Understanding Manager and Developer Perceptions of the Relative Advantage, Compatibility, and Complexity of Function Points and Source Lines of Code

Software measures are recommended for the effective management of software development projects. Innovation diffusion theory (IDT) provides perspective for understanding managers’ and software developers’ perceptions of the relative advantage, complexity, and compatibility of software measures. This paper describes the results of a survey in which software developers and managers identified a software measure and then answered IDT-based questions about the measure. Two of the most commonly identified measures were source lines of code (SLOC) and function points (FP). Overall, participants indicated that FP have greater relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity than SLOC. Developers indicated that FP have greater relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity than SLOC. Managers, however, did not perceive a significantly greater relative advantage and compatibility for FP over SLOC, but did perceive FP to be more complex than SLOC

Market Structure and Energy Efficiency: The Case of New Commercial Buildings

This is a report on why commercial office buildings aren’t more energy efficient. Several decades of energy efficiency programs have resulted in some gains, but overall increases in the energy efficiency of buildings have fallen far short of the 30 to 50 percent improvement that many efficiency advocates believe is possible. The purpose of this study is to consider the “why” question by empirically examining the dynamics of new commercial building markets. To do so, the authors used multiple research techniques, including qualitative field observation and interview methods that allow for a more in-depth understanding of complicated market processes. Their research focused primarily on new office buildings and centered in four regional markets: Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. The authors identify key dynamics of commercial office building markets, describe how change and innovation occurs in commercial development, discuss the implications for energy efficiency, and suggest next steps

Factors influencing the adoption of external web API’s: an examination of the uptake of external web API’s by Absa Bank (a case study of Absa Bank South Africa).

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Web Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are enablers for many future technology concepts that enable interoperability and platform independence (such as the concepts of “open data” and “open Banking” and strategies such as Service Oriented Enterprise Architecture (SOEA)). Some of these concepts have been in existence for over a decade but the increase in the adoption of external Web API’s has become the driving force behind the growth and acceptance of the concepts of interoperability and compatibility of technology in the Banking industry. The ultimate beneficiary of this objective to enable open collaboration between technologies in the Banking sector, is the customer. The significance of external Web APIs cannot be emphasized enough for businesses that seek to remain relevant and competitive through digital strategies. However, information systems literature on the adoption of external Web APIs by financial institutions bears testimony to a low rate of adoption. In order to address this situation, the primary objective of the current study is to establish reasons for the low rate of adoption of external Web APIs in a South African context. A case study approach is adopted so that an in-depth analysis of issues underpinning the adoption of external Web APIs can be ascertained. Absa Bank of South Africa is used to conduct the study. The choice of Absa Bank as the focus of the case study is one of convenience and purposiveness. From a convenience perspective, the researcher’s engagement with external Web API technology as an employee of Absa Bank provided an opportunity for in-depth, meaningful interaction with crucial components of the technology. From a purposive perspective, Absa Bank have made a commitment to the use of external Web APIs in order to enable collaboration with its Banking partners. A mixed methods approach is adopted for the study. The conceptual framework adopted for the study is centred on Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory and the additional constructs of trust and security, both of which are pivotal to technology related influences in the Banking sector. The study’s corpus data is collected through interviews and questionnaires in order to answer the following main research questions: What is the influence of the attributes of external Web APIs on the level of adoption at Absa Bank? What is the influence of perceived trust of external Web APIs on the level of adoption at Absa Bank? What is the influence of perceived security of external Web APIs on the level of adoption at Absa Bank? The first research question alludes to the attributes of a technology based intervention that influences the adoption of that intervention as propped in Rogers (2010) Diffusion of Innovation theory. A significant outcome of the study is that the DOI attributes have a positive influence on the adoption of external Web APIs. However, the technology itself needs to be adjusted to accommodate concerns of security and trust in order to enhance its adoption in the Banking sector

MEASURING THE DEVELOPMENT PERFORMANCE OF INTEGRATED COMPUTER AIDED SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (I-CASE): A SYNTHESIS OF FIELD STUDY RESULTS FROM THE FIRST BOSTON CORPORATION

Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Examining the Role of Business Intelligence and Analytics in Hospitality Revenue Management

Most hospitality revenue management forecasting systems were built prior to the business intelligence and analytics movement. Only recently these systems have been enhanced to offer contemporary business intelligence and analytics functionalities. In addition, revenue management professionals are receiving support from standalone, supplementary business intelligence and analytics platforms. The purpose of this dissertation was to produce a holistic review of and establish the role of business intelligence and analytics within hospitality revenue management. Data was collected from twenty-three interviews; all participants were employed by hospitality organizations in revenue management specific positions. Grounded theory methodology was utilized. The results show that nearly all of revenue management tasks are supported by business intelligence and analytics functionalities, irrespective of where the functionalities are housed, in revenue management systems or in business intelligence and analytics tools. Also, opportunities to integrate more advanced functionalities into revenue management systems, including those relating to interfaces, were identified. As part of this inquiry, revenue managers’ beliefs and perceptions - including relative advantage, job-fit, and trust - were examined to determine which have influence on the usage of business intelligence and analytics within revenue management systems and as standalone tools. Overall, twenty-two categories/themes were formulated across four research questions. This dissertation contributes to the examination of the role of business intelligence and analytics in hospitality revenue management, but there is still much more to investigate, particularly as compatibility of hospitality systems and data management are improved

An agile based integrated framework for software development.

Doctor of Philosophy in Management. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban, 2018.Software development practice has been guided by practitioners and academics along an evolutionary path that extends from a Waterfall approach, characterised as highly prescriptive, to an approach that is agile, embracing the dynamic context in which software is developed. Agile Methodology is informed by a set of generic principles and agile methods that are customised by practitioners to meet the requirements of the environment in which it is used. Insight into the customisation of agile methods is pivotal to uphold the evolutionary trajectory of software development methodology. The study adopted a ‘socio-technical’ orientation to enhance the implementation of Agile Methodology. The social component of the study was aligned to the role played by organisational culture in the adoption of software development methodology. The amorphous concept of organisational culture has been operationalised by implementing the Competing Values Framework to develop a model that aligns organisational culture to an optimal methodology for software development. The technical component of the study has a software engineering focus. The study leveraged experiential knowledge of software development by South African software practitioners to develop a customised version of a prominent agile software development method. The model has been developed so that it is compatible with a variant of organisational culture that is aligned with agile methodology. The study implemented a sequential research design strategy consisting of two phases. The first phase was qualitative consisting of a phenomenological approach to develop the study’s main models. The second phase was quantitative, underpinned by technology acceptance theory, consisting of a survey based approach to determine South African software practitioners’ acceptance of the agile-oriented technical model that was developed in the study. The results from the survey indicated an 80% acceptance of the model proposed in study. Structural Equation Modelling was used to demonstrate that the inclusion of organisational culture as an independent construct improved the predictive capacity of technology acceptance theory in the context of software development methodology adoption. The study’s overall theoretical contribution was to highlight the significance of organisational culture in the implementation of agile methodology and to extend the evolutionary path of software development methodology by proposing an agile oriented model that scales the software process to an organisational infrastructure level

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Open source technologies and local economic development: Exploring adoption factors in a Less Developed Country.

Abstract A rapidly growing body of research is investigating the role and the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in alleviating poverty. Many of these studies have focused on ICT with proprietary software, however, careful academic studies have been devoted to the adoption of Free Open Source Software (FOSS), since it is recognized as unique opportunity for less economically developed countries (LEDCs). In fact, a lot of opportunities and challenges have been posed for developing countries by the dramatic growth of open source software. However, the problematic nature of FOSS adoption is readily evidenced in the fairly frequent reports of problems. With issues such as high level of poverty, illiteracy, poor health services and lack of ICT awareness, how can developing country policy makers and other key stakeholders make informed decisions about the benefits and implications of choosing open source solutions. To benefit from this opportunity, it is therefore important for all players to identify and understand the strategic factors and future trends that affect the development of an efficient FOSS industry in LEDCs. To reach this research purpose, we proposed a conceptual framework based on various literature reviews and examined it to find the effect of some of the technological, environmental, organizational, social and individual factors on FOSS adoption and use in SMEs industry in Ghana; then, future trends that are likely to impact the deployment and development of FOSS in the country were assessed. The methodology employed is a two-fold approach involving; quantitative method with structural equation model of partial least squares (SEM-PLS) and qualitative method using a combination of Delphi techniques and SWOT analysis. In the quantitative approach the results of study suggest that power distance cultural dimension and FOSS system compatibility and capabilities have positive influence on perceived usefulness of the software. Conversely, system complexity, government supports and awareness have negative influence on the perceived usefulness. However, perceived usefulness has no effect on users’ intention to adopt. In addition, FOSS quality and power distance cultural dimension have positive influence on perceived ease of use which in turn has significant effect on users’ intention to adopt. While government supports, education and awareness have negative influence on users’ intention to adopt, power distance cultural dimension, social identification and personal innovativeness in IT have positive effect. In summary, the obtained results from SEM-PLS revealed that related factors explained 86% of the variation of influencing factors on intention to adopt, which in turn explained 58% of variance of usage behavior. In the qualitative approach the result was based on the internal and external factors identified through the Delphi techniques iterations. Additionally, SWOT analysis was carried out to foresee an efficient software industry that could help to boost local economic development of the country. In fact, the result reveals significant strengths within Ghanaian SMEs but less opportunity for Ghana as a whole. In regard to this finding there is need for strong collaboration and partnership among government, universities and industry with policy suggestions that should be optimally implemented

Spatial Big Data Analytics: The New Boundaries of Retail Location Decision-Making

This dissertation examines the current state and evolution of retail location decision-making (RLDM) in Canada. The major objectives are: (i) To explore the type and scale of location decisions that retail firms are currently undertaking; (ii) To identify the availability and use of technology and Spatial Big Data (SBD) within the decision-making process; (iii) To identify the awareness, availability, use, adoption and development of SBD; and, (iv) To assess the implications of SBD in RLDM. These objectives were investigated by using a three stage multi-method research process. First, an online survey of retail location decision makers across a range of sizes and sub-sectors was administered. Secondly, structured interviews were conducted with 24 retail location decision makers, and lastly, three in-depth cases studies were undertaken in order to highlight the changes to RLDM over the last decade and to develop a deeper understanding of RLDM. This dissertation found that within the last decade RLDM changed in three main ways: (i) There has been an increase in the availability and use of technology and SBD within the decision-making process; (ii) The type and scale of location decisions that a firm undertakes remain relatively unchanged even with the growth of new data; and, (iii) The range of location research methods that are employed within retail firms is only just beginning to change given the presence of new data sources and data analytics technology. Traditional practices still dominate the RLDM process. While the adoption of SBD applications is starting to appear within retail planning, they are not widespread. Traditional data sources, such as those highlighted in past studies by Hernandez and Emmons (2012) and Byrom et al. (2001) are still the most commonly used data sources. It was evident that at the heart of SBD adoption is a data environment that promotes transparency and a clear corporate strategy. While most retailers are aware of the new SBD techniques that exist, they are not often adopted and routinized