26,535 research outputs found
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UK Research Information Shared Service (UKRISS) Final Report, July 2014
The reporting of research information is a complex and expensive activity for research organisations (ROs). There is little alignment between funders of the reporting requests made to institutions and requests made to individual researchers about their research outputs and outcomes. This inevitably results in duplication and increased costs across the sector, whilst limiting the potential sharing and reuse of the information. The UK Research Information Shared Service (UKRISS) project conducted a feasibility and scoping study for the reporting of research information at a national level based on CERIF (Common European Research Information Format), with the objective of increasing efficiency, productivity and quality across the sector. The aim was to define and prototype solutions which are compelling, easy to use, have a low entry barrier, and support innovative information sharing and benchmarking. CERIF has emerged as the preferred format for expressing research information across Europe. To date, CERIF has been piloted for specific applications, but not as a format for reporting requirements across all UK ROs. The final report presents the work carried out by the UKRISS project, including requirements gathering, modelling and prototyping, as well as recommendation for sustainability. UKRISS was divided into two phases. Phase 1, mapping the reporting landscape, ran from March 2012 to December 2012. Phase 2, exploring delivery of potential solutions, began in February 2013 and ended in December 2013
ACCESS: An Inception Report
Imagine a world in which all groups of citizens coming together to realize some public benefit measure and communicate the character and consequences of their work. Imagine further that all those groups have adopted a common reporting system that enables their individual reports to be compared, thus creating powerful descriptions of the relative and collective performance of citizen association for public benefit. Imagine, too, that this common measuring and reporting carries across to all forms of public-private partnership and corporate social responsibility. This is the world envisioned by ACCESS.For the past 18 months a growing number of concerned actors have been meeting, studying, and testing opinion around one of the great structural weaknesses in the world's institutional infrastructure -- inefficient and weak social investment markets. This inception report sets out the results of this enquiry in the form of a proposal to establish a reporting standard for nonprofit organizations seeking to produce social, environmental and, increasingly, financial returns. The ACCESS Reporting standard is one important contribution to redressing a major global system weakness, but it is certainly not the only one. Nor is it one that can operate in isolation from other initiatives. Accordingly, the ACCESS proposed plan of work involves convening a global dialogue on NGO transparency, accountability and performance with the objective of promoting ACCESS and other practical solutions to the challenges of social investment and civil society accountability.This report sets out the background and rationale for these proposals. You will meet the ACCESS sponsors and pilot project partners. Parts of the report are descriptive and analytical but other parts are necessarily theoretical and technical in nature. We make no apology for this. Part of the reason that in 2003 the world does not yet have a reporting standard for social actors is that the theory and technique have not been mastered. For those with a strong orientation toward strategy and action, however, these aspects are presented as well
Encouraging Social Innovation Through Capital: Using Technology to Address Barriers
Outlines how technology can help foster a robust capital market for public education innovation by improving content, linking technology with face-to-face networks, and streamlining transactions. Suggests steps for government, foundations, and developers
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Implementing section 404 of the sarbanes oxley act: Recommendations for information systems organizations
Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act addresses the effectiveness of internal controls,
which in most organizations are either fully or partially automated due to the pervasiveness
and ubiquity of information technologies. Significant or material control deficiencies have to be
reported publicly. The adverse impact on organizations declaring deficiencies can be severe, for
example, damage to reputation and/or market value. While there are many practitioner-led manuals
and methods for dealing with 404, there has been little published in the academic research
literature investigating the role of Information Systems organizations in implementing Section
404. The paper addresses this gap in knowledge. We used institutional theory as the lens through
which to examine the experiences of Section 404 implementation in three global organizations.
We used the case study method and an abductive strategy to gather and analyze data respectively.
Our findings are summarized in six recommendations. We found that institutional pressures play
a critical role in the implementation of Section 404. In particular, organizations face coercive
pressure to achieve Section 404 compliance, without which punitive sanctions can be imposed by
regulators. Organizations tend to imitate one another in the methods they use so that each is perceived
to be in line with their competitive environment. Organizations face normative pressures to
act in ways that are socially acceptable, which is to achieve compliance. Failure to do so would
be a signal to the market that the organization does not take controls seriously. We expand these
findings in terms of power and influence tactics that IS organizations can use when implementing
Section 404. Our findings provide directions for practice and lines of enquiry for further research
A Strategy for the Commons: Business-driven Networks for Collective Action and Policy Dialogue. The Example of Global Compact Local Networks
The current challenges involved with ensuring
global sustainability are daunting.
Climate change is increasing the incidence
of severe weather events, natural resources
are undergoing rapid depletion, labor conditions
in global supply chains are often inhumane
and degrading, and corruption around
the globe is undermining competition and
destroying wealth. These and other global
challenges pose serious problems not only to
mankind in general, but also to the sustainability
of companies. Indeed, companies rely
on enabling environments, local and global
alike, for long-term success. Companies depend
on a reliable legal framework conducive
to investment and competition, a healthy
and viable natural environment, and a secure
social environment that facilitates the wellbeing
of its inhabitants. However, given the
overexploitation of shared resources, also
known as the “tragedy of the commons,”
companies often find it difficult to address
global sustainability challenges and invest
in enabling environments. All sustainability
challenges face this tragedy: Although each
societal actor ought to have an interest in creating
or ensuring the viability of these common
goods, the incentive to “free ride” on the
efforts of others and let them bear the costs
is exceedingly high. As a result, short-term
profit maximization often damages the longterm
growth prospects of companies. Since
governments lack the capacity to address the
complexity and global scope of sustainability
challenges alone, a “strategy for the commons”
is needed that allows companies, governments
and other actors to overcome the
free rider dilemma and invest in sustainable
development
Understanding the potential role of membership organisations in the sustainable spread of innovation
Innovation must be defined as "change for the better" rather than as mere 'novelty' or "change for change's sake". Membership organisations have a key role to play in the cost effective spread of innovation. The best ways to spread innovation are by individual mentoring between colleagues in the same organisation, peer support, and informal networking between practitioners. But i) innovation can only flourish if the organisational culture is right; ii) changing an organisation's culture to one that supports innovation has to be done from the inside; iii) lack of time to innovate is a key constraint
Bringing the OpenMI to LIFE Progress Report No. 4 - 31st March 2008 – 30th September 2008
The Water Framework Directive demands an integrated approach to water management. This requires the ability to predict how catchment processes will behave and interact in response to the activities of water managers and others. In most contexts, it is not feasible to build a single predictive model that adequately represents all the processes; therefore a means of linking models of individual processes is required. This is met by the FP5 HarmonIT project’s Open Modelling Interface and Environment (the OpenMI). The purpose of this project is to transform the OpenMI from a research output to a sustainable operational Standard. It will build the capacity to use the OpenMI and will demonstrate it under operational conditions. It will also develop, test and demonstrate the future support organisation for the OpenMI. Finally, information about the OpenMI will be disseminated to users
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