Strategic capability through business intelligence applications

This thesis analyzes the potential strategic capability that can be improved from the deployment of business intelligence (BI) applications. AOK Niedersachsen (AOKN), a German health insurance company in the north of Germany (Lower-Saxony), is used as the case study for primary qualitative research and analysis. For many years, information and data have been considered even “factors of production” for companies; but data and information have become more complex, requiring processing and structural analysis to get the needed transparency in the company. Data from different operational sources must be extracted and structured to provide information for management accounting employees, top management, and end-users throughout an organization. In the healthcare industry, BI systems have played a crucial role for decades. For organizations such as AOKN, the application of BI tools and technologies can create and support sustainable capability. Several research questions are answered in this thesis through structured one-to-one interviews with different AOKN employees, and the resulting analysis of interview data. A qualitative approach to this case study is used, allowing the researcher to get in-depth information about a specific context. When case studies are conducted, the one-to-one interview is considered to be an optimal instrument and a significant source of evidence. BI technologies and tools are classified within an appropriate conceptual framework which integrates the complex BI demands and structures of AOKN, identifying different components as part of the framework - systems infrastructure, data provision, reporting, and information receiver. The framework is further enhanced by four factors of a competitive advantage model drawn from existing literature to develop capabilities. The use and integration of BI technologies and tools in the strategy development process are then analyzed. Different BI tools, that have an important function during the whole strategy process, are recommended for each strategy phase. The final area of research examines the possible addition of new functions and solutions to current BI technologies and tools to enhance the potential of these systems in gaining capabilities. Research findings encompass system access, report characteristics, and BI end users profiles and capabilities. To this end, a structured model gives examples of practical AOKN BI projects that have generated strategic capabilities for the organization. At the end, the conclusion chapter stresses the needs of contribution to knowledge (theory and practice)

The Cone of Hilbert Functions in the non-standard graded Case

We describe the cone of Hilbert functions of artinian graded modules finitely generated in degree 0 over the polynomial ring R = k[x, y] with the non-standard grading deg(x) = 1 and deg(y) = n, where n is any natural number.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures. This paper was produced during Pragmatic 2011, v2: minor correction

Developing Strategic Capability through Business Intelligence Applications: A case study from the German Healthcare Insurance Industry

Wynn, M. and Brinkmann, D., (2018), in Yeoh, W. and Miah, S. (eds) Business Intelligence in Organisational Settings, IGI-Global. Company performance can be measured at all levels across an organisation, and in the German healthcare industry, Business Intelligence systems play a crucial role in achieving this. For one major health insurance company (discussed here as an alias - AK Healthcare), the deployment of Business Intelligence applications has supported sustained growth in turnover and market share in the past five years. In this article, these tools are classified within an appropriate conceptual framework which encompasses the organisation’s information infrastructure and associated processes. Different components of the framework are identified and examples are given - systems infrastructure, data provision/access control, the BI tools and technologies, report generation, and information users. The use and integration of Business Intelligence tools in the strategy development process is then analyzed, and the key functions and features of these tools for strategic capability development are discussed. Research findings encompass system access, report characteristics, and end-users capabilities

Beam-beam instability driven by wakefield effects in linear colliders

The vertical beam profile distortions induced by wakefield effects in linear colliders (the so-called ``banana effect'') generate a beam-beam instability at the collision point when the vertical disruption parameter is large. We illustrate this effect in the case of the TESLA linear collider project. We specify the tolerance on the associated emittance growth, which translates into tolerances on injection jitter and, for a given tuning procedure, on structure misalignments. We look for possible cures based on fast orbit correction at the interaction point and using a fast luminosity monitor

Separation of quadrupolar and magnetic contributions to spin-lattice relaxation in the case of a single isotope

We present a NMR pulse double-irradiation method which allows one to separate magnetic from quadrupolar contributions in the spin-lattice relaxation. The pulse sequence fully saturates one transition while another is observed. In the presence of a Delta m = 2 quadrupolar contribution, the intensity of the observed line is altered compared to a standard spin-echo experiment. We calculated analytically this intensity change for spins I=1, 3/2, 5/2, thus providing a quantitative analysis of the experimental results. Since the pulse sequence we used takes care of the absorbed radio-frequency power, no problems due to heating arise. The method is especially suited when only one NMR sensitive isotope is available. Different cross-checks were performed to prove the reliability of the obtained results. The applicability of this method is demonstrated by a study of the plane oxygen 17O (I = 5/2) in the high-temperature superconductor YBa_2Cu_4O_8: the 17O spin-lattice relaxation rate consists of magnetic as well as quadrupolar contributions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure