Research, Design, and Validation of a Normative Enterprise Architecture for Guiding End-to-End, Emergency Response Services

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis and overview of a multipart research study involving the design, exploration, and validation of an enterprise architecture and framework. The methodology includes the use of two case studies and validation through a national conference. While the authors have reported on the elements of this research, only recently has its completion allowed for this synthesis and overview of the process and outcomes. A normative architecture, developed from comparative cases involving San Mateo County and Mayo Clinic Emergency Medical Services systems, provides a collection of characteristics that guides an emergency response system to operate as a high performance system. At a national symposium, academics and practitioners involved in promoting effective emergency response information systems provided validation for the architecture and next steps for enhancing emergency response information systems. Normative architecture characteristics and symposium findings are integrated into a framework that offers an enterprise approach for delivering time-critical emergency response services

The issues of enterprise growth in transition and post-transition period: the case of Polish 'Elektrim'

Case study of Polish company Elektrim illustrates the changing basis of growth of enterprises between the transition and post-transition periods. Elektrim grew primarily through conglomeration in the transition period. After the exhaustion of this mode of growth Elektrim has started to focus on a few core areas (telecoms, cables, energy). The strategic shift to telecommunications has been based on partnerships with foreign firms and it is likely that this will be the pattern in other areas. In this respect, the case of Elektrim shows the importance of internationalisation for the growth of enterprises in CEE. Based on the case study the paper draws several analytical issues: First, Elektrim's shift from conglomeration to focusing suggests that the institutional context, which drives firm strategy in post-socialist economies like Poland, is, perhaps, also changing. Second, in order to grow Elektrim is forced to enter into equity relationships and partnerships like with French Vivendi. This suggests that the possibilities for firm growth in post-socialist economies, like Poland, through generic expansion are still fewer when compared to growth based on mergers & acquisitions or different forms of alliances. Third, Elektrim's relationship with government is complex and refutes the simplified dichotomy of markets vs. governments. This raises the issue of to what extent post-socialist governments operate as a 'compensatory mechanism' on which firms like Elektrim can rely to grow. Fourth, the opening of the CEECs has led to relocations of EU and other MNCs into this region with the result that they are also transferring the oligopolistic competition from EU into new markets. The case of Elektrim shows how CEE companies and goverment regulations become factors in the oligopolistic competition between big EU companies. CEE companies and governments may use this competition to their advantage but also their limited bargaining powers may lead to outcomes unfavourable to them

Improving IT Enabled Continuity of Care Across Pre- Hospital and Hospital Settings

Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are often the patients’ first contact with the health care system. These services are a collaborative effort between several organizations providing different levels of care. These services are also multi-organizational, process oriented, and information dependent. As a result, a significant challenge exists in these fastpaced environments in terms of collecting and handing-off accurate and timely patient information from one care provider to the next. Consequently, there is a significant need for technology-enabled process improvement initiatives and guiding frameworks for streamlining information hand-offs across pre-hospital and hospital settings. This multi-method study explores the current state and potential improvements of technology-enabled pre-hospital to hospital information hand-offs in the State of California (CA). A questionnaire was administered to EMS leaders across the State. Qualitative interviews and focus group discussions were then conducted on two CA county EMS systems to explore potential improvements and to construct a set of principles to guide system development to support emergency care processes. A set of design principles, guidelines, themes, and end-user needs are presented and future research directions discussed

Generative mechanisms of IT-enabled organisational performance in resource-constrained Emergency Medical Services organisations in South Africa

Problem Statement: Emergency medical services (EMS) organisations have one of the highest levels of dependence on and use of information technology (IT) to support delivery of emergency medical services. The need for EMS organisations to provide efficient and effective emergency medical services has emphasised the importance of performance management. Organisational performance which is monitored and evaluated through key performance indicators (KPIs) plays an important role in EMS organisations. Organisational performance helps to monitor, evaluate and communicate outcomes in the form of KPIs. Empirical evidence shows that quantitative KPIs have been designed with little in-depth understanding of the underlying IT usage mechanisms that influence organisational performance. Unfortunately, such quantitative KPI reports have been limited in explaining organisational performance underpinned by IT. Purpose / rationale of the research: The purpose of this research study was to identify the generative mechanisms associated with IT-enabled organisational performance and to explain how these mechanisms interact. In the context of resource-constrained EMS organisations, quantitatively defined KPIs are not suitable for explaining the underlying causes of performance variations and outcomes. The lack of empirical evidence on IT-enabled organisational performance as well as the lack of theoretical explanations of the underlying mechanisms provided the primary rationale for this study. In addition, this study sought to provide answers to the following research question: What generative mechanisms explain IT-enabled organisational performance in resource-constrained EMS organisations? Theoretical approach/methodology/design: This study was informed by the critical realist philosophy of science and used the complex adaptive systems theory together with institutional theory as the theoretical lenses to investigate the research question in a manner that jointly explained the generative mechanisms. Using interviews, participant observation, organisational performance data and documents collected from a single case study, the study used abduction and retroduction techniques to explicate the mechanisms of IT-enabled organisational performance. Findings: Findings indicate that the IT-enabled organisational performance mechanisms can be categorised into two types of generative mechanisms. These are structural and coordination mechanisms. The explanation of the mechanisms developed in this study take into consideration three important elements: (1) the technological, cultural and structural mechanisms that influence IT-enabled organisational performance; (2) the unpredictable, non-linear, adaptive nature of emergency medical services environments; and (3) the complexities that arise in the interactions between EMS organisations and their environments. Originality/contribution: In respect of IT-enabled organisational performance this study contributes to both organisational and health information systems literature by developing a multi-level research framework that is informed by the realist philosophical stance. The framework plays an explanatory role which relates to its inherent ability to offer explanatory insights into the necessary mechanisms that give rise to organisational performance. This framework has the potential to guide empirical research and provide theoretical explanations of different domains or disciplines that are concerned with identifying IT usage mechanisms which influence organisational performance. These include the significance of the coordination and structural mechanisms which, under differing conditions of uncertainty, produce variations in performance outcomes. Implications: Findings from this study can be integrated into broader emergency medical policy planning and health programme management. The model developed by the study provides a fresh understanding of the underpinning mechanisms enabling performance in resource-constrained EMS organisations. It can be used to assist emergency medical institutions and practitioners in South Africa and other sub-Saharan African countries, especially Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries to improve emergency medical service delivery to the public. The findings provide a guide for improving management of emergency medical situations and resources in their respective resource-constrained contexts. Furthermore, findings from the study can also guide improved design and implementation strategies and policies of EMS systems initiatives in South Africa and sub-Saharan developing countries

Public Use of an Online Advanced Traveler Guidance Information System: Trust in the e-Service and the Agency

Public transit system web sites have become a tool of choice for many citizens to obtain transit route information and to assist with trip planning. For many of these citizens, the web interface has become the only method of communication with the public service agency and the primary method of obtaining information about transit services. This model-based, multi-method study analyzes of data from more than 450 survey respondents and 155 focus group participants, seeks to understand the end user citizen trust experience in their interaction with e-government transit web sites. Results of this e-service study provide useful insights into how citizen perceptions of the transit service and transit agencies are affected through web site e-service use

Point-to-Multipoint Communication Enablers for the Fifth Generation of Wireless Systems

(c) 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.[EN] 3GPP has enhanced the point-to-multipoint (PTM) communication capabilities of 4G LTE in all releases since the adoption of eMBMS in Release-9. Recent enhancements cover not only television services, but also critical machine-type and vehicular communications, following the backward-compatibility design philosophy of LTE. This article discusses the opportunity in the design and standardization of 5G to break with the existing paradigm for PTM transmissions in 4G LTE, where broadcast PTM transmissions were initially conceived as an add-on and pre-positioned service. 5G brings the opportunity to incorporate PTM capabilities as built-in delivery features from the outset, integrating point-to-point and PTM modes under one common framework and enabling dynamic use of PTM to maximize network and spectrum efficiency. This approach will open the door to completely new levels of network management and delivery cost efficiency. The article also discusses the implications of PTM for network slicing to customize and optimize network resources on a common 5G infrastructure to accommodate different use cases and services taking into account user densityThis work was supported in part by the European Commission under the 5G-PPP project Broadcast and Multicast Communication Enablers for the Fifth-(H2020-ICT-2016-2 call, grant number 761498). The views expressed in this contribution are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the project.Generation of Wireless Systems 5G-XcastGomez-Barquero, D.; Navratil, D.; Appleby, S.; Stagg, M. (2018). Point-to-Multipoint Communication Enablers for the Fifth Generation of Wireless Systems. IEEE Communications Standards Magazine. 2(1):53-59. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOMSTD.2018.170006953592

The Tyranny of Distance Prevails: HTTP protocol latency and returns to fast fibre internet access network deployment in remote economies

As public policies seek to advance deployment of enhanced broadband infrastructure as a means of acquiring economic advantage the issue has arisen of the extent that additional economic performance accrues from increases in headline bandwidth speed in locations that are physically remote from the infrastructure hosting time-critical information services.For time-dependent applications latency (the time delay in accessing data across a network) is correlated with the effective bandwidth (the actual speed of access) and thus impacts upon the economic performance of the application to the user. We extrapolated data for interactive web-based applications from Belshe (2010) where latency was found to substantially reduce the effective bandwidth available to the user of a typical web-based application to estimate the effective bandwidth over a range of headline bandwidths and latencies typical of web-based transacting patterns in New Zealand. We find that the decreasing returns on effective bandwidth as headline bandwidth increases are further exacerbated by the higher levels of latency experienced as a consequence of New Zealand's distance from the bulk of the global infrastructure supporting web-based applications. The benefits of enhancing headline bandwidth through new forms of faster infrastructure were substantially reduced by the impact of the latencies typically experienced by New Zealand users accessing remote web-based applications and thus the economic benefits expected from investment in infrastructure in accessing those applications most impacting economic performance is likely to have been exaggerated; providing an insight into a constraint upon cloud computing and other web-enabled information systems

Public Use of an Online Advanced Traveler Guidance Information System: Trust in the e-Service and the Agency

Public transit system web sites have become a tool of choice for many citizens to obtain transit route information and to assist with trip planning. For many of these citizens, the web interface has become the only method of communication with the public service agency and the primary method of obtaining information about transit services. This model-based, multi-method study analyzes data from more than 450 survey respondents and twenty-four focus group participants, seeks to understand the end user citizen trust experience in their interaction with e-government transit web sites. Results of this e-service study provide useful insights into how citizen perceptions of the transit service and transit agencies are affected through web site e-service use

ARCHITECTURE CONCEPTS FOR VALUE NETWORKS IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY

Value networks are one of the main forms of value creation today. Suppliers, manufacturers and customers form a dynamic collaboration structure. Networks and companies alike are always subject to external and internal influences which require changes in the way things are done. To make sure that the required changes take their intended effect, they have to be implemented on all levels of the enterprise architecture (EA). Research with respect to EA in value networks in the service industry (VNSI) is only in its beginnings. To understand the state of the art, we analyzed 88 papers with respect to the architecture layers in VNSI. Since we base on the fact that a successful introduction of change, e.g. new IT solutions, requires a holistic view on EA, we analyzed the papers according to their covering of the different levels of an EA. Our hypothesis is that most of the papers only cover very specific aspects without positioning their proposed solution in a holistic context. We propose a reference model based on a literature review as well as the results of the paper analysis. This reference model allows for a positioning of solutions in a holistic context and with that adds to a better basis for implementing change in VNSI