Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The study has been triggered by the increase in information breaches in organisations. Organisations may have policies and procedures, strategies and systems in place in order to mitigate the risk of information breaches; however, data breaches are still on the rise. Governments across the world have or are putting in place laws around data protection which organisations have to align their process, strategies and systems to. The continuous and rapid emergence of new technology is making it even easier for information breaches to occur. In particular, the focus of this study is aimed at the information management systems in a selected financial institution in South Africa. Based on the objectives, this study: explored the shortfalls of information security on a South African financial institution; investigated whether data remains separate while privacy is ensured; investigated responsiveness of business processes on information management; investigated the capability of systems on information management; investigated the strategies formulated for information management and finally, investigated projects and programmes aimed at addressing information management. Quantitative, as well as qualitative analysis, was employed whereby questionnaires were sent to employees who were employed at junior management positions. Semi- structured in-depth interviews were self-administered whereby the researcher interviewed senior management at the organisation. These senior managers from different value chains are responsible for implementing information management policies and strategy.

M.Com. (Business Management) / The ultimate objective of this research report was to develop a Decision Support System, (DSS), that can be used by property professionals to enable them to make better decisions regarding property development in South Africa. The DSS addresses the problem of numerous uncertain variables in property development investment decisions. The capability of the computer to do repetitive calculations with different combinations of variables, with probabilities linked to each variable, was used in a Monte Carlo analysis. The DSS was developed on a "Lotus 1-2-3™ Release 4 for Windows" spreadsheet which makes the program adaptable to suit specific applications if the need arises. The DSSwill, however, be able to address the majority of property developments without any adaptation. The DSS was appraised by property professionals and the comments received from the respondents indicate that the primary objective stated was achieved. The DSS is best suited for property investors who are also involved in the early development phases.

Vast amounts of data are collected on a daily basis, making it difficult for humans to derive at valuable information to make effective decisions. In recent years, the field of Business Intelligence (BI) and Information Visualisation (IV) have become a key driver of an organisation’s success. BI tools supporting decision making need to be accessible to a larger audience on different levels of the organisation. The problem is that non-expert users, or novice users, of BI tools do not have the technical knowledge to conduct data analysis and often rely on expert users to assist. For this reason, BI vendors are shifting their focus to self-service BI, a relatively new term where novice users can analyse data without the traditional human mediator. Despite the proliferation of self-service BI tools, limited research is available on their usability and design considerations to assist novice users with decision making and BI analysis. The contribution of this study is a conceptual framework for designing, evaluating or selecting BI tools that support non-expert users to create dashboards (the BI Framework). A dashboard is a particular IV technique that enables users to view critical information at a glance. The main research problem addressed by this study is that non-expert users often have to utilise a number of software tools to conduct data analysis and to develop visualisations, such as BI dashboards. The research problem was further investigated by following a two-step approach. The first approach was to investigate existing problems by using an in-depth literature review in the fields of BI and IV. The second approach was to conduct a field study (Field Study 1) using a development environment consisting of a number of software components of which SAP Xcelsius was the main BI tool used to create a dashboard. The aim of the field study was to compare the identified problems and requirements with those found in literature. The results of the problem analysis revealed a number of problems in terms of BI software. One of the major problems is that BI tools do not adequately guide users through a logical process to conduct data analysis. In addition, the process becomes increasingly difficult when several BI tools are involved that need to be integrated. The results showed positive aspects when the data was mapped to a visualisation, which increased the users’ understanding of data they were analysing. The results were verified in a focus group discussion and were used to establish an initial set of problems and requirements, which were then synthesised with the problems and requirements identified from literature. Once the major problems were verified, a framework was established to guide the design of BI dashboard tools for novice users. The framework includes a set of design guidelines and usability evaluation criteria for BI tools. An extant systems analysis was conducted using BI tools to compare the advantages and disadvantages. The results revealed that a number of tools could be used by non-experts, however, their usability hinders users. All the participants used in all field studies and evaluations were Computer Science (CS) and Information Systems (IS) students. Participants were specially sourced from a higher education institution such as the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU). A second field study (Field Study 2) was conducted with participants using another traditional BI tool identified from the extant systems analysis, PowerPivot. The objective of this field study was to verify the design guidelines and related features that served as a BI Scorecard that can be used to select BI tools. Another BI tool, Tableau, was used for the final evaluation. The final evaluation was conducted with a large participant sample consisting of IS students in their second and third year of study. The results for the two groups revealed a significant difference between participants’ education levels and the usability ratings of Tableau. Additionally, the results indicated a significant relationship between the participants’ experience level and the usability ratings of Tableau. The usability ratings of Tableau were mostly positive and the results revealed that participants found the tool easy to use, flexible and efficient. The proposed BI Framework can be used to assist organisations when evaluating BI tools for adoption. Furthermore, designers of BI tools can use the framework to improve the usability of these tools, reduce the workload for users when creating dashboards, and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of decision support.

This is a case study of Linkage, and the factors that influence the social dimension of Linkage, as found in the Canadian Forces at the base, or business unit, level. In the course of this study, eight Canadian Forces bases or units were examined to assess their current state of Linkage with regard to Information Technology (IT) Management. The Department of National Defence is a public service organization responsible for the defence of Canada. Like many large organizations today, the Canadian Forces (CF), is faced with budget cuts, and needs to downsize. There is an awareness within the CF that effective use of IT is one way to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness in a time of cutbacks. The traditional infrastructure of the CF has not kept pace with IT developments in functional areas, such as within its own Administration Branch. An information handling crisis is being faced by all Administration Branch personnel, and this situation is mirrored across other branches of the CF. In the course of this study of the business unit level of the CF, it was determined that Short and Long Term Linkage was influenced by Communication and Shared Domain Knowledge factors. Research results also indicated that Success in IT Implementation did not influence Linkage. Several other contributing factors were also identified, and a Canadian Forces Information Technology Management Partnership System was proposed to overcome these Linkage barriers. The importance of effective management of IT cannot be underestimated. If effective consideration of IT is made a part of the business planning process, Management Information Systems (MIS) practitioners will allow businesses, including militaries, to extract the full benefit and advantage from modern technological developments and procedures. Such is the goal of MIS, and of this work. / Business, Sauder School of / Management Information Systems, Division of / Graduate

M.Comm. (Computer Auditing) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

D.Ing. / This study documents the process whereby a practical and relevant industry-wide strategic management information system (SMIS) was developed for the South African consulting engineering industry. The SMIS was designed to provide South African consulting engineers with an improved understanding of the business environment in which they operate and to provide some advance warning of new trends in order to extend the strategic planning horizons of management and owners of consulting engineering firms. This was done against a background of very limited availability of current industry statistics. A literature survey of available historical or secondary data relating to the South African consulting engineering, building and construction industries was conducted in order to determine the relevance and usefulness of such data for the purposes of developing the SMIS. This survey provided background information on the consulting engineering industry, relevant aspects of the South African business environment and the impact of changes in this environment on the local consulting engineering industry. The importance and principles of strategic planning and strategic management are discussed, with specific reference to the nature of environmental scanning. The use of management information systems in the business environment is reviewed with specific emphasis on the application of management information systems in consulting engineering enterprises. The quantitative secondary data collected in the literature survey was used as a benchmark or reference databank to calibrate and/ or evaluate the accuracy of the information collected through ten regular industry surveys that were conducted to collect statistically representative primary data. The secondary and primary data were used to construct a number of time series for each of three key indicators of the health of the South African consulting engineering industry, namely employment, salaries and fee income. The SMIS developed, consists of: • A system to identify new key issues in the business environment and to decide on issues that no longer require further monitoring, • a system of industry surveys at fixed intervals, using both quantitative and qualitative survey techniques, • a system to capture and interpret survey data, • updating time series for key business indicators with latest survey data, and • producing reports on the state of the industry, including limited short term forecasts for business conditions. The SMIS has proved itself useful and provides information to assist strategic management in the South African consulting engineering industry, especially in decision situations regarding large strategic management issues. The system also manages to address the needs of other current and potential users of the system, such as operational managers, industry lobbyists, media liaison and public relations managers, human resources managers, construction contractors etc. The SMIS furthermore complies with all the specific criteria that were set at the commencement of this study, such as confidential handling of source data, affordability and sustainability and, by improving general understanding of the business of consulting engineering in South Africa, contributes to the previously existing knowledge base.

M.A. / The information economy, brought about by the advances in information and communications technology, has led to significant changes in the work environment. Organisations and workers must be flexible and are required to adjust quickly to demands from external and internal market forces. Employees are expected to be knowledge workers who are not only computer literate, but information literate as well. The high demand for flexibility has led to a trend that allows workers to perform their duties in locations outside of their traditional workspace. This trend has been named teleworking or telecommuting. A literature study revealed similarities and differences between the work environment of the knowledge worker and that of the teleworker. Both the teleworker and the knowledge worker are interacting in an environment that consists of individual, group and organisational processes. These processes are interrelated and none of them can be viewed in isolation. The factors that influence the knowledge worker also affect the teleworker, but the extent and focus of the influence vary. The features of the work environment of the knowledge worker and the teleworker provided the context for investigating the information environment of both. The information environment of the knowledge worker revealed certain distinct features, such as the manner in which documents and information were managed and the systems that were used. These features were compared with the information environment of the teleworker through an investigation of teleworkers in South Africa. Although very few, if any, South African organisations were involved in formal teleworking programmes, it was possible to establish certain trends through employees who had an ad hoc arrangement with their organisations. In conclusion, it was found that the information environment of the teleworker was somewhat similar to that of the knowledge worker, but certain distinctions also came to the fore. Further areas for research were also identified.

M.Comm. / The South African Transport Services is one of the largest undertakings in the Republic of South Africa. It is a multi-modal undertaking employing approximately 212 000 people and has a turnover in excess of R8 000 million per annum. During a strategic planning excercise the top management of the South African Transport Services identified an effective management information system as a critical success factor to the well being of the undertaking on the premise that information forms the basis for sound management decision-making. The need for relevant information for decision-making has never been more real than at present. The South African Transport Services is facing a market situation of ever-increasing competition. As the move towards deregulation in the RSA gathers momentum, the competition will become even greater. The information resource will have to respond to the challenge and provide management with timely, relevant information to make sound decisions. This study has as its goal the setting of a number of guidelines which will enable the management of the South African Transport Services to prepare a strategic information plan for the undertaking. As a result of the conclusions drawn from the literature study an investigation was conducted into the characteristics of the South African Transport Services with the accent on the present availability, distribution and use of information. This study was undertaken at three levels. At the first level stock was taken of the formal information which is at present supplied to top management. A number of conclusions were drawn as to the application, volume, relevance, accuracy and timeliness of the information. At the same time the views of top management were obtained on their perception of the most important information problems in the South African Transport Services.

Software development methodologies provide guidelines and practices for developing information systems. They have evolved over time from traditional plan-driven methodologies to incremental and iterative software development methodologies. The Agile Manifesto was released in 2001, which provides values and principles for agile software development. Over the last few years, agile software development has become popular because its values and principles focus on addressing the needs of contemporary software development. IT and Business teams need agility to deal with changes that can emerge during software development due to changing business needs. Agile software development practices claim to provide the ability to deal with such changes. Various research studies have identified many factors/variables that are important for agile software development such as team autonomy, communication, and organizational culture. Most of these empirical studies on agile software development focus on just a few variables. The relationships among the variables is still not understood. The dimensions of agility and the relationship between agility and other variables have not been studied quantitatively in the literature. Also, there is no comprehensive framework to explain agile software development. This research study addresses these research gaps. This study analyzed a comprehensive research model that included antecedent variables (team autonomy, team competence), process variables (collaborative decision making, iterative development, communication), delivery capability, agility, and project outcomes (change satisfaction, customer satisfaction). It presents key dimensions of agility and quantitatively analyzes the relationship between agility and other variables. The PLS analysis of one hundred and sixty survey responses show that process variables mediate the relationship between antecedent variables and delivery capability and agility. The findings show that the delivery capability of the teams contributes to agility, antecedents and process variables contribute to agility, and delivery capability for better customer satisfaction. These results will help IS practitioners to understand the variables that are necessary to achieve agility for better project outcomes. Also, these quantitative findings provide better conceptual clarity about the relationship between various key variables related to agile software development.

Environmental science is a growing field that draws data from a broad range of disciplines. These data represent the intellectual and financial efforts of countless individuals and institutions and are invaluable for continued research on the environment. This thesis details three case studies that center on providing users with improved access to environmental data and suggest an information model. Users will be better served by environmental information systems that provide detail on the strengths and limitations of data in archives, and that give direct access to individual measurements accompanied by metadata. Metadata provides the required, essential summary of the applicability of data. The first case study describes the creation of a prototype metadata system CODIS (the Continental and Oceanographic Information System). It examines the creation of an effective database organization for a multidisciplinary information system and the generation of conventions and techniques to assemble and structure multidisciplinary data. These conventions included the requirement for input using previously prepared lists and the development of parallel data structures between disciplines to facilitate data entry and searching. This improved database organization was demonstrated to decrease the time needed for data entry while reducing error rates in the entered data. Data in CODIS are appraised for reliability using discipline-specific protocols. The protocols are based on a dichotomous, decision tree format accompanied by detailed guidelines. The output from the appraisal process is a non-hierarchical assessment based on a five-point scale and comments from appraisers. These products inform users about the reliability of the included data. The protocols were examined for repeatability and replication between appraisals. The outputs from the appraisal processes were demonstrated to be comparable to peer review. Contextual evaluation, developed in the second case study, provides insight into the potential applicability of data in databases. The NCIS (National Contaminants Information System) study examines the development of a system to create contextual metadata to be stored with archival data. Contextual evaluation is carried out by examining and documenting each step in the experimental process. This study entailed developing a set of protocols for the assessment, and creating educational tools to ensure their effective implementation. NCIS groups datasets as either experiments or surveys, with only experiments being evaluated for context. It was necessary to develop a unified organizational scheme to classify diverse research and monitoring activities into defined categories. The process was reviewed and a refined version is currently in use across Canada in the implementation of NCIS. The case study highlighted difficulties associated with the division into experiments and surveys. The third case study examines the censoring of data, a practice that involves reporting values as unknown or undetected when their existence is known. This study of the British Columbia, Ministry of Environment’s Environmental Management System (EMS) examines the limitations placed on secondary users and metadata systems by storing censored data in archives. It includes a survey of current practices in environmental analytical laboratories and investigates the statistical tools used to remediate censored data. The case study concludes that censoring of data severely limits the secondary use of otherwise high-quality data. A gap-analysis of the studied systems leads to a set of recommendations and responsibilities that highlight the critical insights derived from the case studies and emphasize shared responsibility by all partners in the data-to-decision process. The thesis then presents a three-tiered conceptual model for a general environmental information system. In order to facilitate this task three new information elements are proposed and defined: datasets, infosets and metasets. It is anticipated that this work may serve to influence the direction of environmental data management practices by providing a model for future environmental information systems. / Graduate