Improving Data-Driven Decision Making through Human-Centered Knowledge Sharing

This research focuses on human-centered knowledge sharing within data-driven decision-making processes enabled by advanced analytics. The paper describes an exploratory study of an innovative approach to ongoing improvement of complex data-driven decision making processes found in a large retail distribution company by considering a complex interplay of business intelligence (BI) /business analytics, business processes and human-centered knowledge management. Using the relevant IS frameworks as analytical lens the paper investigates the evolving relationship between decision-making and decision-support technology, as well as the relationship among information, decisions and the corresponding business processes in this context. The most important finding of this research is in identification of human-centered knowledge sharing as the key success factor for ongoing improvement of BI-enabled decision making in the case organisation, rather than complex technology. This in turn indicates the significance of various organisational factors, including carefully designed and implemented human-resource (HR) strategies to encourage knowledge sharing among decision makers using advanced analytics systems. Finally, this paper also confirms the latest industry reports that more mature analytical organisations are looking beyond technology and focusing on business-related issues as the next source of competitive advantage, as it was the case with our chosen organisation

Electronic Pedagogy and Future University Business Models

Based on the International Conference on Information Systems’ (ICIS) 2014 senior scholars’ forum, we share insights on the relationship between evolving university business models and the adoption of electronic pedagogy. In recent years, particularly with the initiation of MOOCs, the potential for delivering high-quality and widely distributed coursework has expanded. However, particular instances of MOOCs and other electronic pedagogies do not guarantee equally high-quality educational outcomes for all participants. For example, some studies have suggested that most individuals completing MOOC coursework already have baccalaureate degrees, which contrasts with the idea that individuals undertake such coursework as a substitute for traditional degree programs. With this paper, we present varied experiences and views on using electronic pedagogy and report on both the conclusions and new questions raised about adopting these technologies for universities

From Mass Customization to Collaborative Customer CoDesign

The idea of integrating users into the design and production process is a promising strategy for companies being forced to react to the growing individualization of demand. The use of e-business applications has been discussed as a approach for mass customization for over one decade. There is a huge amount of literature on manufacturing and information systems for mass customization. However, there has been little research looking at the role of the customer within the co-design process. Customers face new uncertainties and risks (“mass confusion”) when acting as co-designers. We discuss possible risks evolving during the interaction between customers and suppliers. We propose solutions for the “mass confusion” problem, and we challenge the assumption made by most mass customization researchers that offering customized products requires an individual (one-to-one) relationship between the customer and the supplier. We envision a different way of addressing the problem by using communities instead of one-to-one relationships. The objective of our paper is to build and explore the idea of communities for customer co-design

Continuous monitoring of enterprise risks: A delphi feasibility study

A constantly evolving regulatory environment, increasing market pressure to improve operations, and rapidly changing business conditions are creating the need for ongoing assurance that organizational risks are continually and adequately mitigated. Enterprises are perpetually exposed to fraud, poor decision making and/or other inefficiencies that can lead to significant financial loss and/or increased levels of operating risk. Increasingly, Information Systems are being harnessed to reinvent the risk management process. One promising technology is Continuous Auditing, which seeks to transform the audit process from periodic reviews of a few transactions to a continuous review of all transactions. However, the highly integrated, rapidly changing and hypercompetitive business environment of many corporations spawns numerous Enterprise Risks that have been excluded from standard risk management processes. An extension of Continuous Auditing is Continuous Monitoring, which is used by management to continually review business processes for unexpected deviations. Using a Delphi, the feasibility and desirability of applying Continuous Monitoring to different Enterprise Risks is studied. This study uncovers a significant relationship between the perceived business value of Continuous Monitoring and years of experience in Risk Management and Auditing, determines that all key architectural components for a Continuous Monitoring system are known, and indicates that Continuous Monitoring may be better suited for monitoring computer crime than monitoring strategic risks such as the loss of a competitive position

Biology of Applied Digital Ecosystems

A primary motivation for our research in Digital Ecosystems is the desire to exploit the self-organising properties of biological ecosystems. Ecosystems are thought to be robust, scalable architectures that can automatically solve complex, dynamic problems. However, the biological processes that contribute to these properties have not been made explicit in Digital Ecosystems research. Here, we discuss how biological properties contribute to the self-organising features of biological ecosystems, including population dynamics, evolution, a complex dynamic environment, and spatial distributions for generating local interactions. The potential for exploiting these properties in artificial systems is then considered. We suggest that several key features of biological ecosystems have not been fully explored in existing digital ecosystems, and discuss how mimicking these features may assist in developing robust, scalable self-organising architectures. An example architecture, the Digital Ecosystem, is considered in detail. The Digital Ecosystem is then measured experimentally through simulations, with measures originating from theoretical ecology, to confirm its likeness to a biological ecosystem. Including the responsiveness to requests for applications from the user base, as a measure of the 'ecological succession' (development).Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure, conferenc

Digital Ecosystems: Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures

We view Digital Ecosystems to be the digital counterparts of biological ecosystems. Here, we are concerned with the creation of these Digital Ecosystems, exploiting the self-organising properties of biological ecosystems to evolve high-level software applications. Therefore, we created the Digital Ecosystem, a novel optimisation technique inspired by biological ecosystems, where the optimisation works at two levels: a first optimisation, migration of agents which are distributed in a decentralised peer-to-peer network, operating continuously in time; this process feeds a second optimisation based on evolutionary computing that operates locally on single peers and is aimed at finding solutions to satisfy locally relevant constraints. The Digital Ecosystem was then measured experimentally through simulations, with measures originating from theoretical ecology, evaluating its likeness to biological ecosystems. This included its responsiveness to requests for applications from the user base, as a measure of the ecological succession (ecosystem maturity). Overall, we have advanced the understanding of Digital Ecosystems, creating Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures where the word ecosystem is more than just a metaphor.Comment: 39 pages, 26 figures, journa

Understanding Occupational and Skill Demand in New Jersey's Finance Industry

The finance industry in New Jersey employs over 200,000 people. Many more workers benefit from the state's proximity to the finance industry in New York City. Jobs in the industry are evolving rapidly in response to national and global trends, such as deregulation, increasingly complex laws, and new technologies. As jobs change, skill requirements for both entry-level and incumbent workers increase. This report summarizes the skill, knowledge, and educational requirements of key finance occupations and identifies strategies for meeting the workforce challenges facing the industry

A programme management approach for ensuring coherence in IS (higher) education

This paper examines IS higher education, concentrating on issues of ‘coherence’ in IS curricula. While curriculum coherence can be jeopardized by poor curriculum design, misalignment between module content and/or misalignment between module or course aims can cause serious coherence issues over time. Misalignment of this type is exacerbated by the traditional processes of curriculum (re)design, which rely heavily on the (singular) interpretation of highly abstract documents, such as module syllabi and course specifications – often produced by curriculum designers in isolation. To improve curriculum coherence, this paper examines the use of a programme management framework as a means of (a) ‘humanizing’ the abstract aims and goals of curricula schemes and (b) managing the delivery and evolution of curricula in relation to the stakeholders in the process of delivery. The practical use of the framework is examined in the context of a Masters-level course in ‘Information Systems Management’. An action research approach is used to demonstrate the practical utility of the framework in terms of (a) improving communication of curricula, (b) improving the coherence between modules and between modules and course and (c) removing content redundancy. Guidelines are presented that generalize the findings in order that key practices may be adopted by others

Business Policy Modeling and Enforcement in Relational Database Systems

Database systems maintain integrity of the stored information by ensuring that modifications to the database comply with constraints designed by the administrators. As the number of users and applications sharing a common database increases, so does the complexity of the set of constraints that originate from higher level business processes. The lack of a systematic mechanism for integrating and reasoning about a diverse set of evolving and potentially interfering policies manifested as database level constraints makes corporate policy management within relational systems a chaotic process. In this thesis we present a systematic method of mapping a broad set of process centric business policies onto database level constraints. We exploit the observation that the state of a database represents the union of all the states of every ongoing business process and thus establish a bijective relationship between progression in individual business processes and changes in the database state space. We propose graphical notations that are equivalent to integrity constraints specified in linear temporal logic of the past. Furthermore we demonstrate how this notation can accommodate a wide array of workflow patterns, can allow for multiple policy makers to implement their own process centric constraints independently using their own logical policy models, and can model check these constraints within the database system to detect potential conflicting constraints across several different business processes. A major contribution of this thesis is that it bridges several different areas of research including database systems, temporal logics, model checking, and business workflow/policy management to propose an accessible method of integrating, enforcing, and reasoning about the consequences of process-centric constraints embedded in database systems. As a result, the task of ensuring that a database continuously complies with evolving business rules governed by hundreds of processes, which is traditionally handled by an army of database programmers regularly updating triggers and batch procedures, is made easier, more manageable, and more predictable

Environmental modelling of the Chief Information Officer

Since the introduction of the term in the 1980’s, the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has been widely researched. Various perceptions and dimensions of the role have been explored and debated. However, the explosion in data proliferation (and the inevitable resulting information fuelled change) further complicates organisational expectations of the CIOs role. If organisations are to competitively exploit the digital trend, then those charged with recruiting and developing CIOs now need to be more effective in determining (and shaping) CIO traits and attributes, within the context of their own organisational circumstances and in line with stakeholder expectations. CIOs also need to determine their own suitability and progression within their chosen organisation if they are to remain motivated and effective. Before modelling the role of the future CIO, it is necessary to synthesise our current knowledge (and the lessons learnt) about the CIO. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and summate the spectrum of key researched ‘themes’ pertaining to the role of the CIO. Summating previous research, themes are modelled around four key CIO ‘dimensions’, namely (1) Impacting factors, (2) Controlling factors (3) Responses and (4) CIO ‘attributes’. Having modelled the CIOs current environment, and recognising the evolving IT enabled information landscape, the authors call for further research to inform the recruitment and development of the future CIO in terms of personal attributes and the measurable impact such attributes will have on their respective organisation