M.Tech. / Business Intelligence (BI) is a method used to improve on business decision-making, using collections of software applications and tools to view historical, current and predictive operations of a business. However, a company‟s BI solution will not be successful if it is not implemented in a comprehensive and strategic manner. There are three key issues that prevent organisations from benefiting from BI systems. These issues include the lack of pervasiveness of BI systems, managing a variety of non-related systems that do not work well together and using traditional methods that have not evolved to meet organisational needs (Koehler, 2008). BI vendors misinform many business users that BI tools are usable by all users in an organisation, and end up been too complex for the average user to use. The first mistake an organisation makes when assessing a BI system is neglecting to include business users on selecting the best option, although they will be the main users of the solution (Quinn, 2007). Many Information Technology (IT) departments ask for BI systems based on the assumption that once it is built, that users will automatically see the benefits. BI applications require a clear and intimate understanding of the business itself and it is only by working on business and IT issues in tandem that the real value of BI is realised (Hostmann, 2007).

LL.M. / Organisations are being placed under increased pressure by means of new laws, regulations and standards, to ensure that adequate information security exists within the organisation. The King II report introduced corporate South Africa to the concept of information security in 2002. In the same year the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 addressed certain technical information security issues such as digital signatures, authentication, and cryptography. Therefor, South Africa is increasingly focussing its attention on information security. This trend is in line with the approach taken by the rest of the international community, who are giving serious consideration to information security and the governance thereof. As organisations are waking up to the benefits offered by the digital world, information security governance is emerging as a business issue pivotal within the e-commerce environment. Most organisations make use of electronic communications systems such as e-mail, faxes, and the world-wide-web when performing their day-to-day business activities. However, all electronic transactions and communications inevitably involve information being used in one form or another. It may therefor be observed that information permeates every aspect of the business world. Consequently, the need exists to have information security governance in place to ensure that information security prevails. However, questions relating to: which organisation must deploy information security governance, why the organisation should concern itself with this discipline, how the organisation should go about implementing information security governance, and what consequences will ensue if the organisation fails to comply with this discipline, are in dispute. Uncertainty surrounding the answers to these questions contribute to the reluctance and skepticism with which this discipline is approached. This dissertation evolves around the legal implications of information security governance by establishing who is responsible for ensuring compliance with this discipline, illustrating the value to be derived from information security governance, the methodology of applying information security governance, and liability for non-compliance with this discipline, ultimately providing the reader with certainty and clarity regarding the above mentioned questions, while simultaneously enabling the reader to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the discipline information security governance. The discussion hereafter provides those who should be concerned with information security governance with practical, pragmatic advice and recommendations on: (i) The legal obligation to apply information security; (ii) Liability for failed information security; (iii) Guidelines on how to implement information security; and (iv) A due diligence assessment model against which those responsible for the governance and management of the organisation may benchmark their information security efforts.

Information systems (IS) are indelibly linked to the global economy and are indispensable to society and organizations. Despite the decisive function of IS in organizations today, IS development problems continue to plague organizations. The failure to get the system requirements right is considered to be one of the primary, if not the most significant, reasons for this high IS failure rate. Getting requirements right is most notably identified with Frederick Brooks' contention that requirements are the essence of what IT professionals do, all the rest being accidents or risk management. However, enterprise architecture (EA) may also provide the discipline to bridge the gap between effective requirements, organizational objectives, and the actual IS implementations. The intent of this research is to examine the relationship between IS development capabilities and requirements analysis and design capabilities within the context of enterprise architecture. To accomplish this, a survey of IT professionals within the Society for Information Management (SIM) was conducted. Results indicate support for the hypothesized relationship between IS development and requirements capabilities. The hypothesized relationships with the organizational demographics were not supported nor was the hypothesized positive relationship between requirements capabilities and EA perceptions. However, the nature of the relationship of requirements and EA provided important insight into the relationship leading to several explanations as to its meaning and contributions to research and practice. This research contributes to IS development knowledge by providing evidence of the essential role of requirements in IS development capabilities and in IS development maturity. Furthermore, contributions to the nascent field of EA research and practice include key insight into EA maturity, EA implementation success, and the role of IT professionals in EA teams. Moreover, these results provide a template and research plan of action to pursue further EA research in exploring EA maturity models and critical success factors, and the state of practice of EA in organizations

Thesis (M.A. (Information Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / International, national and local public and private sectors are shifting into Cloud Computing (CC). This paradigm shift is fuelled by technological and transformational changes of CC in every sector, including libraries. Presently in South Africa, some libraries still operate on the traditional ICT based desktop applications, whereas some hardly notice that CC is part of their daily activities such as carrying out transactions in the cloud services like emailing on Gmail. There is a major gap in terms of adopting and understanding CC technology in public libraries. Hence the study proposed to describe and explore the application and understanding of CC in Polokwane Municipal libraries. The study identified CC tools used by librarians and determined the level of librarians’ knowledge and understanding of CC. The study further measured perceptions of librarians towards CC and established factors influencing the use of CC in libraries. The researcher used a mixed-methods research approach and case study research design, located within postpositivism and interpretivism paradigm. The study was a census in nature because of the small population. Data was collected using questionnaire and interviews from 30 respondents who were librarians and participants who were library managers. Collected data were analysed through descriptive statistics and thematic data analysis. Findings from the study reveal that librarians are not fully using CC but use some of the CC applications such as google scholar, without having detailed knowledge and understanding. The study further found out that Polokwane Municipal libraries fail to adopt CC as a result of limited budget and poor internet connection. The study recommends intensive study on factors influencing adoption of CC, workshops and training for librarians, and initiatives on fundraising within these libraries.

We present an alternative paradigm for utility computing when the delivery of service is subject to binding contracts; the solution we propose is based on resource virtualization and a selfmanagement scheme. A virtual cloud aggregates set virtual machines to work in concert for the tasks specified by the service agreement. A first step for the establishment of a virtual cloud is to create a scale-free overlay network through a biased random walk; scale-free networks enjoy a set of remarkable properties such as: robustness against random failures, favorable scaling, and resilience to congestion, small diameter, and average path length. Constrains such as limits on the cost of per unit of service, total cost, or the requirement to use only “green" computing cycles are then considered when a node of this overlay network decides whether to join the virtual cloud or not. A VIRTUAL CLOUD consists of a subset of the nodes assigned to the tasks specified by a Service Level Agreement, SLA, as well as a virtual interconnection network, or overlay network, for the virtual cloud. SLAs could serve as a congestion control mechanism for an organization providing utility computing; this mechanism allows the system to reject new contracts when there is the danger of overloading the system and failing to fulfill existing contractual obligations. The objective of this thesis is to show that biased random walks in power law networks are capable of responding to dynamic changes of the workload in utility computing.

The primary purpose of this research is to establish to what extent, if any Zimbabwean companies proactively align their IT strategy with the business strategy as a way of building and sustaining business competitive advantage. The research seeks to provide further insights into the business performance implications of the alignment between IT and business strategies. It also seeks to determine if there are any linkages between strategic alignment, IT managerial resources and IT effectiveness. Last but not least, it examines whether alignment directly leads to increased business performance which Sabherwal & Chan (2001) terms ‘perceived business performance’. / Graduate School of Business Leadership / MBL

Thesis (MAcc (Accountancy))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The purpose of this assignment is to ascertain whether the COBIT framework is an adequate framework to assist in the governance of virtual private networks. The assignment focuses on whether the framework can ensure the identification of virtual private network-related risks and address IT compliance with policies and statutory regulations. A brief summary of the risks and issues pertaining to the pre-implementation, implementation and post-implementation phases of virtual private networks is included in the assignment. These risks and issues are then individually mapped onto a relevant COBIT control objective. The scope of the assignment does not include the intricacies of how these networks operate, the different types of network topologies or the different technologies used in virtual private networks. It was found that the COBIT framework can be implemented to manage and/or mitigate virtual private network risks.

Information Technology (IT) is often viewed as a resource that is capable of enhancing organizational performance. However, it is difficult for organizations to measure the actual contribution of IT investments. Despite an abundance of literature, there is an insufficiency of generally applicable frameworks and instruments to help organizations definitively assess the relationship among organizational performance, IT-business alignment, and IT governance. Previous studies have emphasized IT-business alignment as an important enabler of organizational effectiveness; however, the direct and indirect effects of IT governance have not been incorporated into these studies. The purpose of this study was (1) to propose a new model that defines the relationships among IT governance, IT-business alignment, and organizational performance, (2) to develop and validate measures for the IT governance and IT-business alignment constructs, and (3) to test this IT Governance-Alignment-Performance or "IT GAP" model. This study made some novel contributions to the understanding of the factors affecting organizational performance. The quest for IT-business alignment in the MIS literature has been based on the presumption that IT contributes directly to organizational performance. However, this study found that although IT-business alignment does contribute to organizational performance, IT governance is an important antecedent of both IT-business alignment and organizational performance. The major contributions of this work are the development and validation of uni-dimensional scales for both IT-business alignment and IT governance, and the confirmation of the validity of the IT GAP model to explain the hypothesized relationships among the three constructs. Future studies may improve upon this research by using different organizations settings, industries, and stakeholders. This study indicates that in order for organizations to improve the value, contribution, and alignment of IT investments they first need to improve the ways in which they govern their IT activities and the processes and mechanisms by which IT decisions are made.

Implementations of information technology solutions to address specific information problems are only successful when the technology is utilized. The antecedents of technology use involve user, system, task and organization characteristics as well as externalities which can affect all of these entities. However, measurement of the interaction effects between these entities can act as a proxy for individual attribute values. A model is proposed which based upon evaluation of these interaction effects can predict technology utilization. This model was tested with systems being implemented at a pediatric health care facility. Results from this study provide insight into the relationship between the antecedents of technology utilization. Specifically, task time provided significant direct causal effects on utilization. Indirect causal effects were identified in task value and perceived utility constructs. Perceived utility, along with organizational support also provided direct causal effects on user satisfaction. Task value also impacted user satisfaction in an indirect fashion. Also, results provide a predictive model and taxonomy of variables which can be applied to predict or manipulate the likelihood of utilization for planned technology.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, partly for the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg 2016 / This dissertation aims to identify whether or not there is clear and tangible evidence to suggest a relationship between the presence of total quality management (TQM) practices and service quality in the restaurant industry. It attempts to investigate if restaurants that show higher levels of service quality do so because they implement quality management practices in some form or another. The study considers four restaurants in Johannesburg. A research method was devised purely for this dissertation to measure the presence of quality management practices within the restaurant and the level of service quality experienced by the customer. Three research instruments were designed for the study by using various frameworks, specifically TQM (a type of quality management practice), the SERVQUAL instrument (a tool used to measure service quality) and qualitative research interviewing. Quality management practices at the restaurants were assessed using the first research instrument: The TQM Questionnaire, which was conducted as an interview between researcher and restaurant employees. The level of service quality was assessed using the second research instrument: The Customer Survey, which was dispensed to the restaurant customers. The third instrument, an observations table was used to corroborate the results obtained by the first two instruments and was designed by the researcher. The results of the TQM Questionnaire were analysed using content analysis, and each restaurant was assigned a total TQM score, which signified the degree to which they implement TQM practices. These scores were compared to the results obtained from the customer surveys, which assigned each restaurant with a SERVQUAL score that measured the degree of customer satisfaction. The TQM results were compared to the SERVQUAL results for each restaurant in order to identify a relationship between the two aspects. The research identified that 3 of the 4 restaurants showed a clear relationship between the presence of TQM practices in their operations and the level of service quality experienced by the customer. It was identified that restaurants that achieved high TQM scores also achieved the highest SERVQUAL scores. This finding recognises that there is a relationship between TQM and service quality, however the study does not go forward to investigate the nature of this relationship. / MT2016