Strategic business and IT alignment assessment is growing in importance. Different assessment methods have been used to try to pursue the complexity of this dynamic and evolutionary alignment. Despite the fact that alignment is a real problem and a challenge of utmost importance, no consensus can be found on what alignment really is, how it should be measured in the organization in practice, or what measures should be taken to maintain and improve it. Consequently, the key question about how to assess and accomplish (define, identify, measure, maintain and improve) the strategic business and IT alignment is still a great unanswered challenge for many enterprises. In this thesis work, three main research questions were formulated: how can the validity and reliability of an alignment assessment method be improved, what are the dominant topics in the area of alignment, and how to facilitate the analysis of the business and IT governance alignment based on business process simulation and balanced scorecard methods. This is a composite thesis work that includes an introduction and six papers (paper A-F). The main contributions and results of this thesis are described in published and included technical papers. In papers A and B an alternative organization-wide approach and metamodel for assessing strategic business and IT alignment are proposed. Two case studies were performed applying the proposed approach. In paper C, a prioritized diagram of the most widely accepted strategic alignment model, with the purpose of categorizing the most important topics in the research area of strategic business and IT alignment is presented. One of the relevant topics that were identified is governance. In papers D, E and F, there are presented a business process simulation approach and a balanced scorecard method in order to facilitate the assessment of the business and IT governance alignment. An illustrative example of the simulation approach is presented in an appendix of this thesis. This research work aims to improve the decision-making process for business and IT managers at different levels in an enterprise by means of increasing the level of understanding and knowledge as well as by enhancing existing models and methods, for evaluating strategic business and IT alignment. / <p>QC 20101110</p>

The impact of globalisation and advanced information technology on service and knowledgebased industries in South Africa contributes to these workplaces becoming increasingly virtual. Virtual teams can be seen as a mechanism that organisations could use to increase their orientation for change through enhancing and integrating key organisational resources such as people, space and information technology to deliver greater business value. The findings of several studies suggest that the implementation of virtual teams is associated with benefits such as cost and time saving, increased employee productivity and employee empowerment. There are however salient barriers to effective virtual teamwork that organisations need to address before engaging in the transformational process towards virtual teamwork. The literature review identified ineffective leadership practices, factors relating to virtual team development, inadequate use of information technology and a paucity of social and organisational cultural integration, as the most salient features that impede effective virtual teamwork. The objective of this research was to develop a basic theoretical framework for the implementation of virtual teams. Since virtual teams emanate from a relatively new area of research an inductive methodology, based on a literature review, was used to achieve the research objective. Several theoretical models on virtual teams and their effectiveness thereon were explored to conceptualise the dynamic nature of virtual teams and the requirements for implementing them in the workplace. The results of the study indicated that an emergent approach to change be followed and that the following factors be addressed to determine an organisation's readiness for the implementation of virtual teams, namely: the degree of interdependence between tasks, structural requirements, technological requirements, process redesign and the selection of appropriate people. A methodology for work transformation towards virtual teamwork was suggested based on an integration of these factors. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Business process management (BPM) is a philosophical approach to organisation-wide management in which the focus is on the processes through which it operates, and in particular the streamlining and optimising of these processes, for which software solutions may be used. CTexT is an intrapreneurial software organisation that has been experiencing problems with software development due to a lack of formal processes relating to customer support, versioning, configuration, quality, risk and project management. The objective of the study is to determine whether the implementation of an electronic BPM system can effectively solve CTexT's development problems and thereby improve its overall software development capacity. More specifically, the focus is on i) the effect of the resulting standardisation on creativity and innovation, and ii) implementation matters, such as the type of processes that can be subjected to an electronic system, and how CTexT can overcome the time and cost constraints of such a system. The study investigates these questions by means of a literature investigation in combination with interviews with knowledgeable respondents from other innovative and software organisations. Interviews with six employees from CTexT determine the relevance of these findings and highlight critical areas for process improvement. Since BPM systems improve organisational efficiencies and are generally employed in larger corporate contexts marked by transactional and repetitive activities where they enforce administrative rules, the conclusion is drawn that a BPM system will not be suitable for an intrapreneurial organisation, and that it is likely to cause more disruption to the creative environment than improve its operations. It is further shown that although a BPM system is theoretically applicable to software development, it generally does not seem to be applied practically in the industry, and the suitability of this process as manageable through a BPM system is seriously questioned. Instead, the research points to improvement through the application of software development methodologies and a holistic approach towards BPM. The investigation at CTexT confirms that its development problems relate to flawed methodologies and that remedies should therefore focus on improving its methodologies and controlling certain aspects of the software development life cycle by means of suitable software tools. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

Viele der derzeit implementierten Portale beschränken sich darauf, vorhandene Applikationen ein neues Look & Feel zu geben und visuelle Präferenzen zu erfüllen. Zusätzlicher Mehrwert entsteht jedoch erst, wenn Kunden, Partnern und Mitarbeitern der Zugriff auf applikations- und unternehmensübergreifende Prozesse ermöglicht wird – das Portal also prozess- und nutzerorientiert ausgerichtet wird. Prozessportale als ein Instrument bilden dabei die Schnittstelle zwischen menschlichen Interaktionen und Geschäftsprozessen.

Patient wait times and care service times are key performance measures for care processes in hospitals. Managing the quality of care delivered by these processes in real-time is challenging. A key challenge is to correlate source medical events to infer the care process states that define patient wait times and care service times. Commercially available complex event processing engines do not have built in support for the concept of care process state. This makes it unnecessarily complex to define and maintain rules for inferring states from source medical events in a care process. Another challenge is how to present the data in a real-time BI dashboard and the underlying data model to use to support this BI dashboard. Data representation architecture can potentially lead to delays in processing and presenting the data in the BI dashboard. In this research, we have investigated the problem of real-time monitoring of care processes, performed a gap analysis of current information system support for it, researched and assessed available technologies, and shown how to most effectively leverage event driven and BI architectures when building information support for real-time monitoring of care processes. We introduce a state monitoring engine for inferring and managing states based on an application model for care process monitoring. A BI architecture is also leveraged for the data model to support the real-time data processing and reporting requirements of the application’s portal. The research is validated with a case study to create a real-time care process monitoring application for an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) clinical pathway in collaboration with IBM and Osler hospital. The research methodology is based on design-oriented research.

Geschäftsprozesse im Verwaltungs- und Dienstleistungsbereich werden häufig durch den Eingang von Dokumenten angestoßen. Hierfür ist es unerlässlich, dass sie den richtigen Mitarbeiter im Unternehmen oder der Organisation erreichen. Oftmals sind jedoch dem externen Sender die internen Organisationsstrukturen nicht klar, so dass eine zentrale Stelle angeschrieben wird. Diese muss dann das Dokument, basierend auf seinem Inhalt, an die zuständigen Kollegen weiterleiten. Dies kann beträchtlichen personellen Aufwand mit sich bringen. In der Forschungsarbeit wird ein System entwickelt, das diese Aufgabe maschinell erfüllen soll. Hierzu werden verschiedenartige Klassifikationsverfahren erprobt und hinsichtlich ihrer Verlässlichkeit beurteilt. Weiterhin werden Verbesserungen gegenüber gängigen maschinellen Verfahren angestrebt.

政府事業單位重要的任務之一，在於擬定相關管理與營運的政策，因此有關於營運面的相關資訊，就成為重要的決策依據。除此之外來自民意單位質詢，彈性相當大，範圍包含了整個事業業務，因此對於決策資訊需求，往往都是包羅萬象千變萬化的，因此如何快速且正確地取得營運資訊，便成為各單位一嚴峻的考驗，而目前以報表為基礎的營運決策模式，已經漸漸無法符合變動性日增的決策需求，而資料倉儲與多維度模型的設計，正可符合快速變動的決策資訊需求。 本論文將透過對於個案組織的深入質化訪談，進一步建立個案組織的業務流程，並且透過對於個案組織業務內容的深入瞭解，對於其政策制訂之相關決策點、參考資訊、資訊流做詳細的分析，以便針對對決策資訊的來源與性質，找出相對應的屬性、維度與事實。如此一來，便可發現資料倉儲的設計，必須以流程模型為基礎，並且透過模型的指引，設計適合用戶業務內容的資料倉儲與資料模型，並且為未來組織轉型時的配適，提供最大的彈性。

企業流程是企業營運核心，也是創造企業競爭力之關鍵因素。本論文以個案公司現行願景為基礎，植基於會計交易循環之基礎架構，參考Tsaih.et al. (2004)企業整體資訊有機體模式之分析架構，重現並分析個案公司之現行關鍵營運流程。本研究首先透過系統化分析企業個體對內、對外之資訊流聯絡管道及接觸點，辨認並評估個案公司之關鍵流程與其資訊流的流暢度。接著以前述分析結果作為辨識及改善企業作業流程之基礎，作成相關流程改善建議及績效評估參考指標。最後，結合PWIO分析結果與平衡計分卡觀念，提供個案公司建議性策略地圖，以作為評估及管理未來績效之基礎。 本論文發現，個案公司之現有流程並無法有效達成現行願景。因此，我們運用PWIO分析模式及主要作業流程關聯圖呈現個案公司在銷售及收款循環、採購及付款循環、配送作業等流程運作效率上可以改善之處。此外，依據分析所示流程目標並透過平衡計分卡概念，建立其流程績效指標。最後，發展個案公司之策略地圖，呈現個案公司在現有願景下，財務、顧客、內部流程及學習與成長四大構面之因果關係，以作為個案公司未來評估及管理其策略性成果之架構。 / The business processes are central to a company’s operation and competitive advantages. Based on the analytical framework proposed by Tsaih et.al. (2004), and an application of accounting transaction cycle approach, this thesis investigates the key business processes of a hyper-mart in Taiwan. The major objectives of this paper are three-fold. Relied on the existing vision of the firm under studied, this thesis first restores and analyzes its core operation by identifying the practices of the contact point and information channel underlying the key business processes. The related suggestions on process improvement are then discussed and proposed based on the analyses from the previous step. Finally, a proposed strategy map will be developed to serve as the basis of evaluation and management of the strategic performance in the future. The research results indicate that the operation processes currently employed by the case firm cannot meet its vision effectively. Through the chart describing the practices of contact point and information channel, the smoothness of the key processes and the corresponding process improvements were suggested. In addition, through an integration of goals derived from process practices with the balanced scorecard concept, performance measures help achieve the goals of processes are developed accordingly. A strategy map delineating the casual-effect relationship between the Financial, Customer, Process as well as Learning and Innovation perspectives and the performance indicators is also provided. The managerial implications of such framework are discussed.

在企業對企業電子商務整合中，資料之間異質性以及系統間的互通性是最重要的議題之一。在整合過程中，我們必須考慮網路協定的整合、交易伙伴的整合、商業流程的整合以及商業文件的整合。一個電子商務標準通常會定義這些範圍，但是，電子商務標準都是定義語法部份而較少定義語意部份。在企業對企業電子商務整合過程當中，我們應該調解在商業訊息、商業字彙及資料字典中的語意衝突。 本體論是語意網的關鍵技術，本體論可以呈現出一個領域中語意，並且能夠推論。我們使用本體論的技術解決企業對企業電子商務整合的問題。我們提出了一個以本體論為基礎的方法來分析並研發一個企業對企業電子商務整合應用。透過使用企業對企業電子商務的本體，我們希望可以能夠了解及重覆使用企業對企業電子商務領域的知識。 / Heterogeneity and interoperability are the main issues in B2B integration. We have to consider the integration of different exchange protocols, trading partners, business processes, and business documents. A B2B standard usually specifies those integration dimensions. However, B2B standards are syntactic rather than semantic. B2B integration should conciliate the semantic conflicts between business messages, vocabularies, and data dictionary. Ontology is the key technology enables Semantic Web. Ontology can reason easier and represent the semantic of a domain. We believe that using ontology technology can solve the B2B integration issues. We propose an ontology-based approach to analyze and develop B2B integration model. By using the B2B ontologies, we hope to reuse and understand the domain knowledge.

為落實現行企業的資訊安全評估，研究一創新的方法論，從企業流程的角度做分析評估，將企業要面臨的風險降低到可接受的等級。我們提出的發法論主要分為: (1) 發展企業流程表，找出此流程中要完成的所有功能(2) 指出各功能中對應需運作的接觸點/資訊管道/資訊資源，並評估可能面臨的風險 (3) 將這些面臨的風險，依據風險的可能性、風險的影響性，決定出各風險的風險等級　(4)提出在需建議的風險等級以上的接觸點/資訊管道/資訊資源的控制措施　(5) 確認現行企業是否有落實建議之控制措施。並實際訪談個案公司，完成此方法論的案例雛型。 / We are interested in evaluating the information security of a critical business process and its relevant issues. We try to provide a new security investigation method which is concerned with ensuring the continuity of business essential processes even the whole organization. This study will provide a methodology for analyzing the risk of each component of a process to replace the original information security method which was too widespread or too tiny. Base on such investigation, we can realize the security implements in the process and discover what component is needed to changed such as reduce risk or enhance security of that process to an acceptable level within the limited budget. In our methodology for each decisive business process., the following steps are proposed: (1) to develop the business process table, (2) to figure out all practices of CP/IC/IR corresponding to each function and the related risks, (3) to classify the risk likelihood, risk impact, and security level for each CP/IC/IR of the critical process, (4) to propose the corresponding controls for each CP/IC/IR, and (5) to check the installed controls: The last column, installed check, is took down if the proposed controls are installed or not. A case study of the loan process in a financial institution will be conducted here to illustrate the proposed methodology. We find that here are a number of benefits offered by the PWIO security investigation approach. It is designed from the higher level view point. It involves more members. It is easier to be supported by managers. It makes systematic analysis and check for the security controls in the business process. It costs less than the conventional risk analysis which is adopted for the whole enterprise. The PWIO security investigation methodology can be used in one of the processes and be modified to fit the unique enterprise, and then it can be followed out by the other processes. It can save time and money via try-and-modify steps.