Process support is a core organisational competence which aims to help people plan and perform their work. This thesis addresses process support for Emergent Knowledge Processes (EKP). EKP can be characterised by human-orientation, emerging domain requirements, compliance requirements and dispersed participants/stakeholders. Current Process Aware Information Systems (PAIS) do not meet several important support requirements of EKP. Addressing these requirements will create business value. Through a Design Science (Hevner, March et al. 2004) research approach, this thesis addresses that problem. An approach to support EKP is conceptualised and implemented. The main contribution is a prescriptive framework. The framework consists of four components; interactive modelling, a combination of procedural and declarative models, flexible model management and real-time collaborative working. Interactive modelling is an approach to flexible process support where users create, adapt, analyse and enact visual models of their work processes. Underpinning the interactive modelling approach are both procedural and declarative models. Declarative models capture organisational rules. Procedural task-based models capture actual plans of work. Procedural models must comply with the rules established in the declarative models. Flexible model management and real-time collaboration support offer a cooperative working and knowledge management environment for interactive modelling. The conceptual design ideas have been realised in an academic software prototype. A Web-based groupware application, D2P, was developed as a 'plug-in' for the collaborative, Web-based modelling environment PowerMeeting. It is shown how Web technology can be leveraged for collaborative process support. A contribution is made through further demonstration of the applicability of Web-based solutions for professional, process related business requirements. As a final contribution, the results of a usability study demonstrate the usability of the D2P and PowerMeeting tools. Empirical evidence in the form of results from a usability study and user questionnaire confirmed that semi-skilled users with a small amount of training can activate the concepts and tools which make up the approach. Of particular importance is the demonstration of the usability of the less familiar declarative modelling paradigm. Scenarios are also provided to demonstrate the applicability of the approach.

Business process re-engineering (part of the Business Process Management domain) is among the top three concerns of Information Technology (IT) leaders and is deemed to be one of many important IT leveraging opportunities. Two major challenges have been identified in relation to BPM and the use of IT. The first challenge is related to involving business process participants in process improvement initiatives using BPM systems. BPM technologies are considered to be primarily targeted for developers and not BPM users, and the need to engage process participants into process improvement initiatives is not addressed, contributing to the business-IT gap. The second challenge is related to potential de-skilling of knowledge workers when knowledge-intensive processes are automated and process knowledge resides in IT, rather than human process participants. The two identified challenges are not separate issues. Process participants need to be knowledgeable about the process in order to actively contribute to BPM initiatives, and the loss of process knowledge as a result of passive use of automated systems may further threaten their participation in process improvement. In response to the call for more research on the individual impacts of business process initiatives, the purpose of this dissertation study is to understand the relationship between IT configurations (particularly process support and process visualization), process characteristics and individual level process outcomes, such as task performance and process knowledge. In the development of the research model we rely on organizational knowledge creation literature and scaffolding in Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, business process modeling and workflow automation research, as well as research on the influence of IT on individual performance. The theoretical model is tested empirically in experimental settings using a series of two studies. In both studies participants were asked to complete tasks as part of a business process using different versions of a mock-up information system. Together, the studies evaluate the effect of IT process support, process visualization and process complexity on process participant performance and process knowledge. The results of the studies show the significant influence of IT process support on individual process outcomes. The studies indicate that task performance does increase but at the cost of users’ process knowledge. Process visualization however is shown to enhance user’s process knowledge in the event of no formal process training while having no negative impact on task performance. The key contribution of this research is that it suggests a practical way to counteract potential negative effects of IT process automation by converting the use of the information system into a learning experience, where the IT itself acts as a scaffold for the acquisition of process knowledge. The results have practical implications for the design of workflow automation systems, as well as for process training.

The urban planning process in Sweden encompasses all design and development of the physical environment in society. It involves a large number of actors and a large amount of data. To be as effective as possible the exchange of data between actors needs to become easier and more effective. This thesis explores how a digital platform for urban planning can be designed to facilitate the exploration of and access to information within urban planning. The method followed an iterative design process based on the UX lifecycle by Hartson and Pyla. Interviews were conducted with potential users to learn about their wants and needs, and research was done on the urban planning process to gather the theory on the subject matter domain. The result of the thesis is a UX prototype of a digital urban planning platform. The prototype was designed in Figma and tested on potential users in a design walkthrough and a usability test together with an interview. The results also show what type of functionality is important for users in this type of platform.

This Master Thesis looks into software development processes and the work activities these need to support. Hesitation against process support within Software developing organisations combined with a possibility to develop process support for such a company, made the foundation for this thesis. The reference company where the study took place is a large worldwide Telecom company where we focused on one design department with 25 people. Instead of using Participatory Design (PD) [Schuler, Namioka] as a method for Software development as traditionally, we used it for developing process support together with the people at the department. Three different supports for different project processes were created with PD and an evolutionary way of work together with the ?designers?. We came to a complex project environment which required control in several aspects such as project sponsoring, project management, line management, design maintenance etc. We saw a way of working that was following a common agreed way of work by the group that is formed by socio-emotional aspects and co-learning aspects [Hägerfors, 1995]. In contrast to this, the study showed that the available process support and also the use of the process support had a clear concentration towards a management focus ? the control function. The available process support and the use of this did not really consider the aspects of Socio-emotional or Co-learning. Existing process support was built around documents that became evidence for actual activities during the project. The process support developed during this study (by us and the designers) finally also got that concentration. A conclusion is that when the organisation puts high requirements on control of projects, this will also affect the way the organisation wants support for work. This is the missing point.

This thesis deals with the creation of the application for sales process support on Android mobile platform. It describes the application concept and the consequent implementation of solution for Allium Catalogue based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. It also explains the importance of ERP systems for sales process and includes the familiarization with already existing applications for their support. It analyses the multiplatform development environments and basic principles of the multiplatform development.

The aim of this Thesis is to describe the practical implementation of process management in terms of Configuration Management process and subsequent implementation support tool, configuration and management database, focusing on describing and identifying particular steps needed for the definition and implementation process and the subsequent selection and implementation support tools. As an initial base of this Thesis I have used the practical experience of projects focusing on the definition and implementation of process management and subsequent implementation support tools, in which I acted in the role of the Configuration Manager. It means I assisted at course of entire projects. The Thesis focuses mainly on my run and defined Configuration Management process and describes the process and importance of various activities leading to the successful establishment of a process into practice, including identified problems and some of their solutions. The result of this Thesis should approach introducing one of the process of family ITIL v. 2 to practice and subsequent leading to the selection and implementation of the configuration and management database, as a major output of this process.

<p>Requirements engineering (RE) tools are software tools which provide automated assistance during the RE process. However, the RE practice relies on office tools rather than RE-tools provided by various companies. Reasons for not using the RE-tools include financial causes. The part of the problem also lies in the difficulty to evaluate such tools before acquisition to support the RE process. Hence, to support the completeness and effectiveness of RE-tool evaluation, a sound framework providing methodological guidelines is needed.</p><p>This work proposes an RE-tool evaluation approach (R-TEA), which provides a systematic way of the RE-tool assessment using two evaluation frameworks. The framework for the functional RE-tool requirements consists of three dimensions: representation, agreement, and specification. The representation dimension deals with the degree of formality, where requirements are described using informal, semiformal and formal languages. The agreement dimension deals with the degree of agreement among project participants through communication means. The specification dimension deals with the degree of requirements understanding and completeness at a given time moment. The second framework categorises the non-functional RE-tool features to process, product, and external requirements. Process requirements characterise constraints placed upon the user’s work practice. Product requirements specify the desired qualitative characteristics of RE-tools. External requirements are derived from the user’s internal and external environment.</p><p>Both frameworks are applied to a specification exemplar which application initiates preparation of the requirements specification for the RE-tool selection. Assessment of the RE-tools’ compatibility to the specified RE-tool requirements is performed using different evaluation techniques. Decision about RE-tool selection is made after summarising all the assessment results.</p><p>A prototype tool is developed supporting the frameworks and R-TEA. The R-TEA method is tested in a number of case studies. The findings report on positive trends of the frameworks, prototype and the R-TEA method.</p>

Requirements engineering (RE) tools are software tools which provide automated assistance during the RE process. However, the RE practice relies on office tools rather than RE-tools provided by various companies. Reasons for not using the RE-tools include financial causes. The part of the problem also lies in the difficulty to evaluate such tools before acquisition to support the RE process. Hence, to support the completeness and effectiveness of RE-tool evaluation, a sound framework providing methodological guidelines is needed. This work proposes an RE-tool evaluation approach (R-TEA), which provides a systematic way of the RE-tool assessment using two evaluation frameworks. The framework for the functional RE-tool requirements consists of three dimensions: representation, agreement, and specification. The representation dimension deals with the degree of formality, where requirements are described using informal, semiformal and formal languages. The agreement dimension deals with the degree of agreement among project participants through communication means. The specification dimension deals with the degree of requirements understanding and completeness at a given time moment. The second framework categorises the non-functional RE-tool features to process, product, and external requirements. Process requirements characterise constraints placed upon the user’s work practice. Product requirements specify the desired qualitative characteristics of RE-tools. External requirements are derived from the user’s internal and external environment. Both frameworks are applied to a specification exemplar which application initiates preparation of the requirements specification for the RE-tool selection. Assessment of the RE-tools’ compatibility to the specified RE-tool requirements is performed using different evaluation techniques. Decision about RE-tool selection is made after summarising all the assessment results. A prototype tool is developed supporting the frameworks and R-TEA. The R-TEA method is tested in a number of case studies. The findings report on positive trends of the frameworks, prototype and the R-TEA method.

Dieser Forschungsbericht untersucht anhand von sechs Fallstudien die konkrete Prozessunterstützung in Call Centern durch in operative Anwendungssysteme eingebettete Analytik. Dies umfasst zum einen retrospektive Analysen für interne und externe Stakeholder in Form von Reporten als auch Echtzeit-Auswertungen durch grafisch-orientierte Monitor-Darstellungen. Hierbei stehen unter anderem die eingesetzten Anwendungssysteme, das Nutzungsverhalten durch die verschiedenen Call Center-Mitarbeitergruppen und die kennzahlenbasierten Auswertungsinhalte im Vordergrund.

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