Mitigating risks in managing cloud-based IT controls

Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Cloud computing (CC) represents a key tool in the race for innovation across industries. However, organisations are facing constraints in implementing and leveraging cloud technology for development purposes due to a lack of skills, knowledge and talent. To address this concern, this study focuses on the impact of CC on IT staff\u27s roles and responsibilities, within cloud user organisations. Accordingly, this study suggests skills required to mitigate the risks in the accountability and responsibility of managing IT controls. The results were empirically verified by senior IT practitioners. The empirical intervention emphasised on people\u27s business skills, in addition to domain knowledge and the mind-set to adapt to the changed environment. The findings of this study offers new insights for scholars and it will help IT decision makers to assess their staff\u27s capabilities to meet their business needs and to plan appropriate selection, training and hiring policies

Strengthening The Curriculum Of Information Systems Program

Information Systems as a field of academic study has witnessed tremendous growth in scope and depth since its beginning in the 1960s. Diversified information systems job market and widespread use of technology in healthcare organizations indicate a growing demand for IT personnel in healthcare organizations. This paper attempts to present a model for designing curriculum for Healthcare Information Systems concentration for an IT undergraduate program. The design of this curriculum is based on the recommendations of the Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET) - Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC). This model can be used by any higher educational institute that plans to redesign its IT curriculum to offer specializations. Lessons learnt indicate a need to get employers involved in the design process so that the knowledge and skill areas of the curriculum are responsive to the employer’s requirements

Building An Integrated Digital Transformation System Framework: A Design Science Research, The Case Of Feduni

The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated digital transformation system framework (IDTSF) to help support business leaders and teams in making their products, services, and operations more streamlined and competitive. The framework will help organizations to best meet user/customer needs with minimum waste and time and enables businesses to achieve efficiency compared with island and traditional sequential approaches. The proposed framework can also provide insights to help organizations to avoid common failures when deploying digital transformation initiatives. The paper follows the design science research (DSR) and the information systems design science research (ISDSR) methodologies to develop the IDTSF model and a practical design artifact. The main problems were the initiation, execution, and governance challenges associated with digital transformation. After identifying the problems and the objectives, a relevant IDTSF model was synthesized and tested as a design artifact. The results of the test of the proposed artifact showed its effectiveness and efficiency in facilitating the components of the model in creating a cohesive framework

IT governance measurement tools and its application in IT-business alignment.

The purpose of this exploratory research paper is to evaluate the deployment and assessment methodology of the information technology governance (ITG) measurement tools, with the purpose of gaining deeper insight into the ITG initiation process, the nature of tools employed, measurement processes, and the implementation methodology, using case studies. Analysis of the available academic and non-academic literature sources showed measurement issues being the most dominant and ironically the most neglected domain in ITG implementations. We view ITG measurement tools and it subsequent deployment through the two theoretical ITG models namely the Integrated IT Governance model, and the Structures, Processes, and Relational ITG model. To validate these findings and to get a deeper insight into the ITG measurement domain, we conducted four case studies of measurement tools usage and processes in commonly used ITG frameworks in four organisations in New Zealand and United Arab Emirates. The results indicate that the IT governance initiatives differ in the manner of positioning in the integrated ITG framework, and objectivity of measurement is more evident and emphasized in UAE than in New Zealand. The result of these findings provides practitioners with guidance on the contextual usage of ITG measurement practices

Swift Search An open-source search engine

Businesses nowadays collect a huge amount of information. To search classified data in an efficient and streamlined manner, every organization will require a Search Engine that can be integrated into their websites and search through their data. To increase the productivity of searching the content with a modern, flexible site search experience, we are proposing a Search Engine that can help the organization to search efficiently. In this paper, we propose Swift Search which is an open-source search engine, with no additional cost involved. The search time is tested on an open-source tool called Meilisearch, which gives a promising level of performance

A role allocation model for IT controls in a cloud environment.

The rapid adoption of cloud computing by organizations, along with the need to comply with relevant IT governance (ITG) controls, has increased the complexity of governance in the cloud. This transition from a classical data center to a virtualized data center has resulted in the reallocation of roles and responsibilities of IT personnel for managing and accounting for the relevant IT controls. With a lack of guidelines or model for practitioners to choose from, with regard to the allocation of roles and responsibilities, there is a lack of clarity on the responsibilities and accountability for these IT controls. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical model for assigning roles and responsibilities for IT controls for an organization operating in a cloud environment. The proposed model is based on a strong theoretical grounding and can be used to inform good practice

Managing information security risk using integrated governance risk and compliance.

This paper aims to demonstrate the building blocks of an IT Governance Risk and Compliance (IT GRC) model as well the phased stages of the optimal integration of IT GRC frameworks, standards and model through a longitudinal study. A qualitative longitudinal single case study methodology through multiple open-ended interviews were conducted over a period of four years (July 2012 to November 2015) in a retail financial institution. Our empirical study contributes to both academic research and practice in IT GRC. First, we identified the various building blocks of IT GRC domain from vertical as well as horizontal perspectives. Second, we methodologically demonstrated the gradual metamorphosis of the evolution of an IT GRC from a single ITG framework to multiple IT GRC building blocks. The journey thus throws light on the gradual staged process of attaining maturity in IT GRC by an organization. The resultant IT GRC model thus, guides managerial actions towards a better understanding of the positioning of IT GRC building blocks in an organization through the understanding of the interaction of vertical and horizontal domains. The results of the paper thus enable practitioners and academics to better understand and evaluate IT GRC implementation for effective governance, reduce risk and ensure compliance in organizations

Using Deep Learning Model to Identify Iron Chlorosis in Plants

Iron deficiency in plants causes iron chlorosis which frequently occurs in soils that are alkaline (pH greater than 7.0) and that contain lime. This deficiency turns affected plant leaves to yellow, or with brown edges in advanced stages. The goal of this research is to use the deep learning model to identify a nutrient deficiency in plant leaves and perform soil analysis to identify the cause of the deficiency. Two pre-trained deep learning models, Single Shot Detector (SSD) MobileNet v2 and EfficientDet D0, are used to complete this task via transfer learning. This research also contrasts the architecture and performance of the models at each stage and freezes the models for future use. Classification accuracy ranged from 93% to 98% for the SSD Mobilenet v2 model. Although this model took less time to process, its accuracy level was lower. While the EfficientDet D0 model required more processing time, it provided very high classification accuracy for the photos, ranging from 87% to 98.4%. These findings lead to the conclusion that both models are useful for real-time classifications, however, the EfficientDet D0 model may perform significantly better

Evaluating Energy Security Performance in Pakistan and India through Aggregated Energy Security Performance Indicators (AESPI)

This article computes the energy security performance between two crucial South Asian neighboring countries in the region through aggregated energy security performance indicators (AESPI) using time series data of time spanning 1990-2018. The findings of this manuscript suggest that total primary energy supply, final energy consumption, household electricity consumption, share of non- carbon energy per total primary energy consumption, net energy import dependency Co2 emissions per capita and per GDP and residential energy consumption lead to make better energy security performance in Pakistan. However, total primary electricity consumption, total primary and final energy intensity, reserve production ratio of oil & gas and transformation losses adversely affect energy security performance in Pakistan. On another end, in India final energy consumption, total primary energy intensity, household electricity consumption, share of capacity of renewable energy per total electricity generation, share of renewable energy per final energy consumption, net energy import dependency and Co2 emissions per capita lead to improve energy security performance. Conversely, total primary energy supply, total primary electricity consumption, final energy intensity, transformation loss, reserve production ratio of oil & gas, share of non-carbon energy per total primary energy supply and Co2 emissions per GDP may cause to reduce energy security performance in India. In conclusion, the overall energy security performance is improved in both the countries by time, India (more improved than Pakistan) and Pakistan, as the findings of this manuscript suggest