Obsahem práce je využití veřejně dostupných dat k návrhu implementace modelu EFQM jako příkladu použití benchmarkingu ve stavebním podniku. Práce se zabývá nejdříve obecným seznámením se s problematikou, poté představením vývoje stavebního odvětví, srovnání v klíčových finančních ukazatelích se stavebním odvětvím a následně obsahuje návrhy na řešení modelu EFQM ve stavebním podniku.

A key functionality of cloud systems are automated resource management mechanisms at the infrastructure level. As part of this, elastic scaling of allocated resources is realized by so-called auto-scalers that are supposed to match the current demand in a way that the performance remains stable while resources are efficiently used. The process of rating cloud infrastructure offerings in terms of the quality of their achieved elastic scaling remains undefined. Clear guidance for the selection and configuration of an auto-scaler for a given context is not available. Thus, existing operating solutions are optimized in a highly application specific way and usually kept undisclosed. The common state of practice is the use of simplistic threshold-based approaches. Due to their reactive nature they incur performance degradation during the minutes of provisioning delays. In the literature, a high-number of auto-scalers has been proposed trying to overcome the limitations of reactive mechanisms by employing proactive prediction methods. In this thesis, we identify potentials in automated cloud system resource management and its evaluation methodology. Specifically, we make the following contributions: We propose a descriptive load profile modeling framework together with automated model extraction from recorded traces to enable reproducible workload generation with realistic load intensity variations. The proposed Descartes Load Intensity Model (DLIM) with its Limbo framework provides key functionality to stress and benchmark resource management approaches in a representative and fair manner. We propose a set of intuitive metrics for quantifying timing, stability and accuracy aspects of elasticity. Based on these metrics, we propose a novel approach for benchmarking the elasticity of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud platforms independent of the performance exhibited by the provisioned underlying resources. We tackle the challenge of reducing the risk of relying on a single proactive auto-scaler by proposing a new self-aware auto-scaling mechanism, called Chameleon, combining multiple different proactive methods coupled with a reactive fallback mechanism. Chameleon employs on-demand, automated time series-based forecasting methods to predict the arriving load intensity in combination with run-time service demand estimation techniques to calculate the required resource consumption per work unit without the need for a detailed application instrumentation. It can also leverage application knowledge by solving product-form queueing networks used to derive optimized scaling actions. The Chameleon approach is first in resolving conflicts between reactive and proactive scaling decisions in an intelligent way. We are confident that the contributions of this thesis will have a long-term impact on the way cloud resource management approaches are assessed. While this could result in an improved quality of autonomic management algorithms, we see and discuss arising challenges for future research in cloud resource management and its assessment methods: The adoption of containerization on top of virtual machine instances introduces another level of indirection. As a result, the nesting of virtual resources increases resource fragmentation and causes unreliable provisioning delays. Furthermore, virtualized compute resources tend to become more and more inhomogeneous associated with various priorities and trade-offs. Due to DevOps practices, cloud hosted service updates are released with a higher frequency which impacts the dynamics in user behavior. / Eine Schlüsselfunktionalität von Cloud-Systemen sind automatisierte Mechanismen zur Ressourcenverwaltung auf Infrastrukturebene. Als Teil hiervon wird das elastische Skalieren der allokierten Ressourcen durch eigene Mechanismen realisiert. Diese sind dafür verantwortlich, dass die dynamische Ressourcenzuteilung die aktuelle Nachfrage in einem Maße trifft, welches die Performance stabil hält und gleichzeitig Ressourcen effizient auslastet. Prozesse, welche die Bewertung der Qualität von elastischem Skalierungsverhalten in der Realität ermöglichen, sind derzeit nicht umfassend definiert. Folglich fehlt es an Leitfäden und Entscheidungskriterien bei der Auswahl und Konfiguration automatisch skalierender Mechanismen. In der Praxis zum Einsatz kommende Lösungen sind auf ihr Anwendungsszenario optimiert und werden in fast allen Fällen unter Verschluss gehalten. Mehrheitlich werden einfache, schwellenwertbasierte Regelungsansätze eingesetzt. Diese nehmen aufgrund ihres inhärent reaktiven Charakters verschlechterte Performance während der Bereitstellungsverzögerung im Minutenbereich in Kauf. In der Literatur wird eine große Anzahl an Mechanismen zur automatischen Skalierung vorgeschlagen, welche versuchen, diese Einschränkung durch Einsatz von Schätzverfahren zu umgehen. Diese können in Ansätze aus der Warteschlangentheorie, der Kontrolltheorie, der Zeitreihenanalyse und des maschinellen Lernens eingeteilt werden. Jedoch erfreuen sich prädiktive Mechanismen zum automatischen Skalieren aufgrund des damit verknüpften hohen Risikos, sich auf einzelne Schätzverfahren zu verlassen, bislang keines breiten Praxiseinsatzes. Diese Dissertation identifiziert Potenziale im automatisierten Ressourcenmanagement von Cloud-Umgebungen und deren Bewertungsverfahren. Die Beiträge liegen konkret in den folgenden Punkten: Es wird eine Sprache zur deskriptiven Modellierung von Lastintensitätsprofilen und deren automatischer Extraktion aus Aufzeichnungen entwickelt, um eine wiederholbare Generierung von realistischen und in ihrer Intensität variierenden Arbeitslasten zu ermöglichen. Das vorgeschlagene Descartes Lastintensitätsmodell (DLIM) zusammen mit dem Limbo Software-Werkzeug stellt hierbei Schlüsselfunktionalitäten zur repräsentativen Arbeitslastgenerierung und fairen Bewertung von Ressourcenmanagementansätzen zur Verfügung. Es wird eine Gruppe intuitiver Metriken zur Quantifizierung der zeit-, genauigkeits- und stabilitätsbezogenen Qualitätsaspekte elastischen Verhaltens vorgeschlagen. Basierend auf diesen zwischenzeitlich von der Forschungsabteilung der Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) befürworteten Metriken, wird ein neuartiges Elastizitätsmessverfahren zur fairen Bewertung von Infrastruktur-Cloud-Dienstleistungen, unabhängig von der Leistungsfähigkeit der zugrunde liegenden Ressourcen, entwickelt. Durch die Entwicklung eines neuartigen, hybriden Ansatzes zum automatischen Skalieren, genannt Chameleon, wird das Risiko reduziert, welches sich aus dem Einsatz einzelner proaktiver Methoden automatischen Skalierens ergibt. Chameleon kombiniert mehrere verschiedene proaktive Methoden und ist mit einer reaktiven Rückfallebene gekoppelt. Dazu verwendet Chameleon bei Bedarf automatische Zeitreihenvorhersagen, um ankommende Arbeitslasten abzuschätzen. Ergänzend dazu kommen Techniken der Serviceanforderungsabschätzung zur Systemlaufzeit zum Einsatz, um den Ressourcenverbrauch einzelner Arbeitspakete in etwa zu bestimmen, ohne dass eine feingranulare Instrumentierung der Anwendung erforderlich ist. Abgesehen davon nutzt Chameleon anwendungsbezogenes Wissen, um Warteschlangennetze in Produktform zu lösen und optimale Skalierungsaktionen abzuleiten. Der Chameleon-Ansatz ist der erste seiner Art, welcher Konflikte zwischen reaktiven und proaktiven Skalierungsaktionen in intelligenter Art und Weise aufzulösen vermag. Zusammenfassend kann gesagt werden, dass die Beiträge dieser Dissertation auf lange Sicht die Art und Weise beeinflussen dürften, in welcher Ressourcenmanagementansätze in Cloudumgebungen bewertet werden. Ein Ergebnis wäre unter anderem eine verbesserte Qualität der Algorithmen für ein automatisches Ressourcenmanagement. Als Grundlage für zukünftige Forschungsarbeiten werden aufkommende Herausforderungen identifiziert und diskutiert: Die Einführung der Containerisierung innerhalb von virtuellen Maschineninstanzen bewirkt eine weitere Ebene der Indirektion. Als Folge dieser Verschachtelung der virtuellen Ressourcen wird die Fragmentierung erhöht und unzuverlässige Bereitstellungsverzögerungen verursacht. Außerdem tendieren die virtualisierten Rechenressourcen aufgrund von Priorisierung und Zielkonflikten mehr und mehr zu inhomogenen Systemlandschaften. Aufgrund von DevOps-Praktiken werden Softwareupdates von Diensten in Cloudumgebungen mit einer höheren Frequenz durchgeführt, welche sich auf das Benutzungsverhalten dynamisierend auswirken kann.

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is one the foundations of the modern Internet. Because HTTP servers may be subject to unexpected periods of high load, developers use HTTP benchmarking utilities to simulate the load generated by users. However, many of these tools do not report performance details at a per-client level, which deprives developers of crucial insights into a server's performance capabilities. In this work, we present ink, an HTTP benchmarking tool that enables developers to better understand server performance. ink provides developers with a way of visualizing the level of service that each individual client receives. It does this by recording a trace of events for each individual simulated client. We also present a GUI that enables users to explore and visualizing the data that is generated by an HTTP benchmark. Lastly, we present a method for running HTTP benchmarks that uses a set of distributed machines to scale up the achievable load on the benchmarked server. We evaluate ink by performing a series of case studies to show that ink is both performant and useful. We validate ink's load generation abilities within the context of a single machine and when using a set of distributed machines. ink is shown to be capable of simulating hundreds of thousands of HTTP clients and presenting per-client results through the ink GUI. We also perform a set of HTTP benchmarks where ink is able to highlight performance issues and differences between server implementations. We compare servers like NGINX and Apache and highlight their differences using ink. / Master of Science / The World Wide Web (WWW) uses the Hypertext Transfer Protocol to send web content such as HTML pages or video to users. The servers providing this content are called HTTP servers. Sometimes, the performance of these HTTP servers is compromised because a large number of users requests documents at the same time. To prepare for this, server maintainers test how many simultaneous users a server can handle by using benchmarking utilities. These benchmarking utilities work by simulating a set of clients. Currently, these tools focus only on the amount of requests that a server can process per second. Unfortunately, this coarse-grained metric can hide important information, such as the level of service that individual clients received. In this work, we present ink, an HTTP benchmarking utility we developed that focuses on reporting information for each simulated client. Reporting data in this way allows for the developer to see how well each client was served during the benchmark. We achieve this by constructing data visualizations that include a set of client timelines. Each of these timelines represents the service that one client received. We evaluated ink through a series of case studies. These focus on the performance of the utility and the usefulness of the visualizations produced by ink. Additionally, we deployed ink in Virginia Tech's Computer Systems course. The students were able to use the tool and took a survey pertaining to their experience with the tool.

abstract: ABSTRACT Academic literature and industry benchmarking reports were reviewed to determine the way facilities benchmarking reports were perceived in the healthcare industry. Interviews were conducted through a Delphi panel of industry professionals who met experience and other credential requirements. Two separate rounds of interviewing were conducted where each candidate was asked the same questions to determine the current views of benchmarking reports and associated data in the healthcare industry. The questions asked in the second round were developed from the answers to the first-round questions. The research showed the panel preferred changes in the data collection methods as well as changes in the way the data is presented. The need for these changes was unanimous among the members of the panel. The main recommendations among the group were: 1. An interactive method such as a member portal with the ability to customize, run scenarios, and save data is the preferred method. 2. Facilities Management (FM) teams are often not included in the data collection of the benchmark reports. Including FM groups would allow more accuracy and more detailed data resulting in more accurate and in-depth reports. 3. More consistency and “apples to apples” comparisons need to be provided in the reports. More categories and variables need to be added to the reports to offer more in depth comparisons and assessments between buildings. Identifiers to help the users compare the physical condition of their facility to others needs to be included. Suggestions are as follows: a. Facility Condition Index (FCI)- easily available to all participants and allows an idea of the comparison of upkeep and maintenance of their facility to that of others. b. An indicator on whether the comparison buildings are Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) accredited. 4. Gross Square Footage (GSF) is not an accurate assessment on its own. Too many variables are left unidentified to offer an accurate assessment with this method alone. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction Management 2020

The Inland Revenue Department (Inland Revenue) launched the Industry Benchmarking Programme (Benchmarking Programme) in 2011; which closely followed the Small Business Benchmarking Programme (SBBP) which was released by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in 2009. These programmes took data from tax returns and other sources, and turn this into a series of financial benchmarks for specific industries. The data from these programmes was then published on the respective websites of Inland Revenue and the ATO. It was envisaged by both tax administrations that this data would be used by taxpayers to benchmark their financial performance against others in their industry. The Benchmarking Programme was designed to assist Inland Revenue with its compliance strategy and to better its their audits. This exploratory research was mainly focused on the use (or lack of) of Inland Revenue’s Benchmarking Programme by taxpayers and tax practitioners. Other aspects of the Benchmarking Programme were investigated. Interviews with six tax practitioners were conducted, supplemented by documentary analysis of the Benchmarking Programme and other sources of data. It was found that the tax practitioners do not use the data for several reasons, including issues with the integrity of the data and its usefulness. It suggested that taxpayers do not use the data from the Benchmarking Programme, and indeed may not have any knowledge of it. The overall impact of the Benchmarking Programme was deemed to be minimal. Several recommendations were to be presented for consideration by Inland Revenue as a result of the findings in the project.

The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is focusing to theoretical bases of work, it is a brief introduction to business performance and utilization of modern indicators to measure it with an emphasis on benchmarking. In second part, we deal with the practical application of information acquired and that a specific enterprise. It is an analysis of the current situation with companies in the same field of business. With the help of financial analysis, SWOT matrix identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company. The most important part is devoted to benchmarking based on publicly available data from the financial statements. For these purposes, I especially enjoyed the information from the available statement. Based on the information they are designed adequate opportunities in improving and recommendations for evaluating enterprise.

Industrisektorn står idag cirka 30 % av slutenergianvändningen i västvärlden. En betydande energibesparingspotential genom energieffektivisering av energianvändande processer har identifierats inom sektorn. Forskning har visat att det finns en särskilt stor potential för energieffektivisering hos små och medelstora företag, men att det samtidigt finns hinder som leder till att ekonomiskt rationella energieffektiviseringsåtgärder inte genomförs. Dessa hinder är bland annat kopplade till bristande kunskap om den egna energianvändningen. Ett verktyg för att öka medvetenheten om detta hos företagen är benchmarking av energianvändande processer, som ger dem möjlighet att jämföra sin egen energianvändning mot andra företag. Utifrån tidigare forskning och erfarenheter på området har en ny metod föreslagits för beräkning av ett energieffektiviseringsindex, vars syfte är att visa på varje företags energiprestanda i förhållande till andra företag. I examensarbetet genomfördes en litteraturstudie där vetenskapliga artiklar och rapporter som behandlade benchmarking av energianvändning studerades. Vidare genomfördes en intervjustudie med aktörer som har erfarenhet och inblick i företagens energiarbete, vilket inkluderade myndigheter, operativa tillsynsmyndigheter och energikartläggare. Litteratur- och intervjustudien visade att det finns en efterfrågan att kunna jämföra energianvändningen mellan industrier genom benchmarking. Benchmarking av energianvändande processer bedömdes ha särskilt god potential för att uppnå energibesparingspotentialer genom identifiering av energieffektiviseringsåtgärder. Den föreslagna metoden möjliggör beräkning av ett energieffektiviseringsindex som är baserat på enskilda energianvändande processer inom en industrianläggning. Detta möjliggör benchmarking av energianvändande processer såväl som hela industriella anläggningar. Metoden testades och validerades på svenska små och medelstora sågverk med underlag från energikartläggningsrapporter och Energimyndighetens databas som sammanställts i samband med det svenska stödet för energikartläggningar. Validering av den framtagna metoden visade att potential för energieffektiviseringar kan identifieras genom beräknande av ett energieffektiviseringsindex. Metoden förutsätter dock att jämförelser görs inom en bransch, särskilt när det gäller industriers produktionsprocesser. Vidare krävs att metoden appliceras på ytterligare branscher för att stärka metodens tillförlitlighet. Om den till Energimyndigheten inrapporterade energidatan i samband med stödet för energikartläggning i små och medelstora företag ska användas krävs ytterligare kvalitetssäkring av underlaget. / The industrial sector currently accounts for about 30% of the final energy consumption in the western world, but a significant energy efficiency potential has been identified in the sector. Research has shown that there is a great potential for improving energy efficiency in the industrial sector, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. However, there are barriers hindering the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency measures. These barriers include lack of knowledge about the industries own energy end-use. A tool that can address this barrier among companies is benchmarking of energy end-using processes that allow the companies to compare their energy performance to other companies. Based on previous research and experiences in the field, a new method was developed for calculating an energy efficiency index, which has the possibility to show each company's energy performance relative to other companies. The study began with a literature review of scientific articles and reports on the subject studied. In addition, interviews with government agencies and energy auditing companies that have insight into the companies' work with energy efficiency was conducted. The literature and interview study showed a demand of comparing the energy performance of industrial sites through benchmarking. Benchmarking of energy end-use processes was estimated to have particularly good potential to achieve energy saving potentials through identifying energy efficiency measures. The proposed method allows the calculation of an energy efficiency index that is based on individual energy end-using processes in an industrial site. This allows benchmarking of energy end-using processes as well as the entire industrial site. The method was tested and validated with data from Swedish small and medium-sized sawmills compiled by the Swedish Energy Agency in conjunction with the Swedish energy audit support program. Validation of the developed method demonstrated that the potential for energy efficiency can be identified by calculating the energy efficiency index. The method assumes that the comparison is conducted for each sector separately, particularly regarding the production processes. To strengthen the reliability of the results, the method should be tested on additional industrial sectors and further quality assurance of the data should be conducted for these sectors.

Bakgrund - Bernstein et al. (2011) menar att kunder vill ha breda sortiment men att detta leder till problem för det tillverkande företaget. Större utbud attraherar fler kunder, speciellt på en konkurrensutsatt marknad men samtidigt som detta ger positiva effekter medför det även en mer komplex produktion. Ett större sortiment tenderar att minska efterfrågan på individuella produkter och företaget förlorar möjligheten med skalfördelar då stora produktionsbatcher i detta fall medför stor lagerhållning. En metod för att göra produktionen av dessa artiklar mer kostnadseffektiv är att använda ett standardsortiment. Syfte - Syftet med studien är att ta fram ett standardsortiment och sedan identifiera de ekonomiska produktionskvantiteterna för det framtagna standardsortimentet. Vidare är syftet att belysa vilka beställningspunkter och säkerhetslager Spinova ska använda för standardsortimentet. Metod - Uppsatsen har ett positivistiskt synsätt och författarna har använt sig av en deduktiv ansats vid framtagning av ett standardsortiment för fallföretaget Spinova. För att besvara syftet med studien har författarna benchmarkat mot konkurrenter, tagit fram ett standardsortiment samt räknat ut de ekonomiska produktionskvantiteterna, säkerhetslager och beställningspunkter. Metoderna som använts för att göra detta har varit beräkningar, semi- strukturerade intervjuer samt observationer. Slutsatser – Författarna har tagit fram ett standardsortiment som inkluderar 590 artiklar. För dessa artiklar har produktionskvantiteter tagits fram genom beräkningar av ekonomiska produktionskvantiteter och utfallets rimlighet i förhållande till kapitalbindning och lagerhållning. Till sist har författarna utifrån olika servicegrader gett förslag på vilka säkerhetslagernivåer och beställningspunkter det framtagna standardsortimentet ska ha.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor's Degree in Technology: Quality, Durban University of Technology, 2006. / Managers and employees are faced with an increasing number of complex challenges including implementing and maintaining multiple management systems/codes of practice such as safety, environment and quality, increasing competitive advantage and showing continued sustainability with limited resources. In addition, corporate scandals like Enron and the impact of the Aids pandemic on the economy of a country, further burden the responsibility of managers and employees. Operating all these management systems/codes of practice in parallel, however, duplicates documentation, makes auditing the systems difficult and decreases employee morale. Hence, this study reviewed related literature which represented secondary sources of information, to determine the most suitable management systems/codes of practice, to show the benefits of using integrated management systems and to select appropriate business improvement tools to promote business excellence. It developed a simple management system and designed integrated documentation to support these integrated systems. A model was developed. The Process Approach was used as a foundation to develop this model which integrated safety, environmental management, corporate governance, quality and HIV/Aids management systems/codes of practice. The SECQA model is the name proposed for the model, it provides a holistic model to facilitate world class performance. This part of the study represented the qualitative method of research. The quantitative method of research complimented the findings above by using interviews with key role players, a pilot study of two manufacturing organisations and a principal study of thirty manufacturing and service organisations. The pilot and principal studies were conducted on organisations from the Kwa Zulu-Natal region and the interviews were conducted with representatives from Gauteng and Cape Province. Questionnaires were designed using open-ended and closed-ended type questions and together with interviews formed the primary source of information. The challenges of employees working with management systems and the suitability of the SECQA model were established from the questionnaire. The possible advantages and disadvantages of the SECQA model were also shown. The strengths and weaknesses of the management systems and how they can be addressed and overcome by the model are presented. The challenges that were evident from the results of the interviews and pilot study were that respondents found that there was a lack of resources, lack of training and understanding of the management systems by employees within their organisation. From the results of the principal study it was apparent that some organisations did not have the infrastructure and had limited resources to support multiple management systems. There was a lack of support from senior managers. Safety, environment and quality managements systems were the most commonly used in organisations. Most organisations found that their management systems were beneficial. Benchmarking, cause and effect diagrams and brainstorming were the most common business improvement tools used by organisations. / D

Ingeniera Civil Industrial / Existe el desafío a nivel mundial de generar las condiciones adecuadas para alcanzar el desarrollo en las próximas décadas. Dado que el crecimiento viene de la mano con la demanda de energía aparece la difícil tarea de contar con los recursos energéticos suficientes y competitivos que apoyen este desarrollo, una solución muy fuerte para esta situación es el concepto de eficiencia energética, del cual Chile tomó conciencia y creó el PNAEE 2020, que planteó un programa estratégico para el uso y la gestión de la energía. Sin embargo, las medidas determinadas allí fueron limitadas, principalmente en el sector transporte, que consume el 32% de la energía final. En este informe se plantea como objetivo general identificar las brechas que existe entre Chile y los 16 países evaluados por ACEEE y definir las mejores propuestas y prácticas de eficiencia energética que se pudiesen desarrollar en este sector; trabajando de la mano con el informe generado por esta organización, que entrega un punto de vista objetivo base para cualquier economía. De manera paralela también se desarrolló un análisis desde el punto de vista cualitativo o más desde el punto de vista común, pues sin duda hay variables propias de un país o exógenas que no permiten o ayudan a desarrollar propuestas. De esta forma, dentro de los resultados obtenidos se llegó a que existen ciertas limitantes, como es el caso de ferrocarril en Chile, que no permiten ser más eficiente en el transporte. Aun así, existen amplias oportunidades de mejoras, partiendo por los vacíos de información que existen para todos los medios y modos de transporte. Es imposible implementar una política pública a nivel nacional y regional efectiva si no existe claridad de los datos, por lo tanto no se saben las brechas ni las oportunidades de mejoras. Se requiere de medidas directas para tener un transporte limpio y eficiente, como desincentivar el uso del automóvil, a través del fomento de otros medios de transporte y formas de transporte, así aparecen iniciativas como autos compartidos, carsharing y políticas de precios. Además es imprescindible tener una red de transporte público que soporte el flujo de gente diario y que permita competir con el confort que entrega el vehículo. Para ello debe estar integrado con otros modos de transporte, principalmente con los NMT. De esta forma la bicicleta suena como la alternativa más fuerte, así al menos lo demuestra la experiencia internacional. Sin embargo, para que todas estas medidas se realicen como corresponde, requieren de una fuerte infraestructura que las sustente y el apoyo fundamental de Estado, con inversión, pero sobre todo la capacidad técnica y profesional.