As we are living in a vast changing technological era, the hardware and software required to read electronic documents continue to evolve, and the technology may be so different in the near future that it may not work on older documents. Preserving information over long term is already known as a problem. This research investigates the potential of using XML in improving long term preservation of textual information resulting from AEC (Architectural, Engineering and Construction) projects. It identifies and analyses the issues involved in the subject of handling information over a long period of time in this sector and maps out a strategy to solve those issues. The main focus is not the centralized preservation of documents, but rather the preservation of segments of information scattered between different decision makers in the AEC. In the end a methodology for exchanging information between different decision makers, collecting related information from different decision makers, and preserving such information in the AEC sector for long term purposes that is based on the use of XML will be presented. / Master of Science (Hons)

The research conducted for this thesis had two broad aims. The first was to provide descriptive information about the use of computer-based information systems (CBIS) in regional small business. The second of the aims was to examine the relationships among key constructs identified from the literature and to explore how they contributed to predicting CBIS success in regional small business.In the second phase of the analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to examine the factorial constructs underlying the data. Constructs were identified that measured CEO characteristics, two measuring organisational characteristics, four measuring aspects of decision-making, and five measuring perceived CBIS success. Correlations among the constructs were examined prior to relationships among the constructs being explored using hierarchical regression analysis. The constructs were also examined in a single measurement model to determine their collective effect and relationships with the constructs measuring CBIS success based on structural equation modelling. Notwithstanding the limitations of the research, it resulted in the identification of relationships among key variables that predict CBIS success. The identification of items associated with decision-making processes, and the identification of the factorial constructs underlying the data is a major contribution to a portion of the literature that was non-existent. The final measurement model is also a significant contribution in identifying and specifying the relationships constructs measuring CEO characteristics, organisational characteristics, decision-making and CBIS success in regional small business. / Doctor of Philosphy (PhD)

This report describes a research study into the current situation within Federal, State Government and selected private sector agencies, assessing contingency plans for Information Systems and suggests models for state-wide planning against Information Systems disasters. Following a brief look at various phases of contingency plan development, the study looks into the factors that prompt organisations to prepare contingency plans. The project involved a survey of current Information Systems contingency plans in the government agencies in the states of Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and in the Australian Capital Territory. It also included two major banks, an insurance company and two computer services bureaux in the private sector within New South Wales. The survey determined that particular factors play important roles in the decision by organisations to commence contingency planning. These include actual disaster experience, senior management support, auditor's comments, legal requirements, risk analysis and business impact study, economic considerations, insurance requirements, contract commitment, new staff and introduction of new hardware and software. The critical success factors in contingency planning include regular maintenance and testing of the plan. The project also discusses the current contingency planning environment within New South Wales Government agencies and suggests cost-effective models for state-wide adoption.

The aim of this study is to develop a model for knowledge synchronisation in organisations. The research aim is further broken down into two research objectives that are handled during this study: • Examine and measure the gap between a typical organisation and a Learning Organisation and the corresponding organisation’s Subjective Knowledge and Knowledge Management Systems, and • Examine and create appropriate models and methods to synchronise organisation’s Subjective Knowledge and Knowledge Management Systems. This research attempts knowledge synchronisation in view of creation and maintenance of Learning Organisations. This study combines three broad areas in an organisation: Learning Organisations, Intellectual Capital, and Knowledge Management Systems. This research proposes a new organisational epistemology in the context of the Subjective and Objective Knowledge. The organisational ontology consists of five hierarchical layers: observation, data, information, knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom and observations, being embodied, are subjective in nature and they are referred to as Subjective Knowledge throughout the thesis. Data, information and knowledge of an organisation, being objective in nature, are contained in Information Systems or Knowledge Management Systems; and throughout the thesis they are referred to as Objective Knowledge. The significance of this research and its major contribution resides in the development and validation of a comprehensive model for Subjective - Objective Knowledge synchronisation, with a view of creation and maintenance of Learning Organisations. A Knowledge Synchronisation Model (KSM) has been proposed to measure the gap between a typical organisation and a Learning Organisation. Furthermore, KSM also deals with the gap between an organisation’s Subjective Knowledge and Knowledge Management Systems. A web-based survey has been conducted to validate the proposed Knowledge Synchronisation Model. The unit of analysis has been ‘an organisation’ with Knowledge Management initiatives. Snowball sampling technique has been used to contact such organisations and five hundred and ten responses have been received. Four hundred and seventy responses have been considered for analysis. Responses have been classified into four clusters: Learning Organisations, whose Subjective Knowledge and Knowledge Management Systems have been in sync, Technology oriented organisations with high Knowledge Management Systems and relatively low Subjective Knowledge, People oriented organisations with high Subjective Knowledge and relatively low Knowledge Management Systems, and finally, the organisations with no Knowledge Management strategy. Regression analysis has been used to validate the hypotheses. The orientation towards technology or people will present itself as missing organisational characteristics. Two organisations from the survey participants have been selected for knowledge synchronisation through Action Research Studies. The first organisation has been identified as technology oriented and lacking organisational ‘Awareness’ and ‘Systems Thinking’. A Community of Practice (CoP) and a knowledge portal have been suggested to the first organisation for knowledge synchronisation. The second organisation has been identified as people oriented and lacking ����Personal Mastery����. A Community of Practice (CoP) and a knowledge base have been suggested to the second organisation. The limitation posed by the sampling technique ‘snowball sampling’ is a significant limitation in this research. This research does not consider the effects of location and investor capital on the proposed model. This is another limitation of this research. This research has academic implications for the theories of Learning Organisations, Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management. Further investigations will be necessary to study the effects of location and investor capital, human related issues such as trust and culture, and the latest technologies such as web 2.0 and mobile devices, on the proposed model. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study was primarily an empirical investigation in the field of Information Systems (IS) and the related fields of occupational psychology and management. It focussed specifically on the concept of user satisfaction, the construct of cognitive style as applied to users and systems analysts, and their interrelationships. Prior studies were found rarely to investigate the changes in user satisfaction during system usage. Further, any reference to cognitive style in the IS literature proved to be sparse, open to question and discouraging in terms of its value. By developing and using a new instrument, the System Satisfaction Schedule, or SSS, the present study was able empirically to demonstrate clear patterns of changing user satisfaction during system usage. These were demonstrated, both as a general trend and in terms of its relationship to the cognitive styles of the key players (analyst and user) involved in system development and maintenance. Cognitive style was measured using Kirton's Adaption-innovation Inventory, or KAI. This study was thus able to suggest new rules for system development based on the assessments of the cognitive styles of both users and systems analysts. These rules focussed primarily on simple team choice: which analyst to put with which user. However, inferences for larger system development teams were drawn and suggestions for further research duly made. The present study thus also contributes to the successful practice of system development. To give effect to the above, this study set out to investigate empirically the way user satisfaction changes over 1½ to 2 years of system usage and, as mentioned above, the way user satisfaction is impacted by the cognitive styles of the user and the systems analyst. Most significantly, relationships were studied between user satisfaction and the difference in cognitive style between the analyst and user. It was found that user satisfaction generally rises linearly with usage, and that while the size of the analyst user cognitive differential does negatively impact user satisfaction over most of the time of system use, this effect is only particularly strong for two short periods; one within the first four months of usage and the other in the last three. From these results the new rules for system development mentioned above, followed. In terms of the decline of users' mean perceived severities of individual problems, the exponential decay and reciprocal models were found to fit the data the best. This study developed a new model for the motivation to use, develop or maintain a system (the Mechanical Model), based on its own results and Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation. In this, Herzberg's hygiene factors have been replaced with the concept of dissatisfiers. These are measured as expressions of dissatisfaction as and when they occur. Their use removes the researcher's need, when designing user satisfaction instruments, to speculate on complete lists of factors which may satisfy users, and which may date as technology and other contextual factors change.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electromechanical Engineering

This thesis hypothesizes that providing task specific information to individual team members will improve coordination and decision-making, and therefore team performance, at time critical tasks. Major themes addressed in this research include teams and team processes, mental models, team mental models, work domain analysis, and hierarchical task analysis. Furthermore, the theory behind the development of complementary models is introduced. A unique method to identify the information sources and requirements in a complex team environment is first discussed in general and then specifically applied in two domains. The findings are presented of two experiments examining the effects of imposing different information distribution strategies that range from no complementariness to full complementariness of information. Team communication, team and individual task performance, workload, and timeliness and effectiveness of team decision making were assessed in nominal and off-nominal conditions. The first experiment used an automobile simulator and examined team navigation while driving. A second experiment was designed to incorporate additional measures to more specifically investigate individual performance, team workload, and clarity of information requirements using a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter simulator. The procedures used for both experiments provided for dynamic yet controlled environments through which critical factors that influence team process and performance could be evaluated accurately. Results of these experiments provide empirical evidence that providing task relevant information to individual team members in a time critical environment, while limiting their access to non-relevant information, improves individual and team performance. Furthermore, there is evidence of increased individual performance that indicates this method of distributing information among team members may provide individual crewmembers with a more accurate task relevant mental model of their own environment. This research provides new insight into how the distribution of information among team members effects the development of mental models, information requirements, team and individual performance, and communications, and highlights several directions for future research. The information distribution design principles presented in this thesis address the heterogeneity of teams; teams cannot be thought of as groups of identical individuals. The results concerning the communication, workload, performance and team of mental models were consistent across the domains in this research.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1988.

Even though construction components account for more than fifty percent of the total installed costs, industry practices still solely rely on the human ability to individually track thousands of these components on the site. These primitive tracking processes are inefficient, error-prone, and can significantly hinder project performance. Thus, previous research efforts observed that up to eighteen percent of craft work-hours was attributable to the unavailability of components required for installation. Recently, though, the notion that these ineffective tracking processes can highly benefit from the implementation of information technologies (IT) has gained industry acceptance. However, the reality is that this IT influence on construction performance has not yet been addressed. The objectives of this study are (1) to develop a methodology for the automated identification and localization of engineered components on large industrial projects, and (2) to assess and to quantify the impact of this automating tracking process on project performance. The identification and localization methodology is proposed based on the combination of advanced sensing devices and localization algorithms. The integration of global positioning system (GPS) and radio frequency identification (RFID) receivers facilitates a network-free data collection process capable of detecting the presence of large numbers of RFID-tagged components almost instantly. Based on the collected data, localization algorithms precisely estimate the coordinates of the tagged items. The precision of this automated approach is validated by means of lab and field experiments. Complementarily, the impact of this localization methodology on project performance was quantified during an extensive field trial on a large industrial site. For this purpose, field records from manual and automated tracking processes were collected during the trial. Then, the influence of the automated tracking process on construction performance was determined by considering the manual approach as the baseline for comparison. The results demonstrate that information technologies can significantly enhance project performance. / text

M. Tech. Business Information Systems / Companies that can effectively manage available information as they generate competitive intelligence without experiencing information overload are leaders in their industry. The research focus on how to avoid or manage causes of information overload while using Internet technologies to gather or collect intelligence during the competitive intelligence gathering. Furthermore, this study focused on this issue in the context of competitive intelligence as its field of application. The objective of this study was to develop and test a model to be used for developing guidelines for avoiding or managing causes of information overload when using Internet technologies to conduct the competitive intelligence process.