Mining processes in dentistry

Business processes in dentistry are quickly evolving towards digital dentistry . This means that many steps in the dental process will increasingly deal with computerized information or computerized half products. A complicating factor in the improvement of process performance in dentistry, however, is the large number of independent dental professionals that are involved in the entire process. In order to reap the benefits of digital dentistry, it is essential to obtain an accurate view on the current processes in practice. In this paper, so called process mining techniques are applied in order to demonstrate that, based on automatically stored data, detailed process knowledge can be obtained on dental processes, e.g. it can be discovered how dental processes are actually executed. To this end, we analyze a real case of a private dental practice, which is responsible for the treatment of patients (diagnosis, placing of implants and the placement of the final restoration), and the dental lab that is responsible for the production of the final restoration. To determine the usefulness of process mining, the entire process has been investigated from three different perspectives: (1) the control-flow perspective, (2) the organizational perspective and (3) the performance perspective. The results clearly show that process mining is useful to gain a deep understanding of dental processes. Also, it becomes clear that dental process are rather complex, which require a considerable amount of flexibility. We argue that the introduction of workflow management technology is needed in order to make digital dentistry a success

Processes and the software business

The amount of software in many electronic products is growing rapidly. Two examples: the amount of software in a mobile phone is expected to increase from 2 million today to 20 million in 2010. The amount of software in a car in 2010 is expected to be 100 million lines of source code (Charrette, 2005). Many companies see their business change from a hardware business to a software business. The impact on companies goes far beyond development and development processes. Adoption of proper software sales and legal processes is as important. The presentation is based on research into the software business and 10 years of experience in managing software companies

Opportunism is required to meet software demand

This department is part of a special issue on opportunistic software systems development. The first article, Opportunism Is Required to Meet Software Demand, is written by Michiel van Genuchten. The second article, The Case for Planned Reuse, is written by Robert Baillargeon

Groei software kans voor Europa

Software en niet hardware is volgens de auteur beslissend voor de industrie. De opkomst van open source biedt Europa kansen, evenals het toenemende belang van software in industrieën waarin Europa een sterke positie heeft

No more reply-to-all

Companies and individuals can easily calculate their e-mail pollution index, with a low index indicating good behavior in the virtual world.The data presented shows that significant improvements can be achieved with simple measures. Better still, the same individuals who suffer from e-mail overload can start implementing the rules today

Getting real in the classroom

Exposing students to real-world projects will encourage them to share, learn, and improve.The BOHKNet project began in 1998 with the universities of Eindhoven and Hong Kong. Each BOHKNet team typically consists of 8 to 10 students in two to four locations. The team is assigned a software-related topic such as TV on mobile phones or open source and software patents, which students approach from different geographical perspectives. The different groups produce a Web site for discussing their topics. All the group's Web sites are integrated into an electronic book. The technologies used in the course include videoconferencing, e-mail, and an off-the-shelf learning-management system that supports both chat and forums. The students can freely use additional tools to create the Web site. BOHKNet classroom instructors address specific software management issues to accelerate the experiential learning, including planning, work breakdown, information overload, and knowledge management

Group support systems in primary processes

Software has migrated from large mainframe based support to personal computer support and more recently to groupware or, more specifically, group support systems (GSS). GSS products (e.g., GroupSystems) have undergone transitions or waves over the past ten years as application has evolved. This paper examines the waves that have occurred and are occurring with application and diffusion of GSS in organizational contexts. We suggest that GroupSystems has experienced three waves of users: 1st: scientists (innovation driven), 2nd: consultants (facilitator driven) and 3rd: into primary processes (application driven). Examples are provided to illustrate application. Special attention is given to the use of GSS for software inspection and the use of GSS in the classroom. The paper also provides an explanation for the discrepancy between the potential of GSS technology and its rather limited use to date