In recent years, the number of regulations an organization needs to comply with has been increasing, and organizations have to ensure that their business processes are aligned with these regulations. However, because of the complexity and intended vagueness of regulations in general, it is not possible to treat them the same way as other types of requirements. On the other hand, the cost of being non-compliant can also be fairly high; non-compliance can cause crucial harm to the organization with financial penalties or loss of reputation. Therefore, it is very important for organizations to take a systematic approach to ensuring that their compliance with related laws, regulations and standards is established and maintained. To achieve this goal, this thesis proposes a model-based compliance analysis framework for business processes called Legal-URN. This framework is composed of four layers of abstraction linked to each other. The framework exploits the User Requirements Notation (URN) as the modeling language to describe and combine legal and organizational models. In order to model legal documents, legal statements are first classified into four classes of Hohfeldian rights, and then Hohfeldian models of the regulations and their statements are created. These models are further refined into legal goal and business process models via a domain-specific version of URN called Legal URN profile. To check the well-formedness of the models and to identify instances of non-compliance, 23 Object Constraint Language (OCL) rules are provided. In this thesis, the quantitative and qualitative analysis algorithms of URN's Goal-oriented Requirement Language are extended to help analyze quantitatively and qualitatively the degree of compliance of an organization to the legal models. Furthermore, with the help of a prioritization algorithm, the framework enables one to decide, while taking the organization goals into consideration, which non-compliant instances to address first in order to provide a suitable evolution path for business processes. In addition, to assess compliance with more than one regulation, a pair-wise comparison algorithm enables organizations to identify the similarities and conflicts among regulations and incorporate them in the models. The jUCMNav tool, an Eclipse plug-in for URN modeling and analysis, was extended to support the framework and its algorithms and rules. The thesis contributions are evaluated through a gap analysis based on a systematic literature review, a comparison with closely related work, and two case studies in the healthcare domain: one with a single regulation and realistic business processes, and a second with three additional regulations. We also identify the benefits and limitations of the framework, as well as potential extensions for future work. The Legal-URN framework provides a tool-supported, rigorous approach to compliance analysis of organizations against relevant regulations.

In recent years, the number of regulations an organization needs to comply with has been increasing, and organizations have to ensure that their business processes are aligned with these regulations. However, because of the complexity and intended vagueness of regulations in general, it is not possible to treat them the same way as other types of requirements. On the other hand, the cost of being non-compliant can also be fairly high; non-compliance can cause crucial harm to the organization with financial penalties or loss of reputation. Therefore, it is very important for organizations to take a systematic approach to ensuring that their compliance with related laws, regulations and standards is established and maintained. To achieve this goal, this thesis proposes a model-based compliance analysis framework for business processes called Legal-URN. This framework is composed of four layers of abstraction linked to each other. The framework exploits the User Requirements Notation (URN) as the modeling language to describe and combine legal and organizational models. In order to model legal documents, legal statements are first classified into four classes of Hohfeldian rights, and then Hohfeldian models of the regulations and their statements are created. These models are further refined into legal goal and business process models via a domain-specific version of URN called Legal URN profile. To check the well-formedness of the models and to identify instances of non-compliance, 23 Object Constraint Language (OCL) rules are provided. In this thesis, the quantitative and qualitative analysis algorithms of URN's Goal-oriented Requirement Language are extended to help analyze quantitatively and qualitatively the degree of compliance of an organization to the legal models. Furthermore, with the help of a prioritization algorithm, the framework enables one to decide, while taking the organization goals into consideration, which non-compliant instances to address first in order to provide a suitable evolution path for business processes. In addition, to assess compliance with more than one regulation, a pair-wise comparison algorithm enables organizations to identify the similarities and conflicts among regulations and incorporate them in the models. The jUCMNav tool, an Eclipse plug-in for URN modeling and analysis, was extended to support the framework and its algorithms and rules. The thesis contributions are evaluated through a gap analysis based on a systematic literature review, a comparison with closely related work, and two case studies in the healthcare domain: one with a single regulation and realistic business processes, and a second with three additional regulations. We also identify the benefits and limitations of the framework, as well as potential extensions for future work. The Legal-URN framework provides a tool-supported, rigorous approach to compliance analysis of organizations against relevant regulations.

Mining is essential to the human well-being in many aspects. Mining activities, however, contribute significantly to pollution and other environmental impacts in South Africa. Recently much more stringent environmental legislation has been developed in South Africa due to increased public awareness and environmental disasters caused by mining activities. Authorisations constitute one of the main "command and control" instruments that can be used to influence and direct the behaviour of individuals and organisations to achieve sound environmental protection ultimately. The problem is that in the ever-changing maze of South African environmental legislation, it is often difficult for individuals and organisations to identify, obtain and maintain environmental authorisations. This article provides a legislative framework for the mining sector, explores the purpose and importance of environmental authorisations, gives an overview of the underlying relationship between environmental authorisations, risk assessment and environmental management systems before proposing a generic procedure for identifying, obtaining and maintaining environmental authorisations. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Mining is essential to the human well-being in many aspects. Mining activities, however, contribute significantly to pollution and other environmental impacts in South Africa. Recently much more stringent environmental legislation has been developed in South Africa due to increased public awareness and environmental disasters caused by mining activities. Authorisations constitute one of the main "command and control" instruments that can be used to influence and direct the behaviour of individuals and organisations to achieve sound environmental protection ultimately. The problem is that in the ever-changing maze of South African environmental legislation, it is often difficult for individuals and organisations to identify, obtain and maintain environmental authorisations. This article provides a legislative framework for the mining sector, explores the purpose and importance of environmental authorisations, gives an overview of the underlying relationship between environmental authorisations, risk assessment and environmental management systems before proposing a generic procedure for identifying, obtaining and maintaining environmental authorisations. / Thesis (M. Environmental Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is recognised worldwide as a tool for identifying the potential adverse effects of a proposed development on the environment. Very little attention has been given to determining the actual environmental effects resulting from a development. The need for EIA follow–up (i.e. monitoring, auditing, evaluation, management and communication) was identified and would form the building blocks within the EIA process. Follow–up provides information about the consequences of an activity and presents opportunities to implement adequate mitigation measures. EIA follow–up is not developed to its full potential even though the need for it is acknowledged and supported in legislation, scientific journals and scientific books. EIA follow–up necessitates feedback in the EIA process to ensure lessons learnt and outcomes from past experiences can be applied in future actions. Follow–up is only a legal requirement if conditions are specified in the environmental authorisation (EA). Of particular concern to follow–up is the accuracy of prediction and secondly, the level of compliance to conditions set out in the authorization and management plans. This study will focus primarily on critically analysing predictions and compliance from the construction phase of a high profile mega shopping mall project, namely the Mooi River Mall (MRM), with an analysis to gauge the actual effect and contribution of the EIA process to decision making and implementation practices. Multiple data sources were used to determine the accuracy of predictions and legal compliance level of the Mooi River Mall. The Mooi River Mall's accuracy of predictions (66%) and legal compliance (83%) suggest that some of the impacts were unavoidable; that mitigation measures were either not implemented or identified or that EIA follow–up served its purpose in the form of implementing effective auditing programmes to monitor legal compliance. / Thesis (M.Sc (Environmental Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is recognised worldwide as a tool for identifying the potential adverse effects of a proposed development on the environment. Very little attention has been given to determining the actual environmental effects resulting from a development. The need for EIA follow–up (i.e. monitoring, auditing, evaluation, management and communication) was identified and would form the building blocks within the EIA process. Follow–up provides information about the consequences of an activity and presents opportunities to implement adequate mitigation measures. EIA follow–up is not developed to its full potential even though the need for it is acknowledged and supported in legislation, scientific journals and scientific books. EIA follow–up necessitates feedback in the EIA process to ensure lessons learnt and outcomes from past experiences can be applied in future actions. Follow–up is only a legal requirement if conditions are specified in the environmental authorisation (EA). Of particular concern to follow–up is the accuracy of prediction and secondly, the level of compliance to conditions set out in the authorization and management plans. This study will focus primarily on critically analysing predictions and compliance from the construction phase of a high profile mega shopping mall project, namely the Mooi River Mall (MRM), with an analysis to gauge the actual effect and contribution of the EIA process to decision making and implementation practices. Multiple data sources were used to determine the accuracy of predictions and legal compliance level of the Mooi River Mall. The Mooi River Mall's accuracy of predictions (66%) and legal compliance (83%) suggest that some of the impacts were unavoidable; that mitigation measures were either not implemented or identified or that EIA follow–up served its purpose in the form of implementing effective auditing programmes to monitor legal compliance. / Thesis (M.Sc (Environmental Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Sexual violence has been a highly prevalent problem on university campuses in the United States for decades. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 banned sex-based discrimination in schools, which was, years later, understood to include sexual violence. As with any law, decades of the building of social meaning around the law's scope and meaning ensued. Sociologists generally argue that organizations do the bare minimum to meet social meanings of “compliance” with law, and prioritize social appearances over meeting the goal of the law. Here I test that assertion in looking at how universities have responded to a specific portion of Title IX law. Since 1975 schools must designate at least one employee to handle Title IX compliance. Here I investigate how universities have responded to this mandate via an online survey I conducted of 400 Title IX employees in 2019. I achieved an institutional response rate of 33%.I first present a description of the structure of Title IX employee designation, finding that universities have many Title IX employees, and not merely one as seems to have been an operating assumption by previous researchers of Title IX. I find that about 40% of universities have a sole-role Title IX employee, which is higher than previous estimates have found. And while I find that universities more sensitive to their legal environments have been more likely to establish sole-role Title IX employees or have numerous Title IX employees compared to their less sensitive counterparts, these effects largely disappear when bringing in time. Essentially, time is the main predictor for whether institutions establish sole-role Title IX employees. I test whether the establishment of a sole-role Title IX employee leads to a bump in formal reports of sex offenses, indicating a positive outcome. I do not find evidence that sole-role Title IX employees are a substantive structure that move universities closer toward meeting the goal of the law. I explain that sole-role Title IX employees may not be effective because one full-time employee is still not enough to prevent, respond to, investigate, and adjudicate sexual violence in a campus community. I conclude that there is much more work that needs to be done, and Title IX employees need more support and resources from their administrations if that work is to ever be fully successful. / Sociology

Background: Business process compliance management has recently attracted a lot of attention in both business and academia as it enables organizations to not only control and monitor their business processes from a legal point of view but also to avoid financial penalties and undesirable consequences to their reputation. Objective: This thesis aims to provide a framework that would enable organizations to: 1- Discover business processes that violate regulations, laws and policies; 2- Discover the importance level of business processes based on the organization’s goals; 3- Determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies; and 4- Enable organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies. Methodology: A systematic literature review in the area of goal-oriented business process compliance management and measurement has been conducted, which showed that balancing legal compliance obligations with business objectives remains a difficult challenge. A new Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework (IPCF), which combines policy and rule models together with models capturing business goals (with their relative importance to the organization) and business processes, has been proposed. This framework builds on the User Requirements Notation (URN), which is the first international standard to combine goal modeling with scenario modeling. The intents and objectives of policies have been modeled, as well as the goals and business processes of organizations, and indicators are used to measure the compliance level of policies. This enables the detection of non-compliant business processes and the evaluation of the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals. Human resource policies and business processes are used as an example to illustrate the method. Aerodrome security regulations and business processes are then used to validate the method in a real-life environment. Comparisons to related work, evaluation against different sets of criteria, and tool support complement the framework validation. Results: The Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework enables organizations to discover business processes that violate policies as well as other types of rules, regulations, and laws. Guidelines for modeling legal text with URN’s Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL) are proposed. Furthermore, IPCF helps determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies. In addition, as policies sometimes apply differently to different types of organizations, a new profile for GRL, with suitable stereotypes, well-formedness constraints, and a modified analysis algorithm defined for GRL model families is used to evaluate the satisfaction level of individual goal models that are members of a larger family model. Finally, the proposed IPCF enables organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies, and such measures can be visualized directly in URN models but also through interactive Business Intelligence portals, for a wider diffusion.

Background: Business process compliance management has recently attracted a lot of attention in both business and academia as it enables organizations to not only control and monitor their business processes from a legal point of view but also to avoid financial penalties and undesirable consequences to their reputation. Objective: This thesis aims to provide a framework that would enable organizations to: 1- Discover business processes that violate regulations, laws and policies; 2- Discover the importance level of business processes based on the organization’s goals; 3- Determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies; and 4- Enable organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies. Methodology: A systematic literature review in the area of goal-oriented business process compliance management and measurement has been conducted, which showed that balancing legal compliance obligations with business objectives remains a difficult challenge. A new Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework (IPCF), which combines policy and rule models together with models capturing business goals (with their relative importance to the organization) and business processes, has been proposed. This framework builds on the User Requirements Notation (URN), which is the first international standard to combine goal modeling with scenario modeling. The intents and objectives of policies have been modeled, as well as the goals and business processes of organizations, and indicators are used to measure the compliance level of policies. This enables the detection of non-compliant business processes and the evaluation of the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals. Human resource policies and business processes are used as an example to illustrate the method. Aerodrome security regulations and business processes are then used to validate the method in a real-life environment. Comparisons to related work, evaluation against different sets of criteria, and tool support complement the framework validation. Results: The Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework enables organizations to discover business processes that violate policies as well as other types of rules, regulations, and laws. Guidelines for modeling legal text with URN’s Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL) are proposed. Furthermore, IPCF helps determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies. In addition, as policies sometimes apply differently to different types of organizations, a new profile for GRL, with suitable stereotypes, well-formedness constraints, and a modified analysis algorithm defined for GRL model families is used to evaluate the satisfaction level of individual goal models that are members of a larger family model. Finally, the proposed IPCF enables organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies, and such measures can be visualized directly in URN models but also through interactive Business Intelligence portals, for a wider diffusion.

Background: Business process compliance management has recently attracted a lot of attention in both business and academia as it enables organizations to not only control and monitor their business processes from a legal point of view but also to avoid financial penalties and undesirable consequences to their reputation. Objective: This thesis aims to provide a framework that would enable organizations to: 1- Discover business processes that violate regulations, laws and policies; 2- Discover the importance level of business processes based on the organization’s goals; 3- Determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies; and 4- Enable organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies. Methodology: A systematic literature review in the area of goal-oriented business process compliance management and measurement has been conducted, which showed that balancing legal compliance obligations with business objectives remains a difficult challenge. A new Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework (IPCF), which combines policy and rule models together with models capturing business goals (with their relative importance to the organization) and business processes, has been proposed. This framework builds on the User Requirements Notation (URN), which is the first international standard to combine goal modeling with scenario modeling. The intents and objectives of policies have been modeled, as well as the goals and business processes of organizations, and indicators are used to measure the compliance level of policies. This enables the detection of non-compliant business processes and the evaluation of the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals. Human resource policies and business processes are used as an example to illustrate the method. Aerodrome security regulations and business processes are then used to validate the method in a real-life environment. Comparisons to related work, evaluation against different sets of criteria, and tool support complement the framework validation. Results: The Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework enables organizations to discover business processes that violate policies as well as other types of rules, regulations, and laws. Guidelines for modeling legal text with URN’s Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL) are proposed. Furthermore, IPCF helps determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies. In addition, as policies sometimes apply differently to different types of organizations, a new profile for GRL, with suitable stereotypes, well-formedness constraints, and a modified analysis algorithm defined for GRL model families is used to evaluate the satisfaction level of individual goal models that are members of a larger family model. Finally, the proposed IPCF enables organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies, and such measures can be visualized directly in URN models but also through interactive Business Intelligence portals, for a wider diffusion.