Tools and Models for Group Collaboration

This paper provides a brief introduction for the minitrack on Tools and Models for Group Collaboration. As organizations are beginning to embrace the concept of being virtual, they increasingly need to provide technology to support group problem solving when group members are dispersed. Many theories have been developed to advance knowledge in this area, but the experimental results provide inconsistencies across the full range of tools and tasks. The development of a full range of tools and models that support a comprehensive set of collaborative activities is in the embryonic stages. The goal of developing such models will result in a more solid understanding of what virtual groups need to collaborate on various types of tasks

The State of Theoretical Diversity

Theory provides the medium for organizing and communicating knowledge that enables scientific collaboration. Review of five years of published work in two major IS journals, Management Information Systems Quarterly and Journal of Management Information Systems, describes the nature of this theoretical diversity in IS research. Two-hundred-seventy-three articles were evaluated for theoretical citations to identify the range of theories in Information Systems. Approximately half of the papers explicitly cited one of the 111 theories identified. Thirty of the theories were cited multiple times, representing 55% of the citations. The large number of theories used and the small number used more than once indicate that theoretical diversity clearly exists in information systems research. Based on the results, no theory emerged as a potential candidate for the role of grand/unified theory of information systems

REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS FOR PROCESS-CENTRIC CONTINUOUS MONITORING

With the emergence of mission-critical real-time systems becoming ever more important to the competitive strategies of corporations and their e-business and supply-chain models, an increasing number of process controls are being embedded into information systems, and co-processed with business transaction thus providing for the continuous monitoring of business operations. A parallel trend in the auditing industry is towards continuous auditing, able to provide management with real-time auditing of the functioning of controls and of business transactions, thus enhancing significantly management’s ability to ensure compliance and make key business decisions. Continuous auditing requires that information systems are developed not only to fulfill business requirements but also continuous monitoring of transactions and other compliance and control requirements. This integration of business systems and their controls within a process-centric logic necessitates a likewise integration of their development processes. Subsequently existing tools and techniques for requirements analysis need to be recast within a hybrid and integrated approach dubbed requirement analysis for process-centric continuous monitoring or RA-PCCM, which consists of the concurrent analysis of operational systems, information systems, the control system, and the management system. Whilst efforts exist within the auditing community to outline a process-driven methodology for developing continuous auditing systems, this paper argues for integrating control development for continuous monitoring within the fold of information system development, hence restricting auditors to control monitoring assurance

The Impact of Persuasive Response Sequence and Consistency when IT Service Providers Address Auditor-Identified Issues in SOC2 Reports

We examine how an IT service provider’s persuasive communication related to SOC2 report findings influences management’s (i.e., user-entities’) perceptions of the outsourced services. Within SOC2 reports, service providers can attempt to influence management’s impressions of auditor-identified issues and, due to the report’s limited audience, also follow-up with management about these issues. Using dual-process theories of persuasion, we predict the type of persuasion used by a service provider in a SOC2 report (contend or concede), and its consistency with follow-up persuasive appeals (contend or concede), will influence management’s perceptions of the services provided. In an experiment, only when the service provider first contends the auditor’s findings does a follow-up concession (rather than contention) result in more favorable perceptions. Persuasion tactics also influence management’s processing of risk factors, which impact their trust in the service. Thus, IT service providers’ initial and follow-up persuasive communications influence management’s assessment of SOC2 auditor-identified issues

trans-Bis[1,3-bis­(2-methoxy­phen­yl)triazenido]dimethano­lcadmium(II)

In the title compound, [Cd(C14H14N3O2)2(CH3OH)2], each cadmium(II) center is six-coordinated by an N atom and an O atom of two 1,3-bis­(2-methoxy­phen­yl)triazene ligands and by the O atoms of two methanol mol­ecules. The distorted octa­hedral coordination geometry of the Cd atom has two N and two O atoms in the equatorial plane, and two O atoms in axial positions. The complex is stabilized by intra­molecular O—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds. In the crystal structure the complexes are linked into chains via inter­molecular C—H⋯π stacking inter­actions. One of the methanol C atoms is disordered with ouccupancies of 0.7:0.3