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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
11

Alignment of IT projects with business strategy : an analysis of the interrelationships between the factors affecting IS alignment at strategic, tactical and operational levels

Mendoza, Anabel Sara Gutierrez January 2009 (has links)
Despite numerous efforts to integrate business and IS strategic plans, organisations are not delivering the expected benefits from IS investment. To address this issue, IS alignment research has discussed extensively the idea of establishing two-way commitment between business and IS managers. This commitment, however, has proved to be difficult to achieve at strategic level and consequently difficult to transmit to lower levels within organisations. Given that current literature has identified the main factors affecting IS alignment, this research extends the analysis of those factors to tactical and operational levels to develop a model that depicts the dynamic interrelationships between the factors affecting IS alignment. Through an interpretative approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methods, the model was developed, tested and evaluated in three phases. During the exploratory phase the factors IT governance, communication, partnership, IT value, scope & architecture and human resources skills were scrutinised using a pilot case study and a survey. The results aided the selection of relevant variables that could be used in the model to assess alignment across different levels, and therefore, to develop a preliminary model that included the initial relationships between the factors. For the testing phase, a case study approach was selected. An IS alignment assessment process was designed and applied in one SME and one large organisation. Although the assessment process did not prove appropriate in an SME context, the application of the assessment process in the large organisation allowed the identification of the root causes of high or low levels of IS alignment of five strategic IT projects. For the evaluation phase further analysis was conducted to modify the preliminary model in the light of the outcomes from the large organisation. The findings from the evaluation phase helped in the identification of two categories of factors (structural and dynamic) and how they interrelate, and these are incorporated into the final model. Structural factors refer to those cultural and structural forces that determine whether the information systems function is valued or not as a partner in delivering business value from IT investments. On the other hand, the dynamic factors refer to those aspects that impact on IS alignment as a result of the dynamic interaction between the people involved in the strategy formulation and implementation. The model and the assessment process represent a contribution towards a better understanding of the nature of IS alignment.
12

An object oriented/DEVS framework for strategic modelling and industry simulation

Ninios, Panagiotis January 1994 (has links)
No description available.
13

SCADA software-based techniques for the management and improvement of industrial efficiency

Davies, Gwyn Robert January 2010 (has links)
SCADA, DCS and BMS systems are prevalent across a range of large industrial and commercial installations. The core research contribution of this thesis was to examine whether suitable, non-time critical, algorithms could be developed for deployment on these style of systems. The objective being to use the existing industry standard low frequency signals, for fault detection and diagnosis, condition based control and performance monitoring. This has indicated the potential for applying academic research in a new fashion across industry to improve operational efficiency. A representative SCADA system was used and the work focussed on the industrial water infrastructure in a deep bed filtration plant, a coal fired power station and a gas turbine research establishment. In the water filtration plant innovative software was developed which diagnosed the location of pipe work blockages. A second programme was developed which passively monitored system variables, giving an indication of filter bed fouling and detecting abnormal system conditions. This functionality was used to provide a robust fault tolerant condition based backwash strategy for the filters. A third programme utilised a novel, threshold based, approach to diagnose the individual severity of combined blockages, allowing condition based back wash to continue, even under extreme abnormal blockage conditions. The second area considered was based upon a cooling process located in a power station. An ideal condenser performance surface was successfully assimilated into SCADA software infrastructure, thus vastly improving on existing manual monitoring approaches and providing operators with real time efficiency information. Associated work at a gas turbine research facility demonstrated the further scope for gathering and displaying efficiency information using SCADA software. The work undertaken proved that a research approach can be encapsulated in non-time critical, low frequency algorithms suitable for application to supervisory systems.
14

Systematic measurement of centralized online reputation systems

Liu, Ling January 2011 (has links)
Background: Centralized online reputation systems, which collect users' opinions on products, transactions and events as reputation information then aggregate and publish it, have been widely adopted by Internet companies. These systems can help users build trust, reduce information asymmetry and lter information. Aim: Much research in the area has focused on analyzing single type systems and the cross-type evaluation usually concentrates on one aspect of the system. This research proposes a systematic evaluation model (SERS) that can measure different types of reputation system. Method: From system perspective, all reputation systems can be divided into five underlying components. Input refers to the collection of ratings and reviews; Processing is the aggregation of ratings. Output publishes the information. Feedback Loop is the collection of the feedback of the review, which can be seen as the `review of the review'; Finally, Storage stores all the information. Therefore, based on each component's characteristics, a series of benchmark criteria can be dened and incorporated into the model. Results: The SERS has dened 29 criteria, which can compare and measure different aspects of reputation systems. The model was theoretically assessed on its coverage of the successful factors of reputation systems and the technical dimensions of information systems. The model has also been empirically assessed by applying it to 15 commercial sites. Conclusion: The results obtained indicated that the SERS model has identified most important characteristics that have been proposed by reputation systems literature. In addition the SERS has covered most dimensions of the two basic technical information system measurements: information quality and system quality. The empirical assessment has shown that the SERS can evaluate dierent types of reputation systems and is capable of identifying the weakness of current systems.
15

Incorporating an element of negotiation into a service-oriented broker application

Pinto, Pongpan January 2010 (has links)
The Software as a Service (SaaS) model is a service-based model in which a desired service is assembled, delivered and consumed on demand. The IBHIS broker is a ‘proof of concept’ demonstration of SaaS which is based on services that deliver data. IBHIS has addressed a number of challenges for several aspects of servicebased software, especially the concept of a ‘broker service’ and service negotiation that is only used in establishing end-user access authorizations. This thesis investigates and develops an extended form of service-based broker, called CAPTAIN (Care Planning Through Auction-based Information Negotiation). It extends the concepts and role of the broker as used in IBHIS, and in particular, it extends the service negotiation function in order to demonstrate a full range of service characteristics. CAPTAIN uses the idea of the integrated care plan from healthcare to provide a case study. A care planner acting on behalf of a patient uses the broker to negotiate with providers to produce the integrated care plan for the patient with the broker and the providers agreeing on the terms and conditions relating to the supply of the services. We have developed a ‘proof of concept’ service-oriented broker architecture for CAPTAIN that includes planning, negotiation and service-based software models to provide a flexible care planning system. The CAPTAIN application has been evaluated that focuses on three features: functions, data access and negotiation. The CAPTAIN broker performs as planned, to produce the integrated care plan. The providers’ data sources are accessed to read and write data records during and after service negotiation. The negotiation model permits the broker to interact with the providers to produce an adaptable plan, based on the client’s needs. The primary outcome is an extendable service-oriented broker architecture that can enable more scalable and flexible distributed information management by adding interaction with the data sources.
16

An investigation of the impact of networked computer systems on users, particularly managers

McCready, Ann Orr January 1997 (has links)
No description available.
17

The design and evaluation of distributed virtual environment to support learning in global operations management

Somjaitaweeporn, Tunyawat January 2010 (has links)
The primary goal of this research is to design and develop an education technology to support learning in global operations management. The research implements a series of studies to determine the right balance among user requirements, learning methods and applied technologies, on a view of student-centred learning. This research is multidisciplinary by nature, involving topics from various disciplines such as global operations management, curriculum and contemporary learning theory, and computer aided learning. Innovative learning models that emphasise on technological implementation are employed and discussed throughout this research.
18

Evaluating the impact of institutional logic on the corporate Internet reporting by Egyptian listed companies

Arafa, Iman January 2012 (has links)
This study explores the institutional logic(s) governing the Corporate Internet Reporting (CIR) by Egyptian listed companies. In doing so, a mixed methods approach was followed. The qualitative part seeks to understand the perceptions, believes, values, norms, that are commonly shared by Egyptian companies which engaged in these practices. Consequently, seven cases of large listed Egyptian companies operating in different industries have been examined. Other stakeholders and stockholders have been interviewed in conjunction with these cases. The quantitative part consists of two studies. The first one is descriptive aiming to specify whether the induced logic(s) from the seven cases are commonly embraced by other Egyptian companies. The second study is explanatory aiming to investigate the impact of several institutional and economic factors on the extent of CIR, types of the online information, quality of the websites as well as the Internet facilities. Drawing on prior CIR literature, four potential types of logics could be inferred: efficiency, legitimacy, technical and marketing based logics. In Egypt, legitimacy logic was initially embraced in the earlier years after the Internet inception. latter, companies confronted radical challenges in their internal and external environments which impelled them to raise their websites potentialities to defend their competitive position; either domestically or internationally. Thus, two new logics emphasizing marketing and technical perspectives have emerged, in response. Strikingly, efficiency based logic is not the most prevalent logic driving CIR practices in Egypt as in the developed countries. The empirical results support this observation and show that almost half of Egyptian listed companies 115 as on December 2010 possessed an active website, half of them 62 disclosed part of their financial and accounting information, during December 2010 to February 2011. Less than half of the websites 52 offered latest annual financial statements. Fewer 33(29%) websites provided shareholders and stock information or included a separate section for corporate governance 25 (22%) compared to 50 (44%) possessing a section for news or press releases. Additionally, the variations in CIR practices, as well as timeliness and credibility were also evident even at industrial level. After controlling for firm size, profitability, leverage, liquidity, competition and growth, it was realized that industrial companies and those facing little competition tend to disclose less. In contrast, management size, foreign investors, foreign listing, dispersion of shareholders and firm size provided significant and positive impact individually or collectively. In contrast, neither audit firm, nor most of performance indicators (i.e. profitability, leverage, and liquidity) did exert an influence on the CIR practices. Thus, it is suggested that CIR practices are loosely institutionalised in Egypt, which necessitates issuing several regulative and processional rules to raise the quality attributes of Egyptian websites, especially, timeliness and credibility. Beside, this study highlights the potency of assessing the impact of institutional logic on CIR practices and suggests paying equal attention to the institutional and economic factors when comparing the CIR practices over time or across different institutional environments in the future.
19

The systems analyst and emancipatory practice : an exploratory study in three NHS hospitals

Waring, Teresa Shirley January 2000 (has links)
No description available.
20

A knowledge-based approach to the design and implementation of spatial decision support systems

Zhu, Xuan January 1995 (has links)
Geographical information systems (GIS), expert systems (ES) and spatial decision support systems (SDSS) are becoming important tools for supporting managers and planners in making decisions for resource and environmental management. In recent years, attention has turned to the integration of existing GIS, ES systems and other problem-solving techniques to develop more powerful SDSS systems. Such systems should lead to significant competitive advantages, such as cost savings, the ability to couple analytical modelling with heuristic reasoning, and automated explanation facilities for interpreting and justifying the results of modelling studies. However, early attempts have also demonstrated a number of drawbacks, such as user unfriendliness, lack of flexible model management capabilities and poor adaptation to users' needs. To try and overcome some of these problems, this research establishes a new approach to the development of spatial decision support systems within an integrated framework of GIS, spatial modelling and expert systems techniques and technologies. In this approach, knowledge-based techniques are introduced into the design of knowledge-based spatial decision support systems (KBSDSS), with emphasis on the design of a representation scheme based on spatial influence diagrams and mechanisms for structuring, representing and formulating spatial problems, together with automation of the solution process. Spatial influence diagrams are graphic knowledge representations for resource and environmental problems, consisting of information about all problem variables or parameters and their relationships. They can be seen as spatial analogues of influence diagrams developed for decision analysis. However, spatial influence diagrams are deterministic cases of influence diagrams without decision components. Algorithms are developed to formulate and evaluate spatial influence diagrams using domain-specific knowledge in the system to represent and evaluate specific spatial problems according to the decision marker's perspective.

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