Information systems (IS) projects are complex and costly, but only a 3rd of IS projects are successful; the Standish Group reported that 32% of IS projects were successful in 2012. Although investments in research have led to improvements in practice, there is a general perception that management failures are responsible for the low rate of IS project success. The effects of initiating factors on project outcome had not been sufficiently explored; few IS researchers have explored the initiation phase. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore project initiation factors, including relational, as well as decision-making aspects, and how they might be addressed to enhance the possibility of success. The research questions were oriented at identifying key initiation factors, how they might be managed to promote project success, and how decision-making factors at initiation might facilitate project success. A conceptual framework consisting of chaos theory and Ashby's law of requisite variety was used. Purposive and snowballing sampling techniques were used, and 24 IS managers and project managers were interviewed. A 3-stage data analysis approach was used and included open coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding. Key themes identified included project governance and management, as well as stakeholder engagement. The emergent theory of IS project initiation indicated that the factors represented by the themes must be identified during initiation but implemented throughout the project lifecycle to ensure project success. Positive social change may be realized as IS managers, and project managers apply the findings and recommendations to achieve project success and avoid costly failures thus benefiting both companies and customers.

The main objective pursued in this thesis targets the development and systematization of a methodology that allows addressing management problems in the dynamic operation of Urban Wastewater Systems. The proposed methodology will suggest operational strategies that can improve the overall performance of the system under certain problematic situations through a model-based approach. The proposed methodology has three main steps: The first step includes the characterization and modeling of the case-study, the definition of scenarios, the evaluation criteria and the operational settings that can be manipulated to improve the system’s performance. In the second step, Monte Carlo simulations are launched to evaluate how the system performs for a wide range of operational settings combinations, and a global sensitivity analysis is conducted to rank the most influential operational settings. Finally, the third step consists on a screening methodology applying a multi-criteria analysis to select the best combinations of operational settings. / El principal objectiu d’aquesta tesi és desenvolupar una metodologia que permeti abordar els problemes de gestió del cicle industrial de l’aigua. La metodologia proposada suggereix estratègies de gestió que poden millorar el rendiment general del sistema en determinades situacions problemàtiques. La metodologia proposada es basa en un model matemàtic de simulació d’aquestes infraestructures i consta de tres passos. El primer pas inclou la caracterització i modelització del cas d’estudi, la definició d’escenaris, criteris d’avaluació i paràmetres d’operació del sistema. En el segon pas, es llancen simulacions Monte Carlo (MC) amb l’objectiu d’avaluar com es comporta el sistema segons diferents estratègies d’operació. Per tal d’identificar els paràmetres d’operació més influents es du a terme una anàlisi global de sensibilitat. Finalment, el tercer pas consisteix en una metodologia d’avaluació basada en solucions Pareto i un anàlisi multicriteri per tal de seleccionar les millors estratègies d’operació.

In the last few years the demand for organic products has increased rapidly resulting in a strong growth of the organic industry worldwide. Organic certification is globally used to guarantee that 'organic' labelled produce follow the principles and standards of organic agriculture set by international and national organic certification bodies. Currently the lengthy and complex process of organic certification is entirely paper based and requires multiple access by organic primary producers to the certifying body involving precise data capture and transfer over a long period of time. The paper based organic certification has some significant disadvantages such as being time-consuming, error-prone (in particular transcription errors) and complex. Any improvement of the paper based organic certification process can lead to higher efficiency, lower costs and time savings for primary producers and certifying bodies. Australia is a major supplier of organic produce holding almost half of the organic farmland worldwide. However, Australia?s unique geography provides challenges by means of huge distances and poor rural telecommunication coverage for the sustainable agriculture sector. The disadvantages of the paper based organic certification are this kind of environment more severe. Up until now, there has not been a software solution supporting organic primary producers in their certification process, let alone a mobile software solution. In any case there are many farm management software solutions available but they do not take into account the specific issues in organic agriculture such as soil management, pest control, or fertilisation of land/animals. The Mobile Organic Certification (MobiCert) project was created to overcome these disadvantages focussing on the development of a mobile information portal which can be accessed through mobile Internet using GPRS or 3G technology enabling primary producers access and provision to organic certification related information in field using their mobile phones. The MobiCert project investigates the effectiveness of mobile devices (mobile phones/PDAs) for (some of) the stages of the computerised organic certification, in particular in terms of information access and provision. Designed as a proof-of-concept project the investigation takes place in South Australia targeting the NASAA organic certified primary producers there. The MobiCert project is a pilot project within the SAmCom (Sustainable Agriculture m-Commerce) project framework, which aims to enhance the information access and provision for primary producers through m-Commerce. It is a joint project of the University of South Australia, m.Net, NASAA, e-Cert and the Fraunhofer Institute Using a qualitative approach in a rapid appraisal case study the goals of the MobiCert project are: to create a theoretical model (RuTADIM) for the mobile technology acceptance and diffusion of innovation in remote and rural areas; and to develop and test a prototype mobile information community for organic certification which provides access to data and information related to organic certification, (online and offline) record keeping functionalities, as well as community functionalities for communication and experience exchange of primary producers. The results of the proof-of-concept MobiCert project suggest that organic primary producers can benefit from a mobile information platform to access and provide information in rural and remote areas. The high acceptance of organic primary producer to use the mobile information community indicates the willingness to embrace new technology and solutions in the existing organic certification process. The benefits and acceptance of the MobiCert solution have to bee affirmed in follow on field studies incorporating other issues such as the underlying business models. The contributions of the MobiCert project are two-fold: firstly, it provides a theoretical model (RuTADIM) which gives insights of key influence factors for the acceptance of mobile technology and the diffusion of innovation in rural and remote areas. The RuTADIM model can be foundation for future research projects involving mobile technology rural and remote areas. Secondly, the MobiCert information community displayed the potential of mobile solutions for primary producers in remote and rural areas. The MobiCert platform is a stepping stone for future mobile solution which can build upon this platform.

The complex co-evolutionary systems approach (CCeSA) provides a well-suited framework for analysing agricultural systems, serving as a bridge between biophysical and socioeconomic sciences, allowing for the explanation of phenomena, and for the use of metaphors for thinking and action. By studying agricultural systems as self-generated, hierarchical, complex co-evolutionary farming systems (CCeFSs), one can investigate the interconnections between the elements that constitute CCeFSs, along with the relationships between CCeFSs and other systems, as a fundamental step to understanding sustainability as an emergent property of the system. CCeFSs are defined as human activity systems emerging from the purposes, gestalt, mental models, history and weltanschauung of the farm manager, and from his dynamic co-evolution with the environment while managing the resources at his hand to achieve his own multiple, conflicting, dynamic, semi-structured and constrained purposes. A sustainable CCeFS is described as one that exhibits both enough fitness to achieve its multiple, dynamic, constrained, semi-structured, and often incommensurable and conflicting purposes while performing above threshold values for failure, and enough flexibility to dynamically co-evolve with its changing biophysical and socioeconomic environment for a given future period. Fitness and flexibility are essential features of sustainable CCeFSs because they describe the systems' dynamic capacity to explore and exploit its dynamic phase space while co-evolving with it. This implies that a sustainable CCeFS is conceived as a set of dynamic, co-evolutionary processes, contrasting with the standard view of sustainability as an equilibrium or steady state. Achieving sustainable CCeFSs is a semi-structured, constrained, multi-objective, and dynamic optimisation management problem with an intractable search phase space, that can be solved within the CCeSA with the help of a multi-objective co-evolutionary optimisation tool. Carnico-ICSPEA2, a Co-Evolutionary Navigator (CoEvoNav) used as a CCeSA's tool for harnessing the complexity of the CCeFS of interest and its environment towards sustainability, is introduced. The software was designed by its end-user - the farm manager and author of this thesis - as an aid for the analysis and optimisation of the "San Francisco" ranch, a beef cattle enterprise running on temperate pastures and fodder crops in the central plateau of Mexico. By combining a non-linear simulator and a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm with a deterministic and stochastic framework, the CoEvoNav imitates the co-evolutionary pattern of the CCeFS of interest. As such, the software was used by the farm manager to "navigate" through his CCeFS's co-evolutionary phase space towards achieving sustainability at farm level. The ultimate goal was to enhance the farm manager's decision-making process and co-evolutionary skills, through an increased understanding of his system, the co-evolutionary process between his mental models, the CCeFS, and the CoEvoNav, and the continuous discovery of new, improved sets of heuristics. An overview of the methodological, theoretical and philosophical framework of the thesis is introduced. Also, a survey of the Mexican economy, its agricultural sector, and a statistical review of the Mexican beef industry are presented. Concepts such as modern agriculture, the reductionist approach to agricultural research, models, the system's environment, sustainability, conventional and sustainable agriculture, complexity, evolution, simulators, and multi-objective optimization tools are extensively reviewed. Issues concerning the impossibility of predicting the long-term, detailed future behaviour of CCeFSs, along with the use of simulators as decision support tools in the quest for sustainable CCeFSs, are discussed. The rationale behind the simulator used for this study, along with that of the multi-objective evolutionary tools used as the makeup of Carnico-ICSPEA2, are explained. A description of the "San Francisco" ranch, its key on-farm sustainability indicators in the form of objective functions, constraints, and decision variables, and the semi-structured, multi-objective, dynamic, constrained management problem posed by the farm manager's planned introduction of a herd of bulls for fattening as a way to increase the fitness of his CCeFS via a better management of the system's feed surpluses and the acquisition of a new pick-up truck are described as a case study. The tested scenario and the experimental design for the simulations are presented as well. Results from using the CoEvoNav as the farm manager's extended phenotype to solve his multi-objective optimisation problem are described, along with the implications for the management and sustainability of the CCeFS. Finally, the approach and tools developed are evaluated, and the progress made in relation to methodological, theoretical, philosophical and conceptual notions is reviewed along with some future topics for research.

DUARTE, Eliane Cordeiro de Vasconcellos Garcia. Novo desenho da gestão do sistema de educação a distância. 2007. 120f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação na Formação de EAD) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação na Formação de EAD, Londrina-PR, 2007. / Submitted by Maria Josineide Góis (josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-06-26T14:34:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2007_Dis_ECVGDUARTE.pdf: 650196 bytes, checksum: 5cc09fedc813127568b32397cf322bfd (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Josineide Góis(josineide@ufc.br) on 2012-06-26T15:16:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2007_Dis_ECVGDUARTE.pdf: 650196 bytes, checksum: 5cc09fedc813127568b32397cf322bfd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-06-26T15:16:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2007_Dis_ECVGDUARTE.pdf: 650196 bytes, checksum: 5cc09fedc813127568b32397cf322bfd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / A gestão do sistema de Educação a Distância necessita de subsídios que possibilitem o seu redesenho, em virtude do novo incorporado à velha prática da administração. Baseado nesta premissa foi desenvolvido um estudo quanti/qualitativo, exploratório e descritivo que teve como objetivo apresentar um redesenho da gestão dos sistemas de educação a distância. Para tanto, foi elaborado um questionário com perguntas abertas e fechadas, que após prétestagem, foi aplicado junto aos gestores de nove Instituições de Ensino Superior credenciadas e com longa experiência em EAD, do sul do País. A aplicação do instrumento foi feita via internet. Os resultados obtidos permitiram verificar que os gestores possuem conhecimento em EAD, mas não específico em gestão; que as atividades desenvolvidas com freqüência são planejamento, controle, supervisão e provisão de toda infra-estrutura necessária à implantação e implementação dos cursos. No referente à percepção sobre seu papel de gestor, eles destacaram que se percebem como provedores de insumos necessários à execução dos processos. Destacaram também que vêem a legislação como algo necessário à normatização da EAD. No referente aos avanços eles indicaram: a maior adoção do planejamento por parte dos docentes; a familiarização com o uso das mídias; a parceria e o trabalho em grupo. No concernente aos retrocessos indicaram: a resistência docente a pouca credibilidade em EAD; a exigência de direção no retorno financeiro imediato; a precariedade da internet e o alto turnover. Os resultados encontrados não destoam da literatura, contudo, a falta de preparo dos gestores para o exercício da gestão deve ser considerado pelas Instituições, pois isso pode ser um dos fatores que estejam dificultando a consolidação da EAD no País e o ir e vir das políticas governamentais.

<p>Transitioning to cloud computing is a complex and major effort for large multinational corporations (MNCs). Automated cloud migration tools (ACMTs) have been developed and are evolving to streamline this process. The potential benefits of their use are reported to be significant in terms of cost, time, and business innovation. Academic research on ACMTs and the best leadership practices for their use has been limited. </p><p> </p><p>The purpose of the research was to identify the best leadership practices of MNCs in the use of automated migration tools for the adoption of commercial cloud computing platforms. Adoption of cloud computing is a major technological shift occurring globally, and is still in early stages of growth. Major providers of commercial cloud computing platforms include technological giants such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google, Oracle and IBM.</p><p> </p><p>A meta-analysis designed research approach focusing on the triangulation of case studies, cloud computing industry data and trends from cloud service providers (CSP) revealed that best practices of leaders within MNCs fall under three main categories: awareness, impact and actions. Further, it was determined that the ACMTs with the most advanced capabilities do not necessarily equate to faster realization of cloud value for the MNC. </p><p> </p>With the continued development of ACMTs and their growing adoption, further study on the role of automation in cloud migration solution deployment will be critical, as ACMT capabilities will continue to mature. No longer the sole domain of becoming a market leader alone, organizations that utilize ACMTs are increasingly doing so just to maintain competitive parity, as the true differentiator in organizational excellence is now in cloud optimization and not simply just getting to the cloud.

Die Industrie ist im Wandel. Die Grenzen zwischen Industrien, Anwendungsbereichen und Unternehmen verschwinden immer weiter, sind teils kaum noch in ihrer alten Ausprägung zu erkennen. Auch die industrielle Automation kann und sollte sich diesem Trend nicht entziehen. Immer mehr Technologien und Paradigmen anderer Bereiche gewinnen an Bedeutung. Hinzu kommt, dass die Anzahl und die Vielfalt an Geräten, Anwendungen, Anforderungen und Technologien stetig wächst. Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit Ansätzen, die es ermöglichen, einigen Aspekten der wachsenden Komplexität zu begegnen. Dabei handelt es sich um Technologien und Konzepte zum Thema Management, genauer zum Netzwerk-, System- und Dienste-Management. Ziel ist es nicht nur einen Ansatz zu finden, der gegenwärtigen Ansprüchen genügt, sondern auch noch für kommende Entwicklungen geeignet ist.

The overall aim of this study is to determine whether and how the application of Total Quality Management (TQM) can improve organisational performance in the Maluti-A-Phofung Municipality. There is a reason to believe that TQM can be and is a viable approach for improving productivity and performance in the public sector. TQM principles centred on customer satisfaction, process orientation and continuous improvement are very compatible with preferred public sector management styles. Therefore, a theoretical and conceptual analysis is undertaken of TQM as it is discussed in various volumes of published literature. As a result, quality is examined in terms of how it historically evolved during the various stages of development of mankind and overview of essential concepts that contributed to modern professional practice of the concept. Furthermore, TQM defined within a broad framework of management theory and its dimensions are scrutinised. These dimensions are analysed in such a way that describe a model of how organisations could use TQM as a management theory. A thorough analysis of individual dimension and unique contribution of each to organisational performance is made. The role of managers to implement TQM principles and practices is analysed as well as factors contributing to failures as a check list of what managers must avoid in order to implement TQM effectively. Moreover, the criterion upon which TQM in public institutions could be evaluated is also discussed as the corner stone of a performance measurement system. Local government introduced municipal performance management systems as part of the new public management paradigm shift, adopted in an attempt to find more effective and efficient methods of delivering services. Therefore, the concept of performance management and its impact on TQM on municipal performance is thoroughly discussed. The meaning of quality and performance is defined and evaluated in terms of components of performance management. In this way the fundamental value and impact TQM may have on performance management can be determined. To determine whether and how the application of TQM can improve organisational performance in the Maluti-A-Phofung Municipality, a structured questionnaire survey is undertaken based on nine TQM dimensions identified in the study. / Public Administration and Management / (M. Admin. (Public Admin.)

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:33:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Claudio_Soutto_Mayor_Cangi.pdf: 3420964 bytes, checksum: f2b56ac77d05c297fdafdc9c5b1444fe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-17 / This dissertation discusses the use and difficulties of obtaining benefits when adopting ERP systems. Although this topic is widely discussed in the literature, there is still a perceived lack of qualitative studies that deepen the understanding. The theoretical framework Acceptance Model Technology (TAM) is perhaps the one that best fits the discussions about the reasons why a new technology is not fully utilized by organizations. In this sense, the main purpose of this study was to evaluate the TAM model and present the main variables that impact on the level of usage of ERP and in addition, empirical data demonstrating the low ROI when using the ERP system is low. The research in this study, therefore examines - in a given organizational context - how to reduce the perception of ease of use and usefulness of ERP through two propositions drawn from qualitative literature: characteristics of initial design and changes in the external environment (business and law). The results of the dissertation show that the company does not use the whole system. Around 30% of the initial, defined design features were no longer used after a certain time. The conclusions suggested from the analysis, found that the design characteristics and changes in the external environment (business and law) influence the low utilization of the system and directly affect the level of use of the ERP system. The appreciated value of the effort expended in these activities and identified cost saving opportunity is $25 million a year, if these activities are executed in the ERP. / Essa disserta????o versa sobre a utiliza????o e dificuldade de obten????o de benef??cios pela ado????o de sistemas ERP. Embora seja um tema extensamente discutido na literatura, ainda se percebe certa escassez de estudos qualitativos que o aprofundem. O arcabou??o te??rico Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) talvez seja aquele que mais se adeque ??s discuss??es acerca das raz??es pelas quais uma nova tecnologia n??o seja completamente aproveitada pelas organiza????es. Neste sentido, o intento principal do presente trabalho foi o de avaliar o modelo TAM e apresentar as principais vari??veis que impactam no n??vel de utiliza????o do ERP e em complemento, dados emp??ricos que demonstrem o baixo ROI quando a utiliza????o do sistema ERP ?? baixa. A pesquisa analisou de que forma se reduz - em um dado contexto organizacional - a percep????o da facilidade de uso e da utilidade do ERP por meio de duas proposi????es qualitativas extra??das da literatura; caracter??sticas do desenho inicial e mudan??as nos ambientes externo e interno (neg??cios, legisla????o e opera????o). Os resultados apontam que a empresa n??o utiliza o sistema em sua totalidade. Em torno de 30% das funcionalidades definidas no desenho inicial deixam de ser utilizada ap??s determinado per??odo. As conclus??es sugerem que a proposi????o analisada neste estudo, as caracter??sticas do desenho e as mudan??as nos ambientes externo e interno (neg??cios, legisla????o e opera????o) influenciam a baixa utiliza????o do sistema, impactam diretamente no n??vel de utiliza????o do sistema ERP. Foi realizada uma valoriza????o no esfor??o dispendido nestas atividades e se identificou oportunidade de redu????o de custos de US$ 25 milh??es ao ano caso estas atividades fossem utilizadas por meio do ERP.

Thesis (Master of Strategic Studies) -- Army War College, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed , 2008). "March 8, 2006". "ADA448999"--URL.. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in paper format.