abstract: The building sector is responsible for consuming the largest proportional share of global material and energy resources. Some observers assert that buildings are the problem and the solution to climate change. It appears that in the United States a coherent national energy policy to encourage rapid building performance improvements is not imminent. In this environment, where many climate and ecological scientists believe we are running out of time to reverse the effects of anthropogenic climate change, a local grass-roots effort to create demonstration net zero-energy buildings (ZEB) appears necessary. This paper documents the process of designing a ZEB in a community with no existing documented ZEB precedent. The project will establish a framework for collecting design, performance, and financial data for use by architects, building scientists, and the community at large. This type of information may prove critical in order to foster a near-term local demand for net zero-energy buildings. / Dissertation/Thesis / Appendix M - Simulation and Weather Data / M.S. Built Environment 2014

Instituto Centro de Ensino TecnolÃgico / The underground dam is a social technology of low cost and simple process of construction and operation. In the semi-arid zone of Ceara there is potential to build approximately 3,400 underground dams. The central problem of this study is the lack of in-depth knowledge of the degree of sustainability of underground dams of CearÃ, in economic, social, environmental and institutional terms. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the sustainability of underground dams, the state of CearÃ, as a social technology to living as semi-arid. For this, we used the Dashboard of Sustainability Method by dimension and global, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process to identify the underground dam operating alternative that generates greater benefits to communities. The questionnaires (field research), for the use of Dashboard of Sustainability method, was carried out with 40 farmers, owners of underground dams, located in 11 municipalities of the State of CearÃ. The collection of judgments, for the application of Analytic Hierarchy Process applied together 11 experts and / or decision-makers with expertise in underground dams. When using the Dashboard of Sustainability method, which aims to identify the level of performance of sustainable development for indicator by size and global, were selected with the help of principal component analysis, 28 indicators. These indicators, only 36% achieved the level of 700 points, which is the sustainability threshold used in this thesis. None of the four dimensions reached the level of 700 points. The lower performance was with the economic dimension, reaching only 218 points (need for severe attention) when the maximum metric desirable for the model is 1,000 points or at least the threshold of sustainability of 700 points. The overall index, sustainable development (IGDS) of underground dams of Ceara, reached the metric of 538 points, considered an average level of performance and below the sustainability threshold. The selection of dam alternatives, made by AHP, according to the predominant use, showed that the highest priority for investment, to be decided by the public manager is to "underground dam focused on water supply," closely followed by "underground dam focused on agricultural production". The lowest metric was to "dam focused on environmental benefits", with a metric that reached only 33% of the first alternative. Another important finding that deserves reflection, was that farmers (ex-post analysis) have recorded reasonable performance of the environmental dimension indicators, while the expert and decision-makers (analysis ex-ante) have rated the "dam focused on earnings environmental" the third priority, with metric equal to one third of the first alternative. / A barragem subterrÃnea à uma tecnologia social de baixo custo e de processo simples de construÃÃo e operaÃÃo. Na zona semiÃrida do Estado do Cearà hà potencial para construÃÃo de, aproximadamente, 3.400 barragens subterrÃneas. O problema central, deste estudo, à a falta de conhecimento aprofundado do grau de sustentabilidade das barragens subterrÃneas do CearÃ, em termos econÃmicos, sociais, ambientais e institucionais. Assim, o objetivo desta tese à analisar a sustentabilidade das barragens subterrÃneas, do Estado do CearÃ, como uma tecnologia social para convivÃncia como semiÃrido. Para isto, utilizou-se o mÃtodo Painel de Sustentabilidade (Dashboard of Sustainability), por dimensÃo e global, e o MÃtodo de AnÃlise HierÃrquica (Analytic Hierarchy Process) para identificar a alternativa de exploraÃÃo de barragem subterrÃnea que gera maiores benefÃcios Ãs comunidades. A aplicaÃÃo dos questionÃrios (pesquisa de campo), para a utilizaÃÃo do mÃtodo Painel de Sustentabilidade, foi realizada junto a 40 agricultores, proprietÃrios das barragens subterrÃneas, localizados em 11 municÃpios do Estado do CearÃ. A coleta dos julgamentos, para a aplicaÃÃo do MÃtodo de AnÃlise HierÃrquica, aplicada junto a 11 especialistas e/ou decisores, com experiÃncia em barragens subterrÃneas. Na utilizaÃÃo do Painel de Sustentabilidade, que visa identificar o grau de desempenho de indicadores de desenvolvimento sustentÃvel por indicador, por dimensÃo e global, foram selecionados com o auxÃlio da anÃlise de componentes principais, 28 indicadores. Destes indicadores, apenas 36% alcanÃaram o patamar de 700 pontos, que à o limiar da sustentabilidade adotado nesta tese. Nenhuma das quatro dimensÃes atingiu o patamar de 700 pontos. O mais baixo desempenho ficou com a dimensÃo econÃmica, ao atingir apenas 218 pontos (necessidade de atenÃÃo severa), quando a mÃtrica mÃxima desejÃvel para o modelo à 1.000 pontos ou, no mÃnimo, o limiar da sustentabilidade de 700 pontos. O Ãndice global, de desenvolvimento sustentÃvel (IGDS) das barragens subterrÃneas do Estado do CearÃ, atingiu a mÃtrica de 538 pontos, considerado um grau mÃdio de desempenho e abaixo do limiar da sustentabilidade. A seleÃÃo das alternativas de barragens, feita pelo MÃtodo AHP, segundo o uso predominante, mostrou que a maior prioridade para investimento, a ser decidida pelo gestor pÃblico, à para a âbarragem subterrÃnea focada na oferta de Ãguaâ, seguida de perto pela âbarragem subterrÃnea focada na produÃÃo agrÃcolaâ. A menor mÃtrica ficou para a âbarragem focada em ganhos ambientaisâ, com uma mÃtrica que alcanÃou apenas 33% da primeira alternativa. Outra constataÃÃo relevante, que merece reflexÃo, foi o fato de os agricultores (anÃlise ex-post) terem registrado um razoÃvel desempenho dos indicadores da dimensÃo ambiental, enquanto os especialista e decisores (anÃlise ex-ante) terem classificado a âbarragem focada em ganhos ambientaisâ na terceira prioridade, com mÃtrica igual a um terÃo da primeira alternativa.

Toute situation d’apprentissage est conçue dans le but de répondre à des objectifs pédagogiques spécifiques. Les enseignants-concepteurs évaluent la corrélation entre cesobjectifs et le déroulement réel de la situation d’apprentissage en pratiquant une activité d’observation. Pour être efficace, cette activité a besoin d’être organisée. Le but de ce travail de recherche est de fournir des outils et des méthodes afin d’améliorer cette activité. C’est la raison pour laquelle nous avons proposé le concept de Stratégie d’Observation. Le but est d’apporter aux acteurs d’un système d’apprentissage, et particulièrement à l’enseignant-concepteur, un ensemble d’outils pour 1/ définir des stratégies d’observation et 2/ calculer et restituer les résultats à l’aide d’une interface de visualisation ergonomique et intuitive. Ces deux outils séparés, mais communiquant, sont conçus pour être utilisés avant, pendant et/ou après les sessions d’apprentissage. Le premier outil permet aux enseignants-concepteurs de spécifier la manière dont ils veulent organiser l’observation en utilisant un langage proche de leur langage pédagogique habituel. Ceci en manipulant des indicateurs prédéfinis et des moyens de perception mis à leur disposition, etc. Un tel langage permet de s’abstraire de l’environnement d’apprentissage et de ses éléments qui pourraient restreindre le potentiel de réutilisation des stratégies définies (traces, données brutes, moyens d’observation, etc.). Le destinataire des résultats de l’observation peut utiliser le deuxième outil pour visualiser les indicateurs dans un format adéquat et correspondant à la stratégie spécifiée. / Every learning situation is designed according to specific instructional objectives. Instructional designers evaluate the correlation between the objectives and the real progress of the learning session by practicing an observation activity. In order to be efficient, the observation must be organized. Our goal in this work aims to provide tools and methods to support the observation activity. That is why we propose the concept of Observing Strategy. Our research aims to provide the actors of a learning system (especially the instructional designers), with a homogeneous set of tools for 1/ defining observation strategies and 2/ calculating and displaying observation results with an ergonomic and intuitive visualization interface. These two tools are designed to be used before, during and/or after the learning sessions. The underlying idea is to propose two separated, but communicating, tools allowing the formalization of observation strategies independent from the chosen TEL system. With the first tool, instructional designers can specify the organization of the observation by using a language and semantics close to their pedagogical practices, handling pre-defined indicators, and available visualization tools etc. Such observation strategy language will not deal with TEL-systems-dependent elements that could restrict the potential reuse of strategies (tracks/raw data, observed data, observing means, etc.).The receiver of the observation results can use the second tool to visualize the results of the indicators’ calculation with the right format and according to the chosen strategy specification.

Main focus of the thesis lies in the corporate management decision support deploying and using IT / ICT. Specific technology described is Business Activity Monitoring. The contribution of the work lies primarily in two planes. The first plane is to create as far as the most comprehensive view of the BAM. The findings are collected from different directions and areas. The first direction of research is focused on the development of Business Intelligence and description of BAM as a trend of BI, including the stages of development and projections into the future. The second direction focuses primarily on a detailed circumscribe of BAM. Its definition, deployment assumptions, basic models, the way how business can benefit from BAM usage. The third guideline shows the classification of BAM surrounded by the other / similar technologies and business solutions -- BI and BSM, and the search key differences. The second level of the work is to support the AML implementation in a specific environment of banks using BAM. This is a practical demonstration of the possibility of using BAM in practice. Basic design solution lies in the analysis of risks arising from the law and the current state of the solution. By mapping of banking processes and searching for points of risk it is then possible to deploy these risks BAM tools for their management. Motion of support lies mainly in conceptual terms.

The diploma thesis focuses on a proposal for a methodological framework of reporting management in the banking sector and identifying key weaknesses of the current state. Using the proposed methodology precedes weaknesses and proves it on practical example from the real environment. The main benefit of this work is design of a methodological framework that allows the organized management and control of the reporting. It also brings identification of main weaknesses of the current reporting and last but not least universal template for the report specification. The work consists of three parts. The first, theoretical, defines area of reporting in a banking institution. It includes all the terminology, characteristics and types of reports. The second part, analytical, examines the current weaknesses of reporting within the defined area. Provides an overview of three to six major weaknesses in a particular phase of a new report development based on the scientific literature and practical experience of the author of this work in the banking environment. The third and final section contains a draft concept of reporting management in the banking sector with avoidance of the identified weaknesses from the analytical part.

This master thesis deals with an analysis of reporting in business and its technological coverage by Microsoft Business Intelligence portfolio. The main objective of this work is to analyze the individual organization's requirements on reporting and coverage options. This work can serve as a tool for implementation of reporting in a company or for increasing the efficiency of reporting. The first part is theoretical. It deals with Business Intelligence as an environment for reporting. It also defines the basic concepts. The next part covers the area of reporting. This section provides an insight into the history, definition of outcomes and detailed classification of reporting from different perspectives. Furthermore, the definition of users reporting and the reporting standards in companies is also covered. At the end of this chapter, there is the definition of the benefits of reporting for companies. The main part of this master thesis is an analysis of the requirements for reporting in companies. The chapter defines five key perspectives which are described in a greater detail. The methods how companies should methodically approach these requirements are also discussed. The chapter further looks at the requirements for a concrete report. An output of this chapter is an effective template for gathering requirements for a specific report. The last chapter focuses on reporting portfolio analysis of Microsoft and defines the concept of Microsoft. It provides detailed information about reporting products that Microsoft offers. An analyses and a mapping of the individual characteristics of the products and the requirements is defined in this thesis.

Bakgrunden till studien grundar sig i att mätetal är en viktig del i projekt där VDC, Virtual Design andConstruction, används som metod för projektledning. Det skiljer sig hur företag väljer att arbeta medmätetal och vilka resurser som finns tillgängliga. Denna studie genomförs på uppdrag av Tyréns somär i uppstarten med att använda denna metod i utvalda projekt. De vill med denna studie ta fram enmetod för att visa projektorganisationen och beställaren hur de arbetar med VDC. Studien är därfören inledande studie för att undersöka ett lämpligt sätt att arbeta med mätetal och genomförs genomatt svara på frågeställningarna: • Vilka mätetal, med avseende på BIM, är relevanta att mäta för att uppnå kundens ochprojektets mål? • Hur presenteras dessa mätetal gentemot projektdeltagarna på ett pedagogiskt sätt? Studien har genomförts på Tyréns kontor i Stockholm tillsammans med personal från Tyréns egen BIMavdelning.Materialet i denna studie har tagits fram genom en intervju med avdelningschef JakobBerggren och genom två workshoppar där deltagarna har fått möjlighet till att diskutera ett lämpligttillvägagångssätt gemensamt. Detta material har tillsammans med tidigare studier analyserats för attslutligen presentera två mätetal och hur dessa kan presenteras. Utifrån studiens resultat framkom att tydliga BIM-relaterade mål saknas i dagsläget, vilket är enförutsättning för att mätetal ska kunna vara till nytta för projektet. Trots detta, ansåg deltagarna istudien att, antalet kollisioner i en BIM-modell samt tiden som sparas tack vare automatiska processeranses som lämpliga mätetal att påbörja ett arbete med. Utgångspunkten för dessa mätetal bör dåhandla om att bygga upp en historik av mätetal för att sedan kunna sätta lämpliga mål samt få kundoch projektledning att förstå nyttan med BIM. Genom att förstå nyttan med BIM är förhoppningen attBIM-relaterade mål ska utformas tidigt i projekt. Mätetalen bör presenteras på projektets projektsida där Tyréns använder Microsofts programSharePoint. Presentationen sker lämpligast i form av en dashboard och den visuella utformningen ärav stor vikt för att ge projektdeltagarna en tydlig och konkret bild av mätetalen utan att vilseleda.Slutligen presenteras ett lämpligt förslag på utformningen av denna dashboard med hänsyn tilllämpliga riktlinjer som framkommit under studien. / The background of this study is that the measurement figures are an important part of projects which use VDC, Virtual Design and Construction, as a method for the project. How companies choose to work with the measurement figures and which resources they have available differ. This study is carried out on behalf of Tyréns, which is a company that is at the beginning of using this method in selected projects. Together with this study, they want to bring forth a method to show the project organization and the client how they work with VDC. This study is, therefore, an initial study to examine a suitable way to work with measurement figures and is accomplished by answering the questions: • Which measurement figures are relevant to measure, concerning to BIM, to achieve the customer's and the project's goals? • How can these measurements be presented to the project participants in an educational way? The study has been conducted at Tyrén's office in Stockholm together with staff from Tyrén's own BIM department. The material in this study has been produced through an interview with Jakob Berggren, who is the Head of the Department, and through two workshops where participants were allowed to discuss an appropriate approach in common. This material has been analyzed together with previous studies to finally present two measurement figures and how these can be presented. Based on the results of the study, it was found that clear BIM-related goals are currently lacking, which is essential for measuring figures to be useful in the project. Despite this, the participants in the study considered that the number of collisions in a BIM model and the time saved thanks to automatic processes are considered as appropriate metrics, to begin with. The initial work should then be to build up a history of these two metrics to set appropriate goals and get the customer and project management to understand the benefits of BIM. By understanding the benefits of BIM, the expectation is that BIM-related goals will be formulated earlier in projects. Furthermore, the metrics should be presented, according to the participants of the study, on the project's project page which is SharePoint, developed by Microsoft. The presentation of the metrics is most suitable in the form of a dashboard. The visual design is of great importance to give the project participants a clear and concrete picture of the metrics without being misled. Finally, an appropriate proposal for the design of this dashboard is presented at the end of the report and taking into account the appropriate guidelines that emerged during the study.

What is measured can be improved. That's why Red Hat and the PnT DevOps team are calling for a graphical visualization of metrics and key performance identifiers (KPIs) that will be available to customers, engineers, and stakeholders to review the progress of the PnT DevOps team.

Monitoring key performance indicators (KPI) give practitioners immersive experience that is priceless when it comes to decision making and performance-enhancing in software companies. Used together with different tools that enable visualization of KPIs, users obtain big advantages that enable quick troubleshooting and detections of errors that could emerge in a product or a system. Many studies have been followed out in the field of data visualization using KPIs and digital dashboards. Still, the subject of KPIs providing valuable information to companies that are developing HR and payroll systems is relatively unexplored. The purpose of this thesis has been to investigate how essential KPIs should be visualized on a digital dashboard using a case company that focuses on developing HR and payroll systems. To investigate the phenomenon, five different interviews were conducted, and a digital dashboard was developed. The interviewees that participated in the empiric data collection were employees stationed in different teams with various authorities and experiences in the field of dashboards and KPIs. Previous works in the field of data visualization indicates that KPIs can be used and presented in various ways. When presenting KPIs on a dashboard, there are different factors that are of big influence of how successful the visualization gets. There are no complete templates on how KPIs should be visualized, however there are guidelines on how a dashboard could be shaped. Something that previous works and different interviewees in the present study agreed on was that a dashboard should consist of 4 to 8 KPIs. Too many KPIs can decrease the chance of obtaining the advantages that monitoring and visualizing KPIs on a digital dashboard can bring. Something that emerged from the study is the importance of first identify what to visualize and then implement how. Among the answers during the data collection, many interviewees found the number of users that were logged in on their products as something that would be useful to monitor. The reason for this was partly that the interviewees considered that by monitoring these numbers, it could increase the pride among the colleagues. The interviewees thought that it might boost morale among the employees if they visualized the many users of the products they are developing. / Genom att övervaka nyckeltal (KPIer) kan användare erhålla fördelar som är ovärderliga när det gäller beslutsfattande och prestandaförbättring hos mjukvaruföretag. Tillsammans med olika verktyg som möjliggör visualisering av KPIer får användare stora fördelar som gör det möjligt att snabbt upptäcka fel som kan uppstå i en produkt eller i ett system. Många studier berör ämnet datavisualisering och digitala instrumentpaneler. Trots det här är ämnet KPIer, specifikt de som ger värdefull information till företag som utvecklar HR- och lönesystem outforskat. Syftet med den här studien har varit att undersöka hur viktiga KPIer bör visualiseras på en digital instrumentpanel hos ett företag som fokuserar på att utveckla HR- och lönesystem. För att undersöka fenomenet genomfördes fem olika intervjuer. En digital instrumentpanel utvecklades även som ett komplement till att svara på forskningsfrågan utifrån tidigare forskning och de empiriska resultat som framkom under studiens gång. Informanterna som deltog i den empiriska datainsamlingen var anställda på ett fallföretag och stationerade i olika utvecklingsteam. Informanterna hade sedan tidigare olika erfarenheter av att använda instrumentpaneler och KPIer. Tidigare studier inom datavisualisering indikerar att KPIer kan användas och visualiseras på olika sätt. När KPIer presenteras på en instrumentpanel finns det olika faktorer som har stort inflytande på hur framgångsrik visualiseringen blir. Det finns inga kompletta mallar för hur KPIer ska visualiseras men det finns riktlinjer för hur en instrumentpanel kan utformas. Något som tidigare studier samt informanterna i den här studien enades om var att en instrumentpanel bör bestå av ett antal mellan fyra och åtta KPIer. Genom att använda för många KPIer så minskar chansen att få de fördelar som övervakning och visualisering av KPIer på en digital instrumentpanel kan ge. Något som den här studien belyser är vikten av att först identifiera vad som ska visualiseras för att sedan implementera hur. En av flera KPIer som ansågs värdefulla för informanterna var antalet användare som var inloggade i deras produkt. Anledningen till det här var delvis att informanterna ansåg att övervakning av användare skulle skapa ökad stolthet bland kollegorna på kontoret.

Business Intelligence (BI) is growing fast and more and more companies realize the profits of data-driven decision making. One vital part of BI is data visualization and mainly in the form of dashboards. Although it is proven that private companies can create value from implementing dashboards in their decision-making process, we see a gap in the research whether the same can be done for the public sector. We find this topic interesting since the two fields have such a different view on what creates value. This study aims to fill in that gap by studying the possibilities and obstacles of applying dashboards within the public sector. In this study we created dashboard prototypes and conducted think-aloud testing followed by semistructured interviews with ten employees at a municipality in Sweden. The result of the study suggests that working with dashboards in municipalities have a possibility to create value, mainly in the form of analytics, decision-making, communication and motivation. However, the participants also expressed some negative aspects in the form of handling the immeasurable parts of society, mainly the parts of reality that is not measurable in statistics. We also found possible problems with handling data and a worry about resistance in implementing new systems for the employees. This study is conducted on one municipality, however we hope it will serve as inspiration for public sector organizations’ journey on using dashboards making their decisions data-driven and creating value for the citizens and employees.