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Automated planning is known to be computationally hard in the general case. Propositional planning is PSPACE-complete and first-order planning is undecidable. One method for analyzing the computational complexity of planning is to study restricted subsets of planning instances, with the aim of differentiating instances with varying complexity. We use this methodology for studying the computational complexity of planning. Finding new tractable (i.e. polynomial-time solvable) problems has been a particularly important goal for researchers in the area. The reason behind this is not only to differentiate between easy and hard planning instances, but also to use polynomial-time solvable instances in order to construct better heuristic functions and improve planners. We identify a new class of tractable cost-optimal planning instances by restricting the causal graph. We study the computational complexity of oversubscription planning (such as the net-benefit problem) under various restrictions and reveal strong connections with classical planning. Inspired by this, we present a method for compiling oversubscription planning problems into the ordinary plan existence problem. We further study the parameterized complexity of cost-optimal and net-benefit planning under the same restrictions and show that the choice of numeric domain for the action costs has a great impact on the parameterized complexity. We finally consider the parameterized complexity of certain problems related to partial-order planning. In some applications, less restricted plans than total-order plans are needed. Therefore, a partial-order plan is being used instead. When dealing with partial-order plans, one important question is how to achieve optimal partial order plans, i.e. having the highest degree of freedom according to some notion of flexibility. We study several optimization problems for partial-order plans, such as finding a minimum deordering or reordering, and finding the minimum parallel execution length.

Modern real-time data-intensive systems generate large amounts of data that are processed using complex data-related computations such as data aggregation. In order to maintain the consistency of data, such computations must be both logically correct (producing correct and consistent results) and temporally correct (completing before specified deadlines). One solution to ensure logical and temporal correctness is to model these computations as transactions and manage them using a Real-Time Database Management System (RTDBMS). Ideally, depending on the particular system, the transactions are customized with the desired logical and temporal correctness properties, which are achieved by the customized RTDBMS with appropriate run-time mechanisms. However, developing such a data management solution with provided guarantees is not easy, partly due to inadequate support for systematic analysis during the design. Firstly, designers do not have means to identify the characteristics of the computations, especially data aggregation, and to reason about their implications. Design flaws might not be discovered, and thus they may be propagated to the implementation. Secondly, trade-off analysis of conflicting properties, such as conflicts between transaction isolation and temporal correctness, is mainly performed ad-hoc, which increases the risk of unpredictable behavior. In this thesis, we propose a systematic approach to develop transaction-based data management with data aggregation support for real-time systems. Our approach includes the following contributions: (i) a taxonomy of data aggregation, (ii) a process for customizing transaction models and RTDBMS, and (iii) a pattern-based method of modeling transactions in the timed automata framework, which we show how to verify with respect to transaction isolation and temporal correctness. Our proposed taxonomy of data aggregation processes helps in identifying their common and variable characteristics, based on which their implications can be reasoned about. Our proposed process allows designers to derive transaction models with desired properties for the data-related computations from system requirements, and decide the appropriate run-time mechanisms for the customized RTDBMS to achieve the desired properties. To perform systematic trade-off analysis between transaction isolation and temporal correctness specifically, we propose a method to create formal models of transactions with concurrency control, based on which the isolation and temporal correctness properties can be verified by model checking, using the UPPAAL tool. By applying the proposed approach to the development of an industrial demonstrator, we validate the applicability of our approach. / DAGGERS

Denna rapport behandlar frågor angående Storage Spaces Direct i Windows 2016:s server. Den tar upp hur man installerar en hyperkonvergerad lösning samt vilka konfigureringar som krävs för att kunna sätta upp funktionen. Två olika frågeställningar uppkom i början av projektet, dessa var: ”hur bra är Storage Spaces Direct?” samt ”går det att implementera funktionen på ett företag idag?”. Utförandet av projektet gjordes i ett samarbete med ett konsultföretag som heter TeamNorr och med deras hårdvara. Storage Spaces Direct är en funktion som fungerar bra och smidigt. Detta om man har rätt information, har nog med kunskap om funktionen samt gör ett grundligt och detaljerat förarbete. Två olika installationer av servrar jämförs, den ena är via desktop experience där man tar hjälp av Windows GUI och det andra är via en Powershellterminal. Båda kan användas vid installation av Storage Spaces Direct. Dessa två olika servrar har olika för- och nackdelar. Jag kom fram till att när man använder Powershell för att installera servrar och tillägg var det överlägset bäst och säkrast. Slutresultatet blev som förväntat. Storage Spaces Direct är det bästa sättet att spara information och köra redundans som finns i dagsläget. Storage Spaces Direct är både enklare använda och att underhålla samt mer kostnadseffektivt för företag. / This paper discusses questions about Storage Spaces Direct in Windows 2016 server. How to install a hyper converged solution and what to be careful about when installing it is a big part of the paper. During the papers time two major’s questions get answer on, “how good is Storage Spaces Direct?” and “is it possible and suitable to implement the function in a company at this stage?”. It was possible to do this project with the help of a company called TeamNorr and with the use of their hardware. Storage Spaces Direct is a function that works well and is in the front at the market today. This is if you have the correct information, have enough expertise about the function and does a thoroughly work before starting. Two different installations of the server will be compared, one with desktop experience and the other with the PowerShell solution. Both these ways can be used to install Storage Spaces Direct and they have different pros and cons. My results and personal opinion is that using PowerShell while installing is the optimized solution and it is the most secure. The result went as excepted and storage spaces direct is the best way to set up an IT environment and use at a company today. It is easy to use and maintain and is also more cost-efficient for companies.

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Idag är det allt fler företag som väljer molnlösningar framför ”on premise lösningar” därför det för många företag blir mer lönsamt än en traditionell lösning för IT-infrastrukturen. SharePoint Online (SPO) tillsammans med Microsoft Office 365 är ett sådant verktyg. Rapporten behandlar uppbyggnaden av en webbplattformslösning för det fiktiva företaget K800, SPO valdes eftersom SPO är en kollaborativ webbplattform med många olika användningsområden och funktioner som hjälper företag att samarbeta online. SPO har ett enkelt sätt att administrera konton och användare, man får gott om lagringsutrymme som kan utökas. Uppdateringarna sker per automatik och utan att en administratör behöver göra en fysisk insats. De anställda har också en accesspunkt oavsett var de befinner sig oberoende av vilken enhet de använder sig av, och företaget betalar bara för de licenser man använder sig av. I SPO så byggdes en gemensam webbplats upp för internt bruk där användarna kan använda sig av sidor och funktioner beroende på den behörighetsnivå de blivit tilldelade. SPO kan kännas svårt till en början, men tack vare all material på Internet så går det att lära sig själv. Det uppstod några problem och svårigheter på vägen men tack vare Microsofts många Supportteam och andra nämnda så kunde felen avhjälpas och det var möjligt att leverera en färdigutvecklad webbplattform till K800. / Cloud services has come to be a major part for both small and big companies because it can be a more profitable solution in comparison to similar traditional “on premise” IT-infrastructure. SharePoint Online (SPO) together with Microsoft Office 365 is a tool for such a solution. This report covers the creation of one of those web platform solutions for the fictive company K800. SPO was chosen because SPO is a collaborative platform with many different applications and functions that will help companies to work together online. SPO has an easy way of administrate accounts and users, you get lots of storage space that can be expanded. Updates are incorporated automatically without the help of an administrator. Employees have access from wherever they may be independent of what equipment they use, and you only pay for the licenses that you use. Within SPO a website was built for the company’s internal needs, where users can use different sites and functions depending on what limitations and authorization-level they have been given. SPO can be complicated for beginners, but thanks to all the material available online it’s possible to learn by yourself. However, there were some complications and difficulties along the way but thanks to Microsoft’s many different support teams and others mentioned the issues could be solved and a complete website collaboration platform to K800 was delivered.

M.Comm. / The limited availability of South African case studies created the opportunity to compile an authentic South African business case study to be presented in a usable manner. The goal of the case study is to explore the challenges of the implementation and management of an integrated computer system. This dissertation gives a brief review on the characteristics of a business case study and the associated benefits of the case method. It also looks at the properties needed to create a successful case study. The new case study "Genesis: Exodus or Revelations? The implementation and management of an integrated computer system" is included in this dissertation and is supplemented by a facilitator's manual. The manual supplies the facilitator with enough information to use the case study effectively in the training environment. Lastly, a group of students and their facilitator evaluate the case study.

It is widely acknowledged that enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems suffer from complex user interfaces. The complexity of these user interfaces negatively affects the usability of these systems. Current research has shown that a need exists to improve the overall usability of ERP systems. This research proposes the use of adaptive user interfaces (AUIs) as a means of improving the overall usability of ERP systems. Research has shown that AUIs are capable of improving system usability by reducing user interface complexity and improving the overall user experience. The primary objective of this research was to determine how AUIs could be designed to improve the usability of ERP systems. An adaptation taxonomy, ERP system architecture (incorporating an AUI), a set of AUI components and a set of usability heuristics for ERP systems were proposed to support the design, development and evaluation of AUIs for ERP systems. The proposed adaptation taxonomy provides support for three types of adaptation: content adaptation, presentation adaptation and navigation adaptation. The proposed ERP system architecture is a three-tiered system architecture, consisting of a Presentation Layer (incorporating an AUI), an Application Layer and a Database Layer. The proposed set of AUI components comprise a user model, a task model and a dialog model. The set of proposed usability heuristics aims to identify usability issues of ERP systems within the areas of Navigation, Presentation, Task Support, Learnability and Customisation. An AUI prototype was developed based on selected adaptive techniques from the proposed adaptation taxonomy and selected components from the proposed system architecture. All of the proposed AUI components were implemented. The AUI prototype was developed for an existing ERP system, namely SAP Business One (SBO). This prototype was designed, in order to resolve the usability issues of SBO identified through the use of the proposed set of heuristics. The development of the AUI prototype was made possible through the use of a software development kit (SDK) provided with SBO. The AUI prototype made use of content adaptation, presentation adaptation and navigation adaptation in order to address the identified usability issues. An empirical evaluation was conducted on the AUI prototype to determine whether it provided any usability benefits over the standard SBO system. The results from the empirical evaluation revealed that the AUI presented usability benefits with regard to learnability and satisfaction. Users who used the AUI prototype were able to learn how to use the ERP system a lot quicker and were more satisfied than users of the standard SBO system. The successful implementation of the AUI prototype provided practical evidence that the proposed adaptation taxonomy and the proposed system architecture can be implemented. This research has provided empirical evidence that the use of AUIs can improve the usability of ERP systems. Future research has outlined several possibilities to utilise and enhance the proposed adaptation taxonomy, the ERP system architecture and ERP heuristics, for the purpose of furthering research within the area of AUIs for ERP systems.