Ensemble artifact design for context sensitive decision support

Although an improvement of design knowledge is an essential goal of design research, current design research predominantly focuses on knowledge concerning the IT artifact (tool) design process, rather than a more holistic understanding encompassing the dynamic usage contexts of a technological artifact. Conceptualising a design in context as an ensemble artifact (Sein et al., 2011) provides the basis for a more rigorous treatment. This paper describes an IS artifact design framework that has been generated from the development of several practitioner-oriented decision support systems (DSS) in which contextual aspects relevant to practitioners\u27 decision making are considered as integral design themes. We describe five key dimensions of an ensemble artifact design and show their value in designing practitioner-oriented DSS. The features are user centredness, knowledge sharing, situation-specific customisation, reduced model orientation, and practice based secondary design abilities. It is argued that this understanding can contribute to design research knowledge more effectively both to develop dynamic DSS, and by its extensibility to other artifact designs

The Concept of “IT Artifact” Has Outlived Its Usefulness and Should Be Retired Now

Vastly inconsistent definitions of the term “the IT artifact” in leading journals and conferences demonstrate why it no longer means anything in particular and should be retired from the active IS lexicon. Examples from the literature show why artifact-cousins, such as the IS artifact, sociotechnical artifact, social artifact, and ensemble artifact should be used with great care, if not retired as well. Any void created by these retirements could be filled through the following approaches: 1) relabeling with simple terms that are immediately understandable, 2) adopting guidelines for making sense of the whole X-artifact family, and 3) sidestepping the IT artifact and focusing directly on IT-enabled work systems in organizations

Design of Mobile Application for Self-reporting Affective Experiences

Affective experiences have a major role in value creation during customer encounters both in business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) domains. However, understanding and effectively identifying affective experiences is challenging. Based on a practical need of a case company, the aim of this study was to develop an ensemble artifact for measuring affective experiences during customer encounters. Following action design research method, we designed the artifact in two cycles. First cycle involved creating a poster to capture affective experiences in an event setting. In second cycle, a mobile application was developed for identifying affective experiences. In a pilot study the mobile application was used to interview 73 individuals during customer encounters at various touchpoints of the customer event by four interviewers. The study reports the preliminary findings, evaluates the artifact development process through the lenses of design science research process model, and identifies the future research directions

The Development of an Automated Testing Framework for Data-Driven Testing Utilizing the UML Testing Profile

The development of increasingly-complex Web 2.0 applications, along with a rise in end-user expectations, have not only made the testing and quality assurance processes of web application development an increasingly-important part of the SDLC, but have also made these processes more complex and resource-intensive. One way to effectively test these applications is by implementing an automated testing solution along with manual testing, as automation solutions have been shown to increase the total amount of testing that can be performed, and help testing team achieve consistency in their testing efforts. The difficulty, though, lies in how to best go about developing such a solution. The use of a framework is shown to help, by decreasing the amount of duplicate code and maintenance required, and increasing the amount of separation among the various elements of the testing solution. This research examines the use of the UML Testing Profile (UTP), including the use of UML diagrams, in the creation of such a framework. Using an Action Design Research methodology, a framework is developed for an automated testing solution that utilizes the Selenium Webdriver with a data-driven methodology, used in an organizational context, and evaluated, over the course of multiple iterations. Design principles, including the use of a test architecture and test context, the use of UML diagrams for the creation of Page Objects, and the identification and implementation of workflows are distilled from these iterations, and their impact on the larger context, the delivery of a robust application that meets end-user expectations, is examined

Improving Information Systems Sustainability by Applying Machine Learning to Detect and Reduce Data Waste

Big data are key building blocks for creating information value. However, information systems are increasingly plagued with useless, waste data that can impede their effective use and threaten sustainability objectives. Using a constructive design science approach, this work first, defines digital data waste. Then, it develops an ensemble artifact comprising two components. The first component comprises 13 machine learning models for detecting data waste. Applying these to 35,576 online reviews in two domains reveals data waste of 1.9% for restaurant reviews compared to 35.8% for app reviews. Machine learning can accurately identify 83% to 99.8% of data waste; deep learning models are particularly promising, with accuracy ranging from 96.4% to 99.8%. The second component comprises a sustainability cost calculator to quantify the social, economic, and environmental benefits of reducing data waste. Eliminating 5948 useless reviews in the sample would result in saving 6.9 person hours, $2.93 in server, middleware and client costs, and 9.52 kg of carbon emissions. Extrapolating these results to reviews on the internet shows substantially greater savings. This work contributes to design knowledge relating to sustainable information systems by highlighting the new class of problem of data waste and by designing approaches for addressing this problem

Towards Design Principles for Data-Driven Decision Making: An Action Design Research Project in the Maritime Industry

Data-driven decision making (DDD) refers to organizational decision-making practices that emphasize the use of data and statistical analysis instead of relying on human judgment only. Various empirical studies provide evidence for the value of DDD, both on individual decision maker level and the organizational level. Yet, the path from data to value is not always an easy one and various organizational and psychological factors mediate and moderate the translation of data-driven insights into better decisions and, subsequently, effective business actions. The current body of academic literature on DDD lacks prescriptive knowledge on how to successfully employ DDD in complex organizational settings. Against this background, this paper reports on an action design research study aimed at designing and implementing IT artifacts for DDD at one of the largest ship engine manufacturers in the world. Our main contribution is a set of design principles highlighting, besides decision quality, the importance of model comprehensibility, domain knowledge, and actionability of results

Designing an information system for updating land records in Bangladesh: action design ethnographic research (ADER)

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Information Systems (IS) has developed through adapting, generating and applying diverse methodologies, methods, and techniques from reference disciplines. Further, Action Design Research (ADR) has recently developed as a broad research method that focuses on designing and redesigning IT and IS in organizational contexts. This paper reflects on applying ADR in a complex organizational context in a developing country. It shows that ADR requires additional lens for designing IS in such a complex organizational context. Through conducting ADR, it is seen that an ethnographic framework has potential complementarities for understanding complex contexts thereby enhancing the ADR processes. This paper argues that conducting ADR with an ethnographic approach enhances design of IS and organizational contexts. Finally, this paper aims presents a broader methodological framework, Action Design Ethnographic Research (ADER), for designing artefacts as well as IS. This is illustrated through the case of a land records updating service in Bangladesh

Constructing a Methodology for Developing a Cybersecurity Program

This paper serves to introduce the problem of constructing a methodology to develop a cybersecurity program. The goal of the program is to prepare students graduating from an accredited two-year college for success in cybersecurity careers. Several challenges must be addressed such as program accreditation, workforce development, and DHS/NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) designation. All of these serve as inputs in constructing a methodology to develop such a program to meet local industry needs for cyber professional