Perceptions of ICT practitioners regarding software privacy

During software development activities, it is important for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) practitioners to know and understand practices and guidelines regarding information privacy, as software requirements must comply with data privacy laws and members of development teams should know current legislation related to the protection of personal data. In order to gain a better understanding on how industry ICT practitioners perceive the practical relevance of software privacy and privacy requirements and how these professionals are implementing data privacy concepts, we conducted a survey with ICT practitioners from software development organizations to get an overview of how these professionals are implementing data privacy concepts during software design. We performed a systematic literature review to identify related works with software privacy and privacy requirements and what methodologies and techniques are used to specify them. In addition, we conducted a survey with ICT practitioners from different organizations. Findings revealed that ICT practitioners lack a comprehensive knowledge of software privacy and privacy requirements and the Brazilian General Data Protection Law (Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados Pessoais, LGPD, in Portuguese), nor they are able to work with the laws and guidelines governing data privacy. Organizations are demanded to define an approach to contextualize ICT practitioners with the importance of knowledge of software privacy and privacy requirements, as well as to address them during software development, since LGPD must change the way teams work, as a number of features and controls regarding consent, documentation, and privacy accountability will be required

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

Patients, trust and ethics in information privacy in eHealth

Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the health sector (eHealth) is a natural progression for the digital agenda, and is seen as being of benefit to organisations providing healthcare, the patients receiving healthcare, and the development of the ICT industry. With the likelihood of a growing demand for healthcare, particularly from an increasingly elderly population, using ICT to streamline processes and support practitioners makes sense. However, the challenges faced when remodelling a sector that has traditionally operated through direct face-to-face human contact are significant. While the processes of information management and information flow may be improved from an organisational perspective, the people at the heart of eHealth, i.e. the patients, may not be convinced that such a move will be of benefit to them, even though the traditional face-to-face aspects may not be lost. In this chapter, we take the example of the United Kingdom and focus on the patient in the eHealth environment. We take the position that patient trust and confidence in ICT is important, not only for patient ‘buy-in’ but also to maintain the ethical values that are fundamental to medical practice

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Digital inclusion - the vision, the challenges and the way forward

This paper considers the vision and aspiration of digital inclusion, and then examines the current reality. It looks beyond the rhetoric to provide an analysis of the status quo, a consideration of some facilitators and challenges to progress and some suggestions for moving forward with renewed energy and commitment. The far-reaching benefits of digital inclusion and the crucial role it plays in enabling full participation in our digital society are considered. At the heart of the vision of universal digital inclusion is the deceptively simple goal to ensure that everyone is able to access and experience the wide-ranging benefits and transformational opportunities and impacts it offers. The reality is a long way from the vision: inequality of access still exists despite many national campaigns and initiatives to reduce it. The benefits and beneficiaries of a digital society are not just the individual but all stakeholders in the wider society. Research evidence has shown that the critical success factors for successful digital participation are (i) appropriate design and (ii) readily available and on-going ICT (Information and Communication Technology) support in the community. Challenges and proven solutions are presented. The proposition of community hubs in local venues to provide user-centred ICT support and learning for older and disabled people is presented. While the challenges to achieve digital inclusion are very considerable, the knowledge of how to achieve it and the technologies which enable it already exist. Harnessing of political will is necessary to make digital inclusion a reality rather than a vision. With the cooperation and commitment of all stakeholders actualisation of the vision of a digitally inclusive society, while challenging, can be achieved and will yield opportunities and rewards that eclipse the cost of implementation

Mobile phone and e-government in Turkey: practices and technological choices at the cross-road

Enhanced data services through mobile phones are expected to be soon fully transactional and embedded within future mobile consumption practices. While private services will surely continue to take the lead, others such as government and NGOs will become more prominent m-players. It is not yet sure which form of technological standards will take the lead including enhance SMS based operations or Internet based specifically developed mobile phone applications. With the introduction of interactive transactions via mobile phones, currently untapped segment of the populations (without computers) have the potential to be accessed. Our research, as a reflection of the current market situation in an emerging country context, in the case of mobile phones analyzes the current needs or emergence of dependencies regarding the use of m/e-government services from the perspective of municipality officers. We contend that more research is needed to understand current preparatory bottlenecks and front loading activities to be able to encourage future intention to use e-government services through mobile phone technologies. This study highlights and interprets the current emerging practices and praxis for consuming m-government services within government

South American Expert Roundtable : increasing adaptive governance capacity for coping with unintended side effects of digital transformation

This paper presents the main messages of a South American expert roundtable (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of digital transformation. The input of the ERT comprised 39 propositions from 20 experts representing 11 different perspectives. The two-day ERT discussed the main drivers and challenges as well as vulnerabilities or unseens and provided suggestions for: (i) the mechanisms underlying major unseens; (ii) understanding possible ways in which rebound effects of digital transformation may become the subject of overarching research in three main categories of impact: development factors, society, and individuals; and (iii) a set of potential action domains for transdisciplinary follow-up processes, including a case study in Brazil. A content analysis of the propositions and related mechanisms provided insights in the genesis of unseens by identifying 15 interrelated causal mechanisms related to critical issues/concerns. Additionally, a cluster analysis (CLA) was applied to structure the challenges and critical developments in South America. The discussion elaborated the genesis, dynamics, and impacts of (groups of) unseens such as the digital divide (that affects most countries that are not included in the development of digital business, management, production, etc. tools) or the challenge of restructuring small- and medium-sized enterprises (whose service is digitally substituted by digital devices). We identify specific issues and effects (for most South American countries) such as lack of governmental structure, challenging geographical structures (e.g., inclusion in high-performance transmission power), or the digital readiness of (wide parts) of society. One scientific contribution of the paper is related to the presented methodology that provides insights into the phenomena, the causal chains underlying “wanted/positive” and “unwanted/negative” effects, and the processes and mechanisms of societal changes caused by digitalization

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An Action Research for Improving the Sustainability Assessment Framework Instruments

[Abstract] In the last years, software engineering researchers have defined sustainability as a quality requirement of software, but not enough effort has been devoted to develop new methods/techniques to support the analysis and assessment of software sustainability. In this study, we present the Sustainability Assessment Framework (SAF) that consists of two instruments: the software sustainability–quality model, and the architectural decision map. Then, we use participatory and technical action research in close collaboration with the software industry to validate the SAF regarding its applicability in specific cases. The unit of analysis of our study is a family of software products (Geographic Information System- and Mobile-based Workforce Management Systems) that aim to address sustainability goals (e.g., efficient collection of dead animals to mitigate social and environmental sustainability risks). The results show that the sustainability–quality model integrated with the architectural decision maps can be used to identify sustainability–quality requirements as design concerns because most of its quality attributes (QAs) have been either addressed in the software project or acknowledged as relevant (i.e., creating awareness on the relevance of the multidimensional sustainability nature of certain QAs). Moreover, the action–research method has been helpful to enrich the sustainability–quality model, by identifying missing QAs (e.g., regulation compliance, data privacy). Finally, the architectural decision maps have been found as useful to guide software architects/designers in their decision-making process.This work has received partial support by Xunta de Galicia/FEDER-UE CSI (ED431G/01, ED431C 2017/58); Xunta de Galicia/FEDER-UE, ConectaPeme, GEMA (IN852A 2018/14); MINECO-AEI/FEDER-UE with the projects: Datos 4.0 (TIN2016-78011-C4-1-R), BIZDEVOPS (RTI2018-098309-B-C32), FLATCITY (TIN2016-77158-C4-3-R.); and FONDECYT with the Kusisqa project (014-2019-FONDECYTBM-INC.INV)Xunta de Galicia; ED431G/01Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2017/58Xunta de Galicia; IN852A 2018/14Gobierno de Chile; 014-2019-FONDECYTBM-INC.IN