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Thesis (M.A.(Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2001.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [144]-153).

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Information Science / unrestricted

Thesis (MAcc)--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a software delivery model whereby software applications, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resource administration and payroll and Procurement, are hosted centrally by various service providers at their premises. These hosted applications can be delivered to multiple service customers via an existing Internet connection, with a browser based front-end, or via a thin client system. As all hardware and support services are provided by the service provider, operational costs for customers are reduced in comparison to a traditional, in-house supported software application. Traditional cost estimates for the deployment of on-premise software applications exclude personnel costs that are needed for ongoing support and maintenance. Depending on certain variables, such as the application involved, these costs can vary between 50% and 85% of the total cost of ownership of the application. Additionally, the cost of maintenance, periodic upgrades and continued support, on an annual basis, can be up to four times the initial cost of purchasing the application. From the perspective of the service customer the most difficult part of determining whether to move to SaaS is the total cost of ownership (TCO) calculation. This is due to the fact that the TCO does not merely include the cost of new licences, but also the careful consideration of certain variables, before a potential service customer can make a decision regarding a potential move to SaaS. These variables include considerations such as: - Physical and logical communication interfaces; - User requirements; - Security and privacy of information and data; - Customisability; - Availability of services and data; - Service levels; - Data ownership; and - Integration with existing systems. Presently no comprehensive framework exists that sets out the various aspects to be considered by a user company when determining whether to adopt SaaS, or not. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive framework of considerations relating to the adoption of SaaS by user companies in the form of a Total Cost of Ownership calculation. The framework was compiled after considering the variables that would influence the decision to move to SaaS, the impact of these variables on the potential SaaS customer and the costs associated with each of the above aspects. The framework compiled can assist potential SaaS customers in the decision to adopt SaaS. In addition, this table of considerations can also be used by the potential SaaS vendor in determining the viability of their SaaS offering, when compared to an equivalent, on-premise based software solution.

In today’s business climate many organizations are implementing ERP systems to connect all their processes into one system thereby hoping to benefit off the resulting efficiencies. ERP Vendors are trying to best cater to the needs of their customers, and this extends into the post-implementation period where customers rely on the Vendor to resolve software and technical errors that inevitably occur. This study looks into a factor with-in this area from the ERP Vendor perspective. Customers have to communicate with their ERP Vendor in the post-implementation period to resolve problems, and this study focuses on how this could best happen. This study uses a single case study approach that is centered on an ERP Vendor’s Customer support team. This Vendor has identified a requirement of getting a new and improved customer support e-system. This study will investigate for them, and other ERP Vendors in similar situations, what factors should influence this decision. To find the influential factors for the ERP Vendor’s requirement, the study looks into the available literature concerning ERP and IT support, and then survey’s the customer support team for further data. Part of the survey is based on a pre-existing study regarding the measurement of customer system effectiveness. And then qualitative responses from the support team are also analyzed. This study has brought to light many influential factors for ERP Vendors to take into consideration to have an effective customer support e-system. While all the factors can be taken into consideration in varying degrees, this study concludes that the most important center on and around providing Self Service Support (SSS). And then with-in the e-system, the Vendor must ensure an alignment to their and customer processes, while maintaining clear and logical access to quality information.

Context. Global software development (GSD) has become a significant practice in software industry due to rapid globalization processes and technological advances. In GSD, software development activities are carried at geographically distributed locations by collaboration of people with different background and culture. In this study, we studied an area of global software maintenance from both of state of the art and state of practice in order to understand which challenges are hampering the effectiveness of distributed maintenance team as well as which mitigation strategies can appease their impact. Objectives. The study unravels challenges of global software maintenance and alleviation strategies to address to those challenges by methodically reviewing relevant studies and industrial practitioners’ experiences. It also explores the convergence and divergence between the outcome from scientific studies and industrial settings Methods. Data collection processes are done through systematic literature review and industrial interviews. In the systematic review a variety of article sources are queried, including Compendex, Inspec, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, Wiley Inter Science, Scopus, Science Direct, ISI WOS and Springer Link. Interviews are conducted with five practitioners from 4 different multinational organizations. As data analysis methods, grounded theory and qualitative comparative analysis are applied. Results. Totally, 90 different challenges and 73 strategies were revealed. Unlike most of similar studies in GSD which used 3C categorization (Communication, Control and Coordination), we come up with a different view as we called 3PT which conceptualizes challenges and strategies into People, Process, Product and Technology factors. Conclusions. We conclude that collaborative processes and their clear definitions among all maintenance stakeholders are one of the critical success factors of effective maintenance in global collaboration. Most importantly, a maintenance management should focus on the holistic improvement of each factor in 3PT and their synergy can contribute much to the successful software maintenance in globally distributed environment. / We found that collaborative processes and their clear definitions among all maintenance stakeholders are one of the critical success factors of effective maintenance in global collaboration. Most importantly, a maintenance management should focus on the holistic improvement of each factor in 3PT and their synergy can contribute much to the successful software maintenance in globally distributed environment.

The diploma thesis deals with creation of software support for the robotic device used for absolute GNSS antenna calibration, which is developed by Institute of Geodesy at Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology. In the beginning of this thesis, there is in general discussed issue of absolute GNSS antenna calibration. Then the text continues by description of calibration device itself together with summary of testing performed so far. Next sections are focused on its main content. There is mentioned testing calibration process, followed by all of every single steps, which leads the procedure towards gaining calibration parameters for removing errors arising due to instability of antenna´s phase center position.

Almost every application or platform that is developed nowadays includes a user onboarding experience. Onboarding is a process that starts the moment users enter an application and it aims to show the benefits of using the application, teach how the functionality works and motivate users to return. When the target application is considered a complex software, the teaching methodology needs to be carefully studied and designed. Through the example of a complex project management software, this master thesis aims to develop an in-app teaching interface that allows the users to understand the different functionalities and improve their work performance in a complex application. In this work, we developed an integrated learning platform as a result of methodical research-oriented design processes. The outcome of the research is a modular onboarding experience called the Learning Center. It includes a collection of courses based on video tutorials and interactive guided tours. Gamification elements such as progress bars and checklists are included as a way to engage users and encourage them to complete the courses. User tests showed an improvement in functionality understanding and a reduction in error rates. The Learning Center was considered useful and adequately approached. Future research includes making the appropriate learning material directly available from each software feature. / Nästan alla applikationer eller plattformar som är utvecklade idag har en “user onboarding experience”. “Onboarding” är en process som börjar när en användare startar en applikation. Processen ämnar visa fördelar med att använda applikationen, lära användaren funktioner och att motivera vidare användning. När applikationer uppfattas som komplexa behövs noggrann studie och design av potentiella lärometoder. Genom en komplex projektledningsapplikation ämnar detta masterarbete utveckla en “in-app” utbildningsgränssnitt som möjliggör det för användare att förstå diverse funktioner och förbättra deras arbetsprestation i en komplex applikation. I detta arbete utvecklade vi en integrerad utbildningsplattform som ett resultat av metodiska forskningsorienterade designprocesser. Resultatet av forskningen är en modulär “onboarding experience” kallad “the Learning Center”. Den innehåller en uppsättning kurser baserade på videohandledning och interaktiva guidade rundturer. Spelifieringselement så som framstegsmätare och checklistor är inkluderade som ett sätt för att engagera och uppmuntra de att fullfölja kurser. Användare visade en förbättring i förståelsen av funktionalitet och en minskning i antal fel. “The Learning Center” sågs som användbart och adekvat bemött. Framtida forskning bör göra passande läromaterial direkt tillgänglig från varje mjukvarufunktion.

Noting how organizations today are increasingly dependent on IT for a broad range of organizational activities, the thesis starts from the observation that many IT-related endeavors nevertheless fail. In tracing part of the problem to the inability of many organizations to cope with changes in the surrounding material and social context, the emphasis is put on the processes by which IT-artifacts are adapted and re-adapted, after they have been put into daily use. Assuming human sensemaking as a good basis for coping with the changes, qualitative data from two organizations — a Swedish social services department and a software firm — provides an empirical context for assessing how sensemaking processes affect IT-adaptation. Conceptually, the thesis draws on Karl Weick's thinking, introducing the "double interact" and the "response repertoire" as sensitizing concepts with which to understand the mechanisms generating adaptation of IT-artifacts. Methodologically, the interpretive case study is employed, using the "hermeneutic circle" as the guiding principle for the research process. The thesis draws some specific implications concerning how IT-adaptation can be understood in organizations. The generic IT-adaptation process can be divided into two elementar}- phases, exploration and exploitation. During the exploration phase, several individual interpretations of a particular IT-artifact co-exist, occasioning ambiguity about its meaning in organizational daily activity. During the exploitation phase, the IT-artifact itself is in the background of matters of attention, providing organizational actors, who pursue individual goals and desires, the opportunity to exploit the shared and taken-for-granted meaning they see in the artifact. While the exploitation phase is important for organizational efficacy, there is nevertheless a risk that the meaning exploited becomes outdated by surrounding socio-material changes over time. Among other proposals, the thesis therefore suggests that triggering sensemaking processes can be important for meaningful IT-adaptation. In addition, it suggests the activity of searching for the interlacing areas of professional identity of actor groups, as a means to make IT-artifacts meaningful in organizing endeavors. / <p>[8] s., s. 1-64: sammanfattning, s. 65-168: 6 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu