Risk mitigation decisions for it security

Enterprises must manage their information risk as part of their larger operational risk management program. Managers must choose how to control for such information risk. This article defines the flow risk reduction problem and presents a formal model using a workflow framework. Three different control placement methods are introduced to solve the problem, and a comparative analysis is presented using a robust test set of 162 simulations. One year of simulated attacks is used to validate the quality of the solutions. We find that the math programming control placement method yields substantial improvements in terms of risk reduction and risk reduction on investment when compared to heuristics that would typically be used by managers to solve the problem. The contribution of this research is to provide managers with methods to substantially reduce information and security risks, while obtaining significantly better returns on their security investments. By using a workflow approach to control placement, which guides the manager to examine the entire infrastructure in a holistic manner, this research is unique in that it enables information risk to be examined strategically. © 2014 ACM

Behavioral Aspects and Collaboration Technologies for Process Innovation: A Grounded Theory Approach

The objective of this paper is to develop a framework for an understanding of process innovation (PI) in teams with collaborative technologies (CT’s) using a grounded theory (GT) approach. The scope of this paper is limited to teams within firms where goals are clearly mandated and constraints explicitly defined. Critical team functions such as communication, coordination and awareness are facilitated by the CT. A GT approach is proposed as a means of formulating a framework of behavioral aspects of such teams in order to capture the full range of interaction issues of people and information systems. The framework that is generated as a result of this study will contribute to an understating of team use of CTs as well as clarify the strategic value of information systems as a vehicle for constant improvement

Research Proposal

This research proposal shows that IT synergy is emerging as an important information systems research topic that is considered pertinent to the enduring research on the business value of IT. The proposal also puts forward the academic and practical significance of studying IT synergy. After a brief literature review, a tentative research model is proposed

EXPLORING A DOMAIN ONTOLOGY BASED APPROACH TO BUSINESS PROCESS DESIGN

Business process modeling is a critical area of business application as business processes increase in complexity and become more automated. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that business process modelers often misunderstand domain concepts or relationships due to a lack of precise domain knowledge. This semantic ambiguity problem often affects the efficiency and quality of business process modeling. To address this problem, we propose a domain ontology based approach (DOBA) to supporting business process design by capturing domain semantics with a meta model of process ontologies. DOBA provides a means to capture rich, semantic information on complex business processes, which enables the incorporation of domain specific ontologies to facilitate modeling of business processes. The validity of DOBA is demonstrated via a business case in electronic auctions. The DOBA approach represents a first step towards developing a formal methodology for ontology-based modeling and analysis in business process management

Towards an Understanding of the Business Value of Business Process Standardization - A Case Study Approach

What is the business value of process standardization? Alongside the development of industrial engineering of information technology and of business process redesign studied by Davenport and Short (1990), and Davenport’s approach defining business processes (Davenport, 2005), other researchers offer initial insights into business process standardization research opportunities (Venkatesh, 2006). Based on this new thinking about business process standardization, this paper presents a step towards understanding the business value of business process standardization. A single case study with a global operating company was conducted to show how a successful standardized business process and a supporting information system can impact the process performance in terms of cost, time and quality. The process studied within the case study is the company-wide recruiting process. As the results indicate, the company has improved the overall process performance. The results provide an initial insight into an understanding of the business value of process standardization

An Integrative framework of the factors affecting process model understanding : a learning perspective

Process models are used by information professionals to convey semantics about the business operations in a real world domain intended to be supported by an information system. The understandability of these models is vital to them actually being used. After all, what is not understood cannot be acted upon. Yet until now, understandability has primarily been defined as an intrinsic quality of the models themselves. Moreover, those studies that looked at understandability from a user perspective have mainly conceptualized users through rather arbitrary sets of variables. In this paper we advance an integrative framework to understand the role of the user in the process of understanding process models. Building on cognitive psychology, goal-setting theory and multimedia learning theory, we identify three stages of learning required to realize model understanding, these being Presage, Process, and Product. We define eight relevant user characteristics in the Presage stage of learning, three knowledge construction variables in the Process stage and three potential learning outcomes in the Product stage. To illustrate the benefits of the framework, we review existing process modeling work to identify where our framework can complement and extend existing studies

An Integrative Framework of the Factors Affecting Process Model Understanding: A Learning Perspective

Process models are used by information professionals to convey semantics about the business operations in a real world domain intended to be supported by an information system. The understandability of these models is vital to them actually being used. After all, what is not understood cannot be acted upon. Yet until now, understandability has primarily been defined as an intrinsic quality of the models themselves. Moreover, those studies that looked at understandability from a user perspective have mainly conceptualized users through rather arbitrary sets of variables. In this paper we advance an integrative framework to understand the role of the user in the process of understanding process models. Building on cognitive psychology, goal-setting theory and multimedia learning theory, we identify three stages of learning required to realize model understanding, these being Presage, Process, and Product. We define eight relevant user characteristics in the Presage stage of learning, three knowledge construction variables in the Process stage and three potential learning outcomes in the Product stage. To illustrate the benefits of the framework, we review existing process modeling work to identify where our framework can complement and extend existing studies

Infrastructure Operation Capability and Resilience of Domestic Airlines In Nigeria: Does Managerial Proactiveness Matter?

Resilient organisations continue to function no matter the odds, and adjust their internal mechanisms to have strategic fit with the business environment. Prior studies investigated the nexus between diverse variables and organisational resilience. Yet, there is scant empirical literature on the causal relationship between infrastructure operation capability and organisational resilience, with managerial proactiveness as a boundary condition; using domestic airlines in Nigeria as organisations of interest. Infrastructure operation capability was used as the independent variable, while the dependent variable, organisational resilience, was bifurcated into robustness and adaptability. It was postulated that infrastructure operation capability significantly promotes organisational resilience (robustness and adaptability); and managerial proactiveness significantly amplifies this relationship. Questionnaire was administered to 58 Managers and senior IT staff drawn from 6 domestic airlines. Quantitative data were obtained from 36 usable copies of the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were generated with the aid of the SPSS version 22.0, while the Partial Least Square - Structural Equation Modeling was deployed to test the measurement and structural aspects of the model, via SmartPLS 3.2.6. Findings reveal that infrastructure operation capability amplifies robustness and adaptability, while managerial proactiveness positively moderates the relationship between operation capability and the two facets of organisational resilience. The study recommends that domestic airlines in Nigeria should improve information system infrastructure and top executives should encourage proactiveness at the workplace. The study suggests that the model should be tested in other sectors with moderating variables such as size of investment in information system infrastructure, organizational structure and culture. Keywords: Infrastructure operation capability, organisational resilience, managerial proactivenes

IT STANDARD IMPLEMENTATION AND BUSINESS PROCESS OUTCOMES - AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF XML IN THE PUBLISHING INDUSTRY

Despite huge incentives and investments in information technology (IT) standards, many firms still fail to fully benefit from their implementations. To explain such failures, we examine why some firms benefit more from IT standard implementation than others. Specifically, we look at the implementation of the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) from a technological diffusion perspective, and investigate under what contextual conditions the extent of XML implementation has the greatest effect on business process outcomes. Using empirical data from the publishing industry (N=188), we find that the extent of XML implementation impacts business process outcomes, and both business process radicalness of XML implementation and related XML knowledge play moderating roles. For information systems (IS) practice, this study helps managers direct their attention to the most promising factors and elaborates on their differential effects on business process outcomes. For IS research, it integrates innovation diffusion theory into our current knowledge of IT implementation and provides theoretical explanations for XML implementation successes and failures