5,815 research outputs found
The uptake and application of workflow management systems in the UK financial services sector
Workflow management systems (WFMSs) are an important new technology, which are likely
to have a significant impact on the way in which clerical and administrative operations are
organised and executed. This paper seeks to investigate how WFMSs are being exploited
and utilised commercially by UK-based organisations operating in the financial services
sector. In-depth interviews were conducted with fourteen project managers to explore the
development, application and commercial implications of this powerful, yet flexible,
technology. The results indicate that workflow technology has the potential to facilitate
significant changes to the way in which an organisation conducts its business, through the
automation of a wide range of document-intensive operations. Furthermore, when applied in
a well-focussed manner it has the potential to realise significant increases in an
organisation’s flexibility, and productivity, as well as delivering major improvements to the
quality, speed and consistency of customer service
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Community Dimmensions of Learning Object Repositories. <i>Deliverable 1</i>: Report on Learning Communities and Repositories
New delivery model for non-profit organisations: shared computing services
Abstract: The current economic climate of funding stringency has intensified the need for non-profit organisations (NPOs) to find new delivery models of their services as a way of creating greater efficiencies and reducing costs. Consideration of improvement to their back-office operations is one way of addressing overheads associated with delivery functions of NPOs so that they can continue to focus on their core business activities. The overheads for back-office functions are much larger for smaller NPOs (by about 10-15 percent) than the larger ones and interest in sharing services could appeal to that sector. One approach to reduce overhead costs is for two or more NPOs to collaborate in sharing office space and office equipment and, in some instances, outsourcing some functions, for example, human resources and information technology. Currently, in New Zealand, there is very little engagement by NPOs in sharing services, particularly back office computing services. It was against this background that meetings with representatives of eight NPOs in Wellington, New Zealand, identified the challenges they were facing. These included funding, client management, compliance with reporting (financial and non-financial), financial management and control, governance, marketing and promotion and retention and management of staff and volunteers. Wellington City Council, as a significant funding agent of some local NPOs, commissioned an online survey with the aim of understanding the interest and readiness of NPOs in adopting shared computing services. The survey was developed collaboratively with the council, a computing charitable trust and a local university. The objectives of the survey were: to provide a snapshot of computing usage within the organisations, identify significant issues challenging the sector and understand their perceptions of shared computing services. The perceptions of the Wellington region NPO representatives (147 valid surveys) regarding shared services are reported in this paper. Results reveal the factors that drive the uptake of shared services within the non-profit sector, the benefits, barriers and priorities of sharing computing services and respondents’ views on their willingness to pay for a shared services arrangement. NPOs were positive regarding potential benefits of a shared services arrangement but recognised potential barriers of privacy and security, a need for contractual relationships, shared vision and compliance and standardisation. Priorities for a proposed shared services model were identified as finance and management of data and knowledge. The majority of respondents indicated they were willing to pay up to five percent of their budget for a shared services arrangement. These results provide a basis for further study as to the type of shared services model that organisations would find acceptable and render efficiencies and cost savings.Authors: Barbara Crump, Raja Peter Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand.Paper to be presented at the 7th European Conference on Information Management and Evaluation, Gdansk, 23-24 September 2013
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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
Artificial intelligence and UK national security: Policy considerations
RUSI was commissioned by GCHQ to conduct an independent research study into the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for national security purposes. The aim of this project is to establish an independent evidence base to inform future policy development regarding national security uses of AI. The findings are based on in-depth consultation with stakeholders from across the UK national security community, law enforcement agencies, private sector companies, academic and legal experts, and civil society representatives. This was complemented by a targeted review of existing literature on the topic of AI and national security.
The research has found that AI offers numerous opportunities for the UK national security community to improve efficiency and effectiveness of existing processes. AI methods can rapidly derive insights from large, disparate datasets and identify connections that would otherwise go unnoticed by human operators. However, in the context of national security and the powers given to UK intelligence agencies, use of AI could give rise to additional privacy and human rights considerations which would need to be assessed within the existing legal and regulatory framework. For this reason, enhanced policy and guidance is needed to ensure the privacy and human rights implications of national security uses of AI are reviewed on an ongoing basis as new analysis methods are applied to data
Reconciling visions and realities of virtual working: findings from the UK chemicals industry
The emergence of advanced technologies such as Grid computing will, some suggest, allow the final realisation of visions of virtual organisations. This will, according to its advocates, have entirely positive impacts, creating communities of experts, increasing flexibility, reducing the need for travel and making communications more efficient by crossing boundaries of time and space. Such predictions about future patterns of virtual working are, unfortunately, rarely grounded in real working practices, and often neglect to account for both the rich and varied interpretations that may exist of what constitutes virtual working and the constraints and concerns of those who would do it. This chapter gives attention to the consequences of different views over what virtuality might mean in practice and, in particular, considers virtuality in relation to customer and supplier relationships in a competitive and commercial context. The discussion is based upon a three year study that investigated contrasting visions of what was technically feasible and might be organisationally desirable in the UK Chemicals industry. Through interviews with managers and staff of companies both large and small that research provided insights into the different meanings that organisations attribute to the virtuality of work and to the acceptability of potential implementations of a middleware technology. It was found that interpretations of virtuality amongst the potential users and participants were strongly influenced by established work practices and by previous experiences of relationships-at-a-distance with suppliers and customers. There was a sharp contrast with the enthusiastic visions of virtual working that were already being encapsulated in the middleware by the technical developers; visions of internet-only interaction were perceived as rigid, alienating from well-established ways of working with suppliers and customers and unworkable. In this chapter we shall capture these differences by making a distinction amongst compet
Implementing Information Management Strategically: An Australian EDRMS Case Study
Organisations in both private and public sectors are increasingly becoming aware of the need to take a strategic approach to the management of corporate information and records. In this paper we present a case study of a successful Electronic Document and Records Management System (EDRMS) implementation within a major Australian capital city council. Guided by Ward and Peppard’s strategic systems framework (2002), the case study highlights a set of strategies which were responsible for the successful outcome of the implementation – and shows just how crucial it is for any organisation to bring with it the people and the processes involved in the creation, management and maintenance of records and information, if a centralised approach is to work over the longer term
Between the Information Economy and Student Recruitment: Present Conjuncture and Future Prospects
In university programs and curricula, in general we react to the need to meet
market needs. We respond to market stimulus, or at least try to do so. Consider
now an inverted view. Consider our data and perspectives in university programs
as reflecting and indeed presaging economic trends. In this article I pursue
this line of thinking. I show how various past events fit very well into this
new view. I provide explanation for why some technology trends happened as they
did, and why some current developments are important now.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure
The cultural impact of workflow management systems in the financial services sector
The implementation of information systems is increasingly resulting in significant
changes to the host organisation’s culture. In particular, the workflow management system
(WFMS) is one new technology that, because of its tendency to have a direct impact on the
organisation and execution of work, has the potential to significantly modify an organisation’s
culture. This qualitative research investigates the nature of the relationship between WFMS
and organisational culture, in the UK financial services sector The research concludes that
WFMS have the potential to modify culture in a positive way by improving the organisations
customer orientation, flexibility and quality focus
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