24,337 research outputs found
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Using tactical and operational factors to assess strategic alignment: an SME study
The strategic use of Information Technology (IT), better known as strategic alignment, has significantly increased, as a result of the strong dependence of organisational activity on Information Systems (IS) and their related technologies. Strategic alignment is considered as a key element to improve performance on organisations, enhance efficiency and allow organisations to be more competitive in their respective industry. One of the first steps towards achieving strategic alignment is to have adequate means to measure it. Current assessment approaches, though, are mainly focused at the strategic level but provide little insight at tactical and operational levels, which are recognized as important areas for achieving strategic alignment. Furthermore, most of the existing approaches are tested in large organisations and there is little research on assessing the effectiveness of these approaches for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This paper proposes an alternative instrument that rather than focusing only at the strategic level it aims to have a better understanding by measuring alignment at tactical and operational levels. Finally this paper presents the findings of applying this instrument on an SME
Collaborative information systems and business process design using simulation
The Information Systems (IS) community promotes the idea that IS analyst should have a clear understanding of the way the organization operates before attempting to propose an IS solution. It is argued that to take a complete advantage of the underlying Information Technology (IT), organizations should first identify any process flaw and then propose a suitable IT solution. Similarly, many process design approaches claim that Business Process (BP) design should be done considering the advantages provided and the limitations imposed by the underlying (IT). Despite this fact research in these domains provides little indication of which mechanisms or tools can help BP and IS analyst to understand the complex relationships amongst these two areas. This paper describes the insights gained during a UK funded research project, namely ASSESS-IT, that aimed to depict the dynamic relationships between IT and BP using simulation. One of the major limitations of the ASSESS-IT project is that it looked at relationship between BP and IT as a three layered structure, namely BP, IS and Computer Networks (CN), and did not explore in detail the relationships between BP and IS alone. This paper uses the outcomes derived from this project and suggests that, is some cases, the relationship between BP and IT could be analyzed by looking at the relationship between BP and IS alone. It then proposes an alternative simulation framework, namely BPISS, that provides the guideline to develop simulation models that portray BP and IS behavior performance measurements, offering in this way an alternative mechanism that can help BP and IS analyst to understand in more detail the dynamic interactions between BP and IS domains
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Simulation for business processes and information systems design
Business Process (BP) literature promotes the value of business processes as essential gearwheels that help organizations to reach their goals. Similarly, many process design approaches claim that Information Technology (IT) is a major enabler of business process, a view also shared by the Information Systems (IS) community. Despite this, BP and IS approaches do not provide clear guidance on how to assess the benefits that a given IS design may bring to the BP prior the IS implementation. Nor is clear indication of which modeling techniques could be used to assess such relationship. This paper uses the insights gained during a UK funded research project, namely ASSESS-IT, that aimed to depict the dynamic relationships between BP and IT to propose an alternative framework to develop BP simulation models that depict the dynamic behavior of the relationships between BP and IS
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Developing a taxonomy for the understanding of business and it alignment paradigms and tools
The alignment of information technology with business objectives tends to be a managerial priority in modern organisations. Thus, practitioners and researchers have proposed different approaches to assess this relationship, some following similar approaches whilst others proposing different ones. The variety of approaches proposed, however, has created confusion about the applicability and context in which these approaches can be used. Thus, aiming to tackle this challenge, this paper proposes a taxonomy that organises and compares studies of alignment assessment in terms of their theoretical constructors and their practical use. The taxonomy is build around two research sources: a) a review of the literature of alignment and b) a framework for comparing IS methodologies. The structure of the taxonomy permits insights into studies by means of six theoretical (objective, nature of strategy, paradigm, dimension, type of measurement, model) and six practical constructors (audience, scope, output, techniques, product, target). The taxonomy is then applied to six assessment studies. The benchmarking analysis of these helped to identify their theoretical basis and its practical use, and confirms the need for more practical mechanisms to assess alignment. Additionally, it becomes apparent that process perspectives and social understanding of alignment are the two main paradigms for alignment
Coal and fuel burning effects on the atmosphere as mediated by the atmospheric electric field and galactic cosmic rays flux
Abstract: Emissions into the atmosphere of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) and
particulate matter resulting from fossil fuel burning are considered to be the
main anthropogenic forcing on the global climate. We show here that
the external cyclic influences of cosmic origin that modulate the earthâs climate
may either reinforce or mitigate the âlocalâ terrestrial forcings. Among the
external influences is cosmic radiation, whose intensity shows a cyclic
variation of 11 years, accompanying the 11-year cycle of solar activity. We put
forward a mechanism to explain how the emission of particulate matter into the
atmosphere might influence global lightning activity. With respect to global
lightning activity, we show why, during the 11-year cycle, the influence of an
increase in particulate matter concentration in the atmosphere may be
negligible in some years, while it will be reinforced in other years, depending
on the place of the years in the cycle. We also remark that the effect on global
warming of fossil fuel burning is also modulated by the cosmic ray flux, whose
influence is mediated by the variation that it promotes on the cloud cover
Weighted Configuration Model
The configuration model is one of the most successful models for generating
uncorrelated random networks. We analyze its behavior when the expected degree
sequence follows a power law with exponent smaller than two. In this situation,
the resulting network can be viewed as a weighted network with non trivial
correlations between strength and degree. Our results are tested against large
scale numerical simulations, finding excellent agreement.Comment: Proceedings CNET200
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An ontology to model the research process in information systems
The IS community has relied mostly on two main paradigms to undertake IS research: positivist and interpretivist. This paper argues that the ongoing debate around which of these paradigms is better suited to undertake IS research has created confusion amongst IS researchers, particularly between those who are relatively inexperienced (e.g. PhD researchers). Inexperienced researchers tend to place emphasis on the justification of their research approaches in the context of existing paradigms without offering a clear description of how the chosen methods and paradigms are applied in the context of their own research, a key issue to assess and understand any research output. This paper does not attempt to give any suggestions as to which research methods/paradigms should be used for IS research, but to raise the awareness that the way we currently communicate our thoughts in the research methods domain may not be very effective. We argue that an initial step to undertake this challenge could be to take a more âpracticalâ approach by focusing on the process of thinking and planning the research activity rather than focusing on the justification of the use of one or many research methods usually âloanedâ from other discipline
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Modelling the integration of BP and IT using business process simulation
Information Technology (IT) and Business Process (BP) communities argues that the use of IT to support business processes can bring a number of benefits to the organisation. Most of these benefits, however, can only be seen after the implementation of such technology. Moreover, there are many cases where the benefits brought by the implementation of IT do not fulfil the organisationâs expectations. One reason of this may happen is because research in BP and IS domains show little indication of which modelling methods, techniques or tools can help organisations to foresee the benefits of the integration of IT with BP. This paper describes the insights gained during a UK funded research project, namely ASSESS-IT, which used simulation techniques to address this problem. Considering IT as a two layered system, namely Information Systems (IS) and Computer Networks (CN), ASSESS-IT aimed to depict the benefits that new IT may bring to the BP. This paper uses the outcomes derived from ASSESS-IT to suggest that, in some cases; the relationship between BP and IT could be better understood by looking at the relationship between BP and IS alone. It then proposes an alternative simulation framework, namely ISBPS, that provides the means to develop simulation models that portray quantifiable metrics of the integration of BP and IS, offering in this way an alternative mechanism that can help BP and IS analyst to foresee the benefits that the insertion of a given IS design may bring to the organisational processes
Rich-club vs rich-multipolarization phenomena in weighted networks
Large scale hierarchies characterize complex networks in different domains.
Elements at their top, usually the most central or influential, may show
multipolarization or tend to club forming tightly interconnected communities.
The rich-club phenomenon quantified this tendency based on unweighted network
representations. Here, we define this metric for weighted networks and discuss
the appropriate normalization which preserves nodes' strengths and discounts
structural strength-strength correlations if present. We find that in some real
networks the results given by the weighted rich-club coefficient can be in
sharp contrast to the ones in the unweighted approach. We also discuss that the
scanning of the weighted subgraphs formed by the high-strength hubs is able to
unveil features contrary to the average: the formation of local alliances in
rich-multipolarized environments, or a lack of cohesion even in the presence of
rich-club ordering. Beyond structure, this analysis matters for understanding
correctly functionalities and dynamical processes relying on hub
interconnectedness.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
Strategic motivators and expected benefits from e-Commerce in traditional organisations
This paper aims to identify the strategic motivators and expected benefits related to the implementation of e-commerce infrastructures in traditional âbrick and mortarâ organisations. Despite the fact that the clearest benefit from e-commerce might be expected to come from contribution to corporate profits, either from an increase of sales or reduction of costs, but this may not be the case. The literature suggests that there are different ways in which the potential benefits can be assessed. These ways are directly related to the evolution of e-commerce. This research has chosen six representative organisations from different sectors to explore their rationales for their e-commerce strategies. One of the main benefits reported is to increase the focus on the customer and improving internal communications. Additionally, obtaining competitive advantage was found to be a powerful motivator, despite the fact that the recent academic literature suggests that this is very difficult to achieve
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