Cognitive Process Designer - An Open-Source Tool to Capture Processes according to the Linked Data Principles

Processes need to be captured in a structured way in order to analyze them by using computer-assisted methods. This circumstance becomes more important as the process becomes complex. Although there are standardized formats, they do not capture semantics of input/output parameters, involved persons or references to external data sources. Existing solutions provide tools to capture processes locally and specify new properties to extend the semantics of process languages. However, a collaborative platform to capture, discuss and share information is more advantageous, because processes are usually used and maintained collaboratively. In addition, users cannot define own semantics for their use-case scenarios and the proposed semantics and processes are not published according to the Linked Data principles. To address these problems we 1) provide an open-source tool to capture BPMN processes graphically in a Semantic MediaWiki; 2) allow users to define own semantics and 3) publish the information according to the Linked Data principles

Cognitive Process Designer -An Open-Source Tool to Capture Processes according to the Linked Data Principles Demo Paper

Abstract. Processes need to be captured in a structured way in order to analyze them by using computer-assisted methods. This circumstance becomes more important as the process becomes complex. Although there are standardized formats, they do not capture semantics of input/output parameters, involved persons or references to external data sources. Existing solutions provide tools to capture processes locally and specify new properties to extend the semantics of process languages. However, a collaborative platform to capture, discuss and share information is more advantageous, because processes are usually used and maintained collaboratively. In addition, users cannot define own semantics for their use-case scenarios and the proposed semantics and processes are not published according to the Linked Data principles. To address these problems we 1) provide an open-source tool to capture BPMN processes graphically in a Semantic MediaWiki; 2) allow users to define own semantics and 3) publish the information according to the Linked Data principles

Modelo de Gestão do Processo de atribuição de Bolsas de Excelência

Nos dias de hoje, o investimento no Ensino Superior e a criação de mecanismos de incentivo à qualidade de ensino tem vindo a crescer. Abordagem particularmente relevante em países com necessidades urgentes em termos de retenção de recursos com uma qualificação superior. Todavia a formação de um estudante corresponde a um investimento a longo prazo, sobretudo quando falamos de qualificações ao nível do 2º e 3º ciclos de estudo. Com vista a promover dinâmicas para democratizar as oportunidades de acesso ao 1º ciclo de estudos (i.e., Licenciatura) importa criar mecanismos justos e transparentes na atribuição de bolsas de estudos, assegurando assim os recursos financeiros para que todos possam ambicionar uma realização pessoal em termos de obtenção de um grau académico e por conseguinte a aquisição de um corpo de conhecimento que possa vir a contribuir para o desenvolvimento de países como Angola. As organizações (i.e., instituições e empresas) investem na formação dos seus quadros, com base no paradigma de que pessoas qualificadas constituem um ativo valioso para a organização e para a comunidade onde se inserem. Pessoas mais qualificadas contribuem não só para aumento da produtividade mas sobretudo para a melhoria da qualidade do produto final. Daí a necessidade em criar mecanismos e estímulos para um efetivo investimento na formação académica do estudante que termina o ensino secundário. Sendo o Estado um dos principais atores no desenvolvimento social, económico e científico, é responsável pela operacionalização de políticas educativas (e.g., ajuda financeira/bolsa de estudo) que permitam auxiliar o estudante no acesso ao Ensino Superior. Contudo, os incentivos financeiros para atribuição de bolsas são recursos limitados pelo que tem de haver mecanismos rigorosos no processo de seleção dos estudantes que podem beneficiar de uma bolsa de estudo. Este trabalho de investigação teve como objetivo principal, desenvolver um modelo para gestão do processo de atribuição de bolsas, com a finalidade de apoiar as Instituições de Ensino Superior e outros agentes no processo de aplicação dos critérios de elegibilidade e de seleção de estudantes de excelência. Este modelo endereça uma maior transparência no processo de seleção com evidências sobre quais os critérios de elegibilidade utilizado, permitindo assim maior confiança na monitorização da execução do processo. O resultado ou impacto desta transparência serve de catalisador do interesse por cumprir com os critérios de elegibilidade, promovendo assim dinâmicas junto do público alvo – o estudante do ensino superior com interesse em prosseguir os seus estudos. Pois, pretende-se que os candidatos sejam motivados pela interação comunicativa proporcionada pelo modelo proposto, transmitindo-lhes incentivos acrescidos para se empenharem mais e se tornarem estudantes elegíveis. Deste modo, o modelo apresenta uma proposta com um conjunto de funcionalidades inovadoras de forma a mitigar o risco de atribuição de bolsas a candidatos que não cumprem com os critérios de elegibilidade, recurso a técnicas de gamification com um conjunto de indicadores de monitorização da execução do processo. O modelo permite a realização de um rastreio automático na pesquisa dos estudantes de excelência, demostrando a preocupação do Estado em apoiar o estudante no acesso ao Ensino Superior.Nowadays, investment in Higher Education and the creation of incentive mechanisms for teaching quality has been growing. A particularly relevant approach in countries with urgent needs in terms of resource retention with a higher qualification. However, the training of a student corresponds to a long-term investment, especially when we talk about qualifications at the level of the 2nd and 3rd cycles of study. In order to promote dynamics to democratize access to 1st cycle studies (i.e., Undergraduate Degree), it is important to create fair and transparent mechanisms for the award of scholarships, thus ensuring the financial resources for all to achieve personal fulfilment in terms of obtaining an academic degree and therefore the acquisition of a body of knowledge that may contribute to the development of countries like Angola. Organizations (i.e., institutions and firms) invest in the training of their staff, based on the paradigm that qualified people are a valuable asset to the organization and to the community in which they belong. More qualified people contribute not only to increasing productivity but especially to improving the quality of the final product. Hence the need to create mechanisms and incentives for an effective investment in the academic formation of the student who finishes secondary education. Being the State one of the main actors in social, economic and scientific development, it is responsible for the operationalization of educational policies (for example, financial aid / scholarship) to help the student in access to Higher Education. However, the financial incentives for scholarships are limited resources so there must be rigorous mechanisms in the selection process of students who can benefit from a scholarship. The main objective of this research was to develop a model for the management of the scholarship assignment process, with the purpose of supporting Higher Education Institutions and other agents in the process of applying the eligibility criteria and selecting students of excellence. This model addresses a greater transparency in the selection process with evidence about the eligibility criteria used, thus allowing greater confidence in the monitoring of the execution of the process. The result or impact of this transparency serves as a catalyst for the interest in meeting the eligibility criteria, thus promoting dynamics among the target public - the student of higher education with an interest in pursuing their studies. For, candidates are expected to be motivated by the communicative interaction provided by 12 the proposed model, giving them increased incentives to engage more and become eligible students. Thus, the model presents a proposal with a set of innovative features in order to mitigate the risk of awarding scholarships to candidates who do not meet the eligibility criteria, using gamification techniques with a set of indicators to monitor the execution of the process. The model allows for an automatic screening in the research of the students of excellence, demonstrating the State's concern to support the student in the access to Higher Education

Fostering e-participation sustainability through a BPM-driven semantic model

According to a recent Eurobarometer survey (2014), 68% of Europeans tend not to trust national governments. As the increasing alienation of citizens from politics endangers democracy and welfare, governments, practitioners and researchers look for innovative means to engage citizens in policy matters. One of the measures intended to overcome the so-called democratic deficit is the promotion of civic participation. Digital media proliferation offers a set of novel characteristics related to interactivity, ubiquitous connectivity, social networking and inclusiveness that enable new forms of societal-wide collaboration with a potential impact on leveraging participative democracy. Following this trend, e-Participation is an emerging research area that consists in the use of Information and Communication Technologies to mediate and transform the relations among citizens and governments towards increasing citizens’ participation in public decision-making. However, despite the widespread efforts to implement e-Participation through research programs, new technologies and projects, exhaustive studies on the achieved outcomes reveal that it has not yet been successfully incorporated in institutional politics. Given the problems underlying e-Participation implementation, the present research suggested that, rather than project-oriented efforts, the cornerstone for successfully implementing e-Participation in public institutions as a sustainable added-value activity is a systematic organisational planning, embodying the principles of open-governance and open-engagement. It further suggested that BPM, as a management discipline, can act as a catalyst to enable the desired transformations towards value creation throughout the policy-making cycle, including political, organisational and, ultimately, citizen value. Following these findings, the primary objective of this research was to provide an instrumental model to foster e-Participation sustainability across Government and Public Administration towards a participatory, inclusive, collaborative and deliberative democracy. The developed artefact, consisting in an e-Participation Organisational Semantic Model (ePOSM) underpinned by a BPM-steered approach, introduces this vision. This approach to e-Participation was modelled through a semi-formal lightweight ontology stack structured in four sub-ontologies, namely e-Participation Strategy, Organisational Units, Functions and Roles. The ePOSM facilitates e-Participation sustainability by: (1) Promoting a common and cross-functional understanding of the concepts underlying e-Participation implementation and of their articulation that bridges the gap between technical and non-technical users; (2) Providing an organisational model which allows a centralised and consistent roll-out of strategy-driven e-Participation initiatives, supported by operational units dedicated to the execution of transformation projects and participatory processes; (3) Providing a standardised organisational structure, goals, functions and roles related to e-Participation processes that enhances process-level interoperability among government agencies; (4) Providing a representation usable in software development for business processes’ automation, which allows advanced querying using a reasoner or inference engine to retrieve concrete and specific information about the e-Participation processes in place. An evaluation of the achieved outcomes, as well a comparative analysis with existent models, suggested that this innovative approach tackling the organisational planning dimension can constitute a stepping stone to harness e-Participation value

A szemantikus folyamatmenedzsment hasznosítási lehetősége az üzleti folyamatok tudásalapú fejlesztésében

Kutatásomban a folyamatmenedzsment és a tudásmenedzsment területeit kapcsolom össze, célom ugyanis a folyamatmodellekből indulva feltárni a munkakörök betöltéséhez szükséges tudáselemeket, illetve ezek kinyerésének módszereit, majd ezekből ontológia építésével a tudástranszfer megvalósításához konkrét megoldást adni. A kutatás célja olyan informatikai és tudásmenedzsment eszköz kialakítása, amely képes a szervezeti tudásvagyont a szervezet folyamatait leképező folyamatmodellekből kinyerni, azt ontológiába leképezni, majd ezt a humán szereplők és az eredeti folyamat fejlesztésére hasznosítani. A fejlesztés alapja a folyamat referenciafolyamatokkal, best practice-ekkel való összehasonlítása, kiemelt fontosságot adva a feltárt tudáselemeknek és kompetenciáknak. A folyamatmodellek fejlesztése így nem csak a tradicionális BPR vagy CPI alapokon valósul meg, hiszen a klasszikus elvek kiegészülnek egy tudásalapú összehasonlítás fejlesztésre használható eredményével is. (...

Operations Management

Global competition has caused fundamental changes in the competitive environment of the manufacturing and service industries. Firms should develop strategic objectives that, upon achievement, result in a competitive advantage in the market place. The forces of globalization on one hand and rapidly growing marketing opportunities overseas, especially in emerging economies on the other, have led to the expansion of operations on a global scale. The book aims to cover the main topics characterizing operations management including both strategic issues and practical applications. A global environmental business including both manufacturing and services is analyzed. The book contains original research and application chapters from different perspectives. It is enriched through the analyses of case studies