of integration called 'framed interactivity' is elaborated that may emerge between the hierarchical mode of master-slave-relation and the open mode of autonomous systems." (excerpt

Agents enacting social roles: balancing formal structure and practical rationality in MAS design

Der Soziologe Pierre Bourdieu zeigt die feine und häufig ignorierte Unterscheidung zwischen theoretischer Rationalität und der 'Logik der Praxis' auf. Diese Differenz, so die Annahme der Autoren, ist sowohl bei dem Versuch, menschliche Organisationen mit Robustheit und Flexibilität auszustatten, als auch bei jeder Bemühung, Informationssysteme auf der Basis von Mechanismen organisatorischer Koordination zu modellieren, zu berücksichtigen. Im INKA-Projekt, einem Bestandteil des deutschen Forschungsprogramms Sozionik, bildet diese Ansicht den Ausgangspunkt. Computergesteuerte Agenten, die sich selbst koordinieren und in einer Weise eigenständig agieren, ahmen im Prinzip menschliche Akteure in organisatorischen Umgebungen nach. Dabei müssen sie mit der Spannung zurechtkommen, die aus den formalen vorgegeben Beschreibungen der Organisation und den strukturierten Erwartungen, welche sich von den täglichen Interaktionen auf dem Level der Produktionsstätten ableiten, resultiert. In der Soziologie besteht eine Möglichkeit, diese Spannung in der Rollentheorie zu konzeptionieren, die auf verschiedene Formen der Darstellung von formalen Rollenbeschreibungen und praktischen Rollen ausgerichtet ist. Außerdem ist gemäß der Organisationstheorie und empirischen Untersuchungen bekannt, dass in der realen Welt die täglichen Aus- und Verhandlungen der Arbeitnehmer eine Form des Arbeitshandelns darstellen. Basierend auf diesen Betrachtungen orientiert sich das INKA-Projekt an zwei Hauptzielen: (1) Modellierung und Implementierung eines technischen Systems, in dem die Agenten fähig sind, sich auf der Basis von praktischen Rollen mittels Verhandlung selbständig zu koordinieren; (2) Entwicklung einer Annäherung an die Erforschung hybrider Sozialität, die bei dem Eintritt solcher Agenten in menschliche Organisationen entsteht. Die Ausführungen beginnen mit einer kurzen Diskussion der konzeptionellen Probleme, die auftreten, wenn Computerprogramme auf praktische Relationen oder auf soziologische Konzepte von praktischen Modalitäten der Interaktion, des Problemlösens und Planens zugeschnitten sind. Dies führt zu der Formulierung von drei generellen Herausforderungen innerhalb des Sozionik-Programms. Im Anschluss wird in einige Details der soziologisch basierten Schaffung von praktischen Rollen und aushandelnden Agenten eingeführt. Es folgt die Darstellung der Grundstruktur für die entsprechende MAS-Architektur. Dann werden zwei generelle Probleme behandelt, die bei dem derzeitigen Entwicklungsstand des vorgestellten Projekts und nach Ansicht der Autoren im gesamten Sozionik-Programm auftreten. Es wird ein integrierter Ansatz vorgeschlagen, der alle Aktivitäten in Sozionik-Systemen in einer systematischen Weise korreliert. Des Weiteren wird ein methodisches Instrument zur Erforschung der Hybridisierung präsentiert. Der Text schließt mit der Darstellung einiger konzeptioneller Erweiterungen und zukünftiger Arbeitsschritte. (ICGÜbers)Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu pointed out the subtle and often ignored difference between theoretical rationality and the 'logic of practice'. This difference, we will argue, has to be taken in account when trying to capture the robustness and flexibility of human organizations, and is especially important for any effort to model information systems on mechanisms of organizational coordination. In the INKA-project, part of the German Socionics program, we took this insight as our very starting point. Computational agents that 'act' and coordinate themselves in a way that at least mimics in principle human actors in organizational environments have to cope with the tension between the formal descriptions given by the organization at large and the structured expectations that derive from their daily interactions on the shop-floor level. In sociology one way of conceptualizing this tension is role theory, focusing on the different forms of enactment of formal role descriptions and practical roles. Furthermore, from organizational theory and empirical investigations we know that in the 'real world' daily negotiations by the employees themselves are one way of working around the incoherences of formal prescriptions, job descriptions and work schedules. Based on these considerations the INKA-project is oriented by two main objectives: To model and implement a technical system in which the agents are capable of coordinating themselves via negotiating on the basis of practical roles, and to develop an approach for the investigation of hybrid sociality that emerges if those agents are re-entered into human organizations. The contribution begins with a brief discussion of the conceptual problems that occur if computer programs are to be modeled on practical relations or on sociological concepts of practical modes of interaction, problem solving and planning; this leads us to the formulation of three general challenges within the Socionics program (2). In the next part we introduce in some detail our sociologically grounded modeling of practical roles and negotiating agents (3), and our framework for a corresponding MAS-architecture (4). Then we turn to two general issues, that came up at the present state of development in our project - and, as we assume, in the entire Socionics program. We propose an integrated approach that correlates all activities in Socionic systems development in a systematic way (5), and we present a methodological instrument for the investigation of hybridization (6). We conclude by sketching some conceptual extensions and further working steps (7)

Strategisches GRC-Management: Anforderungen, Forschungsagenda und datenseitiges Modell

„Governance, Risk and Compliance“ (GRC) wird gegenwärtig überwiegend als Schlagwort aufgegriffen und durch isolierte, kurzfristige Initiativen umgesetzt. Die Integrationsmöglichkeiten und strategische Bedeutung von GRC werden unzureichend erkannt, wodurch Nutzenpotentiale und mögliche Synergieeffekte nicht genutzt werden können. Obwohl erste integrierte GRC-Ansätze existieren, ist das Thema bislang wenig strukturiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit entwickelt daher ein allgemeines Verständnis für ein integriertes und strategisch ausgerichtetes Management von GRC, das als strategisches GRC-Management bezeichnet wird. Hierfür werden Anforderungen hergeleitet, der Forschungsstand analysiert und eine Forschungsagenda entwickelt. Durch eine Delphi-Studie werden die Anforderungen und Forschungsbedarfe priorisiert. Ein datenseitiges Modell stellt die strukturellen Zusammenhänge von GRC auf Informationsebene dar.GRC as an acronym for governance, risk and compliance is currently looked at as a catchword and implemented with short-term, isolated initiatives. GRC is more considered to be a burden for the business and opportunities for integration as well as the strategic relevance of the topic is not recognized, which makes it difficult to realize potential benefits and synergies. Even though first GRC approaches exist, the overall topic area remains quite unstructured and is not narrowed down precisely. Detailed questions, which are relevant for the topic area, like automation of compliance controls and risk measures, modeling of GRC information as well as the determinants of compliance behavior cannot be sorted into their overall context. The research work at hand therefore aims to establish a basic understanding of an integrated and strategically oriented GRC management, which is called strategic GRC management. For this purpose, this research identifies requirements for such an approach based on an exhaustive and structured literature review, discusses the current state of research in this field and develops a research agenda. These research results are evaluated with a three round Delphi study which at the same time determines the importance of the requirements and the research needs and thereby enables its prioritization. Furthermore, a data-centred model for strategic GRC management, which depicts the structural relationships of GRC on the level its information, is constructed. The data model is demonstrated based on an example and evaluated using published practical examples. This research work provides, specifically with the research agenda, various research opportunities. The requirements and the data-centred model enable the assessment and further development of GRC related management systems in company practice.GRC als Akronym für "Governance, Risk and Compliance" wird gegenwärtig in der Unternehmenspraxis überwiegend als Schlagwort aufgegriffen und durch isolierte, kurzfristige Initiativen umgesetzt. GRC wird mehrheitlich als Bürde gesehen und die Integrationsmöglichkeiten sowie die strategische Bedeutung des Themas werden unzureichend erkannt, wodurch Nutzenpotentiale und mögliche Synergieeffekte nicht genutzt werden können. Obwohl erste integrierte GRC-Ansätze existieren, ist das Thema bislang wenig strukturiert und die Eingrenzung bleibt vage. Relevante Detailfragen, wie die Automatisierung der Compliance-Sicherung und Risikosteuerung, die Modellierung von GRC-Informationen und die Determinanten des Compliance-Verhaltens können nur schwer in den Gesamtzusammenhang eingeordnet werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit verfolgt daher das Ziel der Grundlegung eines allgemeinen Verständnisses für ein integriertes und strategisch ausgerichtetes Management von GRC, das als strategisches GRC-Management bezeichnet wird. Hierfür werden basierend auf einem umfangreichen Literaturreview Anforderungen an das strategische GRC-Management hergeleitet, der Forschungsstand strukturiert analysiert und eine Forschungsagenda entwickelt. Diese Forschungsergebnisse werden durch eine Delphi-Studie bestehend aus drei Befragungsrunden abgesichert. Die Studie bestimmt zudem die Bedeutung der einzelnen Anforderungen und Forschungsbedarfe, wodurch eine Priorisierung ermöglicht wird. Darüber hinaus wird ein datenseitiges Modell für das strategische GRC-Management entwickelt, das die strukturellen Zusammenhänge von GRC auf Informationsebene darstellt. Das Datenmodell wird an Hand eines Beispiels demonstriert und mit Hilfe einer Auswertung von publizierten Praxisbeispielen evaluiert. Die Arbeit stellt durch die Forschungsagenda vielfältige Anknüpfungspunkte für weitere Forschung zur Verfügung. Die Anforderungen sowie das datenseitige Modell ermöglichen eine Bewertung und Weiterentwicklung des GRC-Managements in der Unternehmenspraxis