D.Phil. / IT plays a vital role in most institutions, and decision-makers have to be concerned about ensuring that capital investment decisions pertaining to IT investments are efficient. This is even more crucial in the prevailing tough economic conditions. The intention of the study was to test the perceptions of IT decision-makers on the efficiency of capital investment decisions pertaining to IT within their various institutions. The management dilemma in this study was described as the inability by decision-makers to tell whether or not the IT investment would deliver the desired results. In order to resolve the management dilemma, a list of management questions was raised, for example:  Which factors had an impact on the efficiency of capital investment decisions pertaining to IT?  How did decision-makers quantify the financial and non-financial costs attributable to IT investments?  How did decision-makers quantify the financial and non-financial benefits attributable to IT investments? The primary objective of the research was to conduct a literature review on the identified research constructs and through scientific empirical research construct evidence in support (or otherwise) of the hypotheses that are put forward. The secondary objectives of the research were:  Identifying the factors that impact on the efficiency of capital investment decisions pertaining to IT;  Determining the levels of satisfaction by various stakeholders with regard to the value that IT investments add to their institutions;  Determining whether or not institutions were able to identify and quantify the financial and non-financial costs attributable to IT investments;  Determining whether or not institutions were able to identify and quantify the financial and non-financial benefits attributable to IT investments; iv  Determining whether or not IT investments created a competitive edge over other institutions;  Determining the applicability of risk management tools on IT investments within various institutions; and  Determining the extent to which current financial tools were utilised in evaluating capital investment decisions pertaining to IT.

M.Comm. / Changes occur rapidly in the Information Technology (IT) environment. It can be very costly to keep up with these rapid changes and at the same time specialist IT skills are hard to come by. Companies have to re-strategize to maintain their competitive advantages. This strategic business concept suggests that management must focus on specialisation, expertise and excellence. In an increasingly competitive and technological advanced world, business focus has shifted from simply minimising costs to maximising revenue. Companies are now focussing on their core competencies and are sourcing their non-core competencies to external providers (vendors). By distancing themselves from these non-core competencies, companies can focus their energy on areas where they have a competitive advantage. Companies enter into outsourcing arrangement's because they believe a vendor is better equipped to perform their IT functions. Outsourcing has become one of the most powerful, organisation-shaping management tools. For the customer outsourcing involves a proper definition of requirements, a detailed analysis and evaluation of potential vendors, developing the pricing structure and managing the outsourcing arrangement. The vendor needs to deliver a service according to specified service levels to which penalties and rewards are tied. An interdependency exists between the customer and the vendor. Change in the one affects the other. One of the key components for a successful outsourcing arrangement is that a company must never outsource the management of their Information Technology processes.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce. November 1995. / The provision of timely, accurate, and relevant information to executives is prime to ensuring that they make quick and informed decisions that are critical to the competitiveness of their organisations. One such source of information is meant to be the Executive Information System, a system which combines internal and external information for electronic presentation to management in individually customised formats. Whilst it is required that the system address the information needs of the executives, the dynamic and ever-changing business environment makes it difficult for such a system to keep up-to-date. The aim of the research is to identify those critical issues, which when managed properly, will ensure that the system remains providing and meeting the needs of the executives. Ten interviews were conducted from business organisations in order identify these factors. The report consists of chapter one which gives a brief background of the research; chapter two is the review of the available literature which covers the origin, purpose and structure of EIS, criteria for successful implementation, benefits and issues related to the management of an operating EIS; chapter three describes the research methodology used to undertake this research; chapter four describes the data collection phase of the research; chapter five is the analysis and testing of the empirical generalisations ending with a list of critical success factors for managing an operating EIS; and chapter six, which is also the last, which highlights the limitations of the research and areas for further research. After analysing the interview transcripts from the semi-structured interviews using the content analysis method, it was concluded that the empirical generalisations were strongly supported. A list of ten critical success factors raised by the respondents is listed at the end of chapter five. This factors will contribute towards helping South African business organisations in the management of their operating Executive Information Systems investments. / AC2017

In South Africa, the importance of computing and information technology (IT) is increasing. Yet, there is an under representation of women IT employees, this may be due to the low percentage of women obtaining IT degrees. South African women are already seriously underrepresented in the IT field and represent an untapped resource. Therefore attention needs to be directed to factors which effect women’s intentions to pursue IT careers. This study drew on two theoretical perspectives, namely the Theory of Planned Behavior, and Social Cognitive Theory to derive a model of how two important factors, computer selfefficacy, and computer anxiety influence women’s feelings about the impact of computers on their daily lives and society, as well as their understanding of computers (i.e. computer attitude). The model further depicted the direct effect of computer attitude. Women’s computer attitudes were also expected to improve once they have received computer training. Although the main focus of the study was towards women’s computer attitude and intention to select an IT career, the study also compared the extent to which gender influences computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety, computer attitude and intention to select an IT career, as well as the relationships that exist between these variables. Hypotheses were thus derived from the model, and uses prior research to argue the validity of the hypotheses. Quantitative data was collected from a sample of 263 first year students from a leading South African University. Statistical analyses of the data revealed that female students intention to select an IT career consisted of two factors namely, IT career interest and perceived tangible rewards. Pearson correlation and multiple regressions were used to test hypotheses. Results revealed that factors such as computer training, computer self-efficacy, computer anxiety, and positive computer attitude influenced IT career interest and perceived tangible rewards. Amongst female students, computer training, computer self-efficacy and perceived tangible rewards impacted IT career interest. This means that if females received computer training, they were more confident towards computers and aware of IT careers prospects, and thus they would be more likely to select an IT career. The study results also detected gender differences which indicated that females are more computer anxious than males, while males are more computer confident and like computers more than females. In addition females are also less likely to select IT careers than males. These results provide important guidance to educational institutes, the IT industry, IT managers, human resource professionals, and other individuals’ interested in career development issues and the gender gap in South African IT.

Authority is a much contested concept often connected to notions of violence and control, and it emanates variably from class, institution, and now—as I argue—from digital convergence, which is the availability and shareability of information across multiple digital platforms at all times. This dissertation considers how digital convergence is responsible for taking what would otherwise be a difference of degree (simply more people sharing more information) and turning it into a difference of kind (people turning information sharing into knowledge making, previously the domain of institutions). Through the tools made available both online and on multiple technological platforms, individual users of the digitally converged network (though primarily users of the Internet) are building their own auctoritas. In the particular case of journalism, this threat primarily stems from individuals and groups of individuals sharing information online that both acts as news and critiques the mainstream media (MSM). Institutions are currently facing such a foundational threat through the platform-wide information availability and shareability of digital convergence and specifically through the topology and design of the network created by it (and which it simultaneously creates). This threat of digital convergence leads to a situation in which individuals and groups of individuals are empowered to create and maintain auctoritas outside the institutional structures that Western culture traditionally leans on for authority and knowledge creation. The individual auctoritas uniquely enabled through digital convergence acts as a valid challenge to the institution's structure, causing it to respond with proto-authorization and other tactics designed to limit individual auctoritas and maintain institution per se. The Fifth Estate, considered and defined in this dissertation, is a porous border across which the needs of American journalism consumers are met both by journalists and by consumer subjects moving into the journalism role just-in-time. Porousness of the border between production and consumption of cultural knowledge is a threat to an institution whose job traditionally has been considered to be cultural knowledge creation. In many ways, this movement across the porous border between news consumer and producer is neither a new concept nor a new practice. The difference is one of technology and performances. It is through the affordances of a globalized social structure and a global technological connection, as well as ubiquitous access to multiple platforms, that a Fifth Estate can become influential enough to need defining—that is, influential enough to bring American journalism back to its roots in citizen auctoritas. I use three sub-case studies to look at ways the Fifth Estate makes use of tools of digital convergence to cross this porous border and challenge the institutional authority of the Fourth Estate. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2015. / October 26, 2015. / Authority, Digital, Internet, Journalism, Media, Rhetoric / Includes bibliographical references. / Kristie S. Fleckenstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Davis W. Houck, University Representative; Ned Stuckey-French, Committee Member; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Committee Member; Michael Neal, Committee Member.

Python Package Index (PyPI) is a repository that hosts all the packages ever developed for the Python community. It hosts thousands of packages from different developers and for the Python community, it is the primary source for downloading and installing packages. It also provides a simple web interface to search for these packages. A direct search on PyPI returns hundreds of packages that are not intuitively ordered, thus making it harder to find the right package. Developers consequently resort to mature search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo which redirect them to the appropriate package homepage at PyPI. Hence, the first task of this thesis is to improve search results for python packages. Secondly, this thesis also attempts to develop a new search engine that allows Python developers to perform a code search targeting python modules. Currently, the existing search engines classify programming languages such that a developer must select a programming language from a list. As a result every time a developer performs a search operation, he or she has to choose Python out of a plethora of programming languages. This thesis seeks to offer a more reliable and dedicated search engine that caters specifically to the Python community and ensures a more efficient way to search for Python packages and modules. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Computer Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester 2015. / November 13, 2015. / Python Code Search Engine, Python Module Search Engine, Python Package and Module Search Engine, Python Package Search Engine, Python Search Engine / Includes bibliographical references. / Piyush Kumar, Professor Directing Thesis; Sonia Haiduc, Committee Member; Margareta Ackerman, Committee Member.

A era da informação está sendo viabilizada por uma combinada expansão das telecomunicações e da tecnologia da informação. O acesso à TI tornou-se mais fácil e mais barato e o uso da TI está se massificando na vida das pessoas e principalmente no contexto empresarial. A TI passou a desempenhar papel decisivo e estratégico para as empresas desenvolverem negócios na nova economia. A TI tem influência no valor da empresa para seus clientes e é essencial para a consecução dos objetivos de negócios, pois envolve grandes investimentos e riscos. Tornou-se mais complexo administrar TI, pois a evolução tecnológica é acelerada, os projetos de TI demandam altos investimentos e os executivos de negócios, além de demandarem mais do que TI pode entregar, demonstram insatisfação com os níveis de serviço entregue pelas áreas de TI. É preciso dotar as empresas de sistemas produtivos, relacionados com: acesso, processamento, distribuição e armazenagem de informação. A gestão da TI requer cada vez mais a adoção de processos, modelos, estruturas, alianças e, sobretudo, focos de atuação da liderança, priorizados e alinhados com as estratégias de negócios para capacitar as organizações da TI a cumprirem satisfatoriamente suas atribuições. Em resposta a estes desafios as lideranças de TI estão buscando formas e modelos que possam auxiliá-las na gestão da TI. Neste contexto, as seguintes questões precisam ser discutidas: Que modelos em gestão da TI estão sendo adotados como referência nas organizações de TI?; Como os modelos estão estruturados e no que eles se diferenciam ou se integram entre si?; Os modelos abrangem todas as áreas de gestão da TI?; Como estes modelos são úteis para os executivos da TI? / The information age, is being made possible for a combine expansion of the telecommunications and the information technology. The IT access is becoming cheaper and easier than before and the use of IT is growing so fast in the people living and mainly in the enterprise context. IT is playing a decisive and strategic role to companies develop businesses in the new economy. IT has influence in the customer value and is essential for the achievement of the business objectives, therefore IT involves high investments and risks. Become more complex to manage IT, therefore the technological evolution, the IT projects demands high investments and the business executives are demanding more than what IT can deliver, demonstrating that they are no satisfied with the IT service levels. Is necessary to enable companies with productive systems, related with: access, processing, distribution and storage of information. The IT management requires more adoption of processes, models, structures, alliances and, over all, leaders must be focused on IT action model aligned and prioritized with the business strategies, enabling IT organizations to fulfill its attributions satisfactorily. To face these challenges the IT leaderships are searching forms and models that can guide them in IT management. In this context, the following questions need to be argued: Witch IT management models are being adopted as reference in the IT organizations?; How the models are structured and in what they differentiate or be integrated themselves?; Are the models cover all the areas of IT management?; How these models are useful for the IT executives?

Na atualidade, o cenário globalizado altamente competitivo e as novas regulamentações (lei Sarbanes-Oxley e Acordo da Basiléia 2), estão exigindo das empresas a utilização de mecanismos de gestão de TI cada vez melhores. Em função disto, a discussão sobre modelos de gestão de TI para satisfazer esta necessidade tem estado permanentemente em pauta. Dentre estes modelos, destacam-se o COBIT para governança de TI e o ITIL para gerenciamento de serviços, este último, totalmente alinhado com norma ISO/IEC 20000 para gerenciamento de serviços de TI, recentemente publicada. Considerando este contexto e que, o ITIL possui foco na execução dos processos, e o COBIT possui foco no controle de processos, este trabalho, alia estes dois modelos para criar o modelo GSS-COBITIL, ferramenta valiosa para auxiliar na implantação mais consistente do gerenciamento de suporte de serviços de TI, com foco na eficiência e na eficácia. Este modelo adota como alicerce os processos de gerenciamento de suporte de serviços do ITIL e agrega os componentes do COBIT alinhados com esta abrangência. A utilização do ITIL como alicerce, faz com que, o GSS-COBITIL esteja naturalmente alinhado com a norma ISO/IEC 20000. Além disto, tendo em vista que, o papel de TI na estratégia das organizações, difere de empresa para empresa, de acordo com suas metas de negócio, o trabalho também apresenta o método de especialização do GSS-COBITIL. Este método foi desenvolvido a partir dascaracterísticas da grade de impacto estratégico de TI, mapeando-as em um subconjunto de metas de negócio do COBIT 4.0 relacionadas aos processos do GSS-COBITIL. Como produto final, o método gera um conjunto de diretrizes para a implantação do GSS-COBITIL, específicas para a empresa, de acordo com o papel de TI em sua estratégia. O método de especialização do GSS-COBITIL foi aplicado em um conjunto de empresas que se dispuseram a responder uma pesquisa para esta finalidade. / Nowadays, the highly global competition between organizations and the new regulations (Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Basel 2 Accord) are requiring that organizations use better mechanisms for IT management. The discussion about IT management models to satisfy this need is permanently going on. Between these models, stand out COBIT for IT governance, and ITIL for IT service management. This last one is totally aligned with ISO/IEC 20000 standard for IT service management, recently published. Considering this context and that, ITIL is focused on process execution and COBIT is focused on process control, this work makes the alliance of these models to create the GSS-COBITIL model, a valuable tool to aid in a more consistent implementation of service support management, focused on efficiency and effectiveness. This model adopts the ITIL services support management processes as basis and adds the COBIT components aligned with this scope. The utilization of ITIL as basis implies that GSS-COBITIL is naturally aligned to ISO/IEC 20000 standard. Moreover, considering that the role of IT organizations strategies differs from one enterprise to another depending on their business goals, this work also presents the specialization method of GSS-COBITIL. This method was developed mapping the characteristics of IT strategic impact grid into a subset of business goals of COBIT 4.0 related with GSS-COBITIL processes. As final product, the method generates a set of directives forGSS-COBITIL implementation, specific to the organization, according the role of IT in his strategy. The specialization method of GSS-COBITIL was applied in a set of organizations that participated in a survey for this purpose.

<p> Executive decision-makers cannot always anticipate and fully understand the implications of information technology outsourcing (ITO) decisions for the long-term processes, capabilities, and performance of their organization, especially when considering ITO for cloud-based services. The purpose of this qualitative, holistic single-case study was to explore the decision-making process, particularly the criteria used by executive decision-makers in U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs), for identifying and selecting organizational competencies when engaging in ITO for cloud-based services. Participants included 15 executive decision-makers in U.S.-based MNCs who had participated in decision-making for at least one ITO engagement for cloud-based services. Data collected from individual in-depth interviews, a focus group interview, and document review supported nine dominant themes, including identification of organizational competencies; decision model; contingency and business continuity; communication; skills, knowledge, and speed to market; cost; technology and processes; financial models; and culture change. Findings indicate that executive decision-makers are unable to articulate decision-making criteria and to define processes used for identifying and selecting organizational competencies to consider as part of ITO engagements for cloud-based services. They intuitively understand organizational core competencies and recognize that their organizations should not outsource them. Findings further support that the more experience executive decision-makers have with ITO, the more successful the outsourcing engagement will be. Challenges associated with outsourcing are directly proportional to the amount of outsourcing experience an executive decision maker has with ITO, as the initial outsourcing engagement requires new frameworks and processes. Subsequent outsourcing engagements rely on the structure and lessons learned from prior engagements, thereby reducing the negative impact on the outsourcing process. Unexpected findings included differences between female and male participants on the perception of outcomes of their ITO engagements and the need for an updated financial model for ITO for cloud-based services. Future researchers should consider criteria for identifying and selecting organizational competencies to outsource, methods used to anticipate the long-term impact of ITO for cloud-based services, gender-based perception of success or failure of ITO for cloud-based services, and financial model changes when implementing ITO for cloud-based services.</p><p>

<p> <b>BACKGROUND:</b> The 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act created meaningful use (MU) incentive program to promote the nationwide adoption of certified electronic health record (EHR) systems. Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system is a part of the EHR system and a cornerstone of the MU incentive program, which helps to reduce prescribing errors and enhance care coordination for treatment between providers. </p><p> <b>OBJECTIVES:</b> The main objective of this study was to investigate trends in the adoption of CPOE system for medication orders and determine factors associated with meeting the meaningful use criteria for health information technology. </p><p> <b>METHODS:</b> A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using 10 years of data from the 2006&ndash;2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), 10 years of 2006&ndash;2015 data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS)&mdash;emergency department (ED) component, the 2016 American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey Database, and the 2016 AHA Annual Survey Information Technology (IT) Supplement. The outcomes of the study included the adoption of CPOE for medication orders, drug-drug interaction alerts (DDI), guideline reminders, electronic prescribing (eRx), health information exchange (HIE), and compliance with the MU criteria. Descriptive statistics were calculated for all study variables. Bivariate analysis using the chi-square test was used to determine if there is a significant relationship between the adoption of CPOE for medication orders and timing (pre-post meaningful use). Chi-square test for trend was used to determine the significance of the change in the adoption of several EHR functionalities between 2006 and 2015. Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors that influence the adoption of several EHR functionalities. All analyses were performed using SAS 9.3 at an alpha of 0.05. </p><p> <b>RESULTS:</b> In NAMCS 2006&ndash;2015, the weighted surveyed physicians&rsquo; responses were weighted to represent 325,070 ambulatory based physicians throughout the U.S. The majority (66%) of respondents worked in group practices, and 34% worked as solo practitioners. The overall AHA annual survey sample had 6,239 hospitals. Of these, a total of 3,656 hospitals responded to the AHA IT supplement survey, representing a response rate of 59%. Primary care physicians&rsquo; adoption of CPOE systems for medication orders was significantly higher than specialists (p &lt; 0.0001). The adoption of CPOE for medication orders was higher in the Post-MU incentive payments period (2012&ndash;2015) compared to pre-MU incentive payments period (2006&ndash;2011) in both the ambulatory care and ED settings (p &lt; 0.0001). From 2006 through 2015 there was a statistically significant increase in the percent of ambulatory care practices adopting CPOE medication ordering system with clinical decision support (CDS) tools and eRx in the ambulatory care setting (p-trend &lt; 0.001). In the same period, group practices compared to solo practices were significantly more likely to adopt these EHR functionalities (p &lt; 0.0001). From 2013 to 2015, physician offices that generated > 50% of their revenue from Medicaid in the ambulatory care setting were less likely to adopt EHR systems that meet the MU criteria compared those generate &le; 50% (p &lt; 0.01). </p><p> <b>CONCLUSION:</b> Findings indicate that physician specialty, practice size, and percentage of revenue from Medicaid are significantly associated with the adoption of selected EHR functionalities. The CPOE for medication orders adoption rates significantly increased post-MU incentive payments. No significant association was found between for-profit hospitals and sending electronic notification to the patient&rsquo;s primary care physician upon ED visit. These results may be important to design interventions to improve EHR adoption.</p><p>