No / Purpose: We drew on an interdisciplinary research design to examine stroke survivors’ experiences of living with stroke and with technology in order to provide technology developers with insight into values, thoughts and feelings of the potential users of a to-be-designed robotic technology for home-based rehabilitation of the hand and wrist. Method: Ten stroke survivors and their family carers were purposefully selected. On the first home visit, they were introduced to cultural probe. On the second visit, the content of the probe packs were used as prompt to conduct one-to-one interviews with them. The data generated was analysed using thematic analysis. A third home visit was conducted to evaluate the early prototype. Results: User requirements were categorised into their network of relationships, their attitude towards technology, their skills, their goals and motivations. The user requirements were used to envision the requirements of the system including providing feedback on performance, motivational aspects and usability of the system. Participants’ views on the system requirements were obtained during a participatory evaluation. Conclusion: This study showed that prior to the development of technology, it is important to engage with potential users to identify user requirements and subsequently envision system requirements based on users’ views.

This research addressed how older adults experience their mobile phones in their everyday lives and how mobile phones could be designed to best meet their needs. Two studies were conducted using a mixed-research method to identify representative user clusters and to understand user experiences. In Study 1, 154 older adult mobile phone users completed a questionnaire to investigate 1) functional usage, 2) perception about mobile phone quality, and 3) other aspects of user experiences (e.g., motivations of acquisition and learning method). Results showed that older adults are generally conservative mobile phone users who use a few functions of mobile phones and perceive their phone to be difficult to use. Understanding error messages, menu navigation, and text input were found to be most difficult for them. Female users perceived their phones to be more difficult to use than male users. Three user clusters (explorers, basicians, and minimalists) were identified based on mobile phone usage behavior, and their characteristics were described. User satisfaction was effected by three attributes of mobile phones: usefulness, ease of use, and pleasure of use, indicating that developers need to focus on improving all factors when designing a mobile phone for older adults. Study 2 used a more holistic approach to describe older adults' user experiences. The aims of Study 2 were 1) to capture stories that reflected user experiences, 2) to identify barriers that older adults faced through the course of user experience and 3) to provide recommendations to improve user experiences. Qualitative data was collected in the form of existential phenomenology-based interviews. Twelve older adult mobile phone users (over age 56), representing the three clusters found from Study 1, participated in this study. The domestication of technology theory was adopted as a framework to describe instances and themes represented in users' utterances and behaviors. Results showed that, regardless of their abilities to operate technology, older adults used a limited number of mobile phone functions because of their parsimonious cost-benefit analyses when integrating technologies into their lives. A theoretical explanation for this phenomenon was provided using socio-emotional selectivity theory. Barriers (perceptual, cognitive, attitudinal, knowledge, and information barriers) were found to hinder older adults' utilization of mobile phone technology over the four dimensions of the domestication process (appropriation, objectification, incorporation, and conversion). Recommendations to resolve those barriers were provided and related to published literature. This study proved that the domestication of technology theory can be a useful analytical tool for describing and understanding user experiences and capturing users' needs. Detailed discussion about its applicability to user needs analysis process was provided. A set of user requirements along with diverse user profiles were developed as outcomes of this research. / Ph. D.

Background: Business process compliance management has recently attracted a lot of attention in both business and academia as it enables organizations to not only control and monitor their business processes from a legal point of view but also to avoid financial penalties and undesirable consequences to their reputation. Objective: This thesis aims to provide a framework that would enable organizations to: 1- Discover business processes that violate regulations, laws and policies; 2- Discover the importance level of business processes based on the organization’s goals; 3- Determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies; and 4- Enable organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies. Methodology: A systematic literature review in the area of goal-oriented business process compliance management and measurement has been conducted, which showed that balancing legal compliance obligations with business objectives remains a difficult challenge. A new Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework (IPCF), which combines policy and rule models together with models capturing business goals (with their relative importance to the organization) and business processes, has been proposed. This framework builds on the User Requirements Notation (URN), which is the first international standard to combine goal modeling with scenario modeling. The intents and objectives of policies have been modeled, as well as the goals and business processes of organizations, and indicators are used to measure the compliance level of policies. This enables the detection of non-compliant business processes and the evaluation of the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals. Human resource policies and business processes are used as an example to illustrate the method. Aerodrome security regulations and business processes are then used to validate the method in a real-life environment. Comparisons to related work, evaluation against different sets of criteria, and tool support complement the framework validation. Results: The Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework enables organizations to discover business processes that violate policies as well as other types of rules, regulations, and laws. Guidelines for modeling legal text with URN’s Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL) are proposed. Furthermore, IPCF helps determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies. In addition, as policies sometimes apply differently to different types of organizations, a new profile for GRL, with suitable stereotypes, well-formedness constraints, and a modified analysis algorithm defined for GRL model families is used to evaluate the satisfaction level of individual goal models that are members of a larger family model. Finally, the proposed IPCF enables organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies, and such measures can be visualized directly in URN models but also through interactive Business Intelligence portals, for a wider diffusion.

Legally binding targets set by the UK government to reduce carbon emissions by 2050 mean it is imperative that the efficiency of the UK housing stock is improved. Housing currently contributes over 30% of the UK s total carbon emissions and a large proportion of the current stock will still exist in 2050. There is therefore a need to retrofit this existing stock with energy saving measures, as the savings from new builds will not be adequate to meet the stringent carbon reduction targets. Whilst technologies to facilitate energy saving retrofit are available, there has been a low uptake from householders in the UK, in part due to the lack of consideration of user requirements within the design of these technologies. To investigate this issue further, this thesis considers two main questions: How can the design of energy saving measures and the process of retrofit of the existing UK housing stock be improved through the use of user centred design (UCD) and How can UCD methods be applied to the research and development process for energy saving measures in order to improve the outcome? Through the research, it became clear that in order to answer these questions, it would be necessary to work across disciplines and therefore a third Research Question was posed; How can UCD facilitate working across disciplines in the context of an energy research project? The results provide evidence of how UCD can effectively improve the design and development process of energy saving technologies, the process of retrofit and the practice of cross-disciplinary working within a research environment. The research is novel in several ways: firstly, the UCD process has been applied in the area of domestic retrofit, giving new insights into the barriers and opportunities to retrofit; secondly, home improvement has been investigated by viewing the home as a complete, interacting system, using novel methods; thirdly, a set of UCD specifications have been created to inform the design of heat pumps, a specific domestic energy saving technology, and finally, enhancements to the UCD process are made for use within an energy technology project, together with the development of six principles for effective cross-disciplinary working and conceptualisation of the bridge building role which the UCD practitioner fulfills.

A implantação de uma rede de Logística Reversa (LR) é fundamental em modelos de negócio Sistema Produto-Serviço (PSS) para o retorno, recuperação e maximização da vida útil de peças e componentes. Ambos os sistemas, LR e PSS, necessitam ser projetados a partir da perspectiva do consumidor para serem bem-sucedidos, pois o envolvimento prévio com o usuário possibilita o desenvolvimento de soluções especificas que atendem às suas demandas. Porém, há uma escassez de estudos que destacam as atividades de LR em um contexto de PSS, assim como o papel e a relevância do usuário. Nesse sentido, esta pesquisa busca compreender as necessidades do usuário na LR em um PSS, considerando como produto de análise o equipamento eletromédico bomba de infusão. Para isso, realizou-se um estudo de caso inicial com uma empresa que manufatura e comercializa dispositivos médicos no Brasil. Além disso, múltiplos estudos de caso foram realizados em organizações da área da saúde para a coleta in loco de necessidades relacionadas ao contexto de uso e retorno do equipamento. Como resultado, identificou-se quatro serviços que envolvem atividades de LR no modelo de negócio PSS. Vinte e cinco problemas que interferem diretamente e indiretamente a LR foram analisados para o entendimento em profundidade das necessidades dos usuários. O estudo ainda apresenta quais são os principais desafios e dificuldades de um fornecedor de PSS para operacionalizar a LR. Os resultados indicam que a ausência de agilidade no processo de retorno do produto pode propiciar situações críticas internas ao hospital referente à falta de equipamentos. A realização do inventário de equipamentos ao término do contrato de PSS pode gerar situações estressantes para todos os stakeholders envolvidos no processo. / The implementation of a Reverse Logistics network (RL) is important in Product-Service Systems (PSS) business model for returning, recovering and maximizing the life span of parts and components. Both systems, RL and PSS, need to be designed from the perspective of the consumer to be successful because the prior involvement with users seeks to achieve better solutions to satisfy their specific demands. However, there is a lack of studies that highlight RL activities in a PSS context, as well as the role and relevance of users. In this sense, this research aims to understand users\' needs in reverse logistics in a PSS, considering as main product the electromedical infusion pump. For this, I conducted a case study with a company that manufactures and markets medical devices throughout Brazil. In addition, five other case studies were carried out in health organizations for in situ collection of needs related to the context of use and return of the equipment. As a result, four services involving RL activities were identified in the PSS business model. Also, twenty-five problems that directly and indirectly interfere the operation of RL were analyzed for an in-depth understanding of users\' needs. The study further presents the main challenges and difficulties of a PSS provider to operationalize the LR. The results indicate that the absence of agility in the LR process can lead to critical situations inside the hospital regarding the lack of equipment. The inventory of equipment at the end of the PSS contract can generate stressful situations for all stakeholders involved in the process.

Background: Business process compliance management has recently attracted a lot of attention in both business and academia as it enables organizations to not only control and monitor their business processes from a legal point of view but also to avoid financial penalties and undesirable consequences to their reputation. Objective: This thesis aims to provide a framework that would enable organizations to: 1- Discover business processes that violate regulations, laws and policies; 2- Discover the importance level of business processes based on the organization’s goals; 3- Determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies; and 4- Enable organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies. Methodology: A systematic literature review in the area of goal-oriented business process compliance management and measurement has been conducted, which showed that balancing legal compliance obligations with business objectives remains a difficult challenge. A new Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework (IPCF), which combines policy and rule models together with models capturing business goals (with their relative importance to the organization) and business processes, has been proposed. This framework builds on the User Requirements Notation (URN), which is the first international standard to combine goal modeling with scenario modeling. The intents and objectives of policies have been modeled, as well as the goals and business processes of organizations, and indicators are used to measure the compliance level of policies. This enables the detection of non-compliant business processes and the evaluation of the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals. Human resource policies and business processes are used as an example to illustrate the method. Aerodrome security regulations and business processes are then used to validate the method in a real-life environment. Comparisons to related work, evaluation against different sets of criteria, and tool support complement the framework validation. Results: The Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework enables organizations to discover business processes that violate policies as well as other types of rules, regulations, and laws. Guidelines for modeling legal text with URN’s Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL) are proposed. Furthermore, IPCF helps determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies. In addition, as policies sometimes apply differently to different types of organizations, a new profile for GRL, with suitable stereotypes, well-formedness constraints, and a modified analysis algorithm defined for GRL model families is used to evaluate the satisfaction level of individual goal models that are members of a larger family model. Finally, the proposed IPCF enables organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies, and such measures can be visualized directly in URN models but also through interactive Business Intelligence portals, for a wider diffusion.

Att inventera är en påfrestande process där anställda samlar in data med en observationsundersökning. Ett exempel är livsmedelsbutiker som skriver ut meterlånga listor inför en lagerinventering där inventeraren anmärker skillnader på de fysiska varorna och vad som står på listorna. Inventering är något som de flesta företag gör men som skiljer sig från bransch till bransch. Eftersom det är ett resursslöseri att lösa samma problem flera gånger, utan att återanvända tidigare lösningar, har studenten valt att studera en relativt generell lösning på ett inventeringssystem som ska kunna användas av flera branscher.Syftet med denna studie är därför att studera vilka funktionalitetskrav som finns på ett inventeringssystem och vilka tekniska lösningar som kan användas vid utveckling av ett inventeringssystem.För att utreda detta tillämpades en abduktiv ansats där en fallstudie gjordes på inventering. En litteraturstudie gjordes på tekniska lösningar som kan användas vid utveckling av ett inventeringssystem.Studiens resultat är en kravspecifikation på ett inventeringssystem från lager- och skogsbranschen. Resultatet innehåller även tekniska lösningar som kan tillämpas och därmed uppfylla kraven. Parallellt med studien utvecklades en inventeringsklient tillsammans med Sweco som uppfyller både deras krav på klienten och de krav som studiens empiri erhållit. Resultatet av studien visar på ett system som klarar av att skapa, spara och återskapa dynamiska formulär. När formulär skapas kan dess kontrollelement ha restriktioner som klienten kan validera innan resultat sparas. Studiens resultat visar även på att en förstudie av ett system tenderar till att hitta indirekta/dolda krav.Den primära begränsningen i studien har varit tid. Hade mer tid kunnat ägnas åt studien skulle insamlingen av empiri ha varit mer omfattande. / Stocktaking is an exhausting process where employee’s collects data and is something that most companies do, although what they are collecting differs from business to business. Because it is a resource-waste to solve same problem multiple times, without reusing previous solutions, the student have choosen to study an overall solution for a stocktaking system that can be used by multiple businesses.The purpose of this report is to establish the end-user requirements on a stocktaking system and study which technical solutions can be used when developing a stocktaking system.The study used an abductive method with a case study on stocktaking. For the case study the empiricism was collected with interviews. A meta-analysis was implemented for the purpose to seek and analyse relevant literature.The result of the study was a requirement specification for an inventory system based on the forest and stock industry. The result also contains technical solutions that can be applied on the system in order to fulfill the requirements. In parallel with the study an attempt was made to develop a prototype of a stocktaking client togheter with Sweco that met both their requirements and requirements that was obtained from the interviews. The results show that the stocktaking client can manage to create, save and recreate dynamic forms. When forms are created their controls also have the ability to specify restrictions. The client can interpret these restrictions and validate the inputs before saving results. The results of the study also implies that a feasibility study of a system tend to find hidden requirements.The primary limitations of the study were time. If the study had a larger timescope more time could have been spent on collecting empirical data and gather end-user requirements.

Background: Business process compliance management has recently attracted a lot of attention in both business and academia as it enables organizations to not only control and monitor their business processes from a legal point of view but also to avoid financial penalties and undesirable consequences to their reputation. Objective: This thesis aims to provide a framework that would enable organizations to: 1- Discover business processes that violate regulations, laws and policies; 2- Discover the importance level of business processes based on the organization’s goals; 3- Determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies; and 4- Enable organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies. Methodology: A systematic literature review in the area of goal-oriented business process compliance management and measurement has been conducted, which showed that balancing legal compliance obligations with business objectives remains a difficult challenge. A new Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework (IPCF), which combines policy and rule models together with models capturing business goals (with their relative importance to the organization) and business processes, has been proposed. This framework builds on the User Requirements Notation (URN), which is the first international standard to combine goal modeling with scenario modeling. The intents and objectives of policies have been modeled, as well as the goals and business processes of organizations, and indicators are used to measure the compliance level of policies. This enables the detection of non-compliant business processes and the evaluation of the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals. Human resource policies and business processes are used as an example to illustrate the method. Aerodrome security regulations and business processes are then used to validate the method in a real-life environment. Comparisons to related work, evaluation against different sets of criteria, and tool support complement the framework validation. Results: The Indicator-based Policy Compliance Framework enables organizations to discover business processes that violate policies as well as other types of rules, regulations, and laws. Guidelines for modeling legal text with URN’s Goal-oriented Requirement Language (GRL) are proposed. Furthermore, IPCF helps determine the impact of compliance-related process modifications on business goals, including conflicting goals between stakeholders, and on policies. In addition, as policies sometimes apply differently to different types of organizations, a new profile for GRL, with suitable stereotypes, well-formedness constraints, and a modified analysis algorithm defined for GRL model families is used to evaluate the satisfaction level of individual goal models that are members of a larger family model. Finally, the proposed IPCF enables organizations to measure the level of business process compliance for one or multiple policies, and such measures can be visualized directly in URN models but also through interactive Business Intelligence portals, for a wider diffusion.

Little is known regarding registered nurse (RN) information management practice in long-term care (LTC) settings. This study identifies LTC RNs’ information management practice and needs, which are important for designing and implementing health information technology (HIT) in LTC settings. Methods: This descriptive qualitative study combines direct observations and semi-structured interviews, conducted at Alberta’s LTC facilities between May 2014 and August 2015. The constant comparative method of joint coding was used for data analysis. Results: Nine RNs from six nursing homes participated in the study. Based on the RNs’ existing information management system requirements, a graphic information flow model was constructed. Conclusion: This baseline study identified key components of LTC RNs’ information management system. The information flow model may assist HIT developers with future design and development of HIT solutions for LTCs, serve as a communication tool between RNs and developers to refine requirements and support further LTC HIT research. / Graduate

Eine Digitalisierung des EAWS-Verfahrens kann bei der Identifikation ergonomischer Probleme und der Ableitung darauf aufbauender Maßnahmen unterstützen. Aktuelle EAWS-Digitalisierungen beschränken sich mehrheitlich auf die Darstellung von EAWS-Punkten und Belastungen. Um EAWS-Auswertungen bedarfsgerecht weiterzuent-wickeln, wurden mit Hilfe einer Online-Befragung der Bedarf und die Anforderungen an EAWS-Auswertungsfunktionen und Gestaltungs-elemente ermittelt. Hierzu wurden auch der EAWS-Nutzungskontext sowie die eingesetzten EAWS-Auswertungssysteme und deren Bewertung erhoben. Insgesamt nahmen 61 Personen u. a. aus den Bereichen Arbeits-planung, IE, Ergonomie, Gesundheitswesen und Management teil. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, für was das EAWS-Verfahren eingesetzt wird, welche Personen daran beteiligt sind, welche Systeme genutzt und welchen Auswertungsfunktionen ein besonderer Bedarf zugeordnet wird. Daraus lassen sich Schwerpunkte für die Weiterentwicklung von EAWS-Auswertungen ableiten.