Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2016-12-22T15:47:04Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigo Girotto Nuncio_.pdf: 9015441 bytes, checksum: ba36ba65e33dd26150cf94e964a158aa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-22T15:47:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rodrigo Girotto Nuncio_.pdf: 9015441 bytes, checksum: ba36ba65e33dd26150cf94e964a158aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-28 / Nenhuma / No atual contexto de ambientes complexos, competitivos e dinâmicos, estratégia é um tema amplamente estudado nas organizações e academias. No entanto, há poucos estudos sobre desdobramento e implementação da estratégia em si, bem como sobre a eficácia de sua implementação. Este estudo propõe a investigação dos principais fatores causadores das discrepâncias entre os objetivos do planejamento estratégico e o resultado obtido ao final da execução do plano. Dessa forma, objetiva estudar os fatores considerados como críticos para o processo de desdobramento. Para tal investigação, a pesquisa utiliza os artifícios do pensamento sistêmico para analisar as relações causais que há entre as variáveis encontradas através de uma pesquisa bibliográfica e por meio de uma pesquisa de campo com profissionais da área do planejamento e execução da estratégia. Ao final, este trabalho faz a proposição de um artefato que auxilia a mitigar os fatores críticos do processo de desdobramento. Como método de pesquisa, utiliza-se o Design Science Research para nortear os passos condutores do estudo e construir o artefato proposto. Esta pesquisa é, ao seu final, avaliada e validada por especialistas da área de estratégia empresarial. / In the current context of complex, competitive and dynamic environments, strategy is a topic widely studied in organizations and academies. However, there are few studies on deployment and implementation of the strategy itself, as well as on the effectiveness of its implementation. This study aims to investigate the main factors causing the discrepancies between the objectives arising from the strategic planning and the result at the end of the implementation of the plan, regarded as critical to the deployment process. For this investigation, this research uses the artifice of systems thinking to analyze the causal relationships between the variables found through a literature search and a field research with professionals of strategy planning and execution. At the end this paper propose an artefact to assist in mitigating the critical factors for the deployment process. As a research method, this paper uses the Design Science Research as guiding the step in conducting the research and construction of the proposed artefact. This research is, at the end, evaluated and validated by experts in the field of business strategy.

Rapporten handlar om icke följsamhet i samband med medicinering och de stora problem som medföljer om en patient inte följer sin medicinska rådgivning. Icke följsamhet är ett stort problem i dag, både för samhället och individen. För samhället är det mycket kostsamt att hantera alla felmedicineringar och för individen kan det handla om liv eller död. Syftet med detta arbetet är att utveckla en IT-artefakt med ändamålet att förbättra följsamheten för patienter som dagligen tar medicin. Detta med hjälp av en mobilapplikation som använder Bluetooth för positionering av medicinen. IT-artefakten ska fungerar som ett stöd och hjälpmedel genom att underlätta för en patient i samband med medicinering. Denna forskning använder sig av Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM). Medverkande företag i detta arbete har varit konsultföretaget Knowit Luleå. Arbetet resulterade i en IT-artefakt, samt sex stycken designprinciper, samtliga utifrån problemet icke följsamhet i syfte att bidra till förbättrad följsamhet. / The thesis deals with non-adherence in connection with medication and the major problems that arise if a patient does not follow the medical advice. Non-adherence is a major problem today, both for society and for the individual. For society is is very costly to handle all medication errors and for the individual it can be about life or death. The purpose of this thesis is to develop an IT artifact with the purpose of improving adherence for patients taking medication daily. This is done by using a mobile application that uses Bluetooth for positioning the medicine. The artifact will serve as a support and aid by facilitating a patient that is taking medication. This research uses Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM). Contributing company in this work have been Knowit Luleå. The work resulted in an IT artifact, as well as six design principles, all based on the problem of non-adherence in order to contribute to improved adherence.

A large amount of information is contained in textual records, which originate from a variety of sources such as handwritten records and digital media like audio and video files. The information contained in these records is unstructured and to visualise the content of the records is not a trivialtask.In order to visualise information contained in unstructured textual records, the information must be extracted from the records and transformed into a structured format. This research aimed to visualise the coherence of facts contained in textual sources in order to allow the user who make use of the visualisation to make an assumption about the validity of the textual records as a set. For the purpose of the study, it was contemplated that the coherence of facts contained in a document set was indicated by the multiple occurrences of the same fact over several documents in the set. The output of this research is a model that abstracts the process required to transform information contained in unstructured textual records into a structured format and the visual representation of the multiple occurrences of facts in order to support the process of making an assumption about the coherence of facts in the set. This assumption enables the user to make a decision.based on the coherence theory of truth.about the validity of the document set. The modelprovides guidance and practices for performing tasks on similar textualdocument sets containing secondary data. The development of the model was informed by a phased construction of three specific software solution instantiations.namely an initial information extraction, an intermediate visual representation and a final information visualisation instantiation. The final solution instantiation was demonstrated to research participants and was evaluated as well. A pragmatic design science research approach was followed in order to solve the research problem. In conducting the research an adaption of the Peffers et at. (2006) design research process model was followed. The result of the research is a model for the visual representation of the coherence of facts in a textual document set. Expert review of the model is added through a process of peer review and academic scrutiny by means of conference papers and a journal article. It is envisaged that the results of the research can be applied to a number of research fields such as Indigenous Knowledge, History and Law. / School of Computing / M. Sc. (Computing)

Empresas de manufatura tradicionalmente concentram os seus esforços em concepção, desenvolvimento, fabricação e comercialização de produtos físicos. No entanto, alguns fabricantes têm alterado suas estratégias de negócio, complementando a venda de produtos com o fornecimento de serviços, incorporando conhecimentos e atividades associados ao seu uso, e gerando maior percepção de valor por parte dos seus clientes. Com isso, a competição estratégica por meio de serviços tem se tornado uma marca distintiva das empresas de manufatura inovadoras, proporcionando à empresa um meio robusto para proteger o seu mercado dos concorrentes. Assim, observa-se um interesse crescente em pesquisas sobre o papel dos serviços para sustentar a competitividade da indústria. Abordagens orientadas a serviço, que incorporam esta mudança de foco do negócio, da oferta de produtos isolados para soluções integradas, têm sido tratadas na comunidade acadêmica como servitização, e tipicamente acarretam inovações no modelo de negócios (MN) da empresa. O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar como as empresas podem promover inovações em seus MNs para suportar suas estratégias de servitização, e propor um conjunto de artefatos para apoiá-las na implantação destas estratégias, a partir do seguinte problema de pesquisa: \"Como inovar o MN de uma empresa que adota a estratégia de servitização?\", que se desdobra nas seguintes questões: (i) quais são os principais fatores motivadores para uma empresa adotar a estratégia de servitização?; (ii) como representar o MN de uma empresa incorporando a lógica dominante de serviço, mais adequada para servitização?; (iii) como inovar o MN de uma empresa para implantar sua estratégia de servitização?; e (iv) como aplicar os artefatos propostos para apoiar a implantação da estratégia de servitização em uma empresa? Realiza-se uma pesquisa de natureza exploratória e prescritiva, baseada no método design scienceresearche amparada por uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre os temas correlatos, visando propor artefatos em resposta às questões colocadas. A demonstração de um dos artefatos propostos é feita com suporte de um estudo de caso em uma empresa multinacional, fabricante de equipamentos médicos, seguida por uma avaliação empírica desta demonstração, suportada pelo método thinkingaloud. A partir das quatro questões de pesquisa, são obtidos os seguintes resultados: (i) identificação, análise e categorização dos principais fatores motivadores para adoção da servitização; (ii) proposição de uma arquitetura de MN incorporando a lógica dominante de serviço, para facilitar o estudo da servitização; (iii) proposição de um processo de inovação do MN da empresa, para implantar a servitização. e (iv) demonstração e avaliação da arquitetura proposta de MN para servitização. A pesquisa oferece contribuições à literatura de MN e servitização, e aos gestores de empresas, propondo os artefatos canvas do modelo de negócios para servitização (CMNS) e o processo IPIDI para inovação do MN para servitização, além de contribuições metodológicas relativas a design scienceresearch e thinking aloud. / Manufacturing companies traditionally are focused on designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing physical products. However, some manufacturers are changing their business strategies, complementing the sale of products by providing services, adding knowledge and activities associated with their use, and creating a higher perception of value by their customers.Strategic competition through service delivery has become a hallmark of the innovative manufacturing companies, providing the companies with a robust means to protect their market from competitors. Thus, there is a growing interest in researching the role of services in sustaining the competitiveness of manufacturing industry.Service-oriented approaches, which incorporate this shift in business\' focus from offering isolated products, to proposing integrated solutions, have been addressed in the literature as servitization, and typically entail innovations in the company\'s business model (BM). The goal of this research is investigating how companies can promote transformations in their BMs to support their servitization strategies, and proposing a set of artifacts to support them in the implementation of these strategies, since the following research problem: \"How to innovate the BM of a company which adopts the servitization strategy? \", which unfolds in the following questions: (i) what are the main motivating factors for a company to adopt the servitization strategy?; (ii) how to represent the BM of a company incorporating the service-dominant logic, more suitable for servitization?; (iii) how to innovate a company\'s BM to implement its servitization strategy ?; and (iv) how to apply the proposed artifacts to support the implementation of the servitization strategy in a company? An exploratory and prescriptive research is carried out, based on the design science research methodology, and supported by a systematic literature review on the related subjects, aiming at proposing artifacts in response to the questions posed. The demonstration of the proposed artifacts is done by means of a case study in a multinational company, which manufactures medical devices, followed by an assessment of this demonstration, supported by the thinking aloud method. From the four research questions, the following results are obtained: (i) identification, analysis and categorization of the main motivating factors for servitization adoption; (ii) proposing a BM architecture according to the service-dominant logic, to help the servitization study; (iii) proposing an innovation process for the company\'s BM, to implement the servitization; and (iv) demonstration and assessment of the proposed BM architecture for servitization. The research offers contributions to the literature of BM and servitization, and to practitioners, proposing the artifacts business model canvas for servitization (BMCS) and the IPIDI process for innovation of BM for servitization, besides some methodological contributions related to design science research and thinking aloud.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-06-08T18:22:11Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Maurício Tessi de Souza.pdf: 1434399 bytes, checksum: 33e4b3f5814a662b1128ffd020800265 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-08T18:22:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maurício Tessi de Souza.pdf: 1434399 bytes, checksum: 33e4b3f5814a662b1128ffd020800265 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-27 / Social software, eg Wikis, Blogs and Microblogs, have gained attention in recent years in the daily life of organizations, these can be incorporated into the project management and collaborative tools. Regarding organizations, these tools can facilitate the sharing of lessons learned and knowledge among employees of an organization and the external public. These facilities can be seen through the real-time communication, access to information by multiple people at the same time and control of information exercised by management or organization. Moreover, the lessons learned are one of the central points of this research, which contributed directly to the organization, management and the security project teams. This study aims to evaluate to what extent the use of an artifact produced by a lessons learned management model can contribute to the management of security projects. As research question of this study narrowed to the following, "To what extent the lessons learned Target 2.0 management model can contribute to the management of security projects?" To this end, this study uses the Design Science Research as a research paradigm and the Technical Action Research as a method, which will reduce the gap between research and practice. This work is characterized as qualitative, using interviews and direct observations techniques. We used a Wiki as a central tool of this artifact, noting the facilities of inputs, consultations and control of the lessons learned from the management and design teams. The device was applied to the organization through a Web 2.0 tool, ie a Wiki, which served as support and support to project teams in the collection of lessons learned. The study found that even the use of the artifact has contributed significantly to the practice of security projects, as there was an improvement in communication between staff and management. Another point seen in the study was the ease of use of the tool users in the process. One of the limitations is the availability of Internet, which is still a problem, because without Internet, the virtual tools or social media are compromised, being a hindrance to the team's work in the field. As a contribution to the theory the artifact created can improve Lessons Learned storage and communication between property security project teams and their managers in the researched organization. / Os softwares sociais, e.g. Wikis, Blogues e Microblogues, têm ganho atenção nos últimos anos no cotidiano das organizações, podendo estes serem incorporados à gestão de projetos como ferramentas colaborativas. No que tange às organizações, essas ferramentas podem facilitar o compartilhamento das lições aprendidas e o conhecimento entre colaboradores de uma organização e o público externo. Estas facilidades podem ser vistas através da comunicação em tempo real, do acesso às informações por várias pessoas ao mesmo tempo e do controle das informações exercido pela gestão ou pela organização. Além disso, as lições aprendidas são um dos pontos centrais desta pesquisa, a qual contribuiu diretamente na organização, na gestão e nas equipes de projetos de segurança. Este estudo tem como objetivo avaliar em que medida o uso de um artefato produzido por meio de um modelo de gestão de lições aprendidas pode contribuir para o gerenciamento de projetos de segurança. Como questão de pesquisa deste estudo delimitou-se a seguinte, "Em que medida o modelo de gestão de lições aprendidas Target 2.0 pode contribuir com a gestão de projetos de segurança?" Para tal, este estudo utiliza o Design Science Research como paradigma de pesquisa e o Technical Action Research como método, que permitem reduzir a lacuna existente entre a pesquisa e a prática. Este trabalho se caracteriza como qualitativo, utilizando as técnicas de entrevista e observação direta. Utilizou-se uma Wiki como ferramenta central deste artefato, observando as facilidades dos inputs, as consultas e controle das lições aprendidas entre a gestão e as equipes de projeto. O artefato foi aplicado na organização por meio de uma ferramenta da Web 2.0, ou seja, uma Wiki, a qual serviu como suporte e apoio às equipes de projeto na coleta das lições aprendidas. O estudo apontou ainda que o uso do artefato contribuiu significativamente para a prática de projetos de segurança, pois houve uma melhora na comunicação entre a equipe e com a gestão. Outro ponto percebido no estudo foi à facilidade de uso da ferramenta pelos usuários nos processos apresentados pelo modelo Target 2.0. Como limitações percebeu-se que a Internet ainda é um problema, pois sem ela as ferramentas virtuais ou as mídias sociais são comprometidas, sendo um empecilho para o trabalho da equipe em campo. Como contribuição para a teoria o artefato criado pode melhorar o armazenamento de Lições Aprendidas e a comunicação entre as equipes de projeto de segurança patrimonial e seus gestores na organização pesquisada.

Chatbots är mjukvarubaserade system som syftar till att simulera konversation mellan olika aktörer med hjälp av text och/eller tal. Vanliga användningsområden för en chatbot är exempelvis kundservice, marknadsföring och underhållningssyften. Chatbots har växt fram som ett alltmer väletablerat fenomen på marknaden, och fenomenet fortsätter att växa. En anledning till dess popularitet är att chatbots kan leda till kortare svarstid, förbättrad kundservice, förbättrad kundtillfredsställelse samt ökat engagemang hos kunder. De många fördelar som chatbots möjliggör har lett till att särskilt små och medelstora företag (SMF) vill utveckla och implementera chatbots för kundservice i sina verksamheter. Många SMF saknar emellertid de färdigheter och resurser som krävs för att fullt ut ta till vara på digitaliseringens möjligheter och den kompetens som krävs för att utveckla chatbots anpassade till ett SMF:s specifika behov. Mot denna bakgrund formuleras det problem vi avser att utforska: Det finns en brist på designkunskap som stödjer utveckling av kundservice-chatbots för SMF. Baserat på problemet har vi valt att studera följande forskningsfråga: Hur bör kundservice-chatbots för SMF designas? För att besvara forskningsfrågan har vi tagit inspiration från forskningsmetoden Action Design Research. Med stöd av metoden har ny kunskap och nya lärdomar identifierats genom utveckling och utvärdering av en chatbot i samverkan med studiens samarbetsföretag. Studiens resultat består av en IT-artefakt (chatbot) och tre designprinciper som syftar till att förenkla och möjliggöra utveckling av andra instanser av samma systemklass. De tre designprinciperna studien resulterat i är; Design för personlighet, Design för initial kapacitetsbeskrivning och Design för enkel integration. Vår slutsats är att designprinciperna ger nytta för sitt syfte och bidrar med designkunskap som kan inspirera och vägleda i både fortsatt forskning och praktik. / Chatbots are software-based systems aiming to simulate conversation between different actors using text and/or speech. Common uses for chatbots are e.g., customer service, marketing, and entertainment purposes. Chatbots have emerged as an increasingly well-established phenomenon that continues to grow. A reason for its popularity is that chatbots can lead to shorter response times, improved customer service, improved customer satisfaction and increased customer engagement. The many benefits chatbots enable have led to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) wanting to develop and implement customer service chatbots in their organization. However, many SMEs lack the skills and resources needed to take full advantage of the potential of digitalization and the skills needed to develop a chatbot tailored for the specific needs of a SME. Against this background, the problem we intend to address is formulated as follows: There is a lack of design knowledge that supports the development of customer service chatbots for SMEs. Based on this problem, we have decided to investigate the following research question: How should customer service chatbots for SMEs be designed? To answer the research question, we have used the research method Action Design Research. With support of this method, new knowledge and lessons have emerged during evaluation in collaboration with a SME. The results of the study consist of an IT artifact (chatbot) and three design principles that aspire to simplify and enable the development of other instances of the same system class. The three design principles that the study resulted in are; Design for personality, Design for initial capacity description and Design for simple integration. Our conclusions are that the design principles provide benefits for their purpose and contribute with design knowledge that can inspire and guide in both further research and practice. Note that this bachelor’s thesis is written in swedish.

Cosmic-ray fluctuations are monitored by neutron monitors using several different kinds of proportional counter tubes. An important component of these monitors is the electronic subsystem that registers and counts output pulses from these counter tubes. Part of the electronic subsystem is a specific preamplifier. The pulse-height distribution curve of the existing preamplifier used in the neutron monitor system at the Centre for Space Research at the North-West University was found to be incorrect, and therefore the pulse-height information cannot be used for further research on the counter tube characteristics. A correct pulse-height distribution implies that the envelope of the pulse, as generated by an amplifier, has a very specific shape as a result of the physics that governs the generation of pulses in the neutron counter tube. It was therefore proposed that a new charge-sensitive preamplifier be synthesized to provide an output that provides the correct pulse-height distribution graph for a neutron monitor system. The Centre for Space Research at the North-West University is in the process of designing and building a new mini neutron monitor system. The new charge-sensitive preamplifier will be implemented into this updated system. Ultimately, the electronic subsystem must be able to provide a pulse-height distribution graph at the push of a button, thus making the preamplifier a key component in the new design. In this dissertation the theory of charge-sensitive amplifiers is researched following a design science research methodology. The results showed that a charge-sensitive amplifier can be synthesized to address both the real-world requirements and the theoretical requirements of this research. / MIng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Cosmic-ray fluctuations are monitored by neutron monitors using several different kinds of proportional counter tubes. An important component of these monitors is the electronic subsystem that registers and counts output pulses from these counter tubes. Part of the electronic subsystem is a specific preamplifier. The pulse-height distribution curve of the existing preamplifier used in the neutron monitor system at the Centre for Space Research at the North-West University was found to be incorrect, and therefore the pulse-height information cannot be used for further research on the counter tube characteristics. A correct pulse-height distribution implies that the envelope of the pulse, as generated by an amplifier, has a very specific shape as a result of the physics that governs the generation of pulses in the neutron counter tube. It was therefore proposed that a new charge-sensitive preamplifier be synthesized to provide an output that provides the correct pulse-height distribution graph for a neutron monitor system. The Centre for Space Research at the North-West University is in the process of designing and building a new mini neutron monitor system. The new charge-sensitive preamplifier will be implemented into this updated system. Ultimately, the electronic subsystem must be able to provide a pulse-height distribution graph at the push of a button, thus making the preamplifier a key component in the new design. In this dissertation the theory of charge-sensitive amplifiers is researched following a design science research methodology. The results showed that a charge-sensitive amplifier can be synthesized to address both the real-world requirements and the theoretical requirements of this research. / MIng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Problem/Purpose: Process prioritisation is an ill-structured and complex problem that remains a mystery phase in business process management (BPM) research. More explorative approaches are called upon to tackle process management problems, to facilitate process innovation and to design new processes in dynamic environments. This dissertation aims (i) to design and evaluate a Prioritisation and Categorisation Method (PCM) for addressing process prioritisation problems; and (ii) to explore process innovation by disruptive technologies. Research methods: This research follows the design science research (DSR) paradigm. The design exploration and the engaged scholarship approaches are also adapted. The demonstration and evaluation of the Prioritisation and Categorisation Method have been conducted with case studies in large Swedish companies, i.e. Seco Tools and Ericsson. An empirical study of the impacts of disruptive technologies on process innovation was conducted at a large insurance company in Sweden. Results: This research has led to the design and evaluation of the PCM: a new context-aware, effective and holistic method for BPM. In addition, the lessons learnt from the insurance case deepened the understanding of the challenges that are faced by a company when exploring new capabilities (e.g. processes and IT) for future business. Such lessons also emphasise the necessity of configuring PCM based upon business contingencies and industry factors in process prioritisation. Contributions: This dissertation contributes a novel method to explore BPM in a holistic, yet flexible and effective way. The challenges identified in process innovations improve the configuration capabilities of the PCM through a deeper understanding of the dynamic capabilities within organisations (Capability Layer Model-CLM). This research contributes design knowledge to DSR in the forms of the PCM as an invention, and the three design principles for the PCM: design by holistics, design by commitments and design by explorations. The research is evaluated as good BPM and good design science research.

Replenishment is an important process in automotive industries. It is the process by which parts required at assembly lines are stored and organized in assembly lines supermarket. Over many years replenishment have been done with the aim of positively impacting the varying demand frequency of articles in multi flows mixed-model assembly lines (MMALs) operating in just-in-time (JIT) fashion. However, a series of successive replenishment actions have negative impacts on the number of reallocation movements of parts within volume flows of supermarkets especially within a context of multi-flows supermarkets (MFSs). The cost of movements of parts within the supermarket has not been taken into consideration in previous replenishment methods. This is a significant problem since both un-optimized reallocation movements, and articles misplacement resolutions lead to production halts which cost assembly plants valuable time and money. Therefore, this research study proposes a replenishment method that optimizes flow of material within multi-flow assembly lines supermarkets and hence reduces the cost due to reallocation movement of multi-flow assembly lines supermarkets. The proposed method has been evaluated in the context of Volvo automobile engine assembly plant in Skövde. The proposed replenishment method has been evaluated by conducting an experiment using real-world data for the assembly plant in context. Performance metrics such as accuracy, F1-score, precision, sensitivity, and specificity were used to demonstrate the utility and validity of the proposed method. The evaluation results showed that the proposed method for optimizing material flow in supermarkets performed better than the existing method. In addition to utility, the proposed method provides contribution to knowledge by providing means for the industry to adopt replenishment method that takes into consideration the cost of reallocation movements of the parts within the supermarket.