Master of Science / Department of Computing and Information Sciences / Daniel A. Andresen / As a laboratory associated the English Language Program (ELP) at Kansas State University, the International Technology Commons (ITC) provides English instructions to students who are qualified to begin university work but do not meet the English proficiency standards for the university by using cutting-edge pedagogical technologies. The ITC Information System is a centralized web-based framework that manages the polices, processes, and procedures to make sure that the ITC can fulfill all tasks required to archive its objectives, including checking in/out electronic devices and/or books to students and faculties, registering new students during the enrollment, keeping track of ITC properties and assets, etc. As a full-stack project, the ITC Information System has been designed and implemented by utilizing multiple modern programming languages, frameworks, and platforms. Been serving the ITC since August 2015, the ITC Information System has significantly improved the efficiency of ITC electronic resources, and reduced the man-hours devoting to administrating undergraduate lab monitors. Leadership of the ELP appreciates the outcome and expresses expectation to broaden the scale of this project to serving more instructional divisions.

With integration of geospatial information system into a conventional information system a basic disaster response information system is implemented. The result is a report on various useful technologies and software engineering methodologies that could be utilized to implement a preliminary system, which in turn clarifies many uncertainties and surprises that are typical of many such systems. The foundations of my project include the Unified Process of software development, the relational data models, the decision tree technique, class design principles such as the MVC pattern.

The traditional two-dimensional (2D) delivery system in construction industry creates communication gaps among owners, architects, and contractors. These gaps exist in all phases of project, but are more evident in operation and maintenance. Owners, especially colleges, are now starting to explore and implement new methods to receive more valuable as-built information. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an emerging information technology that promotes a collaborative process for the Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Facilities Management (AECFM) industry; it can facilitate the exchange and interoperability of information management, and therefore could provide enhanced benefits to colleges and universities¡¯ physical plant. The objective of this thesis is to determine the feasibility of using BIM concepts, principles and tools to support and enhance the informational needs for planning, design, procurement, construction, operation and maintenance of the physical plant of WPI. The methodologies used in this research include literature review of previous research conducted by WPI students; case study analysis; interview with managers at Department of Facilities, review other universities and owners¡¯ experience with BIM, and the review of material documented on the subject. The thesis provides a conceptual guideline for implementation of BIM for WPI that can be extended to other college campuses. The proposed guideline identifies the scope of information that needs to be included in the model, establishes a process for identify specific ways in which the information can be managed to meet the needs of the facility management at WPI.

The purpose of this study was to determine the consistency with which Extension workers in Utah interpret data elements for reporting Extension activities into State Extension Management Information System (SEMIS). Subsequent insight into the areas of greatest inconsistencies and in-service training needs were gained. Extension workers in Utah were asked to report a predetermined list of hypothetical activities on the SEMIS weekly report form. These together with other report forms of previously submitted reports of common activities were studied in detail. It was found that the consistency for various activities reported ranged from 53 percent to 96 percent. It was also found that there were certain types of activities that were more often inconsistently reported than others. It was concluded that in-service training was needed to improve the consistency with which Utah Extension workers reported their weekly activities into SEMIS.

The Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become popular tool, used in different fields. The launching of Google Maps offered a new approach of building web based GIS systems; making it possible to integrate external geographically referenced data with the powerful map service supplied by Google. This thesis demonstrates the design and implementation of creating a web based geographic information system. The system is built by adapting the Google Maps API library and building a web server to display and explore agricultural data.

Outsourcing is becoming one of the key approaches in improving cooperation¡¦s operation efficiency. With the continuous improvement on productivity, competitiveness, innovation and higher quality, information-transparency becomes the focus of operation and so is the process information system. For the case studied in this paper, the demand on the process information system is largely increased due to the pursuit of higher competitiveness by adopting more automated processes and decreasing manpower. Moreover, the downsizing manpower has also made the outsourcing of process information system being gradually increased. In this case study company, there are 109 process information systems have been operated smoothly since the establishment of the company and over 90% of them are outsourced. Although Standish Group investigated the 8000 outsourcing software projects in 1995, the results revealed that only 16% of them were well controlled in budget and schedule. However, the outsourcing task is still regarded as the strategic tactics for technology transfer or sharing work loads in the case study company. With this strategy, most of the operation can be monitored under project management and the schedule, quality , cost and man-power had all met the requirement of process information system, furthermore, the core technology transfer were achieved smoothly and explored it in depth. Therefore more process improvement could be realized based on the process condition by the case studied company, not the outsourcing company. A thorough investigation on the execution and the process of the process information system outsourcing with participation design should give more understanding of the achievement. This study employs the theory of outsourcing with participating development to establish the research model. Then, the research model has been revised according to the result of the long-term successful experiences and several project managers deeply interview. In this paper, three outsourcing strategy of process information systems were studied: 1) The new process information system technology transfer for new process¡F 2) The new process information system technology transfer for existing process¡F 3) Out-souring the process information system is for sharing work loads. The key factors of those successful cases were investigated and six participation factors were categorized as follows¡G1) engineering specification and contract; 2) formation of the project team; 3) design of training courses; 4) system function analysis; 5) system analysis &design and 6) project management and control. The details of this study is well documented in the following contents, it can be referenced by another company to improve in their outsourcing process information system more successful. Keyword: Process Information System, Participating Development, Outsourcing strategy

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People must frequently sort through and identify relevant materials from a large set of documents. Document triage is a specific form of information collecting where people quickly evaluate a large set of documents from the Internet by reading (or skimming) documents and organizing them into a personal information collection. During triage people can re-read documents, progressively refine their organization, and share results with others. People usually perform triage using multiple applications in concert: a search engine interface presents lists of potentially relevant documents; a document reader displays their content; and a text editor or a more specialized application records notes and assessments. However, people often become disoriented while switching between these subtasks in document triage. This can hinder the interaction between the subtasks and can distract people from focusing on documents of interest. To support document triage, we have developed an environment that infers users’ interests based on their interactions with multiple applications and on an analysis of the characteristics and content of the documents they are interacting with. The inferred user interest is used to relieve disorientation by generating visualizations in multiple applications that help people find documents of interest as well as interesting sections within documents.

Information system introduction is an organizational learning process, in which organizational members learn how to introduce information system into an enterprise. While learning, however, individuals always act defensively ¡XModel I theories-in-use, and the defensive behaviors usually bring counterproductive or unintended consequences or limited learning (Argyris, 1978, 1985, 1990, 1999). Similarly, in the process of introducing information system, the organizational members' defensive behaviors will make information system cannot completely meet the business needs or cause schedule delay. In this research, we conduct a case study to explore the defensive phenomenon during the process of introducing information system. Based on theories of action and literature about organizational defense (Salaway, 1984, 1987; Wastell, 1999; Henfridsson & Soderholm, 2000), we investigate the defensive phenomenon and generalized it into ten stories. The analyzing results show that users, MIS staff, and top managers all have defensive behaviors in introducing information system and thus cause negative effect. Therefore, this research suggests the organizational members move from Model I to Model II orientation and practice to introduce information system more effectively.