The iTEC Technical Artefacts, Architecture and Educational Cloud

This chapter introduces the technical artefacts of the iTEC project in the context of a cloud architecture. The rationale for the technology developed in the iTEC project follows from its overall aim to re-engineer the uptake of ICT in schools. To that end, iTEC focused (a) on some important barriers for the uptake of ICT such the effort that teachers must make in redesigning their teaching and fi nding the right resources for that, and (b) on enablers for the uptake of ICT, such as providing engaging experiences both for the learner and teacher. The technical innovations are centred around three themes: innovations in the support of learning design, innovations by using a-typical resources, and innovations in the integration and management of learning services and resources. Next this chapter presents the cloud architecture adopted by all technology providers, including a shared user management and control system, the shared data models and interoperability solutions. The technical artefacts and then further elaborated in the ensuing chapters

HAVOSS: A Maturity Model for Handling Vulnerabilities in Third Party OSS Components

Security has been recognized as a leading barrier for IoT adoption. The growing number of connected devices and reported software vulnerabilities increases the importance firmware updates. Maturity models for software security do include parts of this, but are lacking in several aspects. This paper presents and evaluates a maturity model (HAVOSS) for handling vulnerabilities in third party OSS and COTS components. The maturity model was designed by first reviewing industry interviews, current best practice guidelines and other maturity models. After that, the practices were refined through industry interviews, resulting in six capability areas covering in total 21 practices. These were then evaluated based on their importance according to industry experts. It is shown that the practices are seen as highly important, indicating that the model can be seen as a valuable tool when assessing strengths and weaknesses in an organization's ability to handle firmware updates

Developing Crisis Training Software for Local Governments – From User Needs to Generic Requirements

In this paper we analyze and present the generic requirements identified for a software aiming at supporting crisis management training in local governments. The generic requirements are divided into overall requirements, requirements connected to the trainer’s role and requirements connected to the trainee’s role. Moreover, the requirements are mapped to problems as well as opportunities. Finally, we present examples of elaborations of the addressed requirements based on software design considerations. In our work we applied a design science approach and the artifact presented in this paper is a list of generic requirement. The presented requirements and the systems development process used, provide guidelines for systems analysts and developers in future systems development projects aiming at constructing new software for crisis management training

A Microservice Infrastructure for Distributed Communities of Practice

Non-formal learning in Communities of Practice (CoPs) makes up a significant portion of today’s knowledge gain. However, only little technological support is tailored specifically towards CoPs and their particular strengths and challenges. Even worse, CoPs often do not possess the resources to host or even develop a software ecosystem to support their activities. In this paper, we describe a distributed, microservice-based Web infrastructure for non-formal learning in CoPs. It mitigates the need for central infrastructures, coordination or facilitation and takes into account the constant change of these communities. As a real use case, we implement an inquiry-based learning application on-top of our infrastructure. Our evaluation results indicate the usefulness of this learning application, which shows promise for future work in the domain of community-hosted, microservice-based Web infrastructures for learning outside of formal settings

A Blockchain-Based Approach Towards Overcoming Financial Fraud in Public Sector Services

In financial markets it is common for companies and individuals to invest into foreign companies. To avoid the double taxation of investors on dividend payment - both in the country where the profit is generated as well as the country of residence - most governments have entered into bilateral double taxation treaties, whereby investors can claim a tax refund in the country where the profit is generated. Due to easily forgeable documents and insufficient international exchange of information between tax authorities, investors illegitimately apply for these tax returns causing an estimated damage of 1.8 billion USD, for example, in Denmark alone. This paper assesses the potential of a blockchain database to provide a feasible solution for overcoming this problem against the backdrop of recent advances in the public sector and the unique set of blockchain capacities. Towards this end, we develop and evaluate a blockchain-based prototype system aimed at eliminating this type of tax fraud and increasing transparency regarding the flow of dividends. While the prototype is based on the specific context of the Danish tax authority, we discuss how it can be generalized for tracking international and interorganizational transactions

Adaptive Workflow Design Based on Blockchain

Increasingly, organizational processes have become more complex. There is a need for the design of workflows to focus on how organizations adapt to emergent processes while balancing the need for decentralization and centralization goal. The advancement in new technologies especially blockchain provides organizations with the opportunity to achieve the goal. Using blockchain technology (i.e. smart contract and blocks of specified consensus for deferred action), we leverage the theory of deferred action and a coordination framework to conceptually design a workflow management system that addresses organizational emergence (e-WfMS). Our artifact helps managers to predict and store the impact of deferred actions. We evaluated the effectiveness of our system against a complex adaptive system for utility assessment

Requirements for IT Governance in Organizations Experiencing Decentralization

International audienceDecentralization of organizations and subsequent change of their management and operation styles require changes in organization's processes and heavily involve IT. Enterprise Architecture (EA) frameworks fit to primarily centralized organizational structures, and as such have shortcomings when used in decentralized organizations. We illustrate this idea on the example of one organization in the Higher Education sector that faces decentralization of its structure and has to adapt to it. Overcoming these challenges requires some new principles to be introduced and incorporated into the EA knowledge. In particular for IT governance, in this study we argue that peer-to-peer principles can offer more suitable governance over current EA frameworks as they are able to better align with decentralized components of an organizational structure

Designing an information system for updating land records in Bangladesh: action design ethnographic research (ADER)

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Information Systems (IS) has developed through adapting, generating and applying diverse methodologies, methods, and techniques from reference disciplines. Further, Action Design Research (ADR) has recently developed as a broad research method that focuses on designing and redesigning IT and IS in organizational contexts. This paper reflects on applying ADR in a complex organizational context in a developing country. It shows that ADR requires additional lens for designing IS in such a complex organizational context. Through conducting ADR, it is seen that an ethnographic framework has potential complementarities for understanding complex contexts thereby enhancing the ADR processes. This paper argues that conducting ADR with an ethnographic approach enhances design of IS and organizational contexts. Finally, this paper aims presents a broader methodological framework, Action Design Ethnographic Research (ADER), for designing artefacts as well as IS. This is illustrated through the case of a land records updating service in Bangladesh

A productivity dashboard for hospitals: an empirical study

Health information systems are key assets in managing health units’ daily operations. Nevertheless, literature is scarce concerning information systems for increasing and managing hospital productivity. This study aims at filling such gap through an empirical research based on large Portuguese hospital. Specifically, a dashboard prototype is proposed addressing productivity indicators in areas such as assistance, hospitalization, surgery, among others. This dashboard is tuned using a design science research approach where health experts successively validate the prototype. Interviews are conducted to assess the benefits of using our proposal to manage productivity on a daily basis.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio