A review of information flow diagrammatic models for product-service systems

A product-service system (PSS) is a combination of products and services to create value for both customers and manufacturers. Modelling a PSS based on function orientation offers a useful way to distinguish system inputs and outputs with regards to how data are consumed and information is used, i.e. information flow. This article presents a review of diagrammatic information flow tools, which are designed to describe a system through its functions. The origin, concept and applications of these tools are investigated, followed by an analysis of information flow modelling with regards to key PSS properties. A case study of selection laser melting technology implemented as PSS will then be used to show the application of information flow modelling for PSS design. A discussion based on the usefulness of the tools in modelling the key elements of PSS and possible future research directions are also presented

The emergence of information systems: a communication-based theory

An information system is more than just the information technology; it is the system that emerges from the complex interactions and relationships between the information technology and the organization. However, what impact information technology has on an organization and how organizational structures and organizational change influence information technology remains an open question. We propose a theory to explain how communication structures emerge and adapt to environmental changes. We operationalize the interplay of information technology and organization as language communities whose members use and develop domain-specific languages for communication. Our theory is anchored in the philosophy of language. In developing it as an emergent perspective, we argue that information systems are self-organizing and that control of this ability is disseminated throughout the system itself, to the members of the language community. Information technology influences the dynamics of this adaptation process as a fundamental constraint leading to perturbations for the information system. We demonstrate how this view is separated from the entanglement in practice perspective and show that this understanding has far-reaching consequences for developing, managing, and examining information systems

An Ontology Approach for Knowledge Acquisition and Development of Health Information System (HIS)

This paper emphasizes various knowledge acquisition approaches in terms of tacit and explicit knowledge management that can be helpful to capture, codify and communicate within medical unit. The semantic-based knowledge management system (SKMS) supports knowledge acquisition and incorporates various approaches to provide systematic practical platform to knowledge practitioners and to identify various roles of healthcare professionals, tasks that can be performed according to personnel’s competencies, and activities that are carried out as a part of tasks to achieve defined goals of clinical process. This research outcome gives new vision to IT practitioners to manage the tacit and implicit knowledge in XML format which can be taken as foundation for the development of information systems (IS) so that domain end-users can receive timely healthcare related services according to their demands and needs

Agile Project Management: A Communicational Workflow Proposal

Embracing agility brings change to companies and everyone involved, so people have a fundamental role in project development. It is essential that teams have a good communication, motivation and concern about quality and client satisfaction, Agile Manufacturing is using Agile Project Management to provide the right team to performance difficult tasks and achieve goals. This paper proposes a team that deals with Agile Project Management, named as AGILE team, composed by a product owner, a team leader and team members, and a communication workflow proposal concerning the conjunction of 3 momentums (requirements analyze, planning and design) along the Agile Project Management. The proposed model is being implemented in a lightening manufacturing company in a very early stage.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

GoBIS: An integrated framework to analyse the goal and business process perspectives in information systems

[EN] Context Organisational reengineering, continuous process improvement, alignment among complementary analysis perspectives, and information traceability are some current motivations to promote investment and scientific effort for integrating goal and business process perspectives. Providing support to integrate information systems analysis becomes a challenge in this complex setting. Objective The GoBIS framework integrates two goal and business process modelling approaches: i⁎ (a goal-oriented modelling method) and Communication Analysis (a communication-oriented business process modelling method). Method In this paper, we describe the methodological integration of both methods with the aim of fulfilling several criteria: i) to rely on appropriate theories; ii) to provide abstract and concrete syntaxes; iii) to provide scenarios of application; iv) to develop tool support; v) to provide demonstrable benefits to potential adopters. Results We provide guidelines for using the two modelling methods in a top-down analysis scenario. The guidelines are validated by means of a comparative experiment and a focus-group session with students. Conclusions From a practitioner viewpoint (modeller and/or analyst), the guidelines facilitate the traceability between goal and business process models, the experimental results highlight the benefits of GoBIS in performance and usability perceptions, and demonstrate an improvement on the completeness of the latter having an impact on efficiency. From a researcher perspective, the validation has produced useful feedback for future research.This work has been supported by the Spanish MICINN Project ProS-Req (TIN2010-19130-C02-01, TIN2010-19130-C02-02) and EOSSAC (TIN2013-44641-P); the Generalitat Valenciana Project IDEO (PROMETEOII/2014/039); the FPI-UPV Pre-Doctoral Grant; the European Commission Project CaaS (FP7 611351); and the ERDF Structural Funds.Ruiz Carmona, LM.; Costal, D.; España Cubillo, S.; Franch, X.; Pastor López, O. (2015). GoBIS: An integrated framework to analyse the goal and business process perspectives in information systems. Information Systems. 53:330-345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2015.03.007S3303455

A polyocular framework for research on multifunctional farming and rural development

The paradox of multifunctionality is that, on the one hand, the specialized functionalities of agriculture only arise because of the functional differentiation of social systems and scientific disciplines and, on the other hand, multifunctionality can only enter as a way to mediate between conflicts, interests and fragmented knowledge when different functions and observations of functions combine. The aim of this paper is to contribute to a theoretical and methodological platform for multidisciplinary research on multifunctional farming. With the notions of polyocular cognition and polyocular communication we introduce a second order, interdisciplinary communication process that can meet the challenge of creating a shared view on multifunctional farming. Polyocular communication must be based on other rules than the rules of the involved disciplines. Whereas disciplinary communication is about providing consistent, efficient and precise knowledge in the context of a sharply delimited research world, polyocular communication is about extending a multidimensional space of understanding