IMPROVING KNOWLEDGE-INTENSIVE HEALTH CARE PROCESSES BEYOND EFFICIENCY

Health care has been one of the most important domains for Business Process Management (BPM) research and practice for many years. Through an exploratory case study conducted in a real organization, here named “SpecialClinic”, this research aims to investigate what lies beyond “traditional” BPM, in particular process efficiency, as practiced by many organizations today. It focuses on customer-facing knowledge-intensive BPs in the case organization and aims to investigate their ongoing improvement. The main findings of this research challenge the main objectives of BP improvement (i.e. reduced costs, improved efficiency) as they show that some organizations are making their “to-be” processes slower and more expensive, yet significantly improved in terms of quality of patient care. In addition to its main research contribution related to new approaches to improvement of knowledge-intensive BPs, this work offers some important lessons for the BPM practitioners interested in expanding the current boundaries of BPM

A Web-Based Handbook of Innovative Teaching Practices - Creating New Opportunities for IS research

Process-oriented learning designs describe innovative teaching practices (processes) that consist of a set of inter-related learning tasks. These processes are generic rather than discipline specific. An example includes a problem-solving process widely used in problem-based learning. Most existing process-oriented learning designs are not analysed or documented in any systematic way. This is because they represent tacit knowledge gained through years of practical experience and reflective practice. Consequently they are hard to externalise and support by information technology. This paper investigates the dual role IT technology plays in relation to process-related learning designs. It argues that existing educational technologies, knowledge-management systems and process-oriented technologies cannot be used to support process-related learning designs. Furthermore, these existing technologies cannot be used to offer knowledge management support to teachers interested to share, store and reuse their innovative practices. The paper describes a new type of process- oriented, knowledge-management educational technology designed to fulfil this dual role. The paper also identifies various interesting IS challenges related to the design and implementation of this technology

Using Collaborative Visual Analytics for Innovative Industry-inspired Learning Activities

Inspired by leading industry practices, this paper describes an innovative learning activity designed to combine data visualisation and cross-functional collaboration supported by enterprise social media. The activity is structured around sharing, co-creation and negotiation of departmental/disciplinary insights across data silos, using both internal and external data. In addition to giving students access to state-of-the-art tools for visualisation (SAS-VA) and collaboration (Yammer), an even more important educational objective is to expose students to the complexities of deriving information (i.e. meaning) from enterprise-wide (meaning-free) data stored by business intelligence & analytics systems. This human-driven and human-centric process of making sense of data in context requires collaboration across functional silos, especially when dealing with complex multi-disciplinary challenges. Starting from an industry-informed business scenario, the paper describes the main steps of an innovative data visualisation and collaboration activity, discusses possible alternative software platforms and offers some ideas for the future work

Looking Beyond Technology: A Framework for Business Intelligence and Business Process Management Integration

While the initiatives for BPM and BI integration are becoming more and more prominent, especially with the raise of operational BI, current integration efforts remain mostly at the technical level. This paper argues that BPM and BI integration should be investigated from a holistic perspective, rather than reduced to technical problems. The paper aims to investigate the integration problem in terms of different types of business processes, the associated types of decisions and the information needs of decision makers. It then proposes a theoretical framework that could be used as a starting point towards an evolving roadmap for BI and BPM integration. The paper also describes an exploratory case study used to confirm the proposed framework

Designing Innovative Education through Action Design Research: Method and Application for Teaching Design Activities in Large Lecture Environments

Today’s fast-changing global environment has created unprecedented challenges for the university sector worldwide. Consequently, educational innovation has become more important than ever before, especially in dynamic design-oriented disciplines, including information systems (IS). Action design research (ADR) offers great but yet-to-be-explored potential for designing educational innovations. In this paper, I present ADR as a method for educational innovation. I also showcase this method using the example of teaching design activities in large lecture environments. More precisely, I offer an innovative organization design solution, the team net-based learning (TNBL) model, which I designed and other educators later independently adopted. They continue to use the model to this day. In this paper, I report on the ADR project of initiating, designing, implementing, and evaluating the TNBL model in a large undergraduate MIS class over a two-year period in a real-life setting from the standpoint of a reflective practitioner/designer engaged in ADR in her own practice. Even though I implemented the project in the IS domain, the main design artifact is discipline and content agnostic, and, as such, could be used in any other design-oriented discipline. I also provide important directions for future research

Process-Oriented CRM Enabled by Component-Based Workflow Technology

To remain competitive, companies are starting to organise their work around customer-centered business processes that cross functional and organisational boundaries. Customer-relationship management is becoming more important than ever before. This paper proposes a new type of process-oriented CRM system suitable for Small-to-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) seeking to integrate a large number of service providers and services and create an added value for their customers. Process-support is enabled by component-based workflow technology. Design of this system is based on a flexible model of declarative business processes that is also briefly described in the paper. To illustrate the importance of the proposed type of CRM support, the paper uses an example of an Australian service-oriented SME. 1

Improving Data-Driven Decision Making through Human-Centered Knowledge Sharing

This research focuses on human-centered knowledge sharing within data-driven decision-making processes enabled by advanced analytics. The paper describes an exploratory study of an innovative approach to ongoing improvement of complex data-driven decision making processes found in a large retail distribution company by considering a complex interplay of business intelligence (BI) /business analytics, business processes and human-centered knowledge management. Using the relevant IS frameworks as analytical lens the paper investigates the evolving relationship between decision-making and decision-support technology, as well as the relationship among information, decisions and the corresponding business processes in this context. The most important finding of this research is in identification of human-centered knowledge sharing as the key success factor for ongoing improvement of BI-enabled decision making in the case organisation, rather than complex technology. This in turn indicates the significance of various organisational factors, including carefully designed and implemented human-resource (HR) strategies to encourage knowledge sharing among decision makers using advanced analytics systems. Finally, this paper also confirms the latest industry reports that more mature analytical organisations are looking beyond technology and focusing on business-related issues as the next source of competitive advantage, as it was the case with our chosen organisation

Improvement of Knowledge-Intensive Business Processes Through Analytics and Knowledge Sharing

This applied research focuses on knowledge-intensive business processes (KIBPs) supported by Business Intelligence and Analytics (BI&A), here termed BI&A-supported KIBPs. Examples of these processes include customer-support services, risk and assurance processes, and design of marketing campaigns. This research aims to investigate an industry-informed research challenge of ongoing improvement of BI&A-supported KIBPs, in particular the role of BI&A in process improvement. This paper presents a qualitative research case study, conducted in a large retail distribution company, using a theoretical lens of Work Systems Theory (WST). We describe an innovative approach to ongoing improvement of BI&A-supported KIBP and confirm an important role played by BI&A in this context. Informed by these research insights, we then propose a new theoretical model of ongoing improvement of BI&A-supported KIBP and explain its significance using relevant literature. The model is also highly relevant for industry practitioners looking for new sources of competitive differentiation, beyond BI&A technology

Synergetic Learning Communities: Towards a New Model of University/Industry Learning Partnership

This paper critically analyses the main challenges related to teaching and learning in emerging business disciplines. It focuses on the field of Business Intelligence (BI), as a prime example of dynamic, industry-driven discipline where the content as well as methods and frameworks for professional practice are still emerging and co-evolving with teaching practices. However, the work presented goes beyond BI and is equally relevant for any other emerging teaching and professional field of Business Information Systems (BIS). The paper argues that order to address the identified challenges, we need to move away from the traditional transmission model of teaching and adopt a new educational model based on the concept of synergetic learning communities designed to cross university industry / boundaries. To support the argument, the paper uses a case study of an active world-wide, synergetic BI learning community called Teradata University Network (TUN). Most importantly, the paper offers a reflective analysis of the changing role of university teacher that could be directly attributed to the new educational model. The reported findings are the result of an ongoing participatory action research project in this area