Colorado Benefits Management System (C): Seven Years of Failure

In September 2004, the State of Colorado implemented a large information system it called the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS). Its purpose was to replace six aging legacy systems supporting various state-administered welfare programs with a single system using current technologies. The expected benefits from CBMS were better service to clients and assurance that the state’s welfare programs were being administered properly. The conversion was a disaster, and, as of early 2011, CBMS is still not working properly. Since 2004, there have been a series of promises and attempts under two separate administrations to fix CBMS so that it meets performance requirements. Nothing has worked. This case chronicles events since late 2006 until early 2011. It lays the groundwork for class discussion of how and why public sector managers could fail to focus on fixing the problems with CBMS for almost seven years, and now will simply “kick the can down the road” to the new administration that took office in January 2011

Self-Assessment of Knowledge: a cognitive learning or affective measure? Perspectives from the management learning and education community

The article presents a response to the article "Self-Assessment of Knowledge: A Cognitive Learning or Affective Measure?," by Traci Sitzmann, Katherine Ely, Kenneth G. brown and Kristina N. Bauer. In the response the authors offer their opinions on the article, on self-assessment in education and on the role that self-assessment plays in the management learning and education communities. A discussion of research which has evaluated the psychology of learning and the psychology of personal growth is presented

ERP at the Colorado Department of Transportation: The Whistle Blower’s Dilemma

The case takes place in the Information Technology Office (ITO) of the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) from 2001 to the present. Driven by the wishes of CDOT’s executive director, and in a response to aging information systems, CDOT decided to install an Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP). The case focuses on Bill Cron, an employee in the CDOT ITO, who was very concerned about not only the need for an expensive ERP, but also about the way the project was being executed. He voiced his concerns using as many channels as he could identify, but they seemed to fall on deaf ears. The decision focus of the case concerns which of three options Bill should pursue: being quiet and falling in line as directed, continuing to voice his concerns internally (internal whistle blowing), or going public and divulging his concerns in the local press (external whistle blowing)

Colorado Benefits Management System: Decision Time

The project to develop the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS) was begun with high hopes and the best of intentions. Its vision was to replace six aging legacy systems supporting various State administered welfare programs with a single system using current technologies. The expected benefits from CBMS were better service to clients and assurance that the State\u27s welfare programs were being administered properly. The bulk of the development effort was outsourced to a large systems integration firm, and a comprehensive project oversight structure was put in place. Despite these actions, the project was troubled from the start. Nearing one more projected conversion date, the two executive sponsors of the project were faced with a decision of whether or not to implement the system despite protests from the user community that CBMS was not ready to be put into operation

Colorado Benefits Management System (B): The Emperor\u27s New System

This case is a follow on to Colorado Benefits Management System: Decision Time (McCubbrey and Fukami, 2005). It chronicles the events in the two years that followed the ill-advised conversion of the Colorado Benefits Management System (CBMS). CBMS was converted over the objections of the user community and after the expenditure of approximately $100 million. The results were both predictable and avoidable. The system was fraught with errors, and the fallback plan was never implemented. Clients, principally the poor and elderly, suffered as a result of the system\u27s errors and poor performance. An audit conducted by the State of Colorado found that millions of dollars had been misspent after conversion. As of August 2006, CBMS remains a troubled system and has received a considerable amount of unfavorable publicity in the local and national media. Colorado counties are struggling to use the system and worker morale is suffering. A lawsuit against the State is pending. The case concludes by asking: Who is to blame for this mess? Why is it taking so long to fix? What could have been done differently to avoid the resulting chaos? What should be done to repair CBMS? How can progress be measured

Verwey transition in Fe3_{3}O4_{4} at high pressure: quantum critical behavior at the onset of metallization

We provide evidence for the existence of a {\em quantum critical point} at the metallization of magnetite Fe$_{3}$O$_{4}$ at an applied pressure of $p_{c} \approx 8$ GPa. We show that the present ac magnetic susceptibility data support earlier resistivity data. The Verwey temperature scales with pressure $T_{V}\sim (1-p/p_{c})^{\nu}$, with $\nu\sim 1/3$. The resistivity data shows a temperature dependence $\rho(T)=\rho_{0}+AT^{n}$, with $n\simeq 3$ above and 2.5 at the critical pressure, respectively. This difference in $n$ with pressure is a sign of critical behavior at $p_{c}$. The magnetic susceptibility is smooth near the critical pressure, both at the Verwey transition and near the ferroelectric anomaly. A comparison with the critical behavior observed in the Mott-Hubbard and related systems is made.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Statistical mechanics of ecosystem assembly

We introduce a toy model of ecosystem assembly for which we are able to map out all assembly pathways generated by external invasions. The model allows to display the whole phase space in the form of an assembly graph whose nodes are communities of species and whose directed links are transitions between them induced by invasions. We characterize the process as a finite Markov chain and prove that it exhibits a unique set of recurrent states (the endstate of the process), which is therefore resistant to invasions. This also shows that the endstate is independent on the assembly history. The model shares all features with standard assembly models reported in the literature, with the advantage that all observables can be computed in an exact manner.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Implementação de sistema de gestão da qualidade ISO 17025 nas análises e ensaios com inoculantesmicrobianos de interesse agrícola no Laboratório de Biotecnologia do Solo da Embrapa Soja.

Inoculante é considerado, pela legislação brasileira, como todo produto que contém microrganismos com atuação favorável ao crescimento de plantas, havendo perspectivas de incrementos consideráveis no uso desses produtos pelos agricultores nos próximos anos. O Brasil é líder mundial na utilização de inoculantes contendo bactérias diazotróficas, em um mercado que, na safra de 2008/2009, foi superior a 20 milhões de doses, mais de 98% destinadas à cultura da soja. As estimativas são de que, só com a cultura da soja, o processo de fixação biológica do nitrogênio contribua com uma economia anual de US$ 6,6 bilhões no país, que deixam de ser gastos com o uso de fertilizantes nitrogenados. No Brasil, poucos laboratórios realizam análise de qualidade de inoculantes. O Laboratório de Biotecnologia do Solo da Embrapa Soja realiza dezenas de análises anualmente para atender a demandas de agricultores, de indústrias de inoculantes e de avaliação de novos produtos. Uma das metas atuais do laboratório é a de implementar a norma do sistema de qualidade ISO/IEC 17025 nas análises e ensaios com inoculantes microbianos. Essa meta visa atender a uma demanda crescente por qualidade de todos os setores produtivos, visando a acreditação e a rastreabilidade dos resultados.Fertbio

Recuperação e sobrevivência de Bradyrhizobium em sementes de soja tratadas com fungicidas e inseticidas.

O processo de fixação biológica do nitrogênio (FBN) representa um componente essencial para a viabilidade econômica da cultura da soja. No entanto, para um processo eficiente, um número mínimo de células viáveis de Bradyrhizobium deve estar presente para o estabelecimento da simbiose e o uso concomitante de produtos químicos, como inseticidas e fungicidas, pode comprometer a viabilidade das células. Neste estudo, foram avaliadas novas combinações de inoculantes e polímeros na presença de tratamento de sementes com fungicidas e inseticidas, em tratamento manual ou industrial. Foi constatado que novas formulações e aplicações de produtos nas sementes podem permitir a pré-inoculação por até 4 dias, considerando a sobrevivência de pelo menos 10 5 células/semente