Improving The Operational Environment Thru Internet Utilization

This study demonstrates how an Internet based network of railroad information resources can provide a dynamic, cost effective resource to help management improve their operational environment. The informational and knowledge sources needed to support the interoperability and integration of rail networks and their employees are increasingly available via the Internet.  Public resources on the Internet primarily support the distribution of industry publications, notice and proceedings of industry conferences and meetings, communications about legal and legislative issues, and advertisements.  Private resources on the Internet support reservation and scheduling of rail equipment, tendering shipment information, tracking equipment movements, and verifying billing information.  Much of the private information is incorporated into the knowledge management systems developed by individual railroads.  The study provides a proposed stratification of these resources into seven categories: Research and Statistical Resources, Newsletters and Press Releases, Industry Initiatives, Legislative Information, Industry Publications, Professional Associations, and Educational Resources. 

Web-Based Testing: Exploring The Relationship Between Hardware Usability And Test Performance

Web-based testing has recently become common in both academic and professional settings. A web-based test is administered through a web browser. Individuals may complete a web-based test at nearly any time and at any place. In addition, almost any computer lab can become a testing center. It is important to understand the environmental issues that may influence test performance. This study furthers our understanding of web-based testing. The research is conducted using an experimental method with 220 undergraduate student participants in an academic environment. Test performance effects are examined based on administration environment, computer hardware configuration, and distractions. Results indicate that minor differences in hardware configurations may have a significant effect on test results

The Impact Of Organizational Change On Information Systems Security

When major change is imposed on organizations, there is often resistance and resentment.  Organizational change has been identified as one of the key issues that will present significant challenges to an organization’s effective and timely implementation of privacy and security standards.  It will be necessary to identify specific implementation requirements that represent the most significant organizational change challenges.  Organizations will also have to identify processes and methods to foster acceptance of the change associated with the  entire compliance project  This research examines changing information security requirements and the strategies organizations are developing to meet the related challenges.&nbsp

Ace Project As A Project Management Tool

The primary challenge of project management is to achieve the project goals and objectives while adhering to project constraints - usually scope, quality, time and budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of resources necessary to meet pre-defined objectives. Project management software provides an active learning component to the study of project management principles. Prior literature indicates that active learning contributes to student success when students are actively engaged both inside and outside the classroom

Using Active Learning, Group Formation, and Discussion to Increase Student Learning: A Business Intelligence Skills Analysis

This paper describes the process used to integrate active learning, group formation, and classroom discussion in a college-level business intelligence class. To assess the impact of active learning and discussion on learning outcomes, we captured student performance on their final data challenge term project across increasingly collaborative and discussion-based sections. To stimulate reflective discussion and to promote cooperative and collaborative teamwork during in-class assignments, we established small groups based on an incoming business intelligence-related skills self-assessment. Our regression results indicate that a skills-based group formation approach enabled an enhanced level of in-class assignment completion and promoted reflective discussion in the classroom. We also find that active learning and discussion increased appropriation of business intelligence concepts and analytical tools. The inherent nuances of business intelligence education, as well as the implications and strategies for improved classroom discussion in a technology class setting, are reviewed

Recent Trends In Offshoring Relationships

The nature and type of IT work being offshored is expanding as more sophisticated vendors and technologies make it feasible for new, often more complicated IT work to be offshored.  Information Technology (IT) is continually improving, transforming formerly non-offshorable, personal tasks into offshorable, impersonal tasks. The relationships between clients and their offshore vendors have been changing, most obviously in the sheer volume of offshoring being undertaken. This study uses social exchange theory to examine the relationship between clients and vendors as partners in offshoring

A Response to COVID: From Traditional to Remote Learning Using a Flipped Classroom Pedagogy and Its Impact on BI Skills Attainment

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted the global post-secondary education environment beginning March 2020, leaving many classes using the traditional face-to-face delivery method scrambling to adapt. This paper describes the process used in response to COVID to convert a traditional lecture-style business intelligence class to a flipped classroom, while maintaining assignments, groups, and discussion as student engagement techniques. End of term skills assessments of four pre-COVID sections are combined with skills assessments from two during-COVID flipped online sections. The during-COVID sections use pre-recorded Kaltura video lectures, supplemented with Blackboard Collaborate virtual meetings, in a flipped online delivery approach. Partial least squares (PLS) regression results indicate a flipped approach augments other student engagement methods and significantly improves skills attainment. Results also indicate that while group formation continues to enhance in-class assignment completion and reflection, discussion is less impactful in an online environment. This research highlights nuances of business intelligence education and provides suggestions for enhancing approaches for improved skills attainment

Information Technology Investment

Much evidence regarding the relationship between IT investment and firm performance is contradictory. Numerous issues have been summarized and discussed as factors that contribute to the contradictory findings. While many researchers have found IT investments to have a positive performance impact, others have failed to support those findings. These contradictory findings concerning IT investment appear at the firm, industry, and national economy levels of analysis. There are four broad issues related to the role of IT within an organization that are factors contributing to the contradictory findings: structural business characteristics, management ability, definition of IT, and measurement approach. While there are many studies that use broad secondary indices and economic models to look for mathematical relationships between IT investment and firm performance, few studies take an in-depth look at the role of IT within an organization and expose the dynamics of this relationship

Business Administration Students As Surrogates For IT Professionals Summary Of A Study

The purpose of this paper is to report a summary of the results of a study which examined the appropriateness of using business school students as surrogates for IT professionals by comparing cognitive styles, physiological characteristics, and basic demographic data among the two groups. Cognitive style refers to the way individuals think, perceive and remember information. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI), and Human Information Processing Survey (HIPS) tests were used to examine cognitive style. Physiological characteristics examined include dichotic (different ear) listening and visual perception speed, both with laterality (right/leftness). This study identifies important differences between the students and IT professionals. The results have implications for both researchers and designers of future information systems