Models of higher-order, type-safe, distributed computation over autonomous persistent object stores

A remote procedure call (RPC) mechanism permits the calling of procedures in another address space. RPC is a simple but highly effective mechanism for interprocess communication and enjoys nowadays a great popularity as a tool for building distributed applications. This popularity is partly a result of their overall simplicity but also partly a consequence of more than 20 years of research in transpaxent distribution that have failed to deliver systems that meet the expectations of real-world application programmers. During the same 20 years, persistent systems have proved their suitability for building complex database applications by seamlessly integrating features traditionally found in database management systems into the programming language itself. Some research. effort has been invested on distributed persistent systems, but the outcomes commonly suffer from the same problems found with transparent distribution. In this thesis I claim that a higher-order persistent RPC is useful for building distributed persistent applications. The proposed mechanism is: realistic in the sense that it uses current technology and tolerates partial failures; understandable by application programmers; and general to support the development of many classes of distributed persistent applications. In order to demonstrate the validity of these claims, I propose and have implemented three models for distributed higher-order computation over autonomous persistent stores. Each model has successively exposed new problems which have then been overcome by the next model. Together, the three models provide a general yet simple higher-order persistent RPC that is able to operate in realistic environments with partial failures. The real strength of this thesis is the demonstration of realism and simplicity. A higherorder persistent RPC was not only implemented but also used by programmers without experience of programming distributed applications. Furthermore, a distributed persistent application has been built using these models which would not have been feasible with a traditional (non-persistent) programming language

A Tool for Supporting the Co-Evolution of Enterprise Architecture Meta-models and Models

Enterprise architecture models capture the concepts and relationships that together describe the essentials of the various enterprise domains. This model of the enterprise is tightly coupled to a domain-specific modeling language that defines the formalisms for creating and updating such model. These languages are described as meta-models by the model-driven engineering field. Results from surveys on enterprise architecture tool analysis showed a lack of support concerning the co-evolution of enterprise architecture meta-model and models. This paper presents a tool that automates enterprise architecture models co-evolution according to a set of meta-model changes. A Portuguese governmental organization used and validated the tool using observational, analytical and descriptive evaluation methods

Maintenance of Enterprise Architecture Models

Enterprise architecture (EA) models are tools of analysis, communication, and support towards enterprise transformation. These models need a suitable maintenance process to support comprehensive knowledge of the enterprise’s structure and dynamics. This study aims to identify and discuss the existing approaches to EA model maintenance published in the scientific literature. A systematic literature review was employed as the research method. A keyword-based search in six databases identified a total of 4495 papers in which 31 primary studies were included. A total of nine categories of EA model maintenance approaches were identified from both information systems and enterprise engineering fields of research. The increasing amount of research in EA model maintenance suggests that the topic still presents opportunities for research contributions. This study also proposes future lines of research according to the results identified in the theoretical corpus

A Cloud-Based Service for Affordable Cost Analysis

Cost reduction and cost-awareness were, are, and probably will always be one of the major concerns of all organizations worldwide. This has been accentuated by difficult economic times, and is particularly true among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) where competition is even fiercer. But as essential as it looks, advanced costing techniques are expensive to implement and require expertise not present in most organizations, making them inaccessible to most of SMEs. In this paper we present a proposal of a cloud-based solution offered as a service designed to address this problem based on re-utilization, integration with ERPs and better data visualization that will make it affordable and easier to use for SMEs. This proposal was demonstrated with a limited prototype applied in a community pharmacy and it was evaluated through interviews with experts and potential users

Selecting a Software Tool for ITIL using a Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis Approach

The opportunity to improve service quality using ITIL has led many organizations to invest in the implementation of this framework. Selecting a software tool for ITIL is still one of the most difficult decisions due to lack of meaningful evaluation criteria and guidelines to help on that decision, making this, one of the most important and error-triggering steps in this way. A multi-criteria value model to evaluate software tools for ITIL using a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach based on MACBETH is then proposed to address this problem. A focus on the functionality of the tool to extract criteria from the literature to assess four representative software solutions for ITIL in the market is made along with its demonstration in a company of the bank sector. Finally, using Moody and Shanks Framework, the proposed method is evaluated showing that is suitable for evaluating software tools for ITIL

Productivity Gains of DevOps Adoption in an IT Team: A Case Study

The main purpose of this research is to determine the productivity gains from the merge of two traditional IT teams: Development and Operations into a single DevOps team implementing 6 DevOps capabilities. In this research the authors go through the existing DevOps literature to better frame this research to the reader. To answer the formulated research questions the authors analyzed the team capacity divided by tasks before and after a DevOps transition and interviewed 5 senior team members to collect their opinion about this transition. The main object objective is to analyze if there were productivity gains of that team after making the transition to a DevOps approach

Game O\u27Clock: A Gamification Solution to Improve Time Reporting

Reporting the time spent working on different tasks is valuable both for companies and employees. Yet often employees fail to properly and timely report their time, hampering the implementation of the time reporting process. We propose a gamification solution to address this problem. A prototype was implemented based on Google Suite technologies and evaluated in the setting of a post-graduation course, whose students used the solution in the last eight weeks of the course. Results suggest that the number of timesheets submitted slightly improved, with a statistically significant increase of 8.9% when compared against the baseline. However, players think their motivation did not change after using the app, which is too simple to be engaging in the long term. They enjoyed the teams and leaderboards but think more rewards, individual achievements, and reminders should be available

Using ArchiMate to Assess COBIT 5 and ITIL Implementations

The assessment of Enterprise Governance of IT (EGIT) mechanisms, such as COBIT and ITIL, is considered highly complex and implies a duplication of resources. The main goal of this research is to reduce the complexity of EGIT mechanisms by facilitating the assessment of these mechanisms when used simultaneously. Organisational stakeholders should be able to easily understand the impact of implementing ITIL on COBIT 5 Processes Performance without being COBIT experts. On the other hand, they should know their organisation’s positioning according to ITIL, even if they just follow COBIT and do not master ITIL. In order to fulfil our goal, we propose a model that uses TIPA for ITIL, COBIT PAM and ArchiMate to analyse the impact of ITIL implementation on COBIT processes performance, and vice-versa. We demonstrate our proposal by analysing the impact of the Incident Management and Request Fulfilment ITIL processes on the COBIT 5 related process

Supervision of master theses based on scrum: a case study

The success rate of a master program on Information Systems and Computer Engineering (MEIC) in a Portuguese university is very unsatisfactory, showing that less than half of the students complete the assigned work in their first term. However, the success rate of a group of students that were supervised based on the Scrum framework was much higher. So, in this study we assess the current situation and identify the benefits of using Scrum to manage master’s theses. Evidence suggests that this approach increases the number of students successfully completing their projects. So, this paper discusses the issues at stake and reports on a qualitative study with focus on the actual practices and benefits reported by students in the master program. We found that some methods in the Scrum framework can address existing problems in the development of theses with very positive results.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Full Paper: Digital Resilience in Critical Infrastructures: A Systematic Literature Review

In times of disruptive events, effective response by organizations, critical systems, and society is paramount. The response process involves pre-event preparation, impact absorption, and system restoration, which together represent the concept of resilience. Critical infrastructures (CI) are essential to the functioning of society and require a high level of resilience to ensure that they can withstand and quickly recover from disruptive events. With the incorporation of Information Systems (IS) into CI, there is a need to study Digital Resilience to identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them effectively. In this research, we conducted a Systematic Literature Review on Digital Resilience to understand its scope, and classified articles based on their scope, resilience dimensions, and phases they address, as well as interdependence between systems. We aim to contribute to the scientific understanding of Digital Resilience by analyzing existing gaps and proposing possible future research directions. This study provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art, the types of research conducted, and the resulting artifacts. Additionally, it introduces a new area of focus within the field of resilience: Digital Resilience