Thesis (Ph.D) - [Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies], Swinburne University of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. A thesis submitted to [Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies], Swinburne University of Technology for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. "March 2009". Bibliography: p. 136-141.

The outsourcing market, especially Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), is growing every year. For decades, companies have successfully used outsourcing to generate significant savings. However, discussions with any employee will reveal some resentment of outsourcing. The aim of the study has been first to improve the understanding of some salient difficulties in Business Process Outsourcing relationships, with special reference to the perceived challenges of managing and monitoring Service Legal Agreements in Swiss banking, and second to assist outsourcing banks and service providers in formulating and managing their outsourcing contracts. The study was designed to obtain, through interviews, descriptions and perceptions of experts in Swiss Banking Business Process Outsourcing. Given the nature of the topic but also because of practical constraints, the investigator elected to use a qualitative, interpretative, social constructionist research framework. An extensive review of the literature revealed that a variety of definitions of in- and out-sourcing exist. Some of these terms were used in academic writings and the business press interchangeably and had to be defined. Twenty-two practitioners were interviewed. The data were analysed and interpreted with the help of qualitative analysis software (NVivo). Subsequently, I compared my findings with those of the literature reviewed. Furthermore, a gap in the literature, namely that it generally does not deal with the perceived quality of the relationship, could be addressed and practical approaches for managing BPO relationships are suggested. / Thesis (DoctorateofBusinessAdministration)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D. in Software Engineering )--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): Bret Michael. Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-412) Also available online.

Ein Service Level Agreement (SLA) ist ein elektronischer Vertrag zwischen dem Kunden und dem Anbieter eines Services. Die beteiligten Partner kl aren ihre Erwartungen und Verp ichtungen in Bezug auf den Dienst und dessen Qualit at. SLAs werden bereits f ur die Beschreibung von Cloud-Computing-Diensten eingesetzt. Der Diensteanbieter stellt sicher, dass die Dienstqualit at erf ullt wird und mit den Anforderungen des Kunden bis zum Ende der vereinbarten Laufzeit ubereinstimmt. Die Durchf uhrung der SLAs erfordert einen erheblichen Aufwand, um Autonomie, Wirtschaftlichkeit und E zienz zu erreichen. Der gegenw artige Stand der Technik im SLA-Management begegnet Herausforderungen wie SLA-Darstellung f ur Cloud- Dienste, gesch aftsbezogene SLA-Optimierungen, Dienste-Outsourcing und Ressourcenmanagement. Diese Gebiete scha en zentrale und aktuelle Forschungsthemen. Das Management von SLAs in unterschiedlichen Phasen w ahrend ihrer Laufzeit erfordert eine daf ur entwickelte Methodik. Dadurch wird die Realisierung von Cloud SLAManagement vereinfacht. Ich pr asentiere ein breit gef achertes Modell im SLA-Laufzeitmanagement, das die genannten Herausforderungen adressiert. Diese Herangehensweise erm oglicht eine automatische Dienstemodellierung, sowie Aushandlung, Bereitstellung und Monitoring von SLAs. W ahrend der Erstellungsphase skizziere ich, wie die Modellierungsstrukturen verbessert und vereinfacht werden k onnen. Ein weiteres Ziel von meinem Ansatz ist die Minimierung von Implementierungs- und Outsourcingkosten zugunsten von Wettbewerbsf ahigkeit. In der SLA-Monitoringphase entwickle ich Strategien f ur die Auswahl und Zuweisung von virtuellen Cloud Ressourcen in Migrationsphasen. Anschlie end pr ufe ich mittels Monitoring eine gr o ere Zusammenstellung von SLAs, ob die vereinbarten Fehlertoleranzen eingehalten werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit leistet einen Beitrag zu einem Entwurf der GWDG und deren wissenschaftlichen Communities. Die Forschung, die zu dieser Doktorarbeit gef uhrt hat, wurde als Teil von dem SLA@SOI EU/FP7 integriertem Projekt durchgef uhrt (contract No. 216556).

Network management is a problem that faces designers and operators of any type of network. Conventional methods of capacity planning or configuration management are difficult to apply directly to networks that dynamically allocate resources, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks and emerging Internet Protocol (IP) networks employing Differentiated Services (DiffServ). This work shows a method to generically classify traffic in an ATM network such that capacity planning may be possible. These methods are generally applicable to other networks that support dynamically allocated resources. In this research, Call Detail Records (CDRs) captured from a ¡§live¡¨ ATM network were successfully classified into three traffic categories. The traffic categories correspond to three different video speeds (1152 kbps, 768 kbps, and 384 kbps) in the network. Further statistical analysis was used to characterize these traffic categories and found them to fit deterministic distributions. The statistical analysis methods were also applied to several different network planning and management functions. Three specific potential applications related to network management were examined: capacity planning, traffic modeling, and configuration management. / Master of Science

Cloud computing has become a prominent paradigm to offer on-demand services for softwares, infrastructures and platforms. Cloud services are contracted by a service level agreement (SLA) between a cloud service provider (CSP) and a cloud service user (CSU) which contains service definitions, quality of service (QoS) parameters, guarantees and obligations. Cloud service providers mostly offer SLAs in descriptive format which is not directly consumable by a machine or a system. The SLA written in natural language may impede the utility of rapid elasticity in a cloud service. Manual management of SLAs with growing usage of cloud services can be a challenging, erroneous and tedious task especially for the CSUs acquiring multiple cloud services. The necessity of automating the complete SLA life cycle (which includes SLA description in machine readable format, negotiation, monitoring and management) becomes imminent due to complex requirements for the precise measurement of QoS parameters. Current approaches toward automating the complete SLA life cycle, lack in standardization, completeness and applicability to cloud services. Automation of different phases of the SLA life cycle (e.g. negotiation, monitoring and management) is dependent on the availability of a machine readable SLA. In this work, a structural specification for the SLAs in cloud computing (S3LACC in short) is presented which is designed specifically for cloud services, covers complete SLA life cycle and conforms with the available standards. A time efficient SLA negotiation technique is accomplished (based on the S3LACC) for concurrently negotiating with multiple CSPs. After successful negotiation process, next leading task in the SLA life cycle is to monitor the cloud services for ensuring the quality of service according to the agreed SLA. A distributed monitoring approach for the cloud SLAs is presented, in this work, which is suitable for services being used at single or multiple locations. The proposed approach reduces the number of communications of SLA violations to a monitoring coordinator by eliminating the unnecessary communications. The presented work on the complete SLA life cycle automation is evaluated and validated with the help of use cases, experiments and simulations.

Cloud computing has become a prominent paradigm to offer on-demand services for softwares, infrastructures and platforms. Cloud services are contracted by a service level agreement (SLA) between a cloud service provider (CSP) and a cloud service user (CSU) which contains service definitions, quality of service (QoS) parameters, guarantees and obligations. Cloud service providers mostly offer SLAs in descriptive format which is not directly consumable by a machine or a system. The SLA written in natural language may impede the utility of rapid elasticity in a cloud service. Manual management of SLAs with growing usage of cloud services can be a challenging, erroneous and tedious task especially for the CSUs acquiring multiple cloud services. The necessity of automating the complete SLA life cycle (which includes SLA description in machine readable format, negotiation, monitoring and management) becomes imminent due to complex requirements for the precise measurement of QoS parameters. Current approaches toward automating the complete SLA life cycle, lack in standardization, completeness and applicability to cloud services. Automation of different phases of the SLA life cycle (e.g. negotiation, monitoring and management) is dependent on the availability of a machine readable SLA. In this work, a structural specification for the SLAs in cloud computing (S3LACC in short) is presented which is designed specifically for cloud services, covers complete SLA life cycle and conforms with the available standards. A time efficient SLA negotiation technique is accomplished (based on the S3LACC) for concurrently negotiating with multiple CSPs. After successful negotiation process, next leading task in the SLA life cycle is to monitor the cloud services for ensuring the quality of service according to the agreed SLA. A distributed monitoring approach for the cloud SLAs is presented, in this work, which is suitable for services being used at single or multiple locations. The proposed approach reduces the number of communications of SLA violations to a monitoring coordinator by eliminating the unnecessary communications. The presented work on the complete SLA life cycle automation is evaluated and validated with the help of use cases, experiments and simulations.

M. Tech. Architectural Technology / The South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) requires that all registered architects clearly set out the terms (as defined by Rule 4.1 of the SACAP Code of Conduct, Board Notice 154 of 2009) of their appointment, before they undertake to perform any architectural work. Although the legally tested professional service agreements conform to the requirements of the Code of Conduct, architects are still reluctant to make use of these contracts. It has become common practice for architects to rely on their own knowledge of contracts to construct self-drafted agreements that are often not legally enforceable, or not to enter in to a client-architect agreement at all. It is the researcher's opinion that architects' knowledge and perceptions of the elements of contract law and the existing client-architect agreements should be investigated in an attempt to encourage the use of established service agreements. The agreement between the client and the architect plays a vital role in setting out the obligations of the parties involved in a construction project. Architects fail to provide their clients with a balanced, equitable and insurable professional service agreement, placing both parties at risk. The architect's authority is not established without a proper contract of agency, and the client does not understand the obligations and the role that the service provider has to undertake to earn his fee. The purpose of this study is to determine the origin and development of contracts of agency in the built environment. The study further aims to establish if the current available client-architect agreements are defined clearly and appropriately, as a legal agreement.

Το αντικείμενο αυτής της διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η μελέτη της επίδρασης του φυσικού στρώματος των ψηφιακών συνδρομητικών γραμμών στην συνολική απόδοση του DSL συστήματος, όπως αυτή ορίζεται από το συμβατικό επίπεδο εξυπηρέτησης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα εξετάζεται o τρόπος με τον όποιο επιδρούν ο θόρυβος διαφωνίας και τα χαρακτηριστικά του καναλιού στον μέγιστο ρυθμό μετάδοσης που μπορεί να επιτευχθεί. Ο θόρυβος διαφωνίας δημιουργείται από την ανεπιθύμητη παρεμβολή μεταξύ των σημάτων γειτονικών γραμμών της ιδίας δέσμης καλωδίων. Τα χαρακτηριστικά του καναλιού καθορίζονται από το μήκος της γραμμής, την ύπαρξη γεφυρών με ατερμάτιστα τμήματα κατά μήκος του συνδρομητικού βρόγχου και από τις τεχνικές παραμέτρους του δισύρματου καλωδίου (διάμετρος, χαρακτηριστική αντίσταση κ.α.). Με την βοήθεια προσομοιώσεων που υλοποιήθηκαν στο περιβάλλον Μatlab παρουσιάζονται διάφορες μετρήσεις για τον μέγιστο δυνατό ρυθμό μετάδοσης ενός ADSL συστήματος καθώς μεταβάλλονται οι παράγοντες που αναφέρθηκαν παραπάνω. Μελετώντας τα αποτελέσματα αυτά εξάγονται χρήσιμα συμπεράσματα τόσο για την σχεδίαση νέων DSL δικτύων όσο και για την διαχείριση των υπαρχόντων. Έτσι μπορούν να οριστούν ασφαλέστερα οι παράμετροι που περιγράφονται από το συμβατικό επίπεδο εξυπηρέτησης και καθορίζουν την δυνατότητα για παροχή υπηρεσιών εγγυημένης ποιότητας. / The objective of this diploma thesis is to study the effect of DSL physical layer on the overall system infrastructure. More specifically, examine in what way the effects of the crosstalk noise and the channel characteristics on the highest bit rate can be achieved. The crosstalk noise is created by the unwelcome interruption between the neighbor signal lines. The channel characteristics are determined by the length of subscriber loop, by the existence of bridged-tap and the technical parameters of twisted pair (diameter, characteristic resistance etc.). With the help of simulations in Matlab environment, we take various measurements of the highest bit rate of a ADSL system as we change the factors which have been mentioned above. Studying these results are exported useful conclusions for the design of new DSL networks and to manage existing ones. So it can be defined safer parameters which are described by the service level agreements and determine the ability to provide guaranteed quality service.

SILVA, Ticiana Linhares Coelho da. Processamento elástico e não-intrusivo de consultas em ambientes de nuvem considerando o SLA. 2013. 54 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em ciência da computação)- Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza-CE, 2013. / Submitted by Elineudson Ribeiro (elineudsonr@gmail.com) on 2016-07-12T18:22:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_tlcsilva.pdf: 1298584 bytes, checksum: 63992b01ae2b16152aa961224cc5edfb (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rocilda Sales (rocilda@ufc.br) on 2016-07-22T12:41:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_tlcsilva.pdf: 1298584 bytes, checksum: 63992b01ae2b16152aa961224cc5edfb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-22T12:41:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2013_dis_tlcsilva.pdf: 1298584 bytes, checksum: 63992b01ae2b16152aa961224cc5edfb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Computação em Nuvem ou Cloud Computing é um paradigma promissor de computação orientada a serviços. O seu maior benefício é a elasticidade, isto é, a capacidade do sistema de adicionar e remover recursos automaticamente em tempo de execução. Para isso, é essencial projetar e implementar uma técnica efetiva e eficiente que tire proveito da flexibilidade do sistema. Dessa forma, prover elasticidade requer monitorar continuamente (ou prever) a demanda do sistema por recursos, com objetivo de decidir quando adicioná-los e removê-los. Este trabalho apresenta um método de monitoramento não-intrusivo e contínuo de SGBDs relacionais em uma infraestrutura de nuvem, visando minimizar a quantidade de máquinas virtuais provisionadas para o processamento de consultas, e consequentemente maximizar o uso eficiente do ambiente do provedor. Além disso, ele visa satisfazer um "acordo de nível de serviço", em inglês service-level agrement (SLA), associado a cada consulta submetida ao sistema. Dessa forma, um objetivo desse trabalho também é minimizar a penalidade paga pelo provedor para os casos em que ocorre a violação do SLA. Além do método de monitoramento, este trabalho também apresenta um método de provisionamento de MVs para o processamento da consulta como contribuições. Nossa estratégia de monitoramento é aplicada a consultas select-range e consultas com agregação sobre uma única tabela. Os experimentos foram realizados na infraestrutura de nuvem da Amazon, confirmando que nossa técnica é elástica, permitindo ajustar os recursos alocados no sistema de forma automática e dinâmica, com base no SLA acordado.