Challenges of eCollaboration among SMEs

The challenges of eCollaboration for SMEs start with the decision to collaborate, and continues with the incorporation of enabling web technologies. This paper focuses on factors that influence eCollaboration by studying two collaborative groups, one in the toolmaking industry and one in the IT industry. Results indicate the need for an additional factor of independent facilitation and coordination, as well as a higher level of priority to be given to the time taken to build trust. Also, a team workspace to manage the process, alongside a web portal to manage the collaborative projects is recommended. The notion of SMEs collaborating with each other when previously they may have been competitors indicates a change in the way business is perceived

Structural and Behavioural Model for Social Computing Applications

Social Computing a new paradigm is causing transformational changes to societal and business processes resulting in new businesses models known as sharing economy, peer economy or collaborative consumption. The diffusion rates of these applications have surpassed any historical technological advancement and have reached millions and billions of users during a short period of time. To understand this phenomenon we analysed eight such popular applications using inductive and content analysis techniques which have helped us derive a structural and a behavioural model for Social Computing. Using these two models we were able to get a deeper understanding of how an application designed to assist a particular communication pattern give rise to a set of emergent characteristics within the user such as trust, empowerment, belongingness that motivate user to act to fulfil a need assisting the growth of these applications. This understanding can guide the design of new successful Social Computing applications

SMEs gaining competitive advantage through eCollaboration

Collaboration can be enabled by the use of web technologies. This paper outlines a project established to investigate possible strategies that could be adopted by Australian toolmakers to allow them to be more competitive in the global market. Results show progress in eTransforming their organizations and steady movement towards eCollaboration. It is suggested that trust is a crucial underlying aspect of successful collaboration. Future studies include the expansion of the framework and strategies to other Australian toolmakers

Strengthening Undergraduate Information Systems Education in an Increasingly Complex Computing Disciplines Landscape

There are concerns that even at times when overall computing degree enrollments are increasing, IS bachelor’s degree programs and enrollments continue to decline. IS programs differ from other computing programs in that they include highly interrelated business and technology components. This inherent interdisciplinarity is the source of its value but also one of its challenges. This paper uses the Australian higher education sector as a case study to examine overall computing degree offerings including IS offerings using the ACM/AIS curriculum models and classification of computing disciplines. We find that IS program offerings are indeed trending down and that computing offerings are dominated by Computer Science and Information Technology degrees. IS is not widely present as a “base” discipline, nor is it providing a platform for the integration of new technologies, such as AI and Cyber Security into “business” settings. To strengthen UG IS programs and perceptions, we recommend that higher education providers develop structure and processes that support interdisciplinary UG IS program development and delivery and that professional bodies and curriculum models be revised to reflect and recognize the business outcome focus of IS. These actions, together with clearer messaging around the value of IS competencies, will improve the image of IS

Green Activity Based Management (ABM) for Organisations

Green Activity Based Management (ABM) is a bottom-up approach for environmentally sustainable business process management. This approach extends Activity Based Costing (ABC) and Critical Path Method (CPM) principles for the purpose of capturing, measuring, modelling and reporting Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The Green ABM not only looks at GHG emissions but also considers cost and time as well. Thus, this provides a holistic picture of these inter-dependent dimensions to the organizational manager for decision making. Furthermore, this research shows that Green ABM can be used to minimise the costs associated with the timing of activities while keeping other business objectives in consideration

A Framework for Multi-dimensional Business Process Optimization for GHG Emission Mitigation

Anthropogenic climate change is shaping up to be a major global challenge in its potential impacts to humanity. A major contributor to this is Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from various sources, including industrial or organizational sector. Some organizational managers realizing the inevitability of government legislations or taxes want to take proactive measures to manage their own GHG emissions. The current emission measuring tools and guidelines are not aimed at measuring emissions of organisational processes. Hence these guidelines and tools do not allow emissions to be handled in a pragmatic manner alongside other business objectives such as cost, turnaround time and quality of production. Therefore, we propose a framework for multi-dimensional business process optimisation that would facilitate modelling, measuring, analysing and reporting GHG emissions. This framework, derived from the GHG Protocol, enables organizational management to optimize their business processes for GHG emission mitigation, alongside other vital business objectives

Australian Undergraduate Information Systems Curricula: a Comparative Study

The paper describes the first comprehensive comparative study of undergraduate Information Systems (IS) degree programs in Australia using the model curricula outlined in ACM/AIS IS2010 as a reference point. The study had three broad aims: 1) to compare the Australian IS curriculum with that of other major IS education systems internationally, 2) to identify what subject areas are considered mandatory and what are considered optional in Australian IS programs, and 3) to understand if the host academic division within different disciplines (e.g. Business or Science/Engineering/Information Technology) has an influence on the variations in the subject areas offered. In a first phase, 2017 IS degree program data was obtained from university websites. In a second phase, this data was validated in consultation with academic staff from those universities offering the programs. The conclusion is that a high level of adherence to the IS2010 curricula was evident in core courses; considerable diversity was found in a long tail of non-core offerings; and the location of the host academic unit within Business or Science/Engineering/Technology influenced the subject areas offered

Sex difference and intra-operative tidal volume: Insights from the LAS VEGAS study

BACKGROUND: One key element of lung-protective ventilation is the use of a low tidal volume (VT). A sex difference in use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) has been described in critically ill ICU patients.OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether a sex difference in use of LTVV also exists in operating room patients, and if present what factors drive this difference.DESIGN, PATIENTS AND SETTING: This is a posthoc analysis of LAS VEGAS, a 1-week worldwide observational study in adults requiring intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery in 146 hospitals in 29 countries.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Women and men were compared with respect to use of LTVV, defined as VT of 8 ml kg-1 or less predicted bodyweight (PBW). A VT was deemed 'default' if the set VT was a round number. A mediation analysis assessed which factors may explain the sex difference in use of LTVV during intra-operative ventilation.RESULTS: This analysis includes 9864 patients, of whom 5425 (55%) were women. A default VT was often set, both in women and men; mode VT was 500 ml. Median [IQR] VT was higher in women than in men (8.6 [7.7 to 9.6] vs. 7.6 [6.8 to 8.4] ml kg-1 PBW, P < 0.001). Compared with men, women were twice as likely not to receive LTVV [68.8 vs. 36.0%; relative risk ratio 2.1 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.1), P < 0.001]. In the mediation analysis, patients' height and actual body weight (ABW) explained 81 and 18% of the sex difference in use of LTVV, respectively; it was not explained by the use of a default VT.CONCLUSION: In this worldwide cohort of patients receiving intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery, women received a higher VT than men during intra-operative ventilation. The risk for a female not to receive LTVV during surgery was double that of males. Height and ABW were the two mediators of the sex difference in use of LTVV.TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01601223

An online system to guide etransforming SMEs

Throughout the centuries, business lives have been changing and modifying. Each era in history brought new needs, demands and requirements. During the Agricultural era land and tools played important roles, while during the Industrial era machines and factories played a dominant role in shaping the organisational and social structures. Today, we find ourselves in the Information era where Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has a crucial role and has become an integral business component. Survival of businesses nowadays depends strongly on how well they can use ICT to enhance their business processes. Successful electronic transformation is determined by how well companies can identify and implement the eTransformation requirements and with it adjust to the demands of the Information era. Previous research indicates that Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in particular are struggling to find the optimal way in which to track, guide and measure their eTransformation journey. In order to identify this, the following research question was proposed: “How can SMEs guide, track and measure the progress made along the eTransformation journey? The Researcher identified that to conduct this investigation the Cynefin framework would be the most suitable methodology. The framework provides techniques and methods to move the problem from one domain to the other until the solution is found. Furthermore, the methodology is based on the concept that each problem and the difficulty of solving it, can be classified into one of the Cynefin domains namely: Chaos, the extreme of the unknown, Complex, Knowable and Known, the solution. When conducting the literature review and studying the eTransformation of the SMEs today the Researcher identified that the problem that requires the identification of “How SMEs can guide, track and measure the progress made along the eTransformation journey” is in the Cynefin domain of Chaos as at that time there is no known solutions to the problem. To find out the best way to move the problem from unknown closer to the solution, in this case from Chaos to Complex, the Researcher studied currently known data. The study helped identify issues and challenges of eTransformation and reasons why companies throughout the history wanted to undertake transformation and change. Moreover, the study helped the Researcher understand the situation SMEs were facing and has allowed the Researcher to identify new pattern formations. This brought the problem into the Complex domain where now patterns were emerging and desirable ones required stabilisation. Therefore, to understand the patterns better the Researcher studied models of Organisational Change and eTransformation. The studies identified that the eTransformation Road Map assesses eTransformation along the Dimension of IT Tools and Systems the most comprehensively. Furthermore, the study revealed that eTransformation is a staged process and that it is influenced not only by the ICT factors, but also by other non- ICT factors, therefore that it is multidimensional. To identify other dimensions the Researcher, through case studies, pinpointed Key Features of eTransformation as well as that Tasks and Processes are one of the other dimensions playing a role in eTransformation. While studying eTransformation models the Researcher also reviewed models used to measure the effectiveness of ICT within the organisations (Valuations Model) where it was identified that eTransformation cannot be measured in monetary values. Therefore, to identify possible measurement criteria, the Researcher continued to study Characteristics of eTransformation through case study narratives, which helped pattern stabilisation. Conducted narrative analysis identified that to pinpoint dimensions, which influence eTransformation, dimensions of the 7 S Model would need to be studied. The investigation was conducted through interviews. Data analysis of the interviews allowed the Researcher to identify four Dimensions crucial for eTransformation. Firstly, eTransforming SMEs are required to identify their Strategy – business goals and values, following by Structure – business departments and functions, then business Tasks and Processes – essential activities for business operations so that an SME can achieve their set goals and objectives, and finally IT Tools and Systems – business technology essential to complete set activities quickly and smoothly. Following the above finding the Researcher studied eTransforming SMEs with the aim of identifying characteristics of companies for each of the eTransformation dimensions across eTransformation stages. Following the identification of eTransformation Dimensions and their Characteristics, questions, abilities and recommendations for the model, eT Guide, that can be used to track, guide and measure eTransformation were tested and applied to 30 SMEs. The study resulted in the production of eT Reports which SMEs could now use to track, measure and guide their eTransformation journey. This led to the identification of the eT Guide requirements which brought this research closer to the solution and moved the problem from the Complex domain into Knowable where an expert, here the Researcher, had the solution to the problem. Next step for the Researcher was to move the problem from the Knowable domain into Known and design and develop an online eT Guide System that SMEs could use themselves. As a result of this research, the problem has been moved from the Chaos domain into a solution of the Known domain which is accessible to the SMEs. The solution, eT Guide, can now be used by all eTransforming SMEs themselves. By answering a series of yes / no questions, SMEs can identify their current eTransformation stage, their abilities - what they can do with the resources they currently have and their recommendations - what they could do in order to improve in the form of an eT Report. Furthermore, the system allows organisations to regularly track and measure their progress through features of eT History and eT Position. In the years to come, it is expected that the eT Guide will help assist eTransforming businesses and provide them with the essentials that would help them sustain pressures of the Information era