The objective of the study was to develop a framework for the implementation of a Business Information Management System in order to increase the efficiency of the knowledge management strategy in the ultimate quest to deliver administrative support to public schools at the Gauteng Department of Education within the Sedibeng East District Office geographical area. A literature investigation was done on the concepts of e–Government, eplatforms, information technology and enablers to determine if Government models are working effectively and efficiently. Based on the findings of the literature study, a questionnaire was designed and used to measure the efficiency of the knowledge management strategy in the base of administrative support to public schools. Government to Government models are the ability to interact and support services through the availability of e–platforms in the ultimate support, and sharing of knowledge through effective knowledge management. Knowledge in an organisation alternates between tacit and explicit knowledge as it goes from an idea to explicit knowledge that can be shared throughout the whole organisation and in the process gives the necessary administrative support to public schools and learners. Proper managed and implemented systems are important for the management of knowledge in an organisation. Knowledge management is a never–ending cycle that starts at discovering knowledge and goes through generating knowledge, evaluating knowledge, sharing the newly found knowledge to leveraging the knowledge. This cycle forms the heart of a knowledge management model like the different education e–platforms that is available. It was concluded that the knowledge in an organisation can be managed with the help of one standardized e–platform model throughout the entire Education Department. Knowledge in an organisation is a very important resource and ought to be strategically managed. The knowledge management strategy starts by determining what knowledge is needed and what is available in the organisation. The chosen standardized model will form the central part of a successful knowledge management strategy. The test for the success of a knowledge management strategy is determined with a knowledge audit. The state of the knowledge management strategy at Gauteng Department of Education, Sedibeng East District Office was assessed by employing convenience survey questionnaires to extract the data. Sedibeng East District Office and therefore the Department of Education, still have a long way to go in order to optimise the management of knowledge. The key area of concern is a lack of a written knowledge management strategy and policy which results in informal e–platform usage and therefore different ways of managing knowledge. A large portion of the indecisiveness seen in the analysis of the questionnaires could be attributed to the lack of a formal knowledge management strategy. It was further concluded that a knowledge gap assessment is the start of the knowledge management strategy and will give direction to the strategy. The culture at Sedibeng East District Office was not tested to determine if the staff will be supportive of a knowledge management strategy. However, the survey indicated that much needed administrative support to public schools needs to be formalized in order to optimize the services and standards of support. A practical knowledge management framework is proposed in order to assist the Department in the implementation of a knowledge management strategy and bridging the gaps found after analysing the questionnaires. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The objective of the study was to develop a framework for the implementation of a Business Information Management System in order to increase the efficiency of the knowledge management strategy in the ultimate quest to deliver administrative support to public schools at the Gauteng Department of Education within the Sedibeng East District Office geographical area. A literature investigation was done on the concepts of e–Government, eplatforms, information technology and enablers to determine if Government models are working effectively and efficiently. Based on the findings of the literature study, a questionnaire was designed and used to measure the efficiency of the knowledge management strategy in the base of administrative support to public schools. Government to Government models are the ability to interact and support services through the availability of e–platforms in the ultimate support, and sharing of knowledge through effective knowledge management. Knowledge in an organisation alternates between tacit and explicit knowledge as it goes from an idea to explicit knowledge that can be shared throughout the whole organisation and in the process gives the necessary administrative support to public schools and learners. Proper managed and implemented systems are important for the management of knowledge in an organisation. Knowledge management is a never–ending cycle that starts at discovering knowledge and goes through generating knowledge, evaluating knowledge, sharing the newly found knowledge to leveraging the knowledge. This cycle forms the heart of a knowledge management model like the different education e–platforms that is available. It was concluded that the knowledge in an organisation can be managed with the help of one standardized e–platform model throughout the entire Education Department. Knowledge in an organisation is a very important resource and ought to be strategically managed. The knowledge management strategy starts by determining what knowledge is needed and what is available in the organisation. The chosen standardized model will form the central part of a successful knowledge management strategy. The test for the success of a knowledge management strategy is determined with a knowledge audit. The state of the knowledge management strategy at Gauteng Department of Education, Sedibeng East District Office was assessed by employing convenience survey questionnaires to extract the data. Sedibeng East District Office and therefore the Department of Education, still have a long way to go in order to optimise the management of knowledge. The key area of concern is a lack of a written knowledge management strategy and policy which results in informal e–platform usage and therefore different ways of managing knowledge. A large portion of the indecisiveness seen in the analysis of the questionnaires could be attributed to the lack of a formal knowledge management strategy. It was further concluded that a knowledge gap assessment is the start of the knowledge management strategy and will give direction to the strategy. The culture at Sedibeng East District Office was not tested to determine if the staff will be supportive of a knowledge management strategy. However, the survey indicated that much needed administrative support to public schools needs to be formalized in order to optimize the services and standards of support. A practical knowledge management framework is proposed in order to assist the Department in the implementation of a knowledge management strategy and bridging the gaps found after analysing the questionnaires. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-21T17:22:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 32.pdf: 32427862 bytes, checksum: d3031551d6ddc527cbfd2e20e0749755 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Tecnologia em Fármacos/Farmanguinhos. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil. / O Programa de Qualificação de Fornecedores (PQF) é de suma importância para empresas, sobretudo para as indústrias farmacêuticas. Segundo a RDC17/2010, que regula as Boas Práticas de Fabricação de medicamentos na indústria farmacêutica, este é um requisito indispensável e visa garantir a aquisição de insumos farmacêuticos com a qualidade requerida para serem utilizados na fabricação de produtos. Em uma indústria farmacêutica, que possui um PQF, o resultado pode ser observado em diversas etapas do processo produtivo:otimização do espaço no almoxarifado, número menor de amostragens e análises do controle de qualidade, menor número de reprovações e devoluções de insumos farmacêuticos, menos atrasos no processo produtivo, diminuição do número de reprocessos e não-conformidades em lotes produzidos. A falta de um efetivo PQF trouxe consequências negativas para Farmanguinhos, no período 2008/2009 aproximadamente 9,3% dos insumos farmacêuticos adquiridos apresentaram algum desvio de qualidade, mas foram aprovados com restrição; e 33% foram reprovados. Logo, a determinação de responsabilidades dos setores envolvidos, a criação de um fluxo de informações, a adequação do sistema de gestão de informações (SGI)bem como o cadastro dos fornecedores, e o monitoramento de seus insumos (qualidade, prazo de entrega e quantidades) são de extrema importância no desenvolvimento de um PQF. É neste sentido que o presente trabalho foi desenvolvido, na proposição de otimização do PQF de Farmanguinhos integrando diversos setores e determinando suas respectivas responsabilidades neste programa utilizando um SGI, permitindo o monitoramento e gerenciamento dos fornecedores e seus respectivos insumos farmacêuticos desde o momento do recebimento até sua utilização no processo produtivo. / The Supplier Qualification Program (SQP) is of great importance for the companies, mainly in case of pharmaceutical industries. According to RDC 17/2010, which is the statement of Good Manufacturing Practices in Brazil, SQP is classified as an essential item to ensure the acquisition of raw materials with the required quality for using drug products. In a pharmaceutical company, the beneficts of a SQP successful implemented can be observed in different stages of the manufacturing flow: optimization of warehouse space, reduced sampling and Quality Control analyses, lower number of raw materials rejections and reprocesses and deviation on batches products. The absence of an effective SQP brought negative consequences for Farmanguinhos in the period 2008/2009. Approximately 9.3% raw materials had some quality deviation and were approved with restriction. Around 33% was rejected. So, the determination of responsibilities for the involved areas, the creation of an information flow as well of a suppliers database, the monitoring of the raw materials (quality, quantities and time delivered) and the adequation of Information Management System (IMS) is of quite relevance in the development and implementation of a SQP. In this way, the present work has been developed with the proposal of improving SQP-Far which can integrate different departments and determine their respective responsibilities in this program using an IMS, enabling monitoring and management process of suppliers and their respective raw materials since the reception until utilization in the productive process.

E-commerce has grown rapidly in the last couple of years and has gotten more demanding customers that want better and more consistent product information. With more products on the market than ever, spreadsheets are not enough. Product Information Management (PIM) systems have been developed to meet those needs. Because these systems contain a lot of different processes and handles a lot of data, they can be complex and contain usability problems. The purpose of the study is to understand and explain the usability of the PIM system process of enriching products. The study answers the research questions: “How do the users experience the usability in the process of enriching products in PIM systems?” and “What are the main usability problems in the enrichment process in an existing PIM system?”. The result shows that the overall usability in the enrichment process is good and the investigated PIM system is easy to use and is flexible. The analysis shows that the main usability problems are the lack of functionality and efficiency. The two problems are connected to each other as the users need to do workarounds because the lack of certain functions. The efficiency would be improved if the missing functions were added. These usability attributes can be difficult to evaluate before the system has been used for a while because it can take time for the users to discover problem regarding them.

Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOC) are designated geographical locations within the Great Lakes Basin with particularly degraded environmental conditions. There is a consensus among diverse sectors in the Great Lakes Basin that contaminated sediment is a major environmental problem and a key factor in many of the impairments of the human and nonhuman uses (beneficial uses) of the Great Lakes. This case study examines Randle Reef in the Hamilton Harbour (AOC) which is the largest Canadian contaminated sediment site in the Great Lakes containing 695,000 m3 of sediment contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and metals. The cleanup of the Randle Reef site is a major step in the process to restore Hamilton Harbour and remove it from the list of AOCs. The Randle Reef sediment remediation project is finally coming to fruition after more than thirty years of study, discussion, collaborations, and debate. As in the case of Randle Reef, environmental decisions are often complex and multi-faceted and involve many stakeholders with competing (sometimes conflicting) priorities or objectives representing exactly the type of problem that humans are poorly equipped to solve unaided. When professionals encounter complex issues, they often attempt to use approaches that simplify the complexity so that they can manage the problem at hand. During this process, valuable information may be lost, opposite points of view may be ignored and elements of uncertainty may be overlooked. A systematic methodology that combines both quantitative and qualitative data from scientific or engineering studies of risk, cost, and benefit, as well as stakeholder objectives and values to rank project alternatives, has yet to be fully developed for contaminated sediment decision-making. The main goal of this Ph.D. research was to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) framework to aid the complex decision-making in sediment remediation. The proposed DSS framework incorporates the five key themes that, through research, were found to be the most relevant for sediment remediation projects. These themes are 1)participation of appropriate actors with common objectives; 2)funding and resources; 3)decision-making process; 4)research and technology development; and 5)public and political support. There was a need to gather relevant information and data from various sources to develop the required DSS framework. For this purpose, expert interviews were conducted, responses were collected through a public survey, Qualitative Document Analysis (QDA) was performed on available policy and research documents, and a review was undertaken of how other jurisdictions have employed DSS to aid their decision-making process. The final DSS framework has six key components as follows: 1)data module; 2)communication module; 3)document module; 4)knowledge module; 5)tools module; and 6)DSS optimization module. This generic framework can assist practitioners in developing more systematic and structured decisions for sediment remediation by incorporating an Integrated Information Management System (IIMS) along with a DSS optimization module. This IIMS+DSS method can aid the decision-making process by making it documented, reproducible, robust, transparent and provide a coherent framework to explore and analyze available alternatives in an attempt to reach the preferred solution promptly. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is a program that provides medical countermeasures during a public health emergency. A public health emergency can be a natural or man-made disaster, an act of terrorism, or a pandemic. The Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) was created to help the nation’s largest metropolitan regions develop the ability to provide SNS life-saving medications in the event of a large-scale bioterrorist attack or naturally occurring disease outbreak. To address the risks associated with a public health emergency the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requires a comprehensive emergency response plan for distributing SNS/CRI materials quickly and efficiently. The Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness (FCDHW) is tasked with responsibility for distributing and dispensing of SNS/CRI medical assets delivered during a public health emergency. FCDHW is also tasked with the development of a comprehensive response plan. Past TAR scores revealed that passing SNS/CRI audits has been a challenge for FCDHW. A case study was conducted to note if the development of an information management system could facilitate successful future SNS/CRI audits. A needs assessment revealed that an information management system for emergency preparedness and response compliance was needed. Microsoft SharePoint 2007 was used to develop the information management system. SharePoint contains a secure document repository that linked the work products of all relevant internal and external stakeholders and revealed compliance deficiencies early enough to allow for corrective actions. The result was a passing TAR score that was a 59 point increase from the last published score.

Sparčiai augant modernių būstų skaičiui, taip pat sparčiai auga šių kompiuterizuotų būstų informacijos valdymo sistemų poreikis. Šios sistemos įvairiais jutikliais renka informaciją apie būsto patalpų temperatūrą, drėgmę ir kt. Ši informacija dažniausiai yra kaupiama skirtingais būdais atskirose posistemėse, todėl vartotojui nėra paranku stebėti kiekvienos posistemės duomenis. Informacijos valdymo sistemos leidžia vartotojui stebėti visą savo kompiuterizuoto būsto sistemų informaciją vienoje vartotojo sąsajoje. Informacijos valdymo sistemos, panaudodamos esamus būsto informacijos sistemų duomenis, gali pateikti vartotojui išteklių naudojimo rekomendacijas, atsižvelgdamos į vartotojo suformuotus reikalavimus – paskaičiuoti mėnesio šildymo kainą vartotojui nurodant norimą patalpos temperatūrą įvertinant išteklių kainas. Šio darbo objektas – informacijos valdymo sistema įterpta į kompiuterizuoto būsto sistemą. Darbo tikslas – sukurti protingos namų informacijos valdymo sistemos prototipą. Sistemą sudaro programiniai agentai, kurie pagal vartotojo poreikius sugeba surinkti ir pateikti informaciją vartotojui ir pagal tai priimti sprendimus. Darbe tiriamos programinių agentų savybės, informacijos, kurią naudoja agentai, surinkimo metodai, jų (agentų) kasifikacija ir tipologija, taikymas informacijos valdymo sistemose. Darbas susideda iš probleminės srities analizės, sistemos modelio ir eksperimentinio tyrimo. / With the rapid growth of automated houses, there is same rapid growth of these houses information management systems needs. Systems with various sensors gather information about zones temperature, humidity etc., information about other systems resources (e.g. heating services, electricity prices) is also gathered.Most of the time this information is being saves by different methods in separate systems, and that is not very handy for a user to track all data from different systems sources. Information management systems let the user to see all his automated house systems information in one graphical user interface. Information management systems, using existing house information systems data, can provide user resource usage recommendations, considered with users needs. E.g. calculate months heating costs, when user provides desired zone temperature, using resource prices to achieve this goal. Master thesis object – information management system, working inside home automation system. Master thesis goal – to create smart house information managent systems prototype. System consists of software agents, which, according to users’ needs, can gather and deliver information for user. Master thesis studies software agent features, agent information gathering methods, their (agents) classification and typology, usage in information management systems. Master thesis consists of three parts: problem analysis, system model and experiment.

The design of any information management system (IMS) requires a clear strategy for its integration into the environment for which it is intended. Information management has been addressed in the objectives and plans of the Government of Uganda since independence in 1962, with varying degrees of success. The extensive changes that have taken place in the last few decades in Ugandan higher education have led to increased demands for managing student information. In turn a strategy for proper coordination of such data is necessary. The major aim of this study was to design such a strategy. The research therefore attempted to investigate the current state of the management and coordination of student information in Uganda. The needs and requirements of a student information management system (SIMS) and strategies for its integration in higher education programmes were established. The study carried out in the education sector was conducted using a qualitative research framework that provided a coherent set of propositions which explains the phenomenon of a SIMS. The researcher purposively selected the respondents (including key informants, administrators and student leaders) in this sector, who included people involved in the capture, storage, management and use of student information in various institutions in the given sector. Observably, the current state of the SIMS lacks a strategy to keep track of student information in Uganda. It was established that to ensure tracking of such data in the country, an identification system with standardised procedures in a coordinating structure is required together with a clear strategy for utilising the existing structures in the education sector. To design a strategy of this kind, a proposed framework for an integrated SIMS defined the principles, environment and contextual boundaries in terms of which the design is created. It defines the structure of a national student identification system and its coordination in the education sector in Uganda. Strategies for ensuring the sustainability of such a system and its implications for the socio-economic environment of higher education are considered. / Information Science / D. Lit. et Phil. (Information Science)

The design of any information management system (IMS) requires a clear strategy for its integration into the environment for which it is intended. Information management has been addressed in the objectives and plans of the Government of Uganda since independence in 1962, with varying degrees of success. The extensive changes that have taken place in the last few decades in Ugandan higher education have led to increased demands for managing student information. In turn a strategy for proper coordination of such data is necessary. The major aim of this study was to design such a strategy. The research therefore attempted to investigate the current state of the management and coordination of student information in Uganda. The needs and requirements of a student information management system (SIMS) and strategies for its integration in higher education programmes were established. The study carried out in the education sector was conducted using a qualitative research framework that provided a coherent set of propositions which explains the phenomenon of a SIMS. The researcher purposively selected the respondents (including key informants, administrators and student leaders) in this sector, who included people involved in the capture, storage, management and use of student information in various institutions in the given sector. Observably, the current state of the SIMS lacks a strategy to keep track of student information in Uganda. It was established that to ensure tracking of such data in the country, an identification system with standardised procedures in a coordinating structure is required together with a clear strategy for utilising the existing structures in the education sector. To design a strategy of this kind, a proposed framework for an integrated SIMS defined the principles, environment and contextual boundaries in terms of which the design is created. It defines the structure of a national student identification system and its coordination in the education sector in Uganda. Strategies for ensuring the sustainability of such a system and its implications for the socio-economic environment of higher education are considered. / Information Science / D. Lit. et Phil. (Information Science)

Recent advances in molecular biology has led to the discovery of many new potential drugs. However, difficulties with in situ analysis of ligand binding prevents quick advancement in clinical trials, which stresses the need for better direct methods. A relatively new methodology, called Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA), allows for detection of ligand binding in a cells natural environment and can be used in combination with Mass Spectrometry (MS) for readout. With help from the Pelago Bioscience team, I developed a pipeline for processing of CETSA MS data and a web based system for viewing the results. The system, called CETSA Analytics, also evaluates the results relevance and helps its users to locate information efficiently. CETSA Analytics is currently being tested by Pelago Bioscience AB as a tool for experimental data distribution.