Currently, client and supplier firms are struggling with how they can make their information systems (IS) outsourcing engagements more valuable. This research points to the importance of successful practice and outcome in IS outsourcing for achieving engagements of value. To enhance the understanding of IS out­sourcing over time, a process perspective is applied. Further, this research is based on the contention that IS outsourcing is more likely to be successful if challenges are managed in a proactive manner and with a relationship perspective. Thus, understanding challenges in IS outsourcing requires a symmetric view on client and supplier. The thesis is based on two studies presented as three steps of research: development, validation and reconsideration of a conceptual framework. The licentiate study centred on the step of development whereas the present doctoral study has a focus on the steps of validation and reconsideration. The purpose of this study includes investigating how the management of successful practice and outcome in IS outsourcing can be enabled. To address the purpose, the IS outsourcing process is studied in a client–supplier relationship. This includes that different actor perspectives, including strategic, operative, and systems, are considered for a better understanding of the practice of IS outsourcing, the challenges, and how different actors convey successful IS outsourcing. The thesis contributes a framework for relational-oriented management of IS outsourcing, which provides the structure for understanding what needs to be managed in terms of key conditions, when and how in connection to actors, relationships, and process. Theoretical propositions, enhancing the understanding of the complexity of IS outsourcing as well as the number of challenges involved, are also presented. In brief, these propositions relate to the circumstance that IS outsourcing requires management on different levels and with different kinds of results in mind.

According to recent surveys on the use of systems development methodologies, many organizations claim that they are adapting systems development methodologies (Hardy et al. 1995; Russo et al. 1996; Fitzgerald, 1998). The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the adaptation of systems development methodologies in South Africa. This problem was investigated by addressing the following research questions: • What are the perceptions of system developers regarding systems development methodologies? • Why do system developers adapt system development methodologies? • How do they adapt the methodologies? • Is there a difference in the quality of the systems which are developed with these adapted systems development methodologies opposed to those systems which are developed according to a specific formalised methodology? In this dissertation, interpretive case studies have been used to add to the researcher's knowledge concerning how and why systems development methodologies in South Africa are adapted. Qualitative interviewing was used as a data collection method. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The next step was to analyse the transcribed data. In this study, content analysis with cross-case analysis was used. The findings obtained were confirmed by making use of triangulation and member checking. The results indicated that although the use of systems development methodologies is mandatory in organizations, it is not enforced by senior employees. Organizations use multiple systems development methodologies. Systems development methodologies are adapted due to several reasons, i.e. financial gains that is obtained, the lack of knowledge, time limitations, the fact that methodologies are not universally applicable, etc. Systems development methodologies are statically and dynamically adapted by adding and removing steps. The combination of methodologies and switching between methodologies also occur. The results indicate that developers realize that formal systems development methodologies produce systems of a higher quality. However, because it is so time-consuming, they are prepared to accept a lower quality system in order to gain a faster delivery time. / Thesis (M.Sc. (Computer Science))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

In this thesis an overarching analysis is made of four articles published in refereed international journals. The articles are describing the development and implementation of learning support systems/learning support applications. The text which summarizes and retrospectively analyzes the projects described in the articles has been condensed into yet another article, which has been placed at the end of the thesis. This makes a total of five articles. In the analysis that is made of learning support applications the following questions are in focus: What results have the projects achieved and how have the experiences gained been utilized? What factors in the described projects have facilitated or hindered the idea, vision, design and implementation of the learning support systems? How have university intentions of supporting entrepreneurship and the commercialization of ideas and products benefited the projects? The results show that there are a great many similarities in the ideas and visions that have initiated and affected the learning support work. Improved communication and availability are expected from all the applications, as well as coordination, creating order and an overarching view. In spite of a large number of positive users, it has been difficult for the applications described to become integrated into the organizations. One possible reason for this is the bad anchoring of the projects in the management organization. Further, there was a lack of funding in the final phases of the projects, which considerably reduced the chances of establishing and continuing operating them. In the gap arising between the end of the implementation phase and the possible application for and granting of new funding, the project dies out of itself. One way of reversing this trend is to grant means for continued work and to get the organization and administration to upgrade the value of a learning application that has become established in the organization.

At a theoretical level the research identifies a conceptual framework for the design of fruitful case discussions in an online environment and at a practical level, the conceptual framework has been used to implement and evaluate several versions of a case-based online course.

[pt] Nos últimos anos a área de Sistemas Multi-Agentes (SMAs) vem apresentando um crescimento acelerado. Novas técnicas e ferramentas estão surgindo e a cada dia aumenta o número de pessoas dedicadas ao tema. Muitas metodologias para o desenvolvimento de sistemas multi-agentes têm sido propostas. No entanto, a maioria delas dedica-se principalmente à fase de análise dos sistemas. Este trabalho propõe um método para a implementação de SMAs utilizando componentes de software. Na fase de análise e projeto foi utilizada a linguagem ANote, que compreende sete diagramas com o objetivo de modelar os aspectos de um SMA com uma notação própria para agentes e com diversas visões do sistema. Em seguida foi proposto um modelo de implementação dos agentes baseado em componentes e são descritos os mapeamentos necessários para transformar a modelagem do SMA em um sistema implementado. Para validar o modelo é apresentado um Estudo de Caso como prova de conceito das idéias presentes nesta proposta. O Estudo de Caso consiste em um mercado virtual onde os agentes são responsáveis pela compra e venda de produtos. Esta implementação utiliza o CORBA Component Model (CCM) e uma linguagem para comunicação entre agentes, a FIPA-ACL. / [en] In the past few years, the Multi-Agents Systems (MAS) area has presented an accelerated growth. New techniques and tools are constantly being proposed and the number of specialists dedicated to this subject is increasing. Many methodologies have been published to support the development of multi-agent systems. However, most of them concentrate only on the system analysis phase. This work proposes a method to implement MASs using software components. During the analysis and design phases, the ANote language was used. It contains seven diagrams that model different aspects of a MAS and a proper notation for describing agents and different views of the system. An agent implementation model based on components is proposed and the mappings from the MAS elements to the system implementation are described. To validate the model, a Case Study is presented using the concepts described in this proposal. The Case Study consists of a virtual marketplace where agents are responsible for buying and selling products. The implementation uses the CORBA Component Model (CCM) and a language for agent communication called FIPA- ACL.

Systems development projects and their documents are more or less standardized and can mainly be applied on systems that are supposed to be built from scratch, or updated. In pace with the number of IT-systems are increasing worldwide there is no need for every organization to build their own IT-system. Nowadays it is also possible to purchase licenses which allow the purchaser to modify or add functions to the system. Along with those changes, there have been an increased amount of “rapid development methods” such as Agile and “Quick and Dirty” solutions, but these methods and perspectives are mainly focusing on entire systems development processes, as the old ones, but quicker. If a company purchases an off-the-shelf system with source code available, there is no real need to go through a proper systems development process. During interviews with a small company that has acquired a system as mentioned above, the researcher realized that only one single document is needed, the requirements specification. Today’s requirements specifications can be either well detailed or less, but a project still needs the details specified. Combining a known agile development process with IEEE’s standardized requirements specification, a new way to proceed with projects based on one single document (the requirements specification) has been made. This document also has a focus on simplicity for the inexperienced readers, but with the depth that every developer has got a use for.

Många systemutvecklare idag saknar kunskap om hur ljud kan användas i system för att öka användarupplevelsen och är skeptiska till ljudets användningspotential. Auditory display är ett samlingsnamn för olika tekniker som nyttjar ljudet som ett medium för att kommunicera olika typer av data och information från systemet till användaren. Då mycket av forskningen rörande auditory display fokuserar på utvecklingen av hjälpmedel för synskadade istället för mer generella system för användare utan särskilda behov ser vi att det finns ett behov av en litteraturstudie med fokus på den sistnämnda gruppen system. Vi ställde frågan "hur kan auditory display tillämpas vid utveckling av traditionella IT-system" och genomförde en litteraturstudie där 23 artiklar analyserade för att identifiera olika tillämpningsområden för auditory display, med syfte att återge dessa tillämpningsområden i ett format som är av intresse för utvecklare som vill kunna använda ljud i sina system men inte vet vart de ska börja. Resultaten visar att auditory display kan användas till god effekt exempelvis vid övervakning av nätverkstrafik, i gränssnitt och widgets och i fordonsgränssnitt i bilar. Vi föreslår även lovande användningsområden som bör undersökas vidare av framtida forskare. / Today, there is a certain lack of knowledge on how sound can be utilized in systems to enhance the user experience among systems developers and many developers have a skeptical outlook on the usability of sound. Auditory display is an umbrella term for an array of different techniques that utilize sound as a medium to communicate different sorts of information and data from the system to the user. As much of the research revolving around auditory display has the development of accessibility tools for visually impaired as its sole focus, instead of more general systems intended for users without specific needs, we see that there is a need for a literature review focused on the latter. We asked ourselves the question "how can auditory display be utilized in the development of traditional IT-systems?" and carried out a literature review where 23 articles were analyzed to identify different use cases, with the purpose of presenting these use casers in a way that can be used by developers who are interested in implementing sound in their systems but are unsure where to start. Results indicate that auditory display can be used to good effect in, among others, systems for monitoring network traffic, user interfaces and widgets and in-vehicle technologies. Lastly, we propose promising potential use cases that are in need of further research.

This paper aims to investigate whether a small organization with small development teams can find a value in leaving a functioning development process to follow a formal systems development methodology, if these organizations can find support in an agile systems development method and in such case the method needs to be adjusted according to the organizations unique conditions. A traditional plan-driven system development methodology includes a number of phases that are carried out sequentially and a completed phase can basically not be resumed. All requirements are specified at the beginning of a project and at the end of the project only one delivery of software take place. This can cause difficulties in for example dealing with changing requirements. Agile system development methods intend to deal with changing requirements and to enable continuous delivery of valuable, working software. In this paper, both the traditional plan-driven methods and agile methods will be explained. Research methodology and existing system development theories will be discussed and a company where the study has been conducted will be presented. The company's current work processes are analyzed and presented, and all collected data will be reviewed. The results of the paper shows that no initial adaptation of agile methods, Scrum in this specific case, needs to be implemented and that there is no evidence to suggest that small organizations with small development teams can not work after a formal agile methodology. Finally, a general discussion of the study will be conducted and conclusions whether the study objective has been achieved or not will be discussed. / Denna uppsats ämnar undersöka huruvida en mindre organisation med små utvecklingsteam kan finna ett värde i att lämna en fungerande utvecklingsprocess för att följa en formell systemutvecklingsmetod, ifall dessa organisationer kan hitta ett metodstöd i agila systemutvecklingsmetoder och om metoderna i så fall behöver anpassas utefter organisationens unika förutsättningar. En traditionell plandriven systemutvecklingsmetod innehåller ett antal faser som genomförs sekventiellt och en slutförd fas kan i stort sett inte återupptas. Alla krav specificeras i början av ett projekt och endast en leverans av mjukvara sker. Detta kan medföra svårigheter med att hantera till exempel förändrade krav. Agila systemutvecklingsmetoder har för avsikt att hantera förändrade krav samt möjliggöra kontinuerliga leveranser av värdefull och fungerande programvara. Under uppsatsen kommer såväl traditionella plandrivna metoder som agila metoder att förklaras närmare. Metodval för forskningen och befintliga systemutvecklingsteorier kommer att diskuteras och ett företag där studien har bedrivits kommer att presenteras. Företagets nuvarande arbetsprocess analyseras och presenteras och alla datainsamlingar kommer att gås igenom. Resultatet av uppsatsen visar på att inga initiala anpassningar av agila metoder, Scrum i det här specifika fallet, behöver genomföras och att det inte finns något som tyder på att små organisationer med små utvecklingsteam inte kan arbeta efter en formell agil metod. Slutligen kommer en allmän diskussion om studien att föras och slutsatser gällande om syftet med studien har uppnåtts kommer att diskuteras.

Logistics and Information System Development are hot topics in today’s business world. Although many studies have been conducted on these two areas, information about logistics costs is still lacking in many companies. Information Systems are tools that, if properly developed, aid organizations in processing data and providing information with speed, accuracy and quality to its intended users. A lacking in the relation between the business world and the Information System’s world was apparent in a studied company’s self-developed Enterprise Resource Planning system, where information about logistics costs was neglected. A case study made in this same studied company, show the importance of seven different logistics costs types and its related information. Using the analysis of the material gathered from both literary work and this case study, it was determined what information about logistics costs is neglected by the manufacturing organization’s self-developed ERP-system. Finally, it was concluded what information on these logistics costs that should be considered by manufacturing organizations for facilitating the understanding of total product cost of specific products and which may not be supported by these systems.

Sustainability is one of the challenges in today’s world. With limited resources at hand and hazardous impact of manufacturing processes on the environment, there is an increasing need for sustainable manufacturing. Sustainability actually has a broad meaning and is an all-inclusive concept. In this thesis what we are more interested in and focus on, are energy consumption and environmental impacts. Using system dynamics modeling and simulation, we can more easily understand the behavior of processes. Our selected processes are turning, milling and drilling operations in crankshaft machining and using system dynamics concept we model these processes with regards to energy consumption and environmental concerns. The output of this thesis work can be eventually used as a decision support tool to decide how to make processes more sustainable.