From Variability to Viability

Socially and industrially globalized environment generates the need for flexibility of enterprises acting, cooperating and preserving their identity in various value and supply chains and socio-technical ecosystems. Achieving required flexibility, ability to cooperate, and ability to care for enterprise identity is possible via use of information systems that can provide a high level of variability of systemically organized information services. The points of variation may reside in types of information provided, in information, data, software, hardware, and network architectures, systems development methods, and in types of chosen information sources in enterprises and their environment. Vigorous models are needed to handle the variability in enterprises in general and in information systems in particular. St. Beer\u27s Viable Systems Model known in organizational cybernetics is one of the candidates for handling and utilizing the variability to achieve enterprise viability via viable information systems

Continuous Requirements Engineering in the FREEDOM Framework: a Position Paper

Abstract. Continuous change, which, nowadays, is a commonly accepted feature of both business and technical environments, requires continuous change in a business and its supporting systems, including information technology solutions. This, in turn, leads to the need for continuity also in the realm of requirements engineering. It is necessary to be aware whether it is necessary to change the requirements, why and when this should be done; and how to handle the related changes in the environment, business, system, systems development process, and systems maintenance. To find out how to answer at least part of these questions, the FREEDOM framework is established by analyzing different configurations of work systems and also information and knowledge flows in a viable systems model. The paper focuses on propagation and feedback relationships among the requirements engineering function and other constituents of the FREEDOM framework

International Student Projects and Sustainable Development Goals: A Perfect Match

Engineering Education is currently going through a transformation, driven by the need for educating better engineers and more engineers, and largely build on elements such as problem orientation, interdisciplinarity, internationalization, digitalization and sustainability. In 2020, the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership EPIC (Improving Employability Through Internationalization and Collaboration) has combined all these elements, and demonstrated how international and interdisciplinary student projects, focusing on solving real-world problems related to sustainability, can be carried out in a setting where students mainly work together online. A total of 56 students from 7 EU and 2 international universities, with backgrounds ranging from Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering to Textile Technologies and Business Informatics were working on 9 different projects throughout the spring of 2020. The paper presents the experiences from the setup and discusses some general recommendations for setting up this type of projects. The paper goes through the stages of defining and carrying out the projects: Defining the overall framework, identifying problems/project proposals in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, identifying the students and assigning students to projects, preparing students and supervisors, organising the physical kick-off seminar, and supporting the online collaboration. We also discuss evaluation and hand-over of the solutions, to ensure the projects have a lasting impact. We conclude that the sustainable development goals provide a highly motivating framework for interdisciplinary, international student projects based on problem-based learning. We also note that a careful design and execution of the all the preparatory stages are crucial in order for the projects to succeed, and discuss specific recommendations for these.</p

Conceptual Correspondence Monitoring: Multimode Information Logistics Approach

Abstract. The paper addresses the problems arising in situations where conceptual correspondence has to be monitored, i.e., there are two or more structures of concepts which have a physical or abstract mapping and the changes in the structures of concepts may introduce the changes in the mapping. Usually the monitoring of conceptual correspondence requires manual, semiautomatic, and automatic information processing and exposes high level of complexity. The integration of different types of information processing units can be achieved by the use of multimode information logistics. The paper discusses challenges of the use of multimode information logistics in monitoring conceptual correspondence and proposes an approach that helps to partly meet the discussed challenges by jointly using functional and morphological spaces of representation of information logistics networks. The proposed approach is illustrated by an example of monitoring conceptual correspondence between knowledge demand and offer in the area of education

Exploring the Process of an Inventory Forecasting System to Ascertain Capital Investment in Cloud Computing Application for a SME

Forecasting commands power to control resources, monitor competition, staying ahead of the competitive curve with the help of insight into business analytics. It is a powerful statistical tool to visualize demand better to allow business decision makers to specifically use their experience to work with cloud computing applications. Vertical integration principles like agility, aggressiveness and ability to change has been linked to the cloud computing. The paper aims to find a workflow model which helps to provide a better foresight into SME cloud computing solution investments for the future

Variability Handling in Educational Context

Today there are many different forms of educational activities present, e.g., traditional lecturing, e-learning, blended learning and living labs. Also, the audience becomes more and more international and heterogeneous in terms of background knowledge of students, their educational purposes, capabilities and expectations. This introduces a high level of variability in educational settings and requires new methods and tools for managing this variability. Customized application of feature models, known in software product line management, is one possible solution applicable for variability handling in educational context. This paper proposes the development of a feature model as the method for variability handling

Towards Continuous Information Security Audit

Abstract. Requirement engineering calls for continuous possibility to check whether latest changes of significant requirements are met by the target systems. This review is important because the environment of the system, if impacted by changes, may lead to new exposures. Current paper reports on knowledge gained during the attempt to move towards continuous security audit by extending one business process based security requirements identification method with the elements from audit area and the automated business process analysis method for identifying the points for the attention of audit

Towards Using Sensors as Data Sources in Teaching:Requirements for School Curricula-Compatible Sensors

The continuous innovation in modern technologies in various sectors of society has transformed everyday life. It becomes imperative for the educational community to equip the future generation with digital skills. In this article, using qualitative and quantitative research techniques, we define criteria for school curricula-compatible sensors (particularly, for secondary school students in grades 5 through 9). We also develop requirements models for sensor classes that satisfy the school curricula compatibility criteria using requirements engineering techniques. The results show that integrating sensors into schools can improve students’ digital and data skills. Additionally, requirements models can help in developing school curricula-compatible sensors or transforming existing sensors into curricula-compatible sensors