Coupling Enterprise Planning with the Creation of the Conceptual Schema in Database Design

Enterprise Planning is a structured approach to help a corporation establish an information system plan at a high enough level of abstraction to model the primary business sub-systems and applications. Whether the planning technique is the popular IBM Business Systems Planning (BSP) (IBM, 1984) or one of its derivatives, such as strategic information systems planning (Lederer and Sethi, 1992) the deliverables include the identification of the major business processes, their associated data classes, and the applications to which the business processes and data classes belong. The association among these three elements in BSP is referred to as the Information Architecture. The assumption is that the planning deliverables will be used throughout the rest of the SDLC, beginning in a top-down fashion in the analysis phase of development. The first stage of database development following enterprise planning is the identification and specification of subject databases and the development of a logical model to support the conceptual schema and its external schemas. The development of subject databases is frequently performed with a bottom-up approach, using hierarchical clustering in which entities are grouped together into databases according to their common participation in business processes. Tools such as enhanced ER diagrams (Elmasri, 1994) are most commonly used for the logical model. The development of the conceptual view and its implementation as the conceptual schema is also a bottom-up effort in that it is, at the least, the integration of all of the user views. It is tempting to carry out both of these database development efforts in a purely bottom-up approach, with little reference to previous enterprise planning. The temptation to disregard what has occurred during planning becomes greater with increased emphasis on prototyping and the misuse of rapid application development. The difficulty of applying data modeling to the entire enterprise has been noted (Scheer and Hars, 1992). The top-down/bottom-up dichotomy creates a coupling mismatch between enterprise planning and logical database development. This has been noted by many authors and with respect to BSP by Barlow, 1990. This mismatch can result in one of two reactions. The first is a reliance on ad hoc methods to couple planning and analysis. The second is to de-emphasize the outcome of the planning process or worse --to merely give lip service to i

Culture Development Planning in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (Management Planning of Cultural Heritage in Kotagede District Based on Community Empowerment Conservation Model)

The Special Region of Yogyakarta is a cultural rich city with excellent cultural resources. Yogyakarta should manage their assets with long-term planning to keep the sustainability. There is a very unique planning process due to a combination of political, technocratic, participatory, top down and bottom up approaches. This planning process is comprehensive or integrated because its involved many actor from multisectoral, multidisciplinary, multi regulatory, and multi planning documents, etc. Local wisdoms have been coloring the planning documents. This study describe and analyze the cultural development planning in Yogyakarta especially on the Management Planning in Kotagede Cultural Heritage District. We used qualitative descriptive approach methods and Miles and Huberman analysis methods. Participation of community and Non Governmental Organization (NGO) in conservation planning of cultural heritage in this area is very significant in simplify the government task because people have been more literate in planning, have database of cultural assets, and capable of making their own decisions for the future of the region. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) dan Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) were integrated in the planning process of Kotagede Heritage District management, thus it becomes a model of cultural heritage with community empowerment-based conservation. Keywords: culture development planning, comprehensive planning, heritage cultural district, community empowerment-based conservation

Integration of Tactical Aspects into Strategic Production Network Planning

Nowadays, production companies are facing an increasingly volatile environment. Due to increasing globalization, but also de-globalization, taking into consideration an internal production network is becoming more and more important for companies, all in order to be able to counteract in an agile way the uncertainties such as swings in the demand. Current production network planning procedures focus on (re-)locating decisions without delving into what happens inside the plants, neglecting the dynamics of production networks, following a rigid top-down approach during the configuration phase, and they do not integrate the effects of planning tasks at the factory level (tactical and operational planning). In order to be able to make strategic decisions with a well-founded database regarding the production network, the effects on the tactical and operational level must be considered in an iterative way during the strategic decision-making process. The aim of this research is to define the requirements for an approach to strategic production network planning, which considers the effects at the tactical and operational level in an iterative way, and to develop a process model, derived from the requirements, that in its five phases considers the deficiencies of the existing approaches

THE FOREST, AND MILITARY ASPECTS OF A TERRAIN – FOREST HEIGHT, CANOPY COVER AND VISIBILITY IN ESTONIA

Most military activities need good concealment from a top down view, i.e. from surveillance carried out by flying assets 1. On the one hand, well hidden positions and sites are to be expected in forested areas. However, depending on the height of the trees and crown parameters as well as the tree species’ composition, the concealing effect can be rather different. Even large scale maps used by mili tary terrain analysts do not give detailed information that would help do estimate concealment in a particular forested area, and certain map sheets can be outdated. Useful information about Estonian forest stands can be found in the forest manage ment inventory database. However, the purpose of this database is to support forest management; therefore, it does not directly contribute to the planning of military operations. Still, a sufficiently high precision—temporal and spatial—makes it a very useful source for military terrain operation planning. On the whole, there is a need to define some general rules for analysts that can be used for interpreting forest inven tory data. The aim of this paper is to discuss forest parameters that determine vertical concealment. In addition, the article includes some basic tables, relationships and a conclusion about the concealing effect of Estonian forest

AN INTELLIGENT SYSTEM FOR FORMULATING LINEAR PROGRAMS

The research and system development work described in this paper is aimed at overcoming some of the problems associated with the development of large, complex linear programming problems. The most overwhelming problem is that of size. It is not uncommon for large planning and policy analysis problems to have tens of thousands of constraints and activities. Matrix generator systems have been designed to help in this process. However, the amount of manual labor involved is still very great and the formulation process is subject to errors which are difficult to detect. We provide an overview of a system which uses artificial intelligence and database techniques to help a knowledgeable user formulate large linear programs. The system automates many of the tedious processes associated with large-scale modeling and provides a top-down development environment with a number of different forms of problem representation.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Virtual Decoupling for IT/Business Alignment - Conceptual Foundations, Architecture Design and Implementation Example

IT/business alignment is one of the main topics of information systems research. If IT artifacts and business-related artifacts are coupled point-to-point, however, complex architectures become unmanageable over time. In computer science, concepts like the ANSI/SPARC three-level database architecture propose an architecture layer which decouples external views on data and the implementation view of data. In this paper, a similar approach for IT/business alignment is proposed. The proposed alignment architecture is populated by enterprise services as elementary artifacts. Enterprise services link software components and process activities. They are aggregated into applications and subsequently into domains for planning/design and communication purposes. Most design approaches for the construction of enterprise services, applications and domains are top-down, i.e. they decompose complex artifacts on a stepwise basis. As an alternative which takes into account coupling semantics, we propose a bottom-up approach which is demonstrated for the identification of domains. Our approach is evaluated using a telecommunications equipment case stud

Technology adoption in the BIM implementation for lean architectural practice

Justification for Research: the construction companies are facing barriers and challenges in BIM adoption as there is no clear guidance or best practice studies from which they can learn and build up their capacity for BIM use in order to increase productivity, efficiency, quality, and to attain competitive advantages in the global market and to achieve the targets in environmental sustainability. Purpose: this paper aims to explain a comprehensive and systemic evaluation and assessment of the relevant BIM technologies as part of the BIM adoption and implementation to demonstrate how efficiency gains have been achieved towards a lean architectural practice. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research is undertaken through a KTP (Knowledge transfer Partnership) project between the University of Salford and the John McCall Architects based in Liverpool, which is an SME (Small Medium Enterprise). The overall aim of KTP is to develop Lean Design Practice through the BIM adoption and implementation. The overall BIM implementation approach uses a socio-technical view in which it does not only consider the implementation of technology but also considers the socio-cultural environment that provides the context for its implementation. The technology adoption methodology within the BIM implementation approach is the action research oriented qualitative and quantitative research for discovery, comparison, and experimentation as the KTP project with JMA provides an environment for “learning by doing” Findings: research has proved that BIM technology adoption should be undertaken with a bottom-up approach rather than top-down approach for successful change management and dealing with the resistance to change. As a result of the BIM technology adoption, efficiency gains are achieved through the piloting projects and the design process is improved through the elimination of wastes and value generation. Originality/Value: successful BIM adoption needs an implementation strategy. However, at operational level, it is imperative that professional guidelines are required as part of the implementation strategy. This paper introduces a systematic approach for BIM technology adoption based on a case study implementation and it demonstrates a guideline at operational level for other SME companies of architectural practices

Information technology and urban green analysis

It is well recognized that green area plays a pivotal role in improving urban environment, such as preserving water and soil, controlling temperature and humidity of air, preventing pollution, flood prevention, functioning as buffers between incompatible land uses, preserving natural habitat, and providing space for recreation and relaxation. However, due to pressures from new development both in urban fringes and urban centres, urban green and open spaces are seen to be rapidly declining in term of allocated spaces and quality. Without careful urban land use planning, many open spaces will be filled with residential and commercial buildings. Therefore, there is a need for proper planning control to ensure that the provisions of green spaces are adequately being conserved for current and future generations. The need for an urban green information system is particularly important for strategic planning at macro level and local planning at the micro level. The advent of information technology has created an opportunity for the development of new approaches in preserving and monitoring the development of urban green and open spaces. This paper will discuss the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) incorporated with other data sources such as remote sensing images and aerial photographs in providing innovative and alternative solutions in the management and monitoring of urban green. GIS is widely accepted in urban landscape planning as it can provide better understanding on the spatial pattern and changes of land use in an area. This paper will primarily focus on digital database that are developed to assist in monitoring urban green and open spaces at regional and local context. The application of GIS in the Klang Valley region or better known as AGISwlk developed since mid-1990's is currently being used by various organisations in the region. The focus of AGISwlk is not merely in providing relevant database to its stakeholders but more importantly, assist in making specific and relevant decisions with regard to spatial planning. It is also used to monitor the loss of green areas by using several temporal data sets. The method of classifying green and open spaces in the region is also being discussed. This paper demonstrates that GIS can be an effective tool in preserving and monitoring green and open spaces in an urban area. The contribution of urban green digital database in someway may leads toward landscape sustainability as to satisfy the ever changing society

'Measure twice, cut once' - revisiting the strength and impact of local planning regulation of housing development in England

There has been growing interest in the impact of land-use regulation and planning on housing development and markets, and a consequent search for quantified measures of their extent and efficacy. Nevertheless, despite the UK having a long-established and comprehensive planning system, this kind of quantitative analysis of system performance has been limited. This paper assembles and reports on a set of local-level measures for England for the late 2000s and assesses their effectiveness in predicting the key flow-of-consents measure and actual housing development. The pattern of restrictiveness is assessed against broad sustainability criteria including urban settlement structure, economic growth potential, and housing affordability and need. We also assess recent changes and the potential impact of a major system change towards more localised planning decision making. </jats:p

Flowfield-dependent variant method for moving-boundary problems

A novel numerical scheme using the combination of flowfield-dependent variation method and arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method is developed. This method is a mixed explicit–implicit numerical scheme, and its implicitness is dependent on the physical properties of the flowfield. The scheme is discretized using the finite-volume method to give flexibility in dealing with complicated geometries. The formulation itself yields a sparse matrix, which can be solved by using any iterative algorithm. Several benchmark problems in two-dimensional inviscid and viscous flow have been selected to validate the method. Good agreement with available experimental and numerical data in the literature has been obtained, thus showing its promising application in complex fluid–structure interaction problems