Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of implementing the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) model in an MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) partnership, and highlight its potential economic, environmental, and organizational benefits, as well as limitations. Approach - First, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on fields relevant to VMI. Second, empirical data was gathered from a single exploratory case study with Momentum Industrial, and its customer Stora Enso. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from the case companies. Findings - Results suggest that VMI results in benefits for the supply chain in general, such as reduced administration and inventory costs, improved service levels, reduced information distortion, and improved relationship among partners. For the particular case of VMI in an MRO partnership, improved service levels can be obtained by a reduced risk of production downtime for the customer. Moreover, the implementation of VMI has potential environmental benefits, such as reduced paper use, and higher transportation fill rate. Limitations of implementing VMI include the difficulty in system integration, and information sharing. Trust could be a potential issue that limits information sharing amongst supply chain partners. Moreover, the difference in organizational cultures and policies of partners should be taken into consideration. Limitations - The study is limited to opinions from one MRO customer in the paper and packaging industry. Even though the questions asked to informants in Momentum and Stora Enso tackled benefits to MRO customers in general, a broader image could have been achieved by interviewing customers from different industries. Moreover, the case companies do not currently adopt VMI in their partnership, so the case study results are based on what they think would be the potential benefits and limitations of implementing VMI in an MRO partnership. Practical Implications - This paper can serve as a guideline for logistics managers who are considering VMI in an MRO partnership specifically, as it provides them with the benefits and limitations associated with VMI. More generally, any company considering VMI can also benefit from the theoretical framework presented.

Among the plethora of solutions to the Business-to-Business interoperability problem, no other solution has obtained as much attention asWeb Services Technology (WST), which allows entities to exchange data regardless of their underlying platforms. WST also allows services to be composed in order to provide high quality customer service over the web. In order to perform transactions across different service providers, standard protocols need to be supported by participating providers. Many useful protocols are coming into the market, but are often ambiguously specified by protocol designers and not fully verified. Furthermore, even if the specifications are reasonably clear, programmers often make subtle assumptions, possibly leading to errors that are hard to detect and locate, especially when the number of participating entities is dynamic. Consequently, these can lead to interoperability problems among implementations of the same protocol and high software maintenance costs. To address these issues, a hierarchical automata-based framework is proposed to model the functional aspects of Web Services (WS) protocols that also assists in verifying their correctness. The modelling formalism has a sound mathematical foundation and aims to reconcile desirable features while still maintaining syntactic and semantic simplicity. The properties to be verified are specified using a pattern system and/or 'observer' states, which have been adapted for WS protocols. In particular, always in a positive observer state implies proper termination and partial functional correctness while reachability of a negative observer state signifies deadlock and/or violation of a safety property. Verification itself is handled by automatic translation of the model and its properties into a model-checker's input code and interpretation of the output produced by the model-checker. A test-bed is proposed to check the conformance of a protocol implementation to its specification It helps in locating errors in the implementations of WS protocols especially where the number of participating entities is dynamic. Conformance checking is achieved by capturing sequences of exchanged messages of the actual implementations and checking them against the formal specification. Experience using the framework is also described and illustrated using two non-trivial WS protocols, namely WS-BusinessActivity and WS-AtomicTransaction.

近年來由於資訊科技的發達與通訊網路的開放，國內流通業者逐漸意識到資訊科技的可得性與重要性，尤其是電子資料交換(EDI) 近來在國內更是方興未艾，成為業者因應通路革命的一大競爭武器。本研究主要是探討行銷通路與 EDI的互動關係，分析 EDI應用對通路體系效益的影響以及個別通路成員所分配到的成本效益，並說明第三者機構 (如政府單位與加值網路業者) 在推動 EDI 交易的角色定位。本研究屬於探索性研究，主要是藉由實地訪談國內食品飲料業的上中下游廠商，參考國外相關文獻，以探討通路成員目標、政府機構、組織特質對 EDI應用策略的影響，進一步分析 EDI交易對通路結構、通路關係、及通路效益的衝擊。經由理論與實務之觸發印證，本研究發現在通路系統中，由於零售商與供應商的通路地位不同，不但引進 EDI的動機有所差異，由電子連線交易中所獲致的效益亦有層次之分。此外，在建立 EDI系統初期，政府機構的介入有其必要性，而加值網路業者在通路系統中的角色亦將益形重要。最後，必須強調的是 EDI系統雖然對後勤活動的助益最顯而亦見，但是與 POS系統相結合應 用之後，將可幫助通路成員在行銷活動上發揮更大的效益。 EDI 對通路成員的長期涵義仍未十分明確，與交易對象建立電子連線也可能對組織造成複雜的管理問題，然而，EDI 將逐漸成為企業經營的必要方式，其對競爭態勢的衝擊值得吾人重視。

<p>Background: It has been shown that EDI can yield positive effects within companies. Which effects are possible for a company to direct assign to the introduction of EDI and is it possible to estimate the total effect.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate and analyze the effects of using EDI in electronic business. We also want to contribute with a model for measure and estimate the effects of EDI.</p><p>Accomplishment: We have studied literature concering EDI and realized a preliminary studie in form of interviews with experts to establish deeper knowledge of EDI. We have also tried to estimate the effects obtained in companies in three different businesses, power, government and transport industry.</p><p>Result: To obtain as good effects as possible it is important that the co- oporation is built on trust and engagement. Before implementing the EDI-system a thorough overhaul of the processes in the company should be done, involving both the top managers and the staff. Internet can be used to achieve minimal cost and it is important to limit the information sent by EDI to only send the information demanded. Finally companies also should mediate the advantages of EDI inside the organisation to make the co-operators realize the good effects obtained by EDI.</p>

Background: It has been shown that EDI can yield positive effects within companies. Which effects are possible for a company to direct assign to the introduction of EDI and is it possible to estimate the total effect. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate and analyze the effects of using EDI in electronic business. We also want to contribute with a model for measure and estimate the effects of EDI. Accomplishment: We have studied literature concering EDI and realized a preliminary studie in form of interviews with experts to establish deeper knowledge of EDI. We have also tried to estimate the effects obtained in companies in three different businesses, power, government and transport industry. Result: To obtain as good effects as possible it is important that the co- oporation is built on trust and engagement. Before implementing the EDI-system a thorough overhaul of the processes in the company should be done, involving both the top managers and the staff. Internet can be used to achieve minimal cost and it is important to limit the information sent by EDI to only send the information demanded. Finally companies also should mediate the advantages of EDI inside the organisation to make the co-operators realize the good effects obtained by EDI.

NETI@home, a distributed network measurement infrastructure to collect passive end-to-end network measurements from Internet end-hosts was developed and discussed. The data collected by this infrastructure, as well as other datasets, were used to conduct studies on the behavior of the network and network users as well as the security issues affecting the Internet. A flow-based comparison of honeynet traffic, representing malicious traffic, and NETI@home traffic, representing typical end-user traffic, was conducted. This comparison showed that a large portion of flows in both datasets were failed and potentially malicious connection attempts. We additionally found that worm activity can linger for more than a year after the initial release date. Malicious traffic was also found to originate from across the allocated IP address space. Other security-related observations made include the suspicious use of ICMP packets and attacks on our own NETI@home server. Utilizing observed TTL values, studies were also conducted into the distance of Internet routes and the frequency with which they vary. The frequency and use of network address translation and the private IP address space were also discussed. Various protocol options and flags were analyzed to determine their adoption and use by the Internet community. Network-independent empirical models of end-user network traffic were derived for use in simulation. Two such models were created. The first modeled traffic for a specific TCP or UDP port and the second modeled all TCP or UDP traffic for an end-user. These models were implemented and used in GTNetS. Further anonymization of the dataset and the public release of the anonymized data and their associated analysis tools were also discussed.

Among the plethora of solutions to the Business-to-Business interoperability problem, no other solution has obtained as much attention asWeb Services Technology (WST), which allows entities to exchange data regardless of their underlying platforms. WST also allows services to be composed in order to provide high quality customer service over the web. In order to perform transactions across different service providers, standard protocols need to be supported by participating providers. Many useful protocols are coming into the market, but are often ambiguously specified by protocol designers and not fully verified. Furthermore, even if the specifications are reasonably clear, programmers often make subtle assumptions, possibly leading to errors that are hard to detect and locate, especially when the number of participating entities is dynamic. Consequently, these can lead to interoperability problems among implementations of the same protocol and high software maintenance costs. To address these issues, a hierarchical automata-based framework is proposed to model the functional aspects of Web Services (WS) protocols that also assists in verifying their correctness. The modelling formalism has a sound mathematical foundation and aims to reconcile desirable features while still maintaining syntactic and semantic simplicity. The properties to be verified are specified using a pattern system and/or 'observer' states, which have been adapted for WS protocols. In particular, always in a positive observer state implies proper termination and partial functional correctness while reachability of a negative observer state signifies deadlock and/or violation of a safety property. Verification itself is handled by automatic translation of the model and its properties into a model-checker's input code and interpretation of the output produced by the model-checker. A test-bed is proposed to check the conformance of a protocol implementation to its specification It helps in locating errors in the implementations of WS protocols especially where the number of participating entities is dynamic. Conformance checking is achieved by capturing sequences of exchanged messages of the actual implementations and checking them against the formal specification. Experience using the framework is also described and illustrated using two non-trivial WS protocols, namely WS-BusinessActivity and WS-AtomicTransaction.

Sammanfattning Kurs: Ämnesfördjupande arbete i logistik, 2FE25E. Författare: Matilda Engblom, Jonas Holmberg och Max Husell Handledare: Helena Forslund Titel: Effekter på användningen av webb-EDI i en operativ inköpsprocess - En fallstudie på Svenssons i Lammhult Bakgrund: Electronic data interchange (EDI), är ett hjälpmedel som underlättar och standardiserar informationsflödet mellan företag som använder sig utav olika affärssystem. Effektivisering av administrativa processer är ett mål med EDI. Grunden är en automatisk generering, överföring och mottagning av information. I en operativ inköpsprocess sker flera steg av informationsutbyte. Där leverantörssamarbeten och väl fungerande logistik är två viktiga framgångsfaktorer. Den operativa inköpsprocessen kan beskrivas som en sjustegs aktivitetsmodell som repetitivt upprepar sig vid varje inköp. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att kartlägga den operativa inköpsprocessen på Svenssons i Lammhult och se till vilka upplevda problem som kan underlättas med hjälpa av en webbEDI-implementering samt, se till vilka effekter en användning av webb-EDI kan ge. Metod: Denna fallstudie har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med en deduktiv ansats. Studien har ett positivistiskt synsätt och en fallstudiedesign. I studien har det gjorts en mönsterjämförelse mellan teori och insamlad empiri. Slutsats: Studien har studerat effekter som kan nås av webb-EDI. Utifrån teoretiskt och empiriskt material har slutsatsen gjorts att effekter kring säkerhet, effektivisering, felminimering, arbetsbesparing och automatisering kan uppnås. Uppfattningen av förväntat utfall kring leverantörer som ska ingå i en webb-EDI-implementering matchar vad teori och EDI-leverantörer säger att man kan förvänta sig. Författarna menar att med denna undersökning som stöd, bör fortsatt arbete kring implementering av webb-EDI göras hos Svenssons i Lammhult. Det finns ett antal olika typer av webb-EDI-lösningar vilket ger olika valmöjligheter. Rekommendationen är att leta efter en universallösning likt de som tagits upp i studien där en EDI-leverantör kan erbjuda en webb-EDI-lösning som både erbjuder full integration men även leverantörsportaler. Nyckelord: Webb-EDI, Electronic Data Interchange, Inköp, inköpsprocess, Operativt inköp, Implementering, effekter av webb-EDI, Processkartläggning

Inom offentlig sektor i Sverige finns stora brister vid inköp- och avtalsuppföljning. Det är vanligt att inköp sker utanför ramavtal och det kan bero på att myndigheter saknar ett digitaliserat system för uppföljning. Genom digitalisering av inköp- och fakturahanteringsprocesser kan inköpsuppföljning göras effektivare och generera i stora besparingar.  Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka och förklara hur elektroniska fakturan påverkar inköpsaktiviteter inom offentlig sektor samt att identifiera om egenskaperna hos elektroniska fakturan kan bidra till ökad avtalstrohet. En undersökning är genomförd med ett resultat på hur elektronisk faktura används inom offentlig sektor och är genomförd med en kvalitativ metod och jämförande analys. En litteraturstudie mynnade ut i en analysmodell som utgjorde grunden till en intervjuguide. Primärdata är insamlad genom intervjuer med tre svenska kommuner, datakällorna har sedan jämförts mot varandra och analysmodellen.  Undersökningen visar att elektroniska fakturans information har en stor påverkan på inköpsuppföljning i offentlig sektor. Informationen används för att få fram rapporter och statistik om inköp för att kunna planera och ta beslut om framtida inköp och upphandlingar. Elektroniska fakturan påverkar även avtalstroheten genom att myndigheter får kontroll över vad de egentligen köper. Identifierade nyttofaktorer hos elektroniska fakturan som har direkt påverkan på inköpsuppföljningsaktiviteter är korrekt, samlad, sökbar och detaljerad faktura. Elektroniska fakturan förser myndigheter med en bred information och för att inköpsuppföljning ska vara möjlig krävs ett digitaliserat system där fakturor samlas och kontrolleras för att korrekta rapporter ska kunna sökas fram.

The diploma thesis deals with three aspects of operational part of CRM -- sales force automation, telephone sales (contact centers) and e-business. The thesis studies the influence of these three aspects on the firm's productivity. The diploma thesis links to the company Plzensky Prazdroj a.s., which provided the data. Practical contribution of the thesis is an evaluation of current business model of Plzensky Prazdroj and a proposal of a new e-business strategy for this company.