Business Intelligence (BI) enables organizations to collect and analyze internal and external business data to generate knowledge and business value, and provide decision support at the strategic, tactical, and operational levels. The consolidation of data coming from many sources as a result of managerial and operational business processes, usually referred to as Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) is itself a statically defined process and knowledge workers have little to no control over the characteristics of the presentable data to which they have access. There are two main reasons that dictate the reassessment of this stiff approach in context of modern business environments. The first reason is that the service-oriented nature of today’s business combined with the increasing volume of available data make it impossible for an organization to proactively design efficient data management processes. The second reason is that enterprises can benefit significantly from analyzing the behavior of their business processes fostering their optimization. Hence, we took a first step towards quality-aware ETL process design automation by defining through a systematic literature review a set of ETL process quality characteristics and the relationships between them, as well as by providing quantitative measures for each characteristic. Subsequently, we produced a model that represents ETL process quality characteristics and the dependencies among them and we showcased through the application of a Goal Model with quantitative components (i.e., indicators) how our model can provide the basis for subsequent analysis to reason and make informed ETL design decisions. In addition, we introduced our holistic view for a quality-aware design of ETL processes by presenting a framework for user-centered declarative ETL. This included the definition of an architecture and methodology for the rapid, incremental, qualitative improvement of ETL process models, promoting automation and reducing complexity, as well as a clear separation of business users and IT roles where each user is presented with appropriate views and assigned with fitting tasks. In this direction, we built a tool —POIESIS— which facilitates incremental, quantitative improvement of ETL process models with users being the key participants through well-defined collaborative interfaces. When it comes to evaluating different quality characteristics of the ETL process design, we proposed an automated data generation framework for evaluating ETL processes (i.e., Bijoux). To this end, we classified the operations based on the part of input data they access for processing, which facilitated Bijoux during data generation processes both for identifying the constraints that specific operation semantics imply over input data, as well as for deciding at which level the data should be generated (e.g., single field, single tuple, complete dataset). Bijoux offers data generation capabilities in a modular and configurable manner, which can be used to evaluate the quality of different parts of an ETL process. Moreover, we introduced a methodology that can apply to concrete contexts, building a repository of patterns and rules. This generated knowledge base can be used during the design and maintenance phases of ETL processes, automatically exposing understandable conceptual representations of the processes and providing useful insight for design decisions. Collectively, these contributions have raised the level of abstraction of ETL process components, revealing their quality characteristics in a granular level and allowing for evaluation and automated (re-)design, taking under consideration business users’ quality goals.

This study sought to determine whether phase 1 early childhood classrooms receiving classroom resources and technical assistance for early childhood teachers through the Allies for Quality Care project would have greater improvements in process quality than phase 2 classrooms receiving only technical assistance. Process quality refers to what children experience in the early childhood classroom that directly impacts their development and was assessed through the Environment Rating Scales (ERS). Classroom resources were provided to improve the quality of the environment that children experience. The technical assistance was one-on-one to help early childhood teachers understand developmentally appropriate practices. The study examined whether the following variables impacted quality: accessibility of materials; field technical assistant; total number of early childhood teachers, total at pre-assessment, total at post-assessment, and same teacher at pre- to post-assessment; classroom and teacher technical assistance hours; teacher turnover; early childhood teachers’ level of education, child development credentials, position, years of experience, and race; number of children present at post-assessment; and days between pre- and post-assessment. To determine if the variables were correlated with the ERS post-assessment scores bivariate correlations were generated. While level of education, child development credentials, years of experience, race, and total number of early childhood teachers at pre-assessment had strong correlations with the post-assessment scores, further analyses of accessibility of materials, or missed accessibility, was the only extraneous variable to remain strongly associated with the dependent variable in ITERS-R classrooms. A Factorial Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used to study the differences between the phases of early childhood classrooms. When findings revealed differences between the groups, another ANCOVA was used to evaluate group differences for each scale (ITERS-R for infant and toddler classrooms and ECERS-R for preschool classrooms) separately. Both phase and scale impacted the ERS post-assessment scores for the overall sample. For differences between the phases for the individual scales, no significant differences were found. However, infant and toddler classrooms that missed accessibility of materials had significantly lower ERS post-assessment scores than classrooms that did not miss accessibility.

ETL processes play an increasingly important role for the support of modern business operations. These business processes are centred around artifacts with high variability and diverse lifecycles, which correspond to key business entities. The apparent complexity of these activities has been examined through the prism of Business Process Management, mainly focusing on functional requirements and performance optimization. However, the quality dimension has not yet been thoroughly investigated and there is a need for a more human-centric approach to bring them closer to business-users requirements. In this paper we take a first step towards this direction by defining a sound model for ETL process quality characteristics and quantitative measures for each characteristic, based on existing literature. Our model shows dependencies among quality characteristics and can provide the basis for subsequent analysis using Goal Modeling techniques.

A competitividade existente no setor sucroenergético faz com que as empresas busquem novos modelos de sobrevivência e desenvolvimento. A produção da cultura de cana-de-açúcar apresenta elevada complexidade, sendo constituída de inúmeros processos interdependentes, de modo que a qualidade da matéria prima é dependente destes processos. O dinamismo natural e a complexidade do processo de produção da cana apresentam um grande número de variáveis que podem afetar a qualidade da matéria-prima. Devido a este fato surgem dificuldades de priorização das atividades (foco), contribuindo para a não otimização dos processos, gerando assim desperdícios. O objetivo deste projeto foi planejar a qualidade do processo, identificando os indicadores críticos. O mapeamento do processo de produção foi identificado por meio de revisões bibliográficas obtendo-se assim as qualidades exigidas e as características da qualidade para todo o processo de produção da cultura da cana-de-açúcar, resultando na construção da matriz da qualidade. A qualidade exigida pela cana de açúcar foi dividia em 5 macroprocessos e as características da qualidade foram divididas em 3 macroprocessos. Por meio da metodologia do Desdobramento da Função da Qualidade (QFD) identificou-se que das 122 qualidades exigidas prioritárias identificadas por meio de revisões bibliográficas para o processo de produção, 86 delas correspondem a 80% de toda a qualidade exigida e das 93 características da qualidade identificadas, 52 correspondem a 80% de todos os indicadores críticos. Após a identificação das qualidades exigidas prioritárias e das características da qualidade para o processo de produção da destilaria efetuou-se a correlação entre os indicadores. Ao realizar as correlações observou-se que os indicadores produtividade do canavial e porcentagem de falha foram os indicadores que tiveram maior correlação, devido a eles estarem diretamente ligados a todo o processo de produção. / The existing competitiveness in the sugarcane industry causes companies to seek new models of survival and development. The sugarcane production has a high level of complexity, consisting of several interdependent processes, which the quality of raw materials depends upon. The dynamic nature and complexity of sugarcane production, containing a large number of variables, can affect the quality of raw material. Therefore, difficulties in prioritizing activities (focus) arise, not contributing to the optimization of the processes, thereby generating waste. The objective of this project was to plan the quality of the process, identifying the critical indicators. The production process mapping was identified from literature reviews, thus obtaining the required qualities and the characteristics of quality for the entire sugarcane process, resulting in the construction of the quality matrix. The quality demanded by the sugarcane was divided into five macro processes, whereas the quality characteristics were divided into three macro processes. Through the methodology of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), it was identified that of the 122 priority required qualities identified from literature reviews, 86 of them account for 80% of all required quality; of the 93 identified quality characteristics, 52 correspond for 80% of all critical indicators. After the identification of the priority required qualities and the quality characteristics for the production process of distillery, a correlation between the indicators was done. It was observed during the correlation stage that the sugarcane productivity and the failure percentage were the indicators with the greatest correlation, due to them being directly connected to the entire production process.

A competitividade existente no setor sucroenergético faz com que as empresas busquem novos modelos de sobrevivência e desenvolvimento. A produção da cultura de cana-de-açúcar apresenta elevada complexidade, sendo constituída de inúmeros processos interdependentes, de modo que a qualidade da matéria prima é dependente destes processos. O dinamismo natural e a complexidade do processo de produção da cana apresentam um grande número de variáveis que podem afetar a qualidade da matéria-prima. Devido a este fato surgem dificuldades de priorização das atividades (foco), contribuindo para a não otimização dos processos, gerando assim desperdícios. O objetivo deste projeto foi planejar a qualidade do processo, identificando os indicadores críticos. O mapeamento do processo de produção foi identificado por meio de revisões bibliográficas obtendo-se assim as qualidades exigidas e as características da qualidade para todo o processo de produção da cultura da cana-de-açúcar, resultando na construção da matriz da qualidade. A qualidade exigida pela cana de açúcar foi dividia em 5 macroprocessos e as características da qualidade foram divididas em 3 macroprocessos. Por meio da metodologia do Desdobramento da Função da Qualidade (QFD) identificou-se que das 122 qualidades exigidas prioritárias identificadas por meio de revisões bibliográficas para o processo de produção, 86 delas correspondem a 80% de toda a qualidade exigida e das 93 características da qualidade identificadas, 52 correspondem a 80% de todos os indicadores críticos. Após a identificação das qualidades exigidas prioritárias e das características da qualidade para o processo de produção da destilaria efetuou-se a correlação entre os indicadores. Ao realizar as correlações observou-se que os indicadores produtividade do canavial e porcentagem de falha foram os indicadores que tiveram maior correlação, devido a eles estarem diretamente ligados a todo o processo de produção. / The existing competitiveness in the sugarcane industry causes companies to seek new models of survival and development. The sugarcane production has a high level of complexity, consisting of several interdependent processes, which the quality of raw materials depends upon. The dynamic nature and complexity of sugarcane production, containing a large number of variables, can affect the quality of raw material. Therefore, difficulties in prioritizing activities (focus) arise, not contributing to the optimization of the processes, thereby generating waste. The objective of this project was to plan the quality of the process, identifying the critical indicators. The production process mapping was identified from literature reviews, thus obtaining the required qualities and the characteristics of quality for the entire sugarcane process, resulting in the construction of the quality matrix. The quality demanded by the sugarcane was divided into five macro processes, whereas the quality characteristics were divided into three macro processes. Through the methodology of Quality Function Deployment (QFD), it was identified that of the 122 priority required qualities identified from literature reviews, 86 of them account for 80% of all required quality; of the 93 identified quality characteristics, 52 correspond for 80% of all critical indicators. After the identification of the priority required qualities and the quality characteristics for the production process of distillery, a correlation between the indicators was done. It was observed during the correlation stage that the sugarcane productivity and the failure percentage were the indicators with the greatest correlation, due to them being directly connected to the entire production process.

O trabalho teve como objetivo investigar a agilidade nas contratações de projetos de pesquisa no âmbito do Programa de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento da Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL). A pesquisa foi motivada pela demora na contratação de alguns projetos e pelo insucesso na contratação de outros, com o concorrente acúmulo de recursos a serem investidos. O primeiro objetivo específico foi a identificação das restrições do programa de P&D da ANEEL e seleção daquelas que afetam a contratação de projetos de pesquisa. O segundo objetivo é a proposição de alternativas para aumentar a agilidade na contratação de projetos de pesquisa. O trabalho foi dividido em duas etapas que correspondem aos objetivos específicos e são apresentadas em dois artigos. A primeira procurou investigar as variáveis do problema. A segunda etapa procurou propor alternativas para agilizar o processo de contratação de projetos de pesquisa das empresas. Na primeira etapa foi aplicado método para lidar com problemas sociais complexos ao longo de reuniões específicas. Uma das reuniões foi realizada com especialistas em pesquisa e outra com os envolvidos no programa de pesquisa. As informações foram trabalhadas e validadas com os participantes. Para desenvolver a segunda etapa, foram realizados três estudos de caso em que foram realizadas entrevistas e o mapeamento dos processos de contratação de empresas de diferentes naturezas jurídicas. Os procedimentos buscaram investigar se existiam diferenças na agilidade de contratação entre as empresas, tendo como base de comparação uma configuração específica de projeto, investigar a motivação para tais diferenças e levantar alternativas para disseminar entre as empresas a agilidade nas contratações. Na primeira etapa, as restrições do programa de P&D foram identificadas e a maior parte delas está relacionada com a gestão interna das empresas. Em seguida, estão as restrições relacionadas a contratação de projetos, mais especificamente a questões de propriedade industrial e de equipamentos comprados ou produzidos pelo projeto. Na segunda etapa, foram confirmadas diferenças na agilidade de contratação entre as empresas. A padronização de procedimentos e as relações recorrentes foram identificadas como motivações para tais diferenças. Entre as alternativas encontradas na literatura para tratar as restrições constatadas na primeira etapa, a formação de relações de longo prazo parece beneficiar a celebração de contratos. A formação de comitês para ajustes nos contratos não foi alvo de questionamento na presente pesquisa, mas também pode ser uma alternativa para agilizar a celebração de contratos. A atribuição da propriedade dos resultados para a parceira que mais contribui é alvo de controvérsia por questões legais. A presente pesquisa contribuiu para o campo gerencial ao propor a criação de uma certificação de qualidade para disseminar a padronização de processos, sendo que a padronização não foi abordada na teoria revisada que trata sobre a contratação de projetos de pesquisa. Essa alternativa contribuiria para tratar as restrições encontradas na contratação de projetos entre as empresas e as executoras com benefícios que extrapolam o escopo da presente pesquisa, visto que as instituições de pesquisa envolvidas no programa de P&D ANEEL estão dentre as principais do sistema de pesquisa brasileiro. Propõe-se desenvolver novas pesquisas que evoluam o conhecimento sobre a agilidade de contratação ao investigar os perfis de contratações, os mecanismos de governança utilizados e as diferenças de agilidade obtidas. / The work´s objective was the investigation of research contracting agility in the context of R&D Program for the Brazilian Electric Energy Sector. The research was motivated by the delay on some projects contract negotiation and by others unsuccessful contracting process, while the funds to invest keep growing. The first specific objective was to discover which constraints of the R&D Program for the Brazilian Electric Energy Sector, which guidelines and instructions are established by the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency – ANEEL, affects research projects contracting process. The second objective is the proposition of alternatives to increase contracting agility. The work had two main stages to address the specific objectives and they are presented in two papers. The first stage investigated problem´s topics. The second stage intended to propose alternatives to make the utilities contracting process more agile. The first stage has applied a method for handling complex societal problems. A discussion meeting involved research experts and other the utilities and academy. The information collected was summarized and then validated with the participants. At the second stage, three case studies were developed using interviews and process mapping with public, private and mixed utilities. The procedures applied intended to investigate if there was agility differences in utilities contracting processes, using as reference a specific project configuration, identify the motivation for the differences founded and raise alternatives to make all utilities contracting processes agile. The constraints were identified in the first stage and most of them are related with utilities management. In second place, there are constraints related with project contracting, especially issues about industrial property and equipments developed or bought in the project. At the second stage, contracting agility differences were found. Process standardization and recurrent relationships were identified as possible motivations for these differences. Among the alternatives found in the literature review to handle the constraints identified in the first stage, the long term relationships seems to make contracting easier. The development of committees to adapt contracts during evolution of the collaboration was not in the scope of the present research, but also can be an alternative to make contracting more agile. Share property rights according with technological contribution can be refused because of legal aspects. The present research evolve the management knowledge as it proposes a certification to promote process standardization, besides the standardization was not present in the reviewed theory about research project contracting. This alternative would contribute to handle constraints identified in the contracting experience, with benefits that will exceed the planned scope, as the research institutions in the ANEEL R&D program are among the most importants in the brazilian research system. New researches may expand the knowledge about contracting agility if they investigate contracting configuration, governance mechanisms used and the agility differences obtained.

Phytophthora infestans (Mont) de Bary is a devastating pathogen in potato producing regions around the world. Populations of the organism in Canada shifted during the mid-1990’s as the US-1 strain (A1, metalaxyl-sensitive) was displaced by the highly aggressive, US-8 strain (A2, metalaxyl-insensitive). An increase in the incidence and severity of late blight has followed. Late blight is controlled by cultural practices aimed at eliminating disease sources and by the application of foliar fungicides. Tubers can become infected at harvest from contact with blighted vines leading to severe losses in storage. In many production areas, growers desiccate vines two to three weeks prior to harvest to reduce late blight tuber rot. However, in Manitoba, because of the loss of potential yield that results from vine killing prior to harvest in a late maturing cultivar such as Russet Burbank, growers are reluctant to adopt this practice. The objective of this study was to develop recommendations for preharvest management practices that reduce storage losses due to late blight. Field trials were conducted in 1997 and 1998 to investigate the effect of vine desiccation with diquat and/or a late season application of chlorothalonil and copper hydroxide on yield, processing quality, and disease development in storage. Desiccating vines with diquat two weeks prior to harvest reduced yield and tuber size. Compared to the untreated control, the largest reductions in marketable yield were observed for the early September harvest. By the late September harvest, however, the effect of vine killing in reducing marketable yield was less apparent. Specific gravity was lower in the vine killed treatment for all harvest dates in 1997 and in the early and mid September harvests in 1998. Vine killing did not contribute to elevated levels of reducing sugars or consistently darker fry colour at harvest or during storage. Skin-set was improved when vines were desiccated for all harvest dates in 1997 and at the early September harvest date in 1998. Vine killing reduced tuber rot in storage caused by Fusarium dry rot and Pythium leak for the early and mid September harvest dates in 1997. The incidence of late blight tuber rot was reduced in storage for the early September harvest in 1998 when vines were desiccated. The late-season application of chlorothalonil and copper hydroxide did not reduce tuber rot in storage in storage either year. Results from this study indicate that vine killing two weeks before an early to mid- September harvest is not recommended in Manitoba because of reductions in yield and specific gravity. Alternative management practices to reduce late blight tuber rot in storage should be investigated. / February 2005

Similar to the manufacturing sector, process improvement gains much attention in health care sector. Measuring process quality is one of the most important components of process improvement and numerous healthcare quality indicator models are developed to achieve this aim. Existing quality models focus on some specific diseases, clinics or clinical areas. Although they contain structure, process, or output type measures, there is no model which measures the quality of health care processes comprehensively. As a result, hospitals cannot compare quality of processes internally and externally. To bring a solution to the above problems, we developed Health Care Process Quality Measurement Model (HPQMM), and it is applied in three public hospital&rsquo / s laboratory and assessment processes. We observed that, the developed model determines weak and strong aspects of the processes, gives a detailed picture for the process quality, extends the quality aspects of existing models, and provides quantifiable information to hospitals to compare their processes with multiple organizations.

Phytophthora infestans (Mont) de Bary is a devastating pathogen in potato producing regions around the world. Populations of the organism in Canada shifted during the mid-1990’s as the US-1 strain (A1, metalaxyl-sensitive) was displaced by the highly aggressive, US-8 strain (A2, metalaxyl-insensitive). An increase in the incidence and severity of late blight has followed. Late blight is controlled by cultural practices aimed at eliminating disease sources and by the application of foliar fungicides. Tubers can become infected at harvest from contact with blighted vines leading to severe losses in storage. In many production areas, growers desiccate vines two to three weeks prior to harvest to reduce late blight tuber rot. However, in Manitoba, because of the loss of potential yield that results from vine killing prior to harvest in a late maturing cultivar such as Russet Burbank, growers are reluctant to adopt this practice. The objective of this study was to develop recommendations for preharvest management practices that reduce storage losses due to late blight. Field trials were conducted in 1997 and 1998 to investigate the effect of vine desiccation with diquat and/or a late season application of chlorothalonil and copper hydroxide on yield, processing quality, and disease development in storage. Desiccating vines with diquat two weeks prior to harvest reduced yield and tuber size. Compared to the untreated control, the largest reductions in marketable yield were observed for the early September harvest. By the late September harvest, however, the effect of vine killing in reducing marketable yield was less apparent. Specific gravity was lower in the vine killed treatment for all harvest dates in 1997 and in the early and mid September harvests in 1998. Vine killing did not contribute to elevated levels of reducing sugars or consistently darker fry colour at harvest or during storage. Skin-set was improved when vines were desiccated for all harvest dates in 1997 and at the early September harvest date in 1998. Vine killing reduced tuber rot in storage caused by Fusarium dry rot and Pythium leak for the early and mid September harvest dates in 1997. The incidence of late blight tuber rot was reduced in storage for the early September harvest in 1998 when vines were desiccated. The late-season application of chlorothalonil and copper hydroxide did not reduce tuber rot in storage in storage either year. Results from this study indicate that vine killing two weeks before an early to mid- September harvest is not recommended in Manitoba because of reductions in yield and specific gravity. Alternative management practices to reduce late blight tuber rot in storage should be investigated.

Phytophthora infestans (Mont) de Bary is a devastating pathogen in potato producing regions around the world. Populations of the organism in Canada shifted during the mid-1990’s as the US-1 strain (A1, metalaxyl-sensitive) was displaced by the highly aggressive, US-8 strain (A2, metalaxyl-insensitive). An increase in the incidence and severity of late blight has followed. Late blight is controlled by cultural practices aimed at eliminating disease sources and by the application of foliar fungicides. Tubers can become infected at harvest from contact with blighted vines leading to severe losses in storage. In many production areas, growers desiccate vines two to three weeks prior to harvest to reduce late blight tuber rot. However, in Manitoba, because of the loss of potential yield that results from vine killing prior to harvest in a late maturing cultivar such as Russet Burbank, growers are reluctant to adopt this practice. The objective of this study was to develop recommendations for preharvest management practices that reduce storage losses due to late blight. Field trials were conducted in 1997 and 1998 to investigate the effect of vine desiccation with diquat and/or a late season application of chlorothalonil and copper hydroxide on yield, processing quality, and disease development in storage. Desiccating vines with diquat two weeks prior to harvest reduced yield and tuber size. Compared to the untreated control, the largest reductions in marketable yield were observed for the early September harvest. By the late September harvest, however, the effect of vine killing in reducing marketable yield was less apparent. Specific gravity was lower in the vine killed treatment for all harvest dates in 1997 and in the early and mid September harvests in 1998. Vine killing did not contribute to elevated levels of reducing sugars or consistently darker fry colour at harvest or during storage. Skin-set was improved when vines were desiccated for all harvest dates in 1997 and at the early September harvest date in 1998. Vine killing reduced tuber rot in storage caused by Fusarium dry rot and Pythium leak for the early and mid September harvest dates in 1997. The incidence of late blight tuber rot was reduced in storage for the early September harvest in 1998 when vines were desiccated. The late-season application of chlorothalonil and copper hydroxide did not reduce tuber rot in storage in storage either year. Results from this study indicate that vine killing two weeks before an early to mid- September harvest is not recommended in Manitoba because of reductions in yield and specific gravity. Alternative management practices to reduce late blight tuber rot in storage should be investigated.