Communication Challenges in Requirements Definition: A Classroom Simulation

Systems analysis and design is a standard course offering within information systems programs and often an important lecture topic in Information Systems core courses. Given the persistent difficulty that organizations experience in implementing systems that meet their requirements, it is important to help students in these courses get a tangible sense of the challenges they will face, whether as Information Systems practitioners or business professionals, in the systems analysis and design process. This article presents a hands-on design game that focuses in particular on the structuring of opportunities for user participation in requirements definition. The game provides a platform for raising pivotal questions about communication, knowledge transfer, and the level and timing of user involvement during systems projects. The exercise has been used and refined over a period of several years in core courses in information technology management at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and in classes in systems analysis and design. The article includes theoretical grounding in user participation issues, background information about the game, specification of the materials needed, step-by-step instructions for conducting the game, and teaching notes to support classroom discussion. These materials are designed to be useful to Information Systems faculty who want to supplement lecture and/or reading material on the subject of systems development

Narrative Methodologies in Information Systems Literature: Illuminating Interconnectivity and Change Over Time

This tutorial presents an action net-based narrative research methodology that is particularly useful for describing, undertaking, and understanding process-oriented field research related to IT-enabled change. We use work in the fields of cognitive psychology, organization theory, and information systems to inform the approach. This methodology is part of an emerging body of IS narrative research, and we argue that adopting it can bring multiple insights about IS change initiatives and technology artifacts. By exploiting an action net-based narrative methodology at all stages of their empirical work, researchers can better see the interconnectivity of narratives and follow the change process as it unfolds. We present a checklist for researchers interested in conducting narrative research and describe two categories of insight: 1) emergence and 2) repair. Attending to these two categories of insight may shape the nature of findings reported in such IS studies

Understanding Project Survival In An Es Environment: A Practice Perspective

Modern organizations are increasingly choosing to adopt off-the-shelf software applications (e.g., Enterprise Systems, ES) rather than develop tailor-made solutions. However, many studies have shown that adopting prepackaged software is difficult with these large scale, highly integrated ES, amplifying the potential for organizational conflict – in part due to their embedding of external ‘best practices.’ Research has begun investigating the process by which these best practice designs are eventually resolved within the implementing organization. We contribute to this emerging literature by seeking to explore project survival – the turnaround process by which a troubled project at go-live becomes a working information system. Using data from an intensive qualitative field study, we argue that practices are negotiated through processes of use rather than being permanently and systematically selected during a particular moment in time. Thus, we find that project survival is achieved as an outcome of a continued process of negotiation in the post-implementation period

The Structuring of Freedom in Agile Development

Management literature on agile software development has largely focused on the relationship between agile methods and behavioral control, particularly the role that control plays in fostering flexibility. Although the focus on control has helpfully illuminated the constraints necessary in agile projects, it has provided only a half-finished portrait of the importance of structure in this approach to software development. This paper deconstructs the customary oppositions between structure and flexibility, control and freedom, by examining the socially-governed and technologically-mediated practices that produce and sustain agility in an organization that is an exemplary practitioner of the agile approach. We find that an imbrication of social convention and material agency provides the kind of structure that nurtures those markers of ‘freedom’ – flexibility, creativity, improvisation, and adaptability – for which agile is touted

Narrating an organisational matter of fact: Negotiating with enterprise resource planning technology to achieve order within a traditional academic administration.

This thesis draws upon social science contributions related to the study of organisations in order to understand how working information systems are created. Its main concern is the process of negotiating through IT-enabled change as actors work to design, implement, install, and use a standard software package in their daily administrative activities. In other words we consider how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software becomes accepted across diverse groups as an institutional matter of fact - an unquestioned part of the institutional narrative. We argue that in spite of the complexity of implementing ERP technology, the actions and events that lead to their creation as an organisational fact rely on communication and coordination across groups with conflicting political and social agendas. These groups negotiate with the ERP technology in an attempt to enrol the software as a delegate for their goals. To develop the argument, we employ a novel interpretation of actor-network theory routed in the field of science and technology studies (STS). These theoretical foundations inform the collection and analysis of narrative data from one in-depth study of longitudinal change. The case centres on an Ivy League University who partnered with a multinational ERP vendor to create a standard software package to be sold to higher education institutions around the world. The study follows the negotiations involved in creating a standard package and their subsequent attempts to naturalise the standard software into local administrative practices. The application of the theoretical concepts constitutes a contribution in information systems research because it presents a novel interpretation of technology's role within contemporary society. This thesis also contributes to the use of actor- network theory within the IS field because the narrative research approach adopted allowed us to highlight aspects of the theory that have as yet been under used. Furthermore, these findings are useful for business leaders, and IS professionals who might reconceptualise the details of negotiating through IT-enabled change initiatives. The thesis concludes by arguing that negotiating with technology necessarily implies the reordering of organisational reality through design, implementation, and customisation activities

Information System Design: A Systematic Way to Analyze IT in Your Business

Information technology investments must be thought of in terms of a firm\u27s overall information system. This report explains and illustrates two frameworks that emphasize the role of IT as a fundamental component of organizational information systems, namely, the socio-technical model of information systems (STM of IS) and the information systems cycle. The STM integrates all internal and external factors that bear on the design, implementation, operation, and eventual success of an IT initiative. Using this model requires an analysis of the following factors: the IT hardware and software itself, the people with direct involvement in the information system, the process that those people follow in completing a business activity, and the business\u27s structure, including its organizational design and formal and informal reporting relationships. All of those internal factors and their interactions are cast against the broader context of influences that enable or constrain the business\u27s opportunities. To illustrate the STM, the report examines the case of Nestlé USA\u27s implementation of an enterprise resource planning system. The second framework, the IS cycle, models the business\u27s use of information systems over time, including routine operations and change initiatives. The model\u27s basic concept is that today\u27s information is a valuable asset that, appropriately managed by way of information-system initiatives, can create tomorrow\u27s business opportunities. In illustrating this model the report presents the case of Harrah\u27s Entertainment. By focusing on customers\u27 use of a business intelligence program, Harrah\u27s was first able to determine who were its best customers (surprisingly, not high rollers), and then devise ways to encourage those good customers to become even better customers while increasing the ranks of the profitable customers through an attentive attraction strategy. The concluding insights for management, which are illustrated by hypothetical situations, should help guide the design, development, management, and use of organizational information systems. In particular, it\u27s worth noting that IT initiatives cannot precede organization change (although implementing an IT system will undoubtedly affect the entire business), one does not always need to purchase the best or most recent technology, and information systems are constantly evolving as a business changes

Hotel Network Security: A Study of Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels

A study of 147 U.S. hotels finds a mixed picture with regard to the security of guests’ connections to the hotels’ network, whether by cable or Wi-Fi. Since many business travelers connect remotely to continue working while on the road, the potential for theft of corporate information exists. Some hotels still rely on relatively rudimentary hub technology for their networks, and these are particularly subject to hacking. Others have upgraded to more secure switches or routers. Even better is encryption for Wi-Fi connections, but that still does not prevent malicious users from intercepting guests’ transmissions. An example of a best practice is presented in the case of the W Dallas Hotel—Victory, which has set up virtual local area networks (VLANs) for all of its users. The VLAN inhibits attackers from using their computer to imitate the hotel’s main server, which is the mechanism most would use to intercept other people’s data. Given that the technology exists to increase a hotel network’s security, a hotel could potentially be considered at fault for not taking the necessary precautions to protect their guests from hackers

Datification and the pursuit of meaningfulness in work

Proliferation of digital means of tracking worker activities has contributed to the rise of data-driven approaches to managing people, with employees often required to record their activities for accountability purposes. Increased requirement for such datification work occurs at a juncture where meaningfulness is one of the most sought-after work features. Datification work could both facilitate and hinder the pursuit of meaningfulness, yet literature provides little guidance into the nature of the connection and how it transpires. Our inductive study of academic professionals using an accountability system suggests that datification work characteristics link to meaningful work experiences in complex ways. We advance current theory on work meaningfulness by theorizing the role of a new work condition – datification – in meaningfulness experiences of professionals, outlining how system design and the institutional context become important elements influencing meaningful work experiences, and explaining how meaningfulness experiences are constructed through system appropriations

Vitamin D: beyond bone.

In recent years, vitamin D has been received increased attention due to the resurgence of vitamin D deficiency and rickets in developed countries and the identification of extraskeletal effects of vitamin D, suggesting unexpected benefits of vitamin D in health and disease, beyond bone health. The possibility of extraskeletal effects of vitamin D was first noted with the discovery of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in tissues and cells that are not involved in maintaining mineral homeostasis and bone health, including skin, placenta, pancreas, breast, prostate and colon cancer cells, and activated T cells. However, the biological significance of the expression of the VDR in different tissues is not fully understood, and the role of vitamin D in extraskeletal health has been a matter of debate. This report summarizes recent research on the roles for vitamin D in cancer, immunity and autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory health, pregnancy, obesity, erythropoiesis, diabetes, muscle function, and aging

Exploration of New Complexity Metrics for Curriculum-Based Measures of Writing

Researchers and practitioners have questioned whether scoring procedures used with curriculum-based measures of writing (CBM-W) capture growth in complexity of writing. We analyzed data from six independent samples to examine two potential scoring metrics for picture word CBM-W (PW), a sentence-level CBM task. Correct word sequences per response (CWSR) and words written per response (WWR) were compared with the current standard metric of correct word sequences (CWS). Linear regression analyses indicated that CWSR predicted scores on standardized norm-referenced criterion measures in more samples than did WWR or CWS. Future studies should explore the capacity of CWSR and WWR to show growth over time, stability, diagnostic accuracy, and utility for instructional decision making