E-government, electronic Public Administration, has led to streamlined work processes within and between government departments. As theories of administration and management seek to improve processes, electronic administration seeks to improve electronic processes in an effort to provide efficient services. The unique contribution of this study on Public Administration and the related e-government initiatives of the Government Employees Pension Fund is that none of this research has been documented before. Whilst e-government is not new, its application to the Government Employees Pension Fund is novel. E-government espouses integrated partnerships between governments and e-citizens by creating an understanding of electronic relationships between and within organisations. The thesis considers electronic Public Administrative service delivery in the Government Employees Pension Fund as it relates to civil pensions administration. Successful e-government needs a critical mass of users that is central to ensuring its sustainable and successful utilisation. If a critical mass of users is not ensured then e-government initiatives will not be successful. Attempts by the Government Employees Pension Fund to develop a customer relationship management approach are assessed. Sustainable and successful e-service delivery is about providing multi-nodal access to clients. An interactive web site, amongst others, will allow clients to access services remotely. Seamless government is developed around customers’ needs and is outward looking since it provides a single access point for all services offered by government. Gaining access to information and communications technologies is a challenge that many face, hence the digital divide is a stymieing factor in providing seamless, successful e-government services. Not all e-government initiatives are successful. Information and communications technology initiatives are not always implemented according to planned timelines and budgets. The case of the Government Employees Pension Fund proved to be no different given that not all the e-government initiatives embarked upon were successful. / Thesis (PhD (Public Affairs))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / unrestricted

Growing enterprises have growing amounts of information. Making sure that this information is easily accessible to its employees is not an easy task. For this task Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems come in handy. However, the ERP systems contain lots of information and may be too complex to handle this information or may be too slow in sharing this information within the organisation. This thesis introduces a new solution for how mobile applications can connect to an ERP system by exploiting database synchronisation, which allows the employees to get the information wherever they are without the need to directly access the ERP system. There are three important questions in this thesis: how the ERP works, how to build a mobile application and, how to build a back end? By combining answers to these questions a whole system is built which is production ready and can copy data between the ERP system and the back end and show the information in a mobile application. The overarching goals were to build a system that could extract data from the ERP system into a proprietary back end and a mobile application that could synchronise with the back end. However, synchronisation between the mobile application and the back end was not implemented due to lack of time. The back end had to be able to scale up to 500 concurrent users and respond within 3 seconds, both of these goals were achieved. The mobile application that was built to display the information to the end user was built with usability in mind, since Netlight wanted a straightforward application that anyone could use. The mobile application was shown to have good usability. The results of this thesis project show that building systems around ERPs, instead of inside them, gives these systems the ability to scale, improved the implementation time, and reduced the company’s maintenance efforts. / Växande företag får mer och mer information. Att kunna se till att den informationen blir enkelt tillgänglig för alla inom företaget är inte nödvändigtvis lätt. Det är ofta det som affärssystem kan användas till, dock innehåller affärssystem väldigt mycket information och kan vara för komplexa för att enkelt kunna hantera information man är intresserad av. Det kan även uppstå problem i prestanda i och med storleken på affärssystemet. I det här examensarbetet föreslås ett nytt sätt för hur mobila applikationer kan integreras med affärssystem genom att synkronisera mot dess databas, vilket tillåter anställda att komma åt informationen vart de än befinner sig. I det här examensarbetet finns det tre olika delar som är intressanta, hur affärssystemet fungerar, hur man bygger en mobilapplikation och hur man bygger ett back end. Genom att kombinera kunskapen från ovan nämnda delar, byggdes systemet som är redo för produktion och kan synkronisera data från affärssystemet till back endet, samt att visa upp informationen i mobilapplikationen. De översiktliga målen var att bygga ett system som kunde extrahera data från affärssystemet till ett eget byggt back end och en mobilapplikation som kunde synkronisera med detta back end. Dock blev synkroniseringen mellan mobilapplikationen och back endet aldrig implementerat. Back endet skulle även kunna skala upp till 500 samtidiga användare och då kunna svara inom 3 sekunder, vilket man lyckades med. Mobilapplikationen som byggdes för att visa information byggdes med användbarhet i tankarna, eftersom Netlight ville ha en enkel mobilapplikation som vem som helst skulle kunna använda. Mobilapplikationen analyserades fram till att vara användarvänlig. Detta examensarbete visar på att det går att bygga system runt affärssystem istället för att bygga dem i affärssystemen, vilket möjliggör att systemet kan skala upp bättre, mindre tid för implementation samt mindre underhåll.

Integration ist eine fortwährende Aufgabe in betrieblichen Informationssystemen. Durch den Einsatz verschiedener personeller und maschineller Aufgabenträger kommt es zu wiederkehrenden Integrationsproblemen, die vorrangig durch externe Dienstleister gelöst werden. Das zentrale Problem dieser Arbeit ist, dass in der Wissenschaft diskutiertes Lösungswissen in Form von Mustern existiert, aber keinen Eingang in die Praxis findet. Um dieses Problem zu untersuchen, wurde eine qualitative empirische Untersuchung durchgeführt, welche erstmals im deutschsprachigen Raum Wirkungszusammenhänge und Entscheidungsmechanismen in Integrationsprojekten analysiert. Als Ergebnis der qualitativen Erhebung kann festgehalten werden, dass dem Dienstleistungscharakter der Integration bisher zu wenig Beachtung geschenkt wurde und dass Integrationsmuster nicht eingesetzt werden, weil der Abstraktionsgrad des so konservierten Lösungswissens nicht zum Abstraktionsgrad der Problemstellungen passt. Deshalb definiert die Arbeit zunächst ein Dienstleistungsmodell der Integration, welches sich auf die empirische Untersuchung stützt. Danach wird auf der Grundla-ge einer eigenschaftsbasierten Definition von Integrationsmustern eine Grundmenge an Mustern aus der Literatur extrahiert, die weiter abstrahiert werden. Als Abstraktionsprinzipien werden die Klassifikation und die Generalisierung eingesetzt. Abstrakte Integrationsmuster können als Ressourcen in ein Dienstleistungsmodell eingehen. Für die Klassifikation wurde ein erweiterbares und flexibles Klassifikationsverfahren – die Facettenklassifikation – gewählt. Diese ermöglicht jederzeit das Hinzufügen weiterer Facetten. Die Einordnung eines Musters muss nur innerhalb einer Facette disjunkt sein, es kann aber in andere Facetten eingeordnet werden. Die verwendeten Facetten entstammen sowohl dem Problem als auch dem Lösungsbereich. Jeder Facette liegt eine umfassende Analyse zugrunde. Die Klassifikation bildet den Ausgangspunkt der erneuten Generalisierung. Muster mit ähnlichen bzw. identischen Ausprägungen werden erfasst und auf ein gemeinsames Konzept untersucht. Diese Generalisierung wurde exemplarisch für zwei Mustergruppen durchgeführt. Dabei wurden die beiden abstrakten Integrationsmuster „zusätzlicher Zugriffspunkt“ sowie „Vermittler“ identifiziert. Die entwickelten Konzepte flossen in eine umfangreiche Evaluation ein, welche am Beispiel einer konkreten Dienstleistung im Bereich der E-Procurement-Integration durchgeführt wurde. Die Unabhängigkeit der Bewertung konnte dadurch sichergestellt werden, dass weder der Dienstleister noch der Kunde an der zuvor durchgeführten empirischen Untersuchung beteiligt waren. Der erarbeitete Lösungsvorschlag wurde in einer Laborumgebung implementiert. Das vollständige Integrationsszenario ist dabei auf der Basis einer Virtualisierungsumgebung realitätsnah nachgebildet worden. Neben Instanzen der Kundensysteme mit identischem Versions- und Patch-Stand kamen auch Datenbestände aus Produktivsystemen zum Einsatz. Die Integrationshilfsmittel wurden ebenfalls in der Laborumgebung eingerichtet. Durch abstrakte Integrationsmuster verbessert sich die Dienstleistungserbringung. Auf der Kundenseite bewirkt dies eine Verbesserungen der Integrations- und Unternehmensarchitektur sowie die Erschließung weiteren Verbesserungspotenzials. Für den Dienstleister ergibt sich neben einem veränderten Dienstleistungsmodell vor allem die Möglichkeit, einmalige Angebote in ein konfigurierbares Standarddienstleistungsangebot zu überführen. Zusätzlich kann eine verbesserte Ressourcennutzung (vor allem der Humanressourcen) anhand des veränderten Dienstleistungsmodells nachgewiesen werden. Im Rahmen der Arbeit konnte so ein Ansatz entwickelt werden, der die empirisch belegten Abstraktionsprobleme behebt und die Einsetzbarkeit von bestehendem Lösungswissen verbessert. Gleichzeitig werden die Wirkungsmechanismen und Entscheidungszusammenhänge durch das Dienstleistungsmodell besser erfass-, erklär- und vor allem planbar.

Most organizations today understand the valuable contribution employees as people (rather than simply bodies) provide to their overall performance. Although efforts are made to make the most of the human in organizations, there is still much room for improvement. Focus in the reduction of employee injuries such as cumulative trauma disorders rose in the 80 s. Attempts at increasing performance by addressing employee satisfaction through various methods have also been ongoing for several years now. Knowledge Management is one of the most recent attempts at controlling and making the best use of employees knowledge. All of these efforts and more towards that same goal of making the most of people s performance at work are encompassed within the domain of the Human Factors Engineering/Ergonomics field. HFE/E provides still untapped potential for organizational performance as the human and its optimal performance are the reason for this discipline s being. Although Human Factors programs have been generated and implemented, there is still the need for a method to help organizations fully integrate this discipline into the enterprise as a whole. The purpose of this research is to develop a method to help organizations integrate HFE/E into it business processes. This research begun with a review of the ways in which the HFE/E discipline is currently used by organizations. The need and desire to integrate HFE/E into organizations was identified, and a method to accomplish this integration was conceptualized. This method consisted on the generation of two domain-specific ontologies (a Human Factors Engineering/Ergonomics ontology, and a Business ontology), and mapping the two creating a concept map that can be used to integrate HFE/E into businesses. The HFE/E ontology was built by generating two concept maps that were merged and then joined with a HFE/E discipline taxonomy. A total of four concept maps, two ontologies and a taxonomy were created, all of which are contributions to the HFE/E, and the business- and management-related fields.

No description available.

Este trabalho avalia o grau em que a integração de sistemas de informação tem atendido ao desenvolvimento de bens de capital com engenharia sob encomenda, com base em objetivos de desempenho para o processo de desenvolvimento de produtos. Descreve uma investigação, realizada por meio de pesquisa-ação, sobre o ambiente de desenvolvimento de produtos em uma indústria de bens de capital, conduzida sob a perspectiva organizacional e da tecnologia da informação. Objetiva aumentar a difusão deste tipo de informação para os profissionais deste ramo de atividade e comunidade científica, bem como servir como base para pesquisas e ações de melhoria para a empresa estudada. Focaliza a relevância da caracterização de um modelo de referência para o processo de desenvolvimento de produtos que otimize as atividades de tomada de decisão, controle de fluxo de trabalho, armazenamento de informações e documentos e retro-alimentação de informações em ambientes com engenharia sob encomenda. Apresenta os desafios enfrentados pela empresa estudada quanto à estabilização dos seus processos após uma ampla reformulação da aplicação de sistemas de informação, abordando elementos de sua dinâmica organizacional e diagnosticando o comportamento destes elementos diante das integrações executadas. Aborda ainda os aspectos humanos envolvidos neste segmento, considerando-os como fatores críticos para a aplicação e desenvolvimento de soluções / This work evaluates the support level offered by integrated information systems to engineered-to-order development of capital goods, based on the product development process performance objectives. It describes an investigation, performed by means of an action-research, about the product development environment in a capital goods industry, carried out under the organizational and information technology perspectives. It aims to increase the diffusion of this kind of information among the professionals in this production segment and scientific community, as well to serve as a research and improvement actions base to the studied company. The work focuses on the relevance of a reference model characterization to the product development process in order to optimize the decision making activities, workflow control, document and information storage and feedback in engineering-to-order environments. It presents the challenges faced by the studied company to reach the processes stabilization after a broad changeover of its information systems applications, analyzing its dynamics organizational elements and making a diagnosis of these elements behaviour, considering the achieved integration. It still analyzes the human aspects involved in this industry segment, considering these aspects as critical factors for solutions development and application

Human Systems Integration Capstone / Approved for public release;distribution is unlimited. / In the United States Air Force (USAF), a system is generally thought of in terms of technology; but there are other types of systems supporting our warfighters. A system is “a group of related parts that move or work together” (Merriam-Webster, 2014), suggesting that systems can also be a compilation of human activities and interactions. One such system is the Air Force Medical Service (AFMS). The AFMS has been charged with the delivery of healthcare for the USAF. It is an organization within which there are many workplaces, and these are prototypical of workplaces in the USAF. The USAF currently has no framework for developing organizations. This capstone project took an inside look into the organizational structure of the Keesler Air Force Base’s Base Operational Medicine Cell (BOMC). By conducting a macroergonomic analysis, I was able to make recommendations for an effective and fully harmonized organizational design. Human systems integration (HSI) played a pivotal role in the evaluation of the Keesler BOMC, as Manpower, Personnel, and Training (MPT) are key drivers in the development of organizations. The results of this analysis lead to the development of BOMC requirements and subsequently HSI requirements for organizations, or an HSI Framework for Organizations.

[pt] A sub-divisão de um veículo em módulos é muito útil quando se quer estudar o comportamento dinâmico de um determinado subsistema e sua influência nos demais componentes. Em alguns casos, devido ao tipo de tratamento empregado para descrever os elementos, não se consegue perceber de que modo as variáveis inerentes a um subsistema interagem com as demais, e, por conseguinte, os subsistemas entre si. A abordagem modular baseada no fluxo de potência permite uma melhor identificação das relações de causa e efeito entre subsistemas, uma vez que se pode definir, de forma clara e consistente, quem são as variáveis de entrada e de saída de cada componente ou módulo, e, conseqüentemente, seus acoplamentos. Neste tipo de tratamento, aplicado aos sistemas mecânicos, uma vez estabelecida a cinemática de um subsistema, podese obter as relações entre os esforços que seus componentes produzem uns sobre os outros, a partir da caracterização da potência transmitida através dos seus diversos elementos. Este trabalho apresenta um procedimento semi-analítico de equacionamento modular aplicado à modelagem e integração dos sistemas de suspensão e direção de veículos terrestres, no qual as variáveis de entrada e saída indicam o fluxo de potência entre os elementos de todo o sistema. Tal abordagem tem como base a técnica dos Grafos de Ligação, empregada em sistemas multidomínio em geral, e usa alguns conceitos da metodologia dos Transformadores Cinemáticos, normalmente aplicada aos sistemas multicorpos. A partir da definição da geometria dos mecanismos em questão, encontram-se as matrizes que representam os vínculos cinemáticos entre seus elementos, das quais o funcionamento dos sistemas integrados pode ser simulado e analisado, e informações necessárias aos seus projetos determinadas. As equações (malhas) algébricas que existem em mecanismos com estrutura cinemática fechada são analiticamente resolvidas, evitando deste modo modelos matemáticos com equações diferenciais e algébricas simultâneas. Das relações cinemáticas, o modelo dinâmico (matrizes de inércia, rigidez e amortecimento, etc) é obtido, e novamente informações essenciais à análise e síntese dos sistemas podem ser determinadas. O comportamento no tempo desses modelos pode ser encontrado por um método de integração de equações diferenciais qualquer. Adota-se o Simulink/MatLab® para representar o modelo assim desenvolvido em diagrama de blocos, e conseqüentemente simulá-lo. Através deste tratamento, cada bloco da implementaçao em Simulink/MatLab® contém o correspondente modelo analítico de um único módulo, cujo estabelecimento depende das características dinâmicas do sistema que se deseja analisar. A vantagem de adotar tal representação, baseada no fluxo de potência, consiste no fato de que um módulo pode ser substituído por outro, descritivo de um elemento ou subsistema com a mesma função, porém com configuração física distinta, e, conseqüentemente, modelo matemático específico, sem qualquer alteração nos demais componentes do sistema. Este procedimento está sendo adotado para modelagem dos diversos sistemas veiculares, como os de suspensão, direção, transmissão e freios, e também os pneus, inseridos em um chassi, incluindo os graus de liberdade desejados do veículo, todos descritos de forma modular semi- analítica através da mesma abordagem, empregando a técnica de modelagem mais apropriada para representá-los. / [en] The sub-division of a vehicle in modules is very useful when we want to study the dynamical behavior of a certain sub-system and its influence in other components. In some cases, due to the type of treatment employed to describe the dynamic behavior of the elements, we don`t get to notice the way that inherent variables in a sub-system interacts with the others, and, consequently, the subsystems amongst themselves. The modular approach based on the power flow allows a better identification of the causal relationships among sub-systems, once it can define, in clear and consistent way, what are the input and output variables of each component or module, and, consequently, their couplings. In this type of treatment applied to the mechanical systems, once established the kinematics of a sub-system, it can be obtained the relationships among the efforts that their components produce on the other ones, from the characterization of the power transmitted through their several elements. This paper presents a semi-analytical procedure of modular modeling applied to the suspension and steering systems of a ground vehicle, in which the input and output variables indicate the power flow among the elements of the whole system. Such approach has as base the Bond Graphs technique, used in multidomain systems in general, and uses some concepts of the Kinematic Transformers methodology, usually applied to the multibody systems. From the mechanisms geometry, the matrices that represent the kinematics links between its elements are found, the operation of the integrated systems can be simulated and analyzed, and information about its design can be obtained. The algebraic loops (equations) inherent to mechanisms with closed kinematic structure are solved analytically, and there is not a mathematical model with simultaneous algebraic and differential equations. From the kinematic relations, the dynamic model (inertial, stiffness and damping matrices) is obtained, and again essential information to the systems analysis and synthesis can be determined. The models time behavior can be found by any differential equations integration method. The Simulink/Matlab is adopted to represent the model developed by block diagrams, and consequently to simulate it. Through this treatment, each block in the Simulink/Matlab implementation contains the correspondent analytical model of a single module, whose establishment depends on the dynamic characteristics of the system to be analyzed. The advantage of adopting such representation, based on the power flow, consists in the fact that a module can be substituted for other, descriptive of an element or sub-system with the same function, however with different physical configuration, and, consequently, specific mathematical model, without any alteration in the other components of the system. This procedure is being adopted for modeling all vehicular systems, like the suspension, steering, transmission and brakes systems, and also the tires, inserted in the chassis, including the desired degrees of freedom of the vehicle, all described in a semi- analytical modular way by the same approach, using the most appropriate modeling technique to represent them.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:20:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 68070200630.pdf: 334021 bytes, checksum: e558792e8bd815db3a344eebf837a170 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-12-08T00:00:00Z / A internacionalização é um tema de interesse crescente. O aumento do volume de transações internacionais é acompanhado por um crescente volume de estudos acadêmicos sobre o tema de internacionalização. As teorias desenvolvidas tratam de explicar os critérios analisados pelas empresas para a definição de suas estratégias de internacionalização, a definição de modalidades de entrada e os desafios que as empresas enfrentam em seus movimentos de internacionalização. Estas teorias podem ser aplicadas para o estudo do mercado de integração de sistemas de tecnologia de informação e comunicação (TIC). O mercado de TIC vem apresentando grandes taxas de crescimento e continua com perspectivas de crescimento, sendo que neste contexto, a internacionalização é uma alternativa estratégica importante. A realização de um estudo de caso permitiu a análise dos movimentos de internacionalização de uma empresa brasileira de integração de sistemas de TIC, sob os aspectos de estratégia, modalidade de entrada e desafios de internacionalização. O estudo das teorias e o estudo de caso permitiram a visualização da aplicação das teorias na prática, bem como especificidades que as teorias não cobrem. O desenvolvimento do trabalho pode servir como referência para o aprofundamento das teorias de internacionalização e também como referência para outras empresas do setor para o entendimento do processo. / Internationalization is a subject with increasing interest. The growth in international business volume is followed by a growing number of researches about internationalization. The developed theories try to explain analysis and the criteria considered by companies in its internationalization strategies, entry modes and liability of foreignness. These theories can be applied to study the market of systems integration of information and communication technology solutions (ICT). The ICT market is growing fast and also has positive growth perspectives, and internationalization is an important strategic approach for the companies in that sector. The development of a case study of a Brazilian company of ICT systems integration analyzed strategy, entry modes and liabilities of foreignness. The theoretical review and case study allowed the analysis of application of the theories in real situations and identification of specific issues for the ICT systems integration market. The development of this research may work as a reference for further studies in the subject and for other companies in ICT market for a better understanding of the process.

Este trabalho avalia o grau em que a integração de sistemas de informação tem atendido ao desenvolvimento de bens de capital com engenharia sob encomenda, com base em objetivos de desempenho para o processo de desenvolvimento de produtos. Descreve uma investigação, realizada por meio de pesquisa-ação, sobre o ambiente de desenvolvimento de produtos em uma indústria de bens de capital, conduzida sob a perspectiva organizacional e da tecnologia da informação. Objetiva aumentar a difusão deste tipo de informação para os profissionais deste ramo de atividade e comunidade científica, bem como servir como base para pesquisas e ações de melhoria para a empresa estudada. Focaliza a relevância da caracterização de um modelo de referência para o processo de desenvolvimento de produtos que otimize as atividades de tomada de decisão, controle de fluxo de trabalho, armazenamento de informações e documentos e retro-alimentação de informações em ambientes com engenharia sob encomenda. Apresenta os desafios enfrentados pela empresa estudada quanto à estabilização dos seus processos após uma ampla reformulação da aplicação de sistemas de informação, abordando elementos de sua dinâmica organizacional e diagnosticando o comportamento destes elementos diante das integrações executadas. Aborda ainda os aspectos humanos envolvidos neste segmento, considerando-os como fatores críticos para a aplicação e desenvolvimento de soluções / This work evaluates the support level offered by integrated information systems to engineered-to-order development of capital goods, based on the product development process performance objectives. It describes an investigation, performed by means of an action-research, about the product development environment in a capital goods industry, carried out under the organizational and information technology perspectives. It aims to increase the diffusion of this kind of information among the professionals in this production segment and scientific community, as well to serve as a research and improvement actions base to the studied company. The work focuses on the relevance of a reference model characterization to the product development process in order to optimize the decision making activities, workflow control, document and information storage and feedback in engineering-to-order environments. It presents the challenges faced by the studied company to reach the processes stabilization after a broad changeover of its information systems applications, analyzing its dynamics organizational elements and making a diagnosis of these elements behaviour, considering the achieved integration. It still analyzes the human aspects involved in this industry segment, considering these aspects as critical factors for solutions development and application