This dissertation explores the use of smart devices to measure the environmental landscape performance (LP) of landscape projects. It proposes and evaluates an alternative landscape performance measurement framework (ALPMF) with smart device assistance. By providing new measurement methods and tools, it aims to fill some existing and potential gaps in LP and promote its development. LP has been proposed in landscape architecture to measure landscape projects' sustainable benefits. Due to LP research's short development history, some gaps exist, including one-time measurements, a lack of standard evaluation methods, and insufficient measurement tools. Given the advantages of smart devices in data collection and the successful application of smart devices in other design-related fields, this dissertation explores their feasibility as assessment tools in environmental LP studies. It begins by analyzing each LP research case's report listed on the Landscape Performance Series (LPS) website to explore the limitations of traditional measurement methods and tools. Following a survey of professionals' perspectives on LP metrics. Based on the survey results, the researcher selects certain air quality and water quality LP metrics as variables (air temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, total dissolved solids, and electronic conductivity) for subsequent experiments. Two experiments explore smart devices' strengths and limitations in collecting LP data and measuring landscape projects' LP in terms of accuracy, real-time, spatial resolution, and longitudinal analysis. The researcher proposes the ALPMF and conducts a comparative study with the traditional landscape performance measurement framework (TLPMF) to measure a project's LP. By comparing methods, tools, and results, the study examines the advantages and effectiveness of the ALPMF to a certain extent and explores its limitations. The research results show that smart devices and the ALPMF can provide more accurate, real-time, spatial resolution, and longitudinal LP data. The results also demonstrate the effectiveness of the ALPMP. Furthermore, this dissertation offers several insights and suggestions for further developing smart devices and the ALPMF in LP and landscape architecture. This dissertation fills some research gaps and provides new tools and methods for future LP measurement. It contributes to improving landscape projects' sustainable values and refining the landscape architectural design guidelines. As an interdisciplinary study, it also provides an example of the intersection of landscape architecture with other disciplines, such as mechanical engineering and computer science. It helps to broaden the knowledge boundary of landscape architecture. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation aims to evaluate the contribution of landscape architecture projects to sustainable development using smart devices. It proposes and preliminarily tests an alternative landscape performance measurement framework (ALPMF). This new framework aims to improve the traditional landscape performance measurement framework (TLPMF) and enhance future projects' landscape performance (LP). This research is important, especially in the current context of climate change. It explores how landscape architecture can enhance public quality of life and contribute to environmental improvements such as carbon sequestration and water quality. The researcher conducted a literature review, surveyed professionals to gather opinions, and performed experiments to provide empirical data. The results reveal: 1) gaps in traditional LP research, 2) advantages and disadvantages of using smart devices, 3) effectiveness of the ALPMF, and 4) contributions to sustainable development through improved design guidelines. In summary, this study provides methods and tools to 1) fill some gaps in the LP, 2) help improve the sustainable values of future landscape projects, 3) impact related urban planning or environmental protection policy formulation, 4) raise public awareness of the importance of landscape architecture in promoting sustainability, 5) and help to expand the boundaries of the landscape architecture discipline to better contribute to improving public's life quality. The researcher hopes this dissertation study can stimulate more research and discussion and provide positive changes to the LP and landscape architecture.

Background and purpose. This thesis documents a program of five studies concerned with the assessment of software measurement. The goal of this program is to assist the software industry to improve the information support for managers, analysts and software engineers by providing evidence of where opportunities for improving measurement and analysis exist. Methods. The first study examined the assessment of software measurement frameworks using models of best practice based on performance/success factors. The software measurement frameworks of thirteen organisations were surveyed. The association between a factor and the outcome experienced with the organisations' frameworks was then evaluated. The subsequent studies were more info-centric and investigated using models of information quality to assess the support provided for software processes. For these studies, information quality models targeting specific software processes were developed using practitioner focus groups. The models were instantiated in survey instruments and the responses were analysed to identify opportunities to improve the information support provided. The final study compared the use of two different information quality models for the assessing and improving information support. Assessments of the same quantum of information were made using a targeted model and a generic model. The assessments were then evaluated by an expert panel in order to identify which information quality model was more effective for improvement purposes. Results. The study of performance factors for software measurement frameworks confirmed the association of some factors with success and quantified that association. In particular, it demonstrated the importance of evaluating contextual factors. The conclusion is that factor-based models may be appropriately used for risk analysis and for identifying constraints on measurement performance. Note, however, that a follow-up study showed that some initially successful frameworks subsequently failed. This implied an instability in the dependent variable, success, that could reduce the value of factor-based models for predicting success. The studies of targeted information quality models demonstrated the effectiveness of targeted assessments for identifying improvement opportunities and suggest that they are likely to be more effective for improvement purposes than using generic information quality models. The studies also showed the effectiveness of importance-performance analysis for prioritizing improvement opportunities.

To measure the performance of research and development organizations has long been a difficult task and still is partly due to the complex nature of its processes and activities, but also since the outcome in many cases can be seen first after many years. Also, the outcome is dependent on efforts from several other business functions within an organization. There has been a shift in how organizations view R&D, from being technology-push centered, where R&D had full responsibility of all innovations, to collaborating with innovation across functions within a company. Historically, R&D has been considered to be impossible to manage and control, but as the development has taken place R&D is now aligned with an organization’s business strategy. There is a vast amount of literature on performance measurement systems with focus on R&D to access, however, the focus of that research has been on evaluating performance of an entire R&D department or a specific project and not as much can be found on how to evaluate R&D related activities, which is what this thesis centers on. The research in this thesis has been done by conducting a case study at Sandvik Materials Technology’s R&D department in Sandviken, Sweden. Three case study objects have been studied within the case study and these objects are the OCTG project, non-destructive testing and hydraulic & instrumentation tubing. The case study consisted of interviews with employees at various functions within the company, an extensive literature review as well as a review of internal documentation. The result from the case study has been the design of a performance measurement  ramework and its application to the three case study objects, illustrating that it is possible to measure the performance of R&D related activities, thus, enabling a more transparent view of what value R&D contributes with. The framework is created in a way that allows for other organizations with similar settings as the one currently in place at Sandvik Materials Technology to utilize it. Implications from the findings have an impact both from an industrial and research perspective, but also from a sustainability perspective. The industrial implication is that a framework for evaluating and illustrating the performance of a R&D organization on an activity level has been designed. Considering the research aspects, this research contributes to the identified gap in the existing body of knowledge, providing additional knowledge on performance measurement systems on an activity level. From a sustainability perspective the framework enables monitoring and supervising of important processes, which could stimulate employees to undertake necessary actions, potentially leading to reduced negative impact on the environment since a lesser amount of resources and energy is consumed. / Att mäta prestationen av forskning- och utvecklingsorganisationer har länge varit en svår uppgift, vilket det fortfarande delvis är på grund av de komplexa processer och aktiviteter som existerar. Detta beror även på att resultatet av forskning och utveckling (FoU) ej synliggörs förrän långt senare. Vidare är resultatet av FoU beroende av insatser från andra funktioner inom en organisation. Det har skett ett skifte i hur organisationer ser på forskning och utveckling, från att tidigare varit drivna av att utveckla teknologier med fullständigt ansvar för innovationer till att nu arbeta med innovation över funktionsgränserna som existerar i en organisation. Historiskt sett har FoU setts som omöjligt att styra och kontrollera men i takt med att skiftet har skett så är forskning och utveckling nu i linje med en organisations affärsstrategi. Litteratur på ämnet prestationsmätningssystem med fokus på FoU finns att tillgå, men fokus i de studierna har varit att utvärdera prestationen av hela FoU-organisationer eller specifika projekt. Desto mindre finns på ämnet hur man utvärderar FoU-relaterade aktiviteter, vilket är fokus i denna studie. Studien i detta arbete har utförts som en fallstudie på Sandvik Materials Technology’s forsknings- och utvecklingsenhet i Sandviken, Sverige. Tre fallstudieobjekt har studerats inom fallstudien och dessa objekt är OCTG-projektet, oförstörande provning och hydraulik- och instrumentrör. Fallstudien har bestått av intervjuer med anställda på diverse funktioner inom företaget och en extensiv genomgång av litteratur har gjorts samt en genomgång av intern dokumentation. Resultatet från fallstudien blev skapandet av ett ramverk för prestationsmätning och en tillämpning på de tre fallstudieobjekten, vilket syftar till att illustrera möjligheten att mäta prestationen av FoU-relaterade aktiviteter. Detta leder till en mer transparent syn på vilket värde forskning och utveckling bidrar med. Ramverket har skapats på ett sätt som möjliggör organisationer med liknande struktur som existerar på Sandvik Materials Technology att utnyttja det. Implikationerna från resultaten har en inverkan både ur ett industriellt perspektiv och ur ett forskningsperspektiv men även ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. Den industriella implikationen är att ett ramverk för utvärdering och synliggörande av prestationer av en forsknings- och utvecklingsorganisation på en aktivitetsnivå har skapats. Vid betraktande av forskningsperspektivet så bidrar denna studie till att fylla det identifierade gapet i kunskapsbanken genom att tillföra ytterligare kunskap av prestationsmätning på en aktivitetsnivå. Ramverket möjliggör övervakning och kontroll av viktiga processer, vilket kan motivera anställda att vidta nödvändiga åtgärder, som kan leda till reducerad negativ inverkan på miljön då en mindre mängd resurser och energi används.

Thesis (MScEng)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Organizations formally define and document their business processes in order to properly understand them and to subsequently enable their continuous development, improvement and management. In order to formally define and document their business processes, organizations can use Business Process Modelling, which represents the design of graphical models that portray the business processes of organizations. It is however noted that it is difficult to select a suitable Business Process Modelling Technique in support of a specific application of Business Process Modelling. This is due to the considerable amount of existing Business Process Modelling Techniques, the inherent impact of their varying capabilities and the lack of formal measures that are available to support evaluations regarding their suitability for specific modelling applications. It is therefore considered appropriate to execute a research study that is aimed at the development and validation of a measurement framework that can be used to evaluate the suitability of Business Process Modelling Techniques for specific modelling applications. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Organisasies definieer en dokumenteer hulle besigheidsprosesse op ʼn formele wyse om hulle ordentlik te verstaan en gevolglik hulle deurlopende ontwikkeling, verbetering en bestuur te bemagtig. Ten einde die uitvoering van hierdie aktiwiteit aan te spreek, kan organisasies Besigheidsproses Modellering gebruik om grafiese modelle van hulle besigheidsprosesse te ontwerp. Daar word egter kennis geneem dat dit moeilik is om ʼn geskikte Besigheidsproses Modellering Tegniek te kies tes ondersteuning van ʼn spesifieke toepassing van Besigheidsproses Modellering. Dit is weens die groot hoeveelheid bestaande Besigheidsproses Modellering Tegnieke, die impak van hulle variërende vermoëns asook die gebrek aan formele maatstawwe wat gebruik kan word om hulle geskiktheid vir spesifieke modellering toepassings te evalueer. Dit lei tot die besluit om ‘n studie te voltooi wat gefokus is op die ontwikkeling en validasie van ʼn metings raamwerk wat gebruik kan word om die geskiktheid van Besigheidsproses Modellering Tegnieke vir spesifieke toepassings van Besigheidproses Modellering te evalueer.

Effective maintenance planning is essential and important in any organisation that is responsible for procuring and managing complex assets. In the marine shipping industry maintenance planning is very significant due to its complexity and the obligations on shipping organisations to comply with certain regulations and requirements. Moreover, improper planning can reduce the ship's availability, which may in turn, be reflected in the revenue of the company. Another issue that requires attention in this field is the cost of maintenance, since improper or inadequate planning could result in breakdowns that could increase the cost of maintenance.This research aims to identify the key factors that affect ship maintenance planning and to provide a framework that can help the decision maker to identify and choose optimum decisions regarding ship maintenance. The research is divided into four stages in order to achieve its objectives and to address the research problem.The first stage is the review of the literature to identify the need for maintenance and to select the key factors that affect maintenance planning. The findings indicate that: maintenance scheduling, selection of maintenance strategy, ship construction, crew compensation, and shipyard selection are the most important factors.The second stage is to evaluate maintenance performance measurements for the marine shipping industry by conducting case study and interviews with professionals involved in the mercantile industry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six senior staff experts from three different organisations. The results show that: dry docking scheduling, maintenance costs and budgets, customer satisfaction, employees' satisfaction, classification requirements, and the ship's maintenance requirements are the main factors that have great influence on maintenance planning.The third stage is to develop new methodology to measure the maintenance performance in the marine shipping organisation which is the ship maintenance performance measurement (SMPM) framework. The developed method was validated to assist managers in making the right decisions in ship maintenance planning. The framework was developed based on ten thematic criteria that can be used as indicators for potential organisation growth, i.e., maintenance strategy; dry docking scheduling; budget and costs; the ship's equipment; customer satisfaction; employees; health, safety and environment; learning and growth; classification requirements; and the ship's operation and demands requirements. Interviews were conducted with key personnel from the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) to validate the framework.The fourth stage demonstrates that an optimised schedule for the dry docking of ships for routine maintenance has been constructed. This is accomplished on the basis of one measured criterion, dry docking scheduling, by using an integer programming model to maximise the ship's availability within the company fleet. The model is defined by three constraints: the maintenance window, maintenance completion, and the ship's limit. The model was validated using data from KOTC, and the results depict an optimum solution for maintenance scheduling, maximising the ship's availability to 100% and not less than 92%.

No description available.

This qualitative study set out to investigate the extent to which the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has been implemented for service delivery by South African Metropolitan Municipalities. The Ekurhuleni Municipality, City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and City of Tshwane (CoT), which together form the Gauteng Metropolitan Municipalities (GMMs), were used as multiple cases for this study. A good performance management system should cover activities relevant to the adoption of a performance measurement tool such as the BSC, which was developed by Kaplan and Norton in 1992. These two authors published a framework integrating different components of performance management and measurement system, namely strategy, vision, mission, objectives, measures, targets and strategic initiatives. In short, the BSC framework is the key for its successful implementation, which is evaluated according to the achievement of targets. The problem addressed in the study was the lack of a proper performance management system, as well as the poor design and inappropriate manner of implementing the BSC by the GMMs. The objectives of the study were to examine principal elements such as performance management activities, performance measurement framework, design and implementation of the BSC following the original framework developed by Kaplan and Norton (1992), as well as its impact on the outcomes of service delivery performance. Objectives, measures, targets and initiatives were the core elements for evaluating the municipalities’ performance management, as well as their implementation of the BSC. Moreover, the attainment of targets was the key for examining performance outcomes or the impact of the BSC on service delivery performance. In order to reach the above-mentioned objectives, a literature and document review, including municipalities’ policies and annual reports, were conducted for collecting relevant data. This review involved content analysis, and data were presented in the form of tables and charts. Finally, credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability were used to measure the validity and reliability of the findings. The results showed that the performance management (PM) activities of the GMMs were not adequate for implementing the BSC. Naturally, the selection of measures and targets was catered for through the policy of the Ekurhuleni Municipality, as well as the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). However, the setting of objectives, selection of measures, and setting of targets were all part of the performance management framework of the City of Tshwane (CoT). The BSC was intended to be used as a performance measurement framework for the Metropolitan Municipalities of Johannesburg and Tshwane. Nevertheless, the instrument was poorly implemented by these municipalities. Although the BSC was not adopted by the Ekurhuleni Municipality, the principal activities integrated into the BSC framework were implemented for its service delivery. In addition, during the 2011-2012, 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 financial years, the achievement status of targets was not determined for the Ekurhuleni Municipality. This was also the case for the CoT during 2011-2012. However, the full-achievement, non- achievement, partial-achievement and over-achievement of targets were well defined for the City of Johannesburg during all three financial years under study. In the same way, such finding was indicated only for the two last financial years for the City of Tshwane. The findings of the study indicated that the implementation of the BSC within the Metropolitan Municipalities of Johannesburg and Tshwane did not comply with its original framework. This is due to the lack of an adequate performance management system, which in turn affects performance measurement. Before adopting a performance measurement framework, there should be an appropriate performance measurement system in place to ensure its success. Consequently, future research should focus more on the investigation of standard requirements for measuring performance, especially in the public sector. / Management Accounting / M. Phil. (Accounting Sciences)